By David Liden, Guest Columnist
I was at the January school board meeting when a majority (not all) voted to move Ranger middle school students to Hiwassee Dam, Hiwassee Dam elementary students to Ranger and Martins Creek middle students to Murphy.
I was shocked and disappointed at the lack of any in-depth discussion about the circumstances and consequences around these votes. While the superintendent provided figures about numbers of students involved and potential costs and savings of these moves, there was no real discussion of what these meant.
How would the quality of the educational experience be affected by crowding more middle school students into a facility in Murphy that was already overcrowded and lacks enough bathrooms? How would students be disadvantaged by turning their library into classrooms?
What would happen as even more kids had to be accommodated from Martins Creek as larger classes came along? How would the system handle the middle school kids from Ranger whose parents would prefer that they go to Murphy rather than Hiwassee Dam? How would all this affect student-teacher ratios? No discussion.
While one of the board members in favor of the moves said no jobs would be lost, how does this square with the superintendent’s numbers, which show savings based on cutting salaries and benefits? No one asked.
Where was the parent involvement in these decisions? While officially this might not be required, it shows good faith and accountability to voters. If these are the best decisions possible, they should be persuasive when fully understood. Explanations offered at community meetings at each school would demonstrate school board and administration confidence in the quality of their decision-making and justify their action.
One member alluded to this, and it has been the practice in the past under former superintendents and school boards.
There are costs associated with these decisions. How will renovations be paid for? Are there state funds? Grants? Sales tax money? County funds? How can all this be done by the beginning of the next school year in six months? No discussion.
No wonder at least one of the board members said, in desperation, “I’m not ready to vote!”
In addition to this lack of informed discussion on the matters, these votes were out of order, since the issues voted upon were not on the agenda as required. Even though the board’s attorney was not present to point this out, you would think the superintendent should have recognized that under their own rules the board did not have the authority to take such votes.
For the record, these votes should be retracted.
We can only hope that the board returns to these issues for a full discussion and gives much more careful consideration when it addresses the relationship between Peachtree and Martins Creek schools, which may happen in the future.
The writer is a resident of Martins Creek.