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The Fayette Citizen-Opinion Page
Friday, February 11, 2000
Board is showing no vision

I applaud the comments made in Mr. Evans' letter to the editor that appeared in the Jan. 21 edition of The Citizen Review.

It is painfully obvious our school board does not have a vision of the future to accommodate our county's school population, much less a plan to accommodate the growth, but rather is trying to rely on interim solutions. These busing quick fixes only place a bandage on the growth issue that any reasonable person could see headed our way.

Are they not communicating with the County Commission about upcoming residential building? Are they expecting a reversal in the residential expansion of the county? Has a sudden shift in development made their original plans obsolete? Has the Peachtree City Development Corporation swayed their judgment?

The succession of events over the past several months make it clear that the taxpayers of the county deserve to have the school board clearly demonstrate how they arrived at their current decision. The school board has an obligation to not only share their plans to meet demands of the next school year but subsequent years as well. Year-to-year fixes conducted with no real strategic plan of action in place is short sighted and ultimately failed.

If a heterogeneous mix and an avoidance of overcrowding are the goals, why has the school board not incorporated these goals into past building plans? Won't these two goals be achieved in one to two years as the Summer Grove homes fill up with new families that will attend Newnan Crossing and if a properly planned capital building expansion and construction is aggressively pursued?

Bottom line, many county voters are concerned with the school board's lack of planning and ability to manage the county's school population growth, and I'm sure will voice their displeasure at the polls.

It should come as no surprise to the board that when people purchase a home, a major factor involved in that decision is where their children will attend school. I think it is important to note that the newly drawn lines did not alter my child's school designation. Nevertheless, for me not to demonstrate concern would be just as irresponsible and short sighted as our current school board's actions demonstrate.

Dan Bradfield
Newnan


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