Only standing room is available for the audience during Thursday night’s school board meeting. Among the topics discussed were zoning for Normal Park and transparency of the lottery system.After filling up the school board meeting room, about 60 residents of the Hill City neighborhood left Thursday’s meeting deflated that board members didn’t bring their concerns to a vote.
But the Hamilton County Board of Education said it will hear both sides of a years-long back-and-forth over zoning of Normal Park Museum Magnet School at a special meeting next week.
After hearing from many Hill City residents in recent months, board member Joe Galloway made a last-minute motion to add the item to Thursday’s agenda. Families in the area are asking the school board to allow their students into Normal Park, instead of busing them several miles away to schools in Red Bank.
In 2007, the school board voted to expand Normal Park’s boundaries to include the area of Bell and Spears avenues. But in 2010, then-Superintendent Jim Scales said the zone would not widen because of more families moving into Normal Park’s boundaries.
Board member Chip Baker asked for a special meeting so the body could hear both sides of the issue.