Jim Carrel: Keeping PTO intact trumps over-crowding (at Bird Elementary)!

On Thursday January 17th, a special session of the school board's FTT committee was held to review the Boundary Task Force's (BTF) recommendations. The committee voted 4-1 (Nays: Jim Carrel) to approve recommendations of the Boundary Task Force and forward them on to the full school board for final action. Prior to that motion, Jim Carrel made a motion to amend the BTF recommendation by redrawing lines to eliminate moving 51 students from Northside elementary to Westside elementary. His reasoning: moving 51 children out of Bird to reduce crowding would result in most of the current parent leadership of the PTO being lost to a different building. Carrel stated that he was willing to let C.H. Bird elementary remain over crowded (anticipated by as much as 75 kids by 2010), if the PTO leadership remained intact. Losing the current PTO, Carrel said, would harm children more than being in crowded classrooms.

SP-EYE note: We value the contributions of parents involved in PTO very highly, but to assume that all would go to hell in a hand-basket just because the families moving from Bird represent most/all of the PTO leadership is ludicrous. Frankly, this may give other parents a chance to step forward and offer their contributions, which could be equally--if not valuable.

Other committee members disagreed:
FTT committee member Jan Fournier responded, "I'm confused as to why you don't think 50 additional kids at Bird is not a problem." FTT committee member Rick Mealy disagreed with the motion on a number of levels. "The PTO will rebound; new leaders will emerge", Mealy said. Mealy also stated that while the BTF vote of 10-8 on the new boundaries was not overwhelming, it represented a majority nonetheless. In addition, he felt it was inappropriate to undo decisions of an 18-member Task Force that considered much data and testimony over the course of 7 meetings and 2 public hearings. Mealy said that the final decision rests with the full school board.

SP-EYE note: What ever happened to the concept of "getting behind a decision once it has been made?" Apparently Mr. Carrel only subscribes to that philosophy when we agrees with the decision.

Some believe it was out of line for Mr. Carrel to use his position as a member of the FTT committee to advance an motion to make a change that was supported by only a minority of the Boundary Task Force, of which Mr. Carrel was also a member. In fact, Carrel stated publicly that he was one of the "8" on the 10-8 vote of the BTF regarding the final recommendations. It's a good bet that Carrel will be making a similar motion to the full board at its next meeting.

During the meeting, the committee heard testimony from 15-20 residents each requesting that an aspect of the Boundary Task Force's plan to redraw elementary school boundaries, be altered.

Common themes included : not moving the 51 students from Northside to Westside, opposition to moving the Parkway Village subdivision from Horizon to Creekside, concerns about moving children from Park Circle to Royal Oaks.