The Dunwoody Homeowners Association at its March 22 meeting heard a variety of opinions about the DeKalb County School District’s sweeping Student Assignment Project, including two school parent representatives tentatively in support of the changes at their schools, and one firmly against it.
The DHA offered the school representatives the opportunity to discuss their views on the plan, which proposes an expansion of Chesnut Elementary and the closure of Kingsley Elementary School. It proposes that Vanderlyn, one of the county’s highest achieving schools, be closed or turned into an annex for Dunwoody High School.
Elizabeth Mitchell, who is the co-chair of the principal’s council at Chesnut, said the consensus among parents is that the expansion of the school would “be beneficial for the community.”
“Chesnut has a low building adequacy score, and there are so many programs that we can’t do because the building isn’t serving us,” Mitchell said. “We know that traffic is an issue, and there is a reconfiguration in the works.”
Chesnut, located on busy North Peachtree Road near Peachtree Middle School, often experiences gridlock during morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up. Officials have discussed installing an entrance on Peachford Road.
Katu Lucey, a member of the Kingsley PTO executive board, said the school lacks many resources because of its small size. Currently the school is operating without adequate HVAC, she said.
“While I am heartbroken at the thought that my kids won’t be going to Kingsley, rightsizing the schools will be beneficial for Dunwoody,” she said. “The process is going to be hard and will be tricky, but I have no doubt that they will see a better outcome.”
Tambryn Freund, the chair of the Vanderlyn Parent Advisory Council, said parents are concerned about a lack of information about the specific order of school closures, which could result in Vanderlyn students moving to one school, then another, during SAP implementation.
According to a scenario presented in the SAP plan, Vanderlyn would be turned into an annex for DHS after undergoing renovations, and “students would likely need to split between Austin, Dunwoody, and Kingsley in the short term.”
“What we need is one cohesive plan across Dunwoody, with a clear path, clear funding, and clear data,” Freund said. “We don’t want to move kids twice.”
Other Vanderlyn parents, including David Lubin, said DCDS has not earned the trust of the parents during the SAP process.
“Everything this school board has done has failed us,” he said. “I don’t trust them, and I don’t think anyone should.”
Lubin, along with David Ziskind and Denice Dudley, devised a five-question survey that shows that a majority of parents polled said they would leave the school system and pursue other education opportunities if Vanderlyn is closed.