Sunday, August 4, 2013

Analysis and Commentary of May 29, 2013

Dissecting the post of Wednesday, May 29, 2013:

The May 29th post appears to be more commentary and opinion than factual.

Myers Statement:   By tabling the development of the new Service Center we will administer the will of the residents by not building the new service center within any new, or existing, residential communities within the City limits accept for the consideration of the existing facilities of the Lowery Freshman Center.” (1)

Analysis:   Myers appears to believe the will of the citizens is to not build a service center.  This is based on his defeat of a sitting board member.  Voters also approved the building of the service center by approving the bond in 2009.  Reviewing the vote count; Myers won with 1002 votes or 51.94% of the voters who voted (2).  The Bond passed with 2363 votes or 63.66% of the vote (3).  Clearly more people and a larger percentage of voters who voted wanted the bond to pass. Service Center trumps Myers.

Score:  Facts 1 - Myers 0 


Myers Statement:  By focusing on the redevelopment of the Lowery Freshman Center to the “Lowery Center” I would propose that a new facility be constructed on its property to accommodate both the 9th and 10th grade classes. This would almost eliminate the stress on the High School by accommodating only the 11th and 12thgrades. It would also directly contribute to a reduction of the student-teacher ratio as well as a progressive improvement of the academic standings for our student body in whole.”(1)


Analysis:  Movement of the 10th grade class would remove approximately 1300 students (one-third of the students), resulting in 55.5% utilization of the high school or a waste of 44.5% of the space.(4)  Moving students out of AHS does not directly relate to a reduction in student-teacher ratio. It would result in more students being bused between the two buildings (AHS and LFC). 

  • The high school has one additional wing that can be added, if necessary.
  • Adding 10th grade students to Lowery would result in additional parking at LFC.
  • If acted up as stated, the high school will only be at 70% utilization at build-out.(4)
Score:  Facts 2 - Myers 0 


Myers Statement:  By redevelopment I would call for a complete re-design of the existing Lowery Freshmen Center property. (See Figure 1 below) I would recommend that the old baseball field and the practice field, located just to the north of the old football stadium, be allocated to a below grade and walled secure facility for bus parking. Entrances can be built at the north end of the bus parking as well as the bottom southwest corner of the same planned bus parking area. Being that the current bus parking area already feeds bus routes into these transit areas there will be little to no effect on the current traffic patterns.(1)

Analysis:  

  • The bus parking at LFC was initiated because the district had outgrown existing service center. Parking at LFC has always been described as a short-term solution.
  • The baseball field and practice fields are still being used by the district
  • The old football stadium is still being used by the district.
Score: Fact 3 - Myers 0 


Myers Statement: I would further recommend the purchase of the land just to the north of the current bus parking lot and the existing freshmen center. This land could be included in the overall design of the Lowery Center.(1)

Analysis:  The purchase of land is allowed in closed session.  One reason is to keep the price of the land down.  By Myers specifically mentioning the property, he may have already caused the selling price to go up. Bad move by a rookie board member.

Score: Fact 4 - Myers 0 


Myers Statement: As for the existing bond allocations for the transportation and service center these funds will still be specifically used for building and expanding those requirements; only in this case they will be focused on building into the existing Lowery Center. It should be noted that the original bond does not specify any location within the school district. The selection process for the current site was purely on the prior boards approval process. Therefore a decision to look at new locations still resides with the current school board.”(1)

Analysis:  True, board members selected the property at Bossy Boots and Watters.

Score: Fact 5 - Myers 1 


Myers Statement:  A bus fueling point could be including in the below grade bus parking area on the Lowery campus. By having the new bus parking area below grade we eliminate the catastrophic risk of the above ground fueling points and could even investigate burying and advanced fueling point in the newly acquired land to the north of the current bus parking area. We may even want to entertain outsourcing the fueling center to the gas station to the north of that land parcel. It should be further noted that by building the facility below grade we also eliminate the eye-sore of bus parking from any surrounding neighborhoods to the East. Any unused funds would be put to a vote as to its application to the development of the Lowery Center. If a renegotiation with the State is required then we will address it when the time comes.”(1)

Analysis:  Clearly Myers is deeply concerned about bus parking and fueling centers. The idea of below grade parking for 120 buses is unique, probably quite expensive and problematic.  Texans don’t have basements for a reason. The idea of using the gas station to the north has not been fully examined.  The district has 120 buses that use diesel.  The gas station mentioned does not have adequate space for fueling, would disrupt other businesses at that location.  The agreement would need to be put out to the lowest bidder, you can’t just pick who to purchase fuel from, you must follow policy and law.  The Board indicated during the July meeting the location had been considered and eliminated.

Score: Fact 6 - Myers 1 


Final Analysis:

  • The idea of moving some students out of the high school for capacity and educational reasons is not without merit.  
  • But before suggesting to continue spending money to create more facilities, one must look at the learning models available for high school students.  
  • The campus of 2023 may allow for student learning to occur off-campus with only periodic on-campus learning.  
  • To blindly create capacity at LFC without analyzing the impact to the existing to high school campus is irresponsible and reckless.

Source Documents: 
  1. Myers Blog, First Move to Action: Move the Service Center   http://allentxisd.blogspot.com/2013/05/first-move-to-action-move-service-center.html
  2. 2013 Allen ISD Election Results https://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/election_results/2013/051113/051113CAT.htm
  3. 2009 Allen ISD Bond Election Results https://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/election_results/2009/050909/050909CAT.htm 
  4. AISD Campus Enrollment and Projection data. FOIA from AISD.

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