The Tate County school board voted on two motions Thursday, Jan. 26, at a special called meeting to determine the dividing line for its high school attendance zones due to the closure of Coldwater High.
The motions ended in a stalemate and eventually died because school board member Martha Jeffries abstained from voting both times.
“I haven’t voted for anything to do with closing Coldwater before, so why would I vote on the lines?” Jeffries asked. “We just might have to table this again because I’ve got to get my head together and I am not voting tonight.”
The school board has been tasked with deciding whether to use Interstate 55 or U.S. Highway 51 as a midpoint for the district since Dec. 13, the day after a federal judge fully granted a request to close grades seven through 12 at Coldwater effective for the 2023-24 school year. Students who reside west of the dividing line would attend Strayhorn, while students on the east side would attend Independence.
According to data from TCSD, Independence High currently has 470 students, Strayhorn High has 332 and Coldwater High has 187. If the dividing line for the district is U.S. 51, 100 of those Coldwater students would attend Independence and 87 would be designated for Strayhorn.
If I-55 is chosen as the dividing line, 142 Coldwater students would attend Strayhorn and 45 would go to Independence.
A few minutes into the most recent school board meeting Sharann Gordon issued a motion to make U.S. Highway 51 the dividing line which received a second from Dale Dunigan. Terri Reeves and Malinda White voted against the motion which resulted in a 2-2 tie after Jeffries abstained.
Following some discussion, White made a motion that I-55 should be the dividing line which received a second from Reeves. Gordon and Dunnigan voted in opposition of the measure and Jeffries refused to break the tie again.
The Tate County school board agreed at its December meeting to table the decision of where the midpoint of the district will be and allow more time to balance the student load between Independence and Strayhorn High Schools. The decision was tabled again at a meeting Tuesday, Jan. 10, after school board members discussed measuring public opinion on the situation before making a final conclusion.
In mid-January, the Tate County School District posted two surveys – one for parents and one for stakeholders – on its website and various social media platforms to gather input from the community.
A total of 93 people responded to the parents’ survey and 68.8% voted to make U.S. Highway 51 the dividing line. Results of the stakeholder survey, in which 850 participated, showed 66.5% wanted the dividing line to also be U.S. Highway 51. Superintendent Alee’ Dixon said the stakeholder numbers could be considered invalid since there wasn’t a limit on the amount of surveys for each individual.
“Including the survey, the facts are Strayhorn does not have the facilities to adequately handle an I-55 split. Independence does,” Dunigan said. “It’s just logic and common sense that 51 is the alternative we have because we don’t have the money to build something, and we don’t have the time. Time is of the essence right now.”
“I contend there is space at Strayhorn,” White said. “Something that is not taken into consideration is every teacher has a conference hour and their classrooms are available. We have added classroom space since I’ve been on the board.”
After both motions ended in a deadlock, White asked board attorney John Lamar if the federal judge could make the decision on where the dividing line should be.
“In my opinion, this board needs to make the decision,” Lamar responded. “I don’t think it would be in the district’s best interest for us to go back to court and say, ‘we don’t like what you’re saying judge, you decide’. She’s already decided. At some juncture, you have to get ready for school to start in the fall without Coldwater.”
The next Tate County school board meeting is set for Tuesday, Feb. 14, at 6 p.m.
