What's going on with DeKalb County Schools?

• DCSS

Last year, the DeKalb County School System floated the idea of consolidation, meaning some schools would be closed — most of them in the south end of the county — and some children would be redistricted into unfamiliar schools. Predictably, the proposal was met with opposition from parents and some school board members, so the board put off making a decisions until this year.

Now, with many schools operating under capacity, the district has to maximize how much state funding it receives. No one has calculated exactly how much, but the district loses millions of dollars each year with more than 11,000 empty classroom seats, according to Megan Matteucci at the AJC.

The district began last night holding a series of public comment sessions. (They were rescheduled after the snowstorm last week.) There is also an online public comment survey, which is scheduled to remain open until midnight on Jan. 31.

Here's the public hearing schedule, with all sessions begining at 6:30 p.m.:
Jan. 20: Chamblee High School, 3688 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Chamblee
Jan. 25: McNair High, 1804 Bouldercrest Road SE, Atlanta
Jan. 26: Bethune Middle, 5200 Covington Highway, Decatur
Jan. 27: Stone Mountain Middle, 4301 Sarr Parkway, Stone Mountain

After these sessions, Interim Superintendent Ramona Tyson will deliver her recommendations at 6 p.m. on Feb. 7. There will be two public hearings about her recommendations in early March and a final school board vote is slated for March 7 at 6 p.m.

This redistricting plan is part of 2020 Vision, a four-part process that will create a master plan for the system moving toward 2020.

There are many, many numbers and other education-wonk things below the jump if you wish to learn much more about the situation or see how it may target your neighborhood.