Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:35:40 -0500
From: Reid Guthrie <reidguthrie-at-hotmail.com>
Subject: Possible Chatham County Schools Reconfiguration
The Chatham County School Administration is considering reconfiguring its K-8 schools, splitting the middle school grades off and sending the students to existing middle schools in the county, to go into effect for the 2011-2012 school year.
A preliminary plan was presented by Superintendent Logan to the Board at the Mid-Year Retreat session on January 10th. There have been no public meetings to present the plan to the community or to discuss the impact of the plan on the schools and students since January 10th. The final plan is being presented to the School Board by Mr. Logan on February 14th at an open School Board Meeting.
If the School Board decides at the February 14th meeting to further pursue reconfiguration of the schools, there will be open community meetings on February 15th, 16th, and 17th, followed by another open Board meeting on February 21st. It is unclear whether a decision will be made by the School Board at that time.
While neither the Administration nor the Board have been particularly secretive about the plan (documents related to the plan were posted on the County Schools web site the day of the original presentation), many Chatham County citizens feel blindsided by the plan and feel that the compressed time frame to complete such a reconfiguration before the next school year does not allow for adequate discussion of the impacts of such an undertaking.
Reid Guthrie