DeKalb Schools say redistricting plan will ease traffic, overcrowding

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County Schools has a plan to ease traffic and overcrowding in classrooms. The plan includes redistricting students -- lots of them.

When the new John Lewis Elementary School opens for the 2019 school year, students from 15 other schools -- in the Chamblee, Cross Keys and Druid Hills clusters -- will be affected.

Some 900 students will go to classes at the new school once it opens next fall. Those students will include 300 kids who are currently bussed out of their neighborhoods to Fernbank Elementary in the Druid Hills cluster.

“When we send those students from Fernbank back to this area, then Fernbank will have hundreds of empty seats," DeKalb County Schools Operations Officer Daniel Drake said.

Channel 2's Sophia Choi learned those seats will be filled by students from other nearby schools when the Druid Hills cluster is redistricted.

DeKalb schools said keeping kids in their own neighborhoods will benefit children and commuters with less traffic, which is so important that it’s a major deciding point of who gets to stay and who goes to new school.

TRENDING STORIES:

“Distance is one of our primary criteria, but then we look at safety and traffic patterns and then we look at if they’ve been previously redistricted,” Drake said.

The district plans to redraw boundaries to include the new elementary school in the Cross Keys cluster.

That means students who live within that new boundary, may be moved out of the Chamblee cluster and into Cross Keys.

“People are resistant to change. So, any type of change takes time. That’s why we have our three-meeting process," Drake said.

Here is a list of those meetings:

John Lewis ES Redistricting:

Schools affected may include Ashford Park ES, Dresden ES, John R. Lewis ES, Montclair ES, Montgomery ES, Woodward ES, Chamblee MS, Sequoyah MS, Chamblee HS, and Cross Keys HS.

Three meetings will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Cross Keys High School, located at 1626 North Druid Hills Road, Brookhaven, GA 30319,  on the following dates:

MEETING 1 – Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2018
MEETING 2 – Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018
MEETING 3 – Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018

Druid Hills Elementary Redistricting:

Schools affected may include Avondale ES, Briar Vista ES, Fernbank ES, Laurel Ridge ES, and McLendon ES.

Three meetings will be held from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Druid Hills Middle School, located at 3100 Mount Olive Drive, Decatur, GA 30033, on the following dates:

MEETING 1 – Monday, Oct. 1, 2018
MEETING 2 – Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018
MEETING 3 – Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2018

Cox Media Group