Parents in an Atlanta neighborhood are pushing back against the education system and asking that a local school not be moved.
Woodson Park Academy was placed on a list of schools to be merged or closed down entirely in March of 2017. That was when the Atlanta School Board voted 7-2 to make the change as part of a "transformation strategy" across the system.
FULL LIST: APS approves proposal to close, merge schools
That night, Woodson Park was scheduled to enter a K-8 partnership with KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools for the 2019-2020 school year. This means the school is moving, not closing.
From there, free public charter school company will operate the school though APS stressed this would not make it private - and all students in that area would still be able to attend.
But the next school year would bring much bigger changes.
"It will impact the housing situation because the school includes a development in the surrounding communities," Rodney Mullins with West Atlanta Progress said.
Beginning in the 2020-2021 school year the original Woodson Park building would move the school to the Woodson Primary site where they would reportedly gain a new school building. The goal of the revitalized campus, APS said, is to give families comprehensive support with proven partners.
"When APS is responsible then the community has more input into what's going to happen," Timothy Freeman said. "When you start putting a charter school responsible, that's more private entity and we can not hold their foot to the fire."
With a YMCA location, an early childhood center and a health clinic, it sounds like a positive move from the outside, but not all parents and students are happy about the decision - something made evident by a desk full of handwritten letters.
"We have to empower these kids and give them a chance to express themselves," Freeman said.
Freeman's 10-year-old son and other students put pen to paper and expressed their feeling with heartfelt letters.
Parents said they're also concerned about their students being forced out of the new school if they don't test high enough.
Map services show the new location about a half-mile away down the road to the old location of Woodson Primary School at 1605 Donald Lee Hollowell Park.
On the education front, Woodson Academy has had a troubled history but had shown steady if not very slight improvement according to data released from the Governor's Office of Student Achievement.
In 2015, the school scored 47.7 on the Career and College Ready Performance Index (CCRPI) but increased to 51 in 2016 and, then, 52 in 2017. However, each of these were still considered failing grades according to state records. They were also well below the Atlanta Public Schools score and even further behind the state average.
The school was one of several listed as Turn Around Eligible in a state released published in November of 2017 - a list that replaced the previous "chronically failing schools" list.
The school has also been plagued by a 45.1 percent mobility rate - or the number of times students enroll and withdraw during the year divided by the number of students in the school in the fall.
Carstarphen had previously commented on the controversy that surrounded closures back in May of 2017.
“Yes, you might need to merge or consolidate schools so that five years from now you can plan for a renovation, adding another school back to a community and what would that school look like," she said. "What would be the appropriate grade levels and what would be the appropriate programming.”
Carstarphen said that it will "take years to do it" but added that she wanted to "change the conversation in a way that says we're being thoughtful about the kids we have today" so that APS can "fix some of the stuff we did in the past."
She said that students in today's school system had been victims of lower performance and low-quality education and that she understood the public concern about major changes.
“You can start understanding why they’re (parents) so circumspect, so untrusting, so concerned we’re going to make it worse if we don’t have a thoughtful plan," she said in the 2017 interview. "We agonize on that every single day.”
