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Hamilton County school board approves expansion of Normal Park Museum Magnet School zone

school-board-oks-expansion-of-normal-park-zone
school-board-oks-expansion-of-normal-park-zone

By Kevin Hardy 4 min read

photo Staff File Photo Normal Park Lower School

HOW THEY VOTEDChip Baker: NoEverett Fairchild: NoJoe Galloway: YesLinda Mosley: NoGeorge Ricks: YesDavid Testerman: YesRhonda Thurman: YesJeffrey Wilson: YesMike Evatt : No

Residents of Hill City soon will be included in the highly prized zone for Normal Park Museum Magnet School.

The Hamilton County school board voted 5-4 Thursday evening to affirm a 2007 decision and include the area of Bell and Spears avenues into Normal Park’s attendance zone. But not before plenty of discussion.

A Hill City parent and a parent of Normal Park students each were given 30 minutes to state their cases. In all, nearly 200 people — dozens on either side of the issue — packed the school board meeting room.

School board member Joe Galloway brought the Normal Park issue to the board last week, when members voted to hold a special meeting on the issue. The board voted in 2007 to include Hill City in Normal Park’s zone. But in 2010, then-Superintendent Jim Scales said the zone couldn’t widen because of an influx of parents moving into Normal Park’s boundaries.