AUSTELL - Hundreds of concerned parents and Austell residents packed into the Ewing Street Baptist Church on Tuesday night to hear the district's proposal to rebuild Clarkdale Elementary School, the school that was ruined by the September flood.

Following a Clarkdale PTA meeting, district spokesman Jay Dillon, along with Associate Superintendent Dr. Gordon Pritz, Chief Administrative Officer for SPLOST Doug Shepard and risk manager Sandra Elliott conducted a presentation much like the one offered to the school board Thursday night meeting, outlining several options for Clarkdale students and faculty.

As Pritz said Thursday, the district is exploring several, more permanent options for Clarkdale students and teachers. Since September, students and teachers have been divided between Compton Elementary and Austell Intermediate schools.

The first option is to not rebuild the school, and just absorb the Clarkdale population into several of nearby schools, somewhat like the current situation students and teachers are experiencing now. The second option would be to rebuild the school on the current Clarkdale site, at an elevated ground level.

The third, and seemingly most popular option among the district employees, would be to rebuild on a different site, adjacent to Cooper Middle School. The district already owns this land, and it has received mandatory pre-approval from the state to build on the site.

Preliminary plans for the project estimate that a new, larger 53-classroom school would cost the district $20 million.

While an overwhelming majority of parents seemed in favor of rebuilding the school, several parents were slightly concerned that the land near Cooper Middle is too close to the same flood plain that housed the old Clarkdale building.

During the comment section of the meeting, Clarkdale parent and flood victim Debra Rodriguez said through tears that she wanted the district to take special consideration not to rebuild the school anywhere near a flood plain.

"It's crazy ... these kids don't need to be anywhere near where their school might get flooded," Rodriguez said.

She said she was skeptical of the plan to build near Cooper because she walked behind the middle school after the flood and even though the water didn't get as high as it did at Clarkdale, there was still a chance it might flood given harder rains.

Several parents echoed Rodriguez's concerns, saying that their children were still dealing with emotional wounds from the flooding, and even questioned the district about sending their children to school on Sept. 21, the day that Clarkdale flooded.

Many parents, including Cassandra Price, asked that the Clarkdale community be kept together - unlike the division among students and teachers now.

"I definitely would like to mention that Clarkdale is not just a school, we are a community, we're a family," said Price, who has a 4th grader at the school.

Among the audience were all seven school board members, and much of the central office staff, including Superintendent Fred Sanderson.

Pritz also summarized the funding sources to rebuild Clarkdale, reiterating that the district expects an estimated $10 million from FEMA, GEMA, insurance and SPLOST III dollars. But he told parents not to worry about funding now, and that they certainly would not be looking to them to foot the bill for rebuilding.

Pritz said in the next steps for a plan to rebuild, he would review the public's concerns and present the board with a firmer plan at its next meeting on Feb. 10.

Before the meeting, parent Russ Danser, who has been an active voice in the plans to rebuild Clarkdale and the surrounding community, spoke with the audience about a parent and teacher outreach project called Operation Phoenix. Danser said the project would serve as a coordinating effort between the faculty, parents and students of Clarkdale and the superintendent's staff.

Danser said through Operation Phoenix he will set up an e-mail list and Facebook page that will help keep parents informed and involved in the progress and further plans for Clarkdale.