Just a note: Don’t forget tonight’s K-3 redistricting meeting at Westchester, which starts with an information session at 6pm and a public hearing at 7pm.

There’s obviously been a lot of talk about this issue over the last few weeks and CSD has been good enough to provide additional data and maps at the request of residents on multiple occasions.

So I thought a thread today could serve two purposes:

First, prior to the meeting, we could all recap our outstanding questions and concerns, since the conversation has evolved over the past few weeks.  Then, after tonight’s meeting, you can use this post to reflect on the meeting (what you took away from it, your outstanding questions, etc.) and detail what you believe still needs to be reviewed/explained prior to a vote by the School Board.

UPDATE: Here’s CSD’s official note, with dates and times for both public hearings…

On November 3, 2010 at 6:00 pm the City Schools of Decatur will hold an Information Session regarding elementary attendance zones in the Edith Hambie Professional Learning Center at Central Office at Westchester (758 Scott Boulevard, Decatur, GA 30030). This session will be followed by a Board of Education Public Hearing at 7:00 pm in the Board Room at the Central Office.

For interested parties who are unable to attend the meetings on November 3rd, a second Information Session and Public Hearing will be held at the Central Office on November 16th at 6:00 pm followed by a Public Hearing at 7:00 pm.

A vote on elementary attendance zones is planned for the December 14, 2010 Board of Education Meeting.

Posted on the City Schools of Decatur website…

• November 3, 2010 Information Session – Elem. Attendance Zones (6:00 pm)
• November 3, 2010 BOE Public Hearing – Elem. Attendance Zones (7:00 pm)
• November 9, 2010 BOE Regular Monthly Meeting (6:30 pm)

I’ve got a note into CSD to confirm the second public hearing before the School board takes a vote on this and whether the actual vote will occur at the November or December meeting.  Stay tuned.

If you’re new to this conversation, here’s a link to the previous relevant posts.  Also, here’s a link to the 7 map options.

After receiving a very thoughtful note from a resident this morning detailing his trouble with understanding or recreating the CSD/GSU “differential” percentages found in the school system’s list of pros and cons for the 7 redistricting map options, I contacted Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen for clarification.

Mr. Van Soelen explained that the referenced “differential” is “derived from subtracting highest k3 school non-white percentage and subtracting lowest (not considering out of district)”, and that the reason these percentage differences did not match the charts was because GSU updated the data in the maps on Monday and the differentials were never recalculated.

The Assistant Superintendent provided me with a revised version of the pro/con list for the 7 redistricting maps, which now has the differential of white/non-white in map 7 as a CON instead of a PRO.  (NOTE: The “14% differential” in Map 7’s Con column still needs updating, as Mr. Van Soelen confirmed to me that map 7’s differential was now 18% and not 14%.  Additionally, the 11% non-white differential in the Con column for map 5 looks like it should be 23%.  I’ve contacted him about these discrepancies.)

Posted on the City Schools of Decatur website…

The Board will hold a Worksession on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 5:30 pm to begin a month of discussion regarding the Redistricting Maps for K-3 schools. This Worksession allows Board members to hear information and ask questions, but there is not a time for public comment. The Board will set two dates for Board listening sessions that will happen over the next 30 days before the intended final vote on a preferred map at the regularly-scheduled Board meeting on November 9, 2010. Once these listening sessions are scheduled, the dates will be broadly communicated to the Decatur community.

The 7 maps being considered can be viewed at http://fiscalresearch.gsu.edu/decatur/. For community members that would rather read a narrative description of the enrollment zone, these details will be posted shortly before the Worksession.

Following the Board meeting, the individual map websites will be activated to include a comment box. All comments will be aggregated and compiled for the Board to consider.

Dr. Edwards has published a memo to the Board detailing the process and the assumptions underlying this future work.