INC NEWS - School Board meeting last night (Feb 8)

[Melissa Rooney]

I haven't seen any updates for the DPS/School Board
meeting last night regarding Creekside's overcrowding
issues. It was a pretty polar crowd, and the only
definitive action the school board took was to
unanimously support a resolution to request 6.6
million dollars from the Board of County commissioners
(presumably for the purpose of subsidizing more
teachers and facilities for overcrowded -- i.e. South
Durham -- Schools. 

We should all email the BOCC in support of this
resolution. The DPS School Board has no power when it
comes to funds, except to ask the BOCC for money. So
it means a lot for parents/constituents to back them
up.

Another thing worth mentioning is the need for a long
term, comprehensive plan for Durham Public Schools,
that makes estimates from approved new development in
the pipeline and provides the facilities/teachers
before these crises arise. There should be no
redistricting at any school until ALL DPS schools are
researched closely, and the redistricting extends
across the county -- otherwise we could be looking at
repetitive short-term redistricting, which helps no
one.

Finally, there is the need tell developers that we
cannot approve any more development until our schools
catch up. If the developers then want to offer land or
$ for our schools, to try to get approval from the
BOCC in these hard times, they are free to (legally)
do so. Otherwise, Durham development can and should
wait.

BOCC emails:

ereckhow at aol.com, bmheron at co.durham.nc.us,
lcheek at co.durham.nc.us, prcousin at earthlink.net,
mpage at co.durham.nc.us

The school board seemed to really understand the fact
that this overcrowding situation is not limited to
Creekside, and thus, there needs to be a plan for the
whole county rather than a short-term bandaid for
Creekside (touch wood).

Cheers,
Melissa




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa Rooney, Ph.D.
Fairfield Community Awareness, 
Communications and INC representative

Durham, NC 27713
mmr121570 at yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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