DeKalb County could close 27 schools, initial plan says. Here’s the list.

Nothing is set in stone, and the number of schools slated for closure could go up or down. The plan is focused on which of the district’s facilities are best-suited to house students. It does not delve into which students would attend which school, or which school would offer which programs. Those talks will come in the fall.

“These are not decisions,” stressed Sarita Smith, the district’s executive director of the Student Assignment Project. “These are conversation starters.”

It’s a necessary conversation. DeKalb has about 18,000 empty seats — which is more than nearby Rockdale County has students currently enrolled. When schools serve fewer students than they’re built for, it costs the district more money to operate them with adequate staffing and services for students.

DeKalb staff will spend the spring presenting the possible closures and changes and soliciting feedback in a series of virtual and in-person meetings, as well as an online survey. The current plan is to present final recommendations to the school board in December. Any changes will be implemented gradually over six to eight years.

The potential closures are distributed across the district. But several schools in the northern half of the county are slated for capacity expansions, while the middle and high school conversions are concentrated in the southern part of the county.

Here are the schools included in the initial plan:

For facilities that close, the district will begin a new process to repurpose them. They could be used as office space, to house expanded early childhood programs or to collaborate with other public entities for other uses. The district could also demolish buildings and plant grass to preserve the land for future needs.

The district will host more than a dozen meetings in the spring to hear from the community about the plan for facility use, then will spend the fall discussing attendance boundaries and program placement.

The conversations will be difficult, Smith expects.

“In some form or fashion, we’re going to have to make sacrifices across the district for every student to have a space they love and can achieve in,” she said.

Of the district’s 117 traditional schools, 44 are operating at less than 70% capacity; 18 are operating over 100%. Enrollment is projected to continue declining, putting the number of empty seats at close to 20,000 in 2034 if nothing changes.

“Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence across public K-12 education in today’s world,” said Tracy Richter, the vice president of planning services at construction management group HPM and a consultant for DeKalb, at a meeting last month. “The conversation isn’t different anywhere.”

Concerns about declining enrollment and underutilized buildings have resulted in similar decisions in other school districts. In December, the Atlanta school board approved a plan to close several schools in the coming years. HPM worked on Atlanta’s plan.

How to give feedback

Review the plans and take an online survey here.

In-person meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Registration is not required.

Virtual meetings will be held at noon. Register for February meetings here, and March meetings here.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is exploring the factors contributing to public school closures in metro Atlanta and Georgia. If you have a story idea related to school closures, reach out to education@ajc.com.