Board is showing no vision

Board

is showing no vision

I applaud the

comments made in Mr. Evans' letter to the editor that

appeared in the Jan. 21 edition of The Citizen Review.

It is painfully obvious our

school board does not have a vision of the future to

accommodate our county's school population, much less a

plan to accommodate the growth, but rather is trying to

rely on interim solutions. These busing quick fixes only

place a bandage on the growth issue that any reasonable

person could see headed our way.

Are they not communicating

with the County Commission about upcoming residential

building? Are they expecting a reversal in the

residential expansion of the county? Has a sudden shift

in development made their original plans obsolete? Has

the Peachtree City Development Corporation swayed their

judgment?

The succession of events

over the past several months make it clear that the

taxpayers of the county deserve to have the school board

clearly demonstrate how they arrived at their current

decision. The school board has an obligation to not only

share their plans to meet demands of the next school year

but subsequent years as well. Year-to-year fixes

conducted with no real strategic plan of action in place

is short sighted and ultimately failed.

If a heterogeneous mix and

an avoidance of overcrowding are the goals, why has the

school board not incorporated these goals into past

building plans? Won't these two goals be achieved in one

to two years as the Summer Grove homes fill up with new

families that will attend Newnan Crossing and if a

properly planned capital building expansion and

construction is aggressively pursued?

Bottom line, many county

voters are concerned with the school board's lack of

planning and ability to manage the county's school

population growth, and I'm sure will voice their

displeasure at the polls.

It should come as no

surprise to the board that when people purchase a home, a

major factor involved in that decision is where their

children will attend school. I think it is important to

note that the newly drawn lines did not alter my child's

school designation. Nevertheless, for me not to

demonstrate concern would be just as irresponsible and

short sighted as our current school board's actions

demonstrate.

Dan Bradfield

Newnan