Gainesville School Board members will meet, review process taken in new Enota school plan

After hearing again from citizens who are unhappy about the way plans for a new Enota Elementary School unfolded, the Gainesville City School Board has decided to revisit the plans during a retreat.

 

During the public comments portion of Monday night's meeting, four residents questioned the board about transparency in the process members used in making plans to raze the current Enota building - along with a large educational garden - and replace it with a new building.

 

Kathy Amos was one of the citizens who spoke, and she told board members she had done some "head scratching" as she studied the timeline of events leading up to the plan to remove the Smartville Garden at Enota.

 

"I would love to know why such an important decision - that had a petition with 1,200 signatures and names asking for more public input on the garden - was ignored and why no one from the public was at the June 2 meeting at which time the decision was made," said Amos. 

 

"It is important for this community to be able to trust this board and to have input and a voice," said Amos. "Without input and a voice, then it is a dictatorship, not a collaboration."

 

Elizabeth Burnett, a parent of three daughters who currently attend or will attend Enota, also voiced concerns about the lack of community input into the decision about the new Enota school, citing a letter she had received from the school system dated December 18, 2015. 

 

"'The District will assemble a committee to help provide input to the decisions to be made as we move forward with this project,'" said Burnett, reading from the letter. "I've been fairly involved in the process and I don't know of any such committee that's been formed."

 

Burnett also cited minutes from a November 7, 2015 meeting with an architect where details for the new school were outlined. She told the board the date of the minutes and the date of the letter indicated there could have been little - if any - community input into the process.

 

In the midst of the comments on the Enota project, Board Member Willie Mitchell made a motion to table the plans for Enota, but his motion was declared out of order. He withdrew the motion, but Board Member Sammy Smith asked for an addition to the agenda following the public comment portion of the meeting, which allowed Mitchell to make the motion during the discussion portion of the meeting.

 

That second attempt came after a confusing discussion on minutes surrounding the minutes of the June 2, 2016 called board meeting and the June 6 board work session. 

 

Mitchell made his motion to table the entire Enota project until both the board and the community could discuss the matter further. Smith seconded the motion, but then Board Member John Filson - saying that he did not disagree with Mitchell - suggested that the board first discuss the project further and unite on a plan. 

 

Board Chair Dr. Delores Diaz agreed with Filson, saying she did not believe tabling of the project was the best decision and said she hated to "make a hasty decision."

 

Smith said the process on the Enota project had created "too much distrust" in the community; he called for at least the suspension of the project. 

 

Ultimately, the motion to table the Enota project failed by a 2-3 vote.

 

At that point Diaz proposed a retreat for the board members to discuss the project. 

 

After the meeting ended, Diaz said she did not have a firm date for a retreat, but said it would happen "soon."

 

 "We've not really had a time to share as a group our individual thoughts on the project. What we need is a place and a time where we can sit down informally and just talk it over," said Diaz. "We need to do some introspection and examine the process we've taken so far and see if changes need to be made - or not."