Midway Woods Resident Seeking Advice Regarding Empty DeKalb School
Decatur Metro | August 9, 2012
A concern resident writes in…
I would like to “educate” the community on the current status of one of DeKalb county’s abandoned, and forgotten, schools. That school is Hooper Alexander Elementary, a former school of the arts, located on Memorial Drive. The school backs up to the Midway Woods neighborhood.
Some of the activity that I have witnessed at the abandoned school is quite frankly shocking. Criminal activities have inflicted thousands upon thousands of dollars of damage to the school. Due to its vacancy the school has also become a “headquarter” for criminal activity. My residence has been burglarized twice during the past year, including [in late July]. The criminals drive down the street looking for driveways free of cars, then proceed to the school to park. They then jump the school’s fence in order to gain access into our residences, and leave as they entered after burglarizing our homes. I have contacted the county, but have yet to receive a reply. My hope is that your forum can provide my neighborhood with suggestions/advice about how to encourage DeKalb County to take action regarding this property. Please find attached a few recent photos of the former school.
Thanks for your help.
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School systems do not seem capable of keeping closed school buildings from deteriorating, whether it be DeKalb County and Hooper Alexander or City Schools of Decatur and Fifth Avenue (the first one). They have neither the resources nor the staff to keep up abandoned properties. I wish school systems were required to either use the property within a year of closing a school, lease it for active use, or sell it. It would make them think more carefully about closing a school, how the property will be used, the impact on the neighborhood instead of allowing them to make up their minds as they go along. In the end, the property belongs to the district taxpayers, not the school leadership who have been hired to administrate it.
I drive past this school often and I agree the condition it is in and how quickly it got into the current condition is shocking.
I doubt the Dekalb County school system will do anything. They will let the building rot until they need it again, and certainly won’t (and probably shouldn’t) hire security for a vacant building. But, the Dekalb County police might help. This is a criminal matter – the source of the crime isn’t the abandoned school, it is the criminals. Every single time you see someone there, call the police. Maybe contact the police and see if they can add the school to their patrols which might deter some of the criminal activity.
Couldn’t they sell it and buy a year’s worth of Fernbank Science Center?
Selling it (and many other abandoned school properties) would make a lot of sense, given the budget crisis Dekalb seems to be having, but I feel they’re probably reluctant to part with the land that the school sits on.
There aren’t a lot of good school sites left. Once you have one, it may not make sense to let it go until you are sure you won’t need it for the forseeable future. Plus, there are numerous vacant buildings on Memorial, so it isn’t like someone would immediately buy it for top dollar.
I agree with DawgFan – call 911 and call it often, whenever anything even slightly seems suspicious.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Call the police so often, that they decide to take care of the problem just so they don’t have to hear from you anymore.
Certainly continue to press for more police presence. I would also discuss with an attorney the possibility of suing DeKalb School Board for owning a derelict and abandoned building that is adversely affecting the neighborhood. You do that for the publicity, not in hopes of winning the suit. You need to embarrass the school board to have any hope of action. Also put pressure on the DeKalb BOC to condemn the property as a public health nuisance.
Ditto! Contact the DeKalb Board of Education (http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/board-of-education), send them photos, get all your neighbors to band together and write as well. Send them a crimemapping.com map showing what’s going on. Address the message to the members of the board that represent your area, but copy all others including the superintendent. Have all your neighbors do likewise. Get a group together, sign up to address the board at the next BOE meeting, show up with bells on. You have to squeak and you have to be visible. Here’s how to request permission to address the Board:
https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/epolicy/policy.aspx?PC=BCBI&Sch=4054&S=4054&RevNo=1.26&C=B&Z=P
If you have questions, contact your assistnat superintendent, find who that is here:
http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/superintendent/assistants
Here’s a shortcut to all BOE addresses: go to http://dekalbschoolwatch.wordpress.com/ and on the right margin, you’ll find a quick link to email all board members. You can right-click and copy all the addresses. Copy your assistant superintendent, too.
If you don’t get a reply, use social media to publicly document what is being done or not. Be polite but be firm: these are elected representatives. When the BOE or police does something good, post about that too and thank them.
And as DawgFan said, call the cops any time you see anything suspicious (anything other than wildlife is a trespasser). Try organizing a neighborhood meeting and invite officers to meet and talk about the property and what people should be doing.
Good luck!!
The County should gate entrances to the school parking lot.
A gate or maybe even a heavy duty chain would seem to be the easiest solution, if not a totally effective one. A spike strip lag-bolted to the pavement would probably be a good deterrent too, though probably not practical. The problem with these solutions is access for emergency vehicles.
am i crazy or can i just not find this near Midway Woods? I pulled up the address and it looked to be way over by Eastlake Golf?? I thougth Midway Woods was over by Columbia Theological Seminary??
Hooper is on Memorial, nearish to where Columbia and Memorial intersect. You can also get to it through the neighborhood behind–I am not sure if it is in Midway Woods proper or just close to it. I worked there many years ago, so I am a bit sentimental. Sorry to see what’s happening to it.
It’s near the car wash at 3414 Memorial Drive — not far from S.Columbia. Concerned Resident, are you a member of the Midway Woods Yahoo group? You may find some support/advice there.
are there any fields by this school? local soccer teams/ leagues will rent or use the fields in exchange for upkeep.. maybe getting some legitimate activity will help to keep the illegal at bay?
We experienced a similar issue here in Forrest Hills before the old Forrest Hills Elementary reopened just this past Monday as The Museum School. Within the past year our home was burglarized and 15 others got hit in March within a half mile radius of the old school just during the week of Spring Break. So the reopening of the school is a welcome addition. Beyond what the others here suggest, you need to flag these concerns in front of the board and call the media about it as well. Try getting a petition going for an adaptive reuse or to tear down the school.