Thu
Apr 12 2007
09:29 am
Rezoning unopposed: Why are we here?
By: djuggler

I posted this to Reality Me but it should have been posted here to reach the masses. As a reminder, if you do not have children, this decision by the school board could impact your property value. If you have young children, they will be in high school sooner than you think, and this rezoning will likely be a model for the middle school and elementary rezoning which will follow soon.

On Aug 3 2006, Sam Anderson ran unopposed for the School Board 1st District, Dan Murphy ran unopposed for the School Board 4th District, Thomas A Deakins beat H Lee Martin by 372 votes for the School Board 6th District, Rex Stooksbury ran unopposed for the School Board 7th District, and Robert Bratton ran unopposed for the School Board 9th District. I am not sure about the other districts.

According to two commenters on No Silence Here, at least one school board member's neighborhood seemed to escape rezoning. (can anyone verify this? are there others?)

Isn't it amazing that Karen Carson's neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods are no longer in the rezoning area????????? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Gee, what a coincidence. [Source]

I noticed that Chairwoman Karen Carson's neighborhood did not get rezoned to either Bearden or Hardin Valley even though the area is sandwiched between those being rezoned. Just curious if any school board members' neighborhoods are being rezoned? [Source]

Are we, the people, being properly represented by our elected officials or have these elected officials found an easy way to serve their own best interests? Seems to me that if I had the foresight to want to greatly influence this rezoning that I should have simply run for the School Board. If the majority of the people do not want this rezoning approved and it happens anyway, then the democratic process is failing and we, the people, need to remove the elected officials from their duties and replace them with officials that will better represent the people's wishes.

Now we beg the question, what does the majority want?

Topics:
Cletus's picture

You should clarify that back

Submitted by Cletus on Thu, 2007/04/12 - 9:36am.

You should clarify that back in the May primary, Bratton and Stooksbury both ran with opposition.

This info is also available on the election commission's web site.

In any event, I'm missing your point about these peoples' elections. What is it?

djuggler's picture

My point is that without

Submitted by djuggler on Thu, 2007/04/12 - 9:55am.

My point is that without getting more people to want to be in such elected positions, that we may not being getting the quality of elected official that the people need to be properly represented.

I read in a comment that someone spoke to a school board member (and I can't find a link right now) and that school board member said something to the affect of "you'll whine over this, we'll vote yes, and you'll get over it." That's a poor response. An elected official should be willing and open to hear all comments from the constituents and then should make the decision that is in the best interest of the people. Granted, that interest might differ from minority but the representative should be willing to take the time to explain their position to the voter rather than saying "you'll get over it."

So my point is that having people run unopposed opens up the door for unqualified or poor performing officials and perhaps even unchallenged corruption. We may not be able to influence this rezoning, but we as a people should be looking ahead and asking ourselves "How do we get better elected officials? How do we encourage elections where no one runs unopposed?"

EML's picture

To djuggler: I believe it

Submitted by EML on Thu, 2007/04/12 - 11:48am.

To djuggler: I believe it was the interim superintendant that made the comment we would forget about it. I believe it was in yesteday's or today's paper.

Ennui's picture

Yep, which validates a point

Submitted by Ennui on Thu, 2007/04/12 - 12:04pm.

Yep, which validates a point made here by someone yesterday...the interim fellow can be the bad guy.

LAM's picture

Vote them OUT!

Submitted by LAM on Sun, 2007/04/15 - 5:00pm.

If this proposed rezoning plan passes on May 2nd, even though it seems the majority of the Knox County residents are opposed to this "particular plan," I say vote them all out! The members of the school board have the option of taking a step back and re-evaluating this proposal. If they choose not to listen to the people of this county regarding our children's futures, they have no business representing us. And the comments, I believe from Interim Superintendent Mullins, about "everyone will make a lot of noise up to the vote, and then once it passes they'll all just get over it and move on" (not verbatim), speaks volumes about him in my opinion.

I've read that many school board members have commented that they didn't "draw" this plan out (thanks Rick Grubb!), so as to say "don't blame us," but they certainly have the option of listening to the residents of this county and giving it a resounding "NO" vote!

There are problems in this county's schools on many levels, I think everyone would agree, but this proposed rezoning plan is certainly not the answer for fixing them.

DAVID's picture

MAKING DECISIONS

Submitted by DAVID on Sun, 2007/04/15 - 7:10pm.

THE BOARD MEMBER HAVE A HUGE DECISION TO MAKE. DO THEY WANT TO TEAR KNOX COUNTY APART OR VOTE NO!!!!!!!

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