Mother, teacher discuss new school: sample of Nov 30, Dec. 5 meetings?
Public voices welcomed at FPS, FMS
KNOXVILLE — Giving Knox County Board of Education a “mother” and “teacher” perspective when it comes to deciding what grade levels will occupy a new Farragut public school, the building of which will impact the current four Town public schools, two Farragut women spoke as part of “Public Forum” during a recent Board meeting where three building options were presented.
These voices were heard prior to three KCS meetings seeking parent, teacher, administrator and general public opinions. Following the first meeting, which was held at Farragut High School Tuesday evening, Nov. 28 (after deadline), similar meetings will be held in Farragut Primary School beginning at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 30, and in Farragut Middle School starting at 5: 30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 5.
Wendy Brinley
Wendy Brinley has been a Farragut resident for 11 years who has two children attending the Town’s public schools.
“First of all, I want to commend the Farragut teachers, administrations and staff for doing their absolute best,” she told the Board. “These people are my heroes. Please don’t misconstrue anything that I say is negative on anyone’s efforts. Everybody’s been doing their best with the tools that we have.
“I thank you for making the purchase and seeing the need that we have in Farragut because our schools are starting to bust at the seams and have been,” Brinley added.
“What I’m here tonight to advocate for is what I think is the benefit of all Farragut students, not just my own, because … the chance of them being in a new building is nil. My kids are not going to be in a new building.”
Brinley gave her opinion about “what is developmentally appropriate for our children because that’s the main priority.” She said. “You’re probably going to hear about Farragut traffic through all this process, but that is not the main priority to me.
“It is meeting the needs of the students,” she added. “And the age of the building, new versus old, is not the priority. It’s, ‘Does this building meet the needs of the students?’
“…What I think is that it needs to be an elementary school. Ideally, we (need) multiple K-5 schools nurturing these babies in the same location all the way through fifth grade and not having to switch them in their elementary school career.”
However, “I’m not sure that that is the reality of what we’re going to have in Farragut,” Brinley said. “But as much as possible, they do better on an isolated campus. They need to be nurtured and cocooned and allowed to flourish until they’re ready to move on to middle school.
“Our middle school is right adjacent to the high school, which is actually fantastic,” she added. “It is a great relationship that our middle school has with high school.”
For middle schoolers, “they do not need to be cocooned and isolated anymore,” Brinley said. “They need to be a part of the community. They need to see those high school activities and aspire to them. They see the band practicing next door and they want to go be a part of that. We don’t need to isolate our middle schoolers.
“… Please leave the middle school where it is and come up with a K-5 solution.”
Brooke Manor
Labeling herself as a “lifelong resident of Knox County and a product of Knox County Schools,” Brooke Manor added she’s “taught in Knox County for 26 years and at Farragut Primary School for 18 years. I thank you for the attention that you’ve given the overcrowding situation and for purchasing the property with our relief in mind.
“In my 18 years at FPS, I have been through multiple re-zonings and two elementary school builds, which were meant to alleviate our overcrowding,” she added. “But each time data was presented to the Board and the data said, ‘ “This will fix the overcrowding, you’re going to be set.’ And each time the data was wrong, space was overestimated, growth was underestimated and now even more new neighborhoods and apartment complexes are popping up all around us.”
As for enrollment indicators, “I realized that your data has said that apartments contribute negligently to student numbers,” Manor said. “And that may have been true in the past, but it no longer is. A third of my current class lives in apartments.
“As home prices rise, more families who want to be in the Farragut schools are turning to apartments and developers are happy to oblige them,” she added. “Instead of being reactive to this unprecedented growth in our county, we need to be proactive.
“I know you’re not psychic, but if you see undeveloped land, just know it’s going to have a neighborhood and it’s going to have an apartment building and we are going to be flooded.”
So during this critical eight-day period, “I beg you to take the time to listen to the input from our administrators, our staff and our families before making your decision because we’re the people who’ll be living with the results,” Manor said.
“And I want to invite you to visit and spend time in each of the schools that are affected by the proposals,” she added. “Observe our epic arrivals and dismissals in action. I’d love to show you the ingenuity that we employ to move a thousand 5-, 6- and 7-year-olds in under 40 minutes to get out of their cars and back in them at the end of the day.
“I also would like for you to see the community that we have dedicated our lives to.”
Giving a personal invitation, “You are welcome in my classroom at any time,” Manor said. “And as Ms. (Susan) Horn (District 6 BOE representative, which includes Farragut) can tell you, it’s a great place to be.”
