To McElroy and education editor Lola Alopo at 3 am last night:

Dear Mr. McElroy,

I write you in your capacity as Knox County's recently-crowned champion for better public participation in local government. On the heels of our Knox County Commission's botched process for appointing eight new Commissioners to replace those term-limited, our Knox County School system is now engaged in a similar closed-door, top-down process to quietly undertake the most extensive rezoning of school-aged children to occur in Knox County in many years.

Although this massive school rezoning is expected to impact 11 of 12 high school zones across the county, and to subsequently impact corresponding middle school and elementary school zones, the vast majority of our residents are completely unaware of the pending changes. Rick Grubb, Knox County Schools' Assistant Superintendent for Transportation, confirmed for me today that he and his staff will work on Good Friday, Saturday, and next Monday to discreetly assemble a 12,000 piece mailing to families affected in this decision made exclusively by the school system's central office personnel.

Even my community's school board member, Cindy Buttry, has expressed surprise at the haste with which these personnel have previewed to her their recommendations, then immediately turned to assembling their mailing, as Ms. Buttry had imagined that she, too, would be allowed enough time to respond to those recommendations.

I also attach for your review the Knox County School Board's schedule of upcoming meetings. You will note that of nine meetings scheduled over the next month, only one meeting will include a public forum at which citizens may offer counter-proposals. In fact, that single April 30 work session at which citizens are afforded an opportunity to respond occurs just 48 hours before the final vote School Board members will tender on rezoning proposals.

Mr. McElroy, we both understand that school rezoning can be an emotional topic for affected families. I am proud to report, though, that my Powell-area neighbors copied here are already hard at work researching the needs at our sister-school, Central High School, where overcrowding has resulted in a recommendation from central office personnel that children in both our school zones be moved westward. What I would impress upon you, then, is that families are capable of working together across school zone lines to look for mutually satisfactory solutions to our problems. Why are our school system personnel intent on their discreet mailings, when they can allow our School Board members to aid and direct affected families in our own study of viable options?

Meanwhile, I was pleased to receive an invitation today from former Commissioner John Schmidt to serve on the 25-member "One Question" steering committee he and former County Executive Tommy Schumpert are forming. You can bet I bent his ear a few minutes this afternoon on the subject of fostering better public participation in those major decisions undertaken by our county's public schools.

Because "public" means "open to all persons," and "owned by a community," right?

Sincerely,
Tamara G. Shepherd
4612 Meredith Rd.
Knoxville, TN 37921
947-0660

I got a similar email from Tamara yesterday. (She was looking for a study I had referred to a while back.) One of the big things about this rezoning is that they will be moving kids westward. Some kids from Central will be moved to Powell and some kids from Powell will be moved to Karns because Central is overcrowded. Now, from what I remember of the study, Halls has quite a bit of room and should be able to handle the some kids from Central.

Why is this being done? I can't think of a logical reason for moving kids westward which might explain why it's being done so quickly and quietly. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if this might be the real reason they got rid of Lindsay. Does anyone think he would have been agreeable to doing this?

I just came across this. It's a study released last October that has projections for future enrollments for all KCS through the 2016/17 school year.

(link...)

CL: "I can't think of a logical reason for moving kids westward..."

Me neither, CL, and Powell High has only 1200 students now. I'm not aware of how many Central High students they want to move in here (Powell), but neither that *westward* movement not that pulling from our small high school seems to make sense.

In another oddity, a neighbor tells me that Rex Stooksbury told her some Northwest Middle students in the vicinity of Norwood (city) will be rezoned to Powell Middle (county), pulling out of the city population.

These three rezoning moves appear to do the opposite of what is needed for the city, in terms of working harder to populate schools "inward," not "outward."

One thing that may explain the rezoning is the need to fill the new Hardin Valley High School. They could be trying to keep everyone in the City of Farragut in Farragut High.

Didn't Lindsay's plan have kids in the Bluegrass area going to HVHS? They could be moving those kids to other schools, like Bearden, and they would need to move some Bearden kids to another school.

I guess it could affect my child's friends, who are on the edge of her zone and may get zoned out of her district.

To address what The Dude had to say: The zoning you are talking about was Lindsey's plan he presented last fall. That has been scrapped. Kids down in Northshore area that were tapped to go to HVHS will now go to Bearden. Five Farragut neighborhoods: Ridgeland (north of I-40), Orchid Grove, Sedgefield, Saddleridge and Fox Run (all west of Everett Road to Loudon Co. Line) will go to Hardin Valley. Only 200 kids live in these five neighborhoods. Letters should be in mailboxes on the 11th alerting people as to where they are rezoned. Fall will bring rezoning countywide of Middle and elementary schools.
The Admin. has violated its criteria it said it would use in rezoning by: not looking at safe transportation (Watt Road), keeping feeder schools together (those Farragut neighborhoods now attend all Farragut schools from K-12, whereas some other neighborhoods staying in the FHS zone go to A.L. Lotts, West Valley Middle) I'm not clear on the logic of taking 200 kids out of Farragut schools and shipping them 11 or so miles to Hardin Valley when Farragut schools are only 4 miles from Watt Road area. Not sure how that will work in Powell/Karns area as well with feeder schools, safe roads and community imput, etc. This is not on the radar yet, but certainly will be come April 11th by several communities.

will A-E,Fulton,West,Carter,South-Doyle be rezoned?

Tamara, I outlined the plan that has been confirmed for Farragut area. Karen Carson has said she will have a fourm for public input for her district on April 19th (place and time to be determined). All school board members have been advised to do so since, as you stated, there will only be two public forums before it is voted on (April 30 and May 2) May 2nd is the day the board votes on the plan. After the plan is presented on April 18th though, word has it, it will not be changed much if at all. Seems the 19th "public discussion" is a moot point.
I haven't had time to look into your area as far as feeder schools are concerned, but do they keep your kids together with the new zoning? Just curious, as that does not seem to be a concern with some of the neighborhoods in the West end.

If you want to see the current school zones, use (link...) . Under the header, on the right side, is a link to "Knox net Where?". Click on that and when you get there, you will have to click on the "I accept" to enter the site. After you are in, go to the top right of the page where it says "Select a map theme" and use the drop menu to select "High schools & zones". A map of Knox County will come up that has all the high schools zones. You can then use the buttons above the map to zoom in or out for more detail.

How does this tie into middle and elementary schools?

Is that an unrelated rezoning, or is there going to be some kind of trickle-down effect from this rezoning?

Tamara, Farragut now has 2309 with the intention of bringing it down to around 1800 in order to keep existing programs in tact. I believe the new zoning will take the kids from the town limit line (Canton Hollow Road) to Pellissippi to HVHS. How far south down Pellissippi that goes, I'm not sure, but there were 400 kids in the Northshore area that were in HVHS zone under Lindsey's plan that will now be zoned for Bearden. There are 3 or 4 neighborhoods up Canton Hollow that are still zoned for Farragut under the new plan (Woody Road,etc.) These neighborhoods are not in the Town limits and do not attend all other Farragut schools. Yet, the four on the far west side, in the town limits and feeder schools are getting yanked. Is there logic on that one???(or in your situation either!)
I see your point on your end about the crowding issue-that's where we are now. We need HVHS, but we also needed another school in the far southwest sector (Choto) 10 years ago, but nothing was done, so 200 kids on the far west end of the county are paying the price now. They will go to school all their lives with their friends then be plopped in a high school where they are not part of the community and have never been. Good luck in your fight. I think our end would love to help your community, but we have our own battles to fight, sadly and there isn't much time.

I wouldn't mind rezoning so much if they'd just grandfather in kids that already are attending the school and possibly younger siblings that are already in. It's just not fair to rezone a child that's been at a school for 3 years already.

I'm anxiously awaiting the details on this. We live right on the edge of our elementary school zone.

It's curious to me how suddenly the board wants to move on this, seeing as how they were supposed to have decided on the Hardin Valley zones by December originally, if I recall correctly.
I have a question for EML - do you know more exactly (neighborhoods or more location) where in the Northshore area are the 400 kids that were going to go to HVHS under Lindsey's plan and will now go to Bearden? Is that the Gettysvue/Westland Drive area east of Pellissippi or are they crossing west over Pellissippi to move kids to Bearden (which they have never done and I assume by their comments about "natural boundaries" they would not) If they're moving 400 kids into Bearden from an area west of Pellissippi, that is a new area for that school which means they gotta move 400 out from somewhere and move them to I would guess Hardin Valley or West.

At previous meetings regarding the Hardin Valley zone school administrators said they would grandfather in students who would be seniors and likely juniors when Hardin Valley opened in 2008. They did say that moving high school seniors is particularly difficult - they are the ones that are elected to leadership positions in clubs, sports, and have already been applying for scholarships, etc. I would certainly hope that the school system would grandfather in juniors and seniors and perhaps younger siblings who are already attending school then as sophomores or freshmen.

Will anyone finally get it? Just how ridiculous is to have government dictate where you send your kid for an education? If you had a meaningful plan for school choice, you would not be subject to the arbitrary decisions of government bureaucrats.

Educating your child is the most critical responsibility of a parent, yet we allow government to make most if not all the decision about it. WAKE UP PEOPLE! Your children do not belong to government!

The rezoning plan was the top story on WVLT last night, too. They said the plan would be posted online as soon as the letters hit the mail today and that they would have a link to it from their website.

Tamara,
When the reporter told your group that the rezonings would be effective for grades six through 10, does that mean for children who would be in those grades NOW or those grades in the FALL of 2008? And I'm wondering if that means middle and high schools?? Boy, I'm confused too! Thanks for any clarification.

Just to clarify my earlier question - the current 10th graders would be the seniors of '08, therefore, they would be grandfathered as I understand previous information. So would the rezoning be effective for grades 6-10 that are in those grades in the fall of '08? the ninth graders currently would, again be jrs in 08, and i think i am counting correctly, and would also be grandfathered. see how confused i have gotten?

There's a new article at KNS.
(link...)

The 2nd high school zone that won't be changed is Halls High.

The plan has been posted on the KCS site.

(link...)

I can hear the Bearden High football band from my house and they moved my whole neighborhood to West High. ????

Tamara Shepherd, when I said expand, I meant Knox County needs to physically build on to the schools they already have. It seems like Farragut has 2300 kids and many of them want to stay there.

Greg - We can hear the band at the High School, too. Our neighborhood is being sent to West while a bunch of West students are being sent to Bearden. This plan is awful.

Check out the new rezoning maps on knoxschools.org. They're ridiculous! Also, it states in the first few paragraphs of their site that these changes will take place in the '08 school year and will affect "current" 7th through 10th graders. That means the current 7th graders by that time will be 9th graders, and the current 10th graders will be SENIORS! Surely they will consider some kind of grandfathering process (if this passes). The thought that they could actually consider sending seniors to a new high school is absolutely beyond belief!

And to all concerned about elementary and middle schools, they're to follow and I doubt it's going to be any prettier than what they're proposing for the high schools ... maybe worse! All indications are that the plans for the elementary and middle schools will probably take effect in the same school year ('08) if the school board gets their way. God bless us all!

Tamara - I'm so sorry this is happening to your community. You deserved to be treated much more intelligently than this deceitful, sneaky, unfair plan.

Regarding Dude's comment on size --There is much debate among the school board members and the education community about school size. Several want all our high schools around 1500 students. However, we do not have the funding to build a high school for every 1500 students.

Dude -- I agree with you. Farragut is a huge community, much larger than the Town of Farragut. Many would prefer to split the campus (underclassman and upperclassman) than have a smaller FHS and ship their former admiral pals to Hardin Valley. Other areas in Knox County might prefer a school of 1500 to maintain their rural style of community. That works too. This should be about community choice. Not one size fits all for the entire county.

First, we (as citizens) need to clearly define our community borders. It seems the school adminstration is not aware of them and the school board through zoning is going to create new ones. It may not have been the intent of the rezoning process, but it is the result. When those of us first affected by this spoke about splitting up our community, we got little sympathy from the rest of the county. I wish I could count the number of comments that mention they do not want to see their community split up. That is why so many of us are shocked at the illogical choice the school board made to build a high school in Hardin Valley when it was needed along Pellissippi and Northshore -- in the community that had the need.

The rezoning of our high schools is not just about education but about the very fabric of what defines each community in Knox County. We must have strong communities so we can improve our school system and restore integrity to our government.

Our county commissioners need to get involved with this process. We (as a county) need to work together. Today the school board asked the county commission to support their rezoning plan. The same plan that has not officially been presented to the school board yet. But they want the county commission to support it. The county commission needs to remember that this is the same school board that brought them a poor location to build Hardin Valley -- a $50 million dollar decision. Then the school board said growth was so rapid the school must be built for full capacity rather than 1600 students at proposed by Mayor Ragsdale. If I sat on county commission, I would make the school board go back and check all their data when they came to me for a decision. Twice they have come and asked for the commission to approve a bad choice.

The entire rezoning process should be designed to get the community together to create solutions. Envision a summit styled workshop to create multiple solutions by all members of the community. Each table(with a mix of folks from around the county) work together to create their own zone map. Let the parents who know the areas best contribute in a meaningful way.

I agree with Tamara Shepherd's comments in the News Sentinel. These actions were conceived behind closed doors between each school board member and the administration. While that does not violate sunshine laws, it does hurt the spirit of those laws. Why wasn't this proposal discussed at any of the work sessions or school board meetings before being released to the community? Instead, the zones are released before this is even presented to the board in a public setting. It seems like the school board took lessons from our county commissioners.

Why did they only send letters to people who were affected by the proposed zone? Does that mean there will be no changes and the public forums are just happening to make us feel like we have a voice? It has to be the plan. Because how would you explain the process to someone who did not get a letter and was suddenly effected during the 12-day period when the board is presented the proposal and votes. Are the folks who didn't get letters feeling safe right now? Do they even know what is going on? How are they going to feel if they get zoned out of thier existing high school with two days notice?

This is another political black eye for Knox County. Officials who forgot the meaning of public servant.

Citizens -- take charge -- remember to vote in the next elections. Better yet -- RUN for office!!

I have three children who have been in the Powell school system since kindergarten. One just toured the high school and registered for his classes for next year. He came in from school today and looked at the Knox county schools website and saw that if the proposed rezoning takes effect he will be sent to Karns. We are considering moving in order to keep them in Powell schools. My voting will definitely change in the next election.

Is there a petition going around against this? If so, would it do any good?

Please don't sterotype us as a group. No one likes when people do that to them. It's not kind. We do care. I had a similar experience growing up.

That is why several of my comments are directed to create a better process to get community feedback before these types of things happen.

In bed last night, I thought we should first create a zoning map that reflects the perfect world. Who should create it? A forum of communtiy volunteers as a way to provide feedback to the school board and adminstration.

Then we should overlay the high schools and feeder schools. People want to have strong communities. Each feeder school district for each high school should blend. This is a problem in many parts of the county.

Then we need long range planning to keep communities together -- additions, new schools -- should be within that school pattern.

I'm sorry this is happened to you. I hope you will continue to speak up about this, because evidently it has left deep wounds. I have personally heard several board members and school adminstrators say --- they make lots of noise but they forget about it. You are a great example of someone who didnt' forget about.