The future home for Decatur’s Early Childhood Learning Center remains uncertain, though some resolution should be reached by April according to Superintendent David Dude. For two years the school system has tentatively planned to build a new ECLC within the development now called E.co East, on the Avondale MARTA parking lot.
But Dude said last week the E.co East partnership is still “not 100 percent certain.” To build the school City Schools Decatur needs to purchase a one-acre site, currently a DeKalb County DFCS parking lot, just south of the E.co East development. That sale, however, is being held up the DeKalb County Commission.
CSD assumed ownership and full operation of the ECLC housed at College Heights in 2011. Last week, CSD presented six options for new construction and possible reconfiguration of the grade structure. Four of the six options have College Heights being renovated into an elementary school, meaning the ECLC will almost certainly need a new home.
The new school proposed for the Talley Street site will be an elementary school or a 4/5 Academy. Dude is also interested in partnering with the city in a potential purchase of the United Methodist Children’s Home. But he said last week, “We are interested [in the UMCH site] for athletic space. We are not interested in building a school there.”
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