CMS Forum On 'Guiding Principles' Tonight At Hopewell

The CMS board will have a public forum at Hopewell High School this evening. It's the fourth forum CMS has scheduled to seek public input as the school board goes through the process of revising its guiding principles. School board chairman Eric Davis says the forums represent a shift in how the board seeks public input in forming policy. He says the board hasn't always gone to great lengths to seek public opinion before voting on proposals. "The community is used to us doing a lot of work, and then at the end of all that work, staff makes a recommendation. . . and at that point the community gets involved." The district's guiding principles are used to develop policy on things like transportation, magnet schools, school boundaries and student assignment. Board chairman Eric Davis says the phrase 'student assignment' has created some confusion. "They think that what we're doing right now is redrawing boundaries, or that we're redoing our policy around student assignment. We're not doing that," Davis. Davis says the forums will help the board do a better job of prioritizing its guiding principles and giving CMS staff clearer direction in executing them. Tonight's forum at Hopewell High gets underway at 6:30.