Something still common in Decatur is to send one’s child to a few years of CSD K-3, then to private school. Some may be trying to save a few years worth of tuition; others may be waiting for their child to get into their private school of choice; others found that CSD did not fit their child. It used to be that folks would say they were “worried about Renfroe”–now they usually cite a specific feature of the private school as the reason for the change. Interestingly, a few kids come back to CSD at the Renfroe or DHS level, either because their private school ended at a certain grade level or because the child lobbied to come back.

Yes, Druid Hills seems to have a good IB program. In fact, I wish CSD would audit it and bring back some of its features. It seems to be able to do IB without de facto tracking. I see Renfroe and DHS becoming more and more tracked–not deliberately, but because of scheduling. The two schools are more tracked and the classes are less diverse (and I mean “diverse” in all ways, not just race/ethnicity) than they have been in years. It’s causing kids to try to overload themselves with courses they really shouldn’t be handling because they do not want to be assigned to the “slacker” courses where they feel that the teachers and students care less.