DEKALB COUNTY, GA — DeKalb County residents will have another opportunity this week to weigh in on potential changes to the school district as leaders work to address overcrowding and underutilized facilities.
The district has capacity for 120,000 students but currently has fewer than 90,000 students, leaving more than 30,000 empty seats across its schools. At the same time, some schools and clusters are overcrowded.
“Right now, we are operating schools that are either too empty or too full, so we’re trying to right-size that,” district spokesperson Jennifer Caracciolo said.
The district is exploring realignment proposals for schools in the northern half of DeKalb County. An online survey goes live Monday, with in-person engagement sessions scheduled Tuesday at Tucker High School and Thursday at Cross Keys.
“Over the next few weeks we’re asking for community feedback on these options and concepts,” Caracciolo said.
The district says feedback collected during the process will help shape its plans. The sessions this fall are focused on North DeKalb, while a similar process for the largely under-crowded southern half of the county is planned for the spring.
“We are looking at it as the change is going to create opportunity. Right now, we’re pouring money into empty seats and that is not creating opportunities for anyone; our students, our staff, or our taxpayers,” Caracciolo said.
School closures and consolidations are expected to be part of the final plan, but the district says no decisions will be finalized until later this year. Preliminary discussions have also taken place about how facilities no longer used as schools could be utilized.
Any changes are expected to be phased in over the next few years and would not begin until fall 2027 at the earliest.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Graham Carroll contributed to this story.