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Williamson County Taxpayers Against Rezoning

November 8, 2010 By 1 Comment

It’s not just parents, it’s now Williamson County taxpayers who are concerned with the proposed WCS school rezoning.

After having a full page Sunday ad rejected by the Tennessean, Williamson County taxpayers have created a website in an attempt at preventing a rushed rezoning vote by the Williamson County School Board.

A rezoning petition created last week respectfully asking for more time had 874 signatures as of this morning.

The big question is, how will the Williamson County School rezoning affect real estate and home values?

Below is text from the website WCTaxpayers.com:

Williamson County Schools- The Parents and Taxpayers of Williamson County Have Some Questions for You:

  • What is the Hurry?
    • Williamson County Schools Central Office (WCSCO) is creating a plan for the Board of Education to vote on that will affect all citizens of our county for the next five years; shouldn’t they spend the time to ensure that they get it right?
    • We are told that the process was begun last spring, but much of the time was spent in simple data entry into the Edulog Software program, not in analysis.
    • New plans and proposals are rushed out with lightning speed as new facts are “discovered,” with WCSCO staff working up to 18 hour days and weekends…why?  Get a good night’s sleep, get the facts and come up with an equitable, effective, long term plan.
    • ALL the children of Williamson County deserve access to a quality education with a minimum of disruption.  Thousands of children are still adversely affected by the current zoning proposal.
    • The five year zoning plan shows that new schools are necessary, why rezone now only to have to rezone again in two years?  WCSCO has even begun preparing for that future rezoning. Why rezone all at once instead of rolling out in phases?
  • Why is WCSCO creating a rezoning plan when they haven’t finished the seven year strategic plan?
    • The County Commission has required WCSCO and the Board of Education to develop a Strategic Plan to guide the schools for the next seven years.  School officials have asked for an extension until January, they plan to vote on rezoning this week.
    • If there isn’t an overall strategic plan with approved funding, why disrupt students now?
  • Why spend $98,501 on a software program if it’s not going to be used properly?
    • The WCSCO invested in a software program, “Edulog,” to impartially facilitate a county-wide rezoning.
    • Parents and taxpayers were told that the goal was to put an end to  spot zoning and take an impartial look at the entire county.
    • Parents are now informed that the data was set up to “affect as few students as possible, or otherwise the plan would be politically impossible to get passed.”  This is not impartial.
    • The first zoning proposal based on Edulog results was an embarrassment to the county.  Students were moved from one school to another simply because the zoning line looked better on a map or were zoned to schools that appeared close to a neighborhood on the map, but with no actual roads to connect them.
    • Edulog also didn’t differentiate between areas in the county with different growth rates.  Built out areas of Brentwood were given the same growth value as rapidly-expanding Nolensville.
    • The latest proposal still doesn’t recognize areas with zero or declining growth.
  • Why hasn’t WCSCO rerun Edulog using the parameter that is most important to parents (and homebuyers): Proximity?
    • Parents and some Board of Education members were shocked and dismayed to find out that proximity to schools was third on the list of factors fed into the program;
    • Ignoring proximity increases transportation costs and creates uncertainty in home buying.
  • Why hasn’t WCSCO rerun Edulog using the parameter most important student well being, equitable feeder patterns?
    • Some children will be split from their classmates to attend different middle schools AND be split again to attend different high schools
    • Studies have shown that if you split a class of rising 9th graders so that a small group is isolated, that group will have lower grades – See State University of New York study on “Effects of Feeder Patterns on Student’s Transitions to High School”
    • The children of Cool Springs East will be part of a tiny contingent of 40 kids going from Woodland Middle to Centennial High School while hundreds of their friends go to Ravenwood.
    • Sullivan Farms students go to Winstead Elementary School, and then either Page Middle School or Hillsboro School and then splitting again to Page or Centennial high schools.
  • Why won’t WCSCO allow parents/taxpayers to take a proactive role in the rezoning process, rather than reacting to plans devised in secret?
    • Director of Schools Mike Looney said, his staff had been cloistered in a “cave” where they were only let out for “bathroom breaks.” Williamson Herald
    • Why the need for secrecy?
    • Other Tennessee school districts have included parents in decisions, including appointing a Citizen Advisory Board to take the lead in creating the rezoning plan and actively accepting and listening to parent feedback.
    • How many hours that were spent by the staff of the WCSCO in damage control (paid for by the taxpayers) could have been avoided if a Citizen Advisory Board had been created?
    • When the parents were allowed input via a telephone poll, 46.7% voted against plans that were similar to the plan currently on offer, “none of the above” received the highest vote of the choices. This figure includes parents who are not even directly affected.
  • Why is WCSCO creating inequity in real estate values?
    • The latest proposal draws a 0.5 mile radius around elementary schools and a 1 mile radius around middle and high schools.  If you live within these zones, you are guaranteed not to be rezoned;
    • If you live outside of the “Magic Circle,” the best WCSCO can offer is that your child won’t be rezoned more than 5 times in their educational career(see 5-4-3 plan below);
    • Homeowners within the Magic Circle will be able to use that as a selling point;
    • Using magic ignores science- the Meade of Avalon is within Ravenwood’s 1 mile radius but they’re magically zoned to Centennial, five miles away.
  • Why is WCSCO willing to bus kids dozens of extra miles per day?
    • Who is going to pay for increased transportation costs, especially if gas prices rise?
    • A student from West Franklin will travel an EXTRA 2,880 miles per school year than under current zoning.
    • A child from the recently closed Pinewood school, who two years ago was formerly zoned to Hillsboro Elementary Middle School will travel 80 minutes to school EACH way to Fairview Elementary.
  • Why have the taxpayers paid for schools to be located in areas where they are impossible to fill?
    • The new high school, Summit, is built flush up against a county line, meaning that it can only draw students from two directions, rather than all sides.  This school will either remain under capacity or be populated by children from distant homes.
    • Ravenwood High School was built in such a location that makes it impossible to draw enough kids into Centennial.
  • Why won’t WCSCO look at creative solutions to fill their unfillable schools, rather than bus unwilling students to them?
    • Add magnet programs to these schools
      • Parents would pay for their own transportation
    • Rent space to a community college to house the dual-credit courses the schools already offer.
  • Why doesn’t WCSCO slow down and recheck their data before making a decision?
    • How did they manage to misplace 200 seats at Centennial?  Over the years, schools have been altered and modified, apparently no one was keeping track;
    • How did they manage to misplace seats at the new Summit High School – it hasn’t even opened yet and the capacity has been reduced by 129 seats as a part of various rezoning  plans released by WCSCO!
    • The Middle School enrollment projections vary wildly between the plans presented in the last few weeks, by over 200 students in one year alone;
    • Some real estate developments that were used to calculate growth are actually in foreclosure, where did they get their figures?
  • Why create 3 and Me, Express Buses and 5-4-3 plans?  Why not create an equitable plan to begin with?
    • 3 and Me allows a rezoned high school kid to invite 3 friends from her current school to join them at their new school
    • The voluntarily rezoned kids will have to be driven to and from their friend’s house each day.  They will be ineligible to participate in sports for a season.  This does not realistically benefit kids getting zoned out of a desirable school or out of their community school (see Express Bus below).  They will still start their new school knowing no one.
    • The Express Bus idea is to reduce the time students spend on a bus.  A kid from a large neighborhood who has to travel more than 10 miles to school will have a bus that makes no stops outside their neighborhood.
      • Many crowded neighborhoods already fill a bus enough to not have stops outside their neighborhood
      • No student should ever have to travel over 10 miles if there is  school  in their own community;
    • The 5-4-3 guarantee states that a child in elementary school will not be rezoned more than 5 times during their 1-12 school years.  Is 4 an acceptable number?  Why not develop a rational plan for rezoning that makes this guarantee obsolete?  The 5-3-1 plan will scare potential home buyers.
  • Does the current plan achieve WCSCO’ main goal of utilizing capacity and being proactive in anticipating new needs?
    • Why is Williamson County moving students from undercapacity Grassland Middle School to overcapacity Hillsboro Elementary Middle School?  Has this ever been done in the history of education?
    • The High schools were designed with enough common areas, lockers and dining capacities to add additional classrooms, wouldn’t it make sense to do that to keep children in their communities until new high schools could be built, if necessary?

The WCSCO has presented their rezoning plan to the Williamson County Board of Education.  Ask the Williamson County Board of Education to REJECT the proposed rezoning plan.



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County Commissioner Kathy Danner on WCS Rezoning

October 30, 2010 By 8 Comments
Kathy Danner Williamson County Commissioner

Kathy Danner Williamson County Commissioner

It’s nice to see someone taking the bull by the horns.

4th District County Commissioner Kathy Danner presented the statement below on Tuesday to the Williamson County Commission’s Education Committee regards to WCS rezoning:

“I would like to share my thoughts on the current zoning plan and how it relates to the School Board’s request for new building funding.

I know that typically the County Commission does not get involved with the school board’s business especially when it comes to zoning, However, for me, because of the recent erosion in credibility of central office and the lack of transparency, I would like to offer 4 next steps regarding their request for funding.

But first:

As it relates to loss in credibility for Central Office:

- This County has been funding schools for years, apparently in the wrong locations. Dr. Looney said as much in our last commission meeting: I quote from the minutes: “Dr. Looney stated that it is difficult to populate Centennial High because of the proximity of 3 high schools. He also stated that he does not believe there is a silver bullet that enables all schools to be filled before more schools are requested.”
If we have been building schools in the wrong locations, then the data from Central Office must have been inaccurate or misleading. This is fiscally irresponsible.
Our job is to be fiscally responsible.

- The Data given to Edulog was wrong. Not only in the sense that there was a county wide growth rate applied to built out neighborhoods who have no growth rate, but also in that they didn’t even know the actual capacity of Centennial. This can be found doing a simple Google search of the school. AND then, to add insult to injury, instead of just admitting a mistake, they created new definitions of capacity. We have Optimal, Program, and Overload. Note that program capacity can change any time that the programs are changed at a school. Therefore, what is the tax payer buying when we fund a school??

- The argument that capacity = quality of education. ? I don’t understand. If that were so, then the over capacity of Ravenwood and the under capacity status of Brentwood High, would have those schools ranked last. Instead, they are ranked first and second. Centennial, without the addition of new kids and with 252 out of zone students who are zoned for Centennial actually improved it’s ACT scores last year. I talked to the TDOE today and found out that in the 2010 TDOE report card that Centennial will have also improved it’s graduation rate. They did this without new students.

To the issue of Transparency: I have two constituents that have requested the numbers that were used to run Edulog: The numbers of students per grade per school per neighborhood. They made their request over 30 days ago. The Central Office has NOT complied with even the legally required letter stating when they could expect this data.

This is a matter of Trust. We as Commissioners have been entrusted with the county’s tax dollars. We have to be able to TRUST Central Office (as do the school board members) to provide accurate and transparent information. 72% of the County Wide budget including school debt is allocated to schools. We must get this right.

Suggested Action from the County Commission/ Education Committee

1) The Central Office and the School board have been working on a 7 year Long Term Strategic Plan. The first one ever. I understand that is due out in January.
Zoning is a part of that plan. The first resolution or mandate that I would like to offer is that NO tax dollars be offered until the 7 year long term strategic plan which should include zoning (whether it is county wide or done in sections) be presented to the commission. No county wide zoning should occur without this 7 year strategic plan first. How in the world can tax payers contribute to new funding plans without knowing the direction we are headed. There is not a board of trustees in this county that would ever let a CEO have funding without a plan.

Within that Long Term Strategic Plan, there should be goals of having NO less than a 40 % split for any split school. If the parents who participated in the Long Term Strategic Plan said that equitable splits, clean feeder systems and proximity were more important to them, then by all means, run our $80K Edulog software module with these factors more heavily weighted than capacity. Make all the data public!

If we have schools in the wrong locations then I would expect hard data to convince us and the taxpayers that all of the options (such as selling a school or other out of the box options) were thoroughly evaluated and prioritized. The School Board could sell a school and use that money within the school board’s budget to purchase a school in a more ideal location? Just an example: Centennial happens to be on prime real estate and if sold to a non-government entity, that property goes onto the tax roles. It also is near and may be within an economic development zone and could also presumably be a benefit to that as well. Again, how can we reward new funding without a plan?

2) I would like to hold the Central Office accountable when asking for a new school, that they also provide alternative plans to build onto existing schools. For example: The Ravenwood Wing. Why hasn’t this been built? It was in the original plan and will add capacity for 200 more students? Again, before we can offer new funding, we and the taxpayers should be presented with hard data on alternatives like school additions and portables as options.

3) Instead of a mandate on capacity equalization for ALL schools, let’s make suggestions that not only use the tax payers money wisely, but are best for kids. I see merit in capacity equalization for elementary schools. However, at the Middle school and High School level, the quality of education is threatened by moving kids from school to school. High Schools especially are too different in culture and academic offering. Zoning students at the High School level should only be done if there is a brand new school or if the schools are equivalent in average ACT scores, program offerings, and graduation rates.

4) Another suggestion is to offer a task force to Central Office so that some light and transparency can be shed into “the cave”.. Possibly 2- 3 parents from each of the 12 districts chosen by the County Commissioners to meet with Central Office in finalizing a partial or whole county zoning plan that will be a part of the 7 year Long Term Strategic Plan.

I believe if we work together, we can do better for the County than what has been offered recently.

- Kathy Danner”
Thoughts or comments?

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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 Update

November 20, 2009 By 5 Comments

Looks like the parents against Ravenwood Rezoning have been granted a larger meeting room (instead of 50 people max capacity) and an opportunity for parents to actually speak at the meeting.  Share how this is affecting you and your children in the Ravenwood Rezoning Discussion Forum.

Here is an email Williamson County Board Member Terry Leve sent parents earlier today:From: Terry Leve
Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 11:08 AM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: Update on Rezoning Meeting

 

Dear All,

I’m pleased to inform you that the Executive Committee has considered my request for the 6:00 p.m. November 30 special called Board meeting to be in a larger room than originally scheduled (which was the Carolyn Campbell Room, capacity 50) and to permit interested members of the public to speak.

The Executive Committee has made arrangements for the meeting to occur in our normal meeting place for regularly scheduled meetings, the auditorium in the County Offices.  Capacity is 134 persons, and will be strictly enforced. (It is a fire safety issue.)  Attendance will be on a first come, first served basis.

Additionally, the Executive Committee will permit 15 minutes of public comment set at the first part of the meeting.  There will be a sign up sheet that is put out at 5:30 in the auditorium.  Again, it is first come, first served. The Board Chair will see how many people sign up, divide that number into 15, and determine how much time is permitted per person.  For example, 5 people would be given three minutes each.  I would anticipate that there will be a maximum number permitted to sign up (although I do not know what that is).  For example, I do not envision 30 people being given 30 seconds.

I would encourage you to thank Board Chair Pat Anderson and interim Director Dr. David Heath for making these arrangements.

Terry Leve
School Board, District 6

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Ravenwood Rezoning Letter

November 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Below is an email sent this morning by Igor Puzanov to the entire Williamson County School Board regarding the Ravenwood rezoning vote on November 30.  Feel free to share you thoughts and feelings about the rezoning of Ravenwood High School in Brentwood at the Cool Springs Ravenwood Rezoning Forum.

Dear Board members:

Thank you all for coming to the meeting yesterday at our Ravenwood High School. All the parents appreciated your presence and the high level of reasoned discussions. I sincerely hope that the members not being able to attend will get the report from the ones who did and will be able to hear from the concerned parents and citizens at the meeting on November 30th.

It was good to hear that the points made by our parents are being considered and that the proposal in front of the School Board on 11/30/2009 is going to be treated just that way-as a proposal, not as an executive order.

There are several other options which should be given a fair consideration. Some short term:  48 student out of zone,  Nolensville being the fastest growing area, additional high school open to accept extra students, grandfathering freshmen. But most importantly, rather quick development of a comprehensive long term plan under the guidance of the new County School leadership.

As you have heard, our parents and children are willing and able to wait through a transitory period using portable classrooms while working with all of you and the new School Superintendent Mr. Looney (who is copied on this email) to find long term solutions for the County schools.

We are a dedicated, organized group, willing to support you in your efforts to bring the best education to all of Williamson County students. We now understand that the Commissioners were not considering the new East High school a priority for funding, which has created this highly charged situation.

Please, be assured that if given chance, we will tirelessly work with you on the solution for this unfortunate omission. These plans will have to be carried forward in either case as any move today is just a very short, less then 2 year temporary band aid solution.

Please consider the venue for the November 30th meeting- it would create much more pleasant and productive atmosphere if the chamber would accommodate the expected attendees-likely even more then last nights 500.   

Lastly, would you please let us know the rules for signing up to speak at this 11/30 meeting? There has been a great deal of confusion and especially as not all of Board members were able to attend, it would be prudent to allow public to speak prior to such an important decision.

Yours sincerely,

 

Igor Puzanov, MD, MSCI
Associate Director, Phase I Drug Development
Melanoma/Renal Cancer Program
Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Division of Hematology-Oncology
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
2220 Pierce Avenue, 777 Preston Research Building
Nashville, TN  37232-6307

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