DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County parents are learning more about potential school closures in the district’s first open meeting.
Earlier this month, school district leaders published a list of schools to close or repurpose 27 schools.
Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers was at the meeting on Monday, where the district said they want people to understand the data and for the data team to understand the community.
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“We want to be sure we know the things from the community that the data doesn’t really tell us,” said HPM Vice President of Planning Tracy Richter.
The district hired the HPM Group, that also guided Atlanta Public Schools through their consolidation.
“It was aligning data, things like demographic enrollment, condition of the facilities, adequacy,” Richter said.
Many of the closures will affect elementary schools, while some high schools will become middle schools and middle schools will become elementary schools.
“My major concern is for Redan Elementary School. I own a home directly in front of there,” parent Robynne Lopez said.
Lopez said she doesn’t want to live near what could potentially become an empty building.
“We want to make sure we’re not attracting negative things to our community,” she said.
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During the meeting, district leaders talked about why they chose to close some schools and convert others.
“That was very insightful because we’re trying to figure out how you’re making these decisions and where all of this is coming from, and they’re explaining these little pieces,” Lopez said.
The district says it has more than 20,000 empty seats across its schools.
“I’m cautiously optimistic, but my hope is that every decision that’s made keeps students first,” said parent Dr. Charlie McAdoo.
The district will have in-person meetings the rest of the week and then will have community-specific meetings in March.
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