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Schools

Livsey Elementary Community Waits for Final Vote

Tyson's recent recommendation moves 54 students to a neighboring district. Parents and community members are crying "foul!" The School Board decision is on March 7.

To many outside the immediate Livsey Elementary School area, Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson’s revised recommendations to the school board on February 7 seemed like a victory for the school.  Livsey, which had been slated for closure in one former plan and was marked to lose 100 students in the other, was removed from the closure list.  Mrs. Tyson’s current proposal recommends keeping Livsey open next year while moving 54 current students to Midvale Elementary in order to allow 51 students from Pleasantdale Elementary to move into Livsey. The net affect of the plan would decrease Livsey’s enrollment by 3 students.

 Livsey parents and community members are crying “foul!”  Early in the redistricting and closure process, DeKalb County School System (DCSS) and MGT of America, the management firm they brought on to help in the process, published the following objectives:

  1. Maintaining neighborhood/community cohesion
  2. Disrupting the fewest number of students possible
  3. Relieving overcrowding at Pleasantdale Elementary
  4. Increasing enrollment at Livsey
  5. Minimizing travel distance for elementary school students

 In January, Livsey stakeholders (including PTA Executive Board members and School Council members) presented, in good faith, an option to MGT consultants and Ms. Tyson’s staff.  In this proposal, they demonstrated that Livsey’s current attendance lines could remain intact and that the school could absorb 51 students from Pleasantdale to help relieve that school’s overcrowding.  Livsey currently has one empty classroom, as well as two empty trailers on property and a few open seats in each grade level. 

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 Livsey families have found flaws with the plan, including the fact that an old map appears to have been used.  In the newest proposal, the Westhampton neighborhood, a close-knit community with wiffle ball games in the cul-de-sac every weekend, has been divided, sending the majority of families to Midvale but leaving a few at Livsey.  Homeowners claim that the Midvale and Livsey buses would drive down the same street, wave to each other, and then drive their children to two different schools every morning.  

 Nanci McClendon, who lives in the neighborhood, says “we bought our house in this neighborhood in order to attend Livsey, and now we’re being zoned out.  Not only that, but our neighborhood is being split in half. It’s not right.”

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 In addition, school leadership would be affected by the move.  The Westhampton neighborhood is comprised of many very actively involved families at the school.  Two PTA Executive Board members as well as several committee chairs are currently slated to be moved out of the district.

Michele Yulo, a Livsey parent who was to go to Midvale in the decentralized plan, but who is now marked to remain at Livsey, says “technically, I am safe.  Having said that, I feel terrible that any family was affected—especially since we can accept the fifty-one from Pleasantdale without displacing any existing students.”

 Many Livsey stakeholders feel that their school is still being targeted.  A constant shadow looming over Livsey seems to be its small size, but school advocates have consistently touted that small size is one of the key things that makes Livsey the successful school that it is.  Test scores consistently rank among the highest in the county and the state, and Livsey has won numerous awards and accolades, including the Department of Education National Blue Ribbon, as well as seemingly annual Governor’s Awards.  However, in response to the pressure, elected leaders at the school have advocated for growth.  “We have the room,” they say, “so send us the students.  Get us closer to your 450 goal.”

 While the most drastic proposals for changes and closures have been made concerning the south end of the county, other schools on the north end of DeKalb are also asking for tweaks to the plan.  The Lakeside High district and all of its feeder schools came together and presented the “” prior to Ms. Tyson’s February 7 recommendation.   This plan focused on keeping neighborhoods intact and eliminating split feeders while minimizing the number of students affected and respecting logical boundaries (main roads), traffic patterns, and geographical proximity to school.  Their plan was well-received and many of their proposals were implemented in Mrs. Tyson’s most recent recommendation, but they, too, are asking for small tweaks, specifically involving a small cluster in the current Sagamore Hills Elementary area who may be moved to Briar Vista.

 The www.SaveLivsey.com web site is asking that Livsey families and community members write letters to Mrs. Tyson and the School Board members requesting the small change to the plan prior to the March 7 School Board vote.  By allowing Livsey’s current students to remain at the school while also moving 51 students from Pleasantdale, the web site claims, fewer students will be disrupted, students will remain at the school they live closest to, Livsey’s enrollment will be brought closer to the county’s current goal of 450, and students would not be routed to school through the heavily congested Chamblee-Tucker Road/LaVista Road/Main Street corridor, further degrading the traffic conditions there.

 It has been stated that Ms. Tyson can make tweaks to her plan prior to the March 7 meeting, and that during the meeting, school board members can also make small changes prior to their vote.

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