One thing is clear from the second round of meetings on the Hamilton County School district’s potential 10-year master facilities plan: The community still is unable to realistically deal with it.
“We want what we want how we want it” is no longer an acceptable position for parents and community members about the district’s 74 schools that, if left alone, would cost an estimated $1.36 billion to run over the next 10 years.
The number of schools must be reduced and the capacity of others better used if the district is to achieve Superintendent Dr. Bryan Johnson’s goal of making sure “all learning environments [are] excellent.”
Emotionally, the strategy of leaving things as they are is understandable. No one has to go more out of the way than they already do in getting their children to school. No one has to consider moving if they want their children to attend the same school program. No one has to endure one child attending a school different from the school a sibling attends. No one has to worry about their child attending a school with students with whom they are unfamiliar.
But this is no longer sustainable, and many people in the district, on the school board and in government have known it for years. Many of the schools in the facilities assessment conducted at the Hamilton County Board of Education’s request by MGT Consulting Group are rated either poor or unsatisfactory. Continuing to pour money into them is the worst of all solutions.