Redistricting Affects City of Milton.

Courtesy Julie Zahner Bailey

February 2011

Dear Friends, Neighbors and Milton Citizens,

We have certainly experienced a variety of weather here in Milton the last few weeks. From snowstorms to surprising Spring-like days, each has had its silver lining. For those with school age children, the school board has announced the snow "make-up days". March 11 and April 22, which previously were days off for students, now will be instructional days for Fulton County schools.

As we move into February, I also wanted to be sure you had important upcoming meetings noted on your calendars. Of interest to many are the upcoming redistricting meetings dealing with the school attendance zones for the new high school under construction at the corner of Bethany Bend/Cogburn Road which is scheduled to open in August of 2012. The new high school is intended to help alleviate current overcrowding at Milton High School, Roswell High School and Alpharetta High Schools. As such, the new attendance zones will impact those attending all of these three area high schools and the feeder schools to each.

The redistricting process includes three meetings at which input from citizens is sought. The format for these meetings typically includes a presentation by school board members and redistricting staff, followed by break out sessions where citizens are put into smaller groups to provide input for the creation of possible scenarios for initial attendance zone draft options. There are specific criteria used in determining attendance zones; this criteria will be reviewed at the first meeting.

Each subsequent meeting then reflects input from the last with alternative redistricting maps and proposals presented for purposes of seeking additional citizen input. Modifications are then made based on citizen input in order to further refine redistricting options. Citizen involvement at each of these meetings is strongly encouraged. The dates for these important meetings are as follows:

• Wednesday, February 23
• Wednesday, March 16
• Wednesday, April 13

All meetings are from 7:00 p.m.- 9:00 p.m. and will be held at Alpharetta High School located at 3595 Webb Bridge Road, Alpharetta, Ga. 30005. Please use this link for additional information from the Fulton County Board of Education. Once finalized, new attendance zones will go into effect August of 2012 when the new high school is scheduled to open.

Beyond redistricting/attendance zone meetings, there are a host of City of Milton meetings scheduled for February. The right margin of this release provides the details of upcoming council meetings, Planning Commission, Design Review Board, Board of Zoning Appeals, MDAC, MGG and more. Please take note of those meetings and agendas for which you may have an interest and plan to attend. Your attendance and proactive participation in our community makes a tremendous difference. Please mark your calendars and plan to participate proactively in your community.

The City of Milton's annual report is now available electronically; please scroll down for the link to this informative document.

Thank you for entrusting me to represent you and your family's interests. I take my role as your City Council member very seriously and endeavor everyday to represent you with hard work, professionalism, focused analysis, attention to details, responsiveness and sincere care for our community on every front. Your input, questions and perspective are very important to me and I encourage you to contact me directly with any questions or comments.

All my best -


Julie Zahner Bailey
Milton City Council
404-310-6344 cell
770-664-5529
julie4milton@mindspring.com
www.julie4milton.com