Academy Update & Meeting June 21

Yesterday afternoon I received a reply from Ms. Pope of the DeKalb County School System in response to my previous inquiries, inviting me to review documents and I will be taking her up on her offer later this afternoon.

On a related subject, I received an e-mail from concerned "Dunwoody Parent" regarding the new 4th & 5th grade academy announcing another meeting for the community to discuss options to the academy plan. Below is the text of the e-mail.

http://dunwoodyparent.googlepages.com

To: Dunwoody Area Parents

Despite numerous objections raised by area parents, and without vetting their plan with the community, the DeKalb County School Board voted (on May 12th) to implement the 4th & 5th grade “Academy Plan”. The school Board has stated this academy plan was selected without concern for academic achievement and does not relieve the overcrowding at the elementary schools. This decision has numerous significant logistical and scholastic implications that have not been addressed. As concerned parents, we should discuss this issue and determine which solution is best for all of our children.

We are looking for volunteers to address the concerns of the parents, community, and needs of the children. If you want to get involved, please write DunwoodyParent@Yahoo.com with your name, address and phone number.

If you are concerned about the School Board's plan to break up the existing schools, then please join us for a meeting on Saturday June 21 @ 1:30pm at the Dunwoody Public Library in order to explore this matter further and plan next steps. (Your RSVP would be helpful for planning purposes.)

Location: Dunwoody Public Library “Williams Room A”
5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd
Dunwoody, GA 30338

Most recent update: Construction has begun on a new Dunwoody public school beside Georgia Perimeter College (Dunwoody Campus) at Womack Road, set to be ready for the fall of 2009. The yet unnamed New School is intended to relieve serious overcrowding at the Austin, Chesnut, and Vanderlyn schools.

The Redistricting Plan was touted for almost two years as the sensible solution to our schools’ overcrowding problem. Most people in the community assumed this plan or some variation would be implemented. However, a new plan was recently proposed which has completely surprised the community. This new plan, the Academy Plan, permanently relocates 4th and 5th graders from three schools to the new school. As a result, the current 2nd and 3rd graders at Austin, Chesnut, and Vanderlyn would not finish their elementary years at their neighborhood school, but instead would be bused to the 4th & 5th grade “New School”.

(If you cannot see the chart above please view it here: http://dunwoodyparent.googlepages.com/)

As shown above, the there are other plans that provide more practical allocation of children among the schools. As shown in the chart above, the Academy Plan would distribute the children in such an illogical way as to cause two schools to operate beyond their capacity!

In addition, the Academy Plan creates an experimental and untested arrangement to replace the proven capabilities already functioning at the existing neighborhood schools.

Please forward this to any Dunwoody parents who may be unaware of these proposed changes.