E-SPLOST project list in progress

DeKalb schools get community input on use of tax funds.

Several hundred parents and community residents were asked this week to weigh in on how the DeKalb County School District would address potential overcrowding using recently approved E-SPLOST dollars.

Meetings Tuesday at Clarkston High School and Thursday at Cross Keys High School allowed for “stakeholder engagement,” part of the process Superintendent Steve Green said the district would use to determine where monies collected from the halfcent tax extension approved in May would be spent.

The meetings were held to get feedback on three plans the district is considering, with options to add a school cluster, renovate schools to add space, or build new schools and relocate magnet programs where space exists.

Areas from Dunwoody to Tucker along the I-285 corridor could see overcrowding by nearly 6,000 students by 2022 if nothing is done, officials said.

“The desire is to make sure there is capacity for all students,” said James Wilson, a consultant from the firm Education Planners Inc.

The early list of projects and proposals came from previous community meetings involving parents and others. Green said in the spring that a list of projects would not accompany E-SPLOST language because he wanted community involvement to help develop a final list.

In the second round of meetings, those involved were asked to prioritize the matters to be addressed.

Steering committees from the different regions met each time before public meetings. An online survey immediately followed.

An online survey from the third round will be available through Sept. 16 for the three options, with the final recommendation to be presented during a meeting Sept. 27. The draft E-SPLOST project list will be presented at five public hearings across the district between Oct. 4 and Oct. 17. An online survey on the draft list will be available from Oct. 4 to Oct. 24.

The school board will get the list in November, with a formal vote expected at its Dec. 5 meeting.

Green spent the majority of his first year dealing with overcrowding. He inherited a district rife with students in temporary classrooms, mostly trailers set up in parking lots or on playgrounds. A plan was approved earlier this year to shuffle students to various schools to alleviate some of the crowding issues in the Cross Keys cluster of schools, six schools populated mostly with minority students whose primary language is anything but English. It consists of Woodward, Montclair, Dresden and Cary Reynolds elementary schools, Sequoyah Middle and Cross Keys High. The schools have a capacity for 5,700 students, but more than 7,500 were enrolled last year.