Proposed School District Rezoning

I am a parent of a student affected by the proposed rezoning, which would put a major strain on not just my child attending school, but on the entire household.

I disagree with this rezoning for many reasons!

My child will have to leave the community he knows. Ardmore is 25 minutes away from us. The gas needed to make this trip twice a day in a truck would be ridiculous on one income. The alternative is a more than one hour long bus ride which I don't agree with. Our house value will be brought down. If we decide to move, no one will want our house if they have kids. No one wants to drive that far. This is the worst time to move if we wanted to be closer to Ardmore. Interest rates are sky high. The list goes on and on but these are our top reasons.

Re-Zoning idea needs to be reconsidered and really thought over before proceeding.

My kids have been in creekside since they have been in school I do not want them moved to elkmont

Better options than rezoning and not letting community know in the beginning of plans.

We have built our home and lives and children’s lives around this school district and community. It is devastating to think about my children being forced to go to school somewhere else. (Especially my oldest who has been at Creekside since kindergarten and is now in 4th grade and is the only one out of her friends that would have to go to a different school)

I have 3 children who are in the small portion of the Johnson/Ardmore area being rezoned for elkmont. My children’s grades are currently 9th, 7th at Ardmore and Kindergarten at Johnson. There are only 30 students or less in this area affected, three of them are mine. Our school at Johnson and Ardmore are not overpopulated at the time. Why are we moving these kids out of what they have always known to put new kids in? It makes no sense. I realize my oldest should be grandfathered in along with her sibling that’s at Ardmore but not my kindergartener. He will have to immediately move to Elkmont? Also, what happens to my 7th grader after my 9th grader graduates? Is she suppose to move to Elkmont in her 10th grade year? So now you are splitting family’s up? This is all a mess and poorly planned out. Do better, come up with something that’s going to work not just put a band aid on it for the problem for the moment!!

my property value will drop

My property value will plummet. I live 2.8 miles from East, but now would go 14 miles to school? While Madison and Huntsville kids stay? I graduated there, my kids graduated there, now they allow people moving here in another COUNTY, to boot the life long residents 14 miles away. NO ONE will even buy my property for what THEY appraised it for after this. This county needs EDUCATED BOE. These have no clue what they're doing until its an emergency, then they do something STUPID

I bought this house for my children to go to the creekside and East limestone. I have 3 kids one at creekside and two there in the middle school at EL. My kids would have to leave all their friends and believe me my daughter has struggled with making friends until she got to EL. This would be absolutely traumatic to our children, to all the children affected. It’s not okay and the fact I’m 2 min if even that from EL to go to a school 25 min away and that’s without stops and traffic is insane. I’m a working mother who busted her butt going to college to get the job I have to give my kids a life here and now what? I’ll have to be late everyday and leave work earlier every afternoon? Not to mention what if they get sick, I’m terribly far now considering. My youngest is on an IEP going through quite a bit right now and to move him, it would be a nightmare. This is not the option for this solution.

This does not directly affect me right now but will in the future as we have a 1.5 year old son. But it does directly affect several people we know who have purposefully bought land and build houses to be in a specific school zone and now they are being told they could possibly no longer be in that school zone. It’s ridiculous. It’s affect so much more than just which school a child will attend. Some people will have to drive 20 minutes out of the way to do to a different school verses a 5 minute drive. People reconsider this!

I want to stay at Creekside elementary. I do not approve of moving my child to elkmont!!

If we wanted to attend elkmont then we would have choose to buy a house and raise our family there but we didn’t. We choose east limestone for east not to move to a school 30 minutes away!

The decision to rezone school districts is understandable based on the population growing, but to just rotate kids around disrupting their lives is not the solution. These kids lives were already disrupted once before because of the pandemic and that caused issues academically, emotionally and mentally.
Having parents drive 30 mins to get the child’s proposed “new” school when they live 1 min from East is absolutely absurd!

The solution to overcrowding should be to build more local schools, not send our kids 13 miles away to a different city entirely.

Kids that live a few minutes from East Limestone school should not have to go 20 minutes to another school.

My son is in the 8th grade at east limestone high school and is wanting to graduate from there. We live 3 minutes from the school. Ardmore is 18 minutes from me. I have nothing against the school at all. It's just a distance thing for me. He is devastated that they are wanting to move him.

This is important to me because we moved out in this district to make sure that our child would go to the school of our choice. I personally feel that if there are so many new kids needing to go to a school, those kids are the ones that should be rezoned. I understand it has everything to do with bus routes and keeping it simple, but it's not fair to us or to our children! Not only that, but I do not want my children to have to change schools. I went to 13 different schools before the 10th grade and never had any friends and I was always envious of kids who Stayed friends with the same person from kindergarten to 12th grade. I would like for both of my children to have that luxury.

I believe we fall under the hardship law. Being that I'm only a mile and a half away from East limestone making it a two or three minute drive, and now I'll possibly have a 30 minute drive or so to ardmore, just doesn't make much sense to me. My husband and I both work so there is no way if she misses the bus that we will be able to spend an hour taking her to school or if there is an emergency, us taking 30 minutes to get there to pick her up. Among many other reasons I could think of.

Directly affected

My oldest daughter started at creekside and is going to graduate at East. I made it a point not to move my kids schools, because I was moved a lot as a child. Now, instead of putting them a couple miles down the road in Athens City, they want us to go all the way to Elkmont?!? It makes no sense.

* Impact on Students and Families:
* The proposed rezoning would disrupt the educational journey of my youngest daughter, a 7th grader at East, who has thrived in the supportive community of East Limestone School her entire school career.
* This change would force her to leave trusted relationships, teachers, and classmates, which will negatively impact her education and overall well-being.
* Lack of Transparency and Communication:
* The school board's communication about the rezoning plan has been minimal and lacks transparency.
* The absence of information in meeting minutes, news outlets, and communication through school channels has left parents feeling blindsided by the proposal.
* Illogical Rezoning and Practicality Issues:
* The proposed plan seems to lack practicality for many students and households, especially those, like ours, who intentionally chose and set roots in the community for its proximity to the school (< 3 miles vs the rezone school of 15 miles)
* The new zoning would significantly increase commute times, making essential activities such as drop-offs, pickups, and attending school events more challenging and time-consuming.
* Impact on Home Values:
* The rezoning may potentially impact home values for all homeowners in the area due to the distance from the zoned school, affecting the overall attractiveness of the community. The proposed zone’s southern boundary is the road we live on, which means we are now at the farthest point from Ardmore. Future homebuyers looking to buy in the East zone will not consider our house even though we are a stones throw away. And for those wanting the Ardmore zone, the house is as far away from the school as you can get.
* Historical Perspective and the Need for Improvement:
* Acknowledging that past generations may have faced similar challenges, I argue that this does not justify perpetuating such issues onto the next generation(s).
* We should strive for continual improvement, actively seeking solutions that provide the best experience for current students, especially in areas where we, as past generations, experienced difficulties.

I urge the school board to reconsider the proposed rezoning plan, taking into account the long-term impact on students, families, and the community. Let us work collaboratively to find alternative solutions that address the challenges posed by growth while preserving the integrity and success of our local schools.

As an alumnus of East Limestone High School, I support building a new school but not busing students to schools farther from their homes. It could be traumatizing to students and parents as well. Plans should have been in the works prior to this. I know this decision is not complete but please consider how upsetting this is.

My children are at East and have been their entire lives. We specifically moved here to attend East Limestone schools. I am an Ardmore alum and do not want my children there. I chose East and will continue to choose East.

We bought our house in 2020 so our daughter could start kindergarten at Creekside. She is now in the second grade and does not want to switch schools and lose her friends. We also rely on daycare to take her to school and pick her up in the afternoons. With the change this would not be possible and we are both working parents that have to be at work before school starts

I have a 7th grader who will be moved from her school at East that is 3 miles away to Ardmore that is 14 miles away. We chose this area based on what school she would be going to and now they are changing that instead of trying to solve the long term problem of overcrowded schools. In 3 years she will be driving and no way do i want her driving up HWY 251 everyday as a new driver to get to Ardmore.

The families who are affected by this rezoning are close to me. Seeing this decision be so upsetting for them is hard to just sit back and be quiet about this issue.

I live 7 minutes from east limestone high school and shouldn’t have to drive 30 minutes to Ardmore high

I do not want my kids moving 15+ miles away from our home town and our school.