Hampton Park residents respond to previous letter

Dear Editor,

I am responding to a letter by Mr. Yeatts appearing in your paper on Apr. 2. I am a Hampton Park resident and was frustrated by his letter. I can't speak for everyone that lives in this neighborhood, but I would like to let Mr. Yeatts know that most of us are not interested in attending new schools. We are interested in remaining in the same high school and middle school feeder patterns with the communities that we play, work and worship with.

We are interested in creating school boundaries that would alleviate overcrowding for as many children throughout the county as possible. Concern for our children, and all children throughout the county, motivates us to attend redistricting meetings and voice concerns about the county's poor policies regarding school boundaries and locations.

We are a neighborhood full of parents, teachers and school administrators that are involved in every level of school. With all of this in mind, I would agree that you were correct in stating that we are an "affluent neighborhood." However, I would equate this with our drive and passion regarding our children and their schools (new or old) and not our incomes.

Jeannette McCormack

Hampton Park

Dear Editor,

A "Mike Yeatts" from Midlothian recently wrote to chastise Hampton Park residents for vocalizing their desire to have our children be considered for inclusion at Tomahawk Creek Middle School. Intimating that we are a bunch of superficial snobs, who are, of course, only interested in Tomahawk because it is a new building, he went on to utilize a good portion of his "letter" pedantically lecturing about the difference between a school and the material it is actually constructed of, with a rather holier than thou attitude regarding the necessity of parental involvement.

Perhaps Mr. Yeatts could use some assistance with those observational skills he claims were employed at the meetings he attended, because as anyone present can attest, every Hampton Park resident who spoke made consistent and repeated references to the fact that feeder patterns, and not new construction, was the impetus for our favoring Tomahawk over Swift Creek [Middle School].

In addition, I would think that a fellow as obviously erudite as Mr. Yeatts would allow that the sheer number of residents from our community that took the time to attend the numerous meetings in this regard would more or less negate the need for a lecture on parental involvement.

Finally, as to the issue of passing one school in order to attend another, unfortunately, because there are no consistent or sensible attendance boundaries or zoning parameters currently in place in this county, it would appear that this is exactly what the school board is promoting in an attempt to fill Tomahawk, while leaving all other middle schools well over capacity.

Just like you, Mr. Yeatts, we are merely advocating on behalf of our children in order to ensure their educational future. We just choose to do so by arming ourselves with the facts, as opposed to resorting to public mudslinging and misrepresentation. Perhaps you should spend a little time in Hampton Park. We would be happy to instruct you on how to avoid the latter.

Debbie Kearns

Hampton Park