Anne writes in…

Join the Decatur community at our first-ever Decatur Bike Derby to celebrate and enjoy cycling fitness and healthy living – Saturday, October 6 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue (F.AVE).

All wheels are welcome at this not-to-be-missed event featuring activities for children of all ages, including: the Tour de F.AVE bike race, obstacle courses, a cycle stunt show, a toddler trike track, and bike decorating. Bring your trikes, training wheels, unicycles, bicycles, you name it. There will be live music by local bands and a raffle for two brand new bikes. Great food will also be on hand, with fantastic lunches grilled on-site by Universal Joint!

For a full schedule of events and information on race registration, visit  www.decaturbikederby.com.

Many thanks to our Platinum and Gold sponsors: Oakhurst Neighborhood Association, Oakhurst Businesses,Decatur Education Foundation and Bicycle South.

From a “construction update” included amongst the documents for next week’s Decatur School Board meeting…

New South continues to assure CSD that they are on schedule and the school will be ready for opening day. Hopefully with all of the activity around the site, the rumors about the building not being ready will finally stop.

In November and early December the structural steel was installed. With the steel in place the contractor was then able to pour the 2nd and 3rd floors. The multi-purpose room floor was poured earlier in December and the masons have been busy installing the block walls in this area. Toward the end of this week the contractor hopes to pour the ground floor and that will be the last major concrete installation.

The weather looks good over the next two weeks and this will give the contractor time to place more of the roof decking, pour the slab and start laying out the interior and exterior walls. The mock-up of the exterior finishes has also been completed and will be reviewed and approved by CSD this week.

Construction photo courtesy of that same document

With final approval of the plans for Decatur’s new 5th Avenue 4/5 Academy going before the city commission tonight, it will soon be time to tackle another key component of adding another school to the K-5, red-bricky mix: reconfiguration of the school “attendance zones.”

When will this happen and how will this work?  Well, as some of you more devout CSDers may have noticed, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards referenced the process in her recent letter regarding pre-K placement at Clairemont Elementary…

Over the summer, we will be working with Georgia State University to develop three options for redrawing the zoning lines.  This is in preparation for presenting options to the community, the SLTs, and the School Board.  I hope to have plans available in the fall [2010] so a decision can be made early in the year and families will know which school their child is zoned for in the 2011-2012 school year and beyond.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

In deciding to build a 4/5 Academy at 5th Avenue, one of the key concerns stated by the Reconfiguration Committee and the School Board was maintaining racial diversity within the school system.  A key component of the 2003 reconfiguration was extending Oakhurst Elementary’s attendance zone up into northwest Decatur to diversify the student population.  Turning Glennwood Elementary into a K-3 again creates a “school-heavy” east side of Decatur, with Oakhurst Elementary the only K-3 west of the unofficial Clairemont/McDonough split.

Assuming the preference that most kids go to the school closest to their respective homes, northwest Decatur again becomes the wild-card.

And before anyone yells “Free Westchester!”, note that the Superintendent’s letter also relays that she will be talking with the School Board about starting a community discussion regarding whether and how to reopen the Scott Boulevard school.

Like anyone had to ask!

But seriously, here’s the opportunity many have been waiting for with bated breath.  I just received this note from Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen…

The architect for the 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue will be available at several locations in the coming days to hear from community members regarding their ideas for the new building. All meetings are open to the public. Time to offer ideas will be created based on the number of speakers that wish to speak. If a community member would rather offer input electronically, the email address [email protected] has been set up for that purpose.

• Jan 19 Glennwood SLT meeting 4 pm
• Jan 19 Clairemont SLT meeting 5:30 pm
• Jan 20 Winnona Park SLT meeting 6 pm
• Jan 20 Decatur High School Performing arts center 7:30 pm, designed for current 4/5 parents
• Jan 25 Oakhurst SLT meeting 4:15 pm
• Jan 25 Oakhurst Neighborhood Association 7 pm

Beach Volleyball Court!  Beach Volleyball Court!  Beach Volleyball Court! 😉