Doraville United Redistricting – Round 2

DeKalb Schools is conducting Round 2 of the Doraville United Elementary School redistricting meetings tonight at Chamblee Charter High School @ 7pm. The second round objective is to collect community input on the two presented redistricting options which are supposed to based on attendance zone criteria set in board policy.

PUBLIC REDISTRICTING MEETINGS

Doraville United Elementary Public Redistricting Meetings – Chamblee Charter HS Auditorium (7:00 PM):
• Round 2 – Wednesday, October 16, 2019
• Round 3 – Tuesday, November 19, 2019

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Doraville United Redistricting Round 2 Presentation
Elementary School Enrollment / Capacity Numbers – Oct 16, 2019
Redistricting Option 1
Redistricting Option 2
Option 1 Detailed Area Map
Option 2 Detailed Area Map
Chamblee and Cross Keys Cluster Land Use Reference Map
Doraville United ES Redistricting – Capacity History and Summary
Prototype Elementary School Capacity Report Analysis
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

FEEDBACK FROM ROUND 1
DeKalb Schools administration has created these options with the following feedback from Round 1 in mind:

• No more portable classrooms in the Cross Keys Cluster
• Keep Oakcliff Theme ES a choice school

UNUSED FEEDBACK FROM ROUND 1
DeKalb Schools administration heard the following feedback but decided not to incorporate it into the options:

Oakcliff Theme ES becomes neighborhood school
• Not presented in Round 2 options due to community feedback
• Other relief, such as changes to feeder schools, will be considered outside of the redistricting process

Move Kittredge Magnet to Doraville United ES and re‐open Nancy Creek ES
Kittredge Magnet Enrollment – 482 students
• Idea proposed by community in Round 1
• Potential to provide some relief to Dunwoody Cluster
• Not presented in Round 2 options due to failing to effectively achieve the District’s goal of relieving Cary Reynolds ES and Dresden ES

THREE REDISTRICTING OPTIONS
Note: None of the proposed options will affect middle or high‐school attendance areas, creating split feeder patterns. All the other prototypical elementary schools have a capacity of 1,030 to 1,080 students once they open. Seems likely that Doraville United ES will too once it opens.

Doraville United Option 1 Redistricting

Doraville United Option 2 Redistricting


OPTION 3 – Doraville United Elementary School with Kittredge Magnet


RELATED POSTS

Redistricting First Round Summary
September 30, 2019 – Amazingly overnight, the capacity of the new schools went from 900 to 950. The capacity of all other schools in the feeder pattern dropped by 5% – 20%.

Redistricting – Geographic Proximity
Austin And Doraville United

September 16, 2019 – According to board policy, recommendations for alterations in school attendance areas shall be primarily based on geographic proximity, school capacity; and projected enrollment. These schools will help alleviate overcrowding in the Dunwoody and Cross Keys clusters.

19 responses to “Doraville United Redistricting – Round 2

  1. For MES parents it seems pointless to move 47 (option 1) or 20 (option 2) kids to Doraville ES and break up a neighborhood (Sexton Woods) currently aligned with a school.
    I disagree that MES is overcrowded, what is the point of that disruption?

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  2. Stan,

    I count 852 in option 2, which is 90% capacity. Am I looking at this wrong? I do agree the lines are strange for option 2, but HES desperately needs relief. I for one am glad that they are “going against” normal policy and looking at the bigger picture. However, seeing how the new Doraville ES would still be under, why not give more relief to the overcrowding issue in our clusters?

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  3. Hello Callie. By my count, Option 1 redistricts 781 students to Doraville United ES and Option 2 redistricts 803 students to the new Doraville United ES (please check my math). All the other prototypical elementary schools have a capacity of 1,030 to 1,080 students when they open. I don’t see why Doraville United ES would be any different.

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  4. I added up the numbers in the bottom righthand box to get my numbers. Option 1 is: 867 and Option 2 is: 852. I see the numbers you are referencing, but then there is a difference in the amount of students from each school that will move to the new DUES. Strange.

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  5. Hey Callie, You’re counting all the students moving, but they aren’t all moving to Doraville United ES 🙂

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  6. Referencing Laptop Boy’s comment-

    Just to clarify-Montgomery Elementary IS overcrowded, and has been for several years now. And with new apartments nearing completion just down the street from the school, all forecasts suggest that it will continue to be enrolled beyond capacity. Stan, do you have those enrollment numbers handy that you could post for us? I think Montgomery is currently at 141% capacity with something like 821 students, and “capacity” is somewhere in the 700s.

    The map of current and proposed school boundaries is nonsensical and yes, absolutely looks gerrymandered. Why can’t an independent, third-party expert provide suggested attendance boundaries that allow all overcrowded schools some relief (the whole point of the redistricting and new elementary school in the first place) and have Dekalb work backwards from that proposal?

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  7. Hey S’s Mom, Sure …

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  8. @S’s mom

    MES is close to capacity but hardly overcrowded. Its not 141%. Agreed they have trailers but my kids were in them without issue. I am in the school weekly and don’t see overcrowding. In the last 7 years my kids class sizes have remained constant or gone down most years. In one grade they went up one year.

    I agree the boundaries are nonsensical. I would propose an expansion to MES to deal with growth in the area. Although I have not seen the exponential growth everyone is fearing. Lots of people move out of the MES zone each year due to increasing costs of housing, rent and taxes. Another consideration is that the economy may be cooling as well.

    See you at CCHS tonight!

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  9. 2 streets in Ashford park proper will now have to cross 3 major intersections to go to a school in Doraville?? This makes NO SENSE. Isolating 18 kids from their community?? If you’re going to redistrict – at least take a big chunk so kids aren’t completely removed from their communities. It’s gerrymandered everywhere. Kids living right next to schools don’t have to go to them.

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  10. I have a couple of questions: I see numbers for students living in “non-residential” areas… how do we account for those students? In each area, have they considered the students who are in German Immersion or Montessori programs who would stay at their current school? I agree with KL – these are 18 kids in Ashford Park who can currently WALK to school in less time than being bussed across major streets.

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  11. Capacity for Montgomery Elementary School is 664.

    https://www.dekalbschoolsga.org/documents/planning/2018/enrollmentreport-2018.pdf

    Montgomery, with approximately 820 students, is excessively over capacity. This enrollment report is from last year, but the statistics tell it all. The range is from 24% capacity (Wadsworth Elementary) to 135% (Ashford Park).

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  12. Looking at the DUES capacity numbers it looks like they are under enrolling in three ways:

    1. They are adding 100 to the initial capacity to address the “new school bump”
    2. They are using a 950 capacity for the school (even though the other schools built with the same model all have higher capacity) “to be conservative and ensure that a new school is not inadvertently overcrowded”
    3. Even with under counting capacity and accounting for new school bump students they are targeting 900 capacity at DUES instead of the stated capacity 950.

    Why are they under-enrolling the school by approximately 250 seats?

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  13. Ashford Park goes from 151% utilization to 147% utilization under Option 1 and Option 2.

    Montgomery goes from 132% utilization to 119% utilization under Option 1 and 129% utilization under Option 2.

    If these schools are OK with either option then I don’t want to hear another peep out of either of these too schools about overcrowding in the future.

    Two other things:
    1) The only enrollment figures we’re given are 2021. That’s only 1 year after the redistricting begins.

    What happens after that? I would like to think that DCSD Planning is looking out farther than just 1 year but I really don’t believe that. Will the trailers have to come back after 2021?

    2) I wonder how the demographics change with either of these Options. Seems to me that diversity is quietly being gathered in DUES.

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  14. If there were a group of parents/students ( roughly 150) currently disticted to Huntley Hills that wanted to advocate to be moved to DU then I could see a plan to alleviate overcrowding in Montgomery. Not sure who that group would be. Likewise, if there was a group in APES that wanted to move to JLES, then you could conceivably rebalance.

    The two schools being overcrowded seems to be the best option. It should be noted that the elected officials of these two districts are the first ones that created solutions to alleviate the overcrowding along Buford Highway for a problem that’s been there for the last 20 years.

    I think you will have to just listen to parents and taxpayers from those zones continuing to advocate for solutions for the residents of Brookhaven and the rest of Dekalb County.

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  15. Every proposal map the COO and planning department publishes demonstrates their incompetence. They are out-of-touch with what the community wants and with what is best for students and communities. The guidelines are spelled out: geographic proximity, capacity, intact neighborhoods, etc… They need to do their jobs effectively, and they need to consider the entire county.

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  16. @Disappointed, Agreed!

    Under Option 1, it is obvious from the map that the 18 Ashford Park students redistricted to DUES are farther from DUES than they are from Ashford Park!

    Was this just a token move to involve Ashford Park in these crazy moves, regardless of how little sense it makes?

    Was this a desperate attempt to find students to fill the 950 seat DUES?

    Was this a move to send a few students from a non-Title 1 school to DUES?

    Ashford Park has a German immersion program! Ashford Park is STEM certified! Ashford Park is indeed a neighborhood in Brookhaven, not in Doraville!

    The transferred students will probably have to ride from Brookhaven through Chamblee to get to Doraville.

    Oh my…..

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  17. kelly livingston

    It is preposterous that the maps propose areas D and E/F – it is in complete violation of board policy for redistricting – GEOGRAPHIC PROXIMITY – not to mention safety and traffic (E/F) would now have to cross 3 major roads and intersection (clairmont, chamblee tucker, Chamblee dunwoody) where currently they can walk to school without crossing any roads or intersections. How does 18 students make a dent? most of which are already in german immersion so not affected or go to private school. Same for the small section carved out of MES attendance in sexton woods. Come on Dekalb – this is just STUPID. I do think leaving DU under enrolled is SMART – there is so much construction about to happen in that area of north chamblee/doraville – if you start fully enrolled it’s going to very quickly become overcrowded. The communities of brookhaven and chamblee + city councils need to work with dekalb to find a win win solution for APES and MES communities to solve overcrowding but keep these communities together. Stan, I hope you oppose the current maps as they stand!

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  18. @Kelly – agreed on all points. If you look at section D, it pulls 20 kids of of MES and breaks up the Sexton Woods neighborhood AND makes those kids drive on Chamblee Dunwoody Rd past Chamblee High and across Peachtree Boulevard. The 2 things the policy sets out to avoid.

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  19. Can we have the map for Option 3?

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