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Public meeting turns hostile over quick decision
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@acnpapers.com
Having narrowed the plans for the future of McKinney ISD high schools to two models, the district held a public meeting on Thursday to present their findings and allow parents to voice their opinions and concerns. A packed crowd gave them plenty of both, and rhetoric heated up when it was announced that a final decision would be made less than two weeks later on Aug. 17.
One speaker said the district wasn’t ready and that people should vote no in a bond election this November that will finance the selected plan.
Lead-up to the public forum
The group tasked with coming up with options to solve the district’s enrollment issues ran into limitations on bond capacity. Superintendent J.D. Kennedy told those gathered Thursday that bond projections were conservative and took into account the slowdown in the economy, lower property values and a slowdown in enrollment projections.
Stephen Fortenberry, MISD Chief Financial Officer, said that if the district devoted all its bond dollars to the high school plan, there are only a few plans that possible in the next four or five years. He added that the district has other needs as well.
“We do have some very challenging constraints with the bonding capacity coming up and that’s an overriding factor,” Fortenberry said.
During a meeting in June, the MISD board of trustees voted unanimously to narrow the options to two models that would be sent to a bond committee for study.
One option is a model that calls for adding on to McKinney High and North to equalize capacity at the district’s three high schools. Under this plan (Model 1) each school would follow the Boyd model: 5A with a 3,000 student capacity. If this model is selected, the district plans to grandfather in students to minimize disruption, though the policy will boost transportation costs.
The other option (Model 5) involves constructing a Career and Technology Education (CTE) Academy that could serve up to 1,500 students. Multiple administrators have characterized this model as risky due to unpredictable enrollment.
“There’s no guarantee that if we build it, they will go,” said Joe Miniscalco, Senior Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction at MISD.
The model is also an expensive way to increase capacity for multiple reasons, including the need to transport students to the district’s other high schools for fine arts and athletics. Dr. Kennedy said that Irving, which has a CTE Academy, has struggled with enrollment because of students’ desire to attend traditional high schools.
These criticisms make it unlikely Model 5 could receive approval.
Model 1 would carry construction costs of approximately $35 million and would meet enrollment needs through 2020, though a new high school would need to begin construction in 2018. This model is recommended by the Superintendent.
Question and answer
Several speakers voiced support for smaller high schools, with one suggesting that parents might make financial sacrifices, such as higher taxes, for a system of 4A schools similar to what Frisco ISD has. Many felt that would allow more students to participate in extracurricular activities like sports, as fewer students per school means less competition for a limited starting spots.
Dr. Kennedy was asked whether the district could cut into its 25 percent operating fund balance to finance smaller schools. He responded that he didn’t want to use the balance to pay for brick and mortar, as he thinks in the years to come the state will either keep school funding level or cut it back and he doesn’t want to see that impact instruction in the classroom.
McKinney ISD’s fund balance of 25 percent is higher than that of many other districts. Fortenberry said that if that was cut to 20 percent about $9 million would be freed up, though operating costs for an additional high school would amount to about a third of that amount. Additionally, he said a high fund balance leads to better credit ratings and lower interest rates that can help sell more bonds.
Whatever the board ultimately decides, a rezoning process will be a part of the plan. When asked about a time-frame for rezoning, Kennedy said that he wanted to see enrollment numbers for the coming school year before giving anything definite, though he doesn’t think the district can wait another year for zoning changes.
“I want us to make sure that we make a decision on the zones that will last the longest it can before we have to revisit this again,” he said.
One parent raised concern about space issues at Boyd, which is already nearing capacity. Earlier in the year, MISD made a failed attempt to drive enrollment from Boyd to North, the district’s most under-utilized high school, by relocating all CTE courses there and instituting open enrollment. The move was later cancelled when student interest proved minimal.
A debate over what zoning method the district should employ followed; with some saying it should ditch the current practice of demographic zoning in favor of geographic zoning. Speakers complained that kids aren’t zoned to the schools near their homes, and one asked why that was considered financially feasible.
Miniscalco said that MISD believes there’s a positive effect of having demographically balanced schools. A later speaker came to the district’s defense, saying the issue goes back to desegregation and thanked it for imposing the practice and setting an example for other cities.
Hostile reaction
The meeting took a turn when it was announced that the board would decide on a high school setup on Aug. 17. Many felt that wasn’t enough time for consideration of their ideas.
Alongside the threat to vote down a November bond election, questions were asked about how the election would be structured, presumably to find out if it would be possible to defeat the segment funding the high school plan without endangering other projects.
Dr. Kennedy assured parents their concerns would be considered, and district spokesperson Cody Cunningham said the plans will be put online and that additional questions can be sent to him via email at cocunningham@mckinneyisd.net.
When asked why the decision needed to made now, Miniscalco said that with enrollment exceeding capacity in 2014, the district needs to get past thinking and into action.
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
mlb4 wrote on Aug 7, 2010 7:05 PM:
" Is this with or without Illegal Aliens? "
orangecat wrote on Aug 9, 2010 11:19 AM:
" meeting tonight! Was that ever published by a newspaper, or is the paper that far behind?
These are two meetings on back-to-back nights, tonight and tomorrow night. will be interesting to see if they duck into closed session the moment they see anybody at all attend.
I'll be there, anybody else? "
These are two meetings on back-to-back nights, tonight and tomorrow night. will be interesting to see if they duck into closed session the moment they see anybody at all attend.
I'll be there, anybody else? "
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