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!

 

It’s time to discuss redistricting!…again.

Just a couple of years since the last rezoning – which incorporated Glennwood back into the K-3 brick and mortar contingent – the awesome foursome (Oakhurst, Clairemont, Winnona Park and Glennwood), now need to make physical space inside the city limits for their mid-century styled old friend, Westchester Elementary, again.

The CSD zoning committee met on October 14th to develop rezoning options.  One of the initial rezoning options (seen above) was shown in a presentation for that meeting, which can be found on CSD’s zoning website.

CSD has a Community Meeting scheduled for Monday October 28th at 6p to go over all the potential rezoning options.  The meeting will aptly take place in the Board of Ed room at Westchester.

We’ll update you all once all the rezoning options are posted.

The final rezoning recommendation will be presented to the School Board on November 12th and then is scheduled for a final vote on December 10th.

This one should be no surprise to any, but it’s always nice to know where we are in the process.

On the docket for Tuesday night’s Decatur School Board meeting, approving a resolution that would reopen Westchester as a K-3 elementary school starting in fall 2014. According to a summary by Director of Operations Jason Ware, the resolution is needed now to move forward with a getting a new certificate of occupancy from the Georgia Department of Education.

As to what kind of K-3 Westchester will be, that decision is still being weighed.  Asst. Superintendent Thomas Van Soleon told me a few weeks back that the Board will examine “the work product of our Master Planning consultant at the March 12 meeting”.  So I guess we should know more in the relatively recent future.

In preparation for the Decatur School Board’s July 10th meeting, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards has provided a good summary of the available options of where to move the City Schools of Decatur’s Central Office in anticipation of reopening Westchester Elementary as an elementary school.  As mentioned at the Decatur City Commission meeting on Monday, the School Board is scheduled to make a final decision on this topic at the July 10th meeting.

So without further ado, here’s the Superintendent’s note to the Board…

For the last year we have discussed increasing enrollment and the need to place the last school building (Westchester) back into the mix as a school. This means that the central office must be relocated.

Discussions have been held with the city leaders in our search for options. There is an opportunity to locate the central office in the current Beacon Hill building. The building would allow the system to have approximately the same amount of space as currently used at Westchester. The building can be designed to meet the system’s needs of parking, board room space, and program management space so central office personnel will not be located in school buildings where there is little space. It will also provide a sense of community and honor to the neighbors and families that cherished this building when it was an operational school. For the sake of history and community, this would be a positive move. It is also a plausible choice because it does not utilize spaces on other campuses that could be utilized for future expansion if needed. The building would be built by the city and when finished the school system would purchase the space. The drawback is the price (last price received: $5.9 million) which exceeds what our initial estimate was for the new central office. However, the city is able to allow the school system to fund the cost over time.

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