Schools
Tucker Parent Council Discusses Redistricting
Livsey Elementary's potential closing a major concern
The Tucker Parent Council held its regular meeting this week at Elementary School’s cafeteria. TPC brings together parents and others associated with the feeder system. Besides Tucker High, that would include five elementary schools – , Livsey, and Smokerise, along with School.
TPC invited DeKalb County School System Area IV assistant superintendent Horace Dunson, Jr. and DeKalb Board of Education District 4 member Paul Womack to speak at the meeting. Unfortunately, the two had board conflicts and did not attend. Obviously, the potential closing of Livsey Elementary cast a pall over the meeting.
There was general understanding regarding the need to reduce the school system’s 11,310 empty seats. But Livsey is nearly full; plus, there are inflows of many students into Tucker Middle and Tucker High, and some into Livsey, from schools that did not meet Adequate Yearly Progress.
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So those attending wondered why close Livsey under the DCSS/MGT centralized consolidation and redistricting proposal? There has been a trend for some time of young families moving into the Livsey district primarily because of the award-winning school. Those families are always free to move to another school system and some have even been recently solicited by private schools.
DeKalb interim superintendent Ramona Tyson just released estimates of operating cost savings from consolidating and redistricting. For the centralized proposal, the savings were pegged at $150 million over 10 years and $161 million over 10 years under the decentralized proposal. Those at the meeting were skeptical of the substance of these numbers, especially in regard to transportation costs.
Find out what's happening in Tuckerwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Tyson presents her consolidation and redistricting proposal to the Board of Education this Monday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m., at the DCSS Administrative and Instructional Complex at 1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd. in Stone Mountain. TPC attendees last night were encouraged to contact all board members to express their concerns about the proposal.
The next TPC meeting will be at Tucker High School’s auditorium on Wednesday Feb. 23 at 7 p.m.
