A picture not seen along Scott Boulevard in almost a decade.  (Not that I snapped an actual picture.)

Parents and kids walking the sidewalks along side the busy streets.  A packed parking lot.  A Decatur Police cruiser and Officer Lindsey on his motorcycle vigilantly sitting across the street as cars are told to slow down to 25 mph along the stretch.

Welcome back to the fray Westchester!  And Happy first day of school all!

From the DeKalb Neighbor…

City Schools of Decatur, which begins classes Monday, has doubled in size throughout the last 10 years or so, and Superintendent Phyllis Edwards said because they only operate in a four-square-mile area, it has been a challenge to accommodate the growth.

One helpful part will be the transformation of Westchester Elementary School back to a working educational facility, after being the hub of the school system’s operations for the last 10 years.

Also, eight classrooms have been added at 4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue; seven classes were added at Renfroe Middle School and the maintenance facility has moved to Talley Street.

Projected student enrollment is 4,364, which Edwards said does not include about 350 children from birth to age 4. The school system is at 97 percent enrollment.

The Neighbor also has a nice profile of Westchester Elementary.

If you’re interested in the previous emrollment projections for the coming school year, click here.

This should be an interesting.  As Sgt. Ross reminds us in a post on The Decatur Minute regarding school resumption next Monday, Scott Boulevard school zone speed limits will soon be in effect.

There will be an increased presence of Decatur officers in and around the school zones to remind everyone school is back in session.  Don’t forget that Westchester Elementary is now open with applicable school zones on Scott Boulevard.

The standard school zone speed limit is 25 mph during designated times. Westchester times will be between 7:15a-8:15a and 2:!5p-3:15p.  That’s going to be a jarring change for a lot of commuters who fly through Decatur along that state road each morning along.

Here’s a full rundown of speed zones and a reminder that students will be out and about starting next week, courtesy of an email that Sgt. Ross…

Don’t forget that school starts back up in Decatur next Monday, August 4th .   The lighter summer traffic will give way to more traffic in general to include school buses.  Please keep in mind we will also have many more young cyclists and pedestrians making their way to school.  Please slow down and pay extra attention and plan for a little extra commute time to prevent speeding through the school zones.  There will be an increased presence of Decatur officers in and around the school zones to remind everyone school is back in session.  Don’t forget that Westchester Elementary is now open with a school zone on Scott Boulevard.  Atlanta Public Schools will also start back Monday, August 4^th and DeKalb County Schools start back Monday, August 11^th.

When traffic is backed up or stopped and your frustration level rises, just sit back and remember the excitement of the first day of school.  Then relax and do your part to make sure everyone gets to where they are going safely.

School Zone Locations & Times Chart (after the jump!)

Read the rest of this entry »

I guess this is the only thing we’re talking about today.  Three more maps showing K-3 rezoning options now on the CSD website HERE.

Above is map 7.  Also note that when you open the map PDF’s, you’ll find stats at the bottom of the page for each zone option on the map, including capacity, enrollment, etc.

UPDATE: Decaturish has a good interview with the Superintendent on this topic today.

The City Schools of Decatur have now posted digital lot-by-lot maps of the K-3 rezoning options under consideration and have included a fourth option, which you can view above.

NOTE: Since these are lot-by-lot maps, they are quite large and take a while to download.

Just got a tip that you can review the K-3 redistricting options RIGHT HERE.

One of the options featured above.

Don’t forget that the City Schools of Decatur is holding a Community Meeting this evening at 6p to discuss rezoning the elementary schools to incorporate Westchester Elementary back into the mix.

If you missed our earlier post on the subject, check it out HERE.  You can also check out CSD’s dedicated page for this effort – HERE.

We haven’t seen the three current options under consideration online yet, but we’ve heard they’re likely be available after the meeting this evening.  Stay tuned.

Correction!  The map options are available on the CSD website.  See here!