The Naming Committee for the new Dunwoody Elementary campus is asking for input from our community to officially name the school site.
The site will serve 4th and 5th graders from Dunwoody Elementary. Due to the physical location (former Kittredge building), we are asking for input from Dunwoody and Chamblee cluster schools.
What are your thoughts about these three names?
- Dunwoody Elementary School Upper Campus
- Dunwoody Elementary School at Nancy Creek
- Dunwoody Elementary School Upper Campus at Nancy Creek
The survey will close Thursday, June 18th at 11:59 pm.
Survey: https://forms.gle/HziGqPnAux52DBW19
Nancy Creek Elementary School was built in 1970 and served the local community south of the perimeter for almost 40 years. Due to under utilization, in Fall 2008, Nancy Creek ES students were moved to Huntley Hills ES and Montgomery ES to make room for Kittredge and the high achievers magnet. Since 2008, the site has been named Kittredge at Nancy Creek.
In February 2020, DeKalb Schools administration recommended the use of Nancy Creek facility as a fourth and fifth grade annex for Dunwoody Elementary to provide temporary enrollment relief, beginning the 2020-2021 school year. The naming committee is requesting your input.
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Headsup…Brookhaven residents and officials might take offense to Dunwoody putting its name on a public facility that is located in the city of “Brookhaven”.
I think “Nancy Creek” should be part of the name for a couple of reasons: One, as a nod to the history of the school. And two, as I understand it, the name is still on the school building. Why incur the cost of changing signage for a facility usage that may, or may not, be permanent?
Also, I don’t know how much the “survey” will influence the committee’s decision, but I find it interesting that multiple responses are allowed. Seems I remember in years past when this sort of input was requested that certain school groups were rather aggressive in “stuffing the ballot box,” so to speak.
Why do you have 4 of the last 7 posts about the name of a school? There are sooo many more important topics to cover. What about the town hall for the new superintendent candidate? What about the budget cuts? What about the plans for back to school? What about the census? Any of these topics deserve more of your time and attention.
I’m not DES patent. Kittredge Magnet School in ON the school and ON the marquee sign by the street. Nancy Creek is only on the street sign where the school resides. I do like having Dunwoody Elementary and the original Nancy Creek name in the new school’s name. DE is important for cohesiveness as an annex to DES regardless of physical city location because the students attending shouldn’t need to break apart from their former school name, school colors, etc. (even if you don’t agree DES students should occupy the former KMS vs MES students). Nancy Creek is important for its physical location. We need to think of the students attending the school for right now. It the attendance lines change later, then rename it them.
Yeah, I need to post an article about the back to school plans. I just posted something about the budget cuts. The DES thing is time sensitive and easy to get out. I have a list of 5 to 10 posts I need to get out.
Can someone please calculate the total cost of this ridiculous renaming- marquee, signage, letterheads, etc? Why not revert back to Nancy Creek Elementary since that is the building’s actual name? And then Dunwoody Elementary staff can add a clarifier like “Upper Dunwoody Elementary Campus” on their correspondence much like Kittredge was called Kittredge Magnet School … line 2: for Gifted and High Achievers. Since this is temporary (or so we have been told), doesn’t it make sense to not sink a lot of money into this renaming since ostensibly, this school would revert back to a neighborhood school once Dunwoody is finished using it to alleviate the Montgomery and Huntley Hills and Ashford Park (aka Chamblee cluster) overcrowding?
@Mad Mom, I believe the plan is to use as much existing Dunwoody Elementary School stuff as possible … letterheads, etc … will all just say Dunwoody Elementary School. The site is currently “Kittredge at Nancy Creek”. I’m not sure what the plan is for name on the school or the marquee. Like you said, this is temporary. The new Chamblee/Dunwoody elementary school should open around Fall 2023. At that time, the Nancy Creek location will either open up as an elementary school or be rebuilt … it has low scores on the Facilities Condition Assessment report.
Stan,
Do we have a location for the new elementary slated to open in Fall 2023?
Hello @Julie. The administration is moving forward with the Shallowford site at 4680 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd. The school district already owns that property. If they were to buy land somewhere, that would extend the timeline by a year or two.
So basically Dunwoody/DES gets relieved of their overcrowding, while Brookhaven schools are more over crowded than DES. Then Dunwoody cluster gets ANOTHER brand new school. They are kind enough to give back OUR neighborhood school after getting their new building. And finally after another 2-3 years Brookhaven gets to fix overcrowding with our already old and crumbling schools. Sounds like a great win for Dunwoody. Sure wish someone would advocate from Brookhaven. Cheer for Dunwoody on enjoying your ample space and new facilties. At least Ashford Park got your cast off bathroom trailer. We are thrilled as you can tell.
@DoneWithDcsd, I agree. I’m not happy with the current situation. I fought hard to open Nancy Creek as a traditional elementary school. However, the Shallowford school will open in 3 years and will serve Chamblee and Dunwoody. As I have explained before, and I’m happy to go into more details …. The chamblee cluster community made it clear at the redistricting meetings they didn’t want to be touched until they were fixed. You and I know that’s not fair the way they were painted into a corner, but that’s how it went down. I tried to explain to the Superintendent, but the administration was moving a thousand miles an hour when she took office at the end of last year. They didn’t want to redistrict for Nancy Creek now and redistrict again in 3 years for Shallowford. This isn’t how I wanted it to happen.
Stan,
Any info you can let us know about the Shallowford school?…..Capacity? Configuration? Boundary lines? I always heard the site was too small for the elementary school model that DCSD preferred. Thanks!
Hey @Dave, The school district is getting an A&E (Architecture and Engineering) firm for this project that will be able to give us these answers.
Any update on progress for the Comprehensive Master Plan? I’m under the impression that nothing is going to happen with overcrowding throughout Region 1 until that is completed.
My understanding is the CMP will be finished at the end of 2021 calendar year. Elementary school overcrowding is being addressed with new construction. The CMP will give us some guidance in how we are going to address overcrowding in middle and high schools. The CMP doesn’t have to be 100% complete to start drawing guidance from it. If we redistrict, that usually goes into affect in August.
Stan
Please stop referring to Chamblee/Dunwoody as if they share the same attendance zones and facilities. Regardless of how you want to spin it, DCSS isn’t building a new school on Shallowford Road for the benefit of Chamblee. The additional capacity offered by that facility will be hardly sufficient to address Dunwoody’s needs.
@PSDad, Why do you say the Shallowford elementary school won’t serve Chamblee? 1. I full expect the new elementary school going in at the Shallowford site to serve the Chamblee and Dunwoody cluster. 2. To your point, there still will not be enough elementary school capacity in Region 1. Therefore, I also expect more elementary school capacity to be built.
Here is my utter frustration. Building a school at Shallowford basically means you will barely be able to pull any Chamblee kids over because we have other schools closer to all of our students than the potential new one!!!! So if the goal is don’t move kids twice and maybe we get a school at Nancy Creek eventually, the only kids getting Redistricting to the new Dunwoody side school are the same kids that turn around and get moved. How is that equitable and fair when NC could have been torn down and rebuilt immediately but trailers are only good enough for other schools’ kids to sit in and not Dunwoody kids. If anyone wonders why Dunwoody gets a reputation things like this are why…even though there are plenty of kind and practical parents in both clusters. DCSD has left us with absolutely no way to not move kids multiple times to address overcrowding. I understand infighting within a cluster with how Austin became the new location and frustrations with Redistricting. However, I cannot comprehend being OK taking a school from another overcrowded cluster knowing they wanted it and needed it to ensure your district gets its needs met. Chamblee cluster families were careful to to think of other schools in need during the whole process and it does not sit well to see that Dekalb has played the game of favorites. I will never forget this move by Ramona. I had hope in her and she blew that into pieces with such a typical Dekalb hasty, no real forethought decision to placate loud voices. I’m especially frustrated by the name Dunwoody in all options because if it were called The Upper School Annex at Nancy Creek at least MES kids could use it next year as well. But no, Dunwoody had to have every option with its name on it showing no compassion for families who also foot their tax bill share. Now with Covid I about cried trying to fill out the recent survey. What answers do you select about the confidence you have in your district being able to do anything to make school safe given they have no ability to do much of anything right. And our kids have no hope of social distancing at school now or the next numerous years without being bused away from their local schools.
Stan, since you and I were both involved in the last round of redistricting, you should recall that Montgomery ES (which is more overcrowded than DES) asked for Nancy Creek as an upper campus to relieve our overcrowding. We were told no way and accused of being selfish and spoiled. So after being told it was an impossibility, and given an option that provide marginal relief at much disruption to the community, we then said to leave us alone until an actual fix could happen. That has now been used against us as the basis to give DES exactly what we asked for in the first place and were told we were crazy. The survey comments are public and there is overwhelming push by MES for Nancy Creek as an upper campus. We now are dealing with COVID-19 in the context of a school that is nearly 300 kids overcapacity and while every other elementary school is getting quad trailers we are not and are stuck with the regular jo bathroom trailers. It is clear that MES is simply put getting screwed and our children will suffer but DES will be able to practice social distancing since Nancy Creek will only have 2 grades in the whole building. I am beyond frustrated by this bait and switch.
Stan – I am frustrated by the comment above regarding the Shallowford site serving chamblee and dunwoody students and THEN Nancy Creek being reopened or rebuilt. How does this help the Chamblee cluster now given that the families closest to NC are the same ones that will be closest to the Shallowford site school? This almost guarantees the same families will be moved multiple times or that the Shallowford site really isn’t for chamblee and dunwoody students (which seems to be the most logical theory). And for many families it makes no sense that they would get redistricted to the Shallowford site from MES when NC, HH and even AP are much closer than crossing 285. I was really hoping that movement wasn’t going to begin on this until the CMP plan was completed and the new Superintendent had a chance to learn the history – which again has seemed to be rewritten to say that chamblee didn’t want to be moved until their was a clear plan when it is documented publicly that our first choice was to use NC as an upper campus! We only changed our feedback when we were told multiple times that NC was not a feasible option and to move on.
We need to maintain Nancy creek in the Chamblee cluster. We are overcrowded as well and Chamblee and Huntley Hills both have kids in trailers. Why are we busing kids into other districts during Covid? Why haven’t we use this time to get is Nancy Creek ready for kids that could walk there. MY kids could walk there. This plan is asinine and needs to be re-thought. We redesigned how school was implemented within a week last school year. That shows we can do the same with East Nancy creek.
My thoughts are simple Stan. Dekalb County School District has never and will never care about the needs of North Brookhaven and the Montgomery Elementary Community. When we asked to leave us alone, it because we didn’t think you had truly listened to our needs versus other areas (Dunwoody) in the region. You repeatedly put us into situations where we expressed our frustration only to have our own words used against us. The fix was in at the beginning. To DCSD, you see us as less valued. And in an era where the premise of movements like #BlackLivesMatter is to ensure all are at seen as equal, you and the rest of DCSD have failed repeatedly.
It is up to future DCSD leadership to prove me wrong. I’m tired of trusting y’all and being betrayed.
@Scott Raven, Don’t lump me in there with “y’all”. I had numerous meetings with the Superintendent where I tried to get her to open Nancy Creek as a traditional elementary school.
The only thing funnier than reading all this Chamblee revisionist history is the fact that Dunwoody – even though they didn’t ask for it – got the selfish school option that ME parents were so hot for. God, what a kick in the gut that must be. The great ME faction didn’t want to be bothered with the diversity at HH and didn’t want anything happening to their upper crust mix. So they said no thanks. Then Dunwoody gets just what ME was wanting. OMG – too funny…
@ME Revisionist History, I am glad you find it funny that the Chamblee cluster remains majorly overcrowded while the one viable building in our cluster goes to DES. What a big person you are to take pleasure in the fact that children at MES will be packed into a school like sardines during a pandemic. Under any prior redistricting option MES remained significantly overcrowded. The only real option for overcrowding for MES was the reopening of Nancy Creek. I fail to see how asking for actual relief from overcrowding is selfish. Don’t know what happened to cause you to have such animosity towards a school full of elementary children but might be time to do some self reflection when you are getting joy out of something that hurts the children of our community..
@ME Revisionist History, I find your comments very short sided. First, all survey comment is public record so feel free to take a look at how MES tried to work with the district throughout each round. Second, many families were/are not against HH. For many they have a personal connection to MES given the time, volunteer hours, etc. they have given to the school. To them it wasn’t that HH was too diverse it just wasn’t the school they had been a part of and I think anyone who has invested time into something whether it be a school or something else feels a connection. That being said though, for others while there may have been some fear of the unknown initially, many MES families toured HH and spoke very highly about the school after. You can even watch one parent’s very positive comments in the January board meeting public comment. There were some some families who even advocated for going to HH after learning more. And there was a push to move more MES students then just what the district proposed to HH. Diversity was a positive factor to many, as well as strong leadership, etc. The main issues that still remained overall through were 1) the district was splitting an established neighborhood zoning some to HH and some to MES and 2) the movement was still a temporary fix until a new school in the area would open and then families would likely be rezoned again. If NC either reopened as a traditional school (it could have drawn from HH and MES, etc). Or even an upper campus for MES could have opened other space for additional families from other schools. All this to say – just moving a part of a neighborhood to HH was not going to solve the problem. In terms of creating more diversity among the schools that could be done by redrawing all region 1 district lines (which the district wasn’t willing to do either) and made it clear they were just moving kids from here to there with no overall plan. Hopefully the CMP will help some with creating more diversity and equity among all the schools. Before jumping to conclusions and squealing in delight at a neighborhood school going to dunwoody maybe you schools get to know more of this “MES upper crust mix” you speak of.
Stan,
About 4 years ago the county announced plans to renovate CHES and increase its capacity to meet the enrollment needs of the area. What happened to that idea? CHES site is quieter and more suburban than Shallowford site which sits close to a large commercial district and seems inappropriate for a school site. Also, the CHES site is quite large.
On another topic: split schools should be avoided or prohibited. Having a new ES serve students from different clusters who then go on to different MS’s is not optimal and unhealthy when kids make friends but don’t see them at the MS due to split. It is a weird concept.