Key Points:
- Tucker City Council members expressed concerns regarding transportation, abandoned buildings, traffic, and trust over the DeKalb County School District’s Student Assignment Project.
- During the April 13 meeting, members of the city council named a playground in Fitzgerald Park after the late Olivia Hayes.
- The city council established a new streetlight district to lower crime rates in the city.
Members of the Tucker City Council addressed concerns with the Student Assignment Project (SAP), DeKalb County School District’s controversial consolidation plan, during a meeting on April 13.
The initial plan, which could change before the final proposal is presented for the school board to vote on in the fall, is set to close two Tucker schools – Midvale and Brockett elementary schools – with Livsey Elementary being built out to accommodate the hundreds of relocated students.
Related story: DeKalb School officials discuss data gathered during student assignment surveys, meetings
SAP discussions
Erick Hofstetter, the chief operating officer of DeKalb County School District, presented updates on the SAP feedback process during Monday’s meeting and fielded questions from members of the city council about the project.
Council members expressed concerns about what would happen to the school buildings left empty after closures, the traffic that would be caused by a build-out of Livsey Elementary, and the plan’s emphasis on bus transportation.
“We are a walking community,” Council Member Virginia Rece said. “We are talking about side paths and bike paths, and we’re working really hard to build that vision out because that’s something that our community wants from us. But what I saw was, ‘We’re going to put your kids on a bus and bus you across town.’ And that is hard for the parents who purchased their homes around these schools that want to walk their kids to school.”
Council member Alexis Weaver also addressed concerns around the feedback process, noting that many parents felt unheard by the DeKalb County SAP team. Hofstetter apologized for what Weaver called disrespectful treatment during the community feedback meeting on March 23, but explained that a lot of the feedback the team had received was unhelpful.
“A lot of people were saying, ‘Do nothing, leave our schools alone,’” he said. “I can’t do anything with that feedback… There is an issue that we’re trying to solve, and we need your help in how to solve it.”
Many parents have been vocal about keeping their schools small, but Hofstetter said small schools are “expensive to run” and doing nothing “is really not an option.”
“People move to Tucker for our small neighborhood schools,” Stacy De Jesus, a parent at Midvale Elementary school, told the city council during public comment. “I think it’s going to have a huge impact on our city if we turn into a mega-elementary school.”
Related story: Parents demand student-first approach to school districting
The current SAP proposal, announced on March 20, plans to close or repurpose 22 schools across DeKalb County to save the district money amid declining student enrollment, aging buildings, and underpopulated schools. Hofstetter said the current school system is built for 110,000 students but only accommodates 92,000.
Playground named for Olivia Hayes
Members of the city council voted on Monday to rename a playground at Fitzgerald Park after Olivia Hayes, a sixth grader who died in 2008 after being hit by an armored truck. She was a cheerleader in the Tucker Football League, which plays at the park, and her family has supported the league since her death. The Hayes family was in attendance during the emotional vote.
“Fitzgerald Park was her absolute favorite place and space in the world,” Nikki Hayes, Olivia’s mom, said. “I know she loved church, she loved her school, and she loved everything about our community. But the park was her place… Even though our little girl didn’t get to grow up, we appreciate that you created a space and you named it after her so that all the kids behind her will have this place and this space to grow, to make friendships, to dream, to compete, to win.”
New streetlights
City council members also approved four items to establish the North-South Royal Industrial Streetlight District. The project, designed to reduce crime in the area, will bring 85 streetlights to the area near Lawrenceville Highway and Mountain Industrial Boulevard.
Members of the council approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Tucker Summit CID to jointly fund the project. The project will cost $522,585, with Tucker funding $225,000. Staff provided legal notice to all business owners in the area, who will pay annual rates of $95 to $1,402 depending on road frontage.
City council members also voted to reduce the length of municipal court judicial terms from four years to two ahead of Mayor Anne Lerner’s judicial nominations on May 11 and approved contracts for stormwater repairs and design and engineering for the Henderson Park Yellow Trail Project.
