Update: Food Lion Among Potential American Heritage Academy Sites

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Co. is foreclosing on , the Sixes Road private school that serves more than 300 students in prekindergarten through 12th grade.

A listing in today's (see the top of Page 19E) indicates that American Heritage Academy is $12 million in debt.

"This is the best way to write off the $12 million debt," Parvis Nikkhoo, the school's development director, told Canton-Sixes Patch after a brief video interview this evening.

Richard and Lori Haigwood live in BridgeMill and have three daughters at the school. Stephanie and Rachel Haigwood are in sixth grade and Nicole Haigwood is in eighth grade.

The Haigwoods spoke with school administrators for several hours this morning after receiving a "very legal" document via email Thursday night.

They were told that American Heritage will remain in the Sixes Road facility until the end of the year.

It will begin the 2011-2012 school year in a new location, possibly a Food Lion under construction on Bells Ferry, Nikkhoo said.

Enrollment at the school is somewhere between 325 and 350 students.

The school had tried for 600 students, but Richard Haigwood said the school is just a victim of bad timing and a bad economy.

He said he wants to give the school until April 1 to find its new building before he decides what to do with his three daughters' schooling.

He is trying to "stay positive."

"Having a good private school in the area is just as important as having a good school because it attracts business," he said.

Canton-ga.patch.com will continue to follow and update this story next week.