- Target:
- City Commissioners of Decatur, GA and City Schools of Decatur Administration
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.csdecatur.net
We, the undersigned group of concerned Decatur parents, write this letter, in advance of the City Commission meeting to express our hopes for some minor adjustments that can be made to the Talley street site. This plan ensures enough parking spaces for all faculty and staff on opening day and will have major payoffs in available play space for our kids who attend Talley.
We are requesting four changes at this point, enumerated below. We believe these changes are important for the well-being of the students who will attend the Talley Street School. We have made some of these requests previously to the City Schools of Decatur (CSD). However, there have been some key flaws in the meeting process, and information has not always been made available in a timely fashion, making it necessary to raise these concerns to the public at this time. In fact, no site plan has ever been published to the community showing any potential future modular classrooms on the field, and that information was only obtained by one parent on January 9, 2018 through an information request. To see our proposed site plan and the site plan CSD proposed to the planning commission, visit https://photos.app.goo.gl/hLiBc99AmfVJwRhJ2.
For more information or to read our full letter, visit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FgWxe7NTOBrPaIPdIuJY210lMtPsr3RCpsmNdqxgS3k/edit
We hope that the following changes will be made to the CSD Site Plan for the New Talley Street School.
1. Provide enough parking for ALL the estimated 75 faculty and staff in the parking lot but not more than is needed to accommodate all current staff. Space freed up by this reduction in parking would be recaptured as additional green space for outdoor PE or other outside activities. Later on, if an addition is built to accommodate more students, the school could pave over the green space if necessary to ensure parking for all teachers and staff. Additionally, there are 24 on-street spaces and 8 “flex” spaces directly in front of the school.
2. Move the area for the “future modular classrooms” off of the already small main field and onto this newly recaptured green space south of the parking lot. (See our proposed site plan.) If we have enough students to warrant modules we will also need the outdoor playspace for those children. Losing a significant portion of the field for modulars is not an acceptable solution. If and when the future classroom expansion is needed, having trailers on the field will lead to an extremely limited play area for the children during the building phase.
3. Agree that the tree preserve area will be maintained both now and in the future as a "playable" area for the students. This is a concern since many of the current schools limit student play in wooded areas. CSD has stated that this tree preserve play area is of particular importance to him personally as well.
4. Commit to working on walkability from all directions in conjunction w/ GDOT and CSD agrees that walkability is also a priority for the school system and is already collaborating with the City of Decatur on this issue. We parents encourage the Decatur City Commission to be mindful of approaches to the school from all directions and to work towards making this a “Safe Route to School.”
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Ensure Outdoor playspaces for #ourkids at Talley Street Site petition to City Commissioners of Decatur, GA and City Schools of Decatur Administration was written by Sarah Jones and is in the category Education at GoPetition.