01/01/2023
CALL TO ACTION: Hillsborough PTA supports students, teachers, parents, administrators and our school district. We presently see a need for in-person presentations of information and a Q&A at upcoming attendance boundary galleria walkthroughs. Please read our message and consider writing to the school board and superintendent to ask for a formal presentation and Q&A at the upcoming galleria walkthroughs.
Thus far, the district’s engagement with the public regarding attendance boundary changes has been exclusively online. The district held five online town halls that allowed participants to answer about 5 poll questions. Then the district held a webinar to introduce the map tool, and is soliciting only online feedback up until January 13, 2023.
Currently there is no plan for HCPS to do any more community education on the development of the boundaries or the potential cost savings with each boundary scenario. While it is easy to check your own address on the maps, the boundary analysis tool includes assumptions about school choice that are not noted in the maps and doesn’t contain support for the cost savings projected for each boundary scenario. The upshot is that we need more information and we suspect that you probably want more information too.
The district is having galleria walkthroughs at 10 high schools during the week of January 9-13. Right now, as far as we know, there will be no formal presentation, just printed copies of the maps, laptops for online comments, and there will be district and WXY employees available to answer individual questions. This kind of set up is not what we consider to be authentic community education and engagement. It limits who has information and doesn’t provide context or public information for the community to come up with questions.
Let’s work together with the district to make these events valuable by asking the district to include in-person education about the development of the attendance boundaries and the potential cost savings of each scenario. We would love to hear more from the makers of the maps, particularly about what assumptions are baked into the maps, and we would love to know more from the district about the data that supports the estimated capital and annual savings shown for each scenario. We’d also like to learn more about bus transportation, and what will happen to the repurposed schools. Everyone should have access to this information and it should be shared in a group rather than individual setting.
We want the district to succeed at drawing attendance boundaries that best serve students and families, and are fiscally responsible. Authentic in-person education of the public at the galleria events will help achieve this goal.
Please consider immediately writing to our Superintendent and school board at [email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected] with the message: “Please provide an in-person group presentation and Q&A at the galleria walkthroughs.”
There is a very short time between now and the time that public comment closes, so let’s all learn as much as we can to help our district make good decisions on how to serve our children.
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