What Are the Dekalb County School System Problems?

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by Neednewpersonnel

The problem with Dekalb county is that it is top heavy. The funds are used for the top administrators. Dekalb County School System has two parts. The upper part above Lavista, which gets all the money, new schools and new technology. Then there is the lower half that gets nothing. When Southwest Dekalb needed a new school, they merely put a new front on the build and loaded some trailers. When Tucker needed a new school it was built with the state of the art equipment.

I can go along with your first statement, bit I can't go along with the second. Isn't Arabia Mountain HS a brand new facility? Then there is Tucker Middle School (south of LaVista). Tucker HS is indeed completing a new facility, but that was one of the oldest facilities in the county. Peachtree Middle is new, but the previous building had major structural issues and they were having to deal with serious overcapacity (largely due to the burgeoning immigrant population in the district).
I can assure you that the northern part of the county is having to deal with just as many patch jobs and trailers as is the southern part.

[RoslynHolcomb]

I can't speak for the county as a whole, and I only deal with one school and have no experience with any other, but they seem incredibly disorganized. This will seem trivial but here's a for instance: We received a bill for lunch. My son doesn't eat lunch at school, he brings his lunch. The bill had his name on it, but an address in Lithonia. I called to correct the problem. They said it was corrected. After a semester of receiving a bill and calling every week, I finally just paid the darn thing. They never did correct the address on it. Obviously, I'm not terribly concerned about the $2, I AM concerned that they might be sending mail pertaining to my son to Lithonia.

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

Peachtree Middle is new, but the previous building had major structural issues and they were having to deal with serious overcapacity (largely due to the burgeoning immigrant population in the district).

And renewed/growing interest from the families in the surrounding single-family home neighborhoods (instead of sending their kids to private schools...and because of the growing popularity of the elementary schools).

[RoslynHolcomb]

I wondered about that. My son's school went from being at 85% to nearly being over capacity this year. I chose this neighborhood because the school was small. Do you think people stopped going to private schools because of the economy or because of the school quality?

[aries4118]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I wondered about that. My son's school went from being at 85% to nearly being over capacity this year. I chose this neighborhood because the school was small. Do you think people stopped going to private schools because of the economy or because of the school quality?

School quality--the increased interest in the Dunwoody elementary schools started before the economy went down. But, people are realizing why pay private when you have free, quality public schools in the neighborhoods (and I'm sure the economy has played a part recently).

It's part of the trend of renewed interest in intown (or semi-intown) public schools.


Which school is for your neighborhood...I'm guessing Chestnut or Kingsley...?

[lastminutemom]

Really what DCSS did wrong, in terms of construction, is that it spent all the money on new buildings (Tucker, Arabia Mountain, Stephenson's addition, Stone Mountain High School and others) while leaving nothing for renovations or adequate renovations, anyway. This is not a North/South issue. It is about misplaced priorities and poor decision making, not geography.

Arabia Mountain is far nicer than Tucker.

However, the list of problems in DeKalb schools is still so long....

[RoslynHolcomb]

We're at Kingsley. It's a sweet little school and the parental involvement is phenomenal. My husband jokes that it feels like he's returned to school we're there so often.

Originally Posted by aries4118

School quality--the increased interest in the Dunwoody elementary schools started before the economy went down. But, people are realizing why pay private when you have free, quality public schools in the neighborhoods (and I'm sure the economy has played a part recently).

It's part of the trend of renewed interest in intown (or semi-intown) public schools.


Which school is for your neighborhood...I'm guessing Chestnut or Kingsley...?

[kekeke]

Its really sad I thought Dekalb county was one of the richest black counties in the USA. Doesnt seem like that to me. The housing markets are really bad. Section 8 the stephenson area use to be so nice. From what I hear lots of doctors and lawyers, but i hear that it has really gotten terribly bad. Is that why they had white in flight where the whites take off because when the blacks move in it causes the area to go down. I use to live in the towers/ twin oaks area and it does look bad. and i would never send my child to towers or a dekalb county school system in that area. thats why they are closing.. the standards need to be brought back up in dekalb county. teachers said that and i quote" you can get them to come to a football game.. parents, but you cant get them to come to a School conference for there own child.. too many single parents raising kids with no help.. no child left behind.. it takes a village to raise a child.. use your slogains...