EDITORIALS
Dear Decaturish: Decatur School Board must change course
By Andisheh Nouraee
March 29, 2026
I support City Schools of Decatur’s commitment to providing quality early childhood education to everyone in Decatur, regardless of their family’s ability to pay preschool tuition. As Superintendent Gyimah Whitaker noted at the March 25 school board community meeting in Oakhurst, the best way to close reading achievement gaps in adolescence is through early childhood education that prevents these gaps from developing.
Nevertheless, I do not believe a large capital investment in a new building would serve Decatur’s children better than other possible investments. I urge the board and CSD’s administration to utilize existing buildings instead of expanding and enhancing the city’s early childhood education options.
Dear Decaturish: What problem are we trying to solve?
By Michelle Krahe
March 24, 2026
There is a lot of frustration in Decatur right now. Conversations about the proposed Early Childhood Education Center have become consumed by cost, transparency and process.
Those concerns matter, but they are not the central question. Before we decide what to build, we should be clear about what we are trying to solve, because this project did not emerge in a vacuum.
Editorial: Time to pump brakes on early learning center
By Dan Whisenhunt, Decaturish
March 20, 2026
I watched something remarkable unfold on March 16.
The Decatur City Commission spent the better part of an hour publicly and repeatedly dropkicking the Decatur School Board over its handling of the Early Childhood Learning Center project.
The Decatur School Board has engaged in high-handedness and litigious aggression towards its constituents over the $22 million building. It will be paid for with a $52 million bond issued through the city’s Public Facilities Authority. It’s money that the board seems eager to get its hands on without having to vote on it again. That’s because if it were voted on today, the majority of the current school board likely wouldn’t support it.
Dear Decaturish: Decatur Schools budget draft disappoints
By Morgan Fraga
March 13, 2026
I am disappointed to see yet another City Schools of Decatur Budget projecting dramatic losses for the fiscal year ending in June 2027. The good news is that this is just the first draft and there is still time to create a budget book that truly represents the ambitions and realities of this great school district.
Dear Decaturish: CSD has other options for early learning
By Doris Sims Johnson
March 4, 2026
On the last day of Black History Month, Saturday, Feb. 28, a Beacon Black History Walking Tour of the historic Black community displaced by Decatur's urban renewal policies was held. At the end, Beacon legacy resident and Decatur Day organizer Wanda Wynn Watters said, "Now that we have walked together, I hope you have a greater appreciation for the history under your feet." We call on the Decatur City and Historic Preservation Commissions and City Schools of Decatur to do their jobs as stewards of this land and protect and preserve the land at 346 W. Trinity Place and the history it holds for present and future generations.
Dear Decaturish: Decatur Schools should clarify finances
By Morgan Fraga
February 18, 2026
The City Schools of Decatur (CSD) administration and board are using the budget in a way that obscures the district’s true financial position and its ability to continue funding lower elementary schools.
I am a business leader with 15 years of managerial accounting experience and a master’s in international management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. According to CSD, the budget book “serves as a policy document, a financial plan, an operations guide, [and] a communications device.” The audited financial statements, then, are the district's report card.
The quality of the budget is measured by how closely it matches actual financial results. So, how does CSD stack up?
Editorial: City Schools of Decatur, what are we doing here?
By Dan Whisenhunt, Decaturish
January 12, 2026
One of my favorite Nick Saban quotes is about an Italian show he was watching with his wife, Terry. The show used subtitles.
“And Terry keeps saying, ‘Turn it up. I can’t hear.’ I mean, what are we doing here?”
The current controversy around City Schools of Decatur’s push to build an early childhood learning center is the subtitled show I’ve been watching lately. The school board is saying and doing things so bewildering that they might as well be in another language.
Dear Decaturish: Starting 2026 with all Decatur schools open
By CSD Parents
January 8, 2026
As we look toward 2026, our community approaches the future of our schools with hope. With all schools open, we can focus on further strengthening a school system we all care deeply about.
Less than three months ago, this future was uncertain. A consultant was hired to facilitate the closure of one of Decatur’s diverse, inclusive, accessible, and top-tier lower elementary schools. In a stark departure from Decatur norms, the CSD Board moved toward a decision that would permanently dismantle a thriving school community without clearly defining the problem being solved, the necessity of closure, or the rationale for selecting this school … and without community involvement.
We begin by thanking CSD for quickly recognizing that school closure is a bad and avoidable decision, for reversing course, and for advocating for a “keep-open” school strategy. This pivot averts a painful outcome for Decatur and reinforces the partnership between our charter school system and the community it serves. It creates space for reflection, trust-building, and collaboration, signaling a willingness to listen, adapt, and plan for the long term rather than react to a single moment.
It also demonstrates the strength of a caring community that showed up. Now, we reflect on the journey we’ve been on together, and the path and work ahead.
Decatur needs transparency before committing $23 million to early learning center
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Patrick McConnell and Akila McConnell
December 2, 2025
Imagine your family needs another bedroom. Would you build a whole new house or renovate the one you have? To make that decision, most of us would gather multiple quotes and compare costs. We would not accept a single estimate at face value, especially one that increases our mortgage for years to come.
The City Schools of Decatur Board of Education faces a similar choice, but with far more public money at stake. CSD has proposed spending $23.1 million to construct a new early childhood learning center for 0 to 3-year-olds, while simultaneously closing Westchester Elementary. But the district has not shown that this is the most cost-effective, or even necessary, approach.
Dear Decaturish — Trust isn’t a PowerPoint problem
By Thomas Moore
November 4, 2025
Here's the thing about trust: you can't fix it with a PowerPoint deck.
The Decatur School Board and Superintendent Gyimah Whitaker have a trust problem. Not a communication problem. Not a messaging problem. A trust problem. And it's going to haunt this community for years.
Philosopher Onora O'Neill spent a lot of time thinking about how institutions earn trust, and she figured out something important. The question isn't, "How do we get people to trust us?" The question is, "How do we become worth trusting?"
That difference matters.
Dear Decaturish — Decatur school closure idea questioned
By Matthew Woodruff, Ariana Marin and Morgan Fraga
October 30-31, 2025
As a parent of a kindergartner at Oakhurst Elementary, I’ve been following the ongoing discussions about potential school closures with both concern and hope. I truly appreciate our Board of Education members and district leaders for their time, patience, and dedication in navigating such complex decisions. It’s not easy to balance budgets and enrollment numbers while also listening to so many passionate families, educators, and community voices.
[…]
Before deciding to close a school, I hope the district will take a closer look at some creative, community-based alternatives that could strengthen enrollment and make better use of existing buildings.
Dear Decaturish — What does City Schools of Decatur value?
By Jessica Cino
October 27, 2025
As our community faces the possibility of closing one of our schools, I find myself asking what values we are truly centering in this decision. We are being asked to accept “efficiency” and “consolidation” as reasonable responses to enrollment and budget pressures. But when the solution involves dismantling the very spaces where our youngest learners find belonging, support, and stability, we must pause and ask — efficient for whom, and at what cost?
Dear Decaturish — Closing our school won’t boost efficiency
By Caroline Morgan Berchuck
October 17, 2025
Closing Westchester Elementary will not advance equity or efficiency.
It will cost Decatur dearly — in community cohesion, in a worsened inequality gap, in financial challenges, and in the public’s trust in both this district and the city’s leadership. How do we know this will happen?