Last night, the next to the last middle school rezoning input meeting was held before the Knox County School district unveils attendance zones for the two new middle schools under construction. One of the new middle schools is in the growing community of Hardin Valley, the other in the sparsely populated rural area of Gibbs (on the Knox County, Union County line)
At 5:45 pm (15 minutes before the scheduled start)
Parents have begun to believe that with the current 14 middle schools and two more coming online that there may not be a middle school population to effectively create 16 good, comparable middle schools, so will one likely to be shuttered aka closed?
At 6:03 pm and has not started on time
Last nights meeting started with Seth Grossman making the case for Gresham to remain effective. On my YouTube page here there are 12 videos of different speakers from last night. This one sums up the disconnect between rural Gibbs and urban Holston Hills.
As Knox County continues to discuss a Safety Center, with members of the legislature working to secure $4 million in TN state dollars for a safety center also better known as a mini jail for those with mental health issues. While the safety center will be run by Helen Ross McNabb, is the location set in stone? Could the current Vine Middle School with its close proximity to Knox County’s family justice center make it an ideal location for that safety center? Knox County already owns the Vine Middle property. It is certainly worth asking the question, will Vine be closed for Helen Ross McNabb to develop a safety center?
Knox County Schools has a full length mirror so the crowd and watch itself
Questions, comments are about the same as previous meetings.
With that it’s over.
The elected officials present were
Knox County School Board Chair Patti Bounds, School Board Members Gloria Deathridge and Jennifer Owen.
Knox County Commission Chair Dave Wright and Knox County Commissioner Evelyn Gill.
Knoxville City Councilman Marshall Stair and Nick Della Volpe and 2017 Knoxville City Council candidates to replace Della Volpe Former State Representative Harry Tindell and Lauren Rider.
