We wonder sometimes if Hamilton County Board of Education members talk just to hear themselves speak.
Nearly one month after a two-phase school facilities plan was released to the public, several board members are griping about it. If the carpers were that upset about what was released on Aug. 17, we wonder why they didn’t immediately stage a community meeting — as one member did — to hear their constituents’ views and — importantly — release their own better ideas for a solution.
School board members have long known the district has a problem with too many schools, schools with underutilized capacity and maintenance issues that will continue to proliferate as long as the number of schools remains where it is.
A 2019 facilities report gave them all the information they needed about the condition of schools, capacity, maintenance needs and a blueprint for the future. The blueprint wasn’t perfect, changes were suggested and a revised plan was offered in early 2020 … just before the COVID pandemic set in.
As COVID lapsed, the blueprint just gathered dust, and it appeared that the same inaction over facilities that had plagued the board over the past decade would continue. However, when Weston Wamp was elected Hamilton County mayor in 2022, he understood the need for a more efficient, more forward-looking school facilities plan and convened a working group toward that end.