An Appeal
Posted on July 16, 2008 at 7:40 amAmy Griffith reports that at a community meeting led by Councilman and Reverend Jerry Maynard an appeal was made for Mayor Karl Dean to join the fight against school rezoning. Only one problem, he appears, more or less, to be for it:
School board member George Thompson, at the meeting, publicly called for Mayor Karl Dean to step in and “help avoid being the mayor who helped resegregate Nashville.”
With a divided community and splintering of community organizations, Thompson said, Dean should take a stand. Thompson cited Dean’s request, earlier this year, to play a role in selection of a new director of schools. With the board having been advised by the state Department of Education to focus on rezoning and the hiring of a director, Thompson stated that Dean should be playing a role in rezoning as well.
“Come help us,” Thompson said.
In response to a recounting of Thompson’s remarks, Dean e-mailed a statement Tuesday afternoon through spokesperson Janel Lacy. As he has previously stated, Dean said he believes that everyone involved in the process has had “honorable intentions.”
“I know the task force worked very hard on the plan,” Dean said in the statement. “Our goal as a city should be to move forward on every aspect of improving our schools. If people feel their voices aren’t being heard that causes me concern. It’s my understanding there is agreement on the majority of the rezoning plan. People should be able to come together and calmly work through the few areas of concern.”
SEE ALSO:
Enclave Mike’s two cents
Dean supports plan — with caveats.
WPLN
