Closing Vanderlyn is Best for Dunwoody Homeowners, Parents, and Children

Vanderlyn and Austin homeowners need to support the closing of Vanderlyn and move students to Austin.

Many years ago we had a significant redistricting event in Dunwoody for elementary school kids. Vanderlyn and Austin were small schools with lots of trailers and lots of students. A new school was built and named Dunwoody Elementary School,  aka DES.  DES was built, made into a 4th-5th Academy, and 4th and 5th grade students from most of Dunwoody attended DES. When the first class of DES 'Academy' students graduated from Dunwoody High, I asked a dozen or so of the kids their opinion of the 4th-5th concept - every kid said they believed it was great. The kids loved it, many parents did not.  

Dunwoody 4th 5th Grade Academy October 2010

DES was opened as a 4th-5th Academy back in the fall of 2009.  Austin, Vanderlyn, and Chesnut sent their 4th and 5th graders to this school.  Kingsley kids were not test subjects participants in this new format. Why did we get a 4-5 'academy' instead of a K-5?  Then superintendent Crawford Lewis and local board rep Redovian did not possess the leadership skills needed, nor knowledge required, to perform their jobs. Lewis would later be sent to jail and Redovian would be voted out of office and replaced by Nancy Jester. With Jester as the local board rep, new attendance lines were created and DES became a K-5 school.  DES has been a top DeKalb school since inception.

In 2009 Vanderlyn had over 1,000 students.  Austin had nearly 900 at its peak at the same time.  

Today, Vanderlyn has 475 kids, with less than 400 who actually live in Dunwoody.  

Austin has 820 students, with less than 625 who actually live in Dunwoody. (approximate numbers)

Two major decisions played roles against Dunwoody families in today's scenario of Vanderlyn and Kinglsey set to be demolished, and Chesnut expanded. Talk of new attendance zones always causes a panic.  DeKalb County School District has been a disaster for decades.  Incompetence is their motto. Don't panic and sell your house.  This is all talk for now. The 'new' Austin was approved in 2011, and did not open until 2020.

Bad Decision #1: DeKalb did not draw new attendance lines when Austin was rebuilt as  a larger school.  It seemed simple - Austin was built for 900 kids.  it opened with less than 700.  Vanderlyn should have been closed in 2020 when Austin opened.  The Vandy kids would have been rezoned to Austin and Kingsley.  That didn't happen. Wuhan Covid did happen. DeKalb school enrollment plummeted, especially in Dunwoody. Families went to private school, moved, or transitioned to home-schooling. Had the new Austin come online with a new attendance zone, we'd have a full Austin and a full Kingsley.  A full/overcrowded Kingsley gets remodeled - an underutilized Kingsley gets closed. There was talk of new maps when Austin was being built, and many Vandy parents opposed it.  Mistake.

Bad Decision #2: Per household, Dunwoody residents pay more in school taxes than every other part of the county. And we get a poor return on those tax dollars.  Back in 2021the DeKalb school board was willing to build a new elementary school in Dunwoody, bringing $31 million of our tax dollars back to Dunwoody. See here and here. Seemed like a great opportunity for the city and residents.  Then the City of Dunwoody and our mayor complained about the site. Yes, it's a small site. Yes, it would increase traffic for a half hour every morning and evening. But not building that school to help with a crowded DES and a crowded school in Chamblee was a mistake. Some people have stated a reason for opposing the school was that kids from Georgetown would be moved from DES and into a new school with kids from Chamblee.  The new school was going to be 50% Dunwoody kids and 50% Chamblee kids.  That equals 100% kids, but that apparently was not good enough for some Georgetown and nearby homeowners. Noel Maloof, the school district's operating chief at the time (and former Vanderlyn and DHS principal) wanted to fast-track the school and have it opened in 2023. That did not happen. At least one city official visited the superintendent and met privately to stop that school from being built. 

What's best for Dunwoody students and homeowners?  First, close Vanderlyn and remove the pre-pre-K (3 year-olds) from Austin.  This program was pushed into Austin with no community input and is taking up classrooms that could be filled with local K-5 students. Since Austin (and Vanderlyn) have open seats, the county keeps filling it with non-traditional classes.  Parents should not be so eager to hand off their children to the government at age three. Next, shut down the 'lottery' and the employee family rule. (DeKalb employees, even if they don't live in DeKalb, routinely enroll their kids at Austin and Vanderlyn).  Last year I spoke to a teacher's aid/student coach of some sort.  She lived in Sandy Springs (Fulton County) and enrolled her kid(s) at Austin.  And she didn't even work at Austin. This is the type of stuff happening at Austin and Vanderlyn. This movement of students hurts the home schools in other parts of DeKalb (like the brain-drain magnet schools).  In addition to the still-empty seats at Austin, shutting down the special programs at Austin opens approximately 350 seats. Vanderlyn has 400 Dunwoody kids. Problem nearly solved. Austin has two self-contained classes now and several pre-K classes.  This is not the norm for an elementary school.

Next is to rebuild either Kingsley or Chesnut. Homeowners in both of these schools want to keep their buildings open, but DeKalb now prefers the 900+ seat schools, despite research showing smaller schools are better.  Chesnut has a better location for a larger school, and Kingsley has great local support and is neatly located in the neighborhood.  Kingsley will be closed.  Perhaps the city buys the land and makes it a park, but it's doubtful.  DeKalb likes to hold on to real estate as bargaining chips.  The money from sold real estate means nothing to DeKalb as they simply tax us at the highest rate in Georgia.

Kingsley parents and homeowners should embrace joining a new school - DES or Chesnut.  It's the best scenario at this time.