Indya KINCANNON
2nd District School Board Representative

School Board Update

April 2007

High School Re-Zoning

As you may have heard, we are considering a county-wide re-zoning plan for high schools.  The main purpose of the plan is to alleviate over-crowding and create a zone for the new high school in Hardin Valley .  The biggest impact will be in the Western parts of the county, but 10 of the 12 high schools will be affected, including Fulton , Central and Austin-East.  The re-zoning would take effect in August, 2008.

I am hosting a Community Forum to discuss the proposal on Wednesday, April 25^th, at 7pm, at the Fulton High School Auditorium.  This meeting will give me an opportunity to listen to the concerns of people in my district and also answer questions regarding the proposal.  It is still a proposal, not written in stone.  I will only support a plan if it makes sense as far as maximizing taxpayer resources and minimizing the disruption for students, their families and communities.

Proposed High School Re-Zoning FAQs:

1. Will my family be affected?

If you have kids in Knox County Schools (KCS) right now and your high school zone is proposed to be changed, you should be receiving a letter about it later this week.  If you do not have kids in school, then the best way to find out is to go to the KCS website and look at the available maps.  You can also ask me.  Most people in North Knoxville and Fountain City will NOT be impacted by this change.

2. What about middle and elementary schools?

We will likely hear a proposal on county-wide re-zoning of middle and elementary schools in the Fall.  The purpose will be to alleviate over-crowding, determine where we need to do additions or build new schools, maximize existing capacity, and make feeder patterns more logical.

3. Will current students and siblings of current students be ‘grandfathered’?

I do not want to force rising seniors to switch high schools after spending 3 years at another school.  If that continuity is important for seniors, why not for juniors?  Why not all current students?  Why not younger siblings?  Where do you draw the line?  If we have over-crowding and a brand new high school, it doesn’t make sense to leave it empty. 

In the past I think they’ve allowed rising seniors, but not younger students, to stay in their former schools, but they had to transport themselves.  I don’t think siblings have ever been ‘grandfathered’.  This is a tough issue and I don’t know the best solution.

4. Why is re-zoning necessary at all?

In my few years on the School Board it has become clear that we have a growing and shifting population of students.  To deal with this we can build new schools, add-on to existing schools or re-zone.  Building new schools is popular, but expensive.  (A new school ultimately requires re-zoning anyhow, in order to place students in the new school).  Re-zoning to maximize use of our current capacity is inexpensive, but very hard on families who decided to live in a certain area expecting to send their kids to certain schools.  The Board’s current strategy is a hybrid approach. 

I suggested that we re-zone prior to building a new high school, to see if the need was as acute as it seemed, but that idea was not supported by the majority of the Board.  It would also be nice if the new high school were more centrally located, but land availability, appropriateness and cost were factors in that decision.

Re-zoning can also help make best use of existing older schools that have stable or declining enrollments, rather than letting them deteriorate and eventually closing them, like Brownlow, Oakwood and Rule High School .

5. What about open-zoning?

I support the idea of giving all high school students a guaranteed slot at their zoned school, but allowing them to seek transfers to any other high school based on what they and their parents think is the best fit for them.  The two biggest hurdles to this concept are transportation and having a well-defined understanding of when a school is “full” and therefore closed to transfers.  Open-zoning approaches have been successfully implemented in many other districts.

This concept could lead to more specialization at the high school level, which I support, and could also help us comply with No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  Under current NCLB mandates 8 of our 12 high schools are “failing”, meaning they have not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), in most cases on graduation rates.  The NCLB law will likely lead to public school choice by 2014, so why not be proactive?

6. Does my opinion matter?  When will the Board vote on re-zoning? 

YES!  I welcome your input on this important issue.  We will vote on May 2^nd.  Below is a calendar of meetings dealing with re-zoning.  Unless otherwise noted, all meetings will be at the main assembly room of the city county building, starting at 5pm.

Wednesday 4/18: Board mid-month work session.  The Board will have a full presentation on the proposed re-zoning on Wednesday April 18^th.  At that time Board members will ask questions and try to understand the rationale behind the proposal.  We are also voting on the operating budget that evening.  Since we decided to organize community meetings in each of our districts we have not scheduled a public forum at this meeting.

Wednesday 4/25: Community Forum on Re-zoning, 7pm, Fulton High School Auditorium.  Please come if you have questions or concerns.

Monday 4/30: Board work session.  Re-zoning will be main topic and members of the public are welcome to comment.

Wednesday 5/2: Board Meeting.  We will vote on the re-zoning at this meeting.  Public forum will available for anyone to comment prior to the vote.

I have received many phone calls and emails from people who are upset about the proposed plan, although none so far from anyone in the 2^nd District.  As a parent of young children, I am well aware of all the thought and care that goes into decisions about where to live and where to send your children to school.  Change is upsetting, especially when it is imposed by the government.  I will keep these concerns in mind as we consider the proposal.

We need a plan that is reasonable, alleviates over-crowding, and minimizes unnecessary disruptions to families and communities.  The administration needs to explain to us why the lines have been drawn the way they’re drawn.  If they can’t justify it to me, then I won’t support it.  If there is sufficient justification for re-zoning certain areas, then I will support it. 

Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Very Truly Yours,

Indya

 Indya Kincannon