I'd watch your tone, KDawg. Your treading very close to threat status in your first post. I attended the meeting on Monday and your reference to Jim as a "bully of a man" is comical. Jim was ineffective. He meekly mined through a stack of bar/pie charts that were nearly indecipherable and failed to make a clear point as to WHY the bell/spears community should be included in the NP zone. He failed to discuss the capacity by which a public school should be obliged to SERVE its surrounding community. He failed to discuss the VW deal as a factor in overcrowding. He failed to discuss a fee-based preschool that is a guaranteed "in" and how IT contributes heavily to the overcrowding of NP. NP Admin have presented their talking points and have drawn a line from bell/spears to sorrowful images of 3rd graders in portables with no art room, exhibit hall, science lab. Those with a modest intellect should recognize this as spin to incite panic. If there is truly an overcrowding problem at NP (which appears to be inevitably so) there will be a community groundswell that will demand that NP service the community that built it and in no small part, made it what it is...warts and all. It will demand a restructured growth plan that will not omit the members of this community that so desperately need NP. It is no coincidence that the majority of parents that attended were magnet parents, protecting their "turf". They came across as the bullies, aggressively seeking assurance/affirmation from their leaders that the gravy train was not about to leave the station.
Call for compromise in Normal Park zoning battle
I'd watch your tone, KDawg. Your treading very close to threat status in your first post. I attended the meeting on Monday and your reference to Jim as a "bully of a man" is comical. Jim was ineffective. He meekly mined through a stack of bar/pie charts that were nearly indecipherable and failed to make a clear point as to WHY the bell/spears community should be included in the NP zone. He failed to discuss the capacity by which a public school should be obliged to SERVE its surrounding community. He failed to discuss the VW deal as a factor in overcrowding. He failed to discuss a fee-based preschool that is a guaranteed "in" and how IT contributes heavily to the overcrowding of NP. NP Admin have presented their talking points and have drawn a line from bell/spears to sorrowful images of 3rd graders in portables with no art room, exhibit hall, science lab. Those with a modest intellect should recognize this as spin to incite panic. If there is truly an overcrowding problem at NP (which appears to be inevitably so) there will be a community groundswell that will demand that NP service the community that built it and in no small part, made it what it is...warts and all. It will demand a restructured growth plan that will not omit the members of this community that so desperately need NP. It is no coincidence that the majority of parents that attended were magnet parents, protecting their "turf". They came across as the bullies, aggressively seeking assurance/affirmation from their leaders that the gravy train was not about to leave the station.