DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — High school senior Tommy Huffstedtler believes that bigger would be better.
“It’s really tight in some spaces. More people than ‘room’ for those people. Some classes have like 40 kids,” Huffstedtler told Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen.
Senior David Ren sides with Huffstedtler.
“It’s very ‘small’ in there. It makes a high school experience not as good,” Ren said.
That’s their take on the century-old Druid Hills High School, in the headlines over the last few years as students began shooting videos of leaky pipes and moldy walls.
Over the course of 2025, the DeKalb County School Board took lots of parent input on what to do about it. One camp suggested building a new school on other district-owned property. Others advocated that a historic facility like Druid Hills High deserved to be saved and remodeled.
Officials say while a renovation could cost $140 million, it could run as high as $185 million. A new build would be even more.
At Monday’s school board meeting, some members were at odds over the higher renovation cost and the priority being placed on Druid Hills High rather than other schools in need of major improvements. The remodeling plan passed by a 5 to 2 vote.
Huffstedtler will likely be a junior in college by the time it’s finished, but he’s all for it.
“I think it’s a pretty cool decision. It has been here for so long, you might as well keep it there, especially if you have the resources to renovate it,” he said.
Administrators say it will take up to a year to design and permit the project.
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