MM: CSD East Lake Decision, a Greg Germani Update, and a Unique 10 Best List of Atlanta
Decatur Metro | January 11, 2016 | 11:40 am
- CSD hoping to determine East Lake fate [AJC]
- Regarding Greg: Injured cyclist focuses on the big picture [Decaturish]
- Poncey-Highland a “Top Trending Neighborhood” according to… [Airbnb]
- No Pants MARTA Ride is Sunday, Jan 10th [TimeOut]
- Macy’s clearance sales to start Monday [AJC]
- 10 Of The Actual Best Things In Atlanta [Thought Catalog]
Photo courtesy of Foursquare
Wow, that “Actual Best Things” is quite pretentious.
I thought so too, but I’m likely not on the same wavelength anyway with someone who thinks being able to smoke inside a restaurant is a selling point.
I stopped reading at “tofu scrambles.” I’d rather smoke a pack of Camels than eat tofu.
I am in agreement with the list about Arabia Mountain…can’t speak to most of the other items.
That “Actual Best Things” article is from January 2014.
Only a “suburban sight-seer” would point that out.
Requesting deletion now. I did not say this. I was not here.
Ha!
“Two options were discussed at length Tuesday. One is to move the Early Childhood Learning Center into East Lake while possibly converting College Heights back into a K-3. Second is placing the entire fourth or fifth grade at East Lake, only a half mile away from the 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue. Dude added he’s definitely won’t move K-3 students into East Lake and that the system won’t redraw boundaries to accommodate the temporary building.”
Why is he opposed to moving elementary school-aged kids into a building that used to be a functioning elementary school? It’s going to cost money either way to renovate East Lake Elementary, but it seems like it would cost more to renovate and convert East Lake into a temporary Early Childhood Learning Center rather than use it for our K-3 or 4-5 graders. Then, what’s the plan for a new Early Childhood Learning Center if College Heights is converted into a K-3? I do like the idea of using this building though if the figures provided by Maloof are accurate.
My guess is that this reflects his being far more politically savvy than his predecessor. Whether or not it’s practical, I can pretty much guarantee that he’s gotten an earful that no one wants redistricting. So if CSD can find a way to use the space to address our capacity issues in other ways (upper grades, maybe a voluntary magnet program, etc.), there’s little reason for him to die on that hill. Better he come across as both a problem solver and a receptive parental ally.
Is getting rid of ECLC altogether and putting pre-k in the elementary schools an option? That seems like a logical step since lack of space is such an issue.
It worked pretty well at Westchester back in the day. And a preK-3rd grade span is still only 5 years. And it would involve no transition for students since they haven’t already started school. The hard part would be if enrollment increases or decreases unevenly across the 5-7 elementary schools and folks want to keep their preKer in their own neighborhood school. Back in the day, not every elementary school had a preK.
After living through the closing of Westchester, I caution against closing any school that’s working really well unless there’s no other choice. I include the ECLC and 4/5 Academy even though they were never my first choice for a configuration. No matter how good a new plan is, there’s great pain with the dismantling of a high functioning school and a crummy transition period that can last years. I’ve got no doubt that CSD has learned to handle the transitions more effectively and with more consideration for the students, teachers, staff, and families involved, but transitions will always have a price. While 5 years of adjustment is routine for staff and administrators, it’s close to a lifetime for students.
Nobody is talking about closing a school. In a system that is in a space crisis, every school building should be placed into service to solve the crisis. To the extent that space at CH is used for purposes that are not absolutely necessary, repurposing that space should be on the table. Providing day care at CH was great when we had space. Now that we don’t, it does not seem like such a great idea.
That’s why I said “…unless there’s no other choice.” In the case of the closing of Westchester, there were other reasonable choices that would have still achieved the system goals. I’m just “cautioning”, rather than demanding, because it’s evidently easy as a Superintendent to come in and make decisive and long-lasting moves without completely understanding the community and the long-term consequences.
Also, the ECLC was originally proposed as a way to reach high risk children early, e.g. those needing early interventions or developmental enrichment. It never did that as much as I thought it should. I was okay with it serving the whole community when it had open space but somehow it evolved into more of a high quality daycare than an early intervention center. That never felt right to me even though our family did use its services.