Vote expected by WCS school board tonight
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
More than 3,100 Williamson County students – or just under 10 percent of the 31,190 students currently enrolled in Williamson County Schools -- could find themselves going to a different school next year if the WCS Board of Education votes tonight to approve a district-wide rezoning plan.

An expected vote last Thursday was delayed when board member Mark Gregory could not be present. Instead, the rezoning is item No. 4 on tonight’s amended agenda. Listed under “Unfinished Business,” the board will review the proposal. After discussion at Thursday’s board work session, several amendments may be offered to a motion for approval before a final vote.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium of the Williamson County Administrative Complex, 1320 West Main Street, in Franklin. It will be broadcast live on WC-TV, Comcast Channel 3.

A full-page ad purchased in Sunday’s Williamson A.M. section of The Tennessean asked the question “Williamson County Taxpayers, Where is Your Money Going?” The ad was funded by “Williamson County Taxpayers for Responsible Government.” No individual names were attached to the ad or on a related website the ad directs its readers to.

Parent Kristen Richardson has carefully studied the rezoning proposal and has attended the board’s meetings and work sessions over the past few months. She also was actively engaged last fall when the board considered rezoning her neighborhood and others in the Cool Springs east area from Ravenwood to Centennial to help alleviate overcrowding at RHS.

Richardson said Sunday that the individuals who set up the website and purchased the ad (which has a  $4,950 open rate value though sources told BHP the amount actually paid was probably less)  want to remain anonymous. She said the funds came from individuals who came together as a group from “across the community” because they have concerns about the proposal and the process used to develop it.

The website, www.wctaxpayers.com, poses several questions about the varying rezoning plans presented over the past two months. It claims that “the result is not an impartial county- wide rezoning evaluation which resulted in only 15% of the student population affected.  The result is actually a ‘county wide’ rezoning rigged to only affect 15% of the student population.”

The website also provides a link to a petition that states “We, the people of Williamson County, believe all children deserve equal access to a high-quality education.  The current rezoning proposal is not in the best interest of our children or the taxpayers of this county.  There is work still to be done.  We respectfully ask that the Board of Education delay any rezoning until a more fiscally responsible, long-term plan can be developed that provides academic and program equality, proximity to schools and reasonable feeder systems for all the students of Williamson County.”

As of 5 p.m. Sunday, 1022 individuals had signed the petition, though some of those signed only “anonymous.”  The petition does not require an address, making it impossible to discern if the signer is a Williamson County resident.

Richardson said the petition will be presented at tonight’s meeting on behalf of those who have signed but she was not sure who was going to speak on behalf of the coalition.

The concerns of the parent coalition, she said, include the split feeder patterns created by the plan, “manipulated” data fed into the original Edulog program which created the initial rezoning plan, and little or no consideration of the county’s current and projected growth rate, which has slowed considerably from projections used.

Meanwhile, residents in the Southern Woods, Courtside and Shadow Creek subdivisions in east Brentwood have hung over 109 red bows “representing the children who have been multi-zoned since 2002,” according to a press release.

Many in those impacted neighborhoods are campaigning to stop the “excessive rezoning of our kids by the Williamson County School System.”

According to the release, the campaign’s organizers want to do what they can to assist those students currently attending Sunset Middle School and Ravenwood High School avoid another rezoning.   The three subdivisions have been rezoned three times; the current proposal would cause a fourth move. It would also provide a clean feeder from Edmondson to Brentwood Middle to Brentwood High.

 “When I was talking with some of the students who live in these communities, they said that it seemed like no one was listening to their concerns.  This is simply a very visual way to show the kids that we are listening to them,” Tina Luke, a parent of a 6th and 9th grader, is quoted in the release. Her sixth grader has reportedly attended three different elementary schools, and has the potential to attend two middle schools if the zoning plan passes.

Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney proposed a “5-4-3 Plan” component of the third -- and he says, final -- proposal which would allow students who had been rezoned multiple times to stay at their current school with board approval and limits on transportation. The ability of plan participants to participate in TSSAA-sanctioned sports at their out of zone school has been raised as one major concern.

“We are very sympathetic to the over-crowding issue at Ravenwood High School.  However, we don’t see how quickly rectifying that situation by rezoning our children yet again, is the right avenue to follow,” parent Janine Hopkins, is quoted in the release. “Everyone in the Southern Woods area wants their children to have the best education experience as possible and for us that means stability….

 “These students need to be able to develop relationships with teachers and other students over a period of years, not hop from facility to facility.”

The parents supporting the “4 x in 8 years = 2 MUCH” campaign are asking the school board “at a minimum,” to broaden the rezoning amendments to prevent some students from being rezoned to a fifth school. 

In an open letter to county residents sent Thursday, Nov. 9, and published in local media including Brentwood Home Page, Looney laid out his thoughts on why a district-wide rezoning plan is critical for the district and what additional steps need to be made to ensure the county’s school system remains highly regarded.

 “This process has allowed us to have unvarnished dialog about school quality, managing growth and change, social-class perceptions, educational equity, and our responsibility to treat one another with respect,” he wrote.

Acknowledging that rezoning student is stressful for some children, parents, and school staff, he continued, “Unfortunately, our current reality does not afford us the opportunity to escape the issue. With continued growth in our county, we cannot defer these decisions for another year. We also cannot produce a quick and painless ‘fix’ for all that ails us as we attempt to balance resource utilization and student zoning stability. Rather, this is an important and necessary first step, one that will guide our work in the years to come.”

His letter detailed statistics on the total amount spent per WCS pupil ($7,756) and where that figure ranks in the state (68th).

“Simply stated, part of our dilemma relates to school funding. We enjoy the benefits of living in a community where school performance is exceptional,” he wrote, “primarily as a result of involved parents and great teaching.

 “As a result, new families migrate to our schools. This in turn produces capacity pressure and ultimately school overcrowding. As a result, we need to move children to relieve that pressure.”

Also on tonight’s agenda:

• The 2011-2012 School calendar
• A board policy revision on professional/personal leave (first reading)

The public will have an opportunity to comment after the consent agenda is acted upon and before the rezoning is discussed.