The promise of the first public discussion of school rezoning in Richmond in decades packed the house at Thompson Middle School on Wednesday night, but the hope of a spirited back-and-forth on specific ideas ended minutes into the presentation.
The consultant who has helped a 40-person citizen committee draw up draft plans offered a presentation and said feedback was essential but that a public session wasn't the way it would be collected.
"If we had a (question-and-answer period), we wouldn't have the opportunity to hear everyone," Matt Cropper said to an auditorium packed with 300 or more people.
Instead, he directed the crowd to the cafeteria, where maps were set up on easels and written comment forms were available.
"We expect changes will occur," Cropper said before asking the crowd to move into the other room.
Within minutes, the cafeteria was packed. Lines and crowds formed, but everyone seemed polite and content to make their way through the map zones of their interest.
Still, there was room for dissent on a night when the public had its first open crack at a process that is calling for the closing of up to three of the city's 27 elementary schools.
Summer Hill, John B. Cary and Fisher are on the block, if the draft plans stay intact. The closing of Summer Hill is a certainty with two new schools being built in the zones next to it. The fates of Cary and Fisher are less certain.
Collie Burton, part of the committee that drafted the plans, talked at length about his displeasure with the notion of closing Cary.
"I have all kinds of problems with this process," he said. "Why would you close one of the most academically successful schools in the city?"
Cary made federal Adequate Yearly Progress and is fully accredited by the state Department of Education.
He said he thought the process was being driven solely by enrollment numbers, a theme that was audible throughout the cafeteria most of the night.
Thom Woodward, the parent of a student at Fisher, said he found the process curious.
"That's the best way I can describe it," he said. "I guess we had an inkling this would happen. People had been talking. But still, it's not clear why (the school would close)."
Dawn C. Page, the chairwoman of the School Board, said the turnout brought a smile to her face.
"I wish we had this turnout at all of our meetings," she said. "This is the level of public engagement that we need."
Andy Hawkins, the finance chief for the school system, said the night was a pivotal step in the process of deciding future enrollment patterns in the city.
"We learned a lot tonight and we'll learn more," he said.
At least four of the city's nine School Board members were on hand. Superintendent Yvonne W. Brandon made a brief appearance as the crowd was moving from the auditorium to the cafeteria, but she didn't speak. The night was about ideas, though, not plans for implementation.
"Keep in mind, these are drafts," Cropper said. "They're written in pencil. Nothing is final. It's not written in stone."
When the action wrapped up at a little before 8 p.m., the committee had collected about 30 written forms and was expecting up to 200 more online.
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