Parents react to potential Columbia County school rezoning
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - At Tuesday’s Columbia County School Board of Education work session, parents got a chance to see new rezoning plans still in the works.
It mainly covers elementary school students.
With one school closing and one school opening, the district has to move students around which can be a bittersweet feeling for some.
“I think it’s a tough situation for everyone. I think it’ll work out and it will be okay in the end,” said Krystal Bridges, a Columbia County parent.
Amy Muns, another parent, said: “I’m actually really excited that they’re thinking about rezoning us.”
For Nicki Joyner, this is her son’s third time moving schools.
From going to school at the old Westmont, to Lewiston for two years and next year back to a new Westmont.
“He’s excited to come back to Westmont though he has loved driving back and forth to watch the construction,” she said.
Some fear that kids have to leave their friends, and others think they can handle it.
“He’s a chameleon. He can go anywhere. Whereas, you know, my youngest, if she was put into the situation as well. She would she would suffer from it,” said Joyner.
Bridges said: “We’re talking about small children. Who they get into their dynamics with those friendships with teachers. They get to know the building even and they’re happy there.”
For middle and high schools, there are some lines being changed by the lake, helping Muns’ situation.
“My girls have to catch the bus at 6 a.m.,” she said. “Which is you know, it’s fine, but there’s days where they have to be down at the end of my dark driveway at 5:50 in the morning and just to catch the bus because and they’re the first ones to get picked up. And I believe the last ones to get dropped off because we are on the outskirts of Harlem. We’re not even in Harlem. We’re in Appling, and we’re on the dam so we’re on the outskirts of town.”
Greenbriar is less than 10 minutes away from her right now, compared to the 30-minute drive, at least, to Harlem.
“I’ll just have a lot of peace of mind knowing that my girls aren’t driving across town to get to school and all of that heavy Amazon traffic and everything else, versus just taking a straight shot to school, you know, 10 minutes down the road,” Muns said. “I haven’t said anything to them about this yet because it’s still kind of up in the air but I think they’ll be really excited to be able to go back to their home school.”
If your interested in attending the next meeting, here are the upcoming dates:
- November 7 at Martinez Elementary School
- November 9 at North Columbia Elementary School
- November 14 at the Columbia County Board of Education building
The county will look to approve the final plan during the last meeting.
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