The Morris Brandon School Council met in regular session on August 5, 2010 at 9:00 a.m.

The meeting was held in the Media Center  at Morris Brandon Elementary School Primary Center, 2845 Margaret Mitchell Rd NW, Atlanta, Georgia 30327.

School Council Members Present:         

Karen Evans, Head of School

Julie Bassett and Katie Mori, Parent Representatives

Logan Ide, Business Representative

School Council Members Absent:                      

            Allie Fleckner and Betsy Nettles, Faculty Representative

Others Present:

            Emily Jordan and Rush Levitt, PTA Co-Presidents

            Pete Settelmayer, Primary Center Administrator

            Sharron Pitts, Tamara Cottman, Larry Hoskins,

                        Kavi Maddula and Kevin White, Atlanta Public Schools

            Nancy Meister, Atlanta Board of Education

            Lee Pritchard and Katy Carpenter, observers

Four School Council members were present.

1.         Call to Order

Karen Evans, Head of School, called the meeting to order at 9:15 a.m.

2.         Approval of Agenda

Karen Evans distributed the agenda posted pursuant to the Open Meetings Act.  Moved, seconded and carried that school council approve the agenda as presented.

MOTION:        Logan Ide; SECOND:         Julie Bassett

VOTE:             5 Yes; 0 No

3.         Brandon Capacity Concerns

Lee Pritchard introduced the issue of ongoing capacity concerns at Morris Brandon, as identified in the February, 2010 letter from School Council to Superintendant Beverly Hall.  Sharron Pitts led a discussion regarding these issues.

Ms. Pitts explained that APS has conducted a demographic study that focuses on the attendance zones covered by School Reform Team (SRT) 4, with specific focus on Morris Brandon’s zone.  This study was conducted by APS and external demographers and will be utilized to inform APS’s decision- making related to facilities planning for schools in the area, including the Sutton – North Atlanta project.  The preliminary findings will be calibrated after 10 days of school, and again at Day 40.  Final findings will be presented to the Board of Education on September 13, 2010 at its regular, open meeting.  A recommendation to address capacity issues should be issued in January 2011.

The preliminary findings are consistent with the concern outlined demonstrate that the problem outlined in the February 2010 letter— is accurate, and that Brandon will continue to have significant growth for the next four years and that Brandon will exceed actual capacity in the that, if realized, would put the school over [planning?] capacity by [2011-2012] school year.  APS projects that enrollment growth will level out in the 2014/15 school year.

While Ms. Pitts acknowledged that Brandon is facing capacity shortfalls, she explained that a solution is not immediately available.  Because the other elementary schools in SRT are also projected at capacity, rezoning is not a viable option at this time.  Therefore, another the more likely feasible option would be to add classrooms onto the Primary Center to accommodate an additional 200 students.   and either move second grade there/or, or to create two elementary schoolsmake the primary center into a full elementary school.  Thisese solutions also presents  challenges for physical topography and financial reasons, and APS is evaluating options to address these concerns.  However, APS does anticipate that a 10-classroom addition at the PC to accommodate 200 children would be enough to address the long-term capacity concerns in Brandon’s current attendance zone.

Ms. Pitts remarked that the grandfathering provision allowed during the last redistricting cycle complicates Brandon’s capacity and zoning issues.  Karen Evans, however, noted that the effect of grandfathering on Brandon’s enrollment is very small.  In fact, the grandfathering provision did not yield any Kindergarten students for the 2010-11 school year. 

Council members and APS representatives briefly discussed other issues related to our cluster, including the current proposal regarding North Atlanta HS and Sutton MS. 

According to Ms. Pitts, completion of an updated demographic study will enable APS to recommend a comprehensive solution to capacity issues in our cluster and to obtain funding to execute that solution.  The final study will be presented to the Board of Education on September 13, 2010 and posted to the APS website.  At that point, APS plans to begin a community dialogue to develop recommendations to be presented in January 2011 for a solution to be implemented by September 20110.

4.         Election of Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary

Election of officers was tabled until the next meeting of the School Council. 

5.         Determine Meeting Dates and Times for 2010/11

School Council scheduled the next meeting for Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 7:30 a.m.  Discussion regarding additional meeting dates was tabled until the next meeting

6.         Appointment and Election of New Members

The terms for Lee Pritchard, Business Representative, and Kelley Jordan-Monne, Faculty Representative, have expired.  Karen Evans reported that Allie Fleckner ___________________had been elected as a Faculty Representative to replace Kelley Jordan-Monne.  Members discussed options regarding the appointment of a new Business Representative to replace Lee Pritchard, and will report back on this item at the next meeting.

7.         Adjournment

With no further business to come before the school council, the meeting was adjourned at 10:30 a.m.

MOTION:        Logan Ideee Pritchard; SECOND:           Katie Mori

VOTE: 5 Yes; 0 No

The next meeting of the Morris Brandon School Council will be held on Wednesday, September 1, 2010, at 7:30 a.m. in the Conference Room.