Today is one of the best days Aragon resident Louis Arant said he has had in months.

“I’m outstanding,” he said, “I can go pick up my baby today.”

He said the ban against him going onto the Van Wert Elementary School campus was lifted this morning, allowing him to go pick up his daughter Julia, 5, when school lets out this afternoon.

Arant said the decision came after numerous telephone calls Monday between his attorney, Polk County School District Board of Education officials and himself.

The local father was given a criminal trespass warning from Rockmart Police Chief Keith Sorrells, which banned him from the school, Sept. 24 after Principal Sherrie Cox filed a police report.

Arant was on the agenda to speak at the school board meeting tonight and said he had mustered support from about 50 people, some public officials included. All of those people were planning on attending the meeting, Arant said.

He said the threat of a public discussion at a time when Superintendent Marvin Williams is under evaluation by the board played a large role in the decision to reverse the ban.

“Absolutely the public coming to the meeting has helped, certainly the public officials who were going to be coming as well,” Arant said.

He said a recent incident at Eastside Elementary School where police cited a father for cursing at the vice principal while trying to pick up his child also helped his case. Arant said the fact that parent was not banned showed inconsistencies in how the school system handles such matters.

School officials wouldn’t say exactly what Arant did to warrant the ban, but did state he was not threatening anyone, cursing, yelling, wasn’t carrying a weapon and didn’t have any physical altercation.

Arant said he believes the ban was a result of his persistence regarding changing the method of drop-off and pick-up at the school, citing safety concerns.

Van Wert has since changed the drop-off in the morning. Parents must now use a single lane instead of two lanes. However, Arant said he still has safety concerns over the two-lane pick-up in the afternoon.

“In the afternoon, we still have these babies running in between running vehicles and it’s raining today,” he said.

Arant said he has taken that issue to the Georgia Department of Education, which promised to look into it.

Arant said he believed, after hiring an attorney, that his ban wouldn’t have been upheld in a court because the school officials’ actions violated his due process rights.