Decaturish: The Future of Druid Hills High School
Unraveling the Future of Druid Hills High School
Accepting Letters to the Editor
Letters to the editor hold a special place as they are the opinions of the authors, not Decaturish.com. Everyone gets an equal chance to submit these. So, if you have something to say about what you read here and don't like it, don't blame us. Write your own letter. All letters must be signed and usually range from 500 to 800 words. We reserve the right to edit for length and content. We also have the option to publish longer letters if needed. To send your letter, email it to [email protected].Dear Decaturish,
The task of deciding the future of Druid Hills High School is no easy one. It involves various stakeholders and difficult choices. As a history teacher and girls' varsity soccer coach at Druid Hills High School since 2018-2019, I have my own views on this matter.
Relocating Druid Hills High School
I firmly believe that Druid Hills High School should be relocated to a new facility. The DeKalb Arts Academy seems like the perfect choice. It previously was the DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts and also used to be Avondale Middle School. Currently, Druid Hills High School sits on about 11 acres, while other high schools in the district have 30 acres. The DeKalb Arts Academy can accommodate more students with only about 550 currently. There is already an athletic field there, which is a great advantage for our student-athletes. As a coach, it is very inconvenient for my players and me to travel from the high school to the middle school for practice. Track, soccer, and baseball are all affected.Having proper athletic facilities at our school would level the playing field for our student-athletes who don't have reliable transportation. It makes sense to send DeKalb School of the Arts students to the Druid Hills High School building and turn it into a strictly K-12 Performing Arts School. This would open up the old Avondale High School building for another educational use. DSA has about 300 students, and adding them to the 550 from the DeKalb Arts Academy would give us around 900 students to relocate, which is still about 500 fewer than the current student population at Druid Hills High School.
Saving District Money
This move could save the district money by not having to build a new gym at Druid Hills High School. We could just tear down the existing gym and turn the building into a Performing Arts School. Of course, the Druid Hills High School building would need updates, but it wouldn't be as stressful as worrying about a gym or athletic facilities. Updating the DeKalb Arts Academy building to accommodate a high school in terms of classroom sizes might not cost more than the current modernization ideas.There are challenges in thinking about attendance zones in the future. Based on the current attendance zone for Druid Hills High School, swapping to the DeKalb Arts Academy makes sense as it is more central to most of the student population. However, this would upset families in the current neighborhood around Druid Hills School. But these families make up a minority of the student body.
Building a New High School
Another option could be to build another high school next to Adams Stadium as the district owns the land. This is a topic for a future letter. Whatever decision is made, it will not please everyone, and politics will inevitably be involved. The whole process and timeline for modernization might take a long time, and the current students at Druid Hills High School may not see any changes. But when the time comes to decide, the district must prioritize the best interests of the kids and future students.— Kai Uchimura
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