Conversations about overcrowding in the Cross Keys cluster of schools in DeKalb County quickly because a lesson on how lack of communication can lead to chaos.
Public hearings on the Cross Keys cluster unearthed some shocking truths: about 1,800 more students were attending the six schools that make up the cluster than it could hold. About 113 portable classrooms were brought in to handle the load.
The plan from the district perspective was to house third- and fourth-graders in off-site academies and shuffle students around while a long-term plan was worked out. Parents and teachers wanted redistricting, where families would not be separated and students going to school would not pass by other schools to get to the one they attend.
But members of the DeKalb Board of Education as well as parents and teachers point to language barriers as part of the reason why the situation got so out of hand.
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