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JULY 22- AUGUST 4,2016 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net
Community | 13
New elementary school named for U.S. Rep. John Lewis
DEKALB COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
A preliminary rendering of the John Robert Lewis Elementary School.
Continued from page 1
is, who represents the 5th District in At
lanta. The official name of the school will
be John Robert Lewis Elementary School.
This is the first public school in the coun
try named for Lewis.
“John Lewis is an American icon who
has dedicated his life to the highest ethi
cal standards and moral principles,” said
Superintendent Dr. R. Stephen Green in a
statement.
School officials
meet with residents
On July 14, residents from the Slcyland
Park neighborhoods met at Brookhaven
City Hall with school district officials, in
cluding Green.
In a controversial vote, Brookhaven
City Council voted May 10 to approve an
agreement with the DeKalb County Board
of Education to purchase Skyland Park for
$4.7 million for the new 900-student ele
mentary school as part of the school dis
trict’s efforts to alleviate overcrowding in
the Cross Keys cluster. The school is ex
pected to draw students from overcrowd
ed Montclair Elementary and Dresden El
ementary, whose student populations are
largely Latino.
Neighbors in the area at the time said
they did not want such a large school near
their homes and raised concerns of conges
tion and traffic. Some also worried that the
school’s students would be largely Hispan
ic and on public assistance. “This won’t rep
resent the community the school is in,” one
resident said at the May 10 meeting.
Mayor John Ernst promised at the time
he would set up a meeting between the
residents, many with elementary-age stu
dents, and school officials; the July 14 meet
ing was fulfilling the promise.
The school district is purchasing 10
acres of Skyland Park from Brookhaven
and is also purchasing from the state the
Skyland building where the State Vital Re
cords Office is located for $2.8 million.
As part of the agreement, DeKalb Coun
ty BOE will then transfer the land the build
ing is located on — some 4 acres — to the
city for the renovation and construction of
a new Skyland Park.
The school district is expected to close
on the properties with the city and state by
January 2017 with the new school slated to
open in three years.
Who will be attending the school and
from what areas remained concerns.
Kim Golcce, founder and director of the
Cross Keys Foundation, asked residents to
embrace the project as representative of
the city. “If you created a Brookhaven City
District School today, two-thirds of the stu
dents would be a minority - immediately,”
he said.
Race, housing type, diversity - those are
not considered when the Board of Educa
tion redistricts, explained Dan Drake, di
rector of Planning and Forecasting.
Rob Smith, who has served as a spokes
person for residents living around Skyland
Park, said he felt the meeting with school
district officials was “very positive.”
“I’m Glad Dr. Green showed up. That
was important,” he said. “We’re still not
sure on the feeder pattern ... There’s not a
good answer yet because it’s early. I think
everyone was heard.”
Traffic issues will have to be addressed
by the city, Smith said, and ongoing dis
cussions will take place on how to handle
school traffic in and around residential
neighborhoods.
Green said he also felt the meeting was
positive and informative for the school dis
trict and the residents.
“Sometimes putting a new school in
can worry people, but then you can see the
brighter side to this and trigger and launch
discussion around beautification efforts in
neighborhoods.”
The John Robert Lewis Elementary
School will be temporarily located at 2383
North Druid Hills Road in Atlanta, in the
former International Student Center, until
it opens in Brookhaven in early 2019.
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