As for turning their school around, I wish them the best but in my experience schools only turn around when two things align — grass roots community involvement coupled with top-down responsiveness and related policy. AE is getting a solid base at the community level, but I’m skeptical they’ll ever get what they need at the District level. Isn’t that what their charter school initiative is all about?

To me, Decatur’s greatest strength is its manageable size. Not everyone is thrilled by every decision but, at the end of the day, they’re accessible and accountable. Try getting ideas on the table in DeKalb County. Feh.

For kids from families that can’t afford lunch and breakfasts, it’s worth the investment to provide decent nutrition. It’s been long-proven that hungry kids don’t learn or test well or sit nicely in class so the other kids can learn. So no breakfast means poor CRCT scores means no AYP means less funding in the long run…..

Re school buses: I’m always shocked at the cost. Seems like there ought to be a better way. Again, we’ve got to provide for the kids whose parents can’t afford to pay someone to walk them to school when the parents leave at 6 AM to start the first of their two jobs they need to just make ends meet. We don’t want kindergartners wandering off their mile long trek to school from home. And it probably won’t work to make bus transportation only available to low income families because, while many such families are concentrated in the DHA homes, the rest are going to be scattered all over Decatur. (And given recent job losses and furloughs, you’d be surprised at some of the areas that have financially-struggling families now). And buses can be a lifesaver for all working parents of any income level because they assure that a child gets from one safe destination to the next while parents are at work. Seems like all the great minds of Decatur ought to be able to come up with a creative situation that doesn’t annoy CSD too much.

I wonder why DeKalb can do decent jobs in the Dunwoody part of DeKalb and the Fernbank & Shamrock parts but not Avondale. I wonder if that has to do with the fact that many Avondale parents of means who might have the time and resources to devote to fixing the schools have chosen to pay tuition in Decatur, Friends and Waldorf and other places rather than improve the school.

I have heard many comments to that effect through three separate friends who have either taught at Avondale or have done special ed services there. Obviously, that’s not the only reason, and obviously that is not something I have anything beyond a few teacher’s opinions to support, but I still have it in the back of my mind every time I hear parents in Avondale upset or making comments about how unfair it is that only one mile away lies an academic oasis they cannot access (that has been said here but also to me directly by a friend with two kids in Avondale Estates).

I always hear how bus and food operations are the big items with teacher’s salaries being a relatively minor sector. (I could be totally wrong on that)

Seems to me it’d be better to keep well paid teachers and materials on hand and let parents provide food and transportation. I had to walk to school (yes, even elementary school) and if I didn’t bring my lunch, I didn’t eat. There was a lesson in that too.