Don't move magnets
Create magnate programs in under capacity schools
I started by voting for B, but now I am changing to C; overall, I think this is an excellent solution, and I think that a new Sequoyah cluster would be the most fair and reasonable option for the students in the area
It is critical to identify a central location that supports community building - and to stay inside the Perimeter
It is critical to build with concern for the surrounding environment and teach students the importance of the integrity of greenspace
utilize old kittredge site for combined magnet MS/HS, utilize avondale middle, combine DSA and DESA, rezone Idlewood to St. Mtn. and Evansdale to Tucker to avoid need for some of the proposed school additions
Create more room at Chamblee Middle by making Kittredge 4-8. Leave CCHS alone.
I was under the impression that Tucker schools were more overcrowded, but there's not a lot of movement out of Tucker in any of these plans.
You should make address verification a big part of this, too. There are many families at Tucker and Lakeside who do not live within the zone.
build new middle school for dunwoody or add on to Peachtree Middle and add on to dunwoody high. build a new elementary, middle and high school for the cross keys group
Work with Assembly, get publicity for them about donating land
These are terrible options. Go back to the drawing board. The gerrymandered Cross Keys cluster is an embarrassment. DCSD should be ashamed of their actions.
Since the DeKalb schools still take an indirect hit, the Assembly should play nice by giving some land for the high school. That will make the cost of option A more reasonable.
Build new high school. Centralize middle and high magnet at Briarcliff HS. Add capacity to existing middle schools. Make elementary schools K-6th grades.
Expand the magnet program. Perhaps Move the magnet to Briarcliff (with HS teachers).
Build on to existing schools. All in Chamblee are on enough land to add to existing structures.
I would like option A better if it included classroom additions and facility improvements at Dunwoody High School in addition to the five schools listed. We are suffering!
Please don't move Chamblee Magnet program
phase build new DSA/High Achievers Magnet on land across from DSA/AHS. Build theater - SPLOST V, then instructional spaces or 6-12 arts school connected to theater with SPLOST VI.
I don't think any of the plans do enough. Most of the affected schools are still projected to be at 96-100% capacity by 2022. Then we will be doing this all over again. Build more schools now.
Option A
Where are you getting these predictive models? I know more people moving out of Dekalb because of the comical corruption than
Magnet move.
Keep chamblee magnet intact. Avoid overcrowding in Lakeside and Tucker by being more vigilant about attendance lines. It's not watched carefully enough and many people from outside those attendance areas are being allowed to enroll at these overcrowded schools.
What about the many empty schools around the county that continue to fall into disrepair? Why isn't re-opening these old schools on the options list? Can't be expense - the county spends more than it should to maintain these empty buildings and lots. why not either re-open or sell those properties and build bigger schools? the county continues to grow in population and we will need more schools sooner than expected. why not take advantage of schools already built?
Proper residency checks to ensure children are correctly enrolled in order to achieve an accurate count of space that's needed at each HS and MS.
Redistrict the entire DCSD on a scheduled timeline. Sell property that is owned and not bring utilized. Use that money to buy land for new high school.
Add a magnet program to new sequoyah or new Briarcliff Hs. Also we need additional spots at KmS. We need more spots and this will make people that get redistricted happier! Offering more opportunities and programs at more schools will increase happiness as redistricting is needed and inevitable
Create smaller high-achiever/gifted magnet programs in each region or cluster to serve the top students who cannot easily be served by neighborhood schools. Let each region decide the minimum requirements (75%ile or 96%ile) to be eligible for the lottery. This would serve students without creating traffic woes.
Work with DeKalb County traffic engineers to determine how the county can identify and remediate potential traffic concerns that may be created or exacerbated by new/larger schools. Complete road construction before schools are enlarged or added.
Consider the role of MARTA in selecting future magnet locations. Woodward Academy students regularly ride MARTA. DCSS students can, too.
I don't believe that is will solve large problems, but I never understand why schools that are overcrowded, where kids are stuck in trailers, allow students to transfer in. I know Chamblee does. I know Peachtree Middle School does too. Yet my youngest child's entire "team" was out in the trailers during 6th grade. If schools are overcrowded, they should not allow transfer students from out of zone.
Close Magnets
Do not move the magnets from CCHS
Create magnet high school that feeds from Kittredge
For magnet programs: create 2 comprehensive magnet programs. School of the Arts (grades K-12) and High Achievers (grades 4-12). Put one at Avondale High or Middle and one at Briarcliff High.
When building a new school look at the growth plans and don't build for the current student body or we'll be redistricting every two years.
Implement a Voucher system. Be innovative and cutting edge. We have the chance to be the leader and model for GA School Systems. At a minimum, expand the Magnet Program. Extend Wadworth to 8th Grade and add a South Dekalb Magnet HS. We have the qualified and interested students.
Establish more magnet programs throughout the county, where many more students could benefit, rather than limiting only to 2.
Overcrowding is an issue. Cross Keys and Sequoyah need relief. No matter what decision is made, there will be both unhappy and happy stakeholders. I recommend moving magnet programs to Avondale High School.
These suggestions focus entirely on creating facilities to accomodate the projected future needs. None talks about updating the crumbling current facilites, which must be a priority for capital improvements.
That until a site for the new Sequoyah cluster is determined and until the lines are redrawn parents are not going to be able to see the benefits of how this will lessen the overcrowding or funding needs at their school or cluster. Right now there are many rumors that need to be addressed in order for parents to make an informed decision. I can't tell you what needs to be fixed at schools that are not in my cluster. Or I can't tell you about issues going on outside of my cluster in order to give an informed responses.
This can simply be done by narrowing down a location for the new Sequoyah cluster (and since there is a high school in GA already names Sequoyah it is probably best not to use that name for this new high school, as there is always confusion over Lakeside High in DeKalb and Evans GA). It should have it own unique name especially since the county tax payers are footing the bill.
Once you have the location narrowed down then you will be able to draw new lines and give people a year before implementing them so parents can decide if they want to sell their home because they are no longer living in the cluster they want their children to be in. It is highly unfair for a person to live in a home and pay a mortgage in an area in which they didn't want to live in.
Keep Magnets at Chamblee or in other Northern location
Look at more affectively using the land already owned by DeKalb by adding space to existing elementary schools to free up more campuses for middle schools.
Is it possible to maintain vertical alignment, recluster, move the magnet, use the Briarcliff High site, and not have to build a new high school in Doraville?
My affiliation is Dekalb school of the arts...it is disturbing that the board already decided what to do and is passing the survey off as if the tax payers opinion really counts! maybe over crowding is a result of other Dekalb County offices doing the same, spending money to improve those exact same overcrowded regions while the green region is overlooked and dies. DSA, housed in a building that is 62years old is listed as needing MINOR RENOVATIONS! not logically possible! what is really distrubing is that the number two performing school in the county can't get a realistic assessment and real needs addressed it looks like we are headed for another bandaid on a hemorrhage. Hey here's an idea approve applications to build new communities based on school capacity, infrastructure and traffic congestion and just maybe this can be avoided.
Reveal if there are changes in school boundary lines.
Traffic studies must be performed soon in order see if any of these options are viable.
Add ANOTHER magnet program - based upon the GM tests, the magnet curriculum works. Give parents a positive choice to accept redistricting with minimal drama. Leave the magnet alone and add another HS to service the overcrowding in the Cross Keys cluster and provide the needed language services to get kids up to speed and less technology because these children (and PARENTS!) need to learn English to succeed in school. NOTE: none of your options are presenting the value of the education and the resources to the parents and students. ANOTHER redistricting effort where the county will spend millions because a bunch of morons are at the helm. The school board should be focusing on improving education not just facilities management. The last effort was a WASTE of millions of dollars (did the head of facilities get fired? It looks like the same guy on WSB Dave Drake?) and here we are again. The proposal is looking to GUT the only program that met the Milestone standards. How INSANE is that? Are we to follow the Cross Keys cluster model for success?
I work at the elementary magnet school in north Dekalb, my son attends elementary school at one of the schools in the feeder pattern and loves it there. We however live in Fulton, if the magnet program would move further south or west in the county, I know this would affect my son's schooling as well as our commute. I have been a loyal Dekalb employee since 2008. I love the school in which I work and it's location. I would hate to leave, but if the commute is too long and my son can no longer attend the school he goes to, I would most likely begin looking at jobs closer to home in Fulton County. I realize I am only one person, but I am just sharing how this would affect my family and me.
My child attends DeKalb School of the Arts. More space is needed for this premier program. It is slated for "minor renovation" but the theater stage and overall practice areas are inadequate. The quality of the students as scholars and artists seemingly has gone unnoticed by DCSD as evidenced by no quality space.
Destroy current CKHS, with new CKHS building at the same site. Additions to Sequoyah, potentially entirely new building
What about land for old Chamblee Middle (just north of 285). Couldn't that be used for a new HS?
There are two suggestions to offer to address the overcrowding and general management of the district facilities. First, address the infrastructure needs of all district schools. There should not be inadequate air, classroom space, parking, lighting, restroom amenities, athletic, technology and arts facilities. Based on the materials provided on the web-site for this third round, stakeholders request to address these basic rights have been largely ignored. Second, address the benefit package given to non-DeKalb and DeKalb County school district employees. The majority of these district employees are utilizing the ability to fill seats in the very same school choice programs and better run schools being presented as overcrowded (Regions 1 & 2). If there is an unwillingness to discontinue the practice as a whole then, a). limit it to K - 6, b). require proof of legal guardianship and c). assign to school based on available seats AFTER district residents who are not employed by the School district have been accommodated.
Provide more details. If middle school kids are moved, does that mean they change elementary schools? Where are you proposing the magnet program live since there is no space in north and middle DeKalb? Are there impacts to elementary schools? What is the high-level timeline for all 3 options?
Expand the magnet program into three districts, North/Central/South, make use of any existing property owned by the county by retrofitting/expanding, sell off structures that aren't vital to school expansion.
Leave the magnet program intact!
It would be helpful to know proposed attendance lines. It is very difficult to vote not knowing how you plan to shift students. I would not support moving students out of their communities. This has been attempted in the past.
Why does the county not look into purchasing office buildings that are already built and for sale/ for specialty schools- these may be able to fit the needs of the programs with some changes to how parking- pick up drop off occur. Many areas around these large overcrowded schools have plenty of space avail if thinking outside of the traditional school choice.
So many people lie about their addresses to attend other schools or ask for and are granted waivers. Also teachers who live in Gwinnett or outside the hiring school attendance zone have their kids in DeKalb schools instead. I'd like to see how this contributes to schools. I know it works both ways, but it seems skewed in DeKalb. It would be nice if schools were good enough academically to want to send kids there no matter what zone they were in and if the focus wasn't so strong on sports that people chose schools to be on a better team. Really understanding why the red zone is so crowded and seeking ways to provide those same opportunities to the green zone is what is needed.
N/A
Do not take any children away from the Dunwoody area. Our kids need to be able to go to school near where they live.
Split the Dekalb County system into three different systems, so it is less daunting to manage such a large system.
It is hard to objectively analyze when redistricting boundaries are not included.
Bring back Open Campus high school and vocational ed to DeKalb County. Then children throughout the entire area could have more options for actually graduating instead of this horrible Move on When Ready. All while alleviating overcrowding at multiple schools.
This elephant is too big. Needs to be broken up into smaller pieces so that the local communities can get involved and decide how best to use the funds allocated to them. Stakeholder engagement is key for any successful endeavor.
Option 3, but with the 2400 seat Seq HS and LEAVE THE MAGNET PROGRAM ALONE!
Is it possible to build a 8/9 grade center at the Briarcliff site? This would ease over crowding at Henderson and Lakeside by taking 2 whole grades from each school.
Option B but with Option A impact.
Parking/traffic flow
use tax money wisely and keep Chamblee Magnets in the northern part of county
Not a suggestion really, but save money to fix our athletic facilities. Several of our stadiums are in deplorable condition. Pathetic. Bad. Fix them. Please.
Could the overcrowding problem can be alleviated by utilizing some of the unused school land? I am not sure what we have as unused school land. Just throw some ideas.
Please consider the children first in this massive decision. Eliminate the lottery which is biased and unfair - there are far too many qualified children that deserve the very best education. How can it even be rationalized that the quality of a child's education be based on a game of chance and luck? Put the magnet programs back in the home schools empowering the home schools and giving those underserved communities the option to see these kids shine. Society completely misses out when we have bright, artistic, musical children who cannot get in to a certain school because their name was not pulled out of a hat. Ask yourselves why Magnet schools had to even exist...because the home schools were not providing quality education. Make the schools what the parents want them to be. Parents at Cross Keys and Clarkston want for their kids the EXACT same thing as parents at Dunwoody and Lakeside. This divisive line on where you should or should not live is based ENTIRELY on schools and what they do and do not offer. EVERY CHILD deserves the EXACT same opportunity regardless of race, religion or ethnicity, parents income or education but sadly Dekalb has proven itself as a county where the haves and have nots are clearly defined in terms of public education. And while you are at it, please please please re evaluate the times Elementary children start school. Where is it even logical to have buses come at 6.25 am and earlier to get kids who need the most sleep, to school which starts at 7.40? I realize there are budget constraints and 1 bus serves 3 schools - Elementary, Middle and High, but why are the Elementary kids the ones who lose out the most? Who allowed this to occur? Make the right changes as you would if Your children's Education was a stake.
There is land at the intersection of Chamblee Dunwoody Road where the old middle school was - construct a new elementary there to help with overcrowding. There is already a new elementary planned for Skyland Elementary - why is this not mentioned in any of the options? Find land for the new middle and high schools in Doraville where there is land available - yes, it will cost money but it is necessary if Dekalb is to compete with other metro counties for drawing in families! Look at additions to existing schools - Dekalb is going to have to spend a lot of money on replacing/ adding on to out of date buildings if they want to attract families and teachers! Schools like Kittredge, Chamblee MS and HS should not be the exception - they should be the standard! Even if you moved Kittredge, do not move the middle school and high school program! Look at the model that Gwinnett is using when building their newer schools - they are doing it right. I would add that if you eliminate the magnet program from the elementary level you would strengthen home schools. Kittredge is a source of frustration for many familiies whose children qualify for the program but do not get in because of the lottery system. All families want the best education for their children - that should not be awarded based on a luck of the draw system. Have strong magnet programs in place at the home schools so that opportunities exist equally or be able and willing to accept all students who qualify for the program.
Redistrict to utilizes empty seats other places in district, build additions where money can be most effectively used and where over crowding is highest
Not necessarily alternative, but additional suggestions: Verify Residency of students currently enrolled in school. There are many stories of "address fraud" that results in students enrolled in schools that are not their "home schools". Make the lower performing schools stronger so that there is less "flight" to higher performing schools. Consider relocating the magnet to the new Sequoyah area school if it has to be relocated. This is a less drastic location change and may result in more students staying in the magnet programs. Eliminate the magnet schools for high achievers and place high achieving programs in all schools.
Make land agreement with Assembly and option A cost goes down significantly!
KEEP the Chamblee Magnet program at the current locations!
Do not disrupt magnet!
Move the magnet programs closer to wherever most of the magnet students live. That's probably the current location... so why move it?
need to provide a long term planning - say 10 to 20 year plan. And provide an addition space to local schools.
I'm a student in the magnet program. It's a great program and I don't want to lose my wonderful teachers or my classmates to other schools. Please don't move it away from Chamblee.
What about alternate spaces for schools, such as, empty office space or strip malls. These are very hard choices but I believe option A has the most significant positive change for the over crowding in the area with the least amount of disruption to students' lives.
Combination of A and B- and increasing the outlook of seats needed
Improve public transportation. Build more magnet schools
Stop allowing so much multi-family housing to be built in concentrated areas.
How about not destroying a nationally recognized school and program? You can improve things for others without destroying a success story.
Utilize existing properties such as Chamblee Dunwoody Road property or Skyland Center.
Option A with added magnent programs throughout the county. Perhaps assign one school in each region to house a magnent program. This will increase student performance and opportunities throughout the county and reduce parent commutes.
Need to revisit magnet program changes separately from Cross Keys overcrowding. Kittredge is also taking up vital space. Elementary schools are overcrowded in the area. Montgomery could use some relief as well by utilizing old Nancy Creek facility. Overall kids should get magnet program services at their home school. Meet the demand and get rid of ridiculous lottery system.
Get God back in the schools. Stop wasting money and get back to the basics!!!!
Address the overcrowding issue in Cross Keys as the only purpose for this project.
Option A is the only choice
have people that live on both sides of briarwood feed into cross keys ms and hs
Can the former GM plant be factored into the overcrowding solution? If the magnet must be moved, are there no available spaces that are more centrally located to lessen the impact to families and teachers? Does moving the programs mean integrating them with existing programs, and, if so, how is that going to work in a way that both programs are respected?
Add magnets to more schools to encourage people to choose underutilized schools. You still might have to build new schools though.
Get rid of magnets entirely, and distribute gifted programs to all schools!
Swap agreement on Assembly tax district for new HS footprint to bring Option A in line with budget
Add a new school in Area 2 for Chamblee move
I love option A. If by any chance you having problems finding a location to add this new schools, you can added them in properties that has been abandoned for a long time. One place would be in front of Farmers Market in Buford Highway which used to be a KMART. The other location would be the old high school next to Adams Stadium.
Additions to new school are not addressing the infrastructure needs of the existing buildings. For instance, new capacity at Huntley Hills will come by new trailers, which are not adequate learning environments.
We are going to have to acquire land in the future no matter what. Our current sites cannot hold the capacity that is coming. Our priority should be not splitting feeders and expanding our infrastructure. Should also be pursuing an simultaneous path of attracting new magnets and charters. Brookhaven Innovation Academy and others like it would help to expand capacity, but there is no room for them in our area. Need to look at some of our other properties like PATH Academy and get creative about repurposing that space with more capacity to house PATH and a charter perhaps.
For the magnet program, there is obviously a larger need for the program to be expanded, so move it into either its own buildings (like Kittredge) or expand the program to all County schools so that those that are in the program (and those still trying to get in) have the opportunities afforded to them. Moving the program out of the most prominent and accessible schools for North DeKalb is NOT the answer!
For overcrowding, either Option A or B will work, or redistrict, but be smart about it. Don't just use lines on a map - go out to those communities, talk to the people, look at how the neighborhoods are set up so that you don't have people living right next to a school they cannot attend.
consider completion times of projects : additions vs. new buildings
Option A is a good suggestion. Its mostly adding seats at the schools that are most crowded and it displaces the fewest kids (which we know is important to them but also makes sense from a future growth point of view).
I don't know enough be provide a valid alternative .
Please DO NOT MOVE Magnet Program! Disruptive to the program and quality of eduction to both County and State as many of them will be pushed away into Private. For the ones that potentially relocate and remain, it does not solve any space issue which was what we tried to solve with the reclustering excercise.
I went to meetings last spring and gave input to suggestions already.
Construction and improvements. Some of the schools buildings are old and they need renovation and additions. The DSA is an example of and old building. Henderson Middle is being renovated. That's what needs to be done. That's why we pay higher taxes.
Concentrate on staff quality and improving instruction in low-performing schools. We don't need more buildings-we need better academic results throughout DeKalb County!
I think we should plan for more than 2022. All the plans have little additional space if population continues to rise. Why not look ahead to 2025 or 2030 and add a few hundred more seats to a couple of the schools.
Build more schools, renovate and update. Do not move or interrupt the pioneering, successful programs. Emulate them throughout the district...magnet/high achievers, language emmersion, STEAM/STEM and others. Help different communities organize; mentor them in parent-led initiatives that have pushed successful schools to the top. Spends funds appropriately. Be proactive not reactive. Put our children's educations and well being first. Do not punish successful clusters for being successful; meaning people have moved to those cluster's neighborhoods because of the clusters success.
I'm not certain I know enough details to make any suggestions. I will say two things however, it's fascinating to me that all of these changes are needed in North Dekalb, not South Dekalb. I guess they had all of their needs addressed. Second, we pay much more in property taxes in the North than in the South, yet we have all of the overcrowding. Oh I forgot a third, Dekalb County already has the highest school taxes in the state, yet where does all the money go? Because any one of these three projects will cost a lot of money.
Leave the magnets at Chamblee and increase size of new HS
If a parent wishes to keep their child at current school they would have to provide transportation
I wish I had one.
Move ES through HS magnet programs to a single consolidated location. This would open up spots at Chamblee high and Kittridge would be turned back into an elementary school.
Sell Briarcliff site and acquire land that isn't already within 5 miles of another high school.
Make new or find existing location so the magnet program can stay in the Chamblee area to keep the best program and teachers in Dekalb County. We love our teachers! Also, why not making more magnet programs all over the County? I do not think any parent would object this proposal, which was refused at the beginning of this project. Do we know the reason for this? Thank you.
Expand and renovate current schools to accommodate growth without moving anyone
Realizing there are no easy answers would love to see focus on keeping Brookhaven City attendance zone which includes BuHi corridor. It is a strong community of like-minded people who value and invest in education. Keep that strong community together! Strengthen the school offerings, make these schools have an attraction factor that people WANT to attend. Tighten up attendance qualification standards. Is it feasible to move Ashford Park ES students to John Lewis and use current APES for 5/6 school for Brookhaven. Then keep Magnet at CMS and have it be 7/8. Build new school in North Dekalb (hopefully not other side of 85) that has new magnet focus or IB program or something extremely appealing that Region I students will want to attend.
Build additional school in cross keys district for overflow.
Leave as is
Do a study on what will be happening in the Buford highway corridor in the next 10 years. Maybe it will b called BufordBlvd. and full of town homes with not many kids. We r ITP, look at what is happening on Roswell Rd inside the perimeter.
Host was voted on to improve existing schools - not redistrict!! Most of the existing schools can structurally handle a second floor or some other type of enlargement. Perhaps you should consider funding the existing schools with supplies they need rather than depend on the parents to do so. Also, perhaps you should consider the really awful teachers that you allow to continue to teach!! Improvements does not equal redistricting!! Improvements start with the teachers!
If the magnets need to be removed they should be centrally located in the county e.g. Avondale
Doraville used to be industrial, but it's not anymore. It only makes sense to plan for its change to a more residential core. The GM plant developers wanted to strike a deal with the school system so ask them for the land.
Could we tear down CKHS, build new and then use Ashford Park Elementary as a new middle school (multi level). Then kids from Ashford Park could go to an expanded John Lewis Elementary. This scenario may allow for less split feeders and still uses existing land.
Remove students who do not live in the cluster areas. This is very apparent in athletics
For all options, expanded (not new) middle and high school facilities need to be fully expanded - not just adding classrooms, but cafeteria, gym, library space. There needs to be a commitment for equally high education opportunities across the board in our high schools. A Broookhaven cluster would promote the strong sense of community and set the schools within up for success. Ashford Park and Drew Valley need to be kept together.
System attendance is skewed for a very specific reason - people want to send their children to good schools. Solution: make the schools in the southern part of the county better. How? Better pay for teachers - selectively! Include the equivalent of 'hazard pay' for working in region 5. This will allow you to choose from among better teachers. "Pest control" should never even make the top 50 of a list of concerns. Spend the available money differentially, with preference to southern parts of the county. Building more capacity in the north will just cause more people to move from the southern regions.
Make a new Brookhaven cluster attendance zone and recluster at new cross keys high school at briar cliff
shrink magnet by increasing stringency of standards
Just rebuild the damn school
tear down crosskeys and rebuild a larger (higher) school with more stories that can accomodate the student influx.
Rebuild cross Keys at existing site. Use APE land for new MS. Send all AP to JLE
Expanding Chamblee high school and keeping the magnet program there
I don't like any options - why don't we renovate/rebuild the Cross Keys Highschool - the county owns the land - there would not be a need to build a new HS on property that the county doesn't even own yet. The option to build on N Druid Hills is completely a disaster - the traffic and construction in that area slated for the next 5 years makes that option undesirable - can't the county sell that land to pay for some of the recommendations to build new and add on to existing??
Why not build a three or four story building in the place of the Cross Keys building? This way, you don't have to build any new schools on new property, no magnet students have to move, and the Cross Keys students can stay at their original school. While you are building, the Cross Keys students can learn in trailers.
DSA is the, or one of the, top performing high schools in the county and the state. Windows are broken, mosquitos and other insects are inside, HVAC is broken so classrooms are freezing or burning hot, bathrooms overflow and shut down, 1/3 of the building is filled with county storage, the practice and performance areas are small and substandard, and the grounds are unkept and rundown. Yet, it is listed as needing "minor renovations." We need to prioritize improving where our kids are NOW before launching into huge building projects that take years to complete -- and class after class suffers through deplorable conditions. Please prioritize fixing DSA. It is a great school with great kids and a shining star in Dekalb County. It needs to shine from the outside, too.
There is a hugely long wait list for the NDekalb gifted magnet starting in 4th grade. What we need to do is add capacity and it doesn't all need to be in the same building. Wherever there is space, add a magnet track following the Kittredge/Wadsworth curriculum, and ditto for MS and HS. We need to add more slots, not move around a too-small program such that fewer children will be able to reach it. The same goes for any other over-applied program such as IB, etc.
I voted to keep SLOST to allow South Dekalb to thrive, not to encourage more migration to North Dekalb
New High Achievers magnet at Avondale - that would help with over crowding all over.
More hiring of staff! Teacher recruitment and retention should be a larger priority ! Not just budgeting money for more teachers but senior administrative outreach for more teachers prepared for future growth in our school system.
I think you need to form a 4 cluster system for District 1. CLUSTER 1 is for sure a new high School in the Doraville area. Keeping in mind this is a great place 1) for public transportation and 2) an excellent place for a dual immersion program. Look at the success of DEKALB PATH ACADEMY. the feeders are southeast of Buford Hwy, Seqoyah MS, Oakcliff, Cary Reynolds, High Tower & Dresden ES. CLUSTER 2 is Dunwoody HS, Peachtree MS, Vanderlyn, Austin, Kingsley, Chestnut, Dunwoody ES. CLUSTER 3 is CHAMBLEE HS with Chamblee Middle, Huntley Hills, Ashford Park & Montgomery ES. I would move Dekalb Path Academy where it is closer to public transportation into the area where it's students live and create a new Elementary school in that location for CLUSTER 3. CLUSTER 4 is CROSS KEYS HS serving the new Elementary School on Skyland, Montclair & Woodward ES. I know DEKALB BOE needs to make a decision for Dekalb as a whole (I grew up in Dekalb County Schools) But District 1 and 2 and 4 are so different. Above is a great plan for district 1, District 2 and 4 need their own plan, but I don't know those areas so can't say what is the best option for them. I think either one of them would benefit from the Briracliff site though. I know you are not interested in redistricting, but looking at map it is quite evident if you made everything NE of 85 District 1, it would be a cohesive District that would form a multicultural, socioeconomically diverse student body.
Leave the magnet and the Chamblee district alone, but create other magnet programs at other schools. Demand for the magnet programs far exceed capacity and a lottery system for a good education is just a very poor model and not fair. Any student with a high enough score, aptitude and willingness to do the work and learn should have the opportunity to do so.
Move all Brookhaven-based students into a new middle school building at the Briarcliff site (or somewhere not on the other side of 85 - think North Atlanta with an office type location) high school building built at the current Cross Keys site. This would include elementary feeders Montgomery, Ashford Park, Brookhaven parts of Woodward, Montclair and the new John Lewis Elementary.
Similarly, move all Chamblee-based students into Chamblee High school and add in Doraville.
Possibly building larger schools in the future like you see in Fulton & Gwinnett
DSA has only "minor improvements" anticipated. The school needs significant refurbishment.
Any alternative to moving the magnet program would be fine
Build a new, larger Cross Keys HS onsite, use Briarcliff for Lakeside relief
You might consider adding a designation to this survey other than "other community member." There are many homeowners in DeKalb without children in the schools and without their property tax dollars flowing into the system, it wouldn't work for anyone. All have a stake in this, both financially and educationally. "Other community member" is a catch-all which is a bit dismissive of the significant financial contribution made by those taxpayers not receiving the direct benefit of education for their households.
I feel strongly that Ashford Park and Drew Valley are one neighborhood and they need to stay together. If Ashford Park is moved to the new John Lewis Elementary School, can we then use the old AP land to create a middle school? I see crossing over 85 as a huge divide - not just the traffic issues but we would lose the neighborhood feel we currently have. Our neighborhood does not cross over 85 and our schools should not either. It seems like in each plan, Drew Valley/Ashford Park kids will be going to Cross Keys regardless. Unless DCSB can address and reassure that there are plan to bring Cross Keys up to the same academic level as Chamblee, our neighbors will be leaving in droves. I would like to see a significant investment made into Cross Keys - not just a new auditorium - but major funding for advanced programs, enrichment programs (art, music, etc.) These must be made for us to feel comfortable with this change.
Tearing down the current single-story Cross Keys High School and building a three or four-story high school on the same land is a much better option than any of these. We need to realize that we live in a very densely populated area and we don't really have the luxury of building "out", so we need to take a hint from Europe (especially Germany) and build "up". All we'd have to do is have the current Cross Keys high schoolers use trailers while the new school is being built.
Option D - remove the magnet program from Chamblee, keep all the existing Chamblee kids at Chamblee and add additional students currently in Cross Keys to Chamblee. New HS in Sequoyah Area.
Give us an accurate FTE budget for each school. Not just direct costs but indirect costs. DCSD does not even have an accounting system to tell you what site costs are per school. It's all done on excel spreadsheets!
verify residences of kids zoned in schools that are overcrowded ie Lakeside, don't move forward until you know what neighborhoods are affected, It is putting a lot of pressure on us to "vote" when we don't know all the details of how we will be affected. Also, keep in mind that some of us don't fit in all the categories in the first question. My kids are still in daycare, not elementary school, but that was the best option.
It looks like a new building us going to be needed no matter what.
Add on to Chamblee High and keep magnet program there, and build a new high school to help with crowding in other schools
This process makes me very nervous, but my concerns are more centered around redistricting.I think split-feeders and magnet should be on the table in those future conversations. However, my view of whether we implement would be based on the specifics of those proposals. We need large format middle and high schools, which the school system seems to agree with. Our options are limited. If we can't get land, then it seems there is not much of a decision to make. We need to build JLES and get Briarcliff running as a middle school now. If finding land doesn't work in Doralville, then convert to Briarcliff to high school.
If we have to be redistricted to another school district which has a lower score than the current school we go to parents should be allowed to select the school that the kids go to and not have to go to a lower score scoring School. The other option is to approve a voucher system where we decide which school we put our tax money towards. Bottom line we should not be redistricted to a lower scoring school without other BENEFICIAL options!
Rebuild Cross Keys HS like Chamblee HS was and have CK's students in trailers until construction is finished. This would help with the problem of too many students in a small school. Other changes may be needed to alieviate overcrowding in other schools.
This would eliminate needing to buy new land and building more floors would add space to the school and the Chamblee Magnets would not be "relocated".
build a new school that is centrally located that houses the high-achiever's magnet programs from grades 4 through 12
If magnets are moved from Chamblee, add an IB program there.
Build and grow equally successful magnets in other regions of DeKalb. You have a successful model; identify and enlist competent leadership to implement.
Focus on the real problem - capacity in regions 1, 2 and 3. More schools are needed in those regions. Pretending that moving a few hundred students (not even that many according to the data provided to date) will somehow aid in the real problem is sophistry. The voters chose to give you more of their money, even after the recent all-too-public debacles, in order to provide the resources necessary to build new and more schools. That is what the Board should be doing. The successful programs like the CCHS magnet program and the DeKalb School of the Arts should be encouraged and fostered with stability, not continually threatened with relocation or other disruption. The teachers need such stability, the students need such stability, and the county needs such stability.
These are lovely plans. Meanwhile, Peachtree Middle sits with a whole grade's worth of kids in trailers. And neighborhoods in the cluster that are rapidly graying out with more families moving in. Plus increasing numbers of kids in the apartments on Peachtree Industrial. Nothing here addresses that upcoming growth. What's next - trailers in the ball field??
Build second and third floor at Cross Keya HS.
Please do not have students have to drive across town to their schools - keep them as local and neighborhood based as possible. This is better for community building and having students work together outside of school hours.
None
I don't see the instructional foundation for this analysis. Has there been discussion of preferred school sizes to match the district's instructional program and the needs of students. Should we really have middle schools with over 1600 students and high schools of over 2,000 students? How does that meet the underlying objectives?
Don't mess with the Cross Keys Cluster. Leave it as it is. The home values in the Chamblee Cluster will suffer if the white people in Brookhaven have to go to Cross Keys. More people will choose private schooling if changes are made to reduce the quality of the low end education that is received.
I am intrigued by a modification to Option B that a group of parents came up with and submitted formally during the Thursday Aug 25th session at Cross Keys. It pulls 2 middle schools into Chamblee High School (Chamblee Middle & Sequoyah) thus eliminating the split feeder issue. CCHS elementaries would be Montgomery, Huntley Hills, Cary Reynolds, and Oakcliff. The proposal brings Cary Reynolds into Chamblee High School - the Northwoods neighborhood has felt for over a decade that by geography it should be part of Chamblee High. CCHS would be made up of Montgomery, Huntley Hills, Oakcliff, and Cary Reynolds - very logical geographically. On the south end, it creates a new "Brookhaven High School" at the Briarcliff site (re-brands which makes sense in a re-invention or creation really of something new.) That school would be made up of a nice mix of neighborhoods with various income levels (Ashford Park, Montclair, Briar Vista.) Keeps Ashford Park together as a community - something that parents have desired. Sounds like it could be a really great version of Option B, and is in budget! Also does not require land acquisition. Would eliminate the ridiculous long distances kids currently travel within the Cross Keys Cluster.
What about past 2022? Seems like we will be talking about this again in a few years. Why don't we fix now and plan for longer term. Land inside the perimeter is going to get harder and harder to find with all the developers buying land and increasing the density.
Instead of adding to a new school, how about starting with some of the "DeKalb County Schools" with grass growing inside of them. Can those schools not be torn down and/or reconstructed? Creating a magnet type program in more than just 2 schools. Or a high achievers school within more of the schools. The old GM area? What's being placed there besides more car dealerships?
Option A with some changes
Put competitive magnet programs in each cluster
I'd like to see 10 year enrollment projections also.
consider doraville, Chamblee, and Brookhaven as one region. and fairly reset school lines so the public looks for what will work for all.
Leave chamblee cluster alone. Create more magnet programs
create a magnet program at new high schools that option a is suggesting be built so that more children who meet the requirements or standards can benefit
Leave Chamblee alone and create additional magnets at other schools.
Add on to current school sights
Dekalb needs a world class science STEM school like Gwinnetts school of science and technology or cobbs magnet high school. These schools generate enthusiasm and prestige worthy of dekalb.
Build the new HS on Briarcliff. Disrupt as few students as possible.
Find ways to reduce the cost of Option A
-keep magnets where they are or move to Avondale
-money from ESPLOTST is desparately needed to help DHMS become a safe school - hot classrooms, lack of proper wiring for communication, and plumbing problems all create major safety concerns for teachers and students
the field and track have no access to water or a bathroom, and the tree roots and old benches are major hazards
The best thing you could do is make a fully thought through plan with real ideas of where you are looking for land, what school you would likely have to move ... Real details with substance and not made up guesses inflaming people with fear mongering.
Do away with Kittridge and magnet programs. Let students return to home schools. It would help home schools and alleviate overcrowding in Chamblee area.
Is it possible to increase funding for all magnet programs regardless of geography? Lotteries are fair, but there seems to be more demand than supply for these programs. I know that our family would absolutely commit to higher PTA funding to augment increasing this supply.
Don't just take into account transportation but demographics building a new school helps nothing if demographics and performance are not addressed then people will start moving to better school district agaib
I don't have any more suggestions on top of the myriad that were outlined on the documents that are provided to read. . . .all the appropriate pros/cons are documented already.
Move Kittridge 6th grade to Chamblee Middle School making Kittridge a 4-5 magnet academy and expanding magnet slots at Kittridge since 6th grade would no longer be housed there.
Make all school magnate school
revamp Avondale high school and make it the magnet program ms and high school
new schools at less traffic intensive location
Rebuild Briarcliff HS. Send Woodward, Montclair, Sagamore Hills, and Briar Vista to that cluster. Send gifted magnet program to Kittridge (old location on Briarcliff), Cross Keys MS, and Briarcliff HS. Build a new HS for Sequoyah (Brookhaven HS?). Reopen Medlock ES for incoming population in that area. Reopen Nancy Creek ES to local residents. This alleviates overpopulation for Druid Hills, Lakeside, Cross Keys, Sequoyah, and Chamblee. I am not as familiar with other overpopulated areas.
Truthfully, these options are all idiotic. DeKalb needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with some other ideas.
JUST DONT MOVE THE MAGNETS
These are all bad ideas, but option c is by far the worst.
No - don't move it!
I think overall we should be looking at ways to improve All schools. Over cowding is a huge issue and impacts learning substantially. However, I don't understand spending outrageous amounts of money to build more schools when there are empty school buildings and under capacity schools and room to expand/improve existing buildings.This would help improve All schools and have the least impact on neighborhoods. Can there be more than one magnet program?... so that students do not have to travel so far from home to attend? Why can't there be a magnet program for each area? What about not allowing transfers of students from under capacity schools to overcapacity ones? Also, a much stricter enforcement of proof of address. I know there are many students at Lakeside, and I'm sure in other schools as well, that do not live in the district of the school they are attending. I'm assuming this is because the school district they live in is not as good. We ought to be looking at the bigger picture and finding solutions that will improve ALL schools. Create more community based solutions and more local school options, like more magnet and charter schools. I keep reading about pride. Chamblee Charter schools work because of the pride that teachers, students, and parents have in the school. This is what to focus on. How to do we bring pride in our neighborhood schools back?...so that parents will not want to drive their kids far from home to go to another public school or to a private school.
Rebuild Cross Keys and Clarkston High and make them bigger - build a middle school on the Briarcliff location - no need to purchase additional lands
It is a hard assignment - good luck and may God guide and help you through this.
Redraw all district lines so that no schools are overcrowded and centralize achievement magnet schools, making them accessible to all qualified students.
keep Cross Keys on it's current site but build a new school. Keep Montgomery and Ashford Park on the current sites and build a new school with more seats.
Try and improve Option B. There has to be a way to do this - it's hard, but we need to find a way and Option B seems like the only viable & logical approach.
Option D: Build a BIGGER Cross Keys and make that school spectacular.