Time For A New (Caring) Superintendent
In a previous blog we wrote about the sale of the former Smith-Hale Middle School in the Hickman Mills School District. This is just a bit of a follow up with a focus on the Superintendent.
A rezoning and Area Plan amendment have been requested for this 29.6-acre parcel. Currently everything surrounding it is zoned residential, but developers want to change that to O or office zoning which has quite a long list of items that could possibly then be constructed there. The City Plan Commission is scheduled to hear arguments for and against on Tuesday, June 6, 2023 and the neighbors are making a valiant effort to defeat the plan, including a change.org petition. I commend them for their efforts, but the paranoid me says it’s in vain.
There have been very few developments this City has not liked, especially if they’re in a neighborhood. While I really have no means of comparison, except perhaps to Google the thought, this city seems to be extremely anti-neighborhood and very pro-development. That may have something to do with contributions to city council campaigns, but that’s fodder for another blog; this was to be more about the Superintendent. Already previously discussed is his so-called enthusiasm for the history of the Hickman Mills area and the three trails (Santa Fe, California, and Oregon) which run through it. In fact he’s so enthused, he’s willing to sell the district building that actually sits on those trails.
Additionally, he has demonstrated a lack of concern for the community he expects to support the school district. They did just that last August by supporting a levy increase which was supposed to mean Hickman Mills would be offering the highest teacher salaries in the area, thereby being able to attract more teachers. The community supported that levy (tax) increase even though Hickman Mills no longer has the highest teacher salaries.
The community was also asked to support a bond issue even though items from the previous bond had not been completed. The community did support that and now some bond money will be used to renovate a recently purchased building (who knows if bond money was used) in order to move administration and the school board out of their current spaces. Let me reiterate that there was a purpose-built building with a state of the art (from previous bond money) board room sitting on those famous trails which the superintendent is now selling. Again, the community showed their support.
Now the superintendent is attempting to dump an empty school which he neglected and allowed to be vandalized, etc. (Sounds like developers when they want an area to be so run down it would require a TIF to redevelop.) At any rate, he has found a buyer for this piece of property. That buyer now wants to rezone the area and amend the Hickman Mills Area Plan. Because the business is not for profit, there would also be NO PROPERTY TAXES coming into this district from 29.6 acres of land.
This last point is unbelievable in itself, but the Superintendent didn’t even let the surrounding neighbors know about the proposal. At their May meeting, the Southern Communities Coalition invited the developers to present their proposal, which they did. The Superintendent was at that meeting to give an update on the district (not including this proposal). When he finished, it was time for the proposal to be heard. As they were being introduced the Superintendent shook their hands and then LEFT THE MEETING. He didn’t have any interest in hearing what the community thought, nor did he care enough to defend his actions. Many think they were indefensible, which is possibly the real reason he left the meeting in a hurry.
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