Category Archives: Trailers

Trailer Count Across DeKalb Schools

A number of new schools are opening this year and Fall 2020. There will be 61 fewer trailers used throughout the school district in 2020-21 than the current school year. Eight (8) schools will see an aggregate increase of 23 trailers. This lowers the district trailer count from 389 to 328.

DeKalb Schools Trailers

On Monday, the Board of Education approved the purchase of three (3) quads units with restrooms and twelve (12) single units. The purchase of these units will support capacity at some growing schools as well as the replacement of some existing aged modular classroom units.

DeKalb Schools administration presented the latest redistricting maps to the Board of Education last Monday.

The administration didn’t present any redistricting for the new Pleasantdale ES, but it is likely to gain students in subsequent redistricting efforts. This will more than likely drop the trailer count further by 10+ trailers in the Lakeside cluster.

Here is how the current and projected trailer inventory breaks down:

Cluster School Fall 2019
Portable
Classrooms
Fall 2020
Portable
Classrooms
Portable
Classroom
Change
Chamblee Ashford Park ES 10 14 4
Chamblee Huntley Hills ES 6 6 0
Chamblee Montgomery ES 7 9 2
Chamblee Chamblee HS 4 4 0
Dunwoody Austin ES 7 0 -7
Dunwoody Chesnut ES 5 5 0
Dunwoody Dunwoody ES 12 12 0
Dunwoody Hightower ES 11 5 -6
Dunwoody Vanderlyn ES 11 11 0
Dunwoody Dunwoody HS 20 24 4
Dunwoody Peachtree MS 19 19 0
Lakeside Briarlake ES 4 4 0
Lakeside Evansdale ES 4 4 0
Lakeside Hawthorne ES 5 5 0
Lakeside Henderson Mill ES 7 7 0
Lakeside Oak Grove ES 3 3 0
Lakeside Pleasantdale ES 6 0 -6
Lakeside Sagamore Hills ES* 5 6 1
Lakeside Lakeside HS 11 11 0
Cross Keys Dresden ES 18 0 -18
Cross Keys Montclair ES 6 0 -6
Cross Keys Cary Reynolds ES 10 0 -10
Cross Keys Woodward ES 5 3 -2
Cross Keys Cross Keys HS 27 27 0
Cross Keys Sequoyah MS 38 44 6
Clarkston Allgood ES* 3 0 -3
Clarkston Dunaire ES* 2 0 -2
Clarkston Indian Creek ES 19 19 0
Clarkston Jolly ES 3 3 0
Clarkston Clarkston HS 15 19 4
DeKalb HS DeKalb HS of Technology-South 3 3 0
Lithonia Stoneview ES 10 10 0
McNair Flat Shoals ES* 3 0 -3
McNair Kelley Lake ES* 2 0 -2
Miller Grove Panola Way ES 3 1 -2
Miller Grove Woodridge ES* 5 3 -2
MLK Flat Rock ES 4 3 -1
MLK Fairington ES 3 4 1
Redan E. L. Miller ES* 4 0 -4
Stone Mountain Stone Mountain ES* 2 0 -2
SWD Bob Mathis ES* 4 0 -4
Towers Rowland ES* 7 3 -4
Towers International Student Center 8 8 0
Tucker Idlewood ES 14 14 0
Tucker Livsey ES 8 8 0
Tucker Tucker MS 1 2 1
Tucker Tucker HS 5 5 0
Total 389 328 -61

This table shows the number of portable classrooms at each school. The unit-type of each portable is not accounted for in this table.

* Pending discussion with Prinicpals and Regional Superintendents to confirm appropriate number of portables to be removed.

Trailers at Cross Keys High School


The trailers have been placed at Cross Keys for a renovation project. They are not there due to enrollment/capacity issues.
E-SPLOST V includes approximately $300 million for “New Facilities and Additions” to address capacity needs across the district. The administration proposed large additions to the overcrowded high schools of Chamblee, Dunwoody, and Lakeside, even though these schools are already on postage stamp sized campuses. Cross Keys will receive a new high school.
The administration is pursuing a strategy to equally distribute the immigrant population, clustered around the Buford Corridor, to Chamblee, Dunwoody, Lakeside and Cross Keys. Once Cross keys is rebuilt on its new site and the new high school is built, the administration plans to redistrict from the Chamblee, Dunwoody, and Lakeside feeder schools to Cross Keys to more evenly balance the immigrant population. The Board of Education approved this approach. I was the only opposing vote. With the development that continues to occur in the Perimeter region, I remain convinced that a new Doraville area high school needs to be built rather than shoving more students on small campuses.
In accordance with the E-SPLOST V Project Listing and Sequencing, Phase I includes the conversion of the current Cross Keys High School (CKHS) to a middle school. This conversion is estimated to be completed sometime in 2020 and cost $10 million. A new Cross Keys/Brookhaven High School is expected to be built by 2021 and cost $85 million.
The Role of the City and County Governments
The school district is immune from zoning laws created in the jurisdictions in which it operates. The school district is not immune from all other laws of the jurisdiction, such as building codes and other development requirements. The question of how different governmental entities operating within one jurisdiction with respect to zoning and all other ordinances became settled law, or stare decisis, with the rulings for two court cases.
City of Atlanta and Decatur Enforce Codes
The City of Atlanta and Decatur enforce codes and protect the interests of its citizens.  Just recently, the Decatur School District went to the City of Decatur council to REQUEST PERMISSION to add trailers to one of their schools inside the city limits of Decatur. All school trailers in Decatur must be approved by the city council before installation. Before the City of Decatur council would approve the trailers, they wanted to know:

  • Whether the proposed use is suitable in view of the use and development of adjacent and nearby property.
  • Whether the proposed use adversely affects the existing use or usability of adjacent or nearby property.
  • Whether the proposed use results in a use which will or could cause an excessive or burdensome use of existing streets, transportation facilities, utilities or other public facilities.
  • Whether there is adequate ingress and egress to the subject property, including evaluation of the traffic impact of the proposed use relative to street capacity and safety of public streets and nearby pedestrian uses.
  • Whether there are other existing or changing conditions which, because of their impact on the public health, safety, morality and general welfare of the community, give supporting grounds for either approval or disapproval of the proposed use.

Marshall Orson is the District 2 representative on the Board of Education. His district includes Cross Keys High School.

Marshall Orson

Marshall Orson
DeKalb Schools Board of Education

Addressing the overcrowding issue in the Cross Keys cluster is one of our highest priorities given the failure of previous boards and administrations to do so. Given these circumstances, we will be building a new high school for the cluster (in addition to two new elementary schools and renovations of other schools including the current Cross Keys High School which will become a middle school). We are searching diligently for a suitable property in order to build this school as quickly (and prudently) as possible.
The Administration can address the logistics issues raised [in Rebekah’s comments]. In an urban setting, space is frequently a challenge and other schools face similar issues (e.g. Due to space constraints, many athletes at Druid Hills High School travel to Druid Hills Middle School for practices and/or matches). We are committed to providing comparable opportunities for all students and continue to work to address circumstances where there are obstacles to doing so.
Marshall Orson

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Related Posts

Enforcing Zoning, Building, and Other Ordinances
May 3, 2017 – What authority does a city or county have in enforcing its zoning, building, and other ordinances with respect to temporary and permanent building on school property? This question with respect to zoning and all other ordinances became settled law with the rulings on two court cases.

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DeKalb E-SPLOST V Project Schedule
March 20, 2017 – On Monday the DeKalb Board of Education will vote on E-SPLOST V project scheduling and associated cash flow sequencing including details of the projects, budgets, and anticipated start and finish dates.