While the Hall County School District may have ample classroom space in most of its schools, that's not the case for the schools in the south end of the county. So, the plans for redistricting in South Hall are moving ahead quickly, as school board members learned at a Monday evening work session.
School Superintendent Will Schofield presented the Board of Education with a draft plan for future middle and high schools in that part of the district.
"We've been saying it for the last couple of months, we believe we will open up Middle/High School District #7 - we currently have six attendance districts - in the 2018-19 school year," said Schofield.
He said the first step will be to open up space in the Johnson High School attendance zone. That will involve making improvements first to the current Academies of Discovery campus. South Hall Middle School would also occupy that site on Poplar Springs Road once the redistricting is complete.
"We see ourselves doing an addition on that campus, improving traffic flow, increasing parking and increasing places for buses to queue up and separate from car riders," Schofield said.
Executive Director of Facilities and Construction Matt Cox showed board members a preliminary site plan for the revamped South Hall Middle School/Academies of Discovery campus, but noted that the plans are not set in stone.
Schofield said the overall plan will involve relocating their school populations back to their original campuses, and he offered the following information to the Board.
- Flowery Branch High School would relocate to the former FBHS site on Hog Mountain Road. Davis Middle School currently occupies that campus. FBHS could accommodate 1,200 students at that location. The school system would make improvements to the facility and enhance parking.
- Davis Middle School would re-occupy the original DMS site on Falcon Parkway, which is the current site of South Hall Middle School.
- South Hall Middle School, as mentioned earlier in this article, would then re-occupy the former SHMS campus on Poplar Springs Road. The space would be shared with DaVinci Academy and the World Language Academy (Academies of Discovery).
The draft plan also calls for the school on Spout Springs Road - now FBHS - to become the newest school district, accommodating 1,500 middle and high school students. Eventually, a new middle school would need to be built on the 138-acre property.
"We're already meeting with faculties at schools, we've already started meeting with some of the governing boards at some of the schools and I would think over the next year we'll have several community meetings in these areas talking about transition plans," said Schofield. "Three years will be here before you know it, but it does give people the opportunity to get used to the idea and and see what's coming and have a lot of input in terms of how we actually carry out the transition."
