Dear Tucker Civic Association Leadership,
I read recently that the Tucker Civic Association studied the potential of incorporating the city of Tucker sometime around 1996 or 1997. I was wondering if you have any reports available to the public regarding the findings of this study? If so, how could I go about obtaining a copy?
Separately, is your association currently involved with any type of study or movement that would allow for the incorporation of Tucker into its own city, especially in light of the recent accreditation issues with DeKalb County Schools? If so, how would someone go about joining any committee or study group or participating in the discussions?
I have been active in the issues surrounding our schools and have serious concerns about my property value as well as the decline in general of our area as a result of abuse within the school system that has sent an unusually high number of the county’s most difficult students to our schools, forcing many of our neighborhood families out. It is harming our way of life and is likely causing realtors to steer their clients elsewhere if they have children as one must also factor in private school education to the cost of living here.
If you were to look at the schools in Tucker, you would think we are a community living in poverty, which is not at all the case. Many of us have worked hard to afford to buy homes in this area and have been disappointed to learn that our neighborhood schools are not serving our neighborhood children. This fact is harming the community's ability to stay cohesive as many of us must all send our children to different schools all over the county. This is not by choice, but by necessity.
In addition, several Tucker schools were selected unfairly for cell phone towers which are known to reduce property values and suspected to be harmful to the health and safety of children and people who live nearby. Again, there has been no concentrated effort to inform the Tucker residents when these issues are taking place and we believe our community is being harmed as a result.
We are very interested in looking at the costs associated with incorporation as much of the infrastructure has already been designated with that purpose in mind. Tucker would be the third largest city in DeKalb County, behind Brookhaven and Dunwoody, which have already incorporated.
It makes sense that many of us would want to at least look at this option again at this time. Thank you for any information you can provide.
Would you like to blog on Patch?
Dunwoody has been able to leverage its financial and political power to create charter clusters of schools and magnet schools for high achievers, making their portion of DeKalb appear more desirable to homebuyers. Whereas, our schools seem to be used to comply with the No Child Left Behind federal legislation that allows the poorest performing students from "failing" schools to be bused to other neighborhoods. I'm not necessarily saying that is a bad thing, but when so many of these children are bused to one school that it actually changes the status of the receiving school to also become a Title I, that's bringing undue hardship to one particular area. And, the money allotted for Title I students actually stays with the school, so the extra resources to help these kids is not something that is coming along with them. So, they are not being served well either. If Dunwoody is successful in changing the state constitution to allow for more school districts, it would be great if Tucker could follow right behind them. I'm just really getting tired of watching my money being used to bring harm instead of good to my own neighborhood.
http://northdruidhills.patch.com/articles/lakeside-cityhood-movement-announces-arrival
http://www.tuckercivic.org/docs/IncorpPrelimFeasRept.pdf
As for incorporation, my sense is that the business community would be solidly opposed to it.
I appreciate your sentiment and your willingness to get things moving. Thank you. However, I have to point out a couple factual misunderstandings in your letter. First, none of the schools in Tucker is going to get a cell tower. Briarlake Elementary has a signed contract for a cell tower and Lakeside H.S. was on the list. I don't know if that contract was signed. Secondly, I know families that have chosen not to send their children to Tucker Middle and Tucker High School for safety, academic, and social reasons. I do not believe that is from necessity. You appear to be exaggerating the issues. I offer the PTAs of Midvale and Livesy as proof that many parents love their schools. I support any movement or group which will lead to Tucker incorporating as a city. I love Tucker and the small-town we have here. Hopefully that will happen. I also support the schools within Tucker. We are lucky to have wonderful, dedicated teachers in all of the schools. I do not believe any movement to become a city will change the way the Dekalb County School system buses students around. The two most effective strategies for reducing the number of students from outside Tucker are 1) require proof of residency at least once a year & verify it and 2) work to put smart, ethical, and effective leadership into the Dekalb County School System. We have a year to get a new superintendent. Hopefully the governor will replace the BOE this summer
Again I have to point your your factual errors. Neither Midvale nor Livsey is going to be closed in the next 5 years. Midvale wasn't even considered in the latest "reorganization" proposal. I think Livsey will be closed before the 2018-19 school year, but Midvale can not be closed. When Livsey closes many of those students will have to go to Midvale which will make it overcrowded. This is because Smokerise is going to be rebuilt to hold 600 students instead of the 900 students Dr. Atkinson wanted to put there. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dekalb.k12.ga.us%2Fwww%2Fdocuments%2Fnews-and-info%2Fpress-releases%2Fpublic-hearings-for-phasing-out-of-instructional-facilities.pdf
And your other item about no cell towers in Tucker was not a correction. There was a cell tower planned for Brockett where I was an active and involved parent. I helped organize the effort to stop it. There was also one planned for Smoke Rise, which many people have told me is considered part of Tucker as many of our residents are in the attendance zone. Then, the same is true for Jolly, also on the list and very near the border of Tucker but technically in Clarkston.