Moving Forward

[waho...@gmail.com]

Like most of you, I am disappointed by the outcome last night. I am
particularly disappointed about the method by which the school board
came to the decision - without appropriate public input. There are
definitely a number of things that you can do to display your
displeasure at this decision. I am not going to go into them here. I
would like to try figure out how to move forward and secure a better
future outcome.

After West spoke, Dr. Lewis said he would like to continue talking to
this group. I think we must take him up on it. Dialog is the only
way we will be able to avoid something like this springing on us in
the future. I think we need to engage the school board constructively
and positively. Vitriol will only cut us out of the equation.

Dr. Lewis made some very public comments about his intentions and I
think we need to hold him to them.

1) The Park. For now, the park seems safe. We need to secure its
future. We should suggest that the school board deed the park
permanently to the county for use as a park. He said as much last
night, let's get a commitment. Dr. Lewis knew Charlie McDaniel and
appears to have respected him. This could be used as a very effective
lever.

2) The Marine Academy: only 1 year. Dr. Lewis said he only needed a
year, we should hold a firm line on a single year. As frustrating as
this may be, the academy is coming. I believe our only hope is to make
sure that it doesn't turn into a full blown High School with 650
students. We should focus our efforts on getting the academy moved to
Open Campus. It appears to a financial issue. Well, our current
government appears to happily hemorrhage money at the moment, perhaps
working together we can make sure some gets appropriately sent to this
effort.

3) The future for Heritage: The school was designed to be an
elementary school, let it be one again. As we all have just
discovered, there are a number of far worse possibilities. We need to
hold the school board to the original vision for schooling in our
communities: High Schools on main streets like Briarcliff and Druid
Hills, with elementary schools tucked into neighborhoods. There are
other possibilities certainly, but I believe this road leads the path
to a greater possibility of success. Oak Grove is pretty darn full,
Heritage will do nicely for my kids. We would of course need to get
the right faculty from Oak Grove to staff it.

I would be happy to be involved in any of these discussions. I just
want to be sure that we keep it professional, understand the School
Board's goals, and be certain that we are heard.

Tim Wilson
2155 Briarwillow Dr.