Ma Charrette - Oh lá lá!

I went to the Chamblee Charrette and thought I'd report back. The turnout was enormous - I would estimate approximately 300-350 at a minimum were present. The overwhelming majority appeared to be from Chamblee attendance but there were a few Lakeside, Dunwoody, and Cross Keys folks present.

Add "large projection screen" to the wish list

Everyone gathered in the Bulldogs' gym for an intro - I missed the first fifteen minutes but the format was fairly simple. While the group was assembled, a brief summary slide show was presented describing the "2020 Vision" thing. Then the MGT of America folks passed out remotes to everyone and guided us through a few live survey questions with results projected over head (kewl!). That was fun but not particularly enlightening.

A sample question was something like, "Do you think portable classrooms are a viable, long-term solution for capacity planning?" Strongly Agree -> Strongly Disagree ... really?

After that, smaller groups of thirty or so split up and migrated to various rooms to fill out a simple form rating a school facilities (your choice). Then, a facilitator guided us through some questions and discussion points about priorities and concerns. Again, nothing particularly interesting or new here. Most folks in my group were Chamblee parents and talked a lot about the bad facilities and the lack of trust of leadership and absolute paranoia about being districted out of Chamblee.

At the end of our session, one astute CMS parent asked if the MGT reports would be available for the public to review. At which point, the lead consultant, Dr. Carnes (I think I have that correct) came over and said all reports would be available through the school system. I pointed out that having direct access to the reports would be a good idea since trust, or lack thereof, was the major theme of the night and offered up our humble blog as an alternate medium.

Dr. Carnes brought up the recommendations from a similar effort in St. Louis and suggested we could look at that to see what to expect in the final report. They took the todo to find it and I believe I have spotted it already here:

MGT Report for SLPS

He did say with great confidence that they will put everything on the table as they did in St. Louis. In that case, they recommended the closure of twenty-nine schools. In the end, that system closed seventeen of those recommended. He was very adamant that their report would include specific school closures and re-districting plans among other recommendations. So, I think we can expect a  very interesting report from them. Whether our leadership takes the recommendations to heart is an entirely different matter.

The irony of sitting in a planning charrette in CCHS was not lost on me. Whatever expert recommendations might end up in the MGT report about the CCHS area they are dead before the surveying is done and it is written. That ship has sailed and CCHS programs and attendance areas are now in a protected status. So this begs the question: If the System can manage planning CCHS facilities and attendance with no charrette, why is it necessary anywhere?

Discuss ...

Ensuring we don't put the charrette before the horse

According to a new flyer created by DCSS, the origin of a charrette, or "little cart" can be traced to 19th century Paris, France. Back then, architectural students at Ecole des Beaux wishing for their plans to be considered would scurry to submit their drawings by the designated hour. These "little carts" or charrettes would be brought around to collect the drawings and deliver them to a certain location for them to be displayed for the public to view. According to Wikipedia, the word charrette may refer to any collaborative session in which a group of designers drafts a solution to a design problem. In fact, the charrette protocol is used in many business, civic and educational planning - especially in early design stages, or when a group is more or less "stuck". Basically, architecturally speaking, a charrette is usually a public work session that seeks to formulate a plan or vision for the future of the community.

In their 2020 Vision, DCSS will be hosting a series of public discussions on plans for redistricting in the fashion of old Paris and in fact calling them "Public Charrettes". Attendees at the meetings will participate via an audience response system, answering questions regarding their opinions. The school system is looking for a broad base of public input, yet you can attend all of the meetings and ensure that your opinion is counted every time. (A very good idea, in my opinion.)

According to the discussion at today's Emory Lavista Parent Council, the redistricting plan will have a more or less, three-pronged approach. First, representatives will assess every single school building by conducting a physical walk-through (led by Parsons), then a group of DCSS staff will conduct a second set of walk-throughs focusing on the instructional use of the building (are rooms being used as intended -- are programs equitable -- are similar classes offered at every school) and third is the community input, the charrettes, which are being conducted by a third party consultant. Although overall, I think this is a wonderful plan, the one concern I have about the entire plan is the schedule - it is very compact - in fact, Ms. Tyson informed us that in order to complete these visits within the timeline, the teams will need to visit five schools per day.

The meetings (charrettes) are scheduled below. For a copy of the flyer, click here.

1. Chamblee High School, Tuesday November 9, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
2. Towers High School, Wednesday November 10, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
3. McNair High School, Monday November 15, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
4. MLK High School, Tuesday November 16, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
5. Stephenson High School, Wed. November 17, 6:30 – 8:30 PM

UPDATE: 

Two charrettes have been added: Nov 29th, Lakeside High School, and Nov 30, Peachtree Middle School, both at 6:30

The feedback from these charrettes will be summarized and presented to the board at its December 6, 2010 6:00 PM work session.

According to the DCSS website, "The 2020 Vision process is an 11-month process (October 2010 - August 2011) that will culminate in a 2020 Master Plan that will describe the facilities, programs, and other needs of the system over the next ten years and the recommended facility improvements required to meet these needs.

The master planning process will culminate in August 2011, which will lead up to a vote on SPLOST IV in mid-2012."