As you undoubtably know by now, your group was voted back into Booth. There was a small correction to the map on the north end of PTC. Maple Road had been mistakenly placed at Flat Rock but that mistake was corrected and they will remain at Booth. There also was the Burch Road Group that goes to Cleveland that were mistakenly NOT sent to Bennett's Mill and as they requested, they were sent to Bennett's Mill.

The vote went 4 to 1 with Marion Keys objecting in the strongest of terms and wanting to scrap the whole plan and start over.

This business of telling people they can only get on an agenda by contacting someone well in advance is an illegal attempt to pre-screen (and prohibit) the public from being heard by their representatives. If you ask anyone how to get on an agenda they'll shrug their shoulders. If you contact someone in advance, you'd better do it in writing, sent by certified mail and retain a copy.

FCBOC has a rule that you cannot discuss anything that is on the meeting agenda. So, the key is, if you don't want the tax paying constituents to speak on a subject, you just put it on the agenda the very first time you want to address the issue. That way, the public never gets a chance to be heard and they never get enough notice to ask for an opportunity to be heard. It also gives politicians an opportunity to misrepresent how many of their constituents contacted them about the issue and what the constituents had to say about it.

The only way those folks will learn is on the defensive end of a law suit . . . or the losing end of a re-election campaign.

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If you and I are always in agreement, one of us is likely armed and dangerous.

where are you guys?

Less than two hours before a public meeting and no agenda?

This thing stinks to high heaven.

http://www.fcboe.org/board/docsagendas/2006/agenda_111306.htm

It was not on the web site at the time of my 5:04 p.m. posting.

Please consider the fact that the redistricting committee and not the members of the board has drawn the current plan. The administration is responsible for the construction of the Bennett's Mill Middle School (aka: "The school without students"). in an area which hasn't had the population growth originally projected. The BOE is unhappy with the bad decisions made by the Administration. The BMMS school is going to be ready next year and someone is going to fill it. However, our elected officials (FCBOE members) are smart enough to know that redistricting high school lines based on previous bad decisions by the administration is a non-starter. Why would they commit political suicide to cover for a bad plan they did not draw? Our FCBOE should table any redistricting of high school lines. Let's see if there is going to be a need for a sixth high school, where a sixth high school should be located, or whether we should add on to an existing high school. The only hasty decision that should be made on a bad plan is to reject it.

the construction of Bennett's Mill at the site recommended by the adminstration? Are they just rubber-stamping the bad decisions of the administration? Isn't part of their job to actually look at the data and make sure the adminstration's recommendations are supported by the data? I agree that the bulk of the blame for the bad plan lies with the redistricting committee, but it's the BOE who can reject the plan and tell them to start over. The BOE should reject the entire redistricting plan, including the middle school lines as proposed. Those lines are also based on faulty data (e.g. 1,800-home subdivision that may not happen, according to the BOE's consultant).

but I don't think much logic is entering into this redistricting project. Instead, we've seen favors handed out to protect select neighbhorhoods and developers. The problem is, they have a new middle school ready to go, and somehow they've got to come up with a few hundred kids to send there so they can justify building it where they did. They are in a bind, and they're going to have to re-draw the middle school lines.

The vote for the middle school lines, the vote for new elementary school sites or for expanding existing and building a new High School?

Until 2008 (that's like 14 months from now for the 2009 school year) or after the first of the year, 2007?

The person who told me was a teacher at FCHS. She said middle school lines would go ahead as planned. High school lines would be tabled til 2008 (sorry to not be more speciifc with the timeline) which in turn would put off any discussion of a new highschool. I did not know of any new elementary schools. I guess we'll find out for sure Monday when they meet.

I heard the new maps have changed. I've heard that the neighborhoods on Robinson Road have been tweaked back into Booth. Has anyone seen this and if so where can I find the redrawn maps.

IMHO the board will not vote on Monday night. Reason: a "tweak" in the map boundaries without making the changes public then voting on it with no time for public comment would be political suicide for every board member. If there is a vote at the next meeting it will be a unanimous "NO" on the original proposed boundaries by the committee so they can start clean with a new proposal. BTW... I looked on the web site about an hour ago and can't find the agenda posted yet.

They move about 500 kids out of over 21,000? I bet there are 20,500 who think FCBOE did a good job. (Except of course the openly racist contigent from Northwest Tyrone lobbying for part of Flat Rock/Sandy Creek's boundaries to be shifted to Fayette Middle/Fayette High.)

The vote is on the agenda for tonight, which implies there were no significant changes to the map. They may have tweaked it, and that's politically ok as long as the neighborhoods that were tweaked were neighborhoods that were rezoned in the proposal. Taking the Robinson area back into Booth makes them heroic. What they can't do is make a change that would blindside a neighborhood that was "safe" in the proposal.

they haven't posted the agenda yet. That way, it's much easier for them to fly under the radar.

Well, the agenda is on the web site, finally. The meeting is tonight.