Where are the kids?

APS Redistricting: Who Actually Goes To Their In-Zone Schools - East Atlanta, GA Patch
We looked at the numbers to see where the children of East Atlanta Patch actually go to school at the elementary grade level.

Not surprisingly, schools in better academic standing had higher attendance rates from in-zone students. Mary Lin Elementary in Candler Park for example, has 586 students zoned for the school, which includes the Inman Park and Lake Claire communities. Ninety-five percent — 560 students — of all kids zoned for Mary Lin attend the school.

In comparison, Ed S. Cook Elementary, a poor-performing school, has 458 students in its attendance zone, which includes Cabbagetown, Reynoldstown, Capitol Gateway, Summerhill, and a portion of Grant Park. But only 53 percent, or 245 students zoned for Cook actually go there.

There must be some missing factors here -- perhaps private schools, since APS only cares about those charter schools it hates so much -- but looking at the numbers as presented (difficult to read, impossible to save despite being presented in spreadsheet format), there may be a significant number of kids who aren't going to any school.

Assuming I'm wrong about that, the number of kids going to schools other than the one they're zoned into is still far larger than I thought it was. This shouldn't have surprised me, given the number of parents I found standing in line to request what was then called an administrative transfer back when I had kids of elementary school age.

What really surprises me, though, is that the other neighborhood Patches aren't running the same numbers for their respective areas. If I were the AJC, I'd consider assembling a "school shopper's guide" for about this time every year (because you should already be thinking about where your child will go next year).