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Meade of Avalon Letter to WCS Board Members

November 5, 2010 By 1 Comment
The Meade of Avalon

The Meade of Avalon

Below is a letter sent by residents of the Cool Springs area development “The Meade of Avalon” to Williamson County School Board members regarding the controversial WCS rezoning:

“November 2, 2010

Dear Williamson County Board Member:

We understand the school board faces difficult decisions with the pending rezoning of the Williamson County Schools. However, we urgently request that you reconsider the rezoning of our neighborhood The Meade of Avalon away from Ravenwood High School.

We have used two independent sources to map a 1-mile-radius from the middle of the Ravenwood school building as well as its driveway entrance. As you can see from the attached map, the Meade of Avalon falls within the 1 mile zone. We have used the Williamson County: Franklin and Brentwood, Tennessee Street Atlas published by NorthernStar ISBN 978-1-59862-197-6. We also used Google Map’s application at http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm .

We do not understand how the WCS proposal map puts us outside the 1-mile-radius protection zone. The distance from the southern entrance to the intersection of McEwen & Wilson Pike is 1.1 miles. Clearly, our neighborhood lies within 1 mile of the school.

The proposal has set a point somewhere to the north of the school property as the center of the “safety zone.” We request that the Board act with transparency and fairness in the mapping process. We request that an unbiased center-point be chosen for every high school’s safety zone. We recommend that the school building itself be the center point of the circle. Alternatively, we suggest that the safety zone should not include the school property itself, but rather start on the property’s perimeter. Either option is a fair measure of a true 1-mile-radius.

We respectfully request that a revised plan be created that truly places proximity to the school as a top priority. Proximity was a top priority request from the parent meetings that were held at the very beginning of the process. Neither the Sept. 17 Edulog nor the Sept. 27 Central Office plans for which the public provided feedback called for zoning The Meade of Avalon away from Ravenwood High School. During the Sept. 23 Q&A at Centennial High, Dr. Looney specifically said rezoning The Meade of Avalon would not make sense because of our proximity to Ravenwood High School. To see the current rezoning plan is disheartening.

Our parents and residents are also concerned about the safety of McEwen Drive. In their board minutes, the Franklin aldermen know the road, even with recent repairs, to be “substandard,” not meeting the city’s tough standards. It “will be a major project to fix the road properly.” It has already begun to deteriorate again, noticeably after the May floods. The section our students will be traveling is slated to go under a $17 million construction upgrade from 2011-2014. Undoubtedly the construction will make the road even more treacherous, particularly for buses and young drivers in the immediate future. In the spirit of keeping “students safe,” we ask if it is a responsible decision to route our students from a school as close to us as Ravenwood across such a dangerous roadway.

We point out these concerns as top, urgent priorities. Others include concern over the double-split feeder pattern for our neighborhood. We are a relatively small community compared to others in the county and have been given little opportunity to provide feedback on this new proposal that will affect us. We ask to be treated fairly, with our students’ safety as a top priority.

We would also like to point out that we are an independent neighborhood with our own homeowners’ association and property management team. We have no official association with the Avalon subdivision located to our west. In fact, our closest neighbors live in Inglehame Farms.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
Concerned residents of The Meade of Avalon

Enclosures:
2 maps of the Ravenwood High School 1-mile-radius

Sources:

City of Franklin website www.franklin-gov.com–
BOMA 2010-2014 CIP Project Summary & Priority Ranking, 12/22/2009
Minutes of the Work Session, Board of Mayor and Aldermen, 7/27/2010
Meeting Minutes, Capital Investment Committee, 2/12/2009

Free Map Tools, Ravenwood High School, Brentwood, TN, Google Maps,

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-around-point.htm

Williamson County: Franklin and Brentwood, Tennessee Street Atlas, NorthernStar, ISBN 978-1-59862-197-6″

Radius of Ravenwood High School to Meade of Avalon

Radius of Ravenwood High School to Meade of Avalon

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WCS Rezoning Petition

November 3, 2010 By 5 Comments
Williamson County Schools debacle

Williamson County Schools debacle

A petition has been created by concerned Williamson County taxpayers regarding the controversial WCS school rezoning.

The petition is asking for more time to ensure a fair and equitable rezoning plan, in light of new concern in recent weeks about faulty data given to Edulog.

As of this morning 309 people have signed the WCS rezoning petition electronically.

“Support Quality Education for All Children in Williamson County

We, the people of Williamson County, believe all children deserve equal access to a high-quality education. The current rezoning proposal is not in the best interest of our children or the taxpayers of this county. There is work still to be done. We respectfully ask that the Board of Education delay any rezoning until a more fiscally responsible, long-term plan can be developed that provides academic and program equality, proximity to schools and reasonable feeder systems for all the students of Williamson County.”
Comments left by citizens who have signed the petition:

Name: Kristen Tope on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: Ramrodding a bandaid rezoning agenda, based primarily on capacity loading, through the system prior to developing a strategic plan for Williamson County Schools is not the answer. While WCSB note that only a small percentage of Williamson County students are affected by this proposal, those students are concentrated in only a few areas of the county. The impact to these areas is large. Increasing the current overcapacity situation at schools that WCS wants to fix, is not the solution.

Name: Chad Pyle on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: I can see Ravenwood High School from the back patio of my house in the Meade of Avalon. I listen to every home football game from this spot. It simply doesn’t make sense for our neighborhood to be zone to any other high school.

Name: Scott And Kris Thrash on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: We live in Franklin and want our child to go to his now zoned Franklin schools. I feel that it is not in the best interest as a tax payer in this county to bus kids 12 miles to a school…when there is a school less than 4 miles from there home…..since when is proximity not the first concern……I think the rezoning issue needs to be redone and the first concern should be proximity…..

Name: Laurie Killian on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: In these crazy times my family has done everything in our power to stay in our home for our child to stay at Ravenwood. Its been a lot of sweat and tears but we r still here and for what? For a group of people who have no interest in my child to attempt to pull them from their academic and social home at Ravenwood. Its really heartless and makes no sense at all. Not when Centennial is not capable of expansion and will soon be too full as well. Ravenwood has space to grow and although I’m not educated in zoning its obvious to me that moving a group of kids to Centennial is not the better long term decision. You are messing with kids here. Kids who need stability and we as parents don’t work so hard to give them that stability just for u to walk in and take it away.

Name: Patricia Selph on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: I do not feel the proposed rezoning plan is in the best interest of the children you serve. I respectfully ask you reconsider the changes you are asking be made on the west side of Franklin.

Name: Phil Mandley on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: Let’s not “band-aid” the school re-zoning problem with a hurried approach. Every parent in this county deserves the right to be heard on this issue. Let’s take the time to find a sensible, long term solution that benefits the children of this county…for today and for tomorrow.

Name: Stephanie Campbell on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: The new zoning that puts Clovercroft at Page middle and Page high will devastate our family. Putting us in a school so much farther away in a different community doesn’t seem right. My husband and I work at nights and we pick up our kids from school in time to get to our dance studio by 4pm and this wouldn’t be an option at a new school. Please please keep us at woodland and ravenwood.

Name: Harrison And Tricia Whitehead on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: Sullivan Farms residents — We do not want to keep the current/newest rezoning plan as it creates multiple split feeders for our kids. However, we believe in general that there needs to be MORE work done before finalizing any zoning plan.

Name: Tim Blankenbaker on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: One of the reasons that I chose Williamson County when I relocated from the East Coast is the reputation for excellent public schools. I am concerned that 1) the rezoning plan process has been haphazard and 2) that the infrastructure is not in place for what has clearly been unexpected population growth.

Name: Sharon Spurling on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: If this were a ‘business’ and not ‘government’…the business would fail. Why? Businesses succeed when they are run efficiently, and plan according to customer needs and demand. We need a school within a decent proximity to our home. Franklin High school meets that need, therefore, we became a customer. We purchased a home in Westhaven, zoned for FHS. We paid a premium for our home, so our daughter could attend FHS, instead of investing in private school. Now, we will potentially be zoned to a school 11 miles from our home. A long bus ride for our daughter. All the while, FHS sits just down the street. Bad business.

Name: Andy Logsdon on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: We chose our neighborhood (The Meade of Avalon) when we moved here in July 2008 because it was in the Ravenwood school zone. We had heard lots of good things about Ravenwood, and wanted our son to go there we he starts 9th grade in the fall of 2012. We were careful to check the High School he would be zoned for when purchasing, and never imagined he would not go there since we live less than 1.25 miles from the school.

Name: Bryan K. Williams on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: We believe the parents and children of Williamson County deserve a zoning system that is well reasoned, and reasonably affords the children with a quality education, program equality, and a reasonable feeder system that will allow children to develop and mature into community leaders while maintaining close friendships with their classmates.

Name: Sandy Kasewurm on Nov 3, 2010

Comments: We expect Williamson County executives to be extremely professional and act with the utmost responsibility to our children and our funding as taxpayers. The rush to make change is unnecessary, irresponsible, and dangerous to the well-being of young minds. No successful business executive would create and push through a “20 year” business plan in a matter of a few weeks and the central office has an even greater responsibility because they are meddling with the future of our children. We chose our homes in the schools of choice for our family. It is inconceivable that the central office would be so irresponsible as to move our children to a lesser school without true programs and expect we would approve such an outrageous situation.

Name: Elaine Ryder on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: This is not the right plan. Please do not vote on this plan. Take some more time to get this right.

Name: Michael Spurling on Nov 3, 2010

Comments: We live 2 miles from Franklin High School, but want to bus my daughter 12 miles. This does not make sense.

Name: Paul Kasewurm on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: Proper research, planning and budgeting need to be taken into consideration and not subject students and families to moves that are not necessary. Properly addressing rezoning, with proper buildings and proximities suit our neighborhoods, our roads, our kids and our schedules. (Coming from a background in project management, specializing is mergers, with necessary alignments, assessment and capacity, I have been dismayed to see the approach taken by Dr. Looney. I don’t want to express exaggerated statements but I am rather certain he would have been let go from his position if he worked in the private sector). Please vote no and work to do this right. The intention is correct, the method is not.


Name: Stuart McFarland Moore on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: I am particularly concerned about the closing of Pinewood Elementary School. I consider the decision to be rash and unjust. When deciding on any action, the education of the children must come first. In this case, I believe their interests have not been considered at all. If all decisions were based solely on monetary policy when it comes to taxpayer funded schooling, there would be no arts or music in the school systems, and yet most thoughtful persons would agree that the arts are just as important to a well-rounded and educated individual as math and science. This school means more to the residents of Southwest Williamson County than a mere dollar amount can begin to mirror. This is just as much an issue of culture and society as it is misguided and poor fiscal judgment over the past decade. Millions upon millions of dollars for the other regions of the county, yet nothing in the budget to keep Pinewood open? The math does not add up! We who live here and support that fine school are voters, taxpayers and citizens too. We have an obligation to our children who have no voice in this. If we as adults care for their futures, we strive to ensure that these children have the opportunity to learn in a safe and loving environment, where they are given the chance to grow and reach their individual potential. The greatness of our country is right here in front of us. The “powers that be” listen and respect those they serve, and “do the right thing!” I, Stuart Moore, believe this in my heart. Let us see what our elected officials believe in!

Name: Kimberly Trama on Nov 3, 2010
Comments: I think for any child living in our county it is important that they go to their “neighborhood” school instead of being bussed out to a school across town just to make the numbers and diversity balanced. It makes for a longer day and as a parent, I think it’s too much traveling especially if a family has multiple children attending different schools. I believe that the big picture is being ignored here. The reason that schools and school boards exist is because of our children! Stop playing financial and political games with our families and future leaders of tomorrow.

Name: Cindy Rust on Nov 2, 2010
Comments: We do not need to rush this very important decision simply to check the box indicating we have completed a task. There are many children being impacted by this move, and there has been much information shared with the public that I believe begs the question for further investigation and real research. Rome wasn’t built in a day and there needs to be more time spent on this plan before pulling the plug and realizing later there were mistakes made that could have been avoided. Please delay this decision for a year so we don’t negatively impact so many.

Name: Maureen Wylie on Nov 2, 2010
Comments: I absolutely agree with the above statement. We need a long term plan not a short fix when dealing with the safety and education of our children. They are our future and as such plans should be well thought out. This current re-zoning proposal was drafted in less than 2 weeks. In addition, I believe there needs to be transparency to the zoning calculations and a standard set. Thank you for all you’re doing…but, please, let us give careful consideration to our children.

Name: William Keith Kidwell on Nov 2, 2010
Comments: I feel that this is unfair and has not been given the right amount of time to make sure that this is the right thing to do. It seems to me that there could be a better plan and to get that plan, proper planning had to be done upfront and as tax paying citizens and voters of this county we deserve better, then the few meetings and the half thought out proposals that we have been shown.

Thoughts or comments on the Williamson County School rezoning?

Do you support the petition requesting more time?

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Concerned Williamson County Schools Taxpayer Letter

October 5, 2010 By 5 Comments

Here is a letter not from a concerned parent, just a concerned taxpayer.

“Dear Editor -

I read with interest the letter you posted from the concerned parent titled “WCS Sets Up Centennial to Fail?”  As a tax payer without affected children, my interest was more related to the expenditure of funds for the Edulog program than for the actual rezoning.  I intended to write in a letter questioning the funds, and then comment on how generally these third party software packages are  used only to provide political cover for a difficult decision.  However, before I could write the letter, a host of new information was released.  Specifically, the board vote was postponed (except for closing Pinewood and setting Summit boundaries), and the WCS administration “discovered” that Centennial has a capacity for 1800, not the previously stated 1600.  Holy cow, why isn’t this on the front page of the Tennessean?  Think about the facts below:

- The county commission approved and funded (using tax payer funds) an 1800 student school
- Ravenwood High School was later requested by the school board and funded by the county commission, BASED ON OVERCROWDING AT CENTENNIAL
- The proposed WCS rezoning plan broke the clean feeder at Woodland-Ravenwood based on Dr. Looney’s assertion (from the Centennial community meeting of September 28) that “we couldn’t do more without overloading Centennial”.  Did he not check before making this statement?
- At the same meeting Dr. Looney stated that we need a new school in the Nolensville area.  Will the administration and the board insure that we really need new capacity before asking for more tax payer money to build a new school?
- Later (at a hastily called October 1 press conference) Dr. Looney stated “I think it’s important that we don’t point fingers” and that he still believes in the district’s staff

So a few questions for Dr. Looney, the school board, and the county commission:

1. Will you be refunding money to the tax payers, given that the staff and board spent six months of administration time and paid Edulog $80,000 to build a rezoning plan using wrong data even though a rudimentary google search or records check would have yielded the correct data.
2. As a tax payer I funded an 1800 student school that someone in the administration arbitrarily decided should only be used as a 1600 capacity school and then the school board zoned such that only 1350 students attended.  All of this occurred while taxpayers were funding an overcapacity Ravenwood. To put this in perspective, if an average high school costs approximately $30m to build, by arbitrarily lowering the capacity to 1600, someone in the WCS administration (and the board?) disenfranchised tax payers out of one ninth of the capacity or more than three million dollars.  I want my money back and I want to know who made this decision to waste my tax dollars.
3. In the private sector someone would absolutely be fired for such a misuse of company money.  Can the school board explain to me why we should hold them to such a lower standard.  Can the school board explain why these questions weren’t asked during Friday’s meeting?  Does Dr. Looney work for them or is it the other way around?
4. How is it that with a stated goal of “optimizing capacity” no one in the administration (including several that have been with WCS for many years) knew that wrong capacity numbers were being used?
5. Were faulty capacity numbers for Centennial used to justify building Ravenwood?  If so, how do I get my money back for that?  If someone had not asked the question, would the board have used these same faulty numbers to justify building a new school in Nolensville?
6. When will the county commission demand an investigation?  When will the county’s Inspector General’s office get involved?
7. How will the public (i.e. your funding source) have any confidence when you say you need more money to build another school?

Something stinks in the WCS administrative office.  The only question is what did the board know and when did they know it?  When will the press start to investigate?

Concerned Tax Payer”

Thoughts or comments?

Cool Springs in Williamson County, TN

Cool Springs in Williamson County, TN

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WCS Sets Up Centennial to Fail?

September 30, 2010 By 1 Comment
Williamson County Schools rezoning

Williamson County Schools rezoning

A heated debate affecting the Cool Springs area over a Williamson County School rezoning continues with a vote set for tomorrow evening at 5pm.

The majority of parents we’ve spoken with in the Cool Springs area, still feel a lack of transparency on behalf of the Williamson County School Board and the new Superintendent of school Dr. Mike Looney in regards to the rezoning.

The following letter was submitted by a concerned Williamson County parent who has requested anonymity:

“In November of last year, the Williamson County School (WCS) administration proposed a rezoning plan that moved a small number of students out of the Kenrose-Woodland-Ravenwood feeder system into Centennial High School (CHS) with a majority of kids they don’t know. After extensive public outcry questioning why this group of kids, why it was proposed on the last day of Interim Schools Director Dr. David Heath’s tenure, and why a wider zoning plan wasn’t considered, the school board rejected the plan.

After spending more than $80,000 of tax payer money on an Educational Logistics, Inc. (Edulog) software package, the WCS administration appears to be back at it again. However, now they have implemented a third party software package to develop the same plan rejected last year. Why? And why haven’t they published what the inputs were to the program? Was this rigged from the beginning to give the answer they wanted, and if so, again, why? Is the Williamson County plan setting up Centennial for failure? The evidence seems compelling:

- Though CHS was designed, funded, and built as an 1800 student high school, in recent years, it has been operating with less than 1400 students
- Last year’s WCS Administration rezoning plan and both rezoning plans (Edulog’s and WCS Administration’s) this year assume capacity at CHS of 1600 students. This week the administration counted the school classrooms and lockers, and measured the cafeteria to verify that in fact, Centennial should have 1800 students.
- After building Ravenwood High School, the exodus of students from Centennial resulted in a concentrated population of minorities and financially disadvantaged kids at the school (30.3% minorities and 25.2% economically disadvantaged per TDOE 2009 Report card) with a relative lack of minority and economically disadvantaged representation at the other northern county high schools (less than half the percentages at Ravenwood High School, Brentwood High School, and Franklin High School).
- Other high schools in the county (Page and Fairview) both have smaller enrollments than Centennial, yet have higher test scores; so, clearly a small school can succeed, but not one that has become an economically disadvantaged “dumping ground”
- The plan in November of last year, the original Edulog plan last week, and Dr. Looney’s current plan all have Ravenwood minority and economically disadvantaged representation decreasing, and Centennial minority representation increasing. Is this progress?

Is this a plan for capacity utilization?  What inputs were used to get this plan?  We don’t have all the answers, but in light of this new evidence, parents and tax payers are wondering how the board can vote yes for a rezoning plan this Friday, and why the board can’t use their eighty thousand dollar investment to start from scratch with published goals and the relative weights of proximity, capacity, and broken feeder system BEFORE determining a plan. This appears to be the best way to ensure a fair and objective plan.”

We’re very interested to see how things play out tomorrow evening with the Williamson County School Board and Dr. Mike Looney.

It seems there are still many questions left answered about the rezoning, although a vote is scheduled for 5pm.

Ravenwood High School Brentwood TN

Ravenwood High School Brentwood TN

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Ravenwood Rezoning Meeting

November 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

There is a meeting November 19 from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Ravenwood High School in Brentwood regarding the upcoming Williamson County School District rezoning.  The rezoning would affect about 200 students from families living in Alara Brook, Alara Cool Springs, Alara Farms, Ashton Park, Avalon, Carronbridge, The Knolls, The Meadow, The Village and The Woods.

The children attending Ravenwood High School in Brentwood affected by the rezoning would be moved to Centennial High School in Franklin Tennessee.

A special meeting has been called to vote on the proposal November 30. 

Many parents are extremely upset, having just found out within the past week.  None of the parents we spoke with had received any notification about this rezoning vote.  Some parents fear there will be a significant impact on home values in Cool Springs should this rezoning be passed.

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