Karen Carson started off the Cedar Bluff meeting addressing about 140 parents with telling the crowd she wanted to get right to their questions. She entertained these questions until about 8:30.
The first was about the facilities at Hardin Valley and would they all be in place and paid for by the County. Fifth District County Commissioners Mike Hammond and Craig Leuthold along with Hardin Valley Principal Sallee Reynolds were in attendance and assured the crowd that all facilities will be constructed and paid for when school opens.
Mrs. Reynolds spoke to many questions about programs at the new school and a viable student body. Sports were on the minds of many since many have kids who have made Varsity teams at Karns or Bearden and now won’t have that opportunity due to being rezoned to Hardin Valley.
It will depend on the sport of course-football will not have a Varsity team since the majority of the student body will be freshmen and sophomores. A parent asked Karen about Friday nights, football and marching band. She advised them to think outside the box for the first few years by having maybe Monday night be that community’s night and the marching band could play at the JV team’s Monday night games.
She also said that the idea of a true academy school is a moot point and they are probably looking at learning communities.
She spoke a lot about keeping feeder schools and communities together, specifically Cedar Bluff even though the county has a geographical problem and not a seat available issue. But, “Anything we can do to keep Cedar Bluff together makes sense to me.” Sallee Reynold echoed that point by saying “It will be nice to work with the principals at Cedar Bluff Middle as a feeder school to get them ready for Hardin Valley”. She went on to say her daughter, a senior at Farragut, has kept the same friends from Cedar Bluff Middle all the way through High School.
Carson did mention that if a neighborhood wishes to be kept at a certain school as Crestwood Hills does at Bearden, then she would be willing to work with them to propose an amendment to the zoning proposal as long as there is consensus in the neighborhood.
She says they will definitely vote on the proposal on May 2nd. An interesting note: elementary and Middle School zoning will be complete BY August 2008. People don’t have as much time as they thought to make changes in lifestyles.
