Author Archives: Stan Jester

Dunwoody Elementary School Redistricting & Utilization

Posted on January 16, 2020 | 32 comments

The Principal’s Advisory Committee (PAC) at Dunwoody Elementary School (DES) sent DeKalb Schools board and administration their feedback on the latest redistricting plan.

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the plan in February. The biggest concern articulated by the DES PAC is that the most recent redistricting proposal does not relieve overcrowding robustly enough. Below, I’ve included the DES enrollment projections and some of the details of the administration’s changes to the eSPLOST V project list addressing the need for more elementary school seats in the Dunwoody and Chamblee Clusters.

ENROLLMENT FORECASTS at
DUNWOODY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
According to the 2019 – 7 Year Enrollment Forecasts – Elementary Schools in Dunwoody, in 2025 DES will have approximately 1,412 students if there is no redistricting. DES school capacity is 955 students.

According to the October 2019 School Enrollment & Capacity Report, DES is currently at 123% utilization.

Year – Total Enrollment – Utilization
2017 – 1,092 – 114%
2018 – 1,173 – 123%
2019 – 1,177 – 123%
2020 – 1,212 – 127%
2021 – 1,245 – 130%
2022 – 1,310 – 137%
2023 – 1,358 – 142%
2024 – 1,378 – 144%
2025 – 1,412 – 148%

DUNWOODY CLUSTER – ROUND 4
The January Round 4 Redistricting Presentation for redistricting the elementary schools in the Dunwoody and Chamblee clusters seems to attempt to minimize disruption.

For Fall 2020, the latest redistricting plan is to move 102 students from Dunwoody ES to Austin ES. If a new elementary school doesn’t open until 2025, then for school year 2024 DES will have 1,276 students at 134% utilization.

NEW DUNWOODY/CHAMBLEE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
A new ESPLOST project list was presented to the board on Monday. It includes turf fields for all high schools and a new elementary school for the Dunwoody/Chamblee cluster.

Timeline – No timeline was given for completion of a new elementary school. The project list also includes $1 million for improvements to the Old John Lewis school for Kittredge.

Location – Opening Nancy Creek as is or rebuilding Nancy Creek to a 950 seat school seems to be on the table. DeKalb Schools also owns the Shallowford site which is an ideal location for a new school. There is also $15 million in the project list to buy new land for a new school in the Dunwoody/Chamblee clusters. That money could be used to buy a new property or expand the small Shallowford site.

DES currently has 1,177 students at 123% utilization. A new elementary school could open Fall 2023 at the earliest. If 102 students are redistricted out now, then DES in year 2022 would have 1,208 students at 126% utilization.

Please comment below with your thoughts on the most recent proposals.

32 Comments

Posted in Redistricting

Removed SPLOST Projects & GO Bond

Posted on January 15, 2020 | 48 comments

On Monday, the DeKalb Schools administration presented their plan to right size E-SPLOST V.

WHERE ARE WE
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 … which shouldn’t surprise anybody.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The administration admitted new facilities and additions projects had incomplete scopes and poor estimates. Program contingency is way too small and each project had no buffer for unforseen expenses. Furthermore, state reimbursements were way over estimated.

Revised E-SPLOST V Budgets and Estimates (Jan 13, 2020)

SO … WHAT’S THE PLAN
We can reclaim $263 million by removing from the project plan the following 8 middle school and high school projects. No GO bonds are recommended.

  1.  Cross Keys MS conversion – $16.4 M
  2.  Freedom MS addition – $11.8 M
  3.  Peachtree MS addition – $17.8 M
  4.  Chamblee HS addition – $28.1 M
  5.  Clarkston HS addition – $22.7 M
  6.  New Cross Keys HS – $111.9 M
  7.  Dunwoody HS addition – $18.3 M
  8.  Lakeside HS addition – $36.0 M

There are currently 6,000 open high school seats. As mentioned in Round 4 Redistricting, the DeKalb Schools administrative team said they wanted to build a plan around clearly defined goals, embrace collaboration and community engagement as well as hire an enrollment/redistricting analytics expert for district wide redistricting and consolidation of elementary, middle and high schools.

TURF, SPRINKLERS & SECURITY
The 8 middle school and high schools not getting additions, will keep turf and other originally planned projects. These schools will keep the following projects:

  1.  Current Cross Keys HS – turf, security vestibule, sprinkler
  2.  Freedom MS – security vestibule,
  3.  Peachtree MS – all projects removed
  4.  Chamblee HS – turf
  5.  Clarkston HS – turf, security vestibule, accessibility improvements
  6.  New Cross Keys HS – removed
  7.  Dunwoody HS – turf
  8.  Lakeside HS – turf

PROJECTS FULLY FUNDED IN ESPLOST V
• All sprinkler projects
• Artificial turf installations at high schools
• All security fencing and security vestibules
• Parking addition at 10 schools (new spaces only)
• All capital renewal projects
• Cedar Grove HS Auditorium addition
• New Indian Creek ES facility
• All technology projects (including GPS/ERP)

$96.8 Million – REMAINING BUDGET TO BE ALLOCATED
ESPLOST V budget is $561 million. The new project list will cost $464 million. What do we do with the other $96.8 million? These 3 scenarios have been proposed by DeKalb Schools administration.

ESPLOST VI
If we can survive the current ESPLOST, the referendum for the next ESPLOST will be November 2021.

48 Comments

Posted in SPLOST