LISTEN: Residents in many of Atlanta's most underserved neighborhoods reacted to news that schools in their communities would be closing after the next school year. GPB's Amanda Andrews reports.
The Atlanta Board of Education voted to close 16 public schools during a meeting Wednesday evening. Many people in the community were upset by the unanimous decision.
The board’s approval came after months of community feedback on the Atlanta Public Schools: Forward 2040 facilities plan.
Parents, students, and advocates made a final push to save their schools during the meeting’s public comment period. They shared concerns that closures could destabilize families, push parents toward private schools, and create more abandoned buildings.
Claire Dozier lives near Dunbar Elementary, one of the schools scheduled to close. She said living within walking distance of a school is important for her working-class neighborhood.
“Strengthening programs can better serve students,” Dozier said. “But if so many of our kids and families can't even access the schools that we're going to because of transportation challenges and because of just lack of access —that's what I worry about: destabilizing.”
HPM Vice President Tracey Richter is leading the redistricting, and he spoke at the board meeting. Richter said maintaining facilities strained APS resources, so the district had to make changes.
“An efficient school district means that there are better resources and more resources that can go to kids,” he said. “Nobody likes to think of school districts on the business side. Everybody thinks when you think business, you ignore children. I think it's kind of the opposite.”
The school closures are designed to address four issues in the district: underused facilities, budget shortfalls, inequalities in program offerings, and low enrollment.
Sherry B. Williams is a South Atlanta resident and a former educator. She said changing schools often makes students a target for bullies and that affects enrollment.
“What’s gonna happen is those kids that are bullied? Their parents are gonna pull them out,” she said. “They're either going to homeschool them or they're gonna put them in the charter. So now by closing 16 schools, you are gonna exponentially — you're going to lose more students because their parents are sick of this.”
School closures are not the end of the redistricting process. In the next phase, APS will launch a subcommittee to begin planning how facilities will be repurposed starting in January.
During the meeting, board member Jessica D. Johnson left community members with a challenge.
“Everybody that's in here — each and every person — come back in January,” she said. “Hold us accountable to the commitments that we made to the community and walk with us on this repurposing journey because your voices matter and we need you at the table.”
Many parents shared they didn’t feel like their voices had an impact on the redistricting process. Dozier said the community engagement felt like a formality.
“I challenge anybody to show how there was any opportunity to actually influence the decision in the process, and so I would like to see that acknowledged and therefore the way that the that community engagement has gone about for the next phase to be radically reconsidered,” she said.
The district has planned further meetings with community members to share their input on the ongoing Forward 2040 plan. APS will also launch a repurpose website in 2026.
School closures are scheduled to begin in spring 2027.
