From an email sent out by Decatur Superintendent Phyllis Edwards…

Please join us for the State of the School System Address and presentation of our 2011-2016 Strategic Plan “Engagement, Equity, Excellence.” The event will be Wednesday evening, September 28, 2011 at 6:30 in the Performing Arts Center at Decatur High School. CSD leaders and I will share the goals and initiatives we will implement over the next five years in City Schools of Decatur. We hope you will join us on the 28th to hear the exciting plans we have for the future of our school district.

Sincerely,

Dr. Phyllis A. Edwards,

Superintendent

This sounds awesome.

From the latest Decatur edTV newletter…

Decatur, GA Mayor Bill Floyd tops a growing list of local celebrity contestants who will face a team of Glennwood Academy 5th graders in the Decatur ED TV presentation of “r YOU Smarter Than a Glennwood 5th Grader?”  The fun kicks off at 7pm on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 at the Decatur High School Performing Arts Center.  Your ticket will help the current 5th grade class to give a Legacy Gift to the new 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue set to open in August 2011.  Adult admission: $10 Students over 14: $5.

Tickets can be purchased online HERE.

Not to be confused with yesterday’s post about the City Schools Strategic Plan Kick-Off on August 31st, the City of Decatur’s 2010 Strategic Planning process – which 700 of us participated in during the first round – will move into “Phase II” on Tuesday, August 24th from 6:30p-8:30p at Decatur High Auditorium.

What’s “Phase II”?

Well, it seems that when you ask 700 people open-ended questions about where they live, they don’t tend to hold back.  So in “Phase II”, the city consultants will present a report on the findings from the round tables, introduce the new planning team and outline how folks can stay involved in the next phase.

Decatur: Where “being involved” means more than just yelling at annoying things out your car window.

On the docket for next week’s Decatur School Board meeting (Action item “g”), “modify facility use fees effective April 1, 2010 by creating three categories of users.”

In short, the new, proposed categories are:

1. Schools within the school district with the high school having the first priority of facility use.  Schools – other than the high school – would be allowed one event per calendar year.
2. Second category would be entities that directly support our students such as PTA/PTO, boosters, Decatur Recreation After School Program, Farm-2-School, and DEF.  These entities would reimburse the district for custodial and technician overtime and FICA.  City-wide activities and/or events that directly involve City Schools of Decatur students such as the Decatur Book Festival would fall into the above category.
3. All other entities would be in the third category subject to the facility use fees as approved by the board at the January 2010 meeting. The facility use fees account for actual maintenance and operating expenditures from fiscal year 2009 (custodians, utilities, and maintenance overhead). These fees would enable the district to be fully reimbursed for its costs.

Sounds like many non-profits would still fall under category 3.

In terms of how DHS’ rates compare to other area facilities of like size, the agenda item has this to say…

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An email from Kathleen Banks Everett of Decatur School of Ballet circulated widely amongst the Decatur population last week, stating that the Ballet had been priced out of using Decatur High’s new auditorium for an upcoming performance after months of involvement with the school system about renting the space.  (If you haven’t read the email yet, it can be viewed in full after the jump.)

And since I have not yet received a reply from CSD on this matter, I had to dig up my own info.

When the Decatur School Board approved the new High School Auditorium rates back in January ($150 per hour includes one required technician; plus $80 fee for technician set up and breakdown; $50 per hour for each additional technician), the note from Maintenance Director Gene Ponder included this caveat…

The new auditorium at the high school is technically sophisticated. The space requires a district trained staff technician to operate the lights and sound. It has already been determined that even for a basic presentation, that it takes a technician one hour for light and sound set up and a half hour after the event for break down. So use of the auditorium will require at least one technician.

So, just from reading this explanation, the lesson here seems to be that if you build a state-of-the-art facility, you’re going to end up pricing some folks out of the market.  It’s that simple.  However, there are still relevant, unanswered questions.  For instance, is CSD just covering operating costs for the rental or are they also trying to raise revenue in a very tough economic climate?  Which is preferable to the city population?

Also, these rates were set back in January, but Ms. Everett’s note says that CSD told her that rates weren’t set until mid-February.  Why is there a discrepancy?

We need to dig up some answers to these questions before we can put on our well-worn judgment hats.

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