School Redistricting Plans Spark Discrimination Controversy

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A former school board member says part of the plans to redistrict hundreds of DeKalb County students to new schools could lead to a lawsuit. He says the plans divide students along socio-economic lines.

"It's too much, too soon," Jim Redovian told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik.

Under two proposals set before county leaders, several hundred students would be moved from Vanderlyn and Austin elementary schools to Dunwoody Elementary School.

Statistics provided by the school district show Austin Elementary School is more than 100 students over capacity, while Vanderlyn Elementary is 289 students over its capacity. Those statistics show Dunwoody Elementary school is operating under capacity by nearly 400 students.

Redovian told Petchenik he's concerned about the way the redistricting lines are currently drawn, because he said they would move apartment-dwelling students currently enrolled in Vanderlyn and Austin into Dunwoody Elementary, leaving only students who live in single-family homes eligible to attend the other two schools.

"If you have two schools up in the northern part of the county that end up being predominantly white, you're looking for a problem from the Justice Department," he said. "I think it's setting it up for a lawsuit, and I think it's setting up for the opportunity for the courts to get involved to go back and tell the county what to do, which is not always the best thing for the kids in the area."

Discrimination Concerns Arise Over Redistricting Plan

Parent Evan Rosen told Petchenik he moved his family to their Dunwoody neighborhood specifically so his son could attend Vanderlyn Elementary school because of its high test scores and parental involvement.

Rosen said he's concerned the proposed lines would create an overcrowding problem at Dunwoody Elementary School because the area also includes land currently zoned for multi-family dwellings, such as apartments, that haven't been built yet.

WSB-TV Apt Complex "My concern is that you're going to have significant capacity issues," he said.

Rosen showed Petchenik a petition signed by more than a 1,000 people, asking the school board to reconsider other options. He said he was also concerned about the apparent lack of diversity that could occur if renters were cut out of the two schools.

"I'm not going to use the word segregation, but I think there's some disparity there," he said.

Consultant Edward Humble told Petchenik his team focused on student enrollment, not race or student housing, when drafting the proposals.

"Right now, we have a number of schools that are overcrowded. We have a number of schools that are significantly underutilized. We have students being transported to their school when it's not always the closest to them," said Humble.

He said the district is attempting to fill nearly 11,000 empty seats to save millions of dollars. The plan also calls for the potential closure of up to 14 schools district-wide.

Humble said if parents raise issues about equality, he will listen.

"We want to be fair and equitable to all students throughout the county," he said. "If we've aligned it so that it imbalances things, we'll re-look at that."

WSBTV