DeKalb County could close 27 schools, initial plan says. Here’s the list.

Facing declining enrollment and thousands of empty classroom seats, the DeKalb County School District could close or repurpose more than two dozen elementary schools in the coming years.

District staff, a committee of 150 community members and a consulting firm have been working for almost two years to figure out a road map for the future of the state’s third-largest school system.

In an initial plan revealed late Wednesday, three high schools would be converted to middle schools, five middle schools would be converted to elementary schools and 27 schools would close or be repurposed.

Nothing is set in stone, and the number of schools slated for closure could go up or down. The plan is focused on which of the district’s facilities are best-suited to house students. It does not delve into which students would attend which school, or which school would offer which programs. Those talks will come in the fall.

“These are not decisions,” stressed Sarita Smith, the district’s executive director of the Student Assignment Project. “These are conversation starters.”

It’s a necessary conversation. DeKalb has about 18,000 empty seats — which is more than nearby Rockdale County has students currently enrolled. When schools serve fewer students than they’re built for, it costs the district more money to operate them with adequate staffing and services for students.

DeKalb staff will spend the spring presenting the possible closures and changes and soliciting feedback in a series of virtual and in-person meetings, as well as an online survey. The current plan is to present final recommendations to the school board in December. Any changes will be implemented gradually over six to eight years.

The potential closures are distributed across the district. But several schools in the northern half of the county are slated for capacity expansions, while the middle and high school conversions are concentrated in the southern part of the county.

Here are the schools included in the initial plan:

• Convert three high schools to middle schools: Cedar Grove High, Lithonia High and Towers High. Each is close to another high school and scored low on assessments of educational adequacy.
• Convert five middle schools to elementary schools: Bethune, Champion Theme, Lithonia, McNair, Miller Grove. Close Cedar Grove Middle.
• Close or repurpose more than two dozen elementary schools: Ashford Park, Bob Mathis, Brockett, Browns Mill, Canby Lane, Cedar Grove, Columbia, Evansdale ES, Flat Shoals, Henderson Mill, Kelley Lake, Kingsley, McLendon, Midvale, Oak Grove, Redan, Rock Chapel, Rowland, Stone Mill, Stone Mountain, Stoneview, Toney, Vanderlyn and Woodridge elementary schools, as well as McNair Discovery Learning Academy and Robert Shaw Theme School. These schools are underutilized or close to other schools with excess capacity.
• Add capacity at 11 elementary schools: Briar Vista, Briarlake, Chesnut, Hawthorne, Hightower, Huntley Hills, Laurel Ridge, Livsey, Montgomery, Oakcliff Theme and Sagamore Hills.

For facilities that close, the district will begin a new process to repurpose them. They could be used as office space, to house expanded early childhood programs or to collaborate with other public entities for other uses. The district could also demolish buildings and plant grass to preserve the land for future needs.

The district will host more than a dozen meetings in the spring to hear from the community about the plan for facility use, then will spend the fall discussing attendance boundaries and program placement.

The conversations will be difficult, Smith expects.

“In some form or fashion, we’re going to have to make sacrifices across the district for every student to have a space they love and can achieve in,” she said.

Of the district’s 117 traditional schools, 44 are operating at less than 70% capacity; 18 are operating over 100%. Enrollment is projected to continue declining, putting the number of empty seats at close to 20,000 in 2034 if nothing changes.

“Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence across public K-12 education in today’s world,” said Tracy Richter, the vice president of planning services at construction management group HPM and a consultant for DeKalb, at a meeting last month. “The conversation isn’t different anywhere.”

Concerns about declining enrollment and underutilized buildings have resulted in similar decisions in other school districts. In December, the Atlanta school board approved a plan to close several schools in the coming years. HPM worked on Atlanta’s plan.

How to give feedback

Review the plans and take an online survey here.

In-person meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Registration is not required.

• Feb. 23: Administrative Industrial Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd., Stone Mountain.
• Feb. 24: Cedar Grove High, 2360 River Rd., Ellenwood.
• Feb. 25: Martin Luther King Jr. High, 3991 Snapfinger Rd., Lithonia.
• Feb. 26: Cross Keys High, 1626 N. Druid Hills Road NE, Atlanta.
• Mar. 23: Lakeside High, 3801 Briarcliff Road NE
• Atlanta.
• Mar. 24: Columbia High, 2106 Columbia Dr., Decatur.
• Mar. 25: Martin Luther King Jr. High, 3991 Snapfinger Rd., Lithonia.
• Mar. 26: Administrative Industrial Complex, 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd., Stone Mountain.