Hundreds of parents trickled in and out of the East Hamilton Middle/High School gymnasium Tuesday evening to learn whether their children would be rezoned into new schools.
School officials unveiled their rezoning plans, which are aimed at relieving overcrowding at East Hamilton and several nearby elementary schools. After a PowerPoint presentation of the zoning proposal, Superintendent Rick Smith answered questions from parents for more than two hours.
Some parents were relieved to find their homes safely within the zone of their current schools. But many left the meeting upset that their children would have to attend different schools and worried that their property values would sink. A few parents were so dissatisfied with Smith’s answers they eventually resorted to yelling.
“I’m irate,” said Ryan Ledford, who learned his kindergarten daughter will be rezoned from Westview Elementary.
Because he expects to lose property value, he’s not pleased with being moved out of East Hamilton’s zone and into Ooltewah schools. But he said he saved up for years and purchased a home last year in the Westview zone, because of its reputation and high test scores. Ledford said he could better understand the change if his daughter were able to finish out at her elementary school.