"The people who are at this meeting are the people who really care -- the people who are passionate about what school their child attends." said one parent in tonight's meeting.

The statement seemed to sum up the sentiments of many in attendance in tonight's special called meeting of the School Board.

The Putnam County School Board has been inundated with requests for information and for Board reconsideration of the zoning measure put in place by vote in the March Board meeting.   Tonight's meeting, orginally scheduled as a public Q&A on the new zoning, was made into a special called meeting of the School Board so that Board members might hear from the public. 

No decisions or reconsiderations were planned in this meeting, but deferred to the regular business meeting around the 1st of April.

Around two hundred people were in attendance tonight as many spoke out against the "hard line zoning" measure that, for some students, means reporting to a different school in the fall than they may have planned or desired. 

Kathleen Airhart, Director of Schools, tried to paint a picture of how we got "here" -- the challenges and constraints facing the elementary and middle school facilities today. 

Airhart reviewed the advantages of the planned enrollment pattern, which, she said, include:

- Better management of limited tax dollar resources

- Providing equity between schools

- Planning for teaching assignments

- Equal distribution of federal dollars

Concerns raised by parents included proximity to work, provisions for children of staff to attend the school at which their parent works, the middle school feeder pattern and siblings attending together. 

One man, who lives near one of the zone lines, brought up the fact that his child could be in one school one year, and one school another, based on swells in population. 

Some Cookeville city children are zoned to Algood Middle School, while others are zoned to Baxter Middle School.  Some Baxter zoned children are zoned to a Cookeville elementary school.  Some schools are overfull in the first years of the zoning plan.

Airhart referenced these issues as some mapping "tweaks" that may be needed.

One concerned mother pointed out that she could have three children in three parts of the county, not anywhere near her place of employment, creating a logistics puzzle. 

The current plan calls for the following priortization of enrollment:

1.  Students living outside the zone who were enrolled the previous year and students of teachers in the school

2. Students living in the zone

3. Students who are siblings of students currently enrolled and

4. Students living outside the zone.

Students attending a school outside of the zone may finish at the respective school to the highest grade level and within the following grade level structures:  K-4 and 5-8.  Students moving from one grade level structure to the next grade level structure must enroll at their respective zoned school and will be given priority as listed 1-4 above.

Parents may elect ot enroll children in any school provided the parent provides transportation and that their choice does not create overcrowding in the chosen school. 

The director of schools has the authority to close enrollment at a school based on total student enrollment. 

The principal shall be responsible for assigning all students to classes. 

Students who enter the system from another school system are to be placed by the principal in the class and/or level as indicated by records from the former school.