Long-time Resident Weighs In

Dear Governing Board,

I'm Christian Faulconer, a long-time resident of the Rivergrove neighborhood. I live on the same street I grew up on, just a stone's throw from where you are located. I'm neighbors with some of the parents at your school (I live next door to the Bartholomews and down the road from the Frandsens). My first job was cutting the grass at the GRA park where you are located. I am invested in this neighborhood and I love it here.

I want to be clear that I am not opposed to Freedom Academy at all. I believe that parents should have choices when it comes to educating their children and from what I can tell, Freedom Academy provides parents with a good choice. I support that. I am also supportive of you continuing to offer that same good choice to high school students. I am, however, strongly opposed to the idea that you would build a high school on the current property. I am also very disappointed in the way you have treated us as a neighborhood. Let me explain.

When Freedom Academy came to the neighborhood, most of us were cautiously optimistic. The vacated GRA park had become an eyesore and a magnet for trouble. I was pleased to see Freedom Academy propose a school and the initial plans seemed to account for the increased traffic. The plan the neighborhood got behind included a road that went behind the school to ease traffic on our neighborhood streets. Unfortunately that plan did not materialize. I understand that it was due to fire marshall restrictions, but to me that is evidence of poor planning. If you were required to comply with building codes and regulations the way other entities are required to comply, I suspect you would have identified that problem earlier in the building process and you could have involved the neighborhood in the planning process to truly mitigate the traffic hazard you created.

I believe that you tried your best under the circumstances, but again it is my neighborhood that is left holding the bag for your poor planning. It is me and my neighbors that cannot adequately access our property because of the burden you are placing on us. It's my neighbors who now have worn paths through their grass where students walked since there was insufficient sidewalks for the children you brought in. I think you deserve credit for making the best of the situation up to this point, but proper planning and perhaps a better location would have completely mitigated these and other problems.

And now we have been told that it is your intention to move forward with an on-site expansion. The road that the fire marshall previously forbid is now back on the plans. Forgive us if we are not convinced that the road around the back will materialize. And to be honest, even if it were to happen we don't believe that it will be enough to deal with the increase in traffic from the addition of up to 400 high school students. And there is still no plan that I have seen that includes the sidewalks necessary to ensure the safety of the children from your school. There are alternative locations near the school that would be suitable site for building a high school. As your neighbor, I am begging you to consider those sites.

I tell my children that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should and I think that applies here. Perhaps it is true that you can build a high school on your current site, but it isn't the right thing to do. It isn't right for your students and it isn't right for our shared neighborhood. Freedom Academy has the opportunity to do the right thing and to be a good neighbor. We are not leaving and my neighbors and I would like to build a long-term, friendly relationship with the school. We could be an example of how a charter school works with the neighborhood or we can be an example of how disastrous it can be when we are pitted against one another.

A couple of things to consider:

1. You are rushing into this. I know you have considered expansion for a long time, but you have not adequately planned for this or coordinated with your neighbors. Please slow down.

2. You have the responsibility as our neighbor to be a good one. We owe you the same respect. Please do not treat this responsibility lightly.

3. Please communicate with us more regularly. My neighbors and I have talked more about the fence going up between our lots than you have communicated with us about adding a tremendous amount of traffic and students to our neighborhood. We expect more from you and if you invite us into the discussions we are more likely to be supportive of the plans.

4. Please consider alternative building locations. I believe there are several suitable locations in the area that would meet your needs without impacting us negatively.

5. Finally, having you here could be a great thing for us. Let's work together and build a long-term, friendly relationship.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Christian Faulconer