Schools

'It's a Safety Issue' — Highlights from Comments at Tuesday's Board of Education Meeting

Parents and school board members spoke out on the issue of parental responsibility zones and budget cuts.

During Tuesday's meeting of the Barrow County Board of Education, parents and board members commented on issues ranging from student safety in parental responsibility zones to budget cuts. Here are highlights from the meeting.

To read about the board's decision to approve a plan to provide transportation for students in parental responsibility zones, click here

"I wouldn’t want my child walking. I would prefer them to stay home than walk on those roads. ... I just would like to see transportation provided for these children because it’s our responsibility as parents and adults to be boldly committed to seeing children succeed.” — Kay Biancini, parent of children attending and


"We’re going to overburden the police department with the supervision of our children when it’s the school’s responsibility. ... You guys need to sit down and reconfigure the budget somehow so these people [bus drivers] are compensated for what they do." — Greg Eady, parent of a Haymon-Morris Middle School student

Find out what's happening in Barrowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“As a mom I am here to fight for the safety of my children. It is unsafe to ask them to walk on this road [Haymon-Morris]." — Carolee Hannah, parent of students attending and Haymon-Morris Middle School 

"The county’s reputation and children’s safety are being compromised." — Rebecca Hitchcock, parent of students at Haymon-Morris and Apalachee 

Find out what's happening in Barrowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"I have no issue with a child walking, I have an issue with a child walking unsafely." — Nicole McIntyre, parent of students at Haymon-Morris and Yargo Elementary 

"We have cut everything we can cut till we came down to cutting classes for students and I, for one, am not willing to do that. ... I don’t know where the word got out that we expect students to walk to school. I represent many of you in this district, you have my e-mail and you have my phone number I will be glad to discuss this with you.” — Board member Lynn Stevens 

"We have got to cut the budget. Do we cut out sports in the middle grades completely? Do we go to four days? ... May the 1st we put this budget on our website and all the sudden parents have decided to have an uprising right before school.” — Board member Connie Wehunt 

"We take our responsibility very seriously and there’s nothing easy about this. ... My thoughts were, we were going to the parents asking the parents to be part of this solution. We can’t not do something for those kids." — Board vice chair Mitch Churchill

“Her house was not bought, her spaceship was not bought, her Jacuzzi, anything else that goes on a blog." Board vice chair Mitch Churchill on rumors about Superintendent Wanda Creel  

"This is something that is not going to fall to the wayside, we will bring it back to the table." — Board member William Bramlett on the issue of transportation costs 

Now it's your turn to comment. Barrow Patch wants to know what you think about the board's decision, the safety of students and budget cuts. Tell us in the comments section below. 

Subscribe to Barrow Patch’s newsletters, follow us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Barrow