Get Schooled

By Ernest

October 25, 2006 01:51 PM | Link to this

With the combination of changing demographics and ‘graying’ of many established neighborhoods, redistricting is a REMEDY that many school systems will need to address. In DeKalb we have of 20 ES with enrollments less than 400 and quite a few that have 10 or more trailers. If we really want to be ‘fiscally responsible’, redistricting needs to happen. As the person for the Fayette school system says, many community members think attendance zones become frozen despite increased density.

Along the same lines, we need to get the legislature involved to get impact fees. For some counties, it may be too late.

By 4th year in hell

October 25, 2006 03:04 PM | Link to this

I can’t beleive the system is even letting parents speak on this. Their children are getting a free public education….if it’s such a big deal, either move or put your kids in private school. Complaining about getting something for free? What a spoiled society we are….

By Blind Homer

October 25, 2006 03:41 PM | Link to this

4th is right, it can be tragic but it’s necessary and you do have options. My daughter missed the middle school and high school expansions, but many of the kids she went to elementary school with have wound up at different schools. In many school districts this is also partly a consequence of our legal and illegal immigrant policies.

By dogi

October 25, 2006 03:51 PM | Link to this

4th yr.,

In 1958 Harold Pinter the Nobel Prize in Literature winner of 2005 penned the following comment. I contend this statement could aptly be applied to your contentions of free education.

‘There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.’

That being said there is no reason to silence those that are in fact paying consumers of public education. They have every right to be heard.

By decatuparent

October 25, 2006 04:06 PM | Link to this

We had a couple of schools closed about two years ago, and there was a pretty heavy duty redistricting. It was something that was not popular with parents (to say the least) but it had to happen in order to run our very small school system efficiently.

In the long run, I am surprised to say that education actually is better after the redistricting than it was before. I wasn’t a big fan at the time, but I did see the necessity.

As for the kids, from what I saw, they did fine 99% of the time. They were much less stressed out about it than the parents. The parents’ attitude toward the restructuring was probably the biggest determinant of how the kids would cope. If the parents we positive, the kids did fine.

Now… keep in mind that we were dealing with elementary kids which is a bit of a different animal than middle and high school. I’d prefer redistricting to trailers any day though.

By Taxpayer

October 26, 2006 09:59 AM | Link to this

Crawford Lewis is now threatening redistricting in DeKalb County, too. Before that happens in DeKalb or anywhere else, the folks in charge need to take a long, hard look at how administrative transfers affect the populations of various schools. I have never understood why a school that has trailers must accept administrative transfers.

By Ernest

October 26, 2006 12:52 PM | Link to this

Taxpayer, you bring up a good point. I think MANY may be surprised if they looked at a report showing the ‘home’ school for students attending a particular school. Some schools ‘may’ rely on administrative transfers to remain open….

By hs sped

October 27, 2006 10:02 AM | Link to this

Hey 4th….it’s not free. At least not in Fayette County. I pay well over $2000 a year in taxes with the majority going to the school. By the way, I’m NOT in one of the areas that is being redistricted.