When the Hamilton County Commission and the Hamilton County Board of Education are singing the same tune, it seems almost cruel to call foul.
But the love-fest at Wednesday's county commission meeting over the $100 million-plus schools plan adopted by the school board on Oct. 19 came at the expense of the public, which had no say in the plan to - among other details - merge two schools, move another, re-open a closed school and build two more.
At that Oct. 19 meeting, the plan was not on the school board agenda, but board members brought it up, viewed a PowerPoint presentation on it and voted for it with no discussion. Earlier in the month, new Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson had said no complete version of the plan existed, though one school board member told the Times Free Press the superintendent had briefed individual school board members separately on the plan.
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger, apparently having heard about the feelings of a bruised public, said at Wednesday's meeting that an impression existed "that this [plan] just came up one day." But, he said, Johnson had held listening sessions in each district, made stops at civic group meetings and was able to sift through 2,500 survey responses.
But at no meeting was the public shown a plan, with specifics, and asked what it thought.
Indeed, the surveys from Johnson's listening sessions to which Coppinger referred were composed of five open-ended questions, two of which were virtually the same.
Instead of asking, for instance, how respondents felt about combining Tyner Middle School and Tyner Academy or moving Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts (CSLA) to the same street as the aforementioned schools, or whether it was worthy to reopen Howard Middle School, surveys asked what are the strengths of Hamilton County Schools, what is the most significant benefit the schools offer to students, in what areas would they like to see schools improve and what opportunities would they like to see the district take advantage of.
Nevertheless, it seemed important to Coppinger to refute any thought of the plan as being Johnny-come-lately, or, perhaps, Bryan-come-lately.
A "working group" had been put together a year ago, he said, and commissioners had been in discussion about school funding for most of the year.
That is true enough, but the plans of any "working group" were never shared with the public, and discussions about school funding were far more general than specific.
It's just hard to deny that the public as a whole would have felt better about the schools plan in general - and believe that its opinions were important in the process - if Johnson and the school board had shared the plan publicly before it was voted on.
But that didn't seem to bother commissioners, who praised the plan - which we also have termed as largely excellent - Wednesday but glossed over the lack of transparency in bringing it forward.
Commissioner and education committee Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley called it "a proactive plan rather than a reactive plan." Commissioner Chester Bankston said it is "something that needed to happen a long time ago." And Commissioner Tim Boyd observed it as "solid."
Boyd, the only commissioner who did not vote for the de facto tax increase that largely funds the schools plan, apparently was supposed to keep his thoughts to himself.
When he mentioned that "80 percent" of the new schools plan matched the "Hamilton County Comprehensive Action Plan" that he presented in March, Commissioner Joe Graham and Coppinger mentioned - in so many words - that only eight members of the commission voted to move the property tax rate back to where it had been prior to 2017 reappraisals, essentially raising the rate (and providing the money for schools and other projects).
Boyd's plan did suggest relocating CSLA, but to Dalewood Middle School rather than Tyner Middle, then combining Dalewood Middle and Brainerd High rather than Tyner Middle and Tyner High. It also included a new elementary school (Harrison), a new sports complex (Howard School) and improved track facilities at Hixson and Soddy-Daisy high schools, all of which are in Johnson's play.
However, he believed the plan could be executed without a tax increase.
We would reiterate that we believe Johnson's plan is, for the most part, sound. But we also believe the lack of transparency in not giving the public details of the plan, and not being called on it by the county commission, will continue to sow seeds of mistrust between the governing boards and the taxpayers, parents, students and business community they should want on their side.