Hamilton County School Board approves building plan

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — The Hamilton County School Board unanimously approved a building plan, which involves building, consolidating, or renovating schools.

The affected schools are Tyner, CSLA, Harrison, Howard, East Hamilton, Lakeside and Hillcrest.

CSLA would move into a renovated Tyner Middle School. Tyner Middle would be consolidated with Tyner High, and that building would be renovated.

On Thursday at the beginning of the school board meeting, before a decision was made, some Tyner parents and PTA members voiced their concerns.

“It’s important that we all know what is going on because our kids are what is at the forefront of Tyner. Tyner means everything to these kids and it means a lot to the parents,” said Theresa Reviere, Tyner Academy PTA President.

A presentation on what to do with school buildings was then underway.

“What we try to do is take what we have and try to get us to a place where we can begin to get in front of some of our deferred maintenance issues and begin to plan for the long term and really the long haul in terms of what we do,” said Dr. Bryan Johnson, the Superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.

Dr. Johnson says this makes sense financially.

“What we envision is a great school on what side of the street that is a liberal arts magnet and a great school on the other side of the street that is a math and science magnet and we see it being a show piece,” Dr. Johnson said.

Reviere doesn’t think it was well thought out.

“Maybe it will turn out to be good, but right now it is a sad day, because I don’t think they cared about us really,” Reviere said.

One of the next steps is to have community meeting for the impacted schools. The projects are slated to start in December.