Nearly a year ago, this newspaper sued the Jackson County Board of Education over its lack of transparency in how it was handling the hiring of a new school superintendent.
Let’s not hyperventilate over school proposals
So now let us praise the BOE and administration for its very transparent method in trying to sort out the complex task of better using its school facilities. It is one of the most open processes for this kind of decision this county has seen in many years.
But that may be cold comfort to BOE members, superintendent John Green and other system leaders who have been catching unmitigated hell from some parents over the proposals. In two public meetings over the last week, parents from all sides of Jackson County hyperventilated the same refrain — “No!” — to just about every idea being discussed.
Let’s all take a deep breath here and consider just what system leaders are attempting to do:
• The facilities issue isn’t new. The problems of having overbuilt classrooms on the East side of the county and under-built on the faster growing West side has been simmering for several years. The previous school administration basically put its head in the sand and ignored the issue, hoping it would go away on its own. The new administration under Green decided to confront the issue head on and to talk about it openly. Whether you like the specifics of the proposals or not, you have to give him and the BOE credit for trying to do something before a bigger crisis hits. This issue should have already been addressed because it takes several years to actually put new classrooms in place.
• School system leaders didn’t have to allow any public input into this process. They could have simply come up with a plan, adopted it and just told everyone what would happen after the fact. There should be some appreciation that school leaders have actually solicited public input before making a final decision. The verbal abuse some have thrown toward JCSS leaders is uncalled for.
• Several people made comments to the BOE at two recent meetings that the board shouldn’t focus on buildings but rather on educating children. That plays well to a crowd, but is a very shortsighted view. The two are related. Consider this: Largely because of its imbalance of classrooms from badly-sited schools, the Jackson County School System is paying one of the highest maintenance & operations costs in the state. Even empty classrooms have to be heated and cooled. Last year, the system paid $881 per student toward M&O expenses. That ranked the system 32nd highest in the state out of 192 systems. The overall state average was $691 per student. That means the system is spending $1.4 million more on M&O than it should based on the state average. At the same time, the system was in the bottom third of spending on instruction. The JCSS system ranked 150th in the state in spending on student instruction. What that means is that the system is having to divert money away from educating kids in order to maintain a flawed system of how its buildings are being used. Is that what we want?
• Parents need to get off of Facebook and actually talk to real people about these issues. This issue has been the subject of a massive amount of rumor, gossip and innuendo. There’s even a Facebook page called, “Jackson County School System Rumors.” If you want to know what’s really going on, make an effort to get informed. Go to the meetings. Ask questions of the officials and BOE members. Read this newspaper. Some of those making comments at these meetings sounded foolish because they simply hadn’t made any effort to find out the details beyond the rumors they had heard.
• The JCSS not only faces this imbalance in facilities and the costs of that, it also faces an immediate financial crisis. If the new amended budget is accurate, the system will end this year with very low reserves. That means the system will have to get a lot of costs out of the system next year. It can do that in part by making better and more efficient use of facilities. If it doesn’t do that, it will have to shorten the school year, or layoff people or raise taxes. Even with some facilities consolidations, it may have to do some of those. Just about every school system in the state is facing a financial crisis and the JCSS is no different. Doing nothing is not an option.
• The current proposal to mothball South Jackson Elementary School and relocate it to the Kings Bridge Middle School building isn’t a new concept. It’s informally been discussed before. The problem is, KBMS was built too close to East Jackson Middle School — there’s not a need for both middle schools to be so close together. So it makes logical sense to consolidate the two schools at EJMS and to relocate SJES. The current SJES facility is old and with the widening of Hwy. 129, has a serious traffic safety issue to deal with. This board and administration didn’t make the decision to locate a middle school on the wrong side of the county, but they have to deal with it. Change is hard, but sometimes it has to be made.
• The proposal to locate East side 8th Graders into an unused part of East Jackson Comprehensive High School isn’t a new idea. In fact, until middle schools became popular in the 1980s, many high schools also housed the 8th Grade (including this writer’s school.) Some parents are anxious about having 8th Graders in a high school campus, but that concern is overblown. In fact, there is some thought now in education circles that the middle school concept was itself flawed and that schools should explore going back to this model. The sky will not fall if 8th Graders are located at EJCHS. That facility has space for 1,850 students and only has 970 students currently in 9-12. The biggest danger 8th Graders face in that building is getting lost in its empty caverns.
• Those on the West side who want a simple solution to the overcrowding aren’t going to get one. There will probably be more overcrowding before there is eventually relief. The current plan calls for adding onto WJIS. Some have asked why not add onto the middle school which is already overcrowded. But doing that would overload that facility’s core, school officials say. For example, the lunchroom can only feed so many students at one time. To overload that building more could mean that lunch has to begin at 9:30 a.m. in order to feed a larger population of students. Simply adding classrooms without other capacity isn’t a smart way to proceed for the longer term.
• Those on the East side who think the simple solution is to just change attendance zones and bus more West side students to fill up the empty classrooms on the East side aren’t considering the bigger picture. The BOE could redistrict and may do so, but that will have a ripple effect into the future as to where kids go to school. What if the situation were reversed? Would East side parents want to be forced to send their kids to a school in Braselton? The reality is that the East side has gotten some fine new facilities that are state of the art. But to suggest that nothing should be changed to make better use of those facilities isn’t realistic or fair. Things change. That’s life.
There are no easy answers to either the facilities or financial issues the JCSS currently faces. No matter what is eventually done, some people will be upset.
But the BOE will have to accept that and make the best decision it can to maximize the use of its facilities and of its limited financial resources. It cannot afford to put its head in the sand and do nothing.
And if this latest proposal isn’t the best solution available, then what is?
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
But that may be cold comfort to BOE members, superintendent John Green and other system leaders who have been catching unmitigated hell from some parents over the proposals. In two public meetings over the last week, parents from all sides of Jackson County hyperventilated the same refrain — “No!” — to just about every idea being discussed.
Let’s all take a deep breath here and consider just what system leaders are attempting to do:
• The facilities issue isn’t new. The problems of having overbuilt classrooms on the East side of the county and under-built on the faster growing West side has been simmering for several years. The previous school administration basically put its head in the sand and ignored the issue, hoping it would go away on its own. The new administration under Green decided to confront the issue head on and to talk about it openly. Whether you like the specifics of the proposals or not, you have to give him and the BOE credit for trying to do something before a bigger crisis hits. This issue should have already been addressed because it takes several years to actually put new classrooms in place.
• School system leaders didn’t have to allow any public input into this process. They could have simply come up with a plan, adopted it and just told everyone what would happen after the fact. There should be some appreciation that school leaders have actually solicited public input before making a final decision. The verbal abuse some have thrown toward JCSS leaders is uncalled for.
• Several people made comments to the BOE at two recent meetings that the board shouldn’t focus on buildings but rather on educating children. That plays well to a crowd, but is a very shortsighted view. The two are related. Consider this: Largely because of its imbalance of classrooms from badly-sited schools, the Jackson County School System is paying one of the highest maintenance & operations costs in the state. Even empty classrooms have to be heated and cooled. Last year, the system paid $881 per student toward M&O expenses. That ranked the system 32nd highest in the state out of 192 systems. The overall state average was $691 per student. That means the system is spending $1.4 million more on M&O than it should based on the state average. At the same time, the system was in the bottom third of spending on instruction. The JCSS system ranked 150th in the state in spending on student instruction. What that means is that the system is having to divert money away from educating kids in order to maintain a flawed system of how its buildings are being used. Is that what we want?
• Parents need to get off of Facebook and actually talk to real people about these issues. This issue has been the subject of a massive amount of rumor, gossip and innuendo. There’s even a Facebook page called, “Jackson County School System Rumors.” If you want to know what’s really going on, make an effort to get informed. Go to the meetings. Ask questions of the officials and BOE members. Read this newspaper. Some of those making comments at these meetings sounded foolish because they simply hadn’t made any effort to find out the details beyond the rumors they had heard.
• The JCSS not only faces this imbalance in facilities and the costs of that, it also faces an immediate financial crisis. If the new amended budget is accurate, the system will end this year with very low reserves. That means the system will have to get a lot of costs out of the system next year. It can do that in part by making better and more efficient use of facilities. If it doesn’t do that, it will have to shorten the school year, or layoff people or raise taxes. Even with some facilities consolidations, it may have to do some of those. Just about every school system in the state is facing a financial crisis and the JCSS is no different. Doing nothing is not an option.
• The current proposal to mothball South Jackson Elementary School and relocate it to the Kings Bridge Middle School building isn’t a new concept. It’s informally been discussed before. The problem is, KBMS was built too close to East Jackson Middle School — there’s not a need for both middle schools to be so close together. So it makes logical sense to consolidate the two schools at EJMS and to relocate SJES. The current SJES facility is old and with the widening of Hwy. 129, has a serious traffic safety issue to deal with. This board and administration didn’t make the decision to locate a middle school on the wrong side of the county, but they have to deal with it. Change is hard, but sometimes it has to be made.
• The proposal to locate East side 8th Graders into an unused part of East Jackson Comprehensive High School isn’t a new idea. In fact, until middle schools became popular in the 1980s, many high schools also housed the 8th Grade (including this writer’s school.) Some parents are anxious about having 8th Graders in a high school campus, but that concern is overblown. In fact, there is some thought now in education circles that the middle school concept was itself flawed and that schools should explore going back to this model. The sky will not fall if 8th Graders are located at EJCHS. That facility has space for 1,850 students and only has 970 students currently in 9-12. The biggest danger 8th Graders face in that building is getting lost in its empty caverns.
• Those on the West side who want a simple solution to the overcrowding aren’t going to get one. There will probably be more overcrowding before there is eventually relief. The current plan calls for adding onto WJIS. Some have asked why not add onto the middle school which is already overcrowded. But doing that would overload that facility’s core, school officials say. For example, the lunchroom can only feed so many students at one time. To overload that building more could mean that lunch has to begin at 9:30 a.m. in order to feed a larger population of students. Simply adding classrooms without other capacity isn’t a smart way to proceed for the longer term.
• Those on the East side who think the simple solution is to just change attendance zones and bus more West side students to fill up the empty classrooms on the East side aren’t considering the bigger picture. The BOE could redistrict and may do so, but that will have a ripple effect into the future as to where kids go to school. What if the situation were reversed? Would East side parents want to be forced to send their kids to a school in Braselton? The reality is that the East side has gotten some fine new facilities that are state of the art. But to suggest that nothing should be changed to make better use of those facilities isn’t realistic or fair. Things change. That’s life.
There are no easy answers to either the facilities or financial issues the JCSS currently faces. No matter what is eventually done, some people will be upset.
But the BOE will have to accept that and make the best decision it can to maximize the use of its facilities and of its limited financial resources. It cannot afford to put its head in the sand and do nothing.
And if this latest proposal isn’t the best solution available, then what is?
Mike Buffington is editor of The Jackson Herald. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
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#1
changeandgrowth
on
02/14/13 at 11:00 AM
[Reply]
Change is good for any school system. The slow changes in the Jefferson system have been great overall. You hired Green to fix things now let him to do it.
#2
ConcernedParent
on
02/14/13 at 11:50 AM
[Reply]
I disagree that school system leaders did not have to allow any public input into the decision making process with every fiber of my being. These people are ELECTED and they work for US, the PUBLIC, who pay our taxes to support these schools. Who do you or they think you are to feel that we the parents have no say in how our children are educated? We do have a say, and one say is by removing our children from your school system. Anotherk say is to vote the current administration out of office and vote in one who will include the parents in decision making. Yes, there are some hard decisions to be made, and everyone can't be pleased. What you are prescribing to with that statement is a position of tyranny and dictatorship.
#3
SJES Parent
on
02/18/13 at 07:30 AM
[Reply]
I went to school when west and east middles where 1st built and made to be bused in two different locations out of SJ because of the redistricting. We had to deal with it then why shouldn't Braselton be made to deal with something like that now. You could take Gum Springs students and transport them over to KBMS or better yet take North Jackson students and send them over that way. North Jackson also feeds into West Jackson taking away some of those students could help with the overcrowding of WJMS. Either way you look at it NJ middle schoolers already have a way to drive to the middle school now. Just another suggestion that should be looked at.
#4
Show me the money
on
02/18/13 at 08:18 PM
[Reply]
If the BOE is serious about getting West side students moved over to East side schools there is an easy solution...PAY families who are willing to undertake this change!! If families had the option of receiving a discount on their property taxes..(say 50%)..would this be enough incentive to sway some families discisions to enroll their children into schools on the east side? Depending on the location of some families and their travel direction back & forth to work...enrolling their children into these schools may be of advantage. If nothing else, I think this concept may be worth floating in order to see how much interest it would generate?
#4.1
SJES Parent
on
02/19/13 at 09:55 AM
[Reply]
Why should the families be paid the families of SJ were never paid to have their students bused two different schools when they had to do it. Why should West get any $ benefits. No discounts were offered to my parents for their taxes back then and none should be offered now. There are buses that students can ride on if the parents do not want to drive their children to the schools they are made to attend.