The Decatur Career Academy recently received a grant enabling the initiative of providing transportation to and from the Georgia State University (GSU) campus.

GSU offers an Early College Program that provides dual enrollment opportunities for minority groups, specifically students of color and low-income students. There are dozens of DHS students who are a part of this program, but their participation was frequently limited by transportation barriers. 

Career and Technical Education Director Duane Sprull considered this an equity issue, and requested a grant from the Decatur Education Foundation (DEF) to provide safe and reliable bus transportation to and from the GSU campus every day for the 27 students. 

“The whole transportation dilemma came about due to how other schools transported students, the uptick in crime in Atlanta, and DHS facing the challenges of the pandemic,” Sprull explained, “Students are now able to move to and from GSU without the stress of waiting for a ride or using MARTA or having parents taking time off work to transport them to GSU.”

He explained how the parents and guardians of the students were the first to alert the Decatur Career Academy about the issue and introduce the idea for group transportation.

“Families can have a level of comfort because they know dedicated CSD employees supervise students during the transit to the university,” Sprull said. 

He found what he considered another benefit of this daily group transportation: the growth of relationships.

“It is evident that although students may not have classes together, they can bond on the bus to and from GSU. During this trip you could see the relationship that has been built with these students,” he said, in reference to what he noticed when he rode with the students on MARTA one time before the bus transportation was an option.

DEF Executive Director Gail Rothman explained why they approved the grant: “DEF is all about breaking down barriers to equity […] We hope that this investment will encourage more students to participate in the dual enrollment opportunity at GSU.” 

The Decatur Career Academy not only plans to continue offering this transportation every year, but they also hope to cut down on costs to ensure they can maintain funding for this initiative. According to Sprull, they already requested more funding from the City Schools of Decatur, but they are also considering a possible schedule change to accomplish the lowering in expenses.

“We are looking at the possibility of students attending the Early College Programs two full days each week versus four partial days,” he said, “If students are going only two days per week, the academy may be able to absorb the cost of the transportation without a challenge to exceed the budget.”

However, even if this schedule change doesn’t end up coming to fruition, the Decatur Career academy intends to ensure that this equitable access to dual enrollment continues to be offered no matter what. 

“Our passion in the Decatur Career Academy and within Decatur High School flows from the need to support our marginalized students in their academic endeavors,” Sprull said, “Although it may seem small to many students having transportation concerns, taking this issue out of the equation builds trust between the school and families.”