RISD Administration Building
Some Lake Highlands residents communicated their opinions about Richardson ISD plans to handle overcrowded schools to RISD staff and trustees last week via phone calls and emails, but last night’s board meeting was their first chance to share their thoughts publicly. The turnout was large but cooperative, including parents opposed to boundary changes and folks asking ‘how big is too big?’ for a neighborhood school. One proposal didn’t survive the week.
“I want you to know we have pulled our recommendation to add 12 classrooms at Northlake Elementary for a pre-K and Kindergarten center,” announced Dr. Kay Waggoner to start the meeting.
Still on the table for Lake Highlands, she said, were (1) relocating a portion of the Skyview attendance zone into Thurgood Marshall’s boundary area, (2) adding classrooms at Aikin, Stults Road and White Rock (and possibly other schools as needed), (3) pursuing land to build an additional elementary school, and (4) adding dollars to the 2016 bond proposal to pay for these changes.
One well known LH resident asked if RISD was ready for a bond election at all.
“The bond process now seems to be driven by a date deadline and a dollar restriction – not an evaluation of what it will take to become a destination district,” said Alan Walne, former Dallas City Councilman for LH and grandfather of 7 current or future LH area students. “I don’t think you’re ready to call an election in May. Please do not make the mistake of going forward without a true strategic plan.”
Ben Solomon, parent of a Northlake Kindergartener, also shared his thoughts.
“I’ve heard a loud contingent of people describe the challenges we face and propose some solutions – all valid. I’d like to encourage us all to remember that the challenges of White Rock are not the only challenges that face us in Lake Highlands. I’ve seen a lot of discussion on Facebook, some of it narrow and self-seeking to the detriment of Northlake students. I encourage you to let Northlake students have an equal voice. If we truly desire to be a district where all students grow, learn and succeed together, then we must all work together.”
Richard Duge, president of the White Rock Valley Neighborhood Association, weighed in with data that more than half of LH elementary schools will have about 800 students or more by 2019/20. In contrast, only 7% of DISD elementaries and only one elementary in Plano ISD are currently that large.
“Let’s put additional funds in the 2016 bond [to build an elementary school] so we can avoid our past mistakes,” said Duge.
Leah Marshall, a White Rock parent, expressed concerns.
“People want a school under 800 students, but White Rock hasn’t had that in a number of years. The success of White Rock has been due to parents – and that includes parents north and south of Walnut Hill. Some have suggested redrawing boundaries, and that would wreak havoc with property values. I am heartbroken with the divisiveness of this discussion – some have said my children aren’t worthy to attend White Rock because they live north of Walnut Hill. I ask you not to change the boundaries.”
RISD staff will continue seeking thoughts and reflections from trustees and the community at called special meetings on Jan. 20 and 26, said Waggoner. “To help you deliberate,” she said, “our administrative team will bring you the latest information” on optimal school size, the ‘neighborhood school’ concept, and recommendations to meet RISD’s immediate and long-term needs.
Trustees discussed pros and cons of presenting the bond to voters as one proposal vs. multiple options, given that portions of the $417 million bond are more popular with some groups than others.
“Technology and CTE [career and technology education, sometimes referred to as vocational training] rank consistently high with all groups,” said Tony Harkleroad, VP of Finance for the district, “but teachers favor spending on collaborative learning areas while the community is higher behind the multipurpose practice facilities to be used by students in athletics, fine arts and extracurriculars. “And on the ‘Thank you/Listening Tour’ in Lake Highlands, speaking to the LH Early Childhood PTA and other groups, the top priority was handling enrollment growth.”
As the meeting neared its end, trustee Kris Oliver defended RISD board and staff.
“I want to address very directly the idea that we do not have a strategic plan for this bond,” he said. “During the 2014/15 school year we began to collect ideas for the bond,” he said, “and we collected a large number of ideas and initiatives. Then early this year we began to refine those ideas into strategic options, and we did something we’ve never done before – we set out on a listening tour before we called for the bond. We’ve gotten a tremendous amount of very valuable feedback from that, and we’ve adjusted our plans as new data has become available. Now, it’s very unfortunate that our demographic information came to us very late in the process, but strategic planning processes rarely happen in a perfect environment.”
“As someone who has been involved with strategic planning with a Fortune 500 company,” continued Oliver, “I feel pretty comfortable opining that this has been a strategic process and this is a strategic plan. We’re having a lot of discussion here at the 11th hour here before we call the election about what the tactics should be, what the specifics should be, but I’m very comfortable with the strategy and I’m very appreciative to our staff for the hours and hours of effort that have gone in to make sure that this is a strategic plan.
“Now, I’m also very familiar with the tactic, when you’re pursuing objectives, where people will say ‘you don’t have a strategic plan.’ Very often that’s just a red herring for ‘I don’t like what’s in your plan,’ but I do feel that this is a strategic plan. I feel that it’s important for our community to be reminded of that. This is a process that has gone on for a year and a half that has led us to this point.”
If you’d like to listen in or weigh in, you may attend the public meetings at 4 p.m. Jan. 20 and 26 at the RISD Professional Development Center, 701 W. Belt Line.
