Forrest Hills Elementary: New Lease on Life?

The DeKalb County School System plans to repurpose Avondale Middle and High schools and lease the vacant Forrest Hills Elementary location as part of the proposed a $475 million SPLOST program.

The news came as the  before Memorial Day to review the school system's 2020 vision facilities plan and SPLOST 4.

The plan includes combining the DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts and the into a comprehensive Arts School at Avondale Middle School, where an auditorium would be built between 2013 and 2017. The estimated cost for this proposed project is $4.3 million.

Currently, the DeKalb School of the Arts operates in the same location as Avondale High, which closed May 20.

The school system has plans to renovate Avondale High, but the proposal shows that may not happen until SPLOST 5, between 2018 and 2022. No specific vision was provided for the now shuttered high school.

Avondale Elementary, which is only 67 percent full, is expected to undergo a renovation, though not until 2023 and beyond, or SPLOST 6, according to the proposed facility master plan recommendations.

Forrest Hills Elementary, which closed several years ago, is a much sought after school property, besides being a movie set for a

The school's location, sandwiched between Avondale Estates and City of Decatur, has even caught the attention of City Schools of Decatur in the past.

The school system has set up online public input in a tight window of time, from now until Wednesday, June 1, at 11:59 p.m. The link can be found here, or go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/splost4.

The board plans to vote on SPLOST 4, the joint resolution and 10‐Year facility master plan on Monday, June 6 at 6:00 p.m.