The Hendersonville Star News    

Friday, 02/16/07

Parents get a look at new elementary zones

When school officials looked at new attendance zones for Station Camp Elementary School, they found a natural geographic dividing line, according to Director of Schools Benny Bills.

That line has become Gallatin Road, with students on the lake side of the main highway remaining at Jack Anderson Elementary and those on the north side of the road being zoned to the new school scheduled to open for the 2008-09 school year.

Parents were able to get a look at the new zones during a public hearing Tuesday night; however, PTO members got a sneak peak at where their students would attend during a meeting last week.

As a result of that meeting, some issues concerning parents had already been addressed.

According to Bills, the biggest concern for parents was the fifth-grade class.

Parents did not want students who had attended Jack Anderson for their earlier grades to be moved for one year.

"The fifth grade will be grandfathered to Jack Anderson," Bills said. This means students entering the fifth grade for the 2008-09 school year who had previously been attending Jack Anderson will remain at that school.

Steve Doremus, spokesperson for the school system said most of the comments he heard from parents at Tuesday's public hearing were positive.

"I think they were mostly grateful that there would be no portables," he said.

Jack Anderson Principal Carolyn Lassiter said the meeting with parents was positive, with everyone understanding that a new school is necessary to relieve overcrowding.

Bills said the new Station Camp Elementary will be a two-story structure built to hold about 1,000 students.

Jack Anderson Elementary has about 950 students.

Once the new elementary is open, Jack Anderson's student population would ideally fall to between 550 and 600 students, with the new elementary opening at about the same level.

However, growth in the Cages Bend and Station Camp areas has been rapid and those numbers could change before the new school is completed.

That is why, Bills said, it is planned to house 1,000.

"We hope we have left enough room for growth," he said.

Maps of the proposed school zones for all three impacted elementary schools, Jack Anderson, Station Camp and Howard Elementary in Gallatin, are posted on the school system's Web site at www.sumnerschools.org .

The zones are not official until they are approved by the Sumner County Board of Education.

Wednesday, 02/14/07

Three schools in north Sumner recommended by task force

The School Location Task Force, headed by County Executive Hank Thompson, will recommend Sumner start its school building program with two elementaries and a middle school in northern parts of the county.

The School Location Task Force, a group that blended school, government and business interests, voted to start Sumner County's $125 million proposed school building plan last week with Portland Elementary, Portland Middle and Westmoreland Elementary as the top priorities.

Drakes Creek Middle in Hendersonville, Center Point Elementary in Hendersonville and Gallatin Elementary were the next three schools respectively in the body's priority ranking. White House Elementary, Long Hollow Pike Corridor Elementary and Long Hollow Pike Corridor Middle rounded out the list.

The School Location Task Force's purpose - much like its name implies - was to identify future school sites to best accommodate the county's booming school population that currently sits at 26,072, school data shows.

Growth areas in the county were in Gallatin and Hendersonville, which collectively have approved 18,941 new residential lots since 2000.

But the task force chose to leave the county's fastest growing cities out of the next wave of new schools. However, the county commission had previously approved the construction of a new Station Camp Elementary, which will service Gallatin and Hendersonville.

The new priority list is somewhat of a departure from what the Sumner County School Board had been recommending. The school board put Hendersonville's Center Point Elementary and Drake's Creek Middle Schools ahead of Portland Middle and Westmoreland Elementary, which will likely replace the current structure.

Even with the task force's recommendations, the county commission will have to approve a $125 million loan and debt restructuring to fund the school projects. Before the proposal gets to the commission floor, it must pass several committees as well.

If approved, school officials said about four school projects, which would include high-priority renovations, could be started.

In all, the school task force marked 17 projects it would like to see funded.

Task Force's school priorities