Dougherty County School System banking on Magnolia, E-SPLOST to solve Sylvandale problem

ALBANY — The last 30 days have been stressful for the Dougherty County School System’s Oak Tree Psychoeducational Center and Pre-K program at the aging Sylvandale Complex.

Late last month, the DCSS received a letter from Georgia School Board Chair Mike Royal ordering the closing of the Oak Tree Center GNETS (Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support) center because of “unsafe” conditions. This order also affected the county’s Pre-K center located in the other wing of the building.

The letter set a closure date of Aug. 2, the day DCSS schools opened for the new academic year. Two days before school opened ,the DCSS responded with an inspection of the Sylvandale Complex and a letter to the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) who forwarded it to state Pre-K Commissioner Amy Jacobs and Royal.

The letter included the findings of the local inspection which determined the building was safe and structurally sound.

DECAL (Department of Early Care and Learning) Assistant Commissioner Susan Adams responded positively, writing, “I appreciate your system’s quick response to the inquiry regarding the facility structure, safety and maintenance.”

“Thank you for submitting the review letters to our department,” she continued. “It is my understanding that Dougherty County Pre-K will begin school tomorrow (Aug. 2) at the Sylvandale location. Our agency would like to be in communication regarding the ongoing repairs and maintenance at the Sylvandale location and/or the relocation plan of the students to a new facility. Please let me know how our agency can support this plan.”

GaDOE Chief Communications officer Matt Cardoza also responded, writing, “We will work with Dougherty to find the best situation for the kids.”

Royal did not return a call seeking comment.

Oak Tree, along with the state’s other GNETS centers, has been under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice for more than five years, with the DOJ alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Statewide, the Oak Tree Center is among 24 programs which support the local school systems’ continuum of services for students ages 3-21 with disabilities. The programs provide comprehensive educational and therapeutic support services to students who might otherwise require residential or other more restrictive placements because of the severity of one or more of the characteristics of the disability category of emotional and behavioral disorders.

The local center provides services to 51 students from a five-county area. Complicating matters is Dougherty County’s Pre-K program, which serves 264 4-year-old pupils, in the other wing of the Sylvandale complex.

DCSS finance Director Ken Dyer said earlier this week that the system has a plan to resolve the dispute, but it will take a year to come to fruition.

The plan revolves around the currently empty Magnolia Elementary School, which in 2013 moved its students to Alice Coachman and M.L. King elementary schools and was intended to serve as a replacement for the Sylvandale complex. The original plan was to house GNETS, the county pre-K and gifted programs all at Magnolia.

Those have not been made because, aside from some preliminary planning work, no renovations have been done to the building.

“What we have asked the state to do is allow us time to make the necessary maintenance and cosmetic work at Sylvandale,” Dyer said. “And wait for our E-SPLOST to pass in November.”

The DCSS will fast track the bid process for Magnolia’s renovations immediately after the E-SPLOST vote and expedite work to have Magnolia ready for students in August of 2017.

Under this scenario the DCSS is hoping, first off, that the DOJ and GaDOE will give them the additional time needed, and secondly, that the E-SPLOST referendum, which will fund the Magnolia renovation work, will pass the voters muster in November.

Dyer said he believes the system will hear something from the state this week.