Atlanta Public Schools plans to move kindergartners at a crowded elementary school into an annex space about a half mile away.
Under the plan, Springdale Park Elementary School, located at 803 Briarcliff Road NE, would use space at the Atlanta Metropolitan Cathedral, 999 Briarcliff Road NE.
The APS administration intends to bring the proposal to the school board in February.
The move would be the latest in a series of relocations as schools on the district’s east side outgrow capacity and APS completes various construction projects.
The church space is being used now by Morningside Elementary School for its kindergarten classes. In the fall, all Morningside students will move into the Inman Middle School building. Inman will be used as Morningside’s temporary location through June 2022, while work takes place to renovate the Morningside building.
Students at Inman Middle School will start this fall at the renovated Howard Middle School building in the Old Fourth Ward. The district decided to renovate and reopen the larger Howard building because Inman was also over-crowded.
APS officials said they looked at Springdale Park’s enrollment projections and consulted with the principal before deciding the school needs more room.
Springdale Park Elementary enrolled 780 students as of Oct. 1, according to state data. The school's base classroom capacity is 693 students, according to draft documents produced as the district begins developing a new facilities master plan.
The elementary school opened about a decade ago because of overcrowding at two other east-side schools, Mary Lin and Morningside. The district opened Springdale Park in 2009 with just over 360 students.
APS has been renting space at the church for use as a Morningside annex since 2018. In April 2018, the school board agreed to a two-year lease. At the time, the district said it planned to spend about $565,000 to get the space ready to use as classrooms in addition to paying rent.
The base rent this school year is $15,155 a month, according to board documents.
Springdale Park, Morningside and Mary Lin are among the elementary schools that feed into Inman Middle, whose students will soon go to Howard Middle, and then into Grady High School.
The district is working to create a new facilities master plan that will include a study of enrollment trends.
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