by Lauren Townsend for The Aha! Connection
DeKalb County School District presented the comprehensive master plan proposal (CMP) from a contracted third party in the first of seven regional online town hall meetings last night. Region 1’s meeting is scheduled to take place on October 26, 2021 at 6pm and the link can be found HERE.
Most significant to Dunwoody would be the effort to alleviate over-crowding at Peachtree MS and Dunwoody HS. One of the first priorities would be to turn Austin Elementary into a Kindergarten through 8th grade center as well as the newly proposed Shallowford site. With enrollment numbers down at both Austin and Dunwoody Elementary, this is meant to leave more room at Peachtree MS. Children districted for the new Shallowford school would funnel into Chamblee High School. The CMP also proposes moving Hightower ES out of the Dunwoody cluster to the Chamblee cluster. The last part of the plan that would directly affect Dunwoody would be to place an early learning academy at Kingsley ES.
It is no secret that the Dunwoody cluster has been aggressively overcrowded, especially in comparison to other regions. Many stakeholders have been begging the district to consider moving some of the Dunwoody cluster south to Chamblee to create a ripple effect as there are schools in south DeKalb with comparably low enrollment. This 1-10 year plan does render many questions but does appear to attempt to help alleviate some of Dunwoody’s overcrowding issues. You can reference the data matrix of DCSD schools HERE which evaluates Facility Condition Assessment (FCA), Educational Suitability Assessment (ESA), the Capacity Determination Guide, and the Demographic Study & Forecast for each DCSD-operated school.
You can access the full presentation HERE. Questions and input can be made at the Region 1 town hall meeting on October 26th at 6 pm online at https://bit.ly/region1-cmp-townhall.
