Today should be a long day for some Wake County school board members.
It will start off at 9 a.m. with the board's facility committee meeting. It will wrap up sometime this evening with the community engagement meeting at Holly Springs High that could end at 9 p.m. or later.
This will mark the first committee meeting of the new board.
The main topic of the facilities committee meeting will be a review of alternatives to the Forest Ridge High site that was presented at the Jan. 20 joint meeting.
A review group had found that it would be more expensive and lead to delays to drop the Forest Ridge site. But members of the new board majority, particularly facilities committee chairman Chris Malone, want to look elsewhere.
Also on the agenda is a review of site planning issues regarding the new Rolesvllle Middle School. Wake is using federal stimulus funds to help keep the project on schedule.
The committee meeting is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in the board conference room, 3600 Wake Forest Road in Raleigh.
Comments
Who is on the review group
Wed, 02/10/2010 - 08:22 — woodstockWho is on the review group and what is their expertise?
It seems very odd to place 2 high schools witin 2 mlies of each other on the same 2-lane road when there are gaps in the county that need high schools.
Also, what happened to all the news stories that appeared prior to the BoE elections that addressed the enormous extra costs (blasting rock, infrastructure, etc.) associated with building on the Forst Ridge site?
Can you prove this statement?
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 10:55 — shank56"The review group is no doubt the same experts that pushed the Forest Ridge site on the school board in 2008" It is my understanding the review group was formed from a cross-section of "experts" outside WCPSS after the incoming BOE majority complained and had the process stopped. The review group recommendations last month supported the original site as being the most cost effective - and now the new BOE is trying to sink their recommendation (so it appears.) Sounds kinda like the YR survey - "Let's find out what parents want. Oops, they didn't return what we had hoped for and expected. Let's try and find a way out."
Review Group
Tue, 02/09/2010 - 10:44 — AwakeWakeMom"A review group had found that it would be more expensive and lead to delays to drop the Forest Ridge site." The review group is no doubt the same experts that pushed the Forest Ridge site on the school board in 2008 and underestimated the costs then. If they hadn't made that poor choice to begin with, it wouldn't be an added cost at this point.
The new school board members are up against the same old group that is still pushing this bad site choice behind the scenes. It is 1 1/2 miles from Heritage High School on the same 2 lane road that gets hugely backed up already. It also leaves a huge gap between East Wake and Heritage, which is the area that it is to serve.
This site will require blowing up rock as did many of the houses in the area. I wonder if they have checked for radon exposure as many of the homes had an issue with that as well. If not, that will also be another added expense.
It makes me wonder who is behind the original decision. I know that none of the locals in the area are for it. With all the bussing, the people in the area probably weren't intended to attend it. Next-door neighborhoods are bussed to Knightdale, which is a little over 10 miles away, when Heritage is less than 2 miles up the street and Wakefield is 7 miles away and Wake Forest Rolesville is 8 miles away. How much extra in fuel costs, busses and bus drivers have all those decisions cost the county?