From WSB…

Decatur City Schools Delayed Opening Today 2 hours

Submitted at: 12:29 AM EST on Thursday, Dec 16

DeKalb County Schools Dekalb County

Delayed 2 hours, Buses Delayed 2 Hours

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In light of the planned school closings in DeKalb, the AJC’s Bill Torpy reflects this morning on how the 2004 closure of Forrest Hills Elementary affected its surrounding community.

Formerly active residents and many young parents have moved away. Community gatherings have grown smaller. The recession makes the impact on property values hard to determine, but many residents believe they’ve been damaged. And the sense of neighborhood renewal and momentum that the effort to better its school fostered has diminished.

UPDATE: AJC now reporting that DeKalb may close up to 12 schools.

Many of the major news orgs are reporting on the high emotion at last night’s Citizen Planning Task Force meeting at the William Bradley Bryant Technology Center on Lawrenceville Highway, where the task force heard from the public on the potential closing of four DeKalb County schools.

The AJC reports that all of the seven schools being considered for closure due to low enrollment, all are in South DeKalb, which led to accusations of both classism and racism during the meeting.  According to the AJC, the seven schools being considered are: Sky Haven, Gresham Park, Kelley Lake, Toney, Meadowview, Midway and Peachcrest.

One notable point given by a parent in the AJC article:  Midway Elementary is actually a Montessori School:

For Hanifah Rios, she can’t think of any way closing her two children’s school would benefit their education. Rios said her children have flourished in the Montessori program at Midway Elementary and she fears her children will suffer if they have to be pulled from the program, since no other schools in south DeKalb have the program.

“I thought I could never be able to afford Montessori,” she said. “Because of my schedule, I can’t drive to the north side to get them what they need.”

The task force is scheduled to meet again mid-month and make a final recommendation by the middle of April.