Overcrowded Schools

[Pamela Treacy]

I just got this notice:

The Knox County Board of Education has invited
members of the Knox County Commission and Knox
County Mayor Mike Ragsdale to a meeting Thursday,
November 15, at noon, in the Small Assembly Room
of the City-County Building.

The meeting is to discuss future capital
improvement plans for the Knox County School
System.

I want people to know that there are other ways to fund new school construction other than property taxes. The new Y12 buildings in Oak Ridge were financed by private investors who purchased bonds. At the end of the 20 year period the government will own the buildings for a set cost around $100. Until then they are renters. The old buildings used to cost the government approximately $40 psf to run. Through this financing strategy the cost was cut almost in half. (These numbers are just from my memory so please cut me some slack. But they are ballpark.)

Second, we are still chasing growth in Knox County. I have not forgotton the poor decision to put the new high school in Hardin Valley which is only going to make urban sprawl worse and created a bigger problem. Hardin Valley is a large land area that will soon be developed because people move where there are schools. Where is the long term growth and development plans for Knox County? Pretty soon we won't find a farm within the Knox County borders.

Last, do you know the connection between this and our food supply. Land use management is going to be one of our next major problems. Have you noticed how many fresh products we ship from foreign countries? Does that make sense with the cost of transporation?

I am saying all this because we need our leaders to think through all their decisions. It seems like each one is a knee jerk reaction and doesn't have any long term strategy associated with it. Too many of them are making decisions on how it effects their one little area instead of taking all the factors into play.

Show up at the meeting and let them know you want them to stop worrying about being re-elected and instead focus on making good sound long term decisions for our county.

[Beth Love]

So how come the public was not invited? Why is the meeting at noon on a Thursday? Hmmmm........

[Pamela Treacy]

Public is invited. I heard about it from the KCS press release. I agree it's hard to go to meeting during the work day.

[Debi]

We could also remodel most of the buildings we have. I had family who fought for a new Brickey. Let me tell you, that old building was in far better condition than some of the schools that are still around. Norwood has no accessability except ramps that aren't allowed to be used or told by staff they don't know how to use it. I forget how many portables they have. Pleasant Ridge has no accessability and has asbestos flooring that keeps coming up. I attended an IEP meeting at some school, can't remember where now, that still had the 100 yr old creeking wood floors.

And let me say I'm a big proponent of farmlands. In fact I hope to buy our own minifarm in coming years. That said, I don't think it's the schools that dictate urban sprawl. I think it's personal desire to live in brand-new homes in brand-new communities. Personally I don't get that, I love old houses and my own autonomy in the neighbhorhood, but that's where most of my 20 & 30 something friends want to live, the new gated communities. I think schools are chasing the sprawl as much if not more than communities chasing the schools.

The other issue with farmlands is you have to have people wanting to farm. Fact is, most people don't wanna farm any more. The super farms of Tyson and ADM are the biggest problem of farmlands. Local farmers can't compete. My granddaddy was a farmer for his entire life. Near the end of his farming he pretty much leased his lands to the mega farmers in his community. He couldn't do what they did & couldn't compete.

[Pamela Treacy]

The number one recommendation in buying a home that will increase in value is to buy a home zoned for good schools. While I truly believe all schools must provide the same level of education, we know in reality they do not. Hardin Valley Academy will be an excellent school and people will want to buy homes there.

I agree we need to focus on remodeling current schools, preserve the spirit of community schools and learn to create small learning groups within a larger building structure. They are doing this at the high school level at Hardin Valley Academy, but this concept should be pursued at all schools.

For example, Farragut Intermediate School is three grades. Each year, the kids are reorganized into new classrooms. Many children only moving up with one or two students from their previous class. Why can't they move entire classes together? Or instead of a hall for each grade, divide the school into three different schools based on geography or some other criteria. You could take children from a group of six neighborhoods and make them school A with three grades in one hallway, 3-4-5. This would allow siblings to pass through the same "school" and possibly have the same teachers as their siblings did. This would allow teachers to get to know parents and families better. Children would have an easier transition from year to year because they will have more friends in their class. It would be like three schools but economically placed in one building.

[Cathy McCaughan]

We really can't sort students by neighborhood. Do you seriously believe the "housing project" class will be treated the same as the "mansion" class? Most families deliberately separate twins at school. Teachers hop around from grade to grade and school to school, so it's unlikely you are going to have the same teacher for younger siblings.

[Pamela Treacy]

I don't think I explained that right. I don't mean to sort kids. You create zones for each "school" as if you had a separate school for that area. Maybe it is also unclear that at Farragut Intermediate there are about 20 classes per grade. I went to a k-6 that was only three classes per grade. For the Farragut example, you would make this into three schools with each having 7 classes per grade.

While teachers do move around, I believe this would increase the chances of experiencing the same teacher for your children. It's a hope but not a necessity.

I always love your ideas. Does this better explain my idea? It's the same as learning communities that are determined by educational interest but this is zones.

I understand the plan is to increase the size of the schools. Yet we heard so many comments during the rezoninig how bad large schools are. Come on Cathy, I know you can think of a way to do this.

[Cathy McCaughan]

You know what I think. I think Knox County Schools is going to "steal from the rich and give to the poor" until Farragut hires a legal army and creates their own school system. I think it is unfair that Farragut can't have upper class schools because the goal is to make all of Knox County a middle class school system. I think Farragut needs small elementary schools hidden strategically within the specific communities there. You would have to lose valuable property to do this. You are also going to have to get the business community there to creatively fund it. Break free from the rest of Knox County's problems. I think Farragut high school needs to rapidly embrace the things that Hardin Valley Academy is doing and in doing so, balance out the number of students "on-campus" at different times. Farragut schools should climb to the level they are capable of attaining.

[Debi]

If we had vouchers it would all go away. I think the lowest performing would be gone, leaving only the middle & upper, where funds could be better spent on what is working.

Why in all these years has Farragut not gotten more elementary schools opened? I'm for consolidation where necessary, but we all know you cannot have 2,000 kids in an elementary school and have any sort of community. I worked with people in the early '90s who had graduated Farragut and never known each other because it was so big. That's crazy.

[Jamey Dobbs]

What do you think parents living in neighborhoods, where they own homes, would really say to closing their neighborhood schools? Can higher performing schools take in all the students? What if non-school issues are affecting kids and school performance? What about transportation? What about the abandoned building? We need to think about that. Perhaps we need need a total view of the whole system to make a judgement about what should be done. There is a planning and budgeting process, but maybe more of us need to understand it. Perhaps we aren't coordinating all our efforts, and problem-solving, from growth management to economic development and public education. How would we know if the system is the best it can be? Parents for Public Schools has training to help parents and others learn how their school system works and how to do the research: Parent University www.parents4publicschools.org We could bring them in to lead it.

[Mom Knox]

Why do people think that Farragut is the only area capable of greatness? I do wish Farragut would break away from Knox County Schools. I've said it many times, ALL children deserve the same opportunities. Will this ever happen?

[Beth Love]

People don't think that Farragut is the only school capable of greatness. They have a great community with lots of parents that support their kids and their schools as does Bearden, as does Powell, as does West, etc. Some schools are not great due to lack of parental involvement, no PTA, etc. Sometimes that can't be helped, that is how life is for some folks who have to work two jobs or who don't have many choices. All schools need to be great regardless; we need to do all we can to make that a reality.
Regarding your issue on Farragut having its own school system: it can't be, it's state law. There are 95 counties in TN and due to BEP funding, there is a law that states a new school system cannot be created. Farragut is one of 100 towns across the US that operates on a business model and does not do schools; only parks and roads. Not everyone in Farragut likes this arrangement. The Town does contribute some money to Farragut schools, but like every other community, to buy stuff, their schools fundraise. Folks who live in Farragut pay Knox County personal property taxes which fund schools and most of our large retail outlets (i.e. Turkey Creek) have been finger annexed by the City of Knoxville, so that explains a little of the politics/money, etc. (By the way, of those 95 counties in Tennessee, Knox County is the second lowest paying county for teachers.)
As far as will all schools be great in Knox County? That depends on what happens with the superintendent search, how you vote for School Board members and how willing those two entities are willing to let parents be involved in the system at the policy level.

[Pamela Treacy]

Beth, I agree. Farragut schools are not the only good or great schools in the community. I think mentioned the Newsweek top high school list that had West and Farragut mentioned. I believe Oak Ridge, Maryville and Alcoa also make the list. This topic started with overcrowding and sort of changed along the way.

Just for clarifcation the taxes we pay are on real property no personal property.