DeKalb Schools administration is presenting their final recommendation for redistricting on Monday. 432 students will be relocated out of Dunwoody Elementary School this Fall 2020.
Redistricting
The administration recommends redistricting approximately 102 students from Dunwoody Elementary School to Austin Elementary School. No changes to the Pleasantdale ES Attendance Area or any other elementary school attendance area in the Lakeside Cluster are recommended at this time. The administration recommends populating the new Doraville United ES by redistricting 108 students from Hightower ES, 381 students from Dresden ES and 209 students from Cary Reynolds ES.
Address: 1663 E Nancy Creek Dr
Nancy Creek – 4/5 Academy
The administration recommends providing temporary relief to Dunwoody ES by moving Kittredge Magnet to the Former John Lewis ES. Moving Kittredge Magnet to the Former John Lewis ES site will allow the Nancy Creek location to be used as a 4th & 5th grade annex (AKA 4/5 Academy) for approximately 330 students from Dunwoody ES until more permanent relief can be provided to the area via a new elementary school.
The Superintendent has commissioned a sub-committee to design the logistical plans for the move. Included among the tasks of the Logistics Team is to identify siblings who will be at both Dunwoody ES and the Nancy Creek 4/5 Academy to provide accommodations for parent pick-up, as well as transportation.
Related Blog Posts – Articles leading up to this announcement
January 17, 2019 – Nancy Creek Elementary – Immediate Relief For Dunwoody & Chamblee Clusters – Superintendent Tyson is taking a second look at moving Kittredge back to the old John Lewis ES site and opening Nancy Creek back up in Fall 2020.
January 16, 2019 – Dunwoody Elementary School – Redistricting & Utilization – The biggest concern articulated by the DES PAC is that the most recent redistricting proposal does not relieve overcrowding robustly enough.
January 15, 2019 – Removed SPLOST Projects & GO Bond – ESPLOST V projects were way under estimated and left the school district $166 million over budget. $93 million of the budget deficit comes from new facilities and additions.
January 14, 2019 – Redistricting Round 4 – Among the many challenges DeKalb Schools faces, redistricting elementary schools in North DeKalb is one of them. This is the administration’s Round 4 recommendation to the board.
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
Any thing happening on the behind construction. Does the school system check these companies to see what and how they work is finished. I honestly don’t think the county can do anything correctly. Brother a friend or family member’s company. Anything new on superintendent search?
No No Not lately though.
So now instead of moving 100 more children from DES to a school with open seats, you are disrupting over 400 children AND splitting up families?!?
I have heard that the John Lewis building didn’t fit Kittredge when there were just 6 classes per grade level, and now there are 8. One of the draws of the magnet program for our family is the smaller class size. Will this change if the building physically doesn’t have classroom space or are we just going to stick these kids in trailers and move the problem around, all while leaving Austin with empty seats???
@ Unknown — It is actually closer to 800 children (330+ DES kids and 480 Kittredge) who are getting displaced to avoid filling up Austin.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry- this is a plan that literally no one affected wants. How unfair to decide this at the 11th hour with no time for the community to react. All to avoid moving another 100 kids up to Austin? What about the Chamblee cluster? Not only do they not get any relief- their neighborhood school is given to kids from a different cluster? Why does this need to happen for the 2020 school year with no time for proper planning? What does this mean for the Kittredge program which doesn’t fit at John Lewis? Not to mention the fact that the school choice deadline is today- what about all of the parents applying (or deciding not to apply) for the magnet program who have no idea about this location change? @stan- I certainly hope there are some very serious conversations happening around building new school(s) very quickly.
To Unknown: Austin will be at capacity in August. This plan is not designed to shuffle kids so “Austin can remain under capacity”. What a ridiculous statement. This plan is to try to alleviate the overcrowding all of Chamblee, Brookhaven and Dunwoody are feeling. I understand families will have objections to it, which i may also agree with, but in no way should Austin parents be the scapegoats every time DCSD proposes a plan people don’t like. Displaced families can thank DES parents for their screaming and temper tantrums about the “high growth” areas they needed to dump.
@ Corrected Math- Austin will be at capacity in August. This plan is not designed to shuffle kids so “Austin can remain under capacity”. What a ridiculous statement. This plan is to try to alleviate the overcrowding all of Chamblee, Brookhaven and Dunwoody are feeling. I understand families will have objections to it, which i may also agree with, but in no way should Austin parents be the scapegoats every time DCSD proposes a plan people don’t like. Displaced families can thank DES parents for their screaming and temper tantrums about the “high growth” areas they needed to dump.
Wow. Just wow. Put this out on a Friday before the vote on Monday with no time for parents to react or respond. Typical poor planning by DeKalb county school board. Does anyone win with this proposal?
Stan — can you comment on the field at Nancy Creek. Current KMS students don’t use it (or the playground) for PE. It seems that the field is owned by a soccer program, or maybe leased to an outside program? Will DCSD at least “reclaim” that field for student use?
I’m not a big fan of this plan either but it was discussed at the last board meeting. I think Stan wrote a blog about it.
@ stop blaming AES — I’m not blaming AES. I’m blaming DCSD. Every Austin parent I’ve actually spoken to about redistricting has been exceedingly reasonable. Many in my round1 breakout room agreed that austin needed trailers to even out the overcrowding, which impressed me as a genuine and thoughtful gesture. But even DCSD does not predict that Austin will be at capacity in the fall. They do predict that Austin will be at capacity in 2021, but only if their capacity is 950 (similar prototype school are more) AND if a 100 student new student bump emerges AND the expected organic growth happens — they think that hotels in the area are going to all of a sudden start sending elementary kids. Truly not blaming AES. Blaming a short-sighted DCSD for planning to move an insane number of kids (more than are even enrolled at some Dunwoody elementary schools!), yet avoiding filling Austin for the fall and avoid the possibility that austin might have a trailer before the 2023 school gets built. They are protecting Austin at the expense of a bunch of kids. And this plan does exactly zero to help the overcrowding in chamblee and brookhaven that you reference. I’m certain that the Ashford Park and Montgomery parents will (rightly so!) have huge objections to this plan that does not address their overcrowding.
Why is this just now being placed out there? We are told Kittredge relocation is not on the table only to find out the board is planning to vote on it in 3 days. How is this good business? How is this what’s best for kids? Why is DCSD pushing forward with an “idea” without any real planning or thought as to how it will be accomplished? This is our leadership? People plotting and scheming behind the scenes and then throwing it out there before anyone knows what’s happening? All those for this move on 2020, maybe stop and think about how ludicrous it is to run head first into this without any planning. How would you feel if your kids were being relocated but no thought went into it. Why not just take a whole group of kids from any of these overcrowded schools and move them to the rundown Old John Lewis building? Why? Because none of it sounds reasonable. The whole idea is rushed and full of holes.
It is absolutely intentional that this was dropped on a Friday afternoon before a Board meeting. My guess is this has been planned for weeks. Anyone want to help pay for an open records request!? I’m in for $25.
DES at least gets badly needed overcrowding relief, but the devil is in the details. What about specials teachers and school-wide events. Does the PTO now have to support two campuses. And of course the added completists of having elementary age children at two different schools.
This does nothing for Montgomery and Ashford Park. I can’t wait to hear from them. I Expect them to be livid.
So disappointed and angry that 1- DCSD pretended to engage in community input and then ignored it all, 2- that changes of this magnitude (affecting multiple campus changes and a huge number of children) are only brought to light only one business day before the BOE votes, and 3- my rising K and 4th grade DES boys will be on separate campuses. That little blurb about siblings and transportation? I call BS. At least one of them would either miss part of the instructional day or have a much longer day so they could get transported to the other campus. Which means it’ll fall on Mom and Dad in an effort to keep the length of their days reasonable. Awesome.
I’ve been trying to be patient and give RT and Stan the benefit of the doubt and to remain hopeful that things could and will get better for our Dunwoody cluster. My hope was shaken a lot when RT announced (after ignoring all of the community input) that she’ll just move a few students and wait and let some consultants come and spend more time and money to figure out what we already know (Overcrowding in the north and under capacity in the south). Now?!? I’m done. I graduated from CHS in 1991 just before it had the magnet school. This disorganization, lack of planning, and not considering long term effects nor coming up with long term solutions? Nothing new here, folks.
For what it’s worth, I’m finally understanding what the VES community was saying all along. I’m really happy with DES as it is, aside from overcrowding complications. I’d prefer to keep both my sons at the same campus with trailers than have to be a victim of this logistical nightmare. Will the specials teachers have to commute? Will they hire an entire new cafeteria staff and set of bus routes drivers? Will there be two media centers? Which campus gets our amazing Ms Sanders (or will she be going back and forth as well?) What about school wide things like field day? My understanding was that the reason they redistricted DES last time was because the 4th/5th academy was a logistical mess all around. Can we not learn from our mistakes?
Stan, please help me understand why the administration would recommend this plan instead of simply giving Austin 100 more students on the west side of Ashford Dunwoody? Do you agree with this plan? I am really trying to understand why DCSD is making this WAY harder than it needs to be.
Stan – I seriously hope you aren’t planning on running for reelection because you won’t get one damn vote from the Chamblee cluster. You have continued to shit on the Chamblee cluster at the expense of Dunwoody during your entire term and this is the icing on the cake. You cowtow to Dunwoody parents and you couldn’t give a rats ass about the Chamblee cluster. We have all grown sick of both you and your wife and your Trumpian principles. You bow to the elites in Dunwoody and work to give them new schools while MES, AES, and HHES sit in 55+ year old buildings. I’ve never seen a politician give so much unbalanced treatment to one group over another. Its sickening. Chamblee, please vote this guy out. We’re all sick of his b.s.
How is austin opening in August at capacity? I thought they have around 750 enrolled? For a 950 school? And no trailers where every other school in dunwoody does? They do need to step up and take more kids. Dekalb has once again screwed the dunwoody, chamblee and lakeside clusters.
@Stop blaming AES – If Austin had an equal portion of “high growth” areas from the perimeter area, I think a lot of the screaming and temper tantrums would be resolved. 😉
Today we have learned more details about the plan that was introduced at the January BOE meeting and will now be voted on Monday at the February BOE meeting. This is not all new and is not deceptive. Using Kittredge (the Nancy Creek Elementary building) is not being suddenly dropped into the conversation. The particulars around how it would be used are all that is new. Looks like many are “outraged”, again, at the relief being provided by this plan. Rather than point fingers and blame at other schools, again, I would ask the DES PAC to take a look at it’s actions and their results. Relief was indeed coming to DES in the form of 102 students moving to Austin in Fall 2020. Even a Comprehensive Master Plan was coming – something to provide real, long term solutions that we all desire for the cluster, especially the middle and high school. But that wasn’t enough. Rather than just wait a bit longer, the DES PAC campaigned well for MORE RELIEF. TV news coverage, newspapers, petitions and more – quite the blitz – all demanding MORE RELIEF!!! They demanded “selective relief’ even, stating explicitingly the specific area they’d like to see go to another school. And now the plan to provide this – the highly demanded MORE RELIEF – is here. If you do not like the results of your campaigns and demands, be as outraged as you wish. But DO NOT blame other schools or parents for the results of your own strategies.
@Dunwoody Stan Strikes Again … I’m sorry to say that not everyone agrees with you. Have you observed historical performances of other DCSD board members?
The Jesters have set new standards for transparency and accessibility. To the degree that’s possible with their limited powers, they have tried hard to hold accountable the DCSD administration and board.
Lastly, this posting is informational with no stated commentary from Stan. Rather to assume, let’s wait to hear what he says and votes on this proposal.
@Outraged Very very well stated! Careful what you wish for. This provides DES the relief they so loudly demanded. Yes, it’s not what anyone had in mind. While I don’t support this plan, I agree that we are quite likely stuck with it because DES parents would not accept the plan to keep students with more relief coming after a plan was formed. They are certainly not the only overcrowded school, nor the most over utilized school, but are by far the loudest and most impatient group of parents!!
And Ben Greenwald with his “devil in the details”. Why do you presume this is an extension of DES and your principal and specials teachers and PTO will divide amongst two schools? It’s not all about DES!!!!!!! 330 kids from DES will not be the only students at this school. Hopefully HH and MES would also balance their enrollment and send 250-300 students there. Therefore, one would expect that this academy will operate as a separate entity and not share specials, principal etc with DES. But I can hear the next tantrum taking hold from the DES parents already. Please stop behaving so egocentrically. Please, please please stop. Now your wife is mad you will have to get your kids to 2 different schools. Maybe she should have muzzled you weeks ago. Again, careful what you wish for.
DES parents, you are getting the relief you so loudly and insistently demanded. Over 400 students will bring you right to 100% utilization. Instead of getting rid of the Carlisle you separated your own families and uprooted Kittredge. Maybe next time you will act in the interest of the community and stop being so self serving!
As an MES parent who has been highly engaged since day 1 on this, I am flabbergasted! It is like someone injected our leadership with a dose of even more insanity. One more year, just one more year to do a holistic assessment looking to the future, using real and credible data, and developing a COMPREHENSIVE (which equates to thoughtful and all encompassing) plan for our entire district was not a big ask. There is no excuse, no rational explanation, just Dekalb placating a loud and angry group at the detriment of everyone else. And the answer is not even going to placate parents outraged about crowding!!! It is stupidity!!! Why would MES not get to use a neighborhood school for their 3, 4 and 5th graders or get to redistrict half of MES to Nancy Creek to provide relief to Ashford Park (which is busting at the seems) and MES instead??? Do you know MES and Nancy Creek are in the same neighborhood and would logistically be the obvious choice??? Chamblee cluster parents are not too selfish to “share” a school in their cluster, but seeing it hijacked and basically guaranteeing that we will NEVER get a new school when everyone else pretty much has built one is beyond comprehension. This is so wrong and just takes us back twenty steps from the fragile progress we felt we had made with the simple ask of keeping our schools together until a logical answer could be developed. If this was your push, please just resign and walk away. Based on previous posts, I assume it was. Our dear friends at Kittredge have had no ability to plan for the future. Makes sense why all our neighbors are getting the heck out of Dekalb. Why can’t y’all just get it together already!!! It is embarrassing that I moved here for this show. Just so bad. And by the way, how are we doing on that audit???
I have met with Superintendent Tyson twice in the last couple months to discuss redistricting among other things. I explained to her in no uncertain terms that Austin ES should take more students. I didn’t find out until our meeting yesterday that Nancy Creek was only going to be used as relief for the Dunwoody cluster. Superintendent Tyson didn’t implement any of my recommendations.
@anonymous the way the proposal reads is that it is only providing relief for DES. No other students (from AES or MES or elsewhere) are moving to Nancy Creek.
And people wonder why those that choose to live in Brookhaven/Chamblee eventually go private or move….
You know what I’m tired of hearing? All the whining and completely self-centered comments from Dunwoody on this blog. News flash……Stan Jester is SUPPOSED to represent the Chamblee cluster too. But alas, we’ve been sold out for the betterment of Dunwoody schools. So, Chamblee is getting the shaft yet again, and quite frankly, we are sick and tired of it.
To Stan: I’m completely shocked and SO incredibly disappointed to hear about this recommended plan. Did you advocate for this? Did you advocate for using NC to relieve the Chamblee cluster overcrowding, or only for Dunwoody? Our group of hard working parents spent so much time with you on how the NC site might be used to relieve cross cluster overcrowding, but we’ve been completely ignored even though Nancy Creek is in our cluster, yet we get absolutely no relief. It’s unconscionable. When we brought up the 4th/5th split campus idea, it was quickly dismissed and then the Dunwoody folks railed us for even suggesting it. Now, they are getting exactly what we suggested. Who’s the hypocrite now Dunwoody?
@Stacey, As I’m sure you’ve noted, I thought Nancy Creek was going to provide relief to the Chamblee and Dunwoody clusters per my blog article:
January 17, 2019 – Nancy Creek Elementary – Immediate Relief For Dunwoody & Chamblee Clusters I didn’t find out until yesterday that the Superintendent didn’t plan on sending any students to Nancy Creek. I didn’t find out until today that the Superintendent wasn’t going to incorporate any of my recommendations.
@Stacey Godwin … Has it occurred to you that the redistricting plan is the responsibility of DCSD administration? The Board’s powers are mostly limited to approving or rejecting such plans.
At this point, why do we assume that Stan approves this plan? Have we considered that other Board members might outvote Stan?
Must we be so quick to target a scapegoat, possibly the wrong one?
If AES parents want to keep Austin under capacity, they should pay more taxes percentage wise. But they don’t. So why do all DES parents pay into all the taxes and help build basically a private school for AES parents? This plan is just completely arbitrary. I don’t even believe this is legal.
Why havent DES parents filed a lawsuit?
@AngryDES your ignorance is comical! We actually do pay more taxes because homes in AES are assessed at a higher value than homes in DESs. But that isn’t relevant. AES parents are not opposed to taking more students and have said we would welcome anyone. A far cry from DES parents that are desperate to unload the Carlysle and other “high growth” “high density” and other euphemisms you have come up with. To answer your question, I suspect no lawsuit has been filed since you could find yourselves being found guilty of discriminatory behavior. DES needs to stop having it out for AES parents. And I agree that I think MES and KMS parents are the real losers in this new proposal. But DES can only see how this impacts them.
Stan, I am curious to know what your recommendations were? Can you share them here? Are you inclined to approve this plan at Monday’s vote?
Stan please rename Nancy Creek to Donald Trump Academy
This 4/5 Academy will make a Zifference! The 4th 5th graders get to mature quicker, away from the barely-potty trained kids.
@AngryDES, Austin parents as a whole do pay a lot more in taxes than DES. But that’s not really a factory in any of this. The truth is that the loud mouths at DES come across as whiny pain in the ass parents. Me me me. Just like toby keith said. DES people still
Mad they ain’t at Vanderlyn. LifeisGoodinDaWood
@Stacey, I’ve always thought Austin should have more students and that Nancy Creek would provide some relief to the Chamblee cluster. Ms Tyson did not implement any of my redistricting recommendations.
@DonewithDES and @LifeIsGoodInDaWood I guess paying more in taxes is a factor because you both feel it is important to tell everyone you pay more. But it really doesn’t matter.
DES wants more apartments and overcapacity at Austin, nothing else.
Common Sense, @DoneWithDES and @LiefIsGoodInDaWood were pointing out that someone at DES was miscalculating the delta in property taxes between somebody at DES and somebody at AES. @LifeIsGoodInDaWood might be a moron, but he can at least apparently compare property values.
@Commonsense Bob is correct. I did not bring up what I pay in property taxes to gloat that I pay more taxes (has anyone ever been happy about that), I merely used one sentence to respond to AngryDES’ comment that we should pay more property taxes. I like to correct misinformed statements when I come across one
I’m a DES parent and I’m happy about the proposal. The real story is there’s a group of parents who advocated to move a as many students out of DES. The first 3 maps accomplished that and were mostly fair. The group if parents and PAC unfortunately became greedy and continued to push for more relief, writing letters, submitting their own maps which split up neighborhoods etc. Mind you the district had a fair process which included community meetings and surveys, but the PAC began speaking for the community . They didn’t care who they were affecting from their own community they just wanted more and more kids to be moved. You didn’t see this from other schools..they advocated to stay together because they had a sense of community. Little did the PAC know, we as affected DES parents, that got tossed out into the cold organized and did our own campaigning. I’m hoping that’s part of what stopped map 4 from happening. The end result was the district doing the right thing and moving 102 children (who reside closer to Austin) to alleviate over crowding. That’s still alot if lives that will be affected, but the PAC and a handful of loud parents were upset and wanted more. They started a change.org petition, which quite frankly is baseless when you can use multiple emails to sign up with…again they didn’t care who they affected, they just wanted to get to a number. Now we are here, and the proposed solution is getting us to that number…and we are ALL getting affected. I couldn’t be more happy about his.
And Kittredge gets a building that needs a high number of trailers and tons of work …after upgrading everything in the Nancy Creek building – including painting all public areas, building a courtyard (with grants and Scouts) and playground (with their own funds) and making it a sweet special place. Just a reminder that it’s tough for all stakeholders.
@Kevin thank you for the inside perspective of what has been happening amongst DES parents. You are absolutely correct that those of us on the outside had no idea. We assumed Ben Greenwald who has been greedy and vocal and the PAC represented the DES community. It is encouraging to know there is a group of parents at DES that spoke up for the good of the community. Thank you!!!
Just a question as it stands right now does Austin have any apartments? My understanding (I know you will all correct me if I’m wrong) is they have half of a complex located behind Chili’s on Ashford Dunwoody Rd. The proposal that Tyson was to make was they would get the rest of that apartment and the right hand side of the firehouse stop on meadow lane (correct)? Why would the left hand side on meadow lane continuing up mount Vernon pass chick Fila be zoned for DES It’s closer in proximity to Austin and you practically pass Austin and Vanderlyn to get to DES that is busting at the seams. Why is that if Austin will have empty seats? DES is trying to bring a grade level in the building. Let’s face it Austin if this was your School you would be fighting for better conditions as well. Here’s hoping your kid never has to eat lunch at 10 am, walk-in and out of the rain several times a day to change classes , eat, dismissal or that they can’t see the active board because the trailer is so packed. So two more years may not seem bad for you but we have been overcrowded for years. So yes we are upset over this plan. But it’s not about the ugliness you say. We want fairness. All school ‘s per dekalb county are based on proximity and diversity. Let’s make that happen!!!
Not greedy at all. I was fine with several of the options presented in October and November as they shared the overcrowding burden throughout Dunwoody. I’m grateful that there seems to be a willingness for DCSD to move quickly, I just think this proposal is a bad idea. While DES, Austin and the Nancy Creek facilities will be significantly under capacity, nothing is done fo relieve overcrowding at Vanderlyn, Montgomery, Huntley Hills, or Ashford Park. If I was a parent in one of those schools I would be pissed. Kids living across the street from Nancy Creek are going to have to go to an overcrowded Montgomery.
For what it’s worth, I think the Shallowford location is the wrong location for a new school. Part of the difficulty with redistricting is our elementary schools are too close together. More space between schools would make attendance zones more obvious.
Dunwoody tried having 4th and 5th grade at a separate school and it was unliked. Why do we think our experience will be any better now?
I encourage DCSD to be brave and actually redraw lines so that K-5 students can be kept together.
For what it’s worth I have zero respect for people who write on here and don’t post their real names. It’s easy to be rude when you are anonymous.
I think DCDS plans to withdraw lines and/or build more elementary schools and that’s why there is a RFP out for outside help in the process. I don’t think this 4th and 5th grade academy is a long term solution. They are looking for immediate relief based on all the DES whining especially after the 1/13 BOE meeting. Interesting to hear it’s not all DES that feels like this but squeaky wheels at DES, including the PAC point fingers too much at AES. KES and CES have old buildings with low facility scores but you don’t see them pointing fingers at AES every chance they get. It’s so wonderful that it’s not splitting up your 2 kids you care about in this process, or splitting up the principal and specials teachers { I wonder why I thought that was your concern} and instead it is the other schools.
Stan,
Does the board know how many trailers KMS will need if it moves? I just saw another board member’s post on Facebook that stated 2, but the KMS principal believes they will need 7. Just wondering if everyone has the correct information going into this vote.
Really? So what happened to returning the neighborhood school to the neighborhood? That should be the only reason to relocate a top-performing school (KMS) and all associated with it. Do we really need to revisit all of the issues with having a 4/5 academy. That didn’t work the first time it was an option in Dunwoody. When it was much closer in proximity then than what is presented now. I don’t have a dog in the fight at KMS, but this proposal seems very disruptive to a school with a proven academic record. I will go ahead and say that this seems to be a plan to cater to Stan’s core region at the expense of all others.
Melissa Schafastall, The board is told the new Kittredge (the Old John Lewis) will need up to $1 million in upgrades and improvements and 2 trailers.
How many 4/5th students are expected to attend from DES? Why on earth wouldn’t you want to include some relief for MES 4/5th students as well? Seems as if Nancy Creek has more than enough capacity.
Sequoyah Middle School – a building in much disrepair – has 44 trailers. A much greater percentage of its student population is in much older trailers. Let that sink in.
Kevin got it nearly correct. He only left out the part that J Redovian, who doesn’t even live in DES zone, is responsible for throwing gas on every school fire. He was impotent as a school board member, and continues his daily mission of trying to get revenge at Team Jester after his brutal defeat when Nancy crushed him. He didn’t even win Dunwoody. Now he screwed DES parents once again. The first screwing was when JIMMY made DES a 4/5 academy 10 years ago.we haven’t forgotten you JR, and DES never will. To the DES PAC, ask yourself why is Jim trying to tell you what to do, and has his involvement made things better or worse for DES?
@Katie May. Your ignorance is astounding. Austin was the most overcapacity school in the cluster out of AES, VES, KES, CES and year even DES. For over 5 years while the land swap and new school were built guess what? Our students had lunch at 10 am. Our students walked in and out of the rain to get to their trailers. And those lucky enough to be in the building we’re in open concept classrooms with no doors when we had level 3 lockdowns. And those in the trailer could smell the raw sewerage that shut down the playground for weeks at a time. Not only did they walk in and out of the rain, they navigated caution tape to get to their overcrowded trailer. Once inside the trailer they tried to breathe through their mouth while craning you see the active board. Oh and I forgot to mention the rats in the fifth grade hall. Please stop trying to paint AES as this elitist school.
The complexes you reference you do not “drive past”AES to get to DES, AES is nearly a mile beyond their route. But if the county decides to send those complexes to AES we will welcome them. Again, Ashford Chase is closer to AES than DES and has nearly 100 students. Why do no DES parents suggest moving that neighborhood? DES has been fixated and greedy with their plan for selective relief. The entire cluster can thank DES. KMS is being displaced, AP and MES get no relief despite losing their neighborhood school, and now DES will be at capacity although in a most undesirable way. Maybe now you can get on board with the need for a comprehensive plan?
Children all across the county spend years in trailers, this is not a plight unique to DES. DES parents are just far more impatient than other parents and nothing will make them happy unless they get to 100% capacity by losing their “high growth” areas.
The best plan probably doesn’t fully please anyone, something most of us acknowledged a long time ago. Can you please accept this as well?
I just did the math and without any new students coming into the cluster, post redistricting student populations should look something like this:
Austin – 810 students out of a capacity of 950
Dunwoody Elementary – 745 students out of a capacity of 950
Nancy Creek – 330 students out of a capacity of 550.
Vanderlyn – 668 students out of a capacity of 525
Montgomery – 782 students out of a capacity of 575
Huntley Hills – 529 students out of a capacity of 475
Ashford Park – 647 students out of a capacity of 502
*Disclaimer – this is based on current populations and does not include forecasted increases or decreases for August 2020. I would expect populations to rise at all of those schools over the next few years until a new school can be built for the 2023 school year.
This is really frustrating as a parent of two DES children. Making a proposal like this and then voting without any chance for people to speak in and respond seems irresponsible. Decisions made in haste to try satisfy loud voices never end up going well. It would be better to pause and take time to do this properly – even if it means going another year with the current situation. There may be other solutions that come to light given proper dialogue and assuming people might be willing to make accommodations. For example you could allow Dunwoody area parents to opt in to under capacity schools voluntarily – many live in between two schools and would be willing to make a shift. This might alleviate overcrowding until more permanent solutions could be implemented.
Ben, your disclaimer should also state that you are truly an idiot. The end.
Ari, the ship has sailed. “Proper Dialogue” is something DES doesn’t understand. Too many good folks sat on their hands as JimR and the PAC embarrassed your entire school. Your PAC letters and petition said all we need to know. Sorry, you sound reasonable, but these voices of reason were needed a couple months ago. Ramona is tired of DES parents. DunwoodyTalk nailed it – the Tiger Moms!
MES currently more capacity constrained than DES and is only projected to get worse through 2021. There is no reasonable way of explaining the decision to take a school directly within the MES attendance zone and hand it over to relieve overcrowding in the DES attendance zone. Is Tyson really this incompetent?
Whether you think Stan is biased toward one school or the other, the fact is he’s obviously not being listened to by anyone in the central office. I don’t know how long he’s had this position, but as a politician rule 1 is to learn how to get your ideas front and center. He obviously has failed.
Nancy Creek is a situation where the person representing Dunwoody and Chamblee should be leading the policy decisions, and by his own admission (and stated three times to reinforce his incompetence) “Ms Tyson did not implement any of my redistricting recommendations.”
But of course he will never state what his recommendations were. In a previous blog, someone asked if Stan would recommend the administration wait a year so they could work through bonehead ideas like this. He never responded, and never will.
For sheer incompetence alone, he needs to be voted out.
@Obviously Incompetent – you must not know how it works. For sheer cluelessness, you should be banned from speaking your mind.
LifeIsGoodInTheWood – Did you realize our kids are in Scouts together? Perhaps YOU should take the Scout Law to heart? I promise not to use you as an example of how not to treat others.
@Ben Greenwald, your math is seriously flawed. Austin currently has about 750 students. With the 102 they are taking from DES that will be 850. Then it will grow and probably end up close to 900. Still not at capacity in 2020 perhaps, but hardly nearly 150 seats empty.
And DES is going to lose around 700 students? The county estimates 330 yet you seem to have doubled that to try to prove your argument. Nice try. I agree it’s silly to leave empty seats at any of these schools, but Please stop fudging the numbers to try to make a point. We are all smart enough to do our own math.
I feel badly for the DES parents that seem reasonable and prudent. Their voices have been smothered by the loud impatient ones demand an immediate solution. We have a rash immediate solution. And no it isn’t good for anyone! Careful what you ask for, or in this case demand.
DES and Jim R campaigned secretly and heavily 10 years ago about switching the new DES to a 4th/5th grade academy. No one except DES wanted this. VES went along with it since DES is located near VES. Changing DES from 4th/5th back to K to 5 (which also allowed AES and CHES to go from K-3 back to K-5) was desired by most parents except DES parents who lobbied until the end to keep it as a 4th/5th academy. The narrative now is that DES parents don’t think that a 4th/5th school for relief for DES is a good concept – you loved that concept previously and were angry that the concept went away.
@Katie May – it is safer and faster to drive from the apts that you mentioned (Chili’s) to DES than to AES. From the apts: left on Ash Dun Rd, right on Ash Ctr Pkwy and DES is on this road on the right (Ash Ctr Pkwy name changes to Womack Rd). This is way easier, faster and safer than a bus staying on Ash Dun Rd and taking right on Mt Vernon, merging with oncoming traffic, taking quick/hard left to left turn lane, taking left on Ch Dun Rd at a major intersection with heavy oncoming commute traffic heading westbound, in front of the bus’s crossing path and the bus turning around to return.
Regarding Stan – Stan has put up a blog and is informing everyone on all issues. The blog allows everyone to comment – I have learned a lot reading everyone’s thoughts as they educate/inform all of us. This is preferable to no blog and no communication other than with secret facebook pages amongst a select few. Prior to Stan, Nancy was always accessible and cared about the schools. She would meet with everyone who wanted to meet. I don’t see any agenda by them. Their opennesss and accessibility was much better than prior to them when Jim R. was the school rep. Jim R. is a very nice person but he didn’t appear transparent like the Jesters. Everyone I have met in Dunwoody is very nice when you meet them all but we all have different opinions. I don’t view the Jesters as a problem. At the end of the day, Dekalb County has changed much since the 80’s and it is very difficult to govern the school district. No matter who our rep is, they will likely be outvoted and overruled and the area will not get what we need/want. The DES site was selected when Chip was our rep – not sure if he even approved it or they just did it (county swapped old Dekalb Tech HS with Perimeter College for DES site so site was free). They didn’t truly listen to Jim R. other than the 4/5 academy. They didn’t listen to Nancy when they selected a new AES and she asked that the specific use of funds be named later so she could meet with community. They didn’t listen to Stan regarding recent recommendations. Whoever is our rep, they aren’t going to listen to them – they will be outvoted.
Regarding changes to Dekalb sicne 80’s: many home sales have occurred and many families have replaced older residents. Tons of new homes have continually been approved resulting in more kids. Apts were approved resulting in more kids. Lots of temporary workers have moved into apts resulting in apts with lots of kids versus apts just having professional. Lots of families have moved into older apts and they all have kids. All these dynamics didn’t exist in the 80’s. All this is occuring in northern part of county and the result is a lot of students. The only solution is to keep building new schools, and lots of them while simultaneously fixing schools in less populated areas. There is not enough money to do this no matter who is running the county and no matter who our rep is.
MES and KMS Parent here. This is rash and ridiculous proposal to present 3 days before a vote. Take the time to develop the comprehensive plan and make a better decision for ALL of our school communities. It sounds like this is not a popular fix for anyone involved. If you do choose to move Kittredge, do so with enough time for proper planning by all stakeholders. Give parents, staff, and children time to make necessary arrangements. Throwing this in last minute looks like a last ditch effort to save face, and you are FAILING once again Dekalb.
And not addressing MES, APES and HHES overcrowding all while proposing to use a school in our cluster to relieve Dunwoody is just not OK. Cross cluster relief is one thing, but this…this just stinks. Do better Dekalb!
So frustrated!!!
Sure seems like it would be easier to bus the DES 4/5 students to the old John Lewis school if this is truly a “short term relief” solution. Seemed to be Ok for the Dresden kids for a year until Doraville ES was built.
Stan, I hope you will make an effort to heavily weight the comments of parents from Dunwoody ES and Kittredge as you consider how to vote for this, given that those are the two schools most impacted. I ask that you vote no to moving Kittredge and no to splitting DES. It’s true that we need overcrowding relief, but we all know this is a knee-jerk reaction and our kids deserve better. There are elements of this plan that could be reasonably considered in the future, but to implement a proposal at the last minute that itself breaks so many of the initial redistricting criteria is really not acceptable.
@Obviously Incompetent … What you’re saying is the opinion and vote of your DCSD board representative should outweigh those of everyone else’s. If that’s your expectation for democratic governing bodies, one word comes to mind. It’s not “obviously.”
As a parent who viewed overcrowding at the DES facility as the primary problem that needed to be addressed in this process, I support this plan in full. Based on all the comments from DES parents that are now frustrated with the type of relief they spent months begging for, it seems like there are an awful lot of people who apparently thought they could have their cake and eat it to.
I’m curious what “enough time” means. Many have said there isn’t “enough time” to move KMS to its original location. How many schools (in DCSD and other districts) have moved from one facility to another over the December break? Seems like that break is much shorter than summer break. Others have claimed the district hasn’t allowed parents “enough time” to make plans for next school year in light of this decision. As I look at the calendar, the first day of next school year is just shy of six months away. How much time does one need? This idea was only formally proposed for vote on Friday, yet it was spoken about at last month’s board meeting, and has been rumored to be an option for several months. Seems to me that there has been more than “enough time” to prepare and still “enough time” to do what’s best for your family.
Ok I guess I need to show my math. According to DCSD’s official report in October, Austin had 708 students and DES had 1,177. 102 of those students will be going to Austin next year. 708 + 102 = 810 for Austin next year.
1,177 at DES minus 102 equals 1,075.
DES currently has 181 in third grade and 178 in 4th grade. None of them will be in the current DES building next year. I figure about 330 of the 359 will make the trip to Nancy Creek, the other 29 being part of the 102 that went to Austin. 1,075 -330 leaves 745 at Dunwoody Elementary.
I know there may be additional growth but no one knows that number for sure.
If anyone cares to correct my calculations please do so and provide references from where your data comes from.
I’m happy for anyone to correct my math.
Ben
I’m not the realtor lifeinthewood. I’m much smarter and a better golfer
As a DES parent, I am embarrassed how a few LOUD parents are representing our school. More embarrassing is our PAC who decided to get on a mission for more relief no matter which neighborhood would be affected. Little did they know that their proximity to the school will not save them.
Stan, many of us were upset with the constant push for us to support their agenda. The emails and school newsletter were used for us to sign a petition. How is this educational outlet allowed? Also, how do we fix the PACS from not pushing their own agenda without truly understanding the heartbeat of the school?
Finally, message to DES President Megan Cann. Welcome to the club! How does it feel now to be redistricted and pushed out? This is exactly what you get for not representing us as a whole.. don’t try to back peddle now. Relief is on the way, so rejoice!
I’m going to step into the line of fire here. Transparency matters, and I take very seriously my responsibility to represent our school as a member of the DES PAC. I am writing to speak for myself—not for the PAC.
I believe that at every turn we carefully considered our recommendations in an effort to properly represent our community. When as individuals we sometimes wanted to support aspects of plans that would move current DES families out, I never saw us advocate for a specific area to be removed if we had heard from members of that community that they didn’t want to leave. If you feel that happened, I apologize. We were actively trying to avoid that very thing. It is true that when some families wanted us to ask that their neighborhoods stay, we didn’t do that either, but that’s because we recognized it was necessary to fill empty seats where they existed.
We were always trying to fill empty seats and push for an equitable solution to overcrowding. I believe we would have supported relief of overcrowding at other schools as well, had those PACs asked for our support.
You are welcome to email me anytime with your concerns about the actions of our PAC. I don’t believe anyone complaining on this blog has done that to date. The great thing is that PAC parent reps are elected by you, the parents. You have the ability to replace us every two years. Elections will be held for my position this summer.
Stan, my apologies for the long post. I’ll get off the blog now. My email is available on the PAC section of the website should folks want to reach me.
“carefully considered….to properly represent our community. ….never saw us advocate for a specific area to be removed….”
Item #6 from DES petition:
6) To accomplish this, we propose moving additional children west of Ashford Dunwoody Road from DES to Austin, an area which is in closer proximity to Austin. This adheres to all three DCSD primary redistricting criteria.
There’s a reason no other PACs worked with DES.. Cath is good people, sorry she going through this. Lesson learned: Jimmy R and chair unhinged.. Accept the 4/5 for one year and mend fences starting today. Tyson will break ground very quickly on Shallowford property. DES needs new reps
Anyone commenting under anonymous names, especially those attacking others who are in full transparency, shouldn’t be taken seriously…..it’s pretty comical and chicken sh*t if you ask me.
I’ve never heard of Brant McCaskill. I have no idea if that’s a real person. Even if that were the name of someone in the community, I have no proof that it’s really Brant. Be careful believing any name, or else you could end up like Ben thinking it was his ol Boy Scout buddy commenting.
Brant McCaskill – Anonymous here, but I hope you take this seriously. I absolutely agree with you. I was meaning to comment yesterday. I think it was really crappy to call out the PAC chair by name and make that comment. Being a PAC Chair can be rewarding but it can be really thankless and open you up to abuse and insults. It is also a whole lot of work. Some schools don’t even have PACS at all because no one runs.
To those of you on here who have made personal attacks on other posters I hope you feel ashamed of yourselves. It is ok to disagree but name calling and such is not. @stanjester- are you able to moderate the comments?
Why would the board allow such an immature big change proposed by someone temporarily holding the position. How the accountability is assured?
Oh my. Somewhere Chip Franzione is wondering why he made the neat deal for DES when the Shallowford property was truly superior. Oh well.
Hate to see Dunwoody kids sent across the great divide of 285. I also think these 4-5 “academies” are a fiasco.
Kittredge will do fine at John Lewis, but deserved a full year of notification of the impending move.
I would simply shuffle kids around the existing Dunwoody elementary schools and trailer up until a new school could be built at the Shallowford site near the Georgetown shopping center.
Our temporary superintendent inherited a nightmare and is trying to stabilize things before the county cons a new super to take command. She’s done all right on some things, but this one is a mess.
Finally caught up on this whole ordeal and yea This proposal, from yet another “interim” labeled hire, is straight up garbage. Does it not bother anybody else when people are hired under a temporary status yet given the power to make big decisions that have long term negative effects that will effect our school system long after they’ve been replaced with 3 other Interims? Also something else I’ve learned is no matter how many people attend BOE meetings in the end it just doesn’t matter, the only thing that potentially matters is how you vote.
IMO start with immediate redistricting. Redistribute students by bringing every school to equal % capacity, redraw the lines. Start building a new school that not only covers us today but for the next 10-20 years, progressive thinking please. Sorry if this has been said before or explained why it isn’t possible, please feel free to share why with me.
Have equal amount of trailers per school as needed Until the new school is finished. Just equal everything out until a permanent solution is found and finished.
Side note: imagine selling a house right now next to DES and reminding the prospective buyers “Hey! See that school? Yep you’re not going there “ lol
Glad someone called out Chip F. This is more his fault than Redovian or a Jester. And you can’t make everything equal as no one agrees what equal is. You can’t social engineer attendance zones. And you can’t discriminate one type of housing over another. DES PAC was presented an option that lowered their enrollment t but rejected it because it didn’t put enough apartments at DES. That’s ridiculous.
@Edugator: when DES site was chosen, the county swapped old Dekalb Technical HS land at Perimeter College with adjacent land owned by Perimeter College. The county was looking for a site for the school and this option resulted in free land. Not sure if Chip recommended this or not or if the county thought/did it regardless of what he thought. The county should have used Shallowford site which was the prior Chamblee MS site. But… if the Shalloword site was used for a new ES rather than the current DES site, all of this same issues/consternations would have occurred as did occur and as is occurring presently. You would still have had some homes being moved from VES to the Shallowford site and the boundary cut-off for redistricting would still have resulted in much unhappiness. You would still have had the current overcrowding issues – the only difference is that the new ES will have been located at Shallowford rather than at present DES site. All of this unhappiness would still be there since this area has had high, high growth and a large influx of students. The old PVC farm was available – would have been nice for city to have athletic fields there but the county could have purchased it. The apts in front of PVC farm area recently sold for $4 million – the county could have purchased that apt complex years ago for a school.
Kittredge should be moved – there are too many students in the Dunwoody and Chamblee cluster due to high growth in the area and NCES needs to be used for this growth. Moving magnet does not impact all magnet schools – the magnet program draws from many ES’s so a move to old John Lewis will put the magnet closer to many families than where it is presently. The magnet families in ES’s in Chamblee and ES’s that feed to Lakeside would be closer to a magnet school at old John Lewis site. Also, a one year notice is not needed.
Nancy Creek ES – the distance from DES to NCES is about 2.6 miles. Most homes zoned for DES are south of DES, putting these homes closer to NCES than 2.6 miles. Those homes will be 1.5 to 2.6 miles to NCES. This is not far. This is less distance than from the apts near Chili’s to DES (about 2.5 miles from Chili’s as a reference point, and about 3 miles to AES). The distance from DES to NCES is also much less than distance from AES to DES which is about 3.8 miles (many homes in AES are north of AES so those homes’ distances to DES is more than 3.8 miles). DES lobbied hard for 4/5 academy at DES years ago and had no problem with AES homes driving 3.8 miles or more to DES for 4/5 grades. The distance from DES to NCES is less than this.
My observation is that the 4/5 option will likely be temporary until a permanent plan is presented. Maybe DES goes to NCES for 1 year or maybe 2 years. This will not be detrimental to the students. They will move on to PCMS. At the end of the day, I prefer that students attend schools in their cluster and not cross into another HS zone/cluster. Chamblee needs relief so NCES will likely revert to Chamblee – just a guess though.
Chamblee cluster needs to renovate/expand ES’s and needs a new ES. Dunwoody needs to renovate older ES’s. Chamblee and Dunwoody have old schools that are 55 years old. Renovate/expand the schools as is done in Cobb County with its ES’s – Sope Creek ES sits in a wealthy area and was renovated and expanded, not knocked down and rebuilt. Same for Tritt ES, Rocky Mount ES, etc. in Cobb. There was a plan to expand CHES – who knows if this will emerge when plans are finalized. Maybe the county can look to purchase an apt complex near Shallowford site for a new future ES that has more acreage than Shallowford site and that doesn’t sit on main road as Shallowford site. Then they can sell the Shallowford site to whomever to recoup costs. A new ES not on the main road is preferable and safer than the Shallowford site.
New AES has no land available for trailers – it sits next to the nature center and has a high retaining wall. There is 1 small patch of grass for outdoor play space – this space is smaller than old AES outdoor space even though new AES is a larger school. From looking at the space, it looks like there is no space for trailers. They should have included more green space for playgrounds at new AES.
Thanks @dunwoody parent for stating this proposal “breaks so many of the initial redistricting criteria is really not acceptable”
For the record I’m a fine citizen west of Ashford Dunwoody. As STEM professionals we moved here for that formal instructional model which hasn’t even been discussed. I am so sad that after trying to be engaged in the school’s and board’s formal process it’s time to move again.
I can’t speak for.all of DES, but this Dunwoody Elementary Mom is tired of being accused of being greedy and discriminatory. Our DES apartment communities are full of highly involved, educated, professional parents with great kids. I’m embarrassed that our PAC seems to have singled out apartment communities as the only students that need to be redistricted.
Since the beginning of the redistricting conversations that were begun last summer and the beginning of this school year, I believe the majority of DES parents have been advocating for EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF OVERCROWDING IN THE DUNWOODY CLUSTER. We have empty seats in some schools and tons of trailers at others. My 3rd grader has had an amazing year while being in a trailer this year. I know some parents find them unsafe and crowded, but I personally am just fine with trailers as a TEMPORARY solution. That, to me, is not the biggest concern with over capacity schools. It’s the ridiculous car pool lines, lunch time frames, inadequate facilities, stress on the specials teachers, and stretching all the countless other staff too thin.
I don’t think it’s greedy for one particular school to ask that their hardship be shared equally with neighboring schools. Someone implied since no one can agree on what equal means, we just shouldn’t try. I know exactly what equal means to me; each of the schools in our cluster should have about the same percentage of overcapacity students. Sure it’s not an exact science, and not everyone will be happy.
To be frank, it’s not surprising our communities have started turning against one another (though the name calling and insults sure have been immature and disheartening!). Somehow our DCSD made us falsely believe they wanted and valued our input. Turns out, not so much. But isn’t being objective leaders and stewards of our school system’s well being their very job? Shouldn’t they have been objectively evaluating and solving the problems we’re facing rather than making things worse?
I’m really unhappy with Friday’s announcement regarding DES and Kittredge. It’s a cop out, just as RT coming in and deciding ”nope, let’s just sit longer in this mess and not ruffle feathers, and delay redistricting even longer while we spend a bunch of money we don’t have to have an outside firm objectively evaluate everything and make recommendations” is a cop out. What in the world are the school district leaders hired to do, if not to evaluate our schools and objectively make (sometimes difficult) decisions that support our educators and students, ensuring that DCSD is doing it’s best for all of its students?
I don’t feel it’s greedy to be against this Kittredge move and a DES 4/5 Annex. How is moving nearly 900 students to a temporary location somehow less disruptive than redistricting? I hate the timing for Kittredge, they absolutely deserve lead time to plan and rally as a community to make the transition smoothly, and to be fully informed BEFORE the school choice time frame closed. I do agree that our area desperately needs those Nancy Creek seats, but use them to alleviate Montgomery and Ashford Park overcrowding, and use space in the new Austin building, KES, and Chesnut to fairly, equitably distribute our Dunwoody overcrowding while we all await another new school.
Now is not the time for DCSD to choose the path of least resistance, or cater to the loudest parents. Now, as always, we should be able to trust our DCSD leadership to face the problems at hand, and objectively and equitably lay the groundwork toward turning this mess around. I don’t think waiting a year to redistrict is the right choice. I believe our current elementary students deserve better. And they deserve better now. Many of us have lost our faith in DCSD, and rightly so. Come on, DCSD and our BOE, lets do what must be done, and change the trajectory toward success!
I applaud the efforts of the PACs of MES, APES, HHES, DES and KMS to come together on short notice (over a weekend) to draft and submit a well-reasoned and rational joint statement to the BOE.
I really don’t get some opinions that magnet parents should receive one year notice and be treated better. Seriously? They are receiving 6 months notice which is a lot. They are not being treated poorly. The plea comes off as magnet parents are of more importance than all others. The magnet school was at old John Lewis ES previously and it is going back. It is so simple to make this change. More magnet families don’t live in Dunwoody than live in Dunwoody. The old John Lewis ES site is closer to more magnet families. I think the entire community is tired of hearing for the magnet to remain in NCES sort of forever – it comes across as: let me delay moving magnet from NCES until my kid is done with magnet there. Or as: let met delay use of NCES for anyone so status quo remains and we can try to come up with some other plan that benefits we here at DES. Magnet parents should get no more time to move than the rest of the clusters receive for changes.
@MasterPlanNeeded: can you or anyone please post this joint statement to the BOE on this website for all to see/read? It would allow parents/citizens who reside in AES, VES, KES, and CES districts (the other ES’s in the Dunwoody cluster) to at least see what is being submitted to the BOE. It would also allow all leaders in various capacities in our district to be aware of what is being submitted.
@C, I’m not a magnet parent. And I agree that a full year advance notice isn’t necessary before moving a magnet school. I disagree wholeheartedly that they should be fine with 11th hour changes. School Choice schools have a set window during which applications are accepted. The location of a school you are considering sending your child to is an important part of the decision. Being expected to choose a school without knowing it’s location is ludicrous. Perhaps you don’t work or have many obligations, but for the majority of families, there may be only a single parent to transport the children, or two working parents trying to get their multiple children to and from school while balancing their work day and commute. School choice is choosing to be on your own for your child’s school transportation. As such, location is a key part of determining which, if any, magnet schools are viable options.
Also, are you serious? There is nothing simple about a school changing locations.
@Jen: the needs of the entire Dunwoody cluster and Chamblee cluster are more needed and important than the magnet program. The magnet program is an optional program. If anyone cannot make magnet work, then attend the local/nearby ES. It really is that simple. The new magnet school location looks like it will be old John Lewis ES so there is no mystery for any future/current magnet parent as to where it will be. It looks like it will be where it used to be. While the old John Lewis ES is further from Dunwoody, it is closer to many other families. Regarding transportation, it was my understanding that the county transports students by making stops at the ES’s. Regardless, I would guess that by far most parents in Dunwoody are in favor of moving magnet to old John Lewis ES and freeing up NCES for use by either Dunwoody, Chamblee, or both clusters. There have been many prior posts on this website regarding moving magnet in order to free up needed seats for area students.
Thank you for a thoughtful response from a DES parent and your understanding regarding KMS and it’s potential move/timing. We tend to think about our own specific/immediate school district and region and you are thinking broader …thank you. This redistricting effort has me looking at the entire county and seeing that the north end has more than space issues, it also has a lack of school choice and other types of special school (theme, tech, etc) offerings. These should be spread across regions OR at least close to region boarders for greater access. This “centrally located” message basically excludes the northern most part of DeKalb when central and south DeKalb have an abundance of choice!!! Look at the map!! Don’t forget Peachtree MS won’t be choice soon as charter will dissolve and Chamblee Charter may not stay charter (or magnet) either. Take Kittredge away and …well, let’s take away two top Georgia schools in our northern, Region 1 DeKalb area. That leaves Region 1 with three school choices vs Region 2 with 17 plus the 2 that would move there-19!!! Then 13 more school school across the rest of the county along with more special schools (at least 5 theme schools, early learning academy, and tech school).
Next year, I won’t be a KMS parent. While my child won’t be impacted by a potential move, I believe I can share why so many parents may be concerned about a move:
– KMS move was taken out of the equation in Round 2 of the Chamblee redistricting meeting. Quote and presentation slide by Hans, DCSD employee. KMS believed DCSD’s statement to the audience (which may be a huge mistake). Many of you may have disagreed with DCSD’s decision, although I hope you can see why KMS was later surprised In Jan 2020.
– January 2020 BOE meeting, KMS was brought back into the equation by Interim Superintendent Tyson because Chamblee and Dunwoody clusters didn’t like all of the changes proposed by the staff. Imagine KMS’s surprise…much like the surprise that was just announced Friday, 2/7 that 4&5th grade DES is proposed to move to the current KMS site. A few parts for KMS are worse, however…
1) KMS was told they wouldn’t be moving in redistricting meetings by a DCSD official…and BOOM maybe they might be moving after all. Parts of DES always knew they may move as a part of redistricting though not in the way of 4th and 5th academy to the current KMS.
2) if KMS is moving to the new proposed location, it’s 8-12 miles away from the current location depending on what GPS suggests. In any case, this is further SE AND across I-85. No other redistricting efforts moves students this far…it’s typically 2 miles at most. This is HUGE even if some current students like it (they knew they signed up for the current KMS location to begin with) and even if there are shuttles provided as transport time is much earlier and longer than what was initially signed up for. The suggested move is huge and especially to a location that was marked to be demolished (and the BOE recently agreed to not demolish it….how did they know not to do so??). I forgot to mention, no other move has not included community input before said move. Yep, Tyson has not responded to the KMS PAC to allow input from them and the rest of the KMS community. Are School Choice communities exempt themselves from this opportunity? Should all voices be heard if we are “doing this for the kids” as Tyson stated? She also mentioned (in a recorded meeting) many other options in Jan BOE. What are those options, BTW?
3) while many won’t understand the commitment that the students make in magnet program, they commit in the 4th grade through the 12 looking at the closest locations here this can take place. In north DeKalb, the high achiever magnet is Kittredge, Chamblee Middle, Chamblee Charter High. In south DeKalb there is another set of schools. In central DeKalb there is another set of special interest magnet schools. They are committing for the long haul so when one or any schools move on a dime’s notice, it can and will cause a transportation issue for some (likely many) especially 8-12 miles away. Might some need to move, yes. Please only make it the same distance as traditional redistricting …especially if under a year’s notice is given (much like traditional redistricting). Please consider school choice window timing as parents are making decisions.
4) consider this too…take a look at the map across Dekalb regions. Many, many more School choice options are available in the south and southern central regions of our county. Why is this?? South DeKalb has a High Achiever Magnet path AND a special interest magnet path. Region 2 has 17+ school choice plus theme schools alone. Now you want to move KMS there too? I realize the it was there a decade ago, but that is no reason to move to so easily move it back without ample due diligence (planning for current students/school choice window) and time for appropriate improvements to the new proposed location (that was about to be demolished otherwise).
5) if DCSD moves our school choice options away, what message it sending to any school choice option that it can be pushed out and away at any point when students and parents are making commitments to said schools. I fully realize that redistricting can change a student’s school at any given time, but do you ever expect it to be 8-12 miles??!!!! Any school choice location is in a neighborhood. Please don’t think because it’s the DCSD district that the neighborhood can snatch it up so quickly. If we are thinking of the children, then we are thinking of the impact to ALL of them and not just thinking to step in and COMPLETELY take over something that they have not only inhabited, but put time, talent, and treasure…and heart to upgrade when DCSD couldn’t/wouldn’t. It’s truly like taking a home that was built by others that are not putting it up for sale, but handing it over. Give them some time, please.
Again, I’m not a KMS parent after this year although I want to try to build some understanding of what any other KMS parent might be wondering/thinking so that others may try to understand even in the midst of overcrowding which I also have lived through. I hesitated sharing this because of so many hateful responses out here, so please…if you have another side to share, please do so respectfully.
Here is the joint letter by APES, MES, HHES, MES and KMS PACs: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10UaHVSdCMxeselpnGUh4_zbZTT8lzT-P/view
Guys, TIME OUT on the rancor I’ve read on this page. The PAC’s are doing their very best to represent the school in which they were elected. (And just a reminder: they’re not getting paid to do this.)
I am a DES parent and I am beseeching parents from all Dunwoody and Chamblee cluster schools to speak with one voice, and offer up a short term solution that is actually logical. Until the time that a carefully considered long-term plan is proposed, I fully support a redistribution of students so that all schools within each cluster are at the same % of over capacity. This temporary plan is too disruptive to have been thought through clearly, and MOST IMPORTANTLY doesn’t equally address overcrowding at the other elementary schools in the Dunwoody and Chamblee clusters.
The fact that this recommendation was submitted on a Friday for a Monday vote tells me that the DCSD decision makers knew it was going to be controversial. The fact that this is almost embarassingly ill-timed with the school choice decision gives me little confidence in the rigor of the analysis of data leading to this decision.
As a parent who will likely have 2 kids in 2 different elementary schools, DCSD: have you considered resources beyond just buildings?? Can someone tell me the plan for our DES administrative staff? How can they possibly run two schools?
So DES made all mother Dunwoody Elem schools mad by their tactics, and now they partner with other DCSD schools outside Dunwoody. Well, heads up – your kids will be at PCMS and Dunwoody High.
@DaddyO – that’s the sort of comment that adds nothing of value and is baseless. The Kittredge/DES mess doesn’t involve the other Dunwoody schools. I’m sure it was no small feat to get all of these PAC presidents together over a weekend and collaborating. I’m grateful for their efforts.
Stan, the Academy is a done deal. Thanks for the hard work Ms Tyson. I believe all comments need wiped clean so we can start fresh
The Academy will last one year. This plan is insane and represents none of the stakeholder concerns. And Stan not going for another term. This whole system is just a psychotic mess. Completely out of touch with reality and beholden to who…?
This plan is atrocious. Dekalb’s ability to find the worst possible way to handle things happens again- do it with no notice.
God, no one involved in in the Dekalb schools or the board in this decision should keep their jobs even a moment longer
Stan,
I’m saddened by your decision not to seek another term. Thank you for all that you have done for our children.
^^^@Phil – “The Academy will last one year.”
NEVER believe DCSD when it promises that something will be temporary.
Academy will be in place 2-3 years. As soon as new Elem School is finished, Academy becomes a K-5 for another area.