Should Druid Hills High stay or go? DeKalb leaders preparing to make a choice
By next month, DeKalb County School District officials hope to answer the question of whether Druid Hills High should stay at its current location or move to another one.
District leaders said almost a year ago that the funds earmarked to modernize the nearly 100-year-old school wouldn’t be enough to cover the needed upgrades at a site with a lot of quirks that make construction difficult. That’s when district officials began considering moving the school to another location.
The district hired an architect to evaluate alternative sites. The bottom line: There isn’t a huge cost difference between modernizing the old campus and building a new, bigger school somewhere else. Each option exceeds $100 million. But staying at the current site would likely mean sacrificing athletic amenities, accessibility and the chance to accommodate more students.
Still, the plan to modernize the existing campus was met with applause at a meeting at the school this week. Many parents and community members in the audience on Tuesday held signs that urged the district to “renovate, don’t relocate.”
“I believe we’ll all land somewhere where our students, most importantly, and our staff can be really happy with their school experience,” Superintendent Devon Horton told the crowd.
There are three options at this point:
- Modernize the existing school at Haygood Drive in Atlanta. Construction would cost an estimated $148 million. The site can serve up to 1,600 students but would not have room for a full athletic complex and has limited accessibility for cars and buses.
- Build a new school at DeKalb School of the Arts on Clarendon Avenue in Avondale Estates. Construction would cost an estimated $127 million. The site can serve up to 2,400 students.
- Build a new school at Druid Hills Middle School on Mount Olive Drive in Decatur. Construction would cost an estimated $134 million. The site can serve up to 2,400 students.
Through this process, district leaders realized that the DeKalb Academy for the Arts campus in Avondale Estates, originally a third relocation option, wouldn’t be suitable for a high school.
Relocation to any location would mean the district could build a bigger school with full-size athletic fields. Currently, athletes at the school have to practice and play games at other schools. Relocating would also allow the district to build a larger school that could hold more students. Currently, the school is built for 1,200 students and enrolls about 1,400. If the school is relocated, the district still plans to use the current school for educational purposes.
The district will hold two more meetings to present the options to the community and answer questions. Then, the plan is to present a recommendation to the school board at its Nov. 10 meeting.
After the board decides what to do, there will be about a year of planning and designing the actual school. Construction likely wouldn’t begin until 2027.
Dates to know
- Tuesday, Oct. 7 — 6 p.m. community meeting at DeKalb School of the Arts, 1192 Clarendon Ave.
- Monday, Oct. 20 — 6 p.m. community meeting at Druid Hills Middle School, 3100 Mount Olive Dr.
- Monday, Nov. 10 — 11:30 a.m. school board meeting, 5:45 p.m. community input session at district office, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd.
About the Author
Cassidy Alexander covers Georgia education issues for the AJC. She previously covered education for The Daytona Beach News-Journal, and was named Florida's Outstanding New Journalist of the Year.
