Bearden’s closings: More of the old way
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 - 5:02pm
Submitted by Letters to the ...
Submitted by Letters to the ...
Dr. Bearden and board members, as I was reviewing the agenda for tonight’s [April 16] meeting, a sense of deja vu swept over me. I expected to see the budget proposal for 2012-2013 since it is mid-April and the new budget takes effect July 1.
Instead, I saw a proposal for school closings for the 2013-2014 school year with a “fast track” plan for public hearings and a board vote in July.
For those of you new to the system, I was one of many people who asked the board to halt plans to construct Rivers Elementary.
I have also been vocal about strategic planning and communication with the community for the last several years.
I am only one among thousands of people in Fayette County who contend that there has been room for improvement in the fiscal management of our school system.
With the changes in the school district over the last year or so, many of us have patiently waited to see what changes might take place.
Unfortunately, tonight’s agenda leads me to believe that it is business as usual at the Fayette County school system.
While I must applaud the effort to do something, doing something without appropriate planning is inadequate to say the least. The current proposal has no supporting documentation or rationale.
Why, for example, is the recommendation to close schools which are full? Wouldn’t it make more sense to close schools that are significantly below capacity? This would mean that fewer students would need to be disrupted and transported out of their neighborhood school areas.
These are only a few of dozens of questions that should be asked and answered before a proposal is made to disrupt hundreds of families and staff. Proper analysis must be done before recommendations are made.
The proposed timing for public hearings and a board vote also is amiss. It is a disservice to the community to schedule public hearings and board votes on matters of great importance during times when families are most likely to be distracted and unavailable.
The only thing that would be accomplished by this timeframe is to have school closings voted on prior to the upcoming school board elections.
The ability of the community to participate and thorough communication with the community must be considered when public hearings are considered and scheduled.
Also disconcerting is the fact that the budget for the upcoming year appears to have been put on the back burner in order for this fast track plan to be initiated.
The budget which will take effect this summer should be the top priority right now. The Organizational and Operational Effectiveness section of the District Strategic Improvement Plan should specifically address financial competency, planning, budgeting, and timely processes for responsible stewardship of the taxpayers’ money.
The school district and the board have an opportunity to do things the right way. Approaching school closings and redistricting in the same old way didn’t work before and it won’t work now.
Please take the time to do a good job for the students, the district, and the community.
T.R. Morris, Ph.D.
Peachtree City, Ga.
You go to the stadium to watch a game and if you look closely you'll see four squads on the field as the teams are introduced. You cheer when they introduce the two squads from the home team and boooo when they introduce the opposing team.
Your team has an offensive squad and a defensive squad but it's the offense that scores of the game not the defense and America has had only the defensive line on the fields of war since the Second World War. As a result we have given up the nations that we have lost American troops in since that war. We divided Korea at the 37th parallel and we gave the entire nation of the Democratic Republic of South Vietnam to the offensive team of communist North Vietnam and its communist allias. We forfitted the game to the Offensive line. It's the offense that makes the points and today we have only our defense on the line in Afghanistan. I stood and watched the NVA and the VC in the Democratic Republic of South Vietnam walk the streets of Quinhon and in late January and the first week of February, 1968 we the American troops had to watch many a black pajama walk past Vungtou Mountain into downtown Quinhon the second largest seaport in that nation and we didn't try to stop them because the weren't shooting at us YET. On February 2nd, after those NVA and VC had gone into the homes of the citizens of Quinhon, in the dark of the night did all HELL broke loose. Why didn't we put the offensive line on the field before the oppositions offensive line even get to the field? We left our defensive line on the field that night and the Sgt's of the guards asked the target security detachment guards in the towers, "IS HE ENEMY?" Had it not been for the ARVN offensive line getting on the field that night the port and airfield of Quinhon would have fallen into the hands of the black pajama uniform of the NVA.
America, wake up and bring on the offensive line, go after the al-Qaida and Taliban. Put them on the defense, it's the offense that makes the points.
"Ladies and gentelman, when we have troops in combat, and the goal isn't victory, the troops need to be withdrawn, Immediately!" quote Kent Kingsley, The Citizen, May 5, 2012.