Decatur to discuss school overcrowding plan

Decatur city officials have scheduled two community meetings for later this month to talk about plans to ease overcrowding by reconfiguring school attendance zones.

The meeting dates are March 17 and March 25. Both meetings start at 6:30 p.m. and are billed as dual “informational and listening” sessions.

The reconfiguration plans have caused a stir among parents since early indications that officials might move all fourth- and fifth-graders to the city’s lone middle school. Fourth- and fifth-graders now attend classes in the standalone Glennwood Academy campus. If the plan proceeds, Glennwood would house only kindergarten through third grade.

The move would help the system weather an expected increase in students, particularly in elementary grades. According to system officials, the number of students in kindergarten through eighth grade is expected to grow over the next four years from 1,897 to 2,388.

However, parents have told school board members that they worry about having the younger students on the same campus as older students, and said the middle school campus itself would grow too big

City schools Superintendent Phyllis Edwards expects to present a plan to the board in May.