Frustrated Decatur parents press officials on school utilization plans
The packed community meeting in the Beacon Hill Middle School cafeteria in Decatur last Thursday night began with a mea culpa.
“We apologize if someone didn’t get the correct email about tonight,” said James Wilson with Education Planners, the firm City Schools of Decatur hired to lead the district’s K-2 school utilization plans.
Residents with Gmail addresses didn’t receive an email about the event because of a technical glitch. To some in attendance, it was just the latest example of poor communication about a possible plan to close a K-2 school next year.
Parents recalled being blindsided by an Oct. 10 Decaturish report about the possible closure. A school board meeting Oct. 14 confirmed the district’s plans. An Oct. 16 letter to parents didn’t clarify much, some said. The district didn’t name which of its five K-2 schools officials would consider closing, but had scheduled a vote for Dec. 9.
“It was sort of a plan of how to approach a plan,” said Thomas Moore, whose son attends Westchester Elementary. “It was very meta and created just far more questions and far more confusion than (it) answered.”
During a school board meeting last week, members decided to slow the process and delay a vote. Officials even changed the name from a school “consolidation plan” to a “utilization plan.” The CSD website says declining enrollment is a main driver of the potential closure. Enrollment has dropped from nearly 5,900 students in October 2019 to slightly less than 5,300 this fall, according to state data.
Elementary schools need to enroll at least 200 students to qualify for capital outlay funds from the state. According to school system data, three of the five K-2 schools — Clairemont, Glennwood and Westchester — have served fewer than 200 students for the past several years.
Board Chair Carmen Sulton said the school board began discussing K-2 enrollment in February and attempted to increase it by reinstating tuition options for nonresidents who wanted to attend Decatur schools. Sulton said the utilization discussions continued at an April school board meeting.
“The Board of Education’s work session on October 14 served as a preliminary discussion to review various options, including the potential closure of a K-2 school,” Sulton wrote in response to emailed questions from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The board emphasized that this was the beginning of the process, no decisions had been made, and that there would be opportunities for families to share their input in the coming weeks.”
She added that the board will receive the feedback from Thursday’s meeting and discuss a “plan forward” at a board retreat Tuesday afternoon.
Attendants at Thursday’s meeting at Beacon Hill gave them plenty of input. Some were unhappy with the four parent committees officials came up with to advise the district through the process: safety and operations, student experience, facilities and finance, and culture and communication.
Kara Amouyal pointed out some parents would like the district to consider adding pre-K classes to boost enrollment and redistricting school zones to balance school populations.
“Where is the redistricting committee?” she asked. “Where is the pre-K committee? Where is the tuition committee? Where is the population committee? None of these things are in the committees.”
Decatur parent and Emory University political science professor Bernard Fraga said CSD is seeing an enrollment dip that isn’t comparable to the steady enrollment decline experienced in some nearby school systems, like DeKalb County and Atlanta Public Schools.
“The enrollment we see right now in the city of Decatur is based on the lowest birth rate we’ve seen in decades, largely due to the pandemic,” Fraga said. “We can see that births since the pandemic went up. So my fear is that they’re kind of making a knee-jerk reaction when even the relatively simple projection model shows enrollment is going to get better, at least in the next few years.”
Some parents have speculated the real reason the school district wants to close a school is to put the money saved toward a planned early learning center. Sulton denied the claim, citing high demand for early learning in Decatur and a simultaneous enrollment decline.
“These are two distinct issues that the board is addressing to maintain fiscal responsibility while adapting to the evolving needs of our school system,” Sulton said. “Since plans began for the new Early Learning Center, the board has indicated it is exploring all potential funding sources for the ECLC, including SPLOST funds, … grants, donations, general fund appropriations and partnerships.”
The district is also trying to borrow $52 million in bonds, $22 million of which would pay for the early learning center. A bond validation hearing is scheduled Tuesday morning in DeKalb Superior Court.
About the Author
Martha Dalton is a journalist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writing about K-12 education. She was previously a senior education reporter at WABE, Atlanta's NPR affiliate. Before that, she was a general assignment reporter at CNN Radio. Martha has worked in media for more than 20 years. She taught elementary school in a previous life.
