The conversation about what to do about overcrowding in Regions 1 and 2 of DeKalb County continues. As people begin to consider the different options, I believe a few key aspects must be considered before we move forward, and those are: proposed school capacity, annexation, and the magnet program.
Proposed School Capacity
As the planners have proposed Option B, the Region 1 & 2 high schools will be at or overcapacity within one or two years of being built. This does not strike me as smart planning. By analyzing the “Summary of Results of Secondary School Options,” the data show that we will have barely enough seats for our Region 1 students if we select Option B as is. In all options, Region 2 is at or overcapacity.
Option A | Option B | Option C | |
Region 1 Projected Enrollment | 7,307 | 6,957 | 6,788 |
Region 1 Projected Capacity | 7,621 | 7,015 | 7,221 |
Region 2 Projected Enrollment | 5,305 | 5,655 | 5,312 |
Region 2 Projected Capacity | 5,328 | 5,678 | 5,328 |
To address this issue, I think we need to amend Option B by suggesting that we build the new Cross Keys High School (at the Briarcliff location or at the current CKHS location) as a 3000-student high school. Not only would this take care of the capacity issue, but it would also provide our community with the school numbers necessary to offer a wide range of AP, IB, and language immersion programs.
It’s much more difficult and expensive to offer the amount of special programs at a smaller school. For example, if 10 kids wanted to take AP Calculus B/C, the school wouldn’t be able to offer the class. However, if 18 kids wanted to take Calculus B/C, then the school would be able to offer the course with a qualified teacher. As we think about the idea of a bigger school – much like what Gwinnett and Cobb counties already do – I think we must consider the benefits to both the finances and the quality of the course offerings of the school.
Not only do we need to increase capacity in Option B, but in Option A, Cross Keys HS should receive a rebuild and expansion to comfortably educate 3000+ students. While the projected enrollment for Region 1 in Option A is 7307 and the capacity is 7621, the schools in Region 2 will be right at capacity. If we make the new Cross Keys HS a 3000-student high school, we can also provide relief to the schools in Region 2.
If large high schools still seem unappealing, then perhaps we as a district need to be okay with the fact that we are going to need to redistrict every couple of years in order to balance enrollment. Gwinnett does it, and it works for them. Why can’t it work in DeKalb? On the other hand, if frequent redistricting doesn’t appeal to you, then perhaps we need to be open to building bigger schools.
Annexation Concerns
The Briarcliff site must be annexed into Brookhaven before any major investment occurs on that site (to eliminate the risk of the property being annexed into Atlanta Public Schools should Druid Hills pursue that option in the near future).
As I articulated in my previous post, this issue could prove incredibly costly in both time and money, should Druid Hills decide to pursue and secure annexation into the city of Atlanta. Because Atlanta has their own school system, this annexation (unlike other DeKalb annexations) would mean that DeKalb County Schools would lose the property to APS. Even though a financial deal would be made (in the event that this happens), this would still create yet another disruption to students and their education.
All I can say is that I hope that Brookhaven, DCSD, and the owner of the QuickTrip are having some good conversations about this. If not, then we need to seriously reconsider any option that pours money into this property.
The Magnet Program
The Chamblee magnet program may have to move to another location. I hate to say it, but this program may have served its purpose in Chamblee. The original purpose of magnet programs was to promote integration, without explicitly stating the fact. For Chamblee High School, it not only provided integration, but it also kept the school from closing. If it weren’t for the magnet program, Chamblee’s numbers would have been so low that it would have been shuttered years ago. However, with the magnet program’s inception and with its location at Chamblee High School, the community was able to hang onto their neighborhood school building.
Now we are in an entirely different situation. The magnet has not only contributed to the revitalization of Chamblee Charter High School, but it has also buoyed the community as a whole. However, now that the community is growing at an incredible rate, the magnet is taking seats away from neighborhood kids.
While it is not convenient, it might also not be prudent to continue to keep the magnet program housed at CCHS. Perhaps another school and another community that is struggling would benefit – in the same way that the city of Chamblee was able to benefit – from the magnet program relocating to another school.
I’m not suggesting we move it to Southwest DeKalb HS, where a similar program exists, but we should at least consider sites that would be more centrally located. If we don’t like the idea of the magnet moving, then we need to seriously evaluate an option that includes high schools that have capacity for 3000 students – especially in Regions 1 and 2.
For what it’s worth, I think the fact that we are finally doing something to address the problems created by overcrowding indicates that people are fed up with the status quo. I’ve been encouraged to see people from completely different neighborhoods working together to try to find common ground and a workable solution.
Unfortunately, I’ve also seen the opposite.
As we continue to wrestle through these issues, let’s be mindful that in working for the good of our surrounding neighborhoods and the county as a whole, we are indirectly impacting ourselves – for better or worse.
August 30, 2016 at 12:26 pm
I agree with your post except for one erroneous statement. The magnet is NOT taking seats away from neighborhood kids. No neighborhood kids have been turned away because there are magnet students taking up seats.
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August 30, 2016 at 12:31 pm
I’m referring to kids who are in trailers at Cross Keys or Dunwoody who could be attending Chamblee under new district lines.
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September 1, 2016 at 5:49 pm
I don’t think we have the leadership to put together a 3,000 student school and to operate it successfully. We are struggling to get on our feet in Dekalb COunty School system and need to walk before we run.
Only our best school system in the state Gwinnett County has this model. I do think that we need to build schools toward 2,200 and 2,500 in the future and Region 1 has particularly undersized schools because we have not received our fair share of dollars from the county for new modern schools.
I also would encourage everyone that is advocating moving the magnet to remember that magnet parents and kids are just as deserving of not being jerked around with the constant threat of moving the magnet. Many parents have adjusted their work and life to make this location work, and even moved closer.
A new high school should have a strong academic plan to provide the rich academic experience that all children deserve. Chamblee has welcomed many new students from the former Cross Keys district and worked hard to provide a rich experience and also provided cultural integration.
Redistricting should be limited and done in small increments more often than we have in Dekalb County vs. ignoring a long festering problem as it has in Region 1 and 2 over this past decade. Any kid who is redistricted should have a plan by the county to also ensure they have the same or similar academic offering of their previous school.
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August 30, 2016 at 7:54 pm
The magnet program is not some nebulous program; it is a group of kids, just like kids anywhere. They aren’t pawns, they aren’t miracle workers, they are kids just like every other kid in this system trying to succeed and not have adults screw things up for them. They aren’t Legos where you can just unhook them and pop them in somewhere else and see how it goes. Doesn’t anyone remember the massive fight/riot that took place at a DeKalb high school a few years back where a charter school was plopped into a school parking lot? The charter kids came into the main building for specials, lunch, library, computer, etc. They were constantly bullied, picked on, and stalked, and one day it erupted into a massive fight. The magnet kids are not game pieces; that program has been at Chamblee High for years, and the program is tightly integrated into the school. The Chamblee resident parents do NOT want to lose the magnet program. Why would kids who are not zoned for the school right now be able to come in and change the school against the wishes of the kids who are zoned for it now and are there?
Cross Keys deserves and needs a large new high school. Half of the CKHS kids who were offered a spot at CCHS this year didn’t take it because they wanted to stay with their community of friends. Build or add on to make CKHS the school that its community wants and needs.
How much space does the technology program at CKHS take up?
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August 30, 2016 at 9:10 pm
So well said Amy – thank you for that!! It is a wonderful thing that the magnet has provided benefits to the Chamblee schools. let’s keep them strong and spread the love. Let’s not dismantle that program and throw the baby out with the bath water – instead let’s replicate the system and demand the county expand the magnet program and create the next iteration of it in the new school. We know demand (students who qualify and want to participate) far exceed the supply Why can’t we approach this from a place of “and” instead of “or”?
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September 1, 2016 at 10:53 am
I like the thought process, but where would the current CKHS kids go while the new school is under construction?
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September 2, 2016 at 6:45 pm
Every other school that has been rebuilt has done demo and construction in phases, in halves or thirds, so that there are building space and trailers used together while the building is going on. This happened at Tucker and Chamblee. Not ideal, but the only other option is to build on a completely different property, and property large enough to house a high school isn’t easy to come by.
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September 7, 2016 at 10:24 pm
Chamblee High School has (before the redistricting this year about 700 students from their own attendance zone and this includes the Chamblee students that are in the magnet program. Chamblee needs a larger attendance zone. Of course only half the kids came, they shouldn’t have been given a choice, but that will change in the future. Parts of the Cross Keys cluster can walk to Chamblee — they should be part of the Chamblee attendance zone.
This desire to build a bigger CKHS sounds like people want to keep the students from Cross Keys out of Chamblee. Not good forum.
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September 8, 2016 at 7:02 am
Cchs does not want to add on to the school as a whole. We have the least acreage of all the schools affected and we were built for 1600 with a few areas expandable to 1,800. I support expansion only to be able to do our part to expand to handle the crowding in cross keys and I agree geographically the attendance zones already added make sense. With just these zones were projected to be 2,200 by 2022 and already grew fro. 1250 to 1670 just last year. We had new kids in the new (former) cross keys zone move in. Like all schools, we want to keep our residents as well as our magnet. We do not have bad intentions to keep children out and in fact despite growth welcomed a small number of charter kids from around Dekalb this past year also. Now that we’re full(or nearly full according to dekalbs more aggressive definition) this opportunity will not be available
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