Answering the Thrapton Drought Surcharge Comments

Driving question: How do you answer eight commenters, most of whom disagree with you, in one document, without misrepresenting a single one of them?

Scenario. The Thrapton Water Board is fictional, and so is every comment below. The board has proposed a summer surcharge. A household that uses more than twelve thousand gallons in a billing month would pay an extra charge on every thousand gallons above that line. The comment period closed on Friday. Eight comments arrived. The board's clerk has asked your class to draft the written response.

The eight comments.

1. Bea Ordway, homeowner. "I have four children and a vegetable garden. Twelve thousand gallons is not a lot for a house this size. This rule charges families for being families."
2. Delmar Hoyt, retired. "I put in a low-flow shower head years ago and I water nothing. Now I pay for a program my neighbors made necessary."
3. Nadia Kell, renter. "My landlord pays the water bill. There is a toilet in my unit that has run since March and I am not allowed to fix it. The charge will reach me as rent, and I cannot do one thing about it."
4. Owen Rask, owner of a lawn care company. "You will cost this town twenty jobs. I would ask how many board members have ever met a payroll."
5. Priya Vance, science teacher. "The board's own pumping records show that town use nearly doubles in July. A price that rises in July is the right tool for a problem that only shows up in July."
6. Cal Trimble, homeowner. "Fix the leaks in your own pipes before you charge me for mine."
7. Ruth Gadd, owner of a laundromat. "A charge aimed at lawns will land on a business that cannot cut water without cutting hours."
8. Comment filed without a name. "This is a tax. The board should call it what it is."

Constraints.

• The response runs between seven hundred and nine hundred words.
• Every one of the eight comments is addressed at least once, by name where the writer gave one.
• Each restatement runs twenty-five words or fewer.
• No comment may be set aside without a stated reason.
• The document quotes at least two commenters directly. Each quotation runs under fifteen words and is punctuated and attributed correctly.
• The board concedes at least one point in writing and says what it will change.

Final deliverable. A formal document titled Response to Public Comments, addressed to the fictional Thrapton Water Board and written for the meeting packet, plus a one-page memo naming the objection your team judged strongest and defending that judgment.

1. Session 1, read and restate. Each student writes a one-sentence restatement of each of the eight comments. A partner reads each one and marks it accepted or rejected, answering a single question: would the commenter sign this sentence? Output: eight restatements, each marked by a partner, with rejected ones rewritten.
2. Session 2, sort and name. Teams group the eight comments on chart paper and write a name for each group. A group needs at least two comments and a one-sentence rule that explains what puts a comment in it. Output: a labeled chart with all eight comments placed and a rule under each name.
3. Session 3, rank the objections. Teams rank the objections using three stated tests: how many households the objection affects, whether it points to a fact the board could check, and whether the board could fix it by changing the proposal. Output: a ranked list of objections with a written paragraph defending the top choice.
4. Session 4, draft the response. Teams write the full document. Restatements come first in each section, then the board's answer. Quotations are marked in the margin so a reviewer can find them. Output: a complete draft inside the word range with quotations marked.
5. Session 5, revise and read aloud. Partners score the draft against the rubric and mark every restatement they would reject. Teams revise, then read the concession paragraph aloud while the class sits as the board. Output: the final response document and the one-page memo.