More classroom space is needed at Chamblee Charter High School. On Monday, the school district proposed the possibility of closing Chamblee Middle School and moving the High Achievers Magnet Program from Chamblee Charter High School.
Can we have a healthy and constructive discussion about this?
DeKalb Schools administration threatened the Chamblee community with this option on Monday.
At the board meeting, I asked Dan Drake, interim Chief Operating Officer (COO), about the viability of this option. He said they haven’t done any research into this option.
This doesn’t appear to be a viable option for the same reason the school district isn’t considering a satellite campus instead of the Lakeside High School (LHS) building additions.
I suspect, the administration is using this option as a scare tactic to get the Chamblee community on board with the GO bond and building additions at the high school.
DeKalb Schools administration presented this alternative to building additions at Chamblee Charter High School (CCHS). This alternative is driven more by the board than the administration.
Can we have a cordial dialogue about “moving the magnet from CCHS”? I’m an advocate for keeping the magnet at Chamblee and would like to hear more from those who would like to move it. These are the discussion points as I see them:
Move the magnet – You can’t “move” the magnet. What you can do is shut it down at CCHS and open up another somewhere else. Some of the students will go to the new one, but very few of the teachers will go.
Magnet success – Many people, including district school board members, believe the successes at Chamblee Charter HS are a result of something the school district is doing for CCHS that they are not doing for the other magnets. However, the success of the CCHS magnet program is a function of Chamblee and not the school district.
Distance – Moving the magnet from CCHS to the new Cross Key HS will severely increase the distance for many students. The board members I have talked to don’t think that distance is consequential. I don’t think most of the students from Doraville, Chamblee or Dunwoody will follow the magnet down there. This is taking the magnet away from them.
Teachers – The idea of moving the magnet is to fill those open spots at CCHS with resident students, so CCHS will still need teachers. I don’t anticipate most of those teachers will want to move.
Magnet is Unfair – I hate that the magnet program picks winners and losers. I think adding magnet programs is the solution, not completely destroying the program. I’m not a fan of the attitude, “If I can’t have one then nobody can have one”.
I’d like to know your thoughts. –Stan
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”