The Hamilton County Board of Education voted to close 21st Century Academy and Howard Middle as well as merge McBrien and East Ridge Elementary Thursday evening. The vote comes after months of indecision among administrators and school board members and heated criticism from parents. As late as Wednesday, the administration gave conflicting reports regarding plans to close 21st Century Academy.
In an email on Thursday, HCDE Director of Communication, Danielle Clark said:
Dr. Scales has also recommended a comprehensive approach for handling facility usage in the future. He wants to engage the board, commission, citizens advisory committee, PTA, foundation partners and higher education in a community dialogue about what the community wants with regard to school facilities, what people are willing to pay for, what we can realistically afford and how we can pay for ideas regarding facilities in the future. This discussion will include potential school consolidations in the future and the future of our building program.
The board's vote could signal the end of small schools in Hamilton County. Over the past 4 months, administrators have reported the need to close as many as 11 old and underutilized school buildings, though no time line has been specified and schools have not been named. Dr. Scales said Thursday evening,
These are not the last of the hard decisions they are going to have to make this year [....] The citizens advisory committee appointed to help devise a fiscally responsible master plan will begin meeting again in a couple of weeks.
School Board members have insisted that there is not enough time to initiate broad-scale consolidations by 2009-2010, but members of the Citizen Advisory Panel have voiced concerns with closing significantly fewer schools than necessary for fixing the $40 million budget shortfall. The administration has also proposed cutting 130 positions. Dr. Scales will present the 2009-2010 fiscal year budget to the School Board on April 2nd.
Aaron Collier
David Morton on March 13, 2009
What I find most troubling is that this is probably just the beginning of school closings in Hamilton Co., and that the budget shortfall (accurately reported here, BTW) is much higher than citizens have been led to believe.
We're in for a very rocky ride. And I think our only recourse at this point is for the Citizens Advisory Panel to provide some analysis on 'how we got into this mess in the first place.'
Stelmodad on March 13, 2009
as a parent with two, soon to be three, kids in the system I'm lessed than impressed with the 'planning' I've witnessed.
Our family has made a commitment to the public schools; hoping now school board members will make a similar commitment.
Bryan Herrit on March 13, 2009
My son attends Battle Academy. Here our the facts in my small world. My wife and I volunteered more than three times the required hours last year. We paid the $90 for school supplies - over and above what we pay in property taxes; which rose by 12% in a declining housing market BTW. We started a Cub Scout Pack. We are part of the community and our school is part of our community. We have done our part. Here is a link to 2006 salaries. There are quite a few that approach six figures.
http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_87421.asp
Now it is time for the highly compensated (school board) government (that means they work for "us") employees to do their part. I don't really care how we got there. It happened under their management. They need to sort this out without penalizing the kids.
AC on March 13, 2009
Planning may be the story here. School officials periodically cite the economic crisis as one of the contributors to the budget shortfall, but CAP members have reported that funding (state and local) is not the problem. What is? Well, operating small dilapidated schools. The question regarding planning is, why was this not anticipated a long time ago?
And if closing 4 schools came off in public perception as disjointed and unfair, closing an additional 7 schools promises to be quite an adventure. Ms. Clark's statement refers to Dr. Scales initiating a far-reaching dialogue. To consolidate any more schools from here on, it seems more constructive dialogue, and less uncertainty, will be imperative for the administration.
Patrick on March 15, 2009
Close them all.