Superintendent Stresses That Trailers are Temporary
Decatur Metro | June 17, 2008 | 9:57 amIn a note to a local resident, Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards explains that trailers are a necessary evil for all schools adjusting to fluctuations in population.
5 years ago redistricting was done on what we only now see was the tail end of a 5 year decline in student enrollment. However since 2003 (with the exception of ’05) the city has seen a steady increase in enrollment. As a result, the entry point of new students (at the elementary level) is beginning to take on more students than it can physically house. That means trailers in the interim while infrastructure can be expanded.
The superintendent’s letter stresses that trailers will not be a permanent solution in Decatur. The school system is already looking at viable options to expand at the K-3 and 4-5 level.
She states “We have just finished another enrollment study and will be using the first part of next year [emphasis mine] to plan for the next steps to accommodate the current students and also to take into account what may happen should annexation plans of the city become a reality.”
None of this sounds that unreasonable to me. Even the best estimates are never dead on. I just think that communication between these groups – neighborhoods/schools/city needs to be improved so that residents don’t feel blind-sided by changes. Hopefully eLife’s new online school TV channel will help solve that problem.
Thanks to Cherie for forwarding the note.
LOVE your website. Just discovered it a week ago, and have enjoyed reading the very relevant posts.
Now on to a topic that still irks me to no end — Decatur Schools redistricting fiasco.(Yes, I know, I should have let this go a long time ago, but sometimes, you just have to say “I told you so!”)
As a 22 year Decatur resident (yes, 22 years!) I protested the closing of Westchester school. The demographics they based the closing on were outdated — a little door by door polling would find lots of little babies in our neighborhoods at the time …who are about ready to start kindergarten NOW. So the “surprise” of an uptick is just Phyllis and the board not listening to us, and not PAYING ATTENTION to our neighborhoods. Winnona Park will see that’s true in a few years ….
The board had their own agenda to make the “academy” and split up the schools, more cost effective, of course, they said. But they had just finished renovating a good school, throwing our money out the door and closing a perfectly wonderful elementary school. Then they had to add more money to “renovate” again to make it administrative offices.
. Maybe we are victim of our own schools success stories? Because if you visit our local park (corner of Ponce and Nelson Ferry intersection) you’ll see a population explosion of young kids. And that’s just one park.
Trailers will become a reality for a LONG time on all the school campuses. Get used to it.
I agree with Cranky Old-Timer that there is a baby boom in Decatur, a wave of future elementary school students that will require expansion of the current setup. The problem is neither Cranky Old-Timer nor our esteemed blogger seem to grasp the cause-effect of the school restructuring and family influx.
Take a look at the Oakhurst area for a prime example of why the city’s school age population is set to explode. Prior to redistricting that area was not an option for families. It is now arguably the best elementary school district in town and has seen a surge in renovation, gentrification, etc. This has increased the town-wide school population and led to these capacity issues.
I’m no homer – I’ve got no reason to boost the school board or administration. But from where I sit I see a redistricting plan that has been a hit with the market, and therefore wildly successful. So successful that “customers” are flocking from all over to get in on our schools.
The AJC reports 30030 had a 6.6% house price increase in 2008. This at a time when the rest of the country is down 15%. We are doing something right here, folks.
I know having trailers is not optimal. I know there is going to be some pain due to this. But let’s look at the big picture of CSD here – it is in demand, and that’s a great thing.
It’s a great point E and definitely calls into question the premise that restructuring caused this over-crowding in schools.
It’s a chicken and the egg sort of thing. Did restructuring underestimate enrollment or did restructuring spur enrollment? I’m not sure I have or can easily find an answer to that question.
Take a look at the Oakhurst area for a prime example of why the city’s school age population is set to explode. Prior to redistricting that area was not an option for families.
Why don’t you just say what you really mean, E?
Children in Decatur have been attending Oakhurst Elementary for nearly 100 years. Presumably all of these years “families” have been sending their children to Oakhurst to get their education.
Don’t you really mean that before the redistricting Oakhurst wasn’t really an option for white, upper income “families” before the redistricting?
Believe it or not, E, white families began sending their children to Oakhurst before the redistricting. Certainly the redistricting sped that process up. I just find it extremely offensive, however, that your definition of “families” doesn’t include the families whose children attended Oakhurst prior to the redistricting.
Being a glass half full kind of guy, I have to assume E’s emphasis was on “options” more than on “families.” That is, prior to the redistricting, families with options (and I don’t disagree that affluence can increase options) would typically not choose Oakhurst. Speculate all you want as to their motivations but, one way or another, the school was largely populated by kids who were at that school out of necessity rather than choice.
I also have to assume that E was referring to the recent, relevant past, not the whole of Decatur history.
So the point, at least to me, is that the school system has now become very desirable to people with the means to go elsewhere. That counts for a lot. And at the end of the day, a school like Oakhurst is roughly 50/50, black/white, so clearly the people who are proactively enrolling their kids there — even those despicable ones with money ;^) — aren’t blinded by race issues.
Oakhurst Mom, that’s exactly what I mean. I’m sorry it offends you that the market has worked that way. We live in a world where parents are reluctant to buy houses in elementary school districts that are 90% black. That’s a fact.
The rebalancing, or if you will “re-integration” of Decatur’s elementary schools has been a boon to Oakhurst, and to Decatur in general. I choose to see the positive in that. And like Scott said, it’s not like the parents who are now moving into Oakhurst are racists – their elementary school is still 50-50.
Oakhurst Mom, I just reread my responses and yours, and I can now see why I caused offense. I was a little too emphatic with the “not an option for families”. I think Scott clarified what I meant, which was that Oakhurst was not considered a good option for families with other options. With the rebalancing, Oakhurst has been restored to even par with the other Decatur elementary schools, and now a greater number of families are considering it an attractive option for their kids.
Thanks for the clarification, E and Scott, and I agree that Oakhurst is a better school now than it was before for both black and white families and the truth is that that many white parents (even in Decatur) would not send their kids to a school where they are only one or two white kids in the class.
I just think that we need to be a little less quick around here about labeling things and people as if everyone in Decatur is white and upper middle class … because that is just not true.
Ugggh……
This thread between Oakhurst Mom and E is just killing me. I don’t even know where to start.
But I’ll try:
Between the knee jerk reaction of Oakhurst Mom instantly screaming “I know your a closet racist!!!” and, “I am SOOOOO offended.”…..to E immediately putting on the appeasement hat and restating “I was a little emphatic on not considering that fact that my statement may have caused unnecessary emotional hardship on a BLOG to someone who obviously thinks that I am a racist and Decatur Metro might get sued for being a hate site because we all know that Families are all headed by white people (Oakhurst Mom’s point of contention/offense) to Oakhurst Mom stepping on her soapbox to chastise “We need to be a little less quick labeling things and people as if everyone in Decatur is white and upper middle class…”
The only one labeling here is Oakhurst Mom!
Wait….is that racism? Hold on….let me check the dictionary:
Racism
Noun
1. the prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races
I am suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure that’s what he meant.
Wait. now that I think about it…..who is the real victim here? I think I might be the victim.
Yes! The REAL victim here is every resident that has to deal with incompetent, overpaid, lazy, politically correct school administrators who only care about their jobs and cool new ways to teach kids how to add and subtract.
What happens when politics mixes with education? See here:
http://www.tsowell.com/speducat.html
Oh…and I made sure that the author of the previous link is black, so that no one can call me a racist. Phew!
There…I said it.
Oh, put a sock in it, Social Victim.
I made my initial point because some said that “Prior to redistricting that area [Oakhurst] was not an option for families” when families have been living in Oakhurst and sending their children to the public schools well before upper middle class white people decided it was OK to do so themselves.
Whether that was motivated by race or not, I don’t know, but my point was to say wait a minute here, just because a family is not white or upper middle class, does not mean they are not a family and doesn’t mean they weren’t getting a good education at Oakhurst.
Uh…. but, Oakhurst mom, children weren’t getting a good education at Oakhurst before the reconfiguration. You can check the test scores. Oakhurst ITBS scores (before the days of NCLB and CRCTs) were terrible. Also, legend has it that Renfroe teachers always knew which kids came from which school without even having to see them or their files b/c the level of achievement varied dramatically between schools.
Uh .. dokie, not doubting any of that. Oakhurst is a far better school now than it was a few years ago.
Again, my original point, was that just because white parents weren’t sending their kids to school there, doesn’t mean that there weren’t parents sending their kids to school there before redistricting. It has been clarified by E and Scott, that what they really meant was that parents with options were not sending their kids to school there, which was obvious, and I accepted that clarification of their comments.
I just didn’t want to give the impression that we in Decatur did not consider anyone a “family” unless they were white and at least middle class.
I agree with E – I truly believe that our schools have a great deal to do with the increasing equity of our homes. Not only does our school district attract new homeowners – but families living outside of the City approach the District daily trying to enroll their children as “tuition” students in our schools. This speaks volumes – of what other public schools do you know where parents are trying to pay for their children to attend? I would rather my children attend any one of our schools in a “trailer” than any building in any surrounding counties.