Heather writes in with details about an April 1st “Internet Safety Event” at Decatur High School…

Decatur High School Theater, Thursday, April 1st, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,  Free childcare- registration info below!

The City Schools of Decatur, in partnership with the Decatur Children and Youth Services, invite all parents and community members to attend a program entitled “Internet Safety and Social Networking in the Digital Age” at Decatur High School on Thursday, April 1st, at 6:30 pm. Hoke Wilcox, Ed.S., an Instructional Technology Specialist from the Educational Technology Center at Kennesaw University, will be our presenter for the evening.

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Old Fifth Avenue Site Plan

New Fifth Avenue Site Plan

The new site plans for the Fifth Avenue 4/5 Academy are now online!

The old and new site plans are above.  You can either click the pic itself for a larger image view, or you can go straight to the PDF, which allows for really obsessive zooming.  The biggest changes since the last go-round?  Lots more street parking and a smaller school footprint, which allows for more green-space on the site.

There are also site plan PDFs available for the ground floor, main floor and upper floor of the actual building.

Check it!

An AJC article from late yesterday – recaping the Decatur School Board budget meeting on Tuesday – quotes one Decatur resident upset that the Board isn’t considering raising the millage rate (read: raising taxes) instead of furloughing teachers for three days in the coming school year.  In a comment last night, Karass agreed.

I’d like to get an unofficial read on this again, because when I asked at the end of 2008, 70% of those responding to a DM poll had some concern about tax levels in the city.  And things weren’t looking all that bad budget-wise at that point.

From Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards…

As you may know from the recent news, the State of Georgia is not collecting the revenue they anticipated because of the weak economy. This shortfall will affect all public schools in Georgia. At City Schools of Decatur, we have been working hard to create a responsible budget that allows us to keep our staff but we will need to make some cuts to account for the reduction of funds we will receive from the State. Currently, we are proposing a 3-day reduction in work year calendars for all of our staff (with the exception of 185 day employees) and a salary “freeze.” These proposals will be outlined in a public hearing so that we can receive feedback from our community.

I want to let you know that this public meeting will be held on March 17, 2010 at 4:30 pm and again at 6:00 pm to review the proposed changes to our salary scales for the 2010 – 2011 school year.

The meeting will be held in the auditorium at Westchester (758 Scott Boulevard, Decatur 30030). You are welcome to attend and let the Board of Education hear your opinions.

Thank you in advance for your understanding during these difficult times.

Back in August 2009, the City Schools of Decatur adopted a new grading policy (see Action Item C), which would increase the use of International Baccalaureate assessment for learning in Decatur’s school district.

The new methodology contains many components, including a new, vast evaluation method, which assesses a student’s performance on a wide variety of tasks (compositions, essays, research, presentations, etc.), teacher assessments (observation, selected response, collected response, etc) – and the use IB rubrics, anecdotal records,  models and checklists to evaluate student achievement, among others.

However, one piece of this vast puzzle of acronyms and educational buzzwords has received a majority of the attention in the halls of Decatur High School.

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Poster courtesy of The Decatur Minute.

At next week’s Tuesday Board Meeting, the City Schools of Decatur Board of Education will vote to approve a plan (see Action Item B) to sell its kitchen cooking oil to Clean Energy Biofuel for 25 cents a gallon. A quick look at the company’s website shows that Leon’s Full Service and many other well known Atlanta businesses and restaurants are already Clean Energy clients.  Decatur High looks to be the first school on the list of clients.

As the summary below notes, this new agreement not only saves CSD money, it also supports a growing sector of the alternative energy industry.

Considering our economic climate it pays to be forward thinking. Currently, the used kitchen oil that our school produces is being taken away and disposed of by Griffin Oil at a charge. Clean Energy Biofuel, LLC is offering to pay CSD for our oil and recycle it. In addition, we would be supporting an environmentally and economically friendly fuel industry.

CEB (Clean Energy Biofuel) is all about biofuel. They collect, produce and distribute biodiesel. CEB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which is a regional non-profit organization focused on environment and energy policy. CEB has operations in Atlanta and Knoxville, TN. They are eager to expand their operations by incorporating DHS.

CEB is offering to provide DHS with an oil storage container and make pickups on request. They also pay for the oil they collect by the gallon. CEB already collects from many businesses across Decatur and Atlanta. The used kitchen oil, once collected, is transported to their plant in Knoxville, TN where it is converted to biodiesel to ASTM specifications. The biodiesel is sold to fleets via wholesale distribution and to passenger cars via retail kiosks.

Among the Decatur School Board’s agenda items for the coming week is a motion to approve advertising “for project management services for Renfroe Middle School infrastructure update, Fifth Avenue Academy Building Project, and Decatur Career Academy renovation/addition.”

This search is of particular note because it marks the end of Rosser International’s contract with CSD in May.  Rosser has worked on many CSD construction projects in the last couple years, including the completion of the new Decatur High gymnasium and auditorium and the renovation of the high school’s science labs.  They’ve also done some sketches of the new 5th Avenue Academy.

But many Decatur residents, myself included, were first introduced to Rosser in 2008, when the city was collecting information on whether to pursue a wide-spread annexation of surrounding unincorporated, residential and commercial property.

In a dialogue that stretched over MANY months, it was ultimately proven by residents Pat Herold and Judd Owen that there were serious discrepancies in Rosser’s student enrollment projections, which adversely affected revenue estimates.  This finding, combined with broader worries about tax revenue, was followed closely by a School Board vote against annexation (non-binding), and a tabling of the issue by Decatur’s City Commission.  The item is still tabled as far as I know.

Who will be CSD’s next project management team?  Who knows.  But one thing is for sure; between the School Board and city residents, they’ll certainly have their work cut out for them.

From Dan Magee at 231 Sycamore…

This Wednesday is the 1st Annual Georgia Walk/Bike to School Day. Join Decatur Active Living staff and parent volunteers at Clairemont, Oakhurst and Winnona Park Elementary Schools and Glennwood Academy as we greet students and parents before and after the school day. International Walk to School Day is Wednesday, October 6th, 2010.

Wednesday’s event is sponsored by the Georgia Department of Transportation’s “Safe Routes to School Georgia” program.

From the CSD website…

The City Schools of Decatur’s College Heights Pre-K Lottery will be held at the Central Office at Westchester (758 Scott Boulevard, Decatur 30030) on Monday, March 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm.  Families may choose to be present for the lottery drawing or they may contact Felicia Gibson (404-370-4480) after 2:00 pm on Monday for lottery results.

Thanks to Jenny for the heads up!