There’s been a lot of news coverage and discussion about annexation around DeKalb over the past year, with Decatur finally approving their own annexation Master Plan this month.
But what’s the real likelihood that the Georgia Legislature will actually take up the issue of dealing with DeKalb’s many newly proposed and expanded cities?
As Decaturish laid out in a post last week, there are still many unanswered questions.
But the one we’ve heard will be nearly impossible to be resolved by the January legislative session regards the potential Atlanta annexation of Druid Hills, which would not only move over 1600 students into APS but would also include taking possession of two DeKalb County Elementary Schools – Fernbank Elementary and Briar Vista Elementary – along with Druid Hills High School.
I ran across this quote from District 86 State Rep. Michele Henson in a Neighbor Newspaper article a few days back that reiterated this point again…
“How do we address this issue with our school systems as far as who is going to go where, what schools will or won’t be in DeKalb anymore and so forth?” [Rep. Hensen] said. “This is a major issue and is not a decision to be made in the next two months because we’re not at the place yet where we understand what it means for our county.”
DeKalb County Schools recently released a report that details the impact and complexities of an Atlanta annexation on DeKalb County Schools.
The report shows that not only would DeKalb lose three physical school buildings and all the students living in the proposed area, but because DeKalb allows “school choice” options for DeKalb students, many students remaining in DeKalb would need to move to another school if their current school was annexed into Atlanta.
The report also states that the loss of the old Briarcliff High School “would result in the loss of a DCSD long-term fixed asset with received offers in excess of $50 million”.
With so many details to iron out in just this one area – and the legislature’s stated desire to do all DeKalb annexations at the same time – how likely does it seem that the Georgia Legislature will actually execute on any DeKalb’s potential annexations this year?
Map courtesy of DeKalb County Schools presentation
We need to come to grips with the fact that the report released by the DCSD was utter garbage. The DCSD lit the match on the fuse to ignite the powder keg by rejecting the DH Charter Cluster and now they have the gall to use ‘school choice’ as the reason these residents are going to hurt DCSD.
Just a suggestion…repeating “Briarcliff HS” got an offer of $50M plays into exactly what they tried to do by putting that slide in there…making the impact sound much, much worse. DCSD did receive an offer by Sember in 2006 to purchase that land and build replacement school facilities that they ‘valued’ at over $50M…but it was part of a 385 acre Sembler development project that never had the approval from residents or the county.
The board has a more recent appraisal of this property and it is pegged at $10-$15M FMV…costs to the Board for utilizing the property would be roughly $5M to just repair/restore to minimum standards…much more to replace…that doesn’t include the fact that they are spending hundreds of thousands each year in maintenance on a building that isn’t able to be occupied.
But at least if you want a snapshot of why folks are completely fed up with DeKalb County, you can look at what they are trying to sell on that one slide and understand why folks are just tired of being used for their taxes and tired of being ‘misled’ when they ask for accountability.
I read that report, and I agree with you that the tone was not objective at all. It was filled with a lot of hyperbole and questionable facts. It read like a rant.
The words used were “disenfranchisement” of children and teachers “losing their jobs”. The reality is that children will go to a different school (maybe) and the teachers would probably go from being employed by the City of Atlanta instead of the DCSD. My children were re-districted and had to change schools at the COD this year. They are doing fine.
I don’t expect DeKalb County to be happy about this situation, but the Dekalb school board is really responsible for most of the problems, whether it was the former board who had to be disbanded by the governor or Michael Thurmond, the current superintendent. The corruption in DeKalb and the complete lack of concern by the leaders for anyone except their narrow band of supporters is the cause of the problem.
That being said, the City of Atlanta should absolutely have to pay them the FMV of their buildings and other facilities that are annexed. Maybe it’s not $50 million, but it should be something.
The Adams Stadium, International School, and Briarcliff High School (doors are now welded shut but could easily be reopened) are NOT in the proposed annexation area to Atlanta and so those buildings – across from Target on Clairmont and which were being proposed for sale – stay with DeKalb County schools. A correction should be made to address that error.
That’s incorrect. The Target on North Druid Hills and the entire complex including Adams Stadium and Open Campus/Briarcliff HS are absolutely in the annexation map.
https://druidhills.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/proposed-aai-map.png
Easy. Sell the Druid Hills (former Briarcliff HS) property. The new owners will be part of the City of Atlanta in DeKalb. No biggie. Maybe the City of Atlanta will be the buyer! Second, what about Fernbank Science Center (the very old planetarium owned by DeKalb schools)? Is that in the deal? If so, move it out to Arabia HS in South DeKalb. Build a new building to house the equipment – and use it to teach science there as a magnet program. (Leave all the old science displays there for Atlanta to find a way to store them.) Students can visit the planetarium at Arabia on field trips. Be proactive instead of whiny and reactive. Stop the hand-wringing and lawyering and make some decisions that are good for all students in DeKalb. Now that would be a switch!