Hi Deacongirl.
I'm 99% a lurker here, but I live in Dekalb County, right next to Decatur, so I wanted to throw my 2 cents in.
First, about Dekalb County. Yes, undergoing major changes in redistricting. If you buy in this area, be sure about what school your kids are districted for, don't take the real estate agent's word on it. I would say that individual schools in the county can be very good. However, I do not see a complete feeder pattern that is tops the whole way through (and yes, middle school is often the weak spot, and I think that has to do with the fact that the concept and reality of middle school just sucks and the best one can hope for is a middle school that just sucks less than others.) My kids are in Fernbank Elementary school (near Emory), and my personal observation is that while I've generally been very happy with their experience within the school house, every time I've gotten involved with anyone at the county admin level it has been a complete nightmare. (DS9, in the MG to HG range, has a 504 for dysgraphia.) So I will say that DCSS is possibly NOT a good fit with for a child with disabilities, at least in terms of receiving real services from the county. I would also say that gifted education in DCSS is a bit of a joke (they RIF-ed the county gifted coordinator last year, and that was no big loss). Again, my kids doing well has more to do with the individual elementary school and their personalities than anything the county has done or is doing.
Unfortunately, I would also say the same of Decatur City schools. I have several close friends that are in that city school system, and it is quite good for the average (or even gifted) kid. One, however, has a child with pretty severe dyslexia (and is MG to HG) and her experience in getting a useful IEP in place required being one step from litigation. I don't know how different it would be for a child with Downs Syndrome... the problem seemed to stem from the fact that Decatur City schools refuses to recognize dyslexia... but you would want to talk to head of special education there first (whose name is Pat Kennedy, btw.)
About Padeia. Yup, if I won the lottery tomorrow, that is where I would probably send my kids after elementary school (even though the feeder pattern for Fernbank leads to one of the less sucky middle schools and better high schools). But, I also know a mom whose older kids started at Fernbank, ended up at Paideia (during the last redistricting drama several years ago) and whose younger kids are now back at Fernbank (because multiple kids at Paideia got to be too much $$$). Her opinion was, at the elementary school level at least, that there was no fundamental difference in the quality of education between the 2 schools. That is just one person's opinion, and I don't know anything about her kids, so your mileage may vary.
Wow, this post was just a total Debbie-downer, huh? I guess I just wanted to give you a ground's eye view of this part of Atlanta. My sense of the whole Atlanta area is that many school systems are a hot mess at the county admin level, but that there are individual schools and feeder patterns in many areas that are very good. And there are several very good private schools in the area (including Paideia) but as has been said on these boards many times, you can't assume that they will be better just because they are private.
Last thought... Gwinnett county just won a big national award for the management and achievement of their school system. You could look there, but you would have a sucky commute. I will say, even with all the hassle we've been through at DCSS (and all the hassle my friend has been through with Decatur City schools) we both LOVE the Decatur/Emory area and have worked with (and sometimes against) the schools here because the area and lifestyle is so nice.
