Atlanta Public Schools should think twice before closing Dunbar Elementary
Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running a series of guest essays about APS Forward 2040, the long-range plan under discussion in Atlanta Public Schools to reshape its future. Here is another selection in these essays.
Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School is the heart of Mechanicsville — a refuge, a gathering place and a symbol of resilience for a community that has endured decades of disinvestment and displacement.
For generations, it has provided stability and opportunity for families determined to build a better future. Yet, Atlanta Public Schools’ APS 2040 plan proposes closing Dunbar at the end of the 2026-2027 school year to save an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million annually and avoid $9 million in maintenance costs.
These numbers may look good on paper, but no formula can measure what Dunbar means to the community it serves or how deeply its loss would unravel the neighborhood’s fragile progress.
Safety, parental involvement risks
Dunbar is one of the few neighborhood schools in Atlanta where most students — 86% — walk to class.
In a city built for cars, Dunbar shows what a safe, walkable and connected community can look like.
Many Mechanicsville families work tirelessly to get their children to school each day despite enormous challenges. Under the proposed consolidation plan, students would have to cross the Downtown Connector to reach another school — a serious safety risk.
What happens when a child misses the bus? How will parents without cars attend PTA meetings or school performances? This plan would create unnecessary and inequitable barriers between children and their education. Physical disconnection contributes to truancy, and truancy predicts low academic achievement and feeds the school-to-prison pipeline.
Dunbar also anchors a network of community assets built intentionally around it. The adjacent Dunbar Neighborhood Center exists only because of the school’s presence, not just sharing its name but providing afterschool programming, athletics and youth-centered initiatives.
Just this year, the city of Atlanta launched “THE LAB-A Creative Campus,” focused on nurturing artistic talent and innovation. Eighty-five children attend the neighborhood center’s afterschool program, roughly 90% of them Dunbar Elementary students. Rosa L. Burney Park has received major public investment for the same reason. Removing the school would strike at the foundation of an entire ecosystem that has supported generations of Mechanicsville’s children.
Closing Dunbar would send the wrong message
The timing of this proposal could not be worse. Mechanicsville is finally seeing long-awaited signs of renewal, with more than 275 new single-family homes set to break ground through the Atlanta Housing Authority and another 100 planned with the city of Atlanta.
These projects will bring hundreds of families, many with young children who deserve access to a neighborhood school. To shutter Dunbar now would undermine the very revitalization city leaders are working to achieve.
Mechanicsville has faced more than its fair share of challenges. Life expectancy lags decades behind wealthier parts of Atlanta. The community has endured repeated tragedies, including several mass shootings in and around Rosa L. Burney Park.
Adjacent to the school sits the former McDaniel-Glenn housing project, once one of Atlanta’s largest. The neighborhood was also designated a federal “Weed and Seed” community — an acknowledgment of both its struggles and its potential for renewal. And yet, through it all, Dunbar has remained a safe haven. A place where children can learn without fear and where parents know their voices matter.
Closing the school sends a devastating message about whose futures are valued in this city.
APS officials can look to master plan for solutions to keeping Dunbar open
There are better, fairer options. Before closing Dunbar, APS should explore the previously recommended boundary adjustments by Sizemore Group in Phase One of the Facilities Master Plan back in April 2022. With APS’ central office sitting only a single mile from Dunbar, central office employees should be encouraged to enroll their children in the school, strengthening both enrollment and connection between district staff and the community they serve.
APS could also partner with the city of Atlanta and Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development authority, to identify local funding solutions. More than $5 million remain uncommitted in the Stadium Neighborhoods Tax Allocation District, a fund APS helped create and to which it has already contributed.
APS must look beyond capacity charts and cost savings. At a time when Atlanta is investing millions — if not billions — into revitalizing neighborhoods like Mechanicsville, closing Dunbar would undermine the very principles of equity and community APS claims to champion. Schools are the anchors that hold neighborhoods together.
When a school closes, families leave, property values fall, and a community’s identity begins to fade. APS should not dismantle what generations have built.
Instead, it should recommit to Dunbar as a cornerstone of renewal — a living testament to resilience and hope. Saving Dunbar Elementary is how APS proves equity is not just a promise on paper, but a principle put into practice.
Jason Dozier is a Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School parent, a resident of the Mechanicsville community, and currently represents District 4 on the Atlanta City Council.
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