Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur School Board will meet on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 6:30 p.m. for a regular meeting. The meeting will be held in person at the Wilson School Support Center, 125 Electric Ave. in Decatur.

The meeting will also be available virtually through Zoom. To attend the meeting via Zoom, click here.

To view the meeting agenda, click here.

During the meeting, the School Board will discuss the enrollment report, which reflects the number of students enrolled in CSD as of Oct. 5. The district’s total enrollment for this year is 5,477 students, which is 143 students less than 2020. Before 2020, the school system experienced growth every year, but has had decreased enrollment for the past two years, according to the report.

Enrollment decreased the most at the lower elementary level, with a decrease of 107 students. The upper elementary enrollment decreased by 44 students and the middle school enrollment decreased by 38 students. Although, the high school enrollment increased by 46 students.

The district added 545 new students, which was an increase from 2020 when CSD added 421 new students. Of the new students, 168 were in kindergarten. Most of the students entered the district from private schools.

This year, all classes from second to 11th grade had above 400 students. Eighth grade has the largest number of students at 485. The average cohort in CSD is 421.

“In 2021-2022, the graduating class is larger than the Kindergarten class by 94 students. Historically, as larger cohorts entered CSD and smaller cohorts graduated, enrollment increased. Now, as larger cohorts graduate and smaller cohorts enter, enrollment is likely to decrease,” the report states. “This year the number of students per grade has increased for grades 5, 8, 11, and 12 and decreased for grades K, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 10. Grades K-3 had seen the greatest drop in class size.”

In terms of demographics, CSD is 62.9% white, 18.5% Black, 8.6% two or more races, 4.3% Asian, 5.6% Hispanic, and less than 1% American Indian and Pacific Islander. The distribution varies from school to school. White students are the majority at all schools except the Decatur Virtual Academy, where Black students are the majority.

The School Board will additionally consider extending the deadline for the five-year local facilities plan by one year and requesting help from the Georgia Department of Education Facilities Section to develop the plan by March 15, 2023.

The board will also discuss the building a positive culture and climate pillar of the district improvement plan, as well as the monitoring report for the academics and foundations policy.

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