InTucker Magazine

Board of Education News with Allyson Gevertz

The 2024-25 school year was a success! If graduation is the culminating goal of K-12 education, Tucker High has 297 champions! Of the recent graduates, 153 are eligible for the HOPE scholarship, 12 have IB diplomas, 60 are AP scholars, 90 participated in dual enrollment, and 193 completed career pathways. Our school district prepares kids for the 4Es: Enrollment, Enlistment, Employment, and Entrepreneurship. The THS class of 2025 has 254 students going to college, 13 to the military, 40 to the workforce, and three starting their own businesses. Congratulations Tigers!

This year, Tucker’s elementary students participated in the new elementary athletics program. Tucker teams excelled in soccer, basketball, flag football, competitive dance, and track. In fact, the Smoke Rise Elementary School boys won the county championship! Superintendent Horton brought elementary athletics to DeKalb County, and parents are seeing the benefits in their children: excitement about school, improved problem-solving, higher self-confidence, healthier decision-making, and more resilience. Be sure to catch a game, meet, or competition next year!

Another initiative impacting Tucker schools is the IGNITE Teacher Residency. This is Superintendent Horton’s answer to the teacher shortage, and it is working! IGNITE is an alternate route to teacher certification where aspiring educators complete courses through a university partner while training in DCSD schools. In exchange for teaching in DeKalb for at least five years, each IGNITE graduate earns a master’s degree for free. The most recent IGNITE cohort is filling vacancies in Tucker and across the district, ensuring that every classroom has a teacher in August!

Tucker schools are in the process of being reimagined—including programs, buildings, and boundaries. Superintendent Horton has tasked the Student Assignment Project (SAP) Advisory Committee to bring forward recommendations. Some of those recommendations are anticipated during the 2025-26 school year. The SAP Committee has been working diligently to understand the needs of the Tucker community as well as the district as a whole. Since this process will include building closures, redistricting, and program changes, it is imperative that the community stay engaged. Tucker’s advisory committee members, including the City’s own Sonja Szubski, are spending hours mulling over data, brainstorming, and offering solutions to the question of what DCSD should look like in 5, 10, or 15 years. In the meantime, construction continues at many schools across the district. As Idlewood begins its major renovation project this summer, some Idlewood students will be welcomed temporarily to Smoke Rise Elementary School. Final recommendations on attendance boundaries for Idlewood, Smoke Rise, and all schools will come during the SAP process.

Finally, the Board of Education (along with DCSD administration) has been hard at work on the FY26 budget. It is an unpredictable time for public education, with the state increasing unfunded mandates, and federal funding being called into question. Despite this, DeKalb is one of two metro districts which passed a millage rate rollback. The FY26 budget includes a step increase for all eligible staff, as well as additional funds for high-need schools, special education teachers, and MTSS specialists. While the divisions supporting schools cut costs, our local schools were protected from cuts. CFO Schueneman and his team did a phenomenal job keeping students as the top priority, while meeting the changing demands and expectations at the local, state, and federal levels.

Happy Summer, Tucker! As always, if you have questions for me, please feel free to contact me at Allyson_Gevertz@dekalbschoolsga.org or Allyson@AllysonGevertz.com. I continue to offer 4 Feedback listening sessions each month.