School board eyes safety concerns at Homestead

Dec. 28—Homestead Elementary poses unique safety and building management challenges as students travel from building to building across a campus bordered by two major highways.

Sheri Nichols, 3rd District representative, shared her concerns during the Dec. 7 meeting of the Cumberland County Board of Education, noting the separate buildings and the proximity to the highways.

"But the thing that bothered me when we did our walk-through was there is no bathroom in these cottages because they're so old," Nichols said. "The kids have to leave that classroom without an adult — they go two-by-two, though — to go find a bathroom."

The historic cottages have large, clear windows, as well, Nichols said.

Older students change classes, often having to go outside from class to class. They have lockers — but it's too far to visit those between classes.

The kitchen is small. The freezer and dry storage are both outside on a loading dock.

"They have to go outside in the wind and the rain and the snow, get their things, and then they have to wait until somebody buzzes them back in because you can't leave a door open," Nichols said.

The school secretary monitors multiple cameras and door buzzers during the day.

"She's buzzing constantly letting people in and out of buildings," Nichols said.

Stepp said the board asked him to check on options for bringing the school under one roof. Those plans, drafted by Upland Design Group, call for an addition off the newest portion of the school toward the back of the campus, ending in the end zone of the former football field, which is no longer in use.

But an addition will take time.

"I know that what we really need to do is make it a one-key [building]," Nichols said.

Nichols hoped the board could find a more immediate solution to some of the problems at the campus.

"What was the name of the company?" Nichols asked Rebecca Hamby, 7th District representative, referring to a window screen company. Hamby could not name the company, but said she had their card at home following a recent state gathering of school board members.

"It is amazing. They did a hallway with this that looked like a glass security," Nichols said.

From the inside, the view is clear. From the outside, passerby can only see an image — usually of the school mascot.

The company also assists with identifying grants to help defray the cost of their product, as well, Elizabeth Stull, 1st District representative, said.

But Nichols also wants to move forward with an addition at the school.

"How do we find the money to do something with Homestead?" Nichols said.

Nick Davis, 5th District representative, asked if the issues at Homestead would be part of a districtwide building assessment underway by Upland Design Group.

Safety is a concern for board members across the county.

During tours of elementary schools, board members asked specifically about safety concerns. Those ranged from window coverings at schools to securing more entrances and perimeter fencing.

Stepp said teachers and staff are trained to mitigate the potential safety concerns.

If students have to leave one building to go to another, they try to make sure that happens with teachers watching or use a buddy system.

But schools are also dealing with other concerns, including aging facilities and a need for more space.

New programs to help students succeed academically, like Response to Intervention, learning interventionists and Tennessee All Corps tutoring, take up space within schools.

In some schools, three or four of these learning loss personnel share a classroom. In others, they're using hallways, converted teacher workrooms or other nooks and crannies to bring together students for small group sessions or individual skills practice.

Elementary schools are also expanding their career and technical education offerings, with full-time teachers in STEM, human services and agriculture.

At Stone Elementary, a wall was removed from a teacher workroom to expand the classroom and give the human services teacher a kitchen for class projects.

She's had several new students enter the school since the first of the year. The school added another third-grade classroom since the first of the year, shuffling other services around the building.

Principal Stephanie Barnes eyes an empty field next to the school. That's been purchased for development as single-family homes, potentially bringing more students to her school zone.

"I don't know where we'll put them," Barnes said.

The impact of a growing population on the school system will also be part of Stepp's facility review as principals say they've seen new students come from all over the map, from other school zones and from far-flung states across the country.

South Cumberland Elementary, built in 1980, and North Cumberland, built in 1981, are both in need of some updates.

South Cumberland had been on track for several updates — new tile and fixtures in restrooms, new tile, new doors, new paint — last year. That project was initially planned to be rolled into an expansion of the school to add six classrooms to the school.

Bids for the project came in at $2.21 million. The school system had planned to pay for the expansion with federal COVID-19 relief funds, but those funds instead went toward the auditorium construction project underway at Cumberland County High School.

The South Cumberland project has not been rebid as funding has not been earmarked. The county commission's budget committee deferred action on the budget amendment until the new budget was put in place in August — but that budget did not include the project among its capital outlay expenses. Stepp said in August he did not recommend the budget amendment.

The school system budgeted $750,000 for the work at South Cumberland.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.