School Attendance Zones Procedure
School attendance zones are established for each Gwinnett County Public School, with the exception of special entities and other open enrollment schools serving students throughout the District. Upon the recommendation of the Superintendent, the Gwinnett County Board of Education shall establish and adjust school attendance boundaries as necessary due to the opening of a new school, a school addition, and/or the need to balance enrollment to improve
capacity utilization among schools.
Recommended changes to attendance zones shall be prepared by the Superintendent through the school redistricting process. The purpose of redistricting is to create attendance zones for new schools, optimize new and existing school building capacity to educate students, and to relieve school overcrowding.
The following criteria will be considered during the redistricting process:
- Preservation of established cluster feeder pattern
- Current and forecasted student enrollment
- School building capacity and capacity utilization
- School location and residential proximity
- Student transportation
- Identifiable boundaries including, but not limited to, rivers, major roads, railroads, commercial/industrial development, and parks
- Recognition, if possible, of neighborhood boundaries where amenities are shared
- Consideration of anticipated prospective changes in student population
The redistricting process is open and inclusive and allows for public input both in writing and in person. Staff may adjust school attendance zone plans throughout the process as needed based upon the criteria and feedback from the public.
The redistricting process will provide opportunity for public input in the following ways:
- Committees comprised of one community member and one staff representative are selected by the principal of each affected school. Members are charged with soliciting community input regarding draft boundaries provided by the Planning Department, summarizing this input, and if desired, proposing changes to the draft boundaries.
- Public input may be provided directly to the Planning Department in writing throughout the redistricting process.
- Two public hearings are conducted by Planning Department Staff prior to finalizing recommended changes to school attendance zones for the Board of Education.