Clifton Serves as Northwestern Border of Proposed Fernbank School Zone
Decatur Metro | January 4, 2011
The Druid Hills Civic Association reports on their website…
The school redistricting proposal disclosed at last night’s Board of Education meeting drew the line right down Clifton. Anything west of Clifton would be out of Fernbank and sent to Briar Vista. There are going to be follow up public meetings held by the consulting firm as follows: 1/13 Miller Grove High School; 1/13 Chamblee HS; 1/18 McNair HS; 1/20 Stone Mountain MS, all at 6:30. Following these meetings, the interim superintendent is to make a recommendation to the Board of Education on 1/31. There are to be 2 additional public hearings on 2/22 and 2/24 (6:30pm) at the AIC auditorium, then on 2/28 the Board is going to issue its final approval.
Pic used with permission from Druid Hills Civic Association. Click it to enlarge.
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The efforts to defeat this aspect of the redistricting plan has begun. I just received this e-mail:
Dear Fernbank Community,
As many of you are aware, the Interim Superintendent produced a preliminary recommendation on school closures and redistricting last night that would redistrict a significant portion of Fernbank’s attendance zone to Briar Vista Elementary. The recommendation would move all homes west of Clifton Road to Briar Vista, and certain homes that are east of Clifton and north of N. Decatur Road to Briar Vista as well (in the approximate area of Houston Mill & Clifton). With all respect to, and without intending any aspersion on, the Briar Vista Elementary community, the Fernbank PTA and the Fernbank School Council are staunchly opposed to this recommendation. Not only would the plan cut away a crucial and significant portion of our school, it would leave those who were not redistricted at a school with fewer teachers, fewer program offerings, and fewer committed families.
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The system now wants to split the boundaries of one of their gems, forcing kids within walking distance of Fernbank to bus to Briar Vista.
Several years ago I had the bright idea to create a new school district out of Druid Hills and Lakeside High School and their feeders. It would have been one of the highest performing and racially diverse districts in the state (like Decatur already is) without the bureaucracy, ineptitude, and corruption of the DeKalb County School System. Unfortunately, this would require a change to the Georgia Constitution.
I appreciate the issues that Decatur parents face regarding school redistricting. I also hope you all realize how relatively nice you have it.
Tell that to your neighbors in the Westchester Elementary area, one of Decatur’s “gems.” Good luck with your fight.
Serious question, how many kids in the affected area actually walk to school? Looking at the map, the closest area to Fernbank is just east of Lullwater, which is mostly Druid Hills Golf Club, as opposed to homes with school-aged children. West of Lullwater seems an awfully long way to walk if you are heading to Fernbank, and I doubt many (if any) kids actually do it. Same for anyone living north of N. Decatur Road.
I have no dog in the fight, just curious. And I heartily agree that the Dekalb Scool System is correcupt and inept.
I know families on Oxford Road and its tributaries that walked or rode to Fernbank. This does look like a painful split of a school. What is the rationale for the split? (I’m probably just not up to date on the issues). It doesn’t seem like splitting a school will save money. At least neither school is being closed, which leaves open the issue for redistricting again in the future, like what happened with the original Glennwood Elementary which morphed into a 4/5 Academy but is now reappearing as a neighborhood K-3.
We live in the area that is currently proposed to be zoned out and no, we do not walk to school because of distance. However, we would not be able to walk to Briarvista either (along with every one else) due to distance.
We have sacrificed year after year to buy a home in Druid Hills just so our children can attend Fernbank Elementary.
I hear you. It must be awful to buy a home for access to a particular school, only for that access to be taken away. I hope it works out for you and the other “re-zoned” families. This is one of many reasons I would never send my kids to a DeKalb Co. school.
And sending your kids to a Decatur school saves you from that? Not on my street. We specifically bought our house so our kids could attend Glennwood, but our middle two have instead been bused to Winnona Park for the last six years. Happens here too.
Compared with most of the other DeKalb schools, the redrawing of the Fernbank attendance zone looks GOOD.
For most of the other schools, not only will students no longer be able to walk to school (those who actually DID), they won’t be able to car commute to school without a 30-45 minute ride each way. It’s even worse for schools in south DeKalb, since that’s where most of the school closings are…which I totally understand, given the capacity rates there….not trying to reignite a North DeKalb vs. South DeKalb battle here.
I know a whole slew of families freaking out b/c Kittredge will probably be closed. Looks like the famed 4/5 academy in Dunwoody is slated to be returned to a K-5 school also.
This will only get worse, you know. The recession is only just now about to peak for city and county govts. Doesn’t help that our state tax code is super antiquated and filled with tax breaks for which we can provide no cost-benefit analysis.
Briar vista is a good school. I dont think Fernbank should play dirty. We are over the dirty in our school systems and that email sounds as if they are trying to find people to bribe or bully Board members.
the school is at 130% capacity – someone HAS to move!
Why should Fernbank get special treatment. All schools are being impacted and 14 are up for closure! Dekalb county is in dire straights and has to change.
Kittredge is not slated to close under either of the submitted plans, although one of the two proposals does move ALL magnet programs to Avondale Middle and Avondale High (Centralized plan)
[...] is a map of the proposed redistricting, courtesy of
www.DecaturMetro.com, via Druid Hills Civic Association: The plan
redirects children who mainly live west of Clifton [...]