Plan will be unveiled to board on Sept. 16
Brentwood Home Page news reports
The district-wide rezoning process for Williamson County Schools is moving to the next level, and community meetings have been scheduled to share information.

On Nov. 31 of last year, the Williamson County Schools Board of Education voted 6-3 to delay a controversial proposal that would have rezoned a handful of Cool Springs’ area subdivisions and an apartment community from Ravenwood High School to Centennial High School to alleviate overcrowding at Ravenwood. The one-year delay was sought so a comprehensive, county-wide enrollment study could be conducted.

Last fall, many Ravenwood, Woodland and Kenrose parents and students fought against a proposed rezoning of some Cool Springs neighborhood from RHS to Centennial. BHP Photo.

In March, the board contracted with a school planning software company, Educational Logistics, Inc. or Edulog, to look at rezoning at all grade levels across the district in an effort to create an optimum zoning proposal countywide. Edulog is the same company that provides the school zone and bus transportation routing software the district uses to create bus routes for students.

At that meeting, the board established parameters to be considered for the rezoning. Those include:

• Maintain consistent feeder patterns as much as reasonably possible.
• Maximize the use of facilities.

“We have a number of schools in the county that are over-capacity while many others are under-capacity,” Superintendent Dr. Mike Looney said. “Our community continues to experience substantial growth, and we believe the experts at Edulog can create a plan that will efficiently use facilities; eliminate the need for rezoning for the next four or five years; and help our families feel a sense of stability in their school lives.

The plan will be presented to the School Board by an Edulog representative at its work session on Thursday, Sept. 16 beginning at 6 p.m. in the professional development room in the Support Services Building located at 1761 West Main Street, Franklin. Seating is limited.

On Friday, Sept. 17 at 9 a.m., maps and information will be on the district’s web site at www.wcs.edu for review. Parents will be able to use a webquery, like the one currently used by parents to check bus routes, to see their proposed zoned school.

On Monday, Sept. 20, the plan will once again be presented to the Board of Education by an Edulog representative. That meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Administrative Complex and will be broadcast live on WC-TV which includes Comcast 3, Charter 96 and ATT 99. It will be replayed the next day as well.

Three public meetings will be held where parents will hear a formal presentation by an Edulog representative and then visit the school’s computer lab to check their child’s proposed zone. Formal presentations will be held at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the school auditorium/multi-purpose rooms. School Board and staff members will be available between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the school cafeterias and computer labs. Staff members will be available to assist parents in finding their child’s proposed zoned school in the computer lab.

The school sites were selected based on facility availability.

“Since we needed to use the school’s auditorium, cafeteria and computer labs, we needed to be able to hold the meetings at a high school,” Communications Director Carol Birdsong said. “Centennial, Franklin and Independence were the only schools that did not have Homecoming or similar events that were set in stone. The staffs at Centennial, Franklin and Independence were able to work their events around our meeting schedule and we appreciate the help.”

The community meetings will be held as follows:

• Tuesday, Sept. 21, Franklin High; Formal presentations at 5:30 and 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Sept. 22, Independence High; Formal presentations at 5:30 and 7 p.m.             
• Thursday, Sept. 23, Centennial   High; Formal presentations at 5:30 and 7 p.m.    

In addition, parents will have the opportunity to provide input through a phone survey that will be conducted for all parents on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 8 p.m. For those parents who do not participate at that time, a follow-up survey will be conducted at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 26. The results of the survey will be given to the School Board on Sept. 27. 

“We hope all families will take the time to visit the webquery to see their proposed school zones, come to one of the meetings or watch the presentation on TV,” Looney said. “It’s also important that parents participate in the survey. We value parent input.”   

The Board has scheduled a special called meeting for Monday, Sept. 27 beginning at 6 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Administrative Complex to discuss the zoning proposal. That meeting will be televised on WC-TV.