SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS) is looking to rezone its districts, Phase 1 of the Long Range Facilities Plan.

Parents of students who attend Gould Elementary attended a community meeting at a local church on Tuesday night. Several community partners, teachers, and school staff were also in attendance.

Alexis Crawford, President of the Parent Teacher Association for Gould Elementary, says many of the parents feel like they were misled.

“Parents that had previously been to other meetings were under the impression that a Gould Elementary was going to move to the K-12 school that they were building,” Crawford says, referring to the newly constructed Groves School.

That plan received widespread support, according to her.

“Now [parents] have concerns because it appears that none of the kids will be moving to [Groves] unless they were administratively placed.”

According to a map from the school district, the almost 930 Gould students will be divided between New Hampstead K-8, Butler Elementary, and Haven Elementary.

Parents’ concerns also include transportation to these schools and the quality of education there.

“So, there is a plethora of concerns,” Crawford says. “A lot of parents are thinking that they were misinformed or left out of the loop, concerned that teachers, staff, the principal… nobody was involved in this new decision.”

Crawford says Gould will be closed and repurposed into an IT building for the county.

“Parents are just not understanding… if you’re going to spend the money to repurpose [Gould] into something else, repurpose it to be able to send those students back to where they call home.”

A petition has received over 800 signatures as of Wednesday evening.

“We understand that Gould is not the only school that is pending the closure at this point, but Gould is a really big family,” Crawford says. “We’re just trying to make the community aware that this is happening and that maybe your child’s school is next.”

Organizers say they will share the feedback from the community meeting with the school system. Crawford says parents have been put on the agenda to speak at the next school board meeting on December 6th at 2 p.m.

For the latest presentation from SCCPSS on the Long Range Facilities Plan, click here.