UPDATE: International Community School Seeks New Home

The International Community School, on the fringes of Avondale Estates, wants to consolidate two campuses into one building and has its eyes on the old Hooper Alexander facility on Memorial Drive.

If the International School were to move there, that would mean the loss of yet another school in Avondale Estates, with the closures of Avondale Middle and High slated for spring.

Consolidation to one campus would help cut costs for the school. An earlier Patch article incorrectly stated that the charter school has its . 

With two campuses - including one in Stone Mountain on James B. Rivers Drive, the school serves 400 Kindergarten to sixth grade students from more than 40 countries. The main campus operates in Avondale Pattillo United Methodist Church.

"We are talking to the DeKalb County School System about some options they have on HB 555 that says school districts should rent or lease facilities at not cost to charter schools," said Laurent Ditmann, principal of ICS. "We didn’t get anywhere under old management and now they are talking to us about some options."

Hooper Alexander facility, at 3414 Memorial Drive, is an older building but costs to fix it up would be more manageable than building a facility, according to Ditmann.

"Hooper is in rough shape," Ditmann said. "I'm not making any assumptions that we are going to get it but we have an official stated interest in it. Everything will depend on possible terms."

Avondale Mayor Ed Riecker said that whatever works best for the International Community School, works best for the city.

“We are proud to have them in our city," Riecker said. "But right now it’s premature to know whether or not they are moving out."

Before HB 555 in 2009, the International Community School had hoped Forrest Hills Elementary, on Forrest Boulevard, would be an option since its closure in 2007. But their requests were denied despite neighborhood support.

The school sits in the Forrest Hills neighborhood between Avondale Estates and City of Decatur. It was recently used as the set for "The Odd Life of Timothy Green," still being filmed around Georgia with .

"In my opinion no one will get Forrest Hills," Ditmann said. "I don’t have the feeling that it’s on the table."

Much like DeKalb Schools' budget shortfall, ICS recently faced  of its own. In February, the school laid off nine workers, mostly assistant teachers. In addition, all administrators, teachers and staffers took equal pay cuts across the board.

"We need to get a single facility," Ditmann said. "We are landlocked. We cannot grow. Both facilities are inadequate and seven miles from each other. We don’t have a gym or a theatre, though our teachers create very innovative pedagogys."

Any consolidation to a rent free facility could represent an $130,000 cost savings for the school. That's currently what the school pays in rent for both facilities and lease expenses for trailers. It will also help the school cut down on its $85,000 annual fee for busing children, since they will not travel as far.

"I'm hopeful that we will be able to negotiate some sort of agreement," Ditmann said. "We have to stay pretty much in the vicinity of where we are because of our refugee population. Many of our families come from Clarkston."