The DeKalb County School District has set a ceremonial groundbreaking date for the future John R. Lewis Elementary in Brookhaven.

DeKalb teachers, students, administrators and officials will gather at the site of the future school at 2630 Skyland Drive NE March 29 at 2 p.m. for the ceremony, according to a district press release.

A preliminary rendering of the John Robert Lewis Elementary School. (DeKalb County Board of Education)

The 900-seat school will be similar to the district’s Barack Obama Magnet School of Technology in south Atlanta’s Gresham Park neighborhood and Fernbank Elementary School in Druid Hills. The district has previously estimated total construction costs to be about $30 million.

The new school is being built on the former Skyland Park land, which was purchased by the Board of Education from the city of Brookhaven for $4.7 million. A new Skyland Park is being built nearby at the site of the former State Vital Records Office building.

The construction is estimated to be completed by July 2019 and open for the 2019-2020 school year, said district spokesperson Eileen Houston-Stewart.

The school’s design features a student courtyard, collaborative learning spaces, flexible fixtures and improved security measures, according to the release.

The school is meant to relieve overcrowding in the Cross Keys High School cluster by receiving students from Montclair Elementary School.

The John R. Lewis Elementary School is currently temporarily housed at 2383 North Druid Hills Road, the former location of the International Student Center.

9 replies on “Groundbreaking set for new Brookhaven school”

  1. An absolute disgrace to the city of Brookhaven naming the new school after John Lewis, a divisive, bigot insulting average Republicans and calling Hillary Clinton Madam President.

    2. For over fifty years, John Robert Lewis has been a faithful servant of his God and he is one who has used his Christian faith and belief in nonviolent civil disobedience to work on behalf of the disenfranchised and the powerless. He has consistently and selflessly put his body and his life between the weak and the boots and batons of the powerful. His decades-long courage and the scars it earned him inspire millions to believe in that which is greatest in humanity and in the United States. Yes, indeed, a shame.

      1. Thank you for standing up for what is right, Kim.

        Remember everyone- if you find views like “resident”’s offensive— don’t just register and vote—make sure all your friends do too!

        Make a plan to vote with a group of friends and make a fun event out of it.

  2. If John Lewis represents the ‘disenfranchised’, they need a new representative. Highest crime and unemployment rates among the disenfranchised in the country. How long has he been representing them?

    1. “Highest crime and unemployment rates among the disenfranchised in the country.”

      What does this sentence even mean?

      I need a Trumpkin Translator.

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