Parents and kids from Oak Grove and Evansdale elementary schools took to the streets outside of Lakeside High School on March 23 to protest DeKalb County School District’s controversial Student Assignment Project (SAP).
Holding signs advocating for small schools and a people-first approach to school districting, parents sought to make their voices heard during a process that is leaving them frustrated.
“We’re here to hear ourselves, to make ourselves heard,” Samuel Howe, an Oak Grove parent, told Rough Draft. “They are giving us lip service, they’re saying they’re listening to us, it’s a process. This is not a process. This is a farce, and they’re not listening.”
The protest preceded a feedback session for parents in the Lakeside, Tucker, and Druid Hills clusters hosted by DCSD on March 23. During the meeting at Lakeside High School, attendees were separated into small groups to provide suggestions as to how SAP could improve to meet the district’s goals and how the SAP could fairly place students. This feedback session was one of six planned from March 23 to 30, along with four virtual sessions on March 23 and 27.
The event was described by Jennifer Caracciolo, the Deputy Chief Communications Officer for DCSD, as an opportunity for the district to “take feedback and improve [the SAP] whenever we launch the third round.”
The SAP proposal, announced on March 20, has in its plan to close or repurpose 22 schools across DeKalb County, including Oak Grove and Evansdale, as well as Brockett and Midvale elementary schools in the Tucker cluster.
Related story: Parents employ innovative methods to protest DeKalb County’s school assignment project changes
This is the second SAP proposal after a first round of feedback from parents, and a community survey is open until April 12 to gather more feedback. However, Howe told Rough Draft that Oak Grove families filled out 1,200 surveys during the first round, and there were “no changes [made] based on any of our feedback.”
“They’re using this [meeting] as well as the other surveys to create the check mark that they are finding community feedback,” Dawn Howe, his wife, said in a video posted to Facebook, “but they’re not actually incorporating it into the scenario shaping.”
The goal of the SAP is for the district to become more financially efficient amid declining student enrollment, aging buildings, and underpopulated schools.
“Our decision is based on where people are living and where they have children,” Caracciolo told Rough Draft. When asked about Oak Grove, which parents say is not underutilized at 96% projected enrollment, she said that the district has to look at more than 100 schools and consider building age, size, and capacity as well as enrollment.
According to a survey by construction company HPM, who was hired by former superintendent Devon Q. Horton to oversee planning and demographics research on the project, Oak Grove will continue to have falling enrollment, with an estimated 387 students by 2030.
Related story: Survey reveals many parents plan to leave district if Vanderlyn Elementary closes
However, Howe and other parents are suspicious of the data, as well as the entire plan from Horton, who was charged with 17 counts of fraud at a former school district in Illinois. A video made by parents advocating against the SAP alleges that HPM is incentivized to recommend closures and expansions due to the financial benefit of working as a project manager during implementation.
Regardless of the data, the impacted families love their schools and are advocating for a student-first approach to reflect that.
“Oak Grove Elementary is the most idyllic experience you could possibly imagine for a public elementary school,” Howe said. “Those kids are amazing. They are performing, they are happy, they are thriving. The community is all behind them.”