For the second time this month, parents showed up by the dozens for a public hearing on the redrawing of school attendance zones in the south end of Hall County. A number of those at Tuesday night's meeting at Flowery Branch High School asked Hall County School Board members to hold off on the redistricting.
Chris Fetterman, referencing the timeline for establishing a seventh middle and high school district, noted that district school officials started working on the actual attendance lines 16 months ago.
"You know we could have been talking about those lines 16 months ago and been negotiating or making decisions or coming up with ways of handling this," Fetterman said. "I don't think anybody here disagrees that we don't need another school. I don't think anybody disagrees that we're not going to grow...we need to look at these lines and make sure they're the way that we the voters want it."
At least three of those who addressed the board accused members of playing politics with the new attendance lines.
"There's no transparency about why the lines are drawn where they were drawn," said Brian Kovach, a resident of the Sterling on the Lake community. "I have yet to get an answer on why the lines are where they are."
Kovach's wife Jennifer also took to the microphone to say she felt there was favoritism in the drawing of the attendance lines.
"To expand a little bit on what my husband was trying to say...is that when we heard who drew the lines for those schools, we know where that individual lives and that individual has children involved in this situation," Kovach said, indicating she believed there was a conflict of interest in the process. .
Superintendent Will Schofield responded, saying that he was responsible for the drawing of the attendance lines with the assistance of school district Transportation Director Jewell Armour. Niether has students who would attend any of the schools in question.
"They drew the lines where I told them to draw the lines," Schofield said. "I don't know how to run the [software] program, but I know where the rooftops are and I know where the kids are. Were there other people's input on my cabinet? Absolutely, but I'm not going to blame anybody else. I'm the one who drew the lines."
About 150 people attended Tuesday night's hearing.
The new district lines are targeted to be in place for the 2018 school year.
The school board's next voting session is June 26, and Schofield said that is the tentative date for voting on the new district lines.
To see the presentation made at Tuesday night's public hearing, follow this link.
