DeKalb County parents call low school enrollment, large class sizes unsafe

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Student enrollment across DeKalb County is low, which is causing problems for students, teachers and parents across the District.

Several DeKalb County public schools are seeing shake-ups among their staff because of low student enrollment.

Annie McGinn’s three kids in 1st, 3rd and 5th grades at Montgomery Elementary School are among hundreds of students being affected.

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“I just don’t understand any of this. It’s extremely frustrating,” she told Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes.

One of the main reasons student enrollment is down is many parents pulled their students from the district in favor of private schools during the height of the pandemic.

“I don’t know why they thought all the people that left Montgomery to go to private during the pandemic would just magically come back. I don’t know who they asked, or who they didn’t ask,” McGinn said.

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Because some classes didn’t have enough students, administrators were forced to consolidate classes and remove some teachers from their schools.

Across the district, 60 teachers have been moved around, meaning hundreds of kids have had to deal with new teachers and new classmates.

“[My son’s] classroom size went from 22 students to 31. This school was built in the 60s, the classrooms are very small. We’re supposed to be social distancing our children. They’re not capable of getting a vaccine yet, and I just really didn’t feel comfortable with him being in a classroom with 30 other students and a teacher,” McGinn told Fernandes.

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A statement from a spokesperson for DeKalb County Schools says that a decline in school enrollment is happening nationwide, and they will do their best to make sure there’s a smooth transition for everyone.

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