Morning Metro: CSD Enrollment, the DeKalb City of Ashford, and a Dutch Bicycle School Bus
Decatur Metro | February 8, 2012
- Report on the CSD enrollment tightrope; Westchester mentioned as “choice school” again [Champion]
- Decatur Beer Festival donated over $49,000 last year [Patch]
- If created, new DeKalb city would be called Ashford, not Brookhaven [AJC]
- Another good reason to bake your own bread, or buy locally! [AJC]
- Rader criticizes redistricting process during budget talk [Patch]
- Georgia’s new oil barons – olive oil that is [Garden & Gun]
- Beerbikes inspire Dutch bicycle school bus [FastCoExist]
Latest from Decaturish
The link to the bicycle school bus article broken. Here it is: http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679248/dutch-kids-pedal-their-own-bus-to-school
That is just one of the best ideas I’ve ever heard of!
Fixed!
Olive Oil from Georgia? The dream of the 1890s….
LOVE the bicycle school bus!
Costs $15,000. Carries 8 kids peddling and three wee ones. Have to hire an adult (volunteer?) to steer.
$15,000 could pay for a whole lot of bicycles for a whole lot of kids. But it’s very cute and I love the idea of the beer one.
Hate to rain on the parade, but the Netherlands is flat. Imagine that thing on Adams St headed up the hill toward Hill St. You might find yourself headed the other way unless you have some powerhouse peddlers.
Great point. I thought about that as I was posting.
For some reason, this realistic comment cracked me up. I’ve been impressed with how much our local Pedi-Cab guy has been able to haul around, even with our hills. But twelve children some of whom are not pedalling in unison or may even be pedalling backwards might be too much for the average adult. Maybe it needs a motor that kicks in only as needed on hills? Could hybrid technology apply?
I think the story said it had a little motor for hills.
Well, there you go. I don’t see where the small motor is but perhaps it’s where the gorgeous bus driver is sitting. Now all the children need is helmets and we’re good to go. It does sound awfully expensive but then again good tandems cost a thousand or two or three, don’t they? And it’s easier to shepherd little pedallers this way than on 12 separate bikes. I’ve biked to school many a time with two or three little independent cyclers and it can be nerve racking when they are on the street vs. sidewalks. Somtimes their little bodies seem magnetically drawn to the middle of the road. The bike trains that have been done sporadically have felt safer because a whole bunch of parents and kids make a huge presence on the road that vehicles cannot miss.
Hip hip, hooray for Decatur Beer Fest! Providing happiness and charity since 1998!
I think you meant hoppiness.
Aren’t those synonymous?
Another thumbs up for the bicycle school bus! At the risk of being accused of stereotyping Decatur, is that Decaturish or what?!!! Practically speaking, I don’t think the bus would fit on our sidewalks, so it would have to be propelled on street and the children would have to wear helmets.
I wonder how much the bicycle school bus costs? What a great idea for our community to do this for our kids, our schools and the environmental. The developer writes: ” I think it will work well in other countries, because as more and more people [are] becoming fat and “green living” becomes more important, “
The headline regarding baking your own bread or buying locally is misleading. Baking your own or buying locally doesn’t cut down on the amount of salt in bread since the issue is simply volume. The only real solution is to cut down on the amount…or bake your own really, really crappy tasting bread. That said, home-baked is fantastic, so that’s the reason to do it!
Re school choice and Westchester: That would be deja vu! One of the suggestions brought to the Board during the original reconfiguration of 2004 was a magnet/school choice/lottery approach.
According to the December 2011 CSD report, 1872 students are attending a school south of the railroad tracks (Winnona Park, Oakhurst, Renfroe, and FAVE), not counting the College Heights preK which is also on the south side, compared to 1383 attending a school north of the tracks (Glennwood, Clairemont, and the High School). Is there a place for another school on the south side? The underused shopping plaza? My guess is that all that could be done is to add on to current school buildings or convert College Heights back to an elementary school like what happened to Glennwood.
Another guess is that baby booms come in waves. There was a baby boom around 2000 on the northside as a lot of elderly left their older homes and young families moved in, renovated, and enlarged. Now many of those families are past the baby stage and enrollment is growing more slowly on the northside. Meanwhile babies are booming on the southside and it is hard to know how long the boomo will last. But eventually those young families will be growing up too and enrollment may grow more slowly. So it will always be important to look at recent birth data by residence (not by hospital!) to get a feel for what’s happening.
Don’t forget that people are NOT moving into the Westchester neighborhood because they don’t have a school there. Once a school opens up there, I’m sure you’ll see more and more families moving into the area. If i were just moving into Decatur, I’d move to a place where i can walk to the most schools–and that means Oakhurst. But if I can buy cheap real estate in the Westchester area and they’re re-opening a school within walking distance, I just might do it.
Yup, there’s a bunch of older homes on the streets that back up on three sides to Westchester, connected to the playground by paths, just waiting for renovation…….. The only thing that area needs in addition to be baby heaven is more sidewalks for the streets that don’t have them and a tunnel under Scott!
Speaking as someone who just bought in Decatur, I can say that there’s no such thing as cheap real estate here. Cheap real estate CAN be found outside the city limits. Also, walking to school, while nice wasn’t the reason we bought here. As it is now, we’ll only be walking to K-3. We bought for the school district as a whole.
I 2nd New Scott : houses in Decatur are anything but cheap when compared to houses outside the city. We bought our house for the school district as a whole.
As for the reason for the 12% explosion, I’m surprised the article didn’t mention the recent decline in the (perceived) quality of Dekalb and APS, among other school districts. CSD *knock on wood* hasn’t suffered any scandals or budget crisis in recent history. Being a small school district also helps in terms of parental involvement, which is critical to student success. 1 parent or a group of parents have far more impact in CSD than Dekalb or APS.
I like the bicycle bus, could we get a group together to try and buy one as a test? I think there are quite a few corporations/businesses that might have interest in a donation if the school Administration would manage the legal side??
Maybe some parents with skills could build one out of recycled bike parts. Or better yet, maybe one of the clubs at Renfroe or DHS.
I would love to have done a project like that in school. What a challenge!
I had no idea people weren’t moving into the Westchester neighborhood due to the lack of a school……I happen to live on Westchester, AND I back up to the school (and would love to renovate my old house—-but since this real estate was FAR from cheap, I just don’t have the funds floating around to do that just yet!) Since I have had the pleasure of living in this neighborhood for several years now, I would say the lack of people moving in is due to a lack of people moving OUT! I am the 3rd owner of this 1951 ranch…..prior owners lived in it for just under 30 years. My neighbors on either side have lived in their homes since 1971 and 1994. I honestly think there have been 3 homes on the market in this neighborhood since I moved in…..I think one sold in a weekend, and all to families with children. I myself have a four year old who will start at CDS in 2013. I’m with new Scott, we moved into Decatur for the school system as a whole. Never crossed my mind to move into a specific neighborhood so that we could walk. But hey, if Westchester reopens, good for me! My daughter won’t have to be subjected to the hell I was, riding a bus to a school 15 miles from home everyday! And there are more kids in this neighborhood than you think!
They should charge more than $6,000 for tuition.
I wonder if there’s rules on how much a school system can charge for tuition. I know that CSD only allows tuition students in schools that still have room, e.g. the newly re-opened Glennwood Elementary. In fact, I think only where there are classrooms with open seats, in other words, there was enough kids to open a whole classroom and hire a teacher but there’s still some empty seats so the tuition is a net gain for the system. I don’t think they open a classroom and hire a teacher just to accomodate tuition students.
For public schools, the cost of tuition must be based on the actual cost per pupil. So … the system can’t charge what the market might bear like a private school can.