DoraBlog

Dave Bearse weighs in on school boundary changes…

From: “David Bearse”
To: “‘Chris Avers’” ,
“Susan Fraysse” ,
“Marlene Hadden”
Subject: Oppose Chamblee feeder school attendance boundary changes
Date: Tue, 1 May 2007 09:08:24 -0400

Chris, Susan, Marlene:

My research indicates that there currently is no plan to eliminate overcrowding at Reynolds or Dresden schools, and absent action that the overcrowding will continue indefinitely. Other concerned citizens may want to express concerns to the DeKalb school board or administration (Board members e-mail addresses in the message header below). I also understand others residing in the vicinity of Nancy Creek Elementary advocate continuing operation of the school as a general purpose elementary school. They may want to advocate for school attendance zone changes extending to Reynolds and Dresden to bolster their cause, if you have means to provide the information in the message below to them.

Dave Bearse

_____

From: David Bearse
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 8:29 AM
To: ‘jim_redovian@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘lynn_c_grant@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘sarah_copelin-wood@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘bebe_joyner@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘jay_cunningham@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘thomas_bowen@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘zepora_w_roberts@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘cassandra_m_anderson-littlejohn@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’; ‘elizabeth_andrews@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’
Cc: ‘redistricting@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us’
Subject: Oppose Chamblee feeder school attendane boundary changes

Dear DeKalb School Board members:

I support DeKalb Schools increasing school enrollments at schools operating at less than capacity in order to maximize state funding. I however request you oppose at least for the present the proposed Huntley Hills and Montgomery Elementary Schools school attendance boundary changes, and eliminating Nancy Creek Elementary School as a general purpose elementary school. An effort should be made (or greater effort if one has already been made) to develop attendance zones that would relieve substantial and long time overcrowding at nearby Cary Reynolds and Dresden Schools, before closing Nancy Creek as a general purpose school.

There are currently seven classroom trailers at Reynolds and six at Dresden, schools that are adjacent to the Huntley Hills-Nancy Creek-Montgomery group of schools. School attendance boundary changes that would relocate the Reynolds and Dresden trailer students to the Nancy Creek-Huntley Hills-Montgomery group should be considered, or reexamined if they have already been considered. Thirteen trailers at 18 students per trailer yields 234 children that if relocated to the Huntley Hills-Nancy Creek-Montgomery group of schools would bring total attendance at that group of schools to over 1200, in excess of the desired 400 each minimum required to maximize state funding.

Attendance zone changes could relieve overcrowding without new construction. There is nothing to indicate the overcrowding will ever subside without attendance zone changes or new construction, given the land development and resident population in the Reynolds and Dresden school attendance zones is mature and stable, or if anything is increasing. (I am personally familiar will at least 100 new housing units under construction within the attendance zones served by Reynolds and Dresden.)

Reynolds and Dresden are by most any reckonings special needs schools. There is nothing in the SPLOST construction program to eliminate trailers at either Reynolds or Dresden. Reynolds is on at least its second generation of trailer classrooms (I don’t know about Dresden) thus overcrowding is clearly a long-time circumstance. Relieving systemic overcrowding that will not subside on its own and that dates to or before the first SPLOST should take precedence to attending to overcrowding at schools that only more recently have become overcrowded, or areas that are only now being developed.

As a starting point, that part of the Reynolds attendance zone bounded by Shallowford Road, Chamblee-Tucker Road, and MARTA likely has 126 or more (7 trailers worth) of overcrowded Reynolds students. This area is separated from Reynolds by both Shallowford Road and Buford Highway, as is nearly as close to either Huntley Hills or Nancy Creek as it is to Reynolds.

Dave Bearse

PS – William Moseley is to be commended for taking the time to respond to my initial inquiry and discuss this matter with me.