Say what? DeKalb task force tells board don’t close any schools.
In their defense, the 20 members of a DeKalb citizen task force charged with recommending schools for closure didn’t go behind closed doors to make their decision.
About 100 parents attended Thursday night's task force meeting where members decided to stay out of the fray and recommend no schools close. (AJC Photo/Hyosub Shin)
No, the Citizen Planning Task Force was open and transparent in its detailed considerations and allowed dozens of parents to speak on behalf of their local schools at its seven public meetings, including tonight’s four-hour emotional session. The task force looked at hundreds of data sheets prepared by county school staff to find out which schools were losing enrollment and which had neighboring schools that could absorb the displaced students. They carefully studied how far kids lived from their possible new schools, poring over color-coded maps. They talked for hours and hours.
Then, after all that time, trouble and effort, they punted. Instead of making a decision, they made no decision. (See the AJC story.)
In a surreal series of discussions tonight, the task force went from trying to pare down a list of 10 schools to four to endorsing a motion that no schools in the county should be closed. That is an
