Missed projections crowd schools, frustrate parents

DeKalb County 1,268

Fulton County 624

Gwinnett County 2,059 students

Overstimate

Fayette County 1,800

Effects

Hiring

Cobb County hired 30 extra teachers. Gwinnett is hiring 10, and transferred 16 teachers and 10 support staff

Buildings

Fayette’s departing superintendent recommended closing three schools

Scheduling

Unexpected students meant some large classes in the first weeks of school. Districts shuffled teachers and students to even out the load

The first days back to school for thousands of metro Atlanta students were chaotic this year because of administrators’ miscalculation of how many teachers they would need.

Classes were overcrowded and schedules had to be changed to accommodate a steady stream of unexpected students.

Projecting enrollment is an inexact science, administrators admit. But they are rarely this far off.

Read today’s Atlanta journal constitution to see how the missed projections affected your local schools.