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It may wish to consider issues raised in Neal Peirce's column in last Saturday's Charlotte <br />Observer, such as the possible negative impacts of siting large schools in relatively sparsely <br />populated areas, the abandonment of older, serviceable schools in favor of newly constructed <br />ones and the integration of school building decisions with land use planning. <br /> <br />It may also wish to consider how to avoid a costly problem we're now experiencing, that of <br />"over-building." Over-building is constructing classrooms in new schools for a particular class <br />size, 26 students, for example, but only placing 20 students in the rooms. In this particular <br />instance, the physical classroom size is over-built by a factor of nearly 25% with a <br />corresponding cost in the millions. <br /> <br />As you can see, the task before the committee is formidable. It is not to rubber-stamp or <br />regurgitate. It is to consider the vitally important community issues of growth, local <br />economics and quality education and develop a recommendation that somehow balances these <br />related, sometimes conflicting issues. <br /> <br />Since the last member of the committee will not be appointed until March 18th, the earliest its <br />first meeting could be held would be the week of the 22nd. I suggest you reconsider the March <br />27th deadline originally established for the committee's report. <br /> <br />To be fair to the members of the committee, I recommend that you charge the committee itself <br />with developing ~i time-line for its task. Its proposed time-line, along with a progress report, <br />could be presented at your regular meeting on April 19th for discussion. <br /> <br /> <br />