Neighbors fear more traffic near Marine Corps high school

Putting a military high school on a former elementary school campus would be temporary, the DeKalb County schools superintendent said Tuesday, even as residents complained the site was too small and would increase traffic on already congested streets.

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Superintendent Crawford Lewis told 150 people packed into a public hearing that Georgia’s first public military high school would only spend one school year at the Heritage Center off Briarcliff Road in North DeKalb.

After that, the proposed DeKalb Marine Corps Institute would move to a yet-to-be-determined permanent location.

Some people complained the school was a recruitment ploy by the military. But many said they lived in the neighborhood and worried about more buses on narrow residential roads and having a smaller-than-average campus stuffed with students it was not designed for.

West Hutchison said Lewis would probably “get a lot of support for the community if we could actually commit to one year in writing.”

“I’m not here to express anything but support for the Marines,” Hutchison said. “My concern is simply the location.”

DeKalb officials are in the final stages of talks with the Marines to open the school in August. It will eventually enroll 650 students and have both a principal and a commandant. Lewis said he expected no more than 150 students when the school opens with just a freshman class.

The hearing Tuesday was at the Heritage Center, a former elementary school that currently houses students with special needs who next year will merge with another program.