Jim Lawson radio show
1/27/14
Lee Garrison on the land deal:
Thank you for giving us the opportunity, me an opportunity, but, uh, really the school system an
opportunity to be able to, uh, explain every bit of this in great detail and basically go through what
we went through at the meeting. Uh. It was, I think it was about Tuesday of a couple of weeks
ago, the week before our retreat, uh, our retreat was like on the 17th, so I think it was on the
Tuesday of that week things were going through my head as to building the agenda for the retreat
and I had, uh, heard that there could be a possibility of land available that was in the PARA lease
with Mental Health and so I felt like it would be wise to bring Dr. McKendrick and the City - the
School Board attorney, Dave Ryan, Norman Crow, whose district where that land is, District 3,
uh, and myself to meet with Mayor Maddox, who represents the City of Tuscaloosa in part of this
lease changes and the Ol’ Colony Board Chair, Jerry Plott. And so I felt like those were
individuals that needed to go. Obviously, uh, there’s some members of the school board that felt
like that that was not who needed to go, but, uh, I’m trying to do what I need to do right and I’m
not going to include everybody every time so the only reason for us going there, uh, was to gather
information, so that we could present this information to the full school board at our retreat and
because this lease which was filed in the County Courthouse in December of 2012 had not been
public and I had heard that there were some changes to it that might include a possibility of land
North of the River for a public school, well, I felt like we needed to know the history, the details,
etc, because I hadn’t, I hadn’t laid eyes on the lease, uh, as far as the changes, etc., and
understood exactly what the history was and how we got there.
So that was the reason for the meeting, uh was so that this, so that the superintendent and the
board attorney could explain to our board exactly what the parameters were with this piece of land
with the adjustments to the PARA lease and what the history was which is extremely important
you know because the history of of this change in this lease is what is controversial and it doesn’t
need to be.
I’m gonna lay out the cast of characters so to speak and try to run this like a complete movie, OK,
because that’s the only way I can understand it. I received information from Mayor Maddox, uh,
Ol’ Colony Board Chair Jerry Plott and several other individuals that, that uh, well really those two
individuals, but, uh as far as talking to Dave Ryan, you know - was able to get the lease and read
that and so I want to lay out exactly what occurred.
You need to know some history first if you want to look at the cast of characters, you’ve got the
Ol’ Colony Board, you’ve got the PARA Board, you’ve got the city of Tuscaloosa, you’ve got the
Mental Health Department and you’ve got the Governor. Alright?
Now, the history of this is, is long as far as the 600 acre lease that PARA has with the Mental
Health. Um, that all came about, uh, obviously when the Ol’ Colony Golf Course was built years
ago and, uh, is a considerable amount of acreage out there at uh, Sokol Park. If you look at the
golf course itself the City and the County, you know, have put considerable amount of pressure on
Ol’ Colony Board which I was a member of until May of 2013 and I knew that we were trying to
get this lease adjusted but I had no idea about the school and you’ll know when I go through the
story of how the school land came about the initial intent was just to get out of the $150thousand
dollar a year lease –go through the reasons why. Obviously I said the City and County had put a
considerable amount of pressure, you know, on Ol’ Colony Board to break even in the golf
course. That, that was a goal. And we actually made money one year but Ol’ Colony has lost
2.8million dollars since its creation. Um, I believe it was this pressure that the Ol Colony Board
that I was on that led them to approach Governor Bentley, um and Mental Health about adjusting
this lease and how could we find something that was fair for the State and fair for the governments
of this city and for the golf course. It’s also critical to know that the Ol’ Colony Board is a
separate board from the PARA Board, OK?, and it includes appointees, uh, from PARA, from the
City, from the County. It’s a diverse board, a very presentation.
So, obviously, if we can reduce the lease payment it would help the golf course break even which
would also help the city and county governments because they’re the ones that fund PARA and
PARA was the entity that was having to fund the losses, these losses at the golf course. It’s also
critical to know that the City of Tuscaloosa had been in a multi-year fight to keep Bryce Hospital
open for the 300+ clients who are battling, you know, acute mental illness, uh, and the hundreds
of employees that work there. The City supported the Alabama Department of Mental Health
trying to identify new sources of revenue which would help Bryce remain open and vibrant. The
ability to sell some of the property that’s within the 600-acre lease uh, out there at Sokol Park for
commercial was attractive to Mental Health so they obviously wanted to listen to Ol’ Colony
Board as to their proposal. It was also attractive to the City and the City Schools because any land
that was sold by Mental Health that was currently underneath the lease for PARA if Mental Health
was able to get that land out of the lease and be able to sell it for commercial property offices etc
that would put property on the tax rolls which would ultimately help the City and the City Schools.
So, you had a win-win there. Obviously you’d have to be Mental Health could sell it by a bid
process like they’ve done several other parcels. The City, from the information I gather, they were
on the, kinda on the outside of the discussions between PARA, Ol’ Colony and Mental Health.
The City School Board was no where in the conversation at this point in time. Not even, not even
close. It was just PARA, Ol’ Colony and Mental Health, but the City was aware that the
conversations were going on and they supported the partnership for the various reasons I’ve
already listed. Uh, it was a win-win for everybody.
Now, late from what I understand in the Fall of 2012 so we’re gettin around October, OK? The,
the issue of the 36 acres which people are talking about for the school came about and it came to
the knowledge of the City
Jim Lawson: This was 2012? Not last year?
Lee Garrison: 2012. Fall of 2012 because the lease was signed in December of ‘12- this was a
couple of months before the lease was finally in the form that everybody agreed to it. The partners
that were actively involved in it. PARA, Ol’ Colony and Mental Health, but also the City of
Tuscaloosa and then, as I continue with the story that’s when the City Schools, uh, come into play.
But initially, again and this is critical to understand, the City Schools and the City were not actively
involved in the negotiations with Mental Health, the Governor, etc. It was Ol’ Colony and PARA,
Mental Health and the Governor.
Well, the City was notified by the members of the Ol’ Colony Board that during the discussions
what was offered to Mental Health and the Governor who’s obviously Chair of the Mental Health
Board is 4 parcels of land I believe it’s parcel tract 4 something I don’t know the exact name of it
but it’s on Watermelon Road and it’s a piece of property on Watermelon Road that there are other
office complex etc so it was the most highly-valued piece of property on the whole 600 acre lease
and so you had that piece of property and there was 36 acres that was next to Northridge High
School by The Oaks neighborhood and those two pieces of property were basically offered up to
Mental Health, uh, that they could have those out from underneath the 600-acre lease and in turn,
Mental Health would not charge $150,000 a year to PARA for the lease. (12:35)
Now, the critical part in this is to understand that it was $150,000 a year but starting in 2014 it was
going to be $150,000 a year plus a percentage of the gross receipts of the golf course plus because
the Northridge athletic facility sits on this leased land, and that was an agreement that the City and
the School Board and PARA agreed upon because Northridge athletic facilities are on this
property this leased piece of property their ticket sales at the baseball game, the football game, the
concessions, the booster club would have to pay a percentage of their revenues for the - to this
leaseDr. McKendrick: This was agreed to years ago; this wasn’t present - wasn’t something that
happened this year. Right?
Lee Garrison: Well, this was part of the 2012 filed lease, but the agreement, like Dr. McKendrick
said, the original lease when Ol’ Colony was built said that starting in 2014 you would pay
$150,000 a year plus a percentage of your gross receipts plus the, the, uh, percentage of a gross
receipts at the Northridge athletic facility-concessions, booster club, you name it. So, that could’ve
effected, obviously it would have effected Northridge athletic facilities so it’s critical to know that
as well.
When those two pieces of property, the 36 acres next to The Oaks and acreage on Watermelon
road was offered to Mental Health to come out from the $150,000 a year lease plus gross receipts
instead go for like a dollar a year the Governor looked at the proposal and he was only gonna do
something that was good for the state even though he was from Tuscaloosa, he’s from here, he’s
only gonna do what’s in the best interest of the state and I believe everybody in Tuscaloosa that
was part of this as far as Ol’ Colony, PARA, Etc knew that. But the Governor looked at the
proposal and initially the City said we would like to propose to the Governor that 36 acres be set
aside for public use if for some reason they didn’t want to take it as part of the deal and, uh, so the
Governor looked at it, they ran all the numbers on everything the present value the future value of
both of these parcels and proposed it to the Governor and said, you know if Mental Health does
not want the 36 acres as part of the tradeoff to lower the lease payment to a dollar could be used
for public use. That’s what the City of Tuscaloosa wanted. Ok? Again, the Board of Education
has not even been involved to this point. Alright? The Governor communicated back to PARA,
Ol’ Colony Board and Mental Health that he would like to see it used for a school site - a public
school site - not public use period. So, fire station, police station, athletic facility for PARA whatever - he, he said, “I would like to see it used for a public school.” So that was ultimately
communicated back to the Mayor and the Mayor has his monthly meetings with Dr. McKendrick,
and I’ll let Dr. McKendrick speak to their conversation, but that leads you up to, to where we are.
So that, the Governor, because, from what I understand, he had heard of overcrowding issues at
Rock Quarry Middle School, I believe, he stated that he believed that there was overcrowding in
the school system north and so he stipulated that it had to be a public school - no one else - he did
because of his believe that it was possibly needed if the school system decided they needed it after
they had done their due diligence and a comprehensive plan, that’s critical as well. So, I, uh,
again, like I said I will allow Dr. McKendrick to speak to what his conversations were with the City
when the Governor came back and said you don’t have to give us this 36 acres as part of the
tradeoff on Watermelon Road we’ll let you out of the $150,000 a year lease for just a dollar and if
you want to use this 36 acres, you’ve got to use it for a public school and it had a caveat that said
you gotta start building the school from 4 years to the date this lease is executed and you gotta
finish it within six or the land goes back to Mental Health. That was the deal, so, if a school’s not
built there or start construction within 4 years of when the lease was signed, so that would be
December of 2016 and finished by December of 2018 the land goes back to Mental Health and
that’s still the case.
I’ll, I’ll, I will allow because I think the chronological part of how I tell this story so to speak it is
important that you in a way that it occurred because I think that’s where a lot of confusion is
coming in so I would like you to talk to Dr. McKendrick at this point in time and then I’ll finish up
the end of the story so to speak.
Jim Lawson: Thank you so much. Dr. McKendrick when were you made aware of the possibility
of land being available for the purpose of, say, building a school north of the river?
Dr. McKendrick: Mr. Lawson, I wish I could give you a date, but it was not at that meeting we
had last week. It was earlier than that and as Mr. Garrison mentioned, I did have conversations
with the Mayor about whether or not we would be interested if that land - if there is land - would
we be interested? And as Superintendent of schools I, for me to have said “no” and I would not
have been the case, would not have been something that we needed to do because there were a
number of things that were that I needed to consider. One, not to get this confused, but we have a
referendum that’s coming up soon, we have schools that need to be refurbished, we need to look
at a plan that we are deciding on where or if we’re gonna build schools, schools to close and so
forth and that was coming up and the referendum and the way that we looked at our capitol plan in
my view are all tied together because we have not done what I view as a very good 5-year plan we
have a 5-year plan - this is not to criticize the people who put it together - that’s tended to be one
document, two or three sheets of paper that say we are going to do these kind of things and I
wanted us to put together a 5-year plan that looked at how we are going to improve the capitol
projects, our buildings, every building would be, receive some kind -whether it’s going to be
renovation or building closed or building built so that we could look at that every year of those 5
years: year one, what are we going to do for this school and year two what happens in another
school? Year three what are purchasing, what are we selling, are we putting in playground
equipment and that kind of thing. So, the idea then that if we’re getting any contributions of land
given to us that it goes very well with this plan of what we’re going to do because a 5 year plan in
my view made us look at doing some things that we in some instances have not done very good
planning and, uh, with the number of projects that we were considering the first step that we had
to engage in was planning. We couldn’t just say, we’re gonna build this school here if you build a
school at one point, what’s the point of - what happens to the others so we have to make sure that
5 year plan included not only the planning of projects, demographic studies that we have to have,
uh, we are still being watched by the Justice Department so that has to be looked at. If we’re
looking at attendance zones, that has to be considered also. Sometimes some cities resolve
overcrowding not so much by building and that’s what I want us to get in these conversations
about but not so much by building another school but by looking to see where do you have
overcrowding; what’s causing overcrowding? And all of that then had to be - what I was given all of that had to be involved if we are looking at improving our building that couldn’t just be that
we were going to walk out of any meeting or series of meetings and say, we’re going to build a
building or we’re gonna add on. We have some buildings that are older buildings but they’re in
very good shape. How do you improve that building? We have some buildings that are older and
are not in very good shape; some that we could possibly sell because they are in commercial strips
and that purchasing not only - or that selling not only helps us because we get the millions of
dollars for those buildings but it also helps the city because if we sell it and it becomes commercial
then the city’s tax base improves so there are a lot of things that we needed to look at in the capitol
plan and when the discussion became “would you guys be interested if there is land there?” in my
view, that the only answer we could give - I don’t want to say the only answer. The answer that I
gave would be yes because we have to - it plays very well into the referendum because in my view,
the referendum will pass I think if parents have an idea that we’re going to make improvements in
every school because everybody knows and everyone has the view that those other schools might
not be so good, but my school is good and our, um, when you look at the academic piece we are
making strides there and we think the parents now have a view that the schools are improving and
with the Capitol part of this there is - we need to improve our buildings and that, what this
conversation’s about is about a much larger discussion. Unfortunately it’s been centered on a lot
of innuendo a lot of misstatements but when I looked at it it becomes a part of a larger discussion
of what makes Tuscaloosa City schools an even better school system.
[Discussion of physical location]
Jim Lawson: Dr. McKendrick did you inform the Board about the possible land deal? Did you
talk to any members of the board?
Dr. McKendrick: No, because at that point we were not even in negotiation as Mr. Garrison
mentioned. I knew nothing about the whole intricacies of the golf course and all of this other stuff.
The only thing I knew was we had someone wanting to possibly give us land at that point but all of
that as Mr. Garrison mentioned was negotiations we were not involved in that. That was in the
those negotiations were with the City and the City was interested in providing the land for us.
Lee Garrison: IN the lease it specifically says that the 36 acres is available to the City of
Tuscaloosa for a pubic school. It doesn’t say the City Board of Education so if through our due
diligence over the next 6 to 9 months when we update our demographic study, when we look 5,
10, 20, 30 years out which is what Dr. McKendrick and I and the board I believe want to do cause
it’s smart planning cause we’ve had some areas where there wasn’t smart planning as far as
building schools in the past - and we won’t go there, but it was critical for us to, to to understand
uh you know getting back to it I kinda lost my train of thought but bottom line is that we did not
know we didn’t know what was going on with negotiations. Like Dr. McKendrick said and gettin
back to this time line of this story uh the City of Tuscaloosa after the Mayor met with Dr.
McKendrick said if they’re gonna offer us 36 acres of land we’ll put it in our calculus we’re lookin
at our overall master planning which is what we’re gonna ‘bout to enter into which the board just
gave him a unanimous vote to start that process then the City of Tuscaloosa reached out to the Ol’
Colony Chair and they let the governor know that the stipulation regarding the school was ok the
school system would take that into their calculus they may or may not build a school depending on
what the study shows and the lease was signed and one of the things that that the public needs to
know that is that of course the Mayor’s office speaks to multiple parties every single day I mean
he, he’s talking you know with folks from ADEM to ADECA to ALDOT about multitudes of
issues and this was just one issue that he was being kept in the loop on uh that Ol’ Colony and
PARA were negotiating with the Governor and of course he, he has the mayor has great
communication with Dr. McKendrick they meet mo they meet once a month and so the question
was asked, “could you use this land?” “I may could use it.” So that’s kinda where it went from
there. It, you know, here’s what I think is critical to from cause a lot of folks say why if the lease
was signed in December of 2012 why did it take until the City School Board who was not even a
party to the negotiations why did it take that long in that particular governing body for this whole
lease amendment to come out to the public? Why didn’t it come out in the, why didn’t it come
out in the newspaper between December 2012 and January 2014? That’s a critical question and
here’s my answer to that I’ve reached out to the PARA executive director, I’ve reached out to the
Ol’ Colony Board Chair and uh, an, an, that’s where the talks were going on in those board
meetings PARA Board meeting and Ol’ Colony Board meeting again I was at on the Ol’ Colony
Board up until May and all I remember we talked about in our public meeting that we would try to
help negotiate this lease. There was nobody from the media or is there ever any kind anyone from
the media that I remember being on that board that was present of course it was open to the medpublic uh at the PARA Board meetings it was discussed but it was not reported I guess because
nobody was there and frankly there was nobody there from the Tuscaloosa News or any media
organization at our retreat. No one. The story that was written was written after our retreat and
the reporter called to ask us questions so, you know, if it wouldn’t have been for me and Dr.
McKendrick and I’ll put it on me cause I’m the only one that you know thought about it on that
Tuesday before the retreat if it wouldn’t have been for us going to the Mayor and getting the
information that we heard was out there and trying to get the history so that we could educate our
board, who knows when it woulda come out? And I don’t think that because of the fact that
they were just tryin to get out of a $150,000 a year lease and they got out of it the lease was signed
it was a public document down at the courthouse from December uh of 2012 and it’s been sittin
down there since obviously um you know as a matter of fact we brought light to it not the
opposite
so you know I really don’t understand some of the criticism there but again we’re not going to
please everybody we’re in this for children of all ages throughout this entire city uh and I also want
to some of the thoughts that have come about I want to put to rest. There are people, um, in our
community that believe in some incredible conspiracy theories. OK? And I wanna put em to rest
with the facts. North Tuscaloosa is forming a new city. That’s what you hear that North of the
river this part of the city of Tuscaloosa is going to break off and form its own city and we’re gonna
get a middle school built before then with this land so that we can get a 20 something million dollar
middle school built then break off after that. That, that is what is going through some people’s
minds. It’s ludicrous. Here’s the facts: the city council would have to vote to de-annex. Do you
think the City Council is going to vote to de-annex north of the river? No. Further, there’ll have
to be state legislation to create a new municipality. You think the state legislative delegation’s go
vote to do that? Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia are always held as examples. “Oh North
Tuscaloosa’s go be like them; they’re go break off you know if the school system doesn’t do what
it needs to do.” But they were in existence prior to desegregation. You can’t compare em. Unlike
Birmingham, the City owns its own water and sewer. A new city could not afford the cost of
buying out the City of Tuscaloosa’s assets from water and sewer stand point and trying g to build a
water and sewer distribution system to today’s standards and regs startin out fresh in north
Tuscaloosa? Another point: North Tuscaloosa has very little commercial property that’s in the
City limits of Tuscaloosa therefore they do not have the financial wherewithal nor the credit to buy
the City’s non water and sewer assets they have to buy the roads from the city not just the water
and sewer system the roads and the storm systems the traffic lights and everything else. Further a
new municipality would have to incur the up-front costs of creating a new city that would have the
same the same high level of services that the city of Tuscaloosa’s already providing: garbage, trash,
recycling, police, fire transportation I can go on and on and on and obviously you know I firmly
believe the University of Alabama would oppose such measures because of what it would do to the
continuity of our city so the folks that are out there that are trying to put fear in you to try to scare
you try to peel back scars and open old wounds from this community from many, many years ago
you don’t need to listen to em. This is a board. This is a superintendent that believes in the entire
city of Tuscaloosa school system and every single child that enters it from pre-K on.
[Phone lines opened]
39:47
Caller asks that kids out west who are currently being bussed to the north be able to stay in their
own neighborhood schools.
Dr. McKendrick talks about the need for demographic study.
Caller suggests hiring math and reading specialists and requiring students to sign their full
name to papers.
Dr. McKendrick: Last year was the first summer we opened summer school to as many as
possible. We run after school programs and we do have specialists.
Caller does substitute teaching and has noticed an improvement in behavior.
Dr. McKendrick says that discipline problems have dropped tremendously and credits people they
have hired and expectations of the teachers of the students’ behavior and of the teachers
themselves. New teacher evaluation that is being developed will also help. He thinks that in 2-3
years we will not look anything like the system we have now.
Lee Garrison: I can say that in my years on the City Council - 16 years so I had a good bit of
knowledge as to some of the issues that were going on in the city school system. Let me say this,
and this is my opinion but I believe it’s true. There are a lot of issues that occurred in the past of
which I believe individuals on the west side of town have good reason to be skeptical about the
board or maybe certain members of the board superintendent position, etc. I, I just wanna say
this: this is a new day. This is a new superintendent. This is a a board that believes in every single
child. This is not a system that will fire a teacher in one school in one area of town and then hire
that teacher to go teach on the west side. This is not that school system. This is a school system
that has incredible leadership within each of these schools on the west side. This is a school
system that in my opinion there’s not one school better than another school but there were feelings
like that in the past and so I definitely understand that and I understand some of those feelings and
fear that comes with those feelings but what I can say to the people that have fear about anything
within the city school system and this board or its board chair is that 4 years from now let’s look
back to see where we came from and then I think we’ll have smiles on our faces and there’ll be
smiles on our children’s faces. We have got incredible opportunity. We got challenges no question
but we got incredible opportunities and I believe we got the right people to get the job done and a
mayor and city council that support our schools.
Caller asks about rezoning
Lee Garrison: ... to understand school board governance, which is something that I’ve had to get
used to, um, the school board takes the recommendation of the superintendent and votes it up or
down. We can’t, we can’t do anything else on our own so Dr. McKendrick is gonna be the one
uh that will recommend a a plan for our schools from uh the studies that we obtain as far as the
demographic study show where our students are show where parts of the town are growing uh,
and what we need to plan for for that um and that will drive our capitol plan. Obviously we were
released from the federal court order almost, what, 13 years ago 14 years ago so we have to be
very sensitive to those issues as well uh we want a school system that is diverse as our city and but
obviously uh, we also have to look at transportation issues and logistics and, uh, things of that
nature but you know there there are some legalities that will be involved in this the Justice
Department etc but we plan to engage the community just like the mayor did and the council did
uh for Tuscaloosa Forward as rebuilding the city from the tornado. I don’t see the process that
we’re gonna embark on I’ll let Dr. McKendrick comment as well any different than that. We’ll
bring in some consultants we’ll bring in the legal team we’ll we’ll look at where we are uh we’ll
we’ll work with the City’s planning department to see the growth corridors we’ll put together some
initial windshield ideas to have meetings with the public so we can look at these posters on the
board etc meet at the Central High School gym type things that they did for Tuscaloosa Forward
and receive comments from the community. I believe that the comment that you made uh about
uh a lot of the students that are going to uh the northern schools that live in the western part of
town um you know those those are sensitive issues there’s no question about that um but what is
interesting and I’m just going to say it because it was it was it came from an individual that was
part of the Mayor’s youth council uh that he meets with on a regular basis it was an individual that
lived on the west side of town I think she was a jr or sr in high school and she asked the mayor and
the mayor relayed this to me in a meeting the other day uh just as we were casually talkin um she
said why why can’t I go to the school that I live next to nearby why can’t I go to Central High
School? Why do I have to go to this high school? I wanna go to the high school that I live next to
in my neighborhood I wanna build pride in my school in my area of town why do I have to go to
school over there and it’s interesting because and I was born in 1974 so a lot of the Civil Rights
battles occurred well before I was even born. Um, I’ve done a lot of study on it a lot of history
and a lot of it occurred right here in Tuscaloosa uh and some of my uh friends were actively
involved in that uh in those battles uh in the civil rights battles. Harrison Taylor, etc. So I
understand the history but even me and my generation born in ‘74 and then a student that’s senior
right now that was probably born in the late ‘90s. They don’t, they don’t understand some of this.
They really don’t understand it they and frankly that’s a positive thing that we’ve gotten to a point
where you know our people throughout this community feel that we’re past some of those issues
but we’ve always gotta remember the past but at the same point in time we’ve gotta move forward
into the future but we’ve got students that don’t understand why they can’t go to school right next
to their house and those are things that we’ve gotta be really sensitive with but at the same time
that’s what’s comin out of some of our students’ mouths so um and it’s it’s an interesting dynamic
and if you were if you went through what went on in the ‘60s uh and course and then you were
born in the late ‘90s you really just can’t comprehend it (1:05:54) by watching a movie or reading
a book.
Caller asks if there have already been plans made that no one knows about.
Uh, no, that’s what we’ve been talkin about for the last hour. We we’re going to be doing a
comprehensive plan over the next 6 to 9 months involving the public and uh determining where we
need to uh build schools, sell property, whatever it may, whatever it may be so uh, no there’s no
uh predetermined decisions that have been made whatsoever on any of that.
Dr. McKendrick: I’m glad you asked that question because we are trying to convey more than
anything else that there have been no plans of building anything that no final decisions on any of
this and before we get to that point it will involve at least 6 to 9 months planning which we will get
to the public and have public input and then we’ll come to the board with an idea of what we
would like. Now we do have some tentative plans but none of that has been approved and all of
that is public. You can get any document that you want ah because those are public and once we
get to the point you will have presented to the board our five-year comprehensive plan.
Caller complains about school bus drivers speeding.
Superintendent tells how to handle that situation.
Lee Garrison: Mr. Lawson, I wanted to give a shout out to Mr. Marvin Lucas because his, his
quote was, “It’s a new day” so I I didn’t mean to plagiarize uh and I wanna I hope he’s healin up
well he had a little knee surgery so giving a shout out to him. ...
And I, I wanna thank the Mayor and the City Council cause they’re the ones that provide the
funding for our school resource officers and so it’s very important we are entering I think Dr.
McKendrick the second phase of our security program um our schools once we enter the second
phase will be probably second to none in relation to security.
Caller asks about the land deal and the fact that the school board wasn’t at the table when the
decision was made.
Dr. McKendrick: We talked about that earlier this morning so to just briefly mention that was a
decision that the governor made relative to a number of other items there it was a discussion with
the City not with the school board and the city’s wisdom looked at - asked us if we would be
interested if that land was available. What, what I also think we need to realize is, uh, school
systems throughout the country purchase land just for the sake that if you’re possibly having that
kind of um a need for a building and most school systems that are forward-thinking purchase land
all over the city and if you need a school then you have already got the property. We’re we were
fortunate in this land-locked city to have someone to look forward to us and say here is 30
something acres of land that you can possibly use and the questions asked could we use it and the
answer is yes but at the same time and I’m not sure if your question suggests this and I apologize if
I’m saying something that you didn’t mean to say but we aren’t interested in this point in building
any one school anywhere until we get all of the studies done and the planning done so that we
make sure again that we have a plan that benefits all of our children for all of the community
because this is Tuscaloosa City Schools and that’s what we’re trying to convey. This is the larger
plan is to make our school system better make our city better and one of the ways of getting that
done is making sure we have really good planning before we start any of this building.
Lee Garrison: Let, let, let me just say one thing Jim too that because some people sometimes
wanna know you know a little more details as far as the finances Jim are concerned. Um the, the
the Ol’ Colony Board and really PARA because of this agreement for them to give the parcels of
land up on this lease on Watermelon road for Mental Health to sell for commercial property and
the lease to go to a dollar a year instead of 150,000 dollars a year. It saved the city and county
governments ultimately which are the governing bodies that fund PARA which eventually funds
the losses for Ol’ Colony. It saved over the next 50+ years of this lease over 16 million dollars
taxpayer money that would have come out of our city and county governments and, if, for
whatever reason, Dr. McKendrick and the community and the consultants and the board decide
that they want to utilize this piece of property within the time constraints that are put on us that
piece of property is worth almost four million dollars in today’s appraised value. So, you know,
we gotta look at the positive of this whole deal which could be upwards of 20 million dollars that
our community would have saved because from what I understand Dr. McKendrick uh the City
would not charge us to sublease the land if we wanna use it, is that correct?
Dr. McKendrick: That’s my understanding, yes.
Discussion initiated by Jim Lawson about the school system’s role in economic development.
Lee Garrison: You know, I’d like to add a little bit to this just from being on the City Council and
looking at redistricting which we did I think twice when I was up there. In 2000 after the 2000
census and after the 2010 census and in both cases District 1 and District 2 decreased population.
Here, here is what I believe: we build schools or we have schools (1:33:43) for children. No
question about it but you have to as a community locate those schools in strategic areas. That’s
what Dr. McKendrick is talkin about. That is what I’m s-talkin about. I believe that’s what the
Mayor is talkin about. We have got to be extremely strategic during this plan over the next 6 to 9
months and we’ve gotta look out over 30 years and we’ve gotta say what areas on the West Side
can be redeveloped? I meant there’s some there’s some structures over there from commercial
and residential standpoint that could be bulldozed and redeveloped. But the key to it is is that
people have to believe especially young families that they’re gonna get great education for their
child even though we know we build schools for children we cannot be naive to think that it does
not effect economic growth. If you’ve got incredible public schools you will see a community that
is thriving. Period. So, I believe we’re headed in that direction but it’s west, it’s east and it’s
north. We’ve gotta look at all of the growth corridors and like Dr. McKendrick said, we’re
landlocked in some areas either by a river, another city, a swamp, etc., so got a lot of planning to
do.
Caller: This question is for Lee Garrison or Dr. McKendrick if he knows the answer and I am
referring specifically back to the uh 36 acres of land that PARA or uh Ol’ Colony are granting to
the school system. Um, I’m curious as to why there was a delay of a little over a year in letting the
school system know and Lee has said that he wasn’t involved in the discussions but I’m curious as
to whether he has learned why the City and PARA delayed so long in letting them know and you
know, during this intervening year we could have already been working on a demographic plan.
Lee Garrison: Again, we hit on that, we went through the chronological time line um earlier in the
show but I will recount uh again the negotiations were between uh Ol’ Colony, PARA, Mental
Health and the Governor and the City of Tuscaloosa, the Mayor was obviously kept abreast of it.
Dr. McKendrick I believe it was October of 2010- 2012 when the mayor met with him in a
monthly meeting and let Dr. McKendrick know that there could be 36 acres available to the school
system and would he be interested in it as far as putting it in possibly overall plan that we’re about
to embark on and he let the mayor know yes the school system would be interested in that
obviously that was October of 2012 um so it was a previous school board and um etc so uh as far
as letting the public know about it from what I gather um the lease was discussed at Ol’ Colony
Board meetings and PARA Board meetings and you know wasn’t reported by the media for
whatever reason and again the media wasn’t there at our Board retreat this weekend but they got
wind uh obviously of us discussing this at our board retreat which we did in open session and so it
actually happened to be the Board of Education’s retreat where all this became public so uh and
then we met with the Mayor on the Thursday before hand and they made sure that we had all the
history and the facts so that we could inform our board so you know I don’t know why the
position is is it this has been kept in secret I mean I don’t know why the media didn’t report on it
uh for PARA Board meetings, Ol’ Colony Board meetings. I don’t understand that either um but
you know the school system knew about the possibility of the land in October of 2012 when Dr.
McKendrick met with the mayor and uh he let him know if it becomes available sure we’ll put it
into our calculus and our 5 year plan but you know but by no means says that we have to build
anything so uh I think that’s critical that that that that that’s understood.
Caller: I understand what you’re saying but there is still a gap in why the Mayor or PARA did
not come to the School Board and say, “we’re offering you 36 acres of land” to my knowledge
by it happening to come out by you discovering this.
Lee Garrison: Well I believe that Dr. McKendrick is the superintendent of the system. He’s
discussing this with the mayor. The mayor’s informing him about the possibility that this lease
may be adjusted and it may be adjusted in the fashion that the governor uh requested that this land
be available for a public school if the school system wants it. Dr. McKendrick received the
information from the mayor and so the school system was notified as far as the Board being
notified I can’t speak to that cause I wasn’t on the board.
Caller: Ok I have one more question for Mr. Garrison. Y’all discussed the health care center at
Alberta School.
Lee Garrison: yes ma’am.
Caller: uh, I understand everything that Dr. McKendrick said, but I would like to know what
your position on that facility is as the school board chair.
Lee Garrison: Um, obviously the operations of the health clinic have changed from the initial
proposal where it was going to serve the entire community and I, I, I for one have received a lot of
uh comments about that uh just before I was even on the board as it was being discussed with the
previous board you know I paid attention to what was going on and there were concerns that you
would have a lot of individuals coming to the clinic even though it was going to be a stand-alone
building it would be on the public grounds of the school and there were concerns about that as far
as the health and safety of the students. Um the revised proposal that we will be uh heard at the
committee meeting chaired by Marvin Lucas building and grounds at 1:00 I believe it’s Monday of
next week, is that right? Um, the revised proposal will be more detail to the board and the
committee and uh the grant agreement between the Federal Government and Maude Whatley will
be reviewed. The lease uh proposed lease from the city schools to Maude Whatley will be
reviewed. There will be some individuals I believe from the public and Alberta that will be there.
I don’t wanna to to to take a position on it before I hear some of these comments based on the
revised proposal but as Dr. McKendrick alluded to earlier the proposal is basically for the same
health services that we provide at every single one of our schools right now which is nurses uh for
the students and the employees of the school system uh at that school so it’s not I don’t think
they’re offering anything different than we’re providing in every any other school system except
for this one will have a separate stand alone building and probably a nicer facility than just a room
in a school. Is that correct Dr. McKendrick?
Dr. McKendrick: Yes, I would say so.
Caller: Ok, um, you mentioned that you had gotten some input on that from the community and I
have looked over your um, campaign finance records and I see that you paid several people for
consulting and polling um Dennis, I think they call him “Quick” Collins, Detective Thomas,
Henry Lee Taggard, Lester Edwards, Mike Taylor, um for consulting and polling. Were they
consulting and polling people about their opinions on the health care center?
Lee Garrison: No, those were individuals that were uh throughout the community that were
working on my campaign from a advisor standpoint and also uh get out the vote efforts, etc.