Away for a little time with the family and various updates to hold you over.

With school starting next week and with me being between houses, the family and I have escaped into the wilderness of South Georgia. I will be returning sometime over the weekend and hope to post the agenda for Monday night's City Council meeting but in case I am unable, please check the city calendar item for this coming Monday which should be updated on Friday evening.

Today prior to leaving town this afternoon, we registered all three of my boys at three different DeKalb County schools (New Dunwoody Elem, Chesnut Elem & Coralwood Pre-K) and all of the registrations went smoothly due to the numerous PTA parents who worked tirelessly on behalf of the community. Thank you.

At Dunwoody Elementary I toured the new school to view the finished product and was mostly pleased with what I saw. The classrooms were completed and furnished, the library, computer lab and music rooms were fully equipped and the playground was finally being installed. My only minor issues were related to the decorative fencing that was promised to the neighbors and the School Garden at the rear of the property that appears to be blocked off by the chain link fencing that I believe is suppose to be removed?

With the day off work, I saw the City of Dunwoody Public Works staff cleaning the overgrown gutters in front of Peachtree Middle School and noticed the School Crosswalk signs were already in place at Chesnut. I am expecting a number of other school related public works projects taking place all over the city this week, most of which will be pavement striping and paint related but our crews are also testing the flashing school zone blinkers and verifying that all of the intersection crosswalk indicators are working properly so that our children walking to school can do so safely. I am also told that if all goes well there is a chance that the radar speed limit signs may also be installed prior to the start of school, or very soon just after.

The Dunwoody Police took another bad guy off our streets but please remember that the police can not be everywhere and that it is the responsibility of each of us to watch out for our neighbors where possible. I am aware of several day time home burglaries and without a vigilant community looking out for such activity, these thieves will be difficult to catch (though I know our police are actively trying).

Have you seen the Dunwoody Police Department newsletter, here is the August 1, 2009 inaugural edition and I would like to encourage you to do a Police ride along as well as invite your teenager to check out the Police Explorers. With school starting please watch your speeding in Dunwoody, 102 mph on Peeler and 108 mph on Mount Vernon are pushing the limits of common sense.

Talking of speeding tickets, the City of Dunwoody is aware of this issue and is working to get it under control. I believe the Police Records Management System will also speed up the over all process and improve the accuracy of the crime statistics.

New Garden website - Dunwoody Community Garden at Brook Run

Here are a few up coming events that I wish I could attend, but I may not be able to make them all.

Thur Aug 6th - Dunwoody Zoning Board Appeals - 7 pm
Sat Aug 8th - Dunwoody Elem Dedication & Tour - 11 am
Sun Aug 9th - Dunwoody Homeowners Meeting - 7:30 pm
Mon Aug 10th - Dunwoody City Council - 7 pm
Thur Aug 13th - Dunwoody Community Council - 7 pm
Mon Aug 17th - Dunwoody City Hall and Police Open House - 4 to 7 pm
Wed Sept 2nd - DCCK Parent Council Meeting @ Dunwoody HS - 9:15 am with Dr. Crawford Lewis speaking. Notes of end of year speech.

I found a new Dunwoody related blog (or should I say it found me), a daddy named Gil cracked me up with two examples of DeKalb County efficiency that I would like to share, the first is the library fine and second is the DeKalb County Marriage License sign.

Enjoy the last week of Summer.

Dunwoody Academy (4th / 5th) Bus Schedules are Available

Dunwoody Elementary Bus Schedules

About a month to go - Dunwoody Elementary School

On Tuesday July 7th, Mayor Ken Wright & I wanted to be prepared for a meeting with Pat Pope of the DeKalb County School System therefore we stopped by the new 4th & 5th grade Dunwoody Elementary School to check on the progress. This video was shot as an after thought but figured I would share it to show you the progress being made.

We are told that the new school will be opening on time and that there will be a dedication and open house of the school on August 8th.

Dunwoody City Council Meeting Agenda for Tuesday May 26, 2009

Dunwoody United Methodist Church
1548 Mt. Vernon Road, 30338
Tuesday May 26th
7 p.m.

Agenda

Proclamation: “Dunwoody United Methodist Church”
Proclamation: “Dr. Robert Albin”
Proclamation: “Automated External Defibrillators”

Minutes from the April 20, 2009 City Council Work Session.

PRESENTATION Dr. Kevin Harris, Dunwoody High School Principal.

Resolution adopting a license fee for door-to-door salesmen and solicitors in the City of Dunwoody.

Resolution adopting Lights Off/Power Down policy.

Ordinance to Amend Chapter 2: Administration

Status Report on New School Traffic - Richard Meehan, Dir of Public Works.

PUBLIC HEARINGS
Resolution to transmit the Comprehensive Plan Community Assessment and Community Participation Plan to the Atlanta Regional Commission and State Department of Community Affairs.

Ordinance to amend Chapter 27: Zoning - An amendment to the text of the Zoning Ordinance to clean-up certain language, reinstate certain provisions, and amend certain requirements.

Ordinance to amend the text of the Zoning Ordinance, specifically Section 3C, the “Dunwoody Village Overlay District”.

Ordinance to rezone the Dunwoody United Methodist Church property to remove it from the Dunwoody Village Overlay District Designation”.

EXECUTIVE SESSION for the purposes of legal, real estate, and personnel discussions.

Dunwoody Elementary School Update & lack of public notice for Community Council Meetings

This evening after a busy day at work, I rushed over Dunwoody High School to listen to the final update of the new Dunwoody Elementary School that was given by Principal Jonathan Clark, Ms. Pat Pope, Dir. of Operations / Construction, Ms. Robin Burch of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association who was also representing the City of Dunwoody to obtain several building and landscaping changes, and the head of transportation / busing, (I missed his name).

Below is the recording of the meeting which lasted about 53 minutes.

05142009_DunElem_Update.mp3

Here are a few highlights from memory, so I encourage you to listen to the meeting instead of quoting me if you are going to rely on the information. The school will open on time with about 750 - 800 students and the capacity of the school is about 950. Most of the teachers are from the three feeder schools (Austin, Chesnut & Vanderlyn) and the school website will be updated the first week in June providing the names. Dress code is plain solid colors (Jeans & shorts are OK, collared shirts preferred.) or school spirit wear (either Dunwoody Elem School or from any other school in the cluster including DHS). Start time is 7:45 until 2:15 pm with the students from Austin riding in separate buses and the children from Chesnut & Vanderlyn sharing the buses with their local school. The shared buses will pickup at the house bused students from the Elementary school (greater than 1.5 miles walking miles from local ES) and bused students to DES (greater than 1.5 miles from DES) and then drop off at the DES before bringing the younger students back to the lower elementary school. In the afternoon it is reversed, picked up at DES, head to the lower elem and then drive home. A number of complaints and suggestions were provided on the tentative transportation plan but it will not be final until June so things can still change. Landscaping is much improved near Windhaven Court, nicer fence lines. The school health clinic has been reconfigured, doubled in size. The playground equipment is age appropriate but the speakers couldn't describe it. There will be after school care available and the list of activities will be released prior to the start of school.

As far as the complaints of environmental damage highlighted in an AJC article and stop work orders, Ms. Pope dismissed both claims and stated that the school was in full compliance.

Over all I was happy with the presentation, I like Mr. Clark, I know and trust the leaders of the PTO and am looking forward to being a Dunwoody Elementary School parent for the next four years.

Immediately after that meeting I headed over to the Community Council to listen to a presentation on a Special Land Uses application for transitional housing in an existing apartment complex behind Peachtree Middle School. The Community Council is the first step of the rezoning process which is then followed by the Planning Commission and then the City Council. I mentioned the CC meeting on the blog but there were only seven residents in the audience and four of us were either Planning Commission or City Council Members and are not allowed to ask questions nor influence the conversations.

It was discovered that the City, unlike DeKalb County, does not require rezoning signs nor notice to neighbors prior to these Community Council meetings therefore the odds of the community actually showing up to fight or support the application is very minimal. I will be looking to have these policies reviewed and changed thereby allowing the community more notice of what is going on. The other item is that the City website should be making the complete packet of information which is given to the various committee members available on the internet for review to everyone. What appears to be happening now is that just the agenda is being provided on the web and that doesn't have the same detail as the full committee receives.

Before that meeting was fully over, I left to catch the last couple of innings of my son's playoff game at Murphy Candler, which was then followed with my boys and I viewing of the Ivy Riders Classic Cars and the Dunwoody Police Soap Box Derby Car.

Dunwoody Elementary Construction Update - Tonight at DHS 6 pm

There will be a community meeting open to all on Thursday, May 14th at 6:00 pm at Dunwoody High School to give an update on the construction progress at Dunwoody Elementary School. Pat Pope and other DeKalb County School officials will present the update.

Dunwoody Elementary School - Construction Update & comments by Dr. Lewis

There will be a community meeting open to all on Thursday, May 14th at 6:00 pm at Dunwoody High School to give an update on the construction progress at Dunwoody Elementary School. Pat Pope and other DeKalb County School officials will present the update.

I also noticed that there are some updated frequently asked questions on the schools website that I thought were interesting. (I missed an informational meeting offered at Chesnut with Mr. Clark.)

DCPC Meeting

Another meeting I was scheduled to attend but missed was the DCPC presentation by DeKalb County School Superintendent, Dr. Crawford Lewis. If I was in attendance I was going to audio record the presentation and now I am kicking myself for not being there as it sounds like it was news worthy. Mr. Kim Gokce has provided a recap of the "Strident Words" presented by Dr. Lewis over at the DeKalb County School Watch Blog.

Did the DeKalb County School System skirt a stop work order from the State in order to keep the school on schedule?

During the heavy rains in early April, Joe Hirsch said, he watched day after day as mud oozed from a school construction site into a stream near his Dunwoody home. He figured that was a violation, and thought a simple phone call to authorities would get it fixed.

Environmental Specialist Kappitola Williams checked out his complaint. She found that the school system’s contractors lacked a construction permit. In an interview this week, she said that she could have issued a stop-work order with a monetary penalty, but that the school system agreed to stop work voluntarily.

Yet work on the site continued, she said. Hirsch alerted her and on Tuesday, Williams visited again. “They evidently just ignored it,” she said of the agreement to stop work.

From the AJC & Kudo's to Joe Hirsch

Dunwoody Elementary named and Speeding Traffic concerns.

During the public comment of the Dunwoody City Council, Councilwoman Adrian Bonser announced that the new 4th & 5th Grade Elementary School on Womack will be named Dunwoody Elementary, the colors will be Light & Dark Blue and the team mascot will be the Tigers.

The meeting was rather dry except for the traffic calming issue whereby the affected community stood in unison at the meeting demanding that the council take action thereby allowing the residents to vote on the matter. Speeding cut through traffic was the big issue with the residents knowing that the problem will get worse come August with the new school opening. The matter passed unanimously by the council and after the horror stories I heard from the residents, I believe I know a new stretch of sidewalk that was added to my wish list of future improvements.

Speeding, Speeding Tickets, Speed Detection were big issues tonight and I would like to ask that everyone please be mindful of their driving habits.

http://www.youtube.com

Below is the audio from the meeting. Agenda

04132009_1.mp3 Start of meeting

04132009_2.mp3 Land development Chap 14 minor cleanup

04132009_3.mp3 Village Creek Traffic Calming

04132009_4.mp3 Probation - Car Wash - End.

Public Hearing on Monday for Traffic Calming in Village Mill

With the new elementary school opening in August, this measure gives the neighborhood options and as this is our first traffic calming hearing, I am very interested in hearing opinions from all the residents affected.

Public Hearing Documents

The City of Dunwoody, GA will be conducting a Public Hearing on Monday, April 13, 2009 at 7 pm to consider accepting the attached plan and initiating the final petition process for Traffic Calming in Land Lot 361 of the 18th District on Village Creek Drive between Womack Road and Olde Village Lane.

The residents of Village Mill Subdivision have been working with DeKalb County for over eight years to address the excessive speed of vehicles traveling through the neighborhood. DeKalb County performed a traffic study in 2005 that confirmed that speeding does exist on Village Creek Drive between Womack Road and Olde Village Lane. The 85th percentile speed of 39 mph on a road posted at 25 mph, meets the criteria for traffic calming measures which is generally accepted to be 11 mph or more over the posted speed.

The initiator(s) from the neighborhood met with the DeKalb County design engineer for this affected area to discuss alternate methods of traffic calming available to them and to review the proposed plans. DeKalb County held a Public Meeting with the neighborhood in April 2008 and worked with the residents to develop the attached plan to install six (6) Speed Tables on Village Creek Drive. The initiator(s) took this plan back to their neighborhood and they conveyed to the staff that they are in support of the attached proposed design and with moving forward to the final petition process. This plan was presented to the DeKalb Board of Commissioners for acceptance and the initiation of the final petition process in October 2008, but the BOC tabled the action due to the pending incorporation of the City of Dunwoody.

The initiator(s) have requested that the City pick up and continue the process with this neighborhood at the point in the process they were with DeKalb on December 1, 2008 when the City was incorporated. This Public Hearing has been advertised and appropriate signs have been posted notifying residents in the area. If the plan is accepted by the City Council, the initiator(s) will have 90 days to acquire 65% valid “yes” signatures from the 46 affected property owners in the affected area on Village Creek Drive and Village Creek Court.

DeKalb Public School enrollment will it be up or down and how will it affect Dunwoody? What about Bus service?

Will DeKalb's School Enrollment be going up?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhsYKn4Jnyo

Every DeKalb County Public School in Dunwoody has portable classroom trailers and when the new fourth & fifth grade school opens next year on Womack, many of those trailers will remain in place. I am seeing conflicting stories in the news regarding school funding, school closures and whether enrollment will be going up or down. The DeKalb County School Board is thinking about closing more schools and increasing the busing distance to reduce costs. Now because of economic hardship it appears that many families who have sent their children off to private school in the past are deciding to return to the local public schools.

Today I read on the DeKalb County School Watch blog that the newly built Arabia Mountain High School which was scheduled to be a neighborhood school as well as being able to accept transfers from other nearby "failing" schools has been modified to be Magnet or "Choice" school which wouldn't have to accept transfers from other schools. This change directly affects Dunwoody High School since it will still be a "receiving" school from students all over the county. If this is true, it sounds like a bait and switch to me in order to prepare a justification of the next SPLOST tax for Education.

Finally a school issue which will be affecting all of Dunwoody (even if you do not have children in school) is the yet to be finalized busing plan for the new school. With elementary school children from all over Dunwoody going to this school and with a mix of K though 3 as well as the 4 & 5's on the same pick up route; it will be a logistical nightmare to work a feasible and efficient schedule for all involved.

On top of that, Dr. Crawford Lewis has proposed that the walk zone be increased from 1 mile to 1.5 miles - as student safety and traffic conditions allow. I had my GIS software draw a 1.5 mile circle around the new school which is as the crow flies and then I mapped the walking distance from the school to my home, which measured 1.6 miles. Even if my fourth grader is offered a bus to the new school, we will have to decide if the logistical circumstances make sense for us to accept the ride.

The prospect of very early bus pickups for those who will still be offered the bus and the 1.5 mile walking distance without buses being offered, means that there will probably be a lot of cars making round trip visits to Womack Road come early August.


The job of putting together the transportation plan for the new school to best serve the needs of the students will be very difficult and I hope that the school system explores every option to find what is best for the students. This is what the new school website says regarding school start times and transportation logistics.

What time will school start and end?

• This is still under review. The current plan on the table has students delivered to the Academy starting at 7:00 am. Once the Academy students are dropped off, the bus will continue its route to the next elementary school. Students will be picked up from the Academy at 2:00 in the afternoon. Academy will dismiss at 2:00 pm. Buses will leave the Academy and go to Austin, Vanderlyn, and Chestnut Elementary schools before delivering to the neighborhoods. This is subject to change if the school release time is modified. This will create an earlier time for pick up in the morning, but the afternoon pickup and drop off time will be the same and the students will arrive home at the same time as their siblings.

How will the buses run, in relation to the current busing schedule?

• We are an elementary school, and therefore, we will work around the established elementary start and end times with some flexibility. This is a transportation issue that the DeKalb County School System is looking into to determine the best possible time.

Whether or not you have children in the DeKalb County School System, these school items affect our tax bill, our home values and our overall quality of life and I thought they should be brought to your attention. I know that I will be watching closely.

Help name the new Dunwoody Elementary School.

What should the name of this School be?
Any Suggestions?

As a Chesnut Elementary School Parent I received the following e-mail which I think should be shared with the entire community. Any good suggestions out there?

You have the opportunity to participate in the naming process as well as choosing a mascot and school colors for the new 4/5 school opening this summer. The information below states policies regarding the naming process. You have until February 28, 2009 to make your submission. Your idea and supporting reason can be sent to schoolnaming@gmail.com. Please read through all the information below so that you understand the process. Our Chesnut representative is Sarah Borcherding. Any questions can be sent to her at slborcherding@hotmail.com.

Description and timeline:
We are extremely excited about the opportunity to select the name, mascot and school colors for the new school that will serve 4th and 5th grade students in the Dunwoody area. This is such an incredible opportunity to provide something for the community that will last for generations.

The DeKalb County School Board Policies establish procedures for creating the name, school color, and mascot so that the process is an open one that involves as many people as possible and truly represents the heritage, culture, and wishes of the local community. Please find links to the board policies listed below in this document. The School naming Committee has been established using these policies and chaired by our district Board Member, Mr. Jim Redovian. The other members on the committee and their affiliations are listed later in this document and you may also find them on the school's website at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/dunwoodyes.

This process will begin January 26, 2009 and be open for public submission of ideas and supporting reasons until February 28, 2009. The school website has an established email account where individuals may submit their ideas. The email address is schoolnaming@gmail.com. General notification will go out to the public through a variety of methods including the Dunwoody Crier, local school newsletters, calling posts, web pages, and community and informational blogs. For an idea or submission to be considered for approval, it is required that all ideas must be submitted through the email link on the website and have accompanying reasons and supporting information indicating relevance and significance for our community.

If you are not able to submit your ideas and supporting reasons to the website, the School Naming Committee will be hosting a public forum at Peachtree Charter Middle School at 7:00 pm on February 17, 2009. All submissions must be in by the close of day of February 28, 2009. At that time, the submissions will be collected, counted, analyzed and a final selection of three possibilities will be presented to the local communities through the feeder elementary schools on Monday, March 9, 2009.

All ballots will be due back to the local feeder schools for approval by Friday, March 20, 2009. The local schools will collect the ballots and return them to the Region Assistant Superintendents office. The final selection of the school name, colors and mascot will be presented to the DeKalb County School Board for approval at the board meeting on April 13, 2009.

This is such a wonderful opportunity for the community. We are very excited to participate in this process and hope that all of you will embrace this chance and enthusiastically play your part as well. We look forward to seeing all of your submissions and working to serve the community in this capacity. Please do not hesitate to contact your local representative that is serving on the School Naming Committee if you have any questions.

Board Policy Links
School Naming/Renaming Committee - BYLAWS https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/policy.aspx?PC=FDC&Sch=4054&S=4054&RevNo=1.04&C=F&Z=P

School Naming/Renaming Committees - Board Policy Descriptor Code: FDC https://eboard.eboardsolutions.com/ePolicy/pdfs/dekalb/School%20Naming-Renaming%20BYLAWS%20FINAL%209-17-08%202.pdf

Existing names, mascots and colors:

School Mascot Colors
Austin Elementary Eagles Red and Blue
Chesnut Elementary Cougars Red, White, and Blue
Hightower Elementary Indian Chiefs Green and White
Kingsley Elementary Comets Red, White, and Blue
Vanderlyn Elementary Vikings Blue and Yellow
Peachtree Charter Middle School Patriots Red, White, and Blue
Dunwoody high School Wildcats Red, White, and Blue

Timeline:
• 1/26/09 - 2/28/09 the email link is public for individuals to submit ideas and support evidence. All ideas and supporting evidence must be presented by the end of the day on February 28, 2009.
• 2/17/09 a public forum will be held at Peachtree Charter Middle School(PCMS) for feedback and presentation of ideas for those not presented to the web email account
• 3/09/09 ballots presented to the feeder schools that will highlight the top three choices for name, mascot, and color options. Individuals will have two weeks to complete and return their ballot by the end of the day on March 20, 2009.
• 3/20/09 ballots are due to the Dekalb County School System Area Assistant Superintendent - Mrs. Heckman for counting and summarizing.
• 4/13/09 The name, colors, and mascot selection will be presented to the Dekalb County School Board for final approval

Members on the Committee and affiliation:
Robin Burch Dunwoody Homeowners Association
Adrian Bonser Dunwoody City Council
Sarah Borcherding Chesnut Elementary School
Johnathan Clark Dunwoody 4/5 Principal
Elizabeth Heckman Region 1 Assistant Superintendent
Lisa Gill Austin Elementary School
Libba Morris Vanderlyn Elementary School
Donna Pittman Hightower Elementary School
Jim Redovian DeKalb County School Board member
Danny Ross Dunwoody City Council
Pam Speaks DeKalb County School Board member
Gregg Vandewiele Kingsley Elementary School
Kay Weber Community Representative

School Nurses proposed to be cut due to tough economic times.

Gov. Sonny Perdue has the tough job of proposing a state budget in these rough economic times and the Joint Appropriations Committee will be meeting today to go over the Governors proposal which includes the elimination of school nurses.

With close to 1,000 kids in the new 4th and 5th grade elementary school; one of the biggest complaints I heard from the community on the construction of the school wasn't the red roof but rather the size and configuration of the health clinic. In the final design, I believe several walls were moved and doors reconfigured in order to make the clinic hospitable and private for the little patients who would be visiting that room of the school, some on a regular basis.

Below is a letter I wanted to bring to your attention from my good friend Jay Spearman whose wife Paige serves our community children as the school nurse at Vanderlyn Elementary.

This is one cost savings measure that I believe will cut very deep, in many unintended ways.

Dear Parents and Friends:

As the parent of three school aged children, and the husband of the school nurse at Vanderlyn Elementary, I need to ask for your urgent help.

As you may have heard, Governor Perdue has proposed to eliminate all state funding for professional school nurses in Georgia. In a nutshell, what this means is that RN’s will no longer be there when your child is hurt or sick, assist in training staff and teachers, work daily with students suffering from diabetes, asthma, allergies, seizures, cancer, infectious illnesses and special needs, manage immunization records, perform vision and hearing screenings, conduct CPR classes, coordinate safety plans, perform emergency triage and much more.

Why are school nurses important? The facts speak for themselves:

• It is estimated that 15 million students annually visit and receive care from school based clinics for illnesses, medications and/or injuries.
  
  
• 1.5 million school-age children do not have health insurance and their first level of care when faced with a medical issue is the school clinic.
  
  
• Approximately 30% of Georgia students have health conditions (i.e. asthma, diabetes, cancer, life-threatening allergies and seizure disorder).
  
  
• As many as 5 million doses of prescription medications are given annually at schools.
  
  
• School nurses respond to medical emergencies, educate staff on school health issues and provide training on medical procedures.
  
  
• School Nurses work in collaboration with community physicians and health organizations to ensure the health needs of students are met, which is of even greater importance due to the recently increased compliance requirements involving Georgia immunization laws.

Without School Nurses, parent volunteers would have to take shifts in the clinic. That is fine for band-aids, but as noted above, many of our children have needs, injuries and emergencies that surpass the abilities of a parent volunteer (or school secretary).

With all that being said, the most important reason to maintain school nurses is that they care about your child. School Nurses can make 3 to 4 times in the private sector what they are being paid by their school districts. However, they elect to be School Nurses because they love the kids and care about their well being.

Therefore, I employ and urge you as a Georgia citizen, physician, pediatrician, business leader, school administrator, community advocate, children’s advocate, parent, student, school staff member or just supporter of school nurses to please contact the Governor and members of the Appropriations and Health Committees and offer your strong support by voicing disapproval of these funds being eliminated from the State budget.

There is a budget meeting scheduled on this issue today (Wednesday, 1/21/09), so time is very short. The following legislators need to hear from you ASAP:

School Superintendent Kathy Cox: 404-656-2800
Governor Sonny Perdue: 404-656-1776
Lt. Governor Cagle: 404-656-5030
Rep. Ben Harbin: 404-463-2247
Rep. Dubose Porter: 404-656-5058
Rep. Cooper: 404-656-5069
Rep. Jan Jones: 404-463-2247
Rep. Mark Burkhalter: 404-656-5072
Rep. Fran Millar: 404-656-5064
Rep. Ehrhart: 404-656-5141
Rep. Glenn Richardson: 404-656-5020
Sen. Jack Hill: 404-656-5038
Sen. Don Balfour: 404-656-0095
Sen. Tommie Williams: 404-656-0089
Sen. Renee Unterman: 404-463-1368
Sen. Dan Moody: 404-463-8055
Sen. John Bulloch: 404-656-0040
Sen. Jack Murphy: 404-656-7127
Sen. Horacena Tate: 404-463-8053
Sen. Eric Johnson: 404-656-5109
Sen. Robert Brown: 404-656-5035

Please make the phones ring.

Also, please e-mail these and your representatives. E-mail addresses can be found at: www.legis.state.ga.us. Please feel free to forward this e-mail.

Thanks for your assistance.

Jay Spearman

Website available for Dunwoody 4th & 5th Grade Academy on Womack

The new 4th & 5th Elementary School on Womack is on schedule to be opened by this August and the DCSS just published the school website which I have listed below.

http://www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/dunwoodyes

Principal Johnathan Clark - Resume

Faculty and Staff have not been selected for the new Elementary School. It is the expectation that each faculty member will have his or her own web page. As staff members are added, they will upload and link their web pages. If you are interested in employment at the new Dunwoody Elementary School, please contact the DeKalb County School System Department of Human Resources.

Advisory Action Teams have already been created to help prepare the school for opening day and they are starting to meet on a regular basis to ensure a smooth transition for the nearly 1,000 students scheduled to attend. If you are interested in these action groups please check the school website for group contact information or if you need more information, Mr. Clark can be reached via e-mail at JOHNATHAN_M_CLARK@fc.dekalb.k12.ga.us

The Climate and Culture Action team is focused on gathering information to establish the climate and culture for our new school. This will include but not be limited to spirit days, grade level field trips, holiday gatherings, murals for the school, and any general activities that will contribute to developing our own culture and set of traditions.

The Clubs and Activities Team will focus on ideas and concerns regarding clubs and activities that we wish to provide for our children at our school. This will include but not be limited to clubs and activities that are currently being offered at the feeder schools, service-based clubs, honor programs, and extra-curricular activities like Science Olympiad and Odyssey of the Mind.

The Communication Team will focus on providing the best methods of communication for between all groups and communities during this time of transition. This will include but not be limited to updating the school website, providing input and feedback from the stakeholders as well as answering questions, and acting as a general means of communication for all parties to make this process as transparent and accessible as possible for all people affected by the changes.

The Facilities Action Team will focus on ideas and concerns regarding construction, the facilities, and the grounds of our new school. This will include but not be limited to playground equipment, outdoor classroom area, and campus beautification.

The Instructional Delivery Model Action Team will focus on best practices for our instructional program. This will include but not be limited to bell schedule, specials that will be offered, how we serve the needs of our ELL, gifted, and special education students, and ideas that support differentiated instruction for all children at our school.

The Parent Teacher Group Action Team will focus on ideas and concerns regarding the structure of our parent support group and help determine whether we form a Parent Teacher Association or Parent Teacher Organization. This will include but not be limited to fundrasing, registration practices, support programs for the students and teachers, outreach programs for our families, and general issues regarding with community involvement and support of the school and our students.

The Technology Action Team will focus on concerns and ideas related to technology for our instructional program. This will include but not be limited to types of technology such as Activboards, laptop labs, wireless capabilities, presentation stations, and possible tools that will enhance the instructional program we offer our students.

The Transportation Team will focus on the impact of transportation and traffic flow in the community. This will include but not be limited to getting the students to school safely, carpool ideas, sidewalks, traffic flow pattern, turn lanes, and working with both the DeKalb County School System and the new City of Dunwoody to address these issues.

Kingsley grant proposal looking for safety improvements for Children Walking to School.

Mr. Tom Lambert and Ms. Allegra Johnson of the Kingsley Parents Council, together with the Principal of Kingsley Charter Elementary School, Ms. Karen Graham have put together a very strong grant application to improve the safety of Kingsley's various routes to schools in order to encourage more children to walk. The Safe Routes to Schools grant application will be submitted to the DeKalb County School System Superintendent, Dr. Crawford Lewis and the Dunwoody City Manager, Mr. Warren Hutmacher for their signatures early next week and then submitted to the Georgia Department of Transportation for their final consideration.

A special thank you goes out to Mr. Lawrence K. Kaiser,P.E., Partner/Owner of Collaborative Infrastructure Services, Inc. for donating his engineering expertise towards this project.

Though the Kingsley application was chosen for the final grant submission it should be recognized that the Principals and PTA's of Chesnut, Peachtree, Vanderlyn and Austin, in cooperation with the DCPC, have all been meeting to assess what can be done to improve each school's route to school in order to make it safer for children to walk.

Making Dunwoody a safe community in which to walk & bike is a very large, long term goal of mine while I serve on the Dunwoody City Council and I will continue to look for innovative funding streams for these types of projects.

Here is another possible grant opportunity from the RWJ Foundation which is also in line with what we are doing with the Safe Routes to Schools program.

http://www.rwjf.org/files/applications/cfp/cfp_HKHC2008.pdf

But the big catch is “All grantees must secure a cash and/or in-kind match equal to at least 50 percent of the RWJF award over the entire grant period.” However, any proposed spending for sidewalks and bike lanes may be able to count as the matching 50%. There is a possibility that the City of Dunwoody could apply for this grant in conjunction to improvements needed on Womack near the new school or possibly the PCID could make use of it for the benefit of all concerned.

Busy day in Dunwoody

Working on the Dunwoody City Council has been a blast so far and I believe that I and the other City Council members are making a real difference in the future quality of life for all citizens of Dunwoody. That being said, let me say that the hours are very long and today was no exception, in fact I took a vacation day from my full time job to work on city issues.

At 10 am, I met with Mayor Wright, Jim Redovian of the DeKalb County School Board, Robin Burch of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association and Page Olson, President of the Dunwoody Chamblee Parents School Council to tour the new 4th/5th Grade Elementary School on Womack; along with the County construction supervisors. The tour started in the construction trailer reviewing blueprints and raising questions that were brought up at the public meeting which happened several weeks ago.

Issues discussed were like the school clinic being too small, there are plans for two play areas and $75,000 set aside for playground equipment, each room has its own AC/Heat, we reviewed construction material choices and were looking to change the color of the roof, asked about increasing the sidewalk width on the property, possibly adding a few screening trees along the property line to block the school from the several highly affected neighbors on Windhaven Court. I asked about the originally planned Kindergarten rooms and if the mini toilets were going to be installed or if they were only going to stub the rooms for a future conversion back to an elementary school? I was informed that the little bathrooms and toilets were going to be installed as were shown on the plans I obtained a while back.

At 1 pm, I met at Boyken with our new City Manager Warren Hutmacher and Council Members Adrian Bonser and Tom Taylor to discuss city implementation issues. As I was arriving Council Members Shortal and Ross were leaving with Adrian Bonser who was staying for the second meeting.

At 3:50 the meeting was over and I crossed the hall to tour the new temporary Dunwoody City Hall which is very nice and contains 14 offices, a kitchen, conference room and reception area.

At 4:00 pm I witnessed Boyken logging in the last of the RFP bids, many of which were contained in boxes and the numerous submissions filled two carts.

At 4:30, I rushed home to review & print a number of items for the City Council meeting and have a quick dinner with the family.

At 6:00, I was meeting with the Dunwoody Chamber of Commerce to listen to their opinion of the Business License Ordinance that we have currently under review. The ordinance is based on DeKalb law which is all messed up and it appears that DeKalb's answer is to just not enforce anything that is problematic in the current code. I would rather fix the regulatory problems now and have fewer headaches later. One example is that the your neighborhood Swim Tennis would currently need to pay business taxes and I would rather see that rule corrected vs being not enforced.

At 7:00, I had the Dunwoody City Council Work Session, Audio here.

At 8:30, the meeting was over but talking to the various people in the room is an important part of the job. This evening, I introduced my friend Pattie Baker who writes the blog Sustainable Dunwoody to the City Manager and inform him of her efforts and ideas for the community (example in the video below)

At 9:00 pm, I returned to talk to the Dunwoody Chamber regarding the Business License ordinance and started to slowly hammer out a few of the issues. Three of the other city council members were returning to Boyken to review and grade the RFP's that were due today.

At 11:00 pm, I returned home after a long day to update the blog and figured I didn't have much to say, so instead I just recapped my day for the world to see and call it a night.


Dunwoody Grows! from Pattie Baker on Vimeo.

Mr. Johnathan Clark is named the Principal of the 4/5 Academy on Womack.

Mr. Johnathan Clark, the Assistant Principal of Dunwoody High School has been named as the new principal of the Dunwoody 4/5 Academy.

Dr. Lewis made the announcement at the Dunwoody Cluster Council meeting on Thursday.

Please join me in congratulating Mr. Clark on his promotion and new position!

DeKalb calls Meeting to discuss 4th & 5th Elementary School on Womack

The New 4th & 5th Grade elementary school on Womack is suppose to open in nine months yet the community has more questions than answers. In light of DeKalb thinking about cutting the number of buses to be offered by increasing the walking distance for students from 1 mile to 1.5 miles and now discussing layoffs and a cut in teacher pay; the Dunwoody community is wondering how these items will affect the new school whereby 3/4's of the students will have to be bused? Is the school really going to serve 4th & 5th grade students from all over Dunwoody or is there now a chance that the school will be reverted back to a K through 5 elementary school which would force redistricting?

The Dunwoody Crier just announced on their website that the DeKalb County School System will be holding an informational meeting regarding the design and construction of the new 4/5 academy on Womack Road to be held Wednesday, November 5 at Dunwoody High School at 6 p.m. No other information was available regarding the agenda for the meeting, but DeKalb County Spokesperson Dale Davis said it would follow the format of the previous informational meetings on the new school.

I will not be able to be in attendance at the meeting, so I hope it goes well for all concerned. Below are a few of the blueprints to the new school that I obtained as an interested parent (with children scheduled to attend for the next four years) and I will let you know that as part of the City Council we are already exploring options for the two intersections in front of the school.

Womack_Composite1st_A111.pdf

Womack_Composite2nd_A112.pdf

Womack_LifeSafety1st_A121.pdf

Womack_LifeSafety2nd_A122.pdf

Womack_SiteGrading1_C06c.pdf

Womack_SiteGrading2_C06d.pdf

Womack_TreeProtection1_L101.pdf

Womack_TreeProtection2_L102.pdf

Womack_LandscapeDetails_L104.pdf

A history of now 18 articles exists on this blog regarding the "Dunwoody 4th & 5th Grade Academy" dating back to April when the DCSS last changed their mind regarding redistricting and those articles can be found here.

New Dunwoody School blueprints are now available.

Below are nine links to blueprint drawings which are rather large in dimension (and 3 Mb each) therefore when the pdf document opens you may want to rotate it and then zoom in to see the details. I wanted these plans prior to the trees being removed for the protection of the residents who live on Windhaven Court but at least now they can see what was officially supposed to be saved and compare it to what was actually done.

Womack_Composite1st_A111.pdf

Womack_Composite2nd_A112.pdf

Womack_LifeSafety1st_A121.pdf

Womack_LifeSafety2nd_A122.pdf

Womack_SiteGrading1_C06c.pdf

Womack_SiteGrading2_C06d.pdf

Womack_TreeProtection1_L101.pdf

Womack_TreeProtection2_L102.pdf

Womack_LandscapeDetails_L104.pdf

As I said previously, these plans are not final and the DCSS hasn't notified me of when the final plans will be available. The best person to ask regarding this is Ms. Pat Pope, Chief Operations Officer of the DCSS at (678) 676-1331.

When the final electronic plans are available, I'll be sure to post them on line.

Kindergarten restrooms, are they needed in the new school?

Kindergarten restrooms, are they needed in the new school?

My quest to obtain a couple of the electronic site plans for the new 4th & 5th grade elementary school on Womack has been thwarted by the claim that the plans are not final, instead the DCSS provided me a few hard copy drawings of the school. In fact for $50.00 I was given every drawing related to the construction of the school, all 33 lbs of drawings.

In the next day or so, I will be posting some of drawings that I thought needed to be shared with the community but first I will need to have them converted to an electronic format. Since I have no use with the complete set of drawings and there is no school PTA to give them to, they have been donated to the Dunwoody Homeowner's Association for their review & use.

The one item that jumped out at me when looking at the drawings was that the classrooms are still labeled as being a traditional elementary school and if you look at the kindergarten classrooms (at the photo above) you will see the plans for individual classroom bathrooms. Fourth & Fifth grade classrooms don't need individual toilets but if the long term plan for the school was to be converted back to a traditional elementary school then the rooms should at least be plumbed for them to be added later.

The DCSS hasn't notified me of when the final plans will be available but the best person to ask is Ms. Pat Pope, Chief Operations Officer of the DCSS at (678) 676-1331.

When the final electronic plans are available, I'll be sure to post them on line.