Rep Doerr’s Comments on RCMS Rezoning

The following are Rep Liz Doerr’s (1st) comments regarding River City Middle School rezoning from Monday 5/2/22’s School Board Meeting:

There has been a lot of discussion and debate on social media over the past week and I think we probably all have a good idea of how the conversation around this issue will play out tonight.  

You may hear from my School Board colleagues that they have been mistreated, called names or harassed in the past week. While those experiences are no doubt harmful and personally upsetting, the unfortunate truth is that ad hominem attacks both online and in the press are an unpleasant part of being an elected official in America today. I myself have been called all sorts of names, and have had my integrity and motives questioned aggressively and publicly in the past week. In fact, there hasn't been a week in my tenure serving on this Board over the last 6 years where I haven't received some kind of negative, and in some cases, threatening, communication from a community member including people showing up at my house, threatening to sue me because of votes I have made, etc. All that said, I want to encourage all of us to center the conversation around the decision and not the individual. Ultimately, it is not the name-calling stings but the policy impact on kids is what matters, and I maintain that the decision made by this board last Monday to not rezone RCMS was ethically wrong.

You may hear from my School Board colleagues that their decision to vote no on rezoning RCMS was not about preserving Binford Open Enrollment seats. Well, I went back and listened to the recording of last week's meeting. Binford was mentioned 24 times in the conversation, Boushall, which is also impacted by the proposal, was mentioned ZERO times. Furthermore, no one brought up the fact that open enrollment seats are going to be taken away from Brown at all. The reality is that the conversation last Monday was completely centered around preserving OE seats that advantage affluent and white families at Binford, one of our better resourced schools.  

You may hear from my School Board colleagues that folks wanted more information before making a decision. It is not unreasonable to seek information before making a decision, but the timing in this circumstance gives me pause. Why didn't board members ask for more information throughout the five month proposal development process? Why didn't they ask for more information between the first and second read of the motion? I asked the administration and they confirmed that not a single board member who voted against the RCMS rezoning last week reached out to the administration with questions during the time between the first and second read. When you ask for information only on the night of the vote, it is a self fulfilling prophecy that you are not going to get the information that you want, and therefore have an excuse to vote no. Why not instead be a partner in working to get all of the information needed ahead of the night of the vote so that you can get to a yes vote, especially on such time-sensitive and critically important policies. Sadly, and to the detriment of our kids, it has become routine for members of this board to use situations like this one to set the administration up for failure rather than working together to move forward. 

I also find it extremely troubling that my colleagues voted no on RCMS rezoning based on a supposed lack of information, and yet felt comfortable voting in support of Schools Build Schools without prior public notice, without a budget, and seemingly without a working understanding of the process of securing critically needed funding from city council. Why didn't we need a budget, or for that matter, public engagement, when we voted for schools build schools? That was a billion dollar decision that was voted on in the middle of the night without a budget and without a first and second read. Some members of this board have a history of asking for more details and discussion only when it is convenient to stall or provide themselves political cover for a no vote. Furthermore, in re-listening to last week’s meeting, after the RCMS rezoning motion failed, the next motion introduced by the board majority, in an attempt to salvage what had just been done, read, quote "By our next board meeting the administration will present the board with a plan that includes a corresponding budget...and a rezoning plan that has fewer students crossing the river." Fewer students crossing the river of course meaning fewer students newly zoned for Binford and Brown, or, put another way, fewer newly zoned students taking those OE spots at Binford. Later the motion was whittled down to just ask for more information, but it is disingenuous and revisionist history to say that the only reason some board members didn't support the RCMS rezoning was because of lack of information. The no vote was at least in part to preserve OE spots at Binford.

You may hear that folks wanted more than one plan before making a decision. Again, then why not ask for it? Why not say at any time in the past five months, or after the first read, "in order to get my support I need to see more than one plan and a transportation budget." It is also worth noting that there were many potential plans presented to the committee and the proposal process was iterative, changing based on feedback, even from the first read to the second read. No one who voted against the rezoning proposal last week asked for this information or for multiple options to be presented to the SB before last Monday night, when it was too late for the committee, which is notably separate from the administration, to respond.

You may hear that the reason why RCMS is overcrowded is b/c of the rezoning decisions made in 2019. I'm happy to unpack the 2019 rezoning process at length any time, but in short: in the past week I have talked to committee members and board members who represented the Southside at the time in 2019, and there were many contributing factors that led to the current overcrowding at RCMS. Many folks who were intimately involved in the rezoning process conclude that our board routinely under forecasts population growth on the Southside. That's why I was, and continue to be, deeply concerned about building George Wythe too small to accommodate its projected capacity. Finally, even if we have lessons to learn from the 2019 rezoning process, and I have no doubt that we do, that doesn't negate the fact that the decision made last week not to rezone RCMS was wrong and dangerous for kids.  

  In short, we seem to need more details and discussion and time when it suits an agenda. I stand by my vote last week, and hope that my colleagues will join me tonight in prioritizing the safety and educational well being of the kids at RCMS by voting to ensure that their school is not dangerously overcrowded when school starts next August.