DeKalb Board Dumps Consideration of 6-12th Grade School Structure From Its 5-Year Proposal

After hearing from the public on specifics in its five-year school organization draft proposal, the DeKalb County Board of Education has decided it will not consider repurposing some schools into a sixth through twelfth grade structure.

At Thursday's called meeting at the school board headquarters in Stone Mountain, DeKalb County School District (DCSD) superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said they've "heard loud and clear" about the issue: folks didn't like it.

"We've made a lot of adjustments," to the proposal, she said. Also gone from consideration is the K-8 school set-up.

See attached: A PDF of the revised draft five-year school organization proposal.

DCSD says it must submit the draft proposal on school organization by January
2013 so it can keep getting $40 million in reimbursements from state capital bond funds over the next five years.

DeKalb County Board of Education chairman Eugene Walker also spent several minutes Thursday assuring members of the audience that the board was nowhere close to making a final decision on a five-year school organization plan.

Changes to the proposal "will be based on significant public input," Walker said

The upcoming Monday, Dec. 10 is not a vote on a final plan, but a vote to get the process going. It will include the first read of the draft proposed organization and draft list of decommissioned schools.

Then:

Dec.11: E-mail opens for public comment until Jan. 16, 2013: proposed-org@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

There will be five public meetings/public hearings on the matter:

Jan. 8: McNair High School

Jan.10: Miller Grove High School

Jan. 15: Tucker High School

Jan. 16: Dunwoody High School

Jan.17: AIC

Voting:

Jan.23: The board will vote to approve the draft proposed school organization in begin the review process with the state.

Atkinson explained that the five-year school organization proposal should have occurred more than a year ago, but because of the organization's leadership transition, the board was allowed more time to work on it. Atkinson was named superintendent in 2011.

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