[2] DCSD operates public schools in areas of DeKalb County that are not within the city limits of Atlanta and Decatur.

The Arabia Mountain High School Academy of Engineering-Medicine performed well enough to earn a silver designation, ranking No.

[6] In 2017, the DeKalb County School District received a full, five-year renewal of its accreditation from AdvancED, through 2022.

[15] On August 20, 2013, a man with an AK-47 entered the front office of Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, an elementary school, and barricaded himself.

Antoinette Tuff, a school bookkeeper, was able to convince him to surrender without further violence; she was later praised by President Barack Obama for her courage and calmness in defusing the situation.

[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] From April 19–23, 2018 nearly 400 school bus drivers for the district participated in a strike over low pay and little employee benefits.

Inspired in part by the concurrent nationwide teacher strikes in states such as West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona, bus drivers for the district planned a "sick-out".

About 42 percent of bus drivers in the county participated, causing nearly 60-90 minute delays in students being picked up for school.

[24] The City of Atlanta, in 2017, agreed to annex territory in DeKalb County, including the Centers for Disease Control and Emory University, effective January 1, 2018.

[27] The area ultimately went to APS,[25] and as part of a 2019 settlement Emory would help establish school-based clinics for DeKalb schools.