Metro truck traffic expected to rise
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October 7, 2021 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Parents cry foul over school staffing District shuffles teachers two months into classes BY CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — Dunwoody and Chamblee area parents say they are stunned and furious over DeKalb County Schools’ decision to combine classes, reassign teachers and relocate staff to other schools outside their region. More than 170 teachers are involved in the balancing initiative, which comes more than two months into the school year. School district officials say the adjustment was necessary because of a miscalculation in the number of students expected to return this year. Officials say the moves are necessary in order to retain $12 million in state funding that would be lost because of the unexpected reduction in student population. “Our projections (regarding the number of students returning for the 2021-2022 school year) fell short by about 3,750 students, which has triggered the threat of having to return money to the state,” DeKalb County School Board Chairwoman Vickie B. Turner said. “There is an expectation of compliance every year, and this year is no different.” Turner said the “District Balancing” was achieved by switching teachers to other assignments within their school buildings, moving them to other schools in their region, or relocating them to other schools outside their region. “We started out with 174 positions in jeopardy, and then it went down to
CATHY COBBS/APPEN MEDIA
Montgomery Elementary School is experiencing significant staffing changes as a result of DeKalb County Schools’ district balancing. 82, 78, 67 and 59 and so on,” Turner said. “We are now down to a few teachers that we have not yet found assignments for. It was necessary to move these teachers to schools or grades that literally had no teachers in the classroom.” In some cases, the reassignment of teachers within a school has had a
domino effect that touches nearly every student. Montgomery Elementary School, because of a lower-than-expected student population, had four teacher positions facing elimination. An email sent by Montgomery Principal Lori M. Bolds
See SCHOOLS, Page 18
Council assembles all puzzle pieces for Dunwoody Village BY CATHY COBBS newsroom@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — The Dunwoody City Council settled a controversial measure that will allow a unification of the Dunwoody Village Overlay District rezoning. At its Sept. 27 meeting, the council voted to incorporate two parcels that had been excluded from the overlay district because of a conflict over an existing buffer zone behind the commercial properties and homeowners in The Branches subdivision. The controversy has been brewing since last year, when city planners proposed a sweeping overlay district rezoning that, among other things, could reduce the land buffer that neighbors behind the commercial properties feared would intrude on their backyards. Hours before the massive overlay district was to come up for a vote in late 2020, a lawsuit was filed by attorneys representing the affected neighbors, contesting the proposed 150-foot land buffer between the commercial and residential properties. Residents said they were fearful that the property owners would develop the land between the properties. The City Council then excluded the properties at 5500 Chamblee
See COUNCIL, Page 21