Lisa Starbuck reports on the recent community coalition school rezoning forum. They have prepared an open letter to the School Board calling for a new process.

There was also a survey of the participants. The top concern mentioned was lack of public involvement in the process, followed by a lack of supported data/alternative plans.

Click read more to see the open letter to the School Board and the complete survey results with comments from participants.

In related news, the Knoxville News Sentinel has apparently decided who to side with in today's front page editorial disguised as a news report.

Read more from the community coalition after the jump...

From the communty coalition press release...

Dear School Board Members,

The proposed school rezoning plan has been and continues to be an emotional and upsetting issue for many Knox County residents.

Now that you have their attention, why not take advantage of the energy and effort put into this issue by members of the community and engage them in a new process that would result in a better zoning plan?

There are many process models available that have been successfully implemented by school boards in other counties to get support from the community. Tamara Shepherd e-mailed you just some of the processes that have been used in other areas to get that support. Part of the reason we are in the situation we are in is that we don't have the buy-in of parents and residents for the new school.

You know that this sales job you are doing with the community is going to have to start all over again with middle and elementary school rezonings as you try to sell them a plan they have no part in designing.

I would encourage you to listen to the voices of those who care about Knox County Schools and want to be engaged. I am including with this message the results of a survey that was done at the countywide community meeting, where our focus was on getting people involved in this issue.

We know this is difficult time, but many citizens with concern and experience stand ready to commit time to an inclusive process that will better unite the community around KCS and education.

Thanks for your consideration.

Lisa Starbuck
On behalf of community coalition members

Survey Results:

Zip Code Tallies:
37849 - 28 surveys
37912 - 4 surveys
37914 - 13 surveys
37917 - 5 surveys
37918 - 16 surveys
37919 - 5 surveys
37921 - 14 surveys
37922 - 6 surveys
37924 - 3 surveys
37932 - 3 surveys
37934 - 13 surveys
37938 - 8 surveys

Top Concerns:

Lack of community involvement in planning - 86 votes
Lack of supported data/alternative plans - 64 votes
Travel time and distance - 58 votes
Keeping feeder schools together - 53 votes
Attending school of choice - 46 votes
Effects on property values - 39 votes
Curriculum and class offerings - 32 votes
Membership in teams and clubs - 27 votes
School budgets - 17 votes
Overcrowded/under-utilized schools - 10 votes

Note #1 - One survey had no zip code listed.

Note #2 - Some surveys checked more than three concerns. I counted each check.

Note #3 - Some people numbered their priorities from 1 to 10. I counted only the top three.

Here are the comments written on the back of parent surveys:

Rezoning process comments –

What public input was given or sought on this rezoning plan?

I have a lack of confidence in the MPC data and how it was analyzed and the lack of openness in how information was given to the community, piece by piece, to make as few people upset at any one time.

There are a lot of people who want to attend HVHS. Why are you forcing people who don’t want to go there?

Who had input into this plan? What role did MPC and traffic engineering play? I heard rumor that one person, Mr.Rick Grubb, drew the zone lines. Is this true?

School board members are supposed to be taking into consideration all students and not just their piece of the pie. Public opinion should have been taken into consideration from the beginning, starting with where the school was being built. Criteria used were constantly changed throughout the process to justify school board strategy.

An inclusive systematic process to rezoning should be used, not a top down approach.
To start this now and then be done is not the truth. Elementary and middle schools will be rezoned too. We can’t keep going through this.

If this is a good plan, why are there not supporters at the 3 meetings I’ve been to? That says a lot!

Why are we rezoning without a leader that will be responsible for all of this?
What about the School Board’s lack of ability to answer this question: Who made this plan?

What group of people gets to decide on this? Why is the group of deciders so very small? Perhaps if you would allow the creative process, you would get an excellent plan. Let the people give input and be the deciders. The school board decides and then asks for input? Bah humbug.

Community involvement/input will help the public come to terms with any compromises they have to make if they have to be rezoned.

The general public IS smart enough to understand the logic used in reaching a rezoning plan. Share your thinking, not just your results.

Why has this rezoning been so rushed and secretive, when there were multiple meetings held last fall among West Knoxville citizens to discuss the rezoning?

Be honest with the parents! What is the real reason for taking students out of Powell, sending them to Central and turning around and sending Central students to Powell? This does not make any logical sense.

Why not release middle and elementary changes at the same time?

We need to have our elected officials be responsible for the rezoning and not put it off on non-elected officials.

We need to have more of these meetings with our elected officials.

We need to have input as a community.

Since Hardin Valley was built to relieve the overcrowding at Farragut High and Karns High, why aren’t the students from these schools used to populate Hardin Valley during its’ first phase and then rezone after this phase and make adjustments as necessary?
Let Hardin Valley start to fill and move Farragut students first before effecting all zones.
Why does no one want to attend HVHS? Why is this school not being touted as the premier high school in Knox County, with amenities and classes not found at other schools?

Aren’t some students being “sacrificed” to lower performing schools in order to try and get test scores at those schools up? This is evidenced in the “exchange” of students – Central to Powell and Powell to Central, Bearden to West and West to Bearden, etc.
What about school of choice?

Explain the demographic changes.

The school was built in the wrong place. The town center at Northshore is a prime example.

Most importantly, keep feeder schools together.

When MPC allows exponential growth in one section of the county, the county has an obligation to address overcrowding in that area without penalizing the areas around schools that should be in a neighborhood zone. So, why has Knox County built a school to relieve overcrowding in Farragut and now expects the mid and near city areas to fill a school built in far west Knox County for far west Knox County?

What happened to the first plan for zoning just Karns and Farragut? Why was it voted down?

Why do so many schools have to be affected when Hardin Valley was built because of overcrowding in Farragut?

Why were seniors and juniors sent letters county-wide, telling them they were being rezoned? That tells me the numbers are wrong.

This rezoning is based on no planning, short or long term.

Community themed comments -

People live in the community where they feel comfortable both morally and economically. Community schools are important for many reasons and should be preserved. Children should not be shuffled to improve overall test scores or diversity and when one community school becomes overcrowded; all areas should not be affected. This community school situation should be corrected long term.

I am a third generation are the fourth and I want them to go to the same school I went to, Powell.

Why can’t Farragut have its’ own school system?

If the plan doesn’t improve each community, it’s not a good plan.

If I live in Farragut, my kids should be able to go to our town high school. I believe the town of Farragut has been economically profiled. You can drive the lines of division and see it clearly.

I want to attend the school of choice in my own community.

The Norwood community has no “feeder system”. Why does Northwest have no community?

All Knox County schools are not the same. I live where I do for my children’s education.
We chose to buy in Powell because of the school system. We gave much thought to this and our children feel strongly about attending Powell schools.

We have 3 generations of Powell graduates. We want to stay in Powell.

We move to Powell and our kids begged to go to Powell and buy a home in Powell and now you have done this.

I am a Powell resident and want to stay zoned for Powell.

Homes are purchased so that our children can start and finish in the same school. The proposed new zone would have my children attending a different High School.
Why are you breaking community lines and boundaries?

Isn’t this circular rezoning being done because Farragut parents do not want their students to attend HVHS? HVHS was built to relieve overcrowding at FHS and Karns.

Over/under utilized schools comments –

If overcrowding is a concern at Powell, why does the rezoning increase enrollment at Powell?

Why are we building a new high school when we have an unused high school building now?

Economic comments –

What about the expenses for drivers?

How does this effect the school system’s budget?

This will mean more cost and a change in location for my child care.

I just bought a new home in Powell. My property value will drop if kids must leave our community to attend school.

How do you address the concern that data was given stating 6000 miles a day will be added daily with the proposed rezoning? How do you justify the additional costs daily? Who will pay for it?

School budgets are being poorly allocated, mismanaged and caving to political pressure.
Our property value will decline because of the school they will have to attend.

Distance & transportation comments –

I don’t understand PRZ zones. How can Clinton Highway be proposed to be the edge of Karns school district when it is only 1,326.43 feet from Powell Middle School? That has to violate PRZ zones. Kids walk a lot farther to school then that. It is less than #17 at Fox Den and #12 at Holston Hills (440 yards). Neither is even a par 5.

I would like to see a 1 mile rule. Your child can attend a school if they live within 1 mile of the school.

PRZ was not supposed to be affected. Why then is a neighborhood 9/10 of a mile away from Bearden High taken out of their community school and putting them on dangerous roads 5 days a week?

We need permanent school zones.

Transportation is a factor as well as time and distance.

What about permanent geographic zones?

There should be permanent geographic zones around each school.

We should be keeping a designated central zone around each school that will not be rezoned from neighborhood schools, a minimum of 5 miles.

This proposal shows a lack of care in choosing bus routes. Safety is not being considered.
There has been no hard data on the safety of new bus routes.

Travel should offer safe routes for teenage drivers.

How do you address the fact that the additional 6000 miles a day effects the safety of our children?

Grandfathering comments –

Grandfathering will not help my two children, 7th grade and 2nd grade.

Keep siblings at the same schools.

Will younger siblings be grandfathered into their brothers’ and sisters’ high schools? Include 2008 rising sixth through ninth graders who would be zoned to a school different than their siblings. This is an impossible situation.

Other comments –

How do we get the best possible education for our young people?

Does the state mandate curriculum and class offerings?

What about our children’s safety?

Curriculum being offered at the new school should be shown by school board. Honor classes, arts, sports, etc. should be compared and a choice should be allowed to attend school that offers these.

We need to control sprawl and manage growth in Knox County.