Category Archives: Redistricting

Redistricting For Schools in Chamblee & Brookhaven

Posted on September 6, 2018 by | 21 comments

Three meeting redistricting process for schools in Chamblee and Brookhaven will start this October.

Redistricting – Fall 2018

The New John Lewis Elementary facility will be opening Fall 2019 on Skyland Drive in Brookhaven. The John R. Lewis ES Redistricting process is being undertaken this Fall (2018), and will affect schools in the Cross Keys and Chamblee clusters.

In the Approved Cross Keys Redistricting Plan, roughly 300 students were temporarily districted to the Druid Hills cluster. To address the opening of 300 seats of elementary capacity in the Druid Hills cluster, the Druid Hills Elementary Redistricting process is also being undertaken this Fall (2018) as part of a second redistricting process.

John R. Lewis ES Redistricting
The purpose of this redistricting process will be to determine new attendance lines for John R. Lewis ES. This redistricting will be the first of three years of redistricting in the Cross Keys and Chamblee clusters, as a new elementary school is scheduled to open in the norther part of the Cross Keys cluster in Fall 2020 (one year after new John Lewis ES opens), and the new Cross Keys HS and converted Cross Keys MS facilities will open in Fall 2021.

The John R. Lewis Redistricting process could impact:

  1. Ashford Park ES (Chamblee)
  2. Dresden ES (Cross Keys)
  3. John Lewis ES (Cross Keys)
  4. Montclair ES (Cross Keys)
  5. Montgomery ES (Chamblee)
  6. Woodward ES (Cross Keys)
  7. Chamblee MS (Chamblee)
  8. Sequoyah MS (Cross Keys)
  9. Chamblee HS (Chamblee)
  10. Cross Keys HS (Cross Keys)

The attendance areas of Briar Vista ES and Fernbank ES inside the Cross Keys cluster will be included in this
process.

Druid Hills Elementary Redistricting
The purpose of this redistricting process would be to take advantage of the 300 seats of available capacity at
Fernbank ES and Briar Vista ES to balance elementary enrollment in the Druid Hills cluster.

The Druid Hills Redistricting process could impact:

  1. Avondale ES
  2. Briar Vista ES
  3. Fernbank ES
  4. Laurel Ridge ES
  5. McLendon ES

Redistricting Process – Fall 2018 Oct 2018 – Feb 2019
Both redistricting processes will follow the District’s standard redistricting process used in the 2015 Cross Keys Redistricting and 2017 Clarkston & Stone Mountain Redistricting. The redistricting process is driven by three rounds of increasingly specific community input. Once all three rounds of community input are complete, a Superintendent Recommended Redistricting Plan will be presented to the Board for approval.

All public comments throughout all three rounds are limited to the following redistricting criteria

  1. Safety and traffic patterns
  2. Previous redistricting
  3. Intact neighborhoods
  4. Special programs, e.g., programs serving special needs students that require additional classroom space
  5. School feeder alignment
  6. Efficient and economical operations

Three Meeting Process & Timeframe

Meeting 1: The purpose of the first meeting is to gather general feedback from the community before any options are created or presented. The proposed dates for the first meeting of each process are:
• John Lewis Redistricting: Tuesday, October 2, 2018 @ Cross Keys HS, 7 PM
• Druid Hills Redistricting: Thursday, October 4, 2018 @ Druid Hills MS, 7 PM
• Online Survey: October 2 – October 11 (midnight)

Meeting 2: The second meeting introduces two to four options and allows the public to provide feedback on them. The proposed dates for the second meeting of each process are:
• John Lewis Redistricting: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 @ Cross Keys HS, 7 PM
• Druid Hills Redistricting: Thursday, October 25, 2018 @ Druid Hills MS, 7 PM
• Online Survey: October 23 – November 1 (midnight)

Meeting 3: The third meeting presents one “Staff Recommended” option and gives the public one more opportunity to provide feedback. The proposed dates for the third meeting of each process are:
• John Lewis Redistricting: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 @ Cross Keys HS, 7 PM
• Druid Hills Redistricting: Wednesday, November 28, 2018 @ Druid Hills MS, 7 PM
• Online Survey: November 27 – December 6 (midnight)

Board Approval: After the third public meeting, Planning staff incorporate all public feedback into a “Superintendent-Recommended Redistricting Plan”.
• First Read: January 7th, 2019 Board meeting
• Board Approval: February 4th, 2019 Board meeting.

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Posted in Brookhaven, Chamblee High School, Redistricting

Sagamore Redistricted Again?

Posted on October 8, 2016 by | 41 comments

According to the March 7, 2011 Meeting Minutes, Don McChesney made the motion, supported by Paul Womack, Nancy Jester and the rest of the Board of Education, to assign various Sagamore area streets to Sagamore Hills Elementary and all Sagamore students to Henderson Middle and Lakeside High School.
McChesney campaigned years ago on getting that part of Sagamore out of the Druid Hills cluster and reunited with the rest of the Sagamore community in the Lakeside cluster.
Last month, DeKalb Schools administration released its final recommendation for the New Facilities and Additions category of the SPLOST V project list. The recommendation included a number of student move assumptions.

It is estimated that 250 students, presumably Sagamore Hills Elementary, would be redistricted out of Lakeside HS and into the new Brookhaven cluster alleviating some of the overcrowding at LHS and balancing out the diversity and socio-economics of the population attending the new Cross Keys cluster.
What are your thoughts?
Sheri Lake is a parent and chair of the Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council. She spoke to the board this past Monday at public comment. She has graciously shared with us the notes from her comments.
Address to the DeKalb County School Board, October 3, 2016, Meeting

Sheri Lake Sagamore Elementary

Sheri Lake
Chair of Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council

1) Chairman Johnson, Dr. Green and other members of the DeKalb County School Board
2) Sheri Lake; Parent of one child at Sagamore Hills Elementary school and one child at the Coralwood School; I am in my second year on the Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council; during my tenure we earned certification as a STEM school from the Georgia DOE and from AdvanceEd; I am also a board member on the Coralwood Foundation board, and a founding member of the Sagamore Hills Foundation; I am a member of the Leadership Dekalb Class of 2017; Finally, I am small business owner in DeKalb County with my own law practice in the City of Decatur.
3) Today, I am here on behalf of the Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council to express my concerns about the “Secondary School Facility Planning and Feasibility Study Recommendation” proffered last Tuesday, September 27th.
4) I attended the BUILDING SPACES MASTER PLANNING INITIATIVE informational meeting on the 27th
5) At that meeting, we were told that two (2) of the major themes heard from stakeholders over the course of public meetings and surveys in August and September were:
There was 1) “Anxiety over potential future redistricting” and 2) “Except for the Chamblee/Cross Keys clusters, all other clusters asked to keep existing attendance areas intact.”
4) Sagamore Hills parents and stakeholders are among those who loudly voiced these concerns.
5) We were also told that the Secondary Schools Plan satisfied these two concerns.
6) IN FACT, THE PLAN DOES NOT HONOR THOSE CONCERNS AT ALL FOR MEMBERS OF THE LAKESIDE HS CLUSTER.
7) While the recommendation includes a 750 seat addition to Lakeside;
8) That 750 seat addition also assumes movement of 250 students from Lakeside to the new Cross Keys HS. In other words, if the District is correct about population growth, it does not intend to keep our cluster intact, which goes entirely against its position that it honored our cluster’s stated desire to remain intact.
9) Given the history of redistricting and split feeder systems that have affected Sagamore Hills families, Sagamore parents have strong concerns that those 250 students from LHS to Cross Keys will come from Sagamore Hills Elementary because of our proximity to the Briarcliff location, and such a move will tear apart our cluster.
10) Thus, it is our position that a 750 seat addition to Lakeside is not sufficient to maintain our cluster;
11) Following Tuesday’s presentation, I attended a Lakeside Cluster Summit meeting on Thursday, the 29th.
12) The Lakeside Cluster Summit is comprised of parents and other stakeholders from all of the Lakeside Cluster elementary schools, Henderson Middle and Lakeside HS.
13) Last Thursday, it was unanimous among the Lakeside Cluster that it wants its member schools to stay together. It does not want students leaving the cluster to go to a new high school at Briarcliff or some other “cost neutral” location.
14) On behalf of the Sagamore Hills Elementary School Council, I would suggest that a 900 seat addition to LHS would be more appropriate and would more likely ensure that the cluster will remain intact.
15) I am asking you as the School Board to do whatever it takes to make that happen – in other words, approve an appropriate addition that will ensure that 250 students from the cluster are NOT forced to be redistricted to Brookhaven.
16) Keeping the Lakeside Cluster intact guarantees greater safety of Dekalb County students; considerably less traffic issues; walkability; and, most importantly, it keeps our school community intact and provides stability to families that have already fought hard to go to schools that are within the community in which they live, work and play.
17) You have heard from another Sagamore parent, Meg Scheid, why these things are so important to the safety and well-being of our students.
18) Sagamore Hills is part of the Lakeside Community. We play sports within this community, we are on swim teams within this community, we go to church within this community, we are members of neighborhood civic associations in this community.
19) The elementary schools in the Lakeside Cluster are not part of the City of Brookhaven or the City of Tucker, the City of Chamblee or the City of Doraville. We identify with Lakeside High School. Lakeside is our “center.”
20) Sagamore is Lakeside – we are not Brookhaven, Chamblee, Dunwoody or Tucker. All of the other High Schools and their feeder schools are part of a distinct city center. Our schools are part of the Lakeside community.
21) If the Lakeside cluster loses 250 students to Brookhaven, you will essentially be dividing neighbors between a city that we do not reside in and the rest of our Lakeside community. You are arbitrarily drawing a “city” line between multiple neighborhoods.
22) WE ASK THAT YOU PLEASE NOT SUPPORT THE DESTRUCTION OF THIS COMMUNITY! AND PLEASE VOTE ONLY FOR A PLAN THAT INCLUDES A SUFFICIENT ADDITION TO LAKESIDE THAT WILL ACCOMMODATE ALL OF THE STUDENTS WITHIN THE LAKESIDE CLUSTER.

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Posted in Redistricting