Timberlake parents slam new boundaries

Tue, 01/29/2008 - 4:54pm
By: John Thompson

The Fayette County Board of Education Monday night got an earful from Timberlake parents who felt they got a raw deal with the proposed new boundary lines for elementary schools.

Kenny Shockley led off the steady stream of parents from the subdivision off Redwine Road to the microphone and asked the board to reconsider their recent decision. Currently, the subdivision’s children attend Peeples Elementary, but are redistricted to Braelinn under the boundary decision decided in December.

“There’s only 36 students. Give these students the option of staying at Peeples,” he said.

Several of the parents said they didn’t learn about the change until right before the Christmas break, when the information was sent home with the school menu.

Peggy Odums, who was the Peeples representative on the redistricting committee, said she was disappointed in the outcome.

“I kept telling people that this process was going to work, and now I’ve faced a number of ‘I told you so,’” she said.

She added the system spent way too much money on the process and ended her statement with a warning for the board.

“Please don’t involve the community again. That was a mistake.”

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Submitted by PTCMomma on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 4:57pm.

It never made sense for Timberlake to be at Peeples to begin with. These students will now be at the school closest to their homes, which is how it should be when at all possible. And 36 students is more than one classroom to the person who said it's just 36 kids.

Mom to 3 (and all of their friends, who love to hang out at my house-- LOVE THAT, almost always know where they are!!!)

Submitted by g8trgrl on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:47pm.

It never made sense for Foreston to be at Braelinn to begin with. These students should be at the closest school to their homes. Depends on who you are & where you live when you want to argue a point I guess. It is all so subjective.

Love the hangin out here with the kids myself - Momma!

Got $ that says TL will stay at Peeples though.

Submitted by heatjam on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 3:08pm.

The parents from Timberlake that I have spoken to are happy to switch to Braelinn - much closer, less traffic and not overcrowded! Sounds like a winning combination to me!

Submitted by leeanne on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 10:25pm.

First of all, Timberlake (all 3 sections) are directly off Peachtree Parkway and none of them open on to Redwine Rd. They are also less than a mile from Braelinn for the closest section and under 2 miles for the farthest section; they are also connected to Braelinn by a golf cart path. They were on and off the map to go to Braelinn several times during the rezoning committee process. Obviously some of their residents were aware of this because I know of at least 1 lady who got up from that neighborhood and spoke at the public hearing. While I understand their anguish over this rezoning, it should absolutely be of no surprise. And as for Ms. Odums, the Peeples rep, she said more at monday's board meeting than she ever said during the rezoning meetings and rarely acted on anything.

Submitted by g8trgrl on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 8:53am.

I hope the board will let Timberlake kids stay at Peeples. There would only be 36 going, so why do that to those kids? It does not help the crowding issue. The golf cart accessible issue gets so old. Foreston Place is accessible to Peeples, but they stayed at Braelinn. They are also under 1/4 mile from the school. I think the board will probably leave Timberlake at their school, because they gave all the other neighborhoods what they wanted, so that would only be the right thing to do. Now that the redistricting issue is being opened up again for discussion with the closing of E. Fayette - the board has the opportunity to do the right thing. To think that Timberlake may effect some change without the threat of a lawsuit too! Good for you all.

Submitted by mlc2028 on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 8:04am.

Leanne, you might wish to pull a map and relook the "none of the them open on to Redwine Road". Pull up Mapquest or any other map product and you will see that Woods Edge exits onto Redwine Road by using Spring Mist Drive. The exit is directly across from the main entrance to Newhaven off of Redwine Road. This is also the connection point for all the Highgrove and Whitewater golf carts to access the cart path system.

Submitted by leeanne on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 2:41pm.

Oops... you are absolutely right and I acknowledge that error. However it does not change the argument. This is a secondary exit for that neighborhood and all the main entrances/exits are onto Ptree Pkwy. And while Highgrove can "legally" use that cart system through Timberlake, it is illegal for golf carts to cross Redwine. And from what I understand, Timberlake has closed off their "private" path that goes by their lake and therefore shuts off access to the PTC path system. And again, I understand their dismay, but it should be of no surpise.

Submitted by mlc2028 on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 4:37pm.

I wasn't even going to debate the Braelinn/Peeples issue because my daughter is in 8th grade now. We would have liked to have had the chance to go to Braelinn where there were empty classrooms close by but instead she attended some classes in trailers at Peeples. We loved Peeples BTW but I'm sure we could have loved Braelinn as well.

Regarding the Timberlake "private" cart path, again you are wrong as it never has been locked off. It was considered a few years ago but due to potential of others building alternative paths around Timberlake it has never been locked only for residents.

The "illegality" of crossing Redwine is one of the dumber things ever put into place. Our church had at least 20% of the members going there by golf cart at one time and now we all burn fuel to get there. Nothing like a good "de-greening" of the area so no one will get hurt crossing Redwine. Golf carts around the corner cross a more dangerous PT Parkway at two places yet those are legal...

Submitted by skyspy on Wed, 01/30/2008 - 5:23pm.

It is not a "dumb" rule. The posted speed limit is 45, which means most people are going 65. Your golf-carts/death traps are invisible at night. If you chose to cross Redwine at night do yourself, a favor and add extra reflectors. You are completely invisible, even in the daytime, thats when most people are going 65 on that road.

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