DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County Schools’ redistricting effort is scheduled to resume after the summer break, but as of its July 13 board meeting, it still lacks a director and a coordinator.
The redistricting effort, called the Student Assignment Project (SAP), has been on hold since it was rebooted following an outcry from parents over plans to close dozens of schools.
At the beginning of the nine-hour board meeting, the board updated its agenda to remove an $850,000 contract with a community-based action planning group called OGR Public Health Group LLC, along with an unrelated change order request for the Early Learning Center at Terry Mill HVAC project.
“What I’ve been told is that it would be proper to remove these items, and then we will bring them back to the agenda when and if it’s time to bring them back,” Board Chair Allyson Gevertz said.
How did we get here?
The Student Assignment Project began in 2024 to address declining enrollment in the DeKalb County School District. Currently, the district operates with about 90,000 enrolled students and 110,000 seats, creating a financial inefficiency.
While the project began in 2024 with the district meeting frequently with 150 community members in the SAP Committee, SAP attracted controversy after announcing in February that 27 schools were being considered for closure.
After a revised second round released in March, thousands of mostly negative community responses prompted the district to reconsider its approach. In late April, the district informed SAP committee members that the process would be delayed and revamped in the fall under a different structure.
DeKalb County Schools is divided into clusters, with each high school being fed by a middle school and elementary schools.
The process is now scheduled to take place in phases. The district will form a community action team of 50 to 75 members for each cluster, including community members, principals, staff, district personnel, alumni and students.
Beginning in August, the district will form groups to address overcrowding and redistricting. The focus will be new schools and renovations, including the new Sequoyah Middle and High Schools, Cross Keys High School, Idlewood Elementary School and Dresden Elementary School.
This will include the Lakeside, Cross Keys, Chamblee, Tucker, Dunwoody and Druid Hills clusters. Interim Superintendent Norman Sauce said that phase one will conclude and be voted on by the board in December.
In spring 2027, the district will focus on under-enrolled schools in phase two.
Future plans
The request for proposal to lead the project was sent to 260 vendors on the DCSD vendor list, 1,680 vendors through the State of Georgia Procurement Registry (GPR) and 836 vendors through IonWave, the district’s solicitation portal. Two vendors, including OGR, were deemed responsive to solicitation requirements.
According to the district’s SAP timeline presented, interviews with the two bidders took place on July 8 and the agenda was updated with the contract on July 10. According to board member Whitney McGinniss, the decision to table the contract with OGR came in the 24 hours leading up to the meeting.
McGinniss asked how this delay would affect the timeline for the upcoming phase one slated to begin in August. Sauce said that the district still fully intends to present the board with a recommendation from phase one in December.
McGinniss also asked for an update on the district’s search to find a new executive director of student assignment. Former Executive Director of Student Assignment Sarita Smith led the project since 2024 after being brought in from former Superintendent Devon Horton’s former district in Evanston, Illinois.
Smith stayed on board as Horton faced a federal indictment in October 2025. He’s accused of wire fraud while serving as superintendent of Evanston-Skokie District 65.
Smith, however, announced her departure from the district in May 2026, citing personal reasons.
With neither a coordinating group, called a facilitator, nor a director in place for August, many planning items in the SAP update were described as “being finalized.”
McGinniss later expressed concern that the project was being rushed.
“I do have concerns, as we have tabled this item for the community engagement vendor, because we have not hired a director to run our student assignment process,” McGinniss said. “I want us to think very carefully about continuing with the goal to have December be the deadline.”
In other business, the board:
— Discussed Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST VI) overpayments totaling $12 million that must be paid to City Schools of Decatur and Atlanta Public Schools.
The error was due to the district failing to file a certificate of distribution in 2022, causing the Georgia Department of Revenue to apply ESPLOST V distribution ratios rather than the enrollment-based percentages agreed upon in 2022.
— Received a reminder from the district’s attorney Winston Denmark about board conduct and following Robert’s Rules of Order during meetings.
In the reminder, he told board members to remain respectful with one another and be efficient. Denmark also said that abstaining from votes should be reserved for rare instances only, not used as frequently on controversial items.
Vice Chair Awet Eyasu disagreed with Denmark that abstaining should not be used as often.
— Approved a $15 million purchase for K-12 social studies instructional materials from multiple vendors.
During the item’s discussion, board member Andrew Ziffer urged a more thoughtful and detailed curriculum be adopted for subjects including the Holocaust and the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel.
“Over the past several weeks, community members have brought concerns to my attention that some important subjects in the proposed materials are compressed or shortened,” Ziffer said. “Some lack the necessary context, and some may contain factual errors or significant omissions. These concerns deserve careful and independent review on subjects this important.”
“I will be asking that, before this curriculum is used in classrooms, staff develop a Middle East teaching supplement for historically sensitive and complex topics such as this,” Ziffer added. “That supplement should provide accurate context, address identified errors and omissions, and give teachers consistent, credible resources for instruction.”
— Heard from multiple attendees in public comment who shared their support for a future DeKalb Schools policy that helps protect against federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering schools.
The proposed policy is scheduled for a first reading at the August meeting and, if advanced, would come up for a formal vote in September.
“The DeKalb County School District’s Policy Committee reviewed a proposed draft of Board Policy JBCF: Response to Federal Immigration Enforcement (Safe Zones) in May,” a district spokesperson said. “The proposed policy is scheduled for a first read by the DeKalb County Board of Education during its August meeting. DCSD remains committed to providing a safe, secure, and supportive learning environment for all students.”
— Reviewed a third-party central office assessment by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the district’s central office.
Among the nine recommendations, RTI suggested that the district reduce its number of cabinet members and appoint a deputy superintendent. The district currently has 15 cabinet members, three more than any of the nine other districts in RTI’s analysis.
— Approved, in a 5-2 vote, a $2 million contract to four different companies for synthetic sports flooring services. McGinniss and Eyasu opposed.
— Approved a $1.25 million contract for district-wide evening preventative HVAC maintenance services with four companies.
— Approved a $3 million contract for district-wide roofing repairs and emergency services with three different companies.
— Approved, in a 5-2 vote, an $823,652 use of a cooperative agreement with Cooper Lighting for lighting upgrades to both North DeKalb Stadium and Napoleon B. Cobb Stadium. McGinniss and Eyasu opposed.
— Renewed a $1.59 million contract with Alliance Technologies (Evolv Systems) for district-wide emergency communication and campus safety initiatives. This is the fourth of five renewal options.
— Renewed a $1.1 million contract with Centegix for district-wide emergency communication and campus safety initiatives. This is also the fourth of five renewal options.
— Approved, in a 6-1 vote, the nonresident tuition cost at $9,444, calculated using a state-provided formula. McGinniss opposed.
— Approved the $2.5 million renewal of the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Assessment for the 2026-27 school year.
This story was provided by WABE media partner Decaturish.
