The proposed annexation by Atlanta of a swath of western DeKalb County would "disenfranchise" thousands, according to a new study by the DeKalb school district, displacing students from their high school and taking the Fernbank Science Center and other assets worth tens of millions of dollars. DeKalb's school system operates the Fernbank center.
The move by residents around Emory University is designed to take three schools, plus other property, into Atlanta, which has its own school system. One of the schools, Druid Hills High, has 1,386 students, most of whom would be kicked out if Atlanta Public Schools got possession, DeKalb says, as they don’t live in the area that would become part of the city. Also, students within the annexed area would no longer have access to DeKalb County magnet and charter schools or special education services.
Dan Drake, a school district official, said only 311 Druid Hills High students would go with the school into Atlanta. The other 1,075 live outside the annexation area and would be left behind, along with about 40 teachers. “The problem is, we don’t know at this point where those students and teachers will be housed,” he said.
Whether Atlanta can take the schools and other properties is in dispute, but if Georgia law does allow it, it “would result in the disenfranchisement and displacement of 2,922 students,” Superintendent Michael Thurmond said Monday. He said he would earmark $2.5 million from reserves to hire legal and government affairs experts who can help in “protecting what is naturally ours.”
The report is clearly aimed at undermining support for annexation, a movement that gained steam after Thurmond’s administration denied a petition by parents in the area to control their own schools.
Parents at Druid Hills High and its six feeder schools wanted to use a new state law to create a “charter cluster,” a group of public schools under independent management. That movement is now dead, and the annexation would split the cluster in two.
At least two members of the steering committee for a pro-annexation group, Matt Lewis and Kathleen Mathers, hail from the now defunct Druid Hills Charter Cluster governing board.
They are only stoking a fire that was already burning, though. Residents such as Kirk Larson, who has lived in Druid Hills for two decades and in DeKalb since 1969, has no children but still wants to be annexed by Atlanta. He likes the services and what he thinks is a lower property tax bill in unincorporated DeKalb but worries about the future, given all the incorporations that have occurred or could yet occur, shearing off revenue from the county tax base.
Larson thinks taxes in unincorporated DeKalb will rise as services decline. Atlanta, however, with its major corporate and commercial centers, seems much more stable, he said, adding that new developments such as the Beltline suggest a “dynamic” city on the upswing.
“We’re all going to be in a city in a few years, and the city I want to be in is Atlanta,” Larson said.
New support comes from parents such as Jefferson Baer, who was frustrated by DeKalb’s refusal to allow a charter cluster and “local control.”
The school two of his three children attend, Fernbank Elementary, is excellent, he said. But he described Druid Hills Middle School, where his oldest child is in sixth grade, as a weak link in the cluster. “I think there are things that could be improved on, potentially, and I think that’s the idea behind having the school cluster — or moving to Atlanta.”
The group leading the push, Together In Atlanta, issued a statement Tuesday disputing the accuracy of the school district’s tax claims (DeKalb says the bills are higher in Atlanta) and student displacement numbers.
The group also said it has “clearly and specifically proposed” giving up land in its proposed annexation map that DeKalb says is worth $50 million to developers, and Thurmond would have known it if he had contacted them. The property, near Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads, has one of the district’s five stadiums, plus old buildings including a center for refugee students and an abandoned high school.
The split-up of Druid Hills High may have the most potential to agitate parents.
Staci Melton, for one, feels left out in the cold and uncertain about the future. She has two children and lives in the Druid Hills High attendance zone — but outside the annexation map. Her oldest child goes to a magnet school and is on track to remain in the district’s schools for high achievers outside the cluster. But her youngest could wind up anywhere when he’s ready for high school.
“I’m worried about my son, and I’m worried about our property values and I’m worried about the whole county collapsing financially because of this,” Melton said.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed supports the Druid Hills annexation. It could occur in several ways, including approval by the Atlanta city council or state Legislature and a majority of voters in the affected area.
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