Standing-Room-Only Crowd Attends Public Hearing
by Judy Frank
posted July 8, 2008
) Photo by Michael Locke With Red Bank Mayor Joe Glasscock looking on, Police Sergeant Dan Knight gives an assessment of traffic patterns at three proposed middle school sites. Click to enlarge. |
That's why it would make more sense to put the new school at the site of the old Bi-Lo, near the intersection of Dayton Boulevard and Browntown Road, Mayor Joe Glasscock and other officials said.
The mayor said he was dumbfounded when he ran into County Commissioner Richard Casavant at a recent meeting, and the two began talking about the proposed middle school.
"Aren't you all going to have any input into the location of the school?" Mayor Glasscock said Commissioner Casavant asked him.
"Yes sir," he said he replied. "We're planning on having a public meeting real soon."
"Well, it doesn't matter," the county commissioner replied, according to Mayor Glasscock. "The higher echelon has already decided where that school is going to be built."
Not if he has anything to do with it, the mayor told the crowd.
Commissioner Casavant, who reportedly is out of town on vacation, was not available for comment.
Mayor Glasscock told the crowd that finding the money to buy the old Bi-Lo site should not be a problem. He has talked to a realtor who told him that the land where the present middle school is located should sell for enough money to cover the purchase of the new site.
Officials told the crowd that traffic studies show there is already heavy congestion on Morrison Springs Road near the high school. About 6,600 vehicles pass through that area every day - and a whopping 790 of them go by during the afternoon, when the school is dismissing.
Dr. Jim Scales, school superintendent, said plans for the new school are "very preliminary" and the board has not yet considered where it should be built. Consequently, he said, the school board members attending the meeting "will be listening to your input with great interest."
Board members Chip Baker and Rhonda Thurman each briefly addressed the crowd.
"I think this should be a community decision," Ms. Thurman said. "Other communities have had that opportunity and I think you should, too."
Joe Dumas, who is opposing Mr. Baker in the ongoing school board election, also spoke, saying he believes the old Bi-Lo site is the best of the three suggested.
"How much weight does the community's desires carry?" one woman asked.
"I would think it will be on whoever is representing Red Bank on the school board at the time the decision is made," an official replied.
Several people questioned whether it is wise to have students ranging from grade six to grade 12 all going to school in close proximity to each other.
":I'm here to tell you there are enough distractions in middle school already," she declared, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Another woman talked at length about how the community worked to make improvements on the high school property.
"Don't ruin the high school as we have it," she pleaded, noting that putting the middle school on that site "would put between 1,700 and 2,000 kids on our back door."
) Photo by Michael Locke View of old Bi-Lo lot from corner of Dayton Boulevard and Browntown Road. Click to enlarge. |
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