DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — For families at Evansdale Elementary, the possibility of losing their neighborhood school is still fresh.
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Evansdale was among the DeKalb County schools previously at risk of closing or being repurposed, and parent Jennifer Alexander Sanchez remembers how quickly that possibility shook her community.
“Oh, we were terrified because it’s such an important part of our neighborhood,” Sanchez said.
Parents organized a coalition and pushed the district to hear directly from families.
Now, months later, DeKalb County School District is relaunching its Student Assignment Project with a different approach — one that gives parents, students and community members a larger role in deciding what happens next.
Sanchez says that change brings some relief.
“I really appreciate Dr. Sauce ... for listening to us and stopping and really looking at it,” she said. “I hope moving forward that they are genuine when they say they’re going to really listen to us this time and they really want our input.”
Instead of starting with a list of schools that could close, the district says it is moving forward in two phases.
This fall, the focus will be on overcrowding and attendance boundaries in the Lakeside, Cross Keys, Chamblee, Tucker, Dunwoody and Druid Hills clusters.
That’s tied to several new and expanded schools expected to open between 2027 and 2029, including new schools in the Dresden, Cross Keys and Sequoyah areas and an expansion of Idlewood Elementary.
Then, in early 2027, the district plans to turn its attention to under-enrolled schools in the Towers, McNair, Cedar Grove, Miller Grove, Columbia and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. clusters.
And importantly, the district says it has not made any recommendations yet. The overcrowding phase will continue through October.
Families now have several ways to participate, including surveys, focus groups, public comment sessions and Community Advisory Teams. Applications for those teams are open August 11 through August 25.
For Sanchez, that community involvement matters beyond just keeping a school open.
“We have a lot of families at our school that don’t have transportation but are able to walk to the school, which is very important to them to still be involved,” she said.
The district’s new process is a significant shift from the earlier plan that put dozens of schools in the spotlight for potential closure or consolidation.
For families like Sanchez’s, the fear of losing their neighborhood school hasn’t completely disappeared, but this time, they say they want a seat at the table before any decisions are made.
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