CSD’s regular enrollment table updates are a great way to keep an eye on Decatur’s most talked about topic.
The chart above is set up to track against projected levels for the coming year, but we can also used the data to make comparisons to get a sense for what is actually happening.
First of all, as you can see above, enrollment for next year has already surpassed the final levels for the current school year (4407 vs. 4344). While Kindergarten is still has a ways to go – since many in that grade are new to the system and need to actively enroll – many other grades for next year are at or above the previous enrollment level last year.
However, perhaps an even more telling comparison at this juncture isn’t included in the chart above.
What if we were to a look at enrollment levels for the following year now and vs. the same period last year? Luckily we are proficient enough in CSD’s eBoard system and Excel to put together a little table that shows just that.
As you can see from the above, CSD’s enrollment levels thru March 27th are already up 9% vs. enrollment levels thru one week earlier last year. (That’s as close as I could get from the data available) This seems to indicate that so far this year, enrollment is still growing near CSD’s projected 10% rate.
As you can see from CSD’s line chart below, enrollment increases have fluctuated between 8%-12% over the last 5 years. This early indication seems to show that this trend could easily continue into the next school year.
“Healthy gain.” When you could have just as easily gone with “system-choking infusion” or “paralysis-inducing overload,” that’s what I call a positive attitude!
Parents of rising kindergarteners–probably a good idea to register your child soon if you haven’t done so!
How many schools were operating in 1969-70? Had Beacon Hill and Trinity closed by then?
What were class sizes like that year? Have state standards changed with respect to capacity of other facilities (gym, cafeteria, transportation, etc.) required for a given student population?
It’s hard not to look at that graph showing enrollment at or above 4,000 students for most of a decade, and not wonder if some of the current hysteria is a little bit overwrought. I’d love to hear people who attended Decatur schools in the 1960s –and/or whose children attended–share their recollections of what it was like.
It’s worth noting that during the period you’re asking about DHS utilized split-shifts to accommodate crowding. By all accounts no one was traumatized by this exercise and many went on to lead successful lives. Some still live and thrive in Decatur today.
As a 1965 graduate of DHS I would like to confirm that we did indeed go split shifts. But if you check it was because our south building (the old girls high building) had been taken down so the building that you guys know as DHS could be built. To add to the mix – the thrid floor of the north building (old boys high) burned causing fast repairs to be make during the summer so we would have a building in which to have school. I went split shifts both my junior and senior years.
Thanks for the clarification on the reason for the overcrowding, GB. Now the million dollar question: Were you subsequently scarred, scarred for life, by this split-shift experience? Has your life been an empty shell by virtue of your forced adolescent accommodation to temporary challenges? 😉
Maybe so. You guys might want to be on alert – the class of 65 will be back in Decatur for our 50th this summer. Might want to hide the women and kids!!
I don’t need the schools to make my kids into empty shells, thank you. I’m doing a bang up job at that on my own. But of course life success isn’t the only metric. All resources are variable and with huge student populations, so too does the administration grow. So my concern isn’t test scores (ugh) but rather maintaining an accessible and responsive administration. I admit that dealing with a large school administration is hardly an awful thing, but it will likely take some adjusting for parents.
It may be difficult to compare present day classroom needs with the needs in the 1960s. For example, at that time public schools did not have to provide special education. Students at many schools went home for lunch (though I don’t know if they did in Decatur ) so large cafeterias might not have been needed… Classes may have legally been allowed to have been much larger….my own kindergarten class in the 70s had 30 students and no teacher’s assistant.
Agree that so many things were different then that it is indeed hard to compare. Special needs and gifted programs weren’t integrated into the regular classroom, if they existed at all. Many special needs children were still institutionalized back then vs. living in the community. It’s hard enough for our current CSD teachers to give “differentiated” instruction now, never mind if they had 30% more children in the classroom. Back in the day, there wasn’t the pressure to “leave no child behind” and get all children to score adequately on standardized exams. There was less paperwork in general and definitely less need to “document” performance and progress for all students, all the time.
The last time I got information about teacher salaries in CSD, they were no higher than salaries of systems around us but the working conditions here were much better. Teachers here have a chance to succeed and enjoy their work. If we overload them with too many students per classroom, I think CSD would lose its competitive advantage in attracting and retaining good teachers.
+1. Having good working conditions is good for our teachers, and thus good for retaining and recruiting good teachers, and so good for our students.
I’m sure we’ve explained this before but what are split-shifts? is that like how I went to morning kindergarten and others at my grade school went to afternoon kindergarten?
That’s my understanding. But no nap time.
My nap time was after I got off the bus at home. I’d watch an episode of What’s Happening, then Bewitched, the Monkees, and fall asleep during I Dream of Jeannie. Afternoon tv programming was so nice back in the day.
Decatur teachers are actually paid on average $10,000 – $15,000 LESS than other metro area school systems. CSD is the lowest paying metro area school system. I would also hope that teachers in other systems are successful and enjoy their work. CSD has a lot of perks but it also demands a lot of their teachers.
My impression through friends who are teachers around the Metro area is that teacher satisfaction in other systems varies a lot by school and principal. I don’t think satisfaction varies as much between schools in CSD but of course CSD teachers themselves could speak best to this. I definitely recognize how demanding the work is in CSD for teachers. That’s why I’d hate to burden them with a higher load of students per classroom–seems like a lose-lose for both teachers and students. I would definitely choose using more portable classrooms over increasing class sizes. Even split shifts and “alternative calendars” sound slightly better to me than increased class sizes.
BTW: I’d definitely advocate for CSD teacher salaries to be on a par with systems around us but that doesn’t seem to be on the table right now.
Source for this? I’d like to see the information.
So the base in Gwinnett per the county website is $36,000; the base in APS is $44,000, per the website; Fulton County is $40,000.
City of Decatur pays $36,000, just like Gwinnett for a starting teacher with a BA.
http://www.gwinnett.k12.ga.us/careers%5Ccareershr.nsf/0913159815F4C0FE8525744B005995E5/$file/Teacher_Salary_Schedule_FY15.pdf
http://www.csdecatur.net/hr/Salary%20Scales%20FY15/FY15%20Teacher%20Salary%20Scale%2007.14.pdf
Here is some old data:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/atlanta/151779-fyi-starting-teaching-salaries-around-metro.html
70% of our teachers have MAs so they are well above that. Cry me a river if you think a teacher in an affluent school district goes through more than someone in south DeKalb or poorer parts of Fulton or any part of Clayton. One of my best friends teaches elementary in the poorest school in DeKalb. It’s a soul draining, heartbreaking job.She may get $3,000 a year more, but she deals with a hell of a lot.
There are 400 applicants for every job at CSD. I know a lot of teachers in higher paying districts who would kill to get here. Maybe you could trade jobs?
A quick survey of salary scales: CSD salaries are comparable to Dekalb, Cobb, Fulton, and Gwinnett but APS does pay a lot more.
Disclaimer: I didn’t compare all salaries at all levels, just looked at a couple levels for comparison purposes.
I’m not sure about those salary facts. I’m at step 18 in Dekalb and would get a pay bump if I switched to CSD – remember that some systems eliminated step increases and cost of living raises for several years. I do get your point about the demands made on teachers. If I’m a little late getting essays back to my A.P. students, I never have parents breathing down my neck; much of the pressure to work hard and challenge students is self-imposed. I can only imagine the stress of teaching multiple classes of 35 A.P. or IB students at Decatur High with all the required writing assignments and expectations of quickly delivered and detailed grades/comments. Both situations (my 95% free/reduced lunch high school and DHS) bring unique challenges and an incredible workload). And I could be wrong about current class sizes at DHS, although I imagine those numbers are coming soon.
There is also the matter of Dekalb County School System not paying into Social Security and then screwing over their teachers by not paying into the alternate retirement system as they had agreed to. (Google “Dekalb County schools TSA lawsuit” if you want the story.)
Maybe I am missing something, but wasn’t the 4759 enrollment # generated from the annexation projection, and assuming that Areas A-D was included? From my recollection of the Annexation discussion CSD enrollment for 2015 inside current boundaries was actually pegged at 4336.
Please somebody correct me if I am wrong.
I think the district will hit the higher number even without annexation- there are a ton of kindergarteners still to be enrolled, as well as all the kids who will be moving into the city this spring and summer.