Monthly Archives: November 2016

Dunwoody – Not a Fan of the E-SPLOST Project List

Posted on November 30, 2016 by | 6 comments
Dunwoody Crier

The Dunwoody Crier is reporting this week that many are not happy with the E-SPLOST Project List scheduled to be voted on at Monday’s board meeting.
Austin ES Parent Council Supports Honoring City Lines
Dick Williams for the Crier reports,

“Another major voice has been raised in the community discussion over how best to re-district north DeKalb public schools.
The school council of Austin Elementary School in Dunwoody has voted to oppose the expansions of Dunwoody High and Peachtree Charter Middle schools. The council at Montgomery Elementary in Brookhaven has taken the same position.
‘We believe that children should attend schools within their own municipalities and priority should be placed on creating a new (school) cluster in the city of Doraville.’ … Continue Reading Here >>“

$23 million changed to $16 million
Linda Bannister Talks Back To the Crier,

“The DeKalb County School District has again modified plans for spending hundreds of millions of e-SPLOST dollars on school additions in our county. When schools in Dunwoody sent out email blasts asking for parents to quickly support ‘Plan B’ via an online survey, we were told of a $23 million investment at Dunwoody High School. Talks of new locker rooms, a new gym, and dedicated rooms for chorus and drama were spread among the community.
When it comes to DeKalb, you can’t believe anything they tell you. The $23 million changed to $16 million as soon as the online vote was closed.” Continue Reading Here >>

What is DHS Getting for $16 Million?
In a letter to the Crier, Rick Callihan writes,

“Dunwoody High School has lots of great students, staff, and teachers, but there are several things that need improved at our local high school. Unfortunately, the $16 million e-SPLOST project currently being pushed for DHS not only fails to address the school’s shortcomings, it will make things worse …
DHS gets $16 million, making room for more desks and hundreds more students, but not much else. Simply adding desks and students while ignoring common areas and dedicated space for the arts and athletics is a bad idea.” Continue Reading Here >>

Dunwoody Residents are not Alone in Feeling Betrayed and Misled
Alice White writes,

“Dunwoody residents are not alone in feeling betrayed and misled by DeKalb. Chamblee and Lakeside parents, as well as parents at several of their feeder elementary schools, have organized to delay a final vote on the expenditure of the e-SPLOST funds.
It is disappointing that we have not seen any public statements from our city council members on this topic. These massive school additions impact homeowners, especially those residing near Vanderlyn and DHS.” Continue Reading Here >>

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Posted in SPLOST

Dunwoody HS – Overburdened Common Spaces

Posted on November 29, 2016 by | 41 comments

If common spaces are not addressed Dunwoody, Lakeside and Chamblee communities will end up with more seats but little in the way of common space improvements for the students they already have, let alone the additional seats.

DeKalb Schools will bring to the board on Monday a recommendation to construct a 600-seat, 29-classroom, two-story addition to Dunwoody High School. The project will also include

  • Kitchen extension (1,731 sq/ft)
  • Cafeteria extension (485 sq/ft)
  • New media center addition (2,020 sq/ft)
  • New parking – paving over the retention pond (160 spaces)

The Dunwoody School Council presented a Position Statement supporting additional seats (Option B) at our high schools over a new Doraville high school (Option A). I disagree with the recommendation to go with option B, and would prefer building another high school at a site in Doraville.

If we are going with Option B as the DHS School Council says they prefer, then I want to advocate for everything Dunwoody High School needs and expects. Indeed, the Chair of the Dunwoody High School Council, Chad Griffith, and others who agree with him, say that the main reason they support adding 600 seats to Dunwoody is that Option B addresses many critical needs, and they hope there will be attention and improvements for badly needed renovations to certain facilities within the school.

In addition to the common spaces already scoped out (kitchen/cafeteria, media center and parking), all the other common spaces at Chamblee Charter HS, Lakeside HS and Dunwoody HS need to be addressed in any expansion of seats at these schools.

Dunwoody High School Facilities

“I’m really embarrassed by some of the facilities at DHS and, again, this is part of the reason that I find it hard not to receive an investment in our school when it is on the table”, says Chad Griffith reflecting on why Option B was the best choice for DHS.

Physical Education

The DHS Gym doesn’t have the capacity to handle the students there now. Griffith relayed the story, “Coaches have told me that they have to run practices until 9:30 at night and they have very limited opportunity to practice out of season because of the limitations of only one gym.”

DHS doesn’t have a working score board – “We have boys/girls soccer and lacrosse as well as other events on our track, and we have to use little flip charts for scoreboards because there is not even power to our non functioning scoreboard that is probably 50 years old”, says Griffith

Chorus Room

DHS needs a place for choir. “I’d expect one of the 29 new classrooms to address the chorus room need”.
In summary Griffith says, “One reason I have trouble getting comfortable with a new high school and associated cluster is that DCSD can’t even provide very basic items for our existing schools. If we add another school in the mix that is taking from the money, how are we going to be any better off at have raising the bar on DCSD facilities? That’s not going to help DHS or DCSD from my perspective.”
The school district released their plans regarding the additions at Chamblee, Dunwoody, and Lakeside. The school district is currently not planning any renovations or additions to these other critical common areas.

If these common spaces are not addressed, in the case of Dunwoody High School, the community will end up with 600 more seats but little in the way of common space improvements for the students they already have, let alone the additional seats. The same thing appears to be true for Chamblee and Lakeside. The bottom line: more seats and less common space per student. That is not acceptable.

41 Comments

Posted in Chamblee High School, Dunwoody High School, Lakeside High School, SPLOST