The DeKalb County School District is restarting its effort to figure out what to do with overcrowded and underused facilities across the county.
District leaders spent much of the spring semester gathering input about proposals that would have addressed declining enrollment districtwide by closing roughly two dozen elementary schools — and hearing largely negative feedback. The experience prompted officials to hit pause, regroup over the summer and come back this month to start again.
“The Student Assignment Project has always been about one thing: shaping what’s next for student opportunity,” interim Superintendent Norman Sauce III said in a news release. “Our north star hasn’t changed: strengthening opportunity for every DeKalb student.”
Between August and December, district leaders will focus on schools that are overcrowded and concentrated in the northern part of the county. That’s schools in the Lakeside, Cross Keys, Chamblee, Tucker, Dunwoody and Druid Hills clusters. This is also the area where several new schools will open in the coming years, making new attendance boundaries a priority.
The first step is the creation of Community Advisory Teams, which will meet three times over the semester as the district begins to develop another plan for how to handle the overcrowded facilities in the northern part of the county. Anyone with a connection to a school in those clusters — parents, students, employees, community members or alumni — can submit an interest form and could be selected to serve on one of the six teams.
Input will be collected in three phases through October, after which district officials will develop a recommendation for the school board. The recommendation could include changes to how facilities are used, shifts in attendance boundaries or alterations to the academic offerings at schools. Sauce and his team are expected to make a recommendation in December, although some board members have already cautioned the district to take its time.
Starting in January, the district will take the same process to schools in the southern part of the county, which are underenrolled. That’s schools in the Towers, McNair, Cedar Grove, Miller Grove, Columbia and MLK clusters.
Here’s how to get involved in the process:
Want to be on a Community Advisory Team?
What: These teams will meet three times over the fall semester to help the district shape its recommendations.
Who: Principals and school-based staff, middle and high school students, parents and guardians, community members, district administrators, current SAP Committee members and alumni are all eligible to participate.
How many: Six teams; each school will get 10 seats.
How to apply: Submit an interest form online.
When: Interest forms are due Aug. 25.
How members will be chosen: People who were previously on the Student Assignment Planning Committee will automatically be selected; all other applicants will be filled through a random selection process and notified in late August.
More upcoming ways to give input
- Online public survey: The on-demand survey will take 10 to 15 minutes to complete, and will be available in the coming weeks.
- Online focus groups: Those who complete the survey may choose to participate in a follow-up virtual focus group. The one-hour sessions will have 10 to 15 participants each.
- Public comment sessions: Formal, in-person public hearings will start in September, with multiple sessions scheduled through October. Session dates are available on the district’s website.
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