Several School Board members on Monday expressed caution about continuing consolidation of county schools.
The facilities committee was told, “Facilities planning will be data driven, taking into consideration factors such as current facility condition, deferred maintenance, and community growth. Planning will align with the needs presented through data while considering the nuances of our community, Our facilities plan will support the goals outlined in Future Ready 2023.
“Hamilton County Schools commits to a defined and transparent process during facility planning and discussions. The process will be clearly communicated internally and with all of our community. We will execute a plan for facilities with discipline and consistency.”
Rhonda Thurman said she was unsure about reducing the number of schools in Hamilton County. She wanted to know which schools were going to be closed, and how many needed to be shuttered.
“I think of something that we’ve done with Harrison Elementary, that projected consolidated some schools and addressed deferred maintenance, and will help us put money into teaching and learning,” a spokesman said.
Ms. Thurman asked if some of the schools would be rezoned to make this happen. The spokesman said if there was an operating principle in place when Hillcrest was being addressed, it would have made that discussion much easier for the Department of Education.
Marco Perez echoed Ms. Thurman’s question, and he said there needs to be clarification on how schools are chosen to be closed.
“If we can produce efficiently without reducing schools, that might be a good place to start in our priorities,” Mr. Perez said. “It will take a while to reduce and consolidate schools, and we need to start with what we’re going to aim at.”
Mr. Perez said he wanted the process itself to be transparent, and for the effects of any decision to be studied and addressed in a public way. The inverse of this is what Mr. Perez said he wanted to avoid, which is a decision being made by only the school board, and then community learning about that decision publicly.
“When I hear the language, I hear it as we will make a decision here and then communicate it clearly,” Mr. Perez said. “Instead of it’s going to be a decision made by listening to the community and bringing them into the decision-making process.”
Board member Karitsa Jones agreed, saying it will be a “tough undertaking,” because keeping every building constituents want may not be fiscally feasible for the county.
“We have to figure out how to say that. We do listen to them and do what we want them to do. But in the case of Tyner, but we have all seen Tyner Academy, and I could not just for the sake of me understand why they would not want a new building or renovations. But they wanted that old building that wasn’t safe. So in good conscience, how can I leave them in that building?”
Mr. Perez did agree with her, saying it is a difficult process and said “reducing the number of schools isn’t the goal. The goal is to create higher efficiencies to bring more resources for greater impact.”
Dr. Steve Highlander said the board has taken input from communities and welcomes that input. However, he also said the long-term financial impact of the pandemic could be a strain.
“I know a couple of my schools don’t have the people to clean those facilities,” he said. “We’re having to spend a whole lot of expenditures. I say proceed with caution, and be fiscally responsible with our limited finances in the future.”
Board member Joe Smith also stressed the importance of talking to the community, but he also said Ms. Jones had a very salient point about balancing what is good for the community with what the community may want (but may not be beneficial for that community).
Board member Jenny Hill asked if there should be language about “there being an intentionality of closing buildings.” She said this plan is an acknowledgement that there are more schools in the county than needed. She also said that the way this plan is laid out is a format she wished the school board would adopt as a default plan of action.
“I would love for our entire county to make decisions in this way, to be clear about how we are going to think through this process and put the county and entire school system first in this process is a standard setting for a decision.”
Ms. Hill said she did not see anything regarding cost when it came to operating principles, and said that should be worked in along with a mention of community input in relation to the operating principles.
Superintendent Bryan Johnson said, “The more schools we have, the more strained our operational dollars are, which affects our programming. We end up with half-time this over here, and part-time that over there.”
Tucker McClendon said that if schools were merged, it would also save costs when it comes to maintenance and allow maintenance dollars to be focused, rather than being stretched out over a number of schools.
“It’s a domino effect in efficiency, in finances, and in operations,” he said. “I think that it can be done. (We will be able to say) this is not your 80-year-old CSLA building you grew up with, but rather a state-of-the-art building that will have everything you need. We’re seeing with Harrison and CSLA it can be done.”