Adjusting for the latest enrollment projections, the school district will now be adding 1,000 seats to Dunwoody High School (DHS). This is just insane … but it’s the plan.
Clear cutting to make room at Dunwoody High School Dunwoody High School is a small pocket neighborhood school originally constructed in 1972 and additions to the main school building were constructed in 1973, 1975, and 2011. In 1988, DHS merged with another local high school, Peachtree High School. Peachtree became a middle school and Dunwoody remained as the high school. DHS campus is currently 29.4 acres.
The current capacity for DHS is 1,505 students, while actual enrollment is currently 2,100 students.
DeKalb County School District (DCSD) has updated the long-term enrollment forecasts for each school year from the Fall of 2019 through the Fall of 2025. While I believe the Dunwoody 7-Year Enrollment Forecasts to be woefully under estimated as usual, even with these conservative estimates, Dunwoody HS enrollment is expected to exceed 2,300 by 2021.
Dunwoody 7-Year Enrollment Forecasts
Over the last decade, I’m sure you’ve noticed that the school administration insists that enrollment is going to stop going up. In their forecast enrollment data modeling, DeKalb Schools is currently insisting that High Street will only be a total of 1,500 units.
Richard McLeod, Director of Community Development for the City of Dunwoody, state this week that
There are 3000 residantial untis approved for [High Street] to build. One half (1500) of them will be apartments and the other half (1500) will be condo … I have a meeting scheduled in April with the developers to discuss the plans. They state that they are going to break ground in October or November of 2019.
Over the last 4 weeks, I have sent numerous emails to the Superintendent and Interim Chief Operating Officer Dan Drake asking why they believe High Street will only be 1,500 units. I have not received any explanation yet. If High Street builds 3,000 units over the next few years, DHS is in trouble.
Current Forecasted Enrollment & Addition Size
| FORECASTED ENROLLMENT |
ADDITION SIZE (SEATS) |
|
MGT 2022 Forecast |
Updated 2025 Forecast |
Change |
Original Addition |
Recommended Addition |
| Dunwoody HS |
2,093 |
2,337 |
244 |
600 |
1,000 |
| Peachtree MS |
1,686 |
1,513 |
-173 |
600 |
400 |
| Chamblee Charter HS |
2,378 |
2,120 |
-258 |
600 |
600 |
| New Cross Keys HS |
2,486 |
1,739 |
-747 |
2,500 |
2,200 |
| New Cross Keys MS |
1,450 |
1,205 |
-245 |
500 |
200 |
| Lakeside HS |
2,619 |
1,945 |
-674 |
750 |
400 |
| Clarkston HS |
2,060 |
1,510 |
-550 |
700 |
350 |
| Freedom MS |
1,630 |
1,134 |
-496 |
400 |
Cancelled |
Dunwoody High School Can’t Handle 2,500+ Students
I’ve blogged ad nauseam how building additions are terrible for the community. The Dunwoody High School Council has pleaded with the board and administration to address the Overburdened Common Spaces.
The DHS band room is the basement dungeon, choir has no room. There will be no additions to most of the common spaces like the gym, locker rooms, fields, storage, or administrative offices. The adjustments to the cafeteria, kitchen and parking are laughable.
In addition to the obvious problems, let’s discuss the issues that aren’t as obvious. Twice as many students means twice as much traffic, twice as many buses lining up the street and around the block, twice as many teams with no space to play or practice, twice as much sewage, etc …
“Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.”