Supported by Facts, Plan B is Better

Dear FBISD residents:

Following is our letter to the FBISD Board of Trustees and the Superintendent, advocating for rezoning Plan B. If you also support Plan B, please let it be known by signing this letter. Thank you.

Plan A or Plan B? That is the question.

Whether ‘tis wiser to overcrowd Clements under Plan A, or to optimize the utilization of Clements, Austin, and Travis under Plan B?

Whether ‘tis safer to subject Telfair students to traffic hazards under Plan A, or to keep them in less stressful traffic conditions under Plan B?

Whether ‘tis fairer to make Lake Olympia students travel three times farther to another school under Plan A, or to keep them in their current school that is about a mile from their homes?

The answer is self-evident.

Under Plan A, Clements will literally “pop!” Data published by PASA (dated February 2014) show that under Plan A, by 2018, about 660 Telfair students would have been enrolled in all grades in Clements, driving its utilization beyond the permissible 120%. This is assuming all GSA students are removed by 2015; if GSA stays in Clements, overutilization will happen immediately upon Plan A’s implementation. Under Plan A, Telfair students driving to school will have to go across Highway 59 and wade through the already-increasing-crowded University and Sweetwater Boulevards and Crescent Lakes subdivision, posing safety risks not only to themselves but also to their fellow students and the Clements area residents. Under Plan A, Lake Olympia students who now zoned to Elkins will go to High Tower; and from the entrance of the Lake Olympia subdivision (Highway 6 and Lake Olympia Boulevard) to the entrance of Elkins it is only 1.1 miles, while to the entrance of High Tower it is 4.4 miles!

THESE ARE HARD FACTS AND HARD NUMBERS. NO ONE CAN FIGHT FACTS, NO ONE CAN FIGHT NUMBERS.

Plan B, not having any of the above mentioned issues, is not only feasible, but also provides a long-term solution to the zoning issues faced by all communities—it can last for more than five years without another rezoning. Plan B is favored and supported by majority FBISD communities, because it has addressed their concerns: Telfair students can stay with their middle school friends, which they have always yearned to; Lake Olympia students will not have to travel the quadrupled distance; and Lakefield students will be able to stay in the high school they have traditionally been going to. Although Plan B is not perfect, all it takes is some fine-tuning to iron out the imperfections. We regret that Old Orchard is zoned out of Austin under Plan B to Travis, which may result in increased travel burdens on its residents. But we believe that Plan B can be implemented without moving out Old Orchard—if the original plan to add 10 classrooms to Austin (under both the Facilities Master Plan and the April 2014 DeJONG-RICHTER Final Recommendations Report) is adopted, Austin will have enough room for both Old Orchard and Telfair. (PASA data also show that Austin, but not Clements, has space for additional classrooms). This is a much smaller price to pay compared with Plan A, which would unavoidably cause Clements to close enrollment due to overutilization, just like Commonwealth Elementary.

We thus respectfully ask that the Board have Plan B modified by keeping Old Orchard in Austin, adding classrooms thereto, and approve Plan B as so modified.