15 Districts Head Back To School

ATLANTA,None — Students at 15 metro Atlanta school districts are heading back to school Monday morning.

The school year kicks off for Clayton, Coweta, DeKalb, Fayette, Gwinnett, Hall, Rabun, Clarke, Barrow, Butts, Lamar and Griffin counties, along with Gainesville and Commerce city schools and the embattled Atlanta Public Schools system.

Atlanta schools will undergo a slew of changes in light of state investigation’s findings that revealed widespread cheating on standardized tests. The school system is bringing in new teachers to replace those named in the report, but will have to continue paying for teachers fighting to clear their names.

DeKalb County schools are also dealing with changes after losing eight schools. The school board shut down the schools with smaller enrollment in a redistricting plan to save more than $12 million a year.

Some DeKalb schools are also taking on new students to relieve overcrowding at other schools. Channel 2’s Darryn Moore went to Dunwoody Elementary, which is expanding grade levels.

“We are really excited about having these new boys and girls,” Principal Jonathan Clark said.

The school, which used to serve only fourth- and fifth- graders, now accepts younger children, starting at pre-kindergarten.

Channel 2’s Amanda Cook went to Moore Middle School in Lawrenceville, part of the Gwinnett County School system, the state’s largest. Police in the county were out in full force, making sure all drivers were following bus safety laws.

Motorcycle officers will be following buses on their routes for the first day back. They will be cracking down on drivers who to try to pass or go around the school buses as they're loading and unloading students.

WSBTV