Close 8 Schools, Redistrict Others, Superintendent Recommends

DeKalb County School System Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson recommended closing six elementary schools, plus Avondale high school and middle school, as part of a plan aimed at reducing 11,000 empty school seats.

Glen Haven, Sky Haven, Atherton, Peachcrest and Gresham Park elementaries should be "decommissioned" and its students sent to surrounding neighborhood schools under the plan. Medlock would close.

These moves, along with others, would save about $12.4 million a year in costs, affecting about 9,000 students, Tyson said.

The recommendation is a scaled-back version of an earlier plan, which would have affected as many as 14 schools, and comes after six public input meetings with parents around the county that resulted in heated debate about the proposal, drawn up by consulting firm MGT of America.

 Flat Rock Elementary would become a theme school and Bouie Theme School would be a neighborhood school under the proposal. The magnet program would remain unchanged for the 2011-2012 school year.

"It is important to understand and realize that no one will lose their jobs as a result of redistricting," Tyson said.

The board will hold two public hearings, on March 1 and 3. A vote on the plan is scheduled for March 7.