Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in editorials are those of the writer(s).  These views may not represent those of the adviser; of the Trail staff as a whole; of the Trail’s advertisers; of the administration, faculty or staff of McIntosh High School; of Fayette County Public Schools or of the FCBOE School Board members.

A partition for Everton residents being rezoned into McIntosh High school, if approved, will without a doubt, disrupt learning environments and provide no space for people in the halls and classrooms. McIntosh has the highest population out of all Fayette County Schools yet our building is the smallest out of Sandy Creek, Starr’s Mill, Whitewater and Fayette County High. McIntosh currently has 1,695 students enrolled, Starr’s Mill with 1,360, Whitewater with 1,387, Fayette County High with 1,368 and finally Sandy Creek with the smallest and least dense population holding only 1,188 students. That means McIntosh has 507 more enrolled students than Sandy Creek currently has enrolled.

School population 

Most residents in Everton are currently zoned for Sandy Creek – which they were made aware of before purchasing their houses. Although residents of Everton already knew this information or just failed to read it, nearly 400 signatures have been signed on a petition. This is a problem for current McIntosh students because the student to teacher ratio hasn’t stopped increasing with each passing year and anyone who attends MHS would agree that the halls and class sizes are a nightmare.

The fact is that students learn better in small groups. One McIntosh teacher who spoke on the condition of anonymity said she found a perfect equilibrium where kids participate and engage without getting intimidated when class has about 23 students. We learn better when we have more attention from teachers. Asking questions, having one-on-one talks to better understand material and even getting to know one’s teacher while building valuable connections is possible in smaller classes.

Not everyone’s questions can be answered, there are more kids struggling to learn or taking longer and students who never talk to their teachers all because our classes are already too full. If 200+ students had to go to our school our current student body would revolt and disapprove of this drastic enhancement to our already incredibly large population. 

We would like to know where the residents in Everton think this building could put 200 additional students? In almost every single class most seats get taken up. It’s impossible to expand the building any more because our plot space is now completely taken up by sports fields.

Also, are the people signing this partition willing to fund a hypothetical expansion to our school that doesn’t actually benefit us as a student body? School expansions are afforded through taxes and we doubt any parent wants to fund this project if Everton kids already have a school with more than enough space for everyone.  

Parking and Transportation

McIntosh already has problems with parking as there is already limited space for the students to park in the school parking lot. Many students have chosen or have to park behind a grocery store, Sprouts Farmers Market, across the street from the school because of the small space provided. Also many students are not willing and can not pay the prices for parking passes for their golf cart or car. These past two school years, especially with the construction of the new fields and new gyms, has made it even more difficult to deal with parking. This will also affect the traffic issue that is happening. Depending on what vehicle is used, getting in and out of the parking lot at the beginning and end of the school day already takes a long time. So, adding an additional 200 students doesn’t seem like the best thing for McIntosh. McIntosh can not expand any more due to the school being landlocked so there would be no space to add more parking spaces.

With this rezoning also comes the problem of transportation. With this new zone, we’d either have to find another bus driver or squeeze these kids onto a route that already exists. Neither of these options seem beneficial for McIntosh. According to The Economic Policy Institute, as of Sept. 2024, the school bus driver rate had dropped by 12.2% compared to Sept. 2019. This means that finding another bus driver would be a difficult task. To put these Everton kids on an already existing route seems like a rough idea too. On average, each seat on a bus can fit two high schoolers, so to add 200 additional students to McIntosh would make each seat fit at least three students. While most of these kids will be old enough to drive themselves, some students take the bus and other students don’t have cars nor golf carts.

Conclusions

McIntosh is a 5A school, currently ranked by U.S. News and World Report as 18th in Georgia’s high schools and First in Fayette County but Sandy Creek High is a 3A school, ranked 99th in Georgia High Schools so it absolutely makes sense why parents want their kids to attend McIntosh. Our school has a 94% graduation rate while Sandy Creek’s rests at 85%. Although the stats say very clearly our education is better here at McIntosh, it’s often ignored that we have such high scores because we have hundreds of more students to take scores from. All high schools in Fayette County are held under the same standards regarding academics. Individual grades are a direct reflection of the work one puts in as a student. Students enrolled at Sandy Creek have the opportunity to make just as high of scores as those enrolled at McIntosh. 

Adding 12.2% more students will only negatively affect not only the crowdedness but also the amount of tardies given to students everyday who are already struggling to pass one another in the halls, and in places students have to wait in line to get through narrow two-way doors to get from one side of the building to another, and adding more students will only compound this issue. Imagine an English class with 28 students and now add four more students to it. Where would they sit if there are only 30 desks?

McIntosh is already filled with more students than it should be.  If Everton residents’ children come to McIntosh, we can’t believe what would happen and what the school could do to accommodate them.