Annexation Workgroup Report

The Annexation Workgroup posts this report as our official communication to the City of Decatur Board of Education. The Board in a Work Session will meet on October 29, 6 PM to hear a presentation regarding this report and engage in questions/answers. That portion of the meeting will take an approximately one hour. At that point a Special Session will ensue where the Board will have an opportunity to vote on both annexation and the CSD charter system renewal petition. The Special Session includes an opportunity for public comment.

Annexation Workgroup Update Presentation to Board of Education

The Annexation Workgroup was asked by Dr. Edwards to offer an update to the Board of Education at their regularly-scheduled monthly meeting on October 9, 2012. Click here to access the presentation.

CSD Financial Project

After the first Annexation Workgroup meeting, three CSD employees (Susan Hurst, Kiawana Kennedy, and Thomas Van Soelen) were charged with taking an initial stab at financial implications to CSD due to potential annexation. The document is housed here. The short points are as follows:

1. Annexation accelerates the eventual need for construction (e.g., additional buildings, renovations).
2. Annexation causes CSD to need additional revenue.
3. False: just removing paying tuition students will alleviate this challenge.
4. Annexation causes a cash flow challenge at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.

Maps of Annexation Area

Thanks to the Atlanta Regional Commission for creating maps: both the current boundaries of the City of Decatur as well as the annexation areas. The maps available here use 2010 census data to plot out the population (both school age and birth-age four) in each proposed annexation area. The satellite imagery is particularly helpful in examining the proposed areas.

Enrollment Projections

Enrollment projections used for this project include the following:

• CSD enrollment sans annexation
• CSD enrollment with possible annexation

All enrollment projections are simply that - projections. The degree of fallibility in the data increases each year that is further away from actual (2012).

Projected Timeline

Projected Timeline (backwards planning):
December 17, 2012: City Commission vote
December 3, 2012: City Commission Work Session
November 13, 2012: City of Decatur Board of Education vote
November 6, 2012: Petitions due from any area wanting/not wanting to be annexed
(tentative) October 29, 2012: City of Decatur Board of Education Special Session re: Annexation and Charter (public comment included)
October 22, 2012: City Commission Worksession
October 9, 2012: City of Decatur Board of Education Regular Monthly Meeting (Board will hear an update from Annexation Workgroup)

Decatur Annexation Opportunity to Speak!

The Decatur (GA) Commission has asked the City of Decatur Board of Education to weigh in on the question of annexation. The City of Decatur has provided a website with a map and other ancillary documents, including a helpful FAQ.

School Superintendent Dr. Phyllis Edwards formed an Annexation Workgroup to examine the issue before making a recommendation to her. The products and sources from this workgroup will be posted or linked to from this blog. In addition, this workgroup agrees with Dr. Edwards that Decatur residents need an avenue to "speak" - thus this blog.

Annexation Workgroup members:
Mike Alexander, CSD parent
Andrea Arnold, CSD parent and City of Decatur employee
Mike Carnathan, City of Decatur parent
Pat Herold, CSD parent
Susan Hurst, CSD employee and CSD parent
Kiawana Kennedy, CSD employee
Judd Owen, CSD parent
Meredith Roark, City of Decatur employee
Thomas Van Soelen, CSD employee
Greg Wiseman, CSD employee and CSD parent

This is City Schools of Decatur's first tentative foray into blogging. In particular, the anonymity purported by many bloggers and encouraged by some blogs leads CSD to grow nervous about this venture. However, CSD is willing to try with these provisos:

Code of Ethics for Responsible Blogging & Comments

City Schools of Decatur

Blogs can provide an opportunity for honest discourse with the explicit purpose of learning from and with each other. City Schools of Decatur will review all posts in these moderated blogs and will post comments that align to the following blogging guidelines:

Be accountable. City Schools of Decatur does not accept anonymous comments, so all comments must identify the author.

Be civil. Blogs containing language that abuses or discriminates on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identify will not be posted.

Be reasonable. In a community full of opinions and preferences, people always disagree. City Schools of Decatur encourages active discussions in blogs but personal attacks are not acceptable. Speak for yourself and think about reactions before you post. Publication of comments does not imply endorsement or agreement by the City Schools of Decatur.

Be knowledgeable. Know that all content, comments, and replies posted on the City Schools of Decatur website are subject to compliance with Georgia Open Records Law.

Be focused. Any comment that contains any solicitation of funds or advertising or solicitation for goods or services is not accepted. Likewise, these blogs are not the place to endorse candidates or any pending ballot measures.

Final notes:

•  Submission of a comment constitutes acceptance of this document.
• This comment policy may be revised at any time.
• Individuals who submit comments that repeatedly violate this policy may be prohibited from future submissions.

If you have questions or comments about this code, email contact_us@csdecatur.net. 

Thank you in advance for participating in this discussion. Feel free to use other social media sources (i.e., Twitter, Facebook) to let your neighbors (particularly those that may not have children in the school system and don't regularly hear from CSD) know about this opportunity to be heard.

All comments will be qualitatively analyzed and presented to the Board of Education in aggregate form prior to any public vote.