'We're not all treated the same': County Schools building plans annoy La Vergne leaders
Rutherford County Schools proposed rezoning and building plans leave La Vergne leaders feeling ignored on the city's educational needs for children.
La Vergne High, for example, exceeds a building capacity of 2,015 students with a Sept. 6 count of 2,144 and depends on seven portable classrooms. The campus enrollment growth is projected to increase by 31% or more over a five-year stretch and possibly reach about 3,000 students by August 2027, according to a map and bar graph in a Rutherford County Schools rezoning study by district consulting firm RSP of Overland Park, Kansas.
La Vergne Mayor Jason Cole is among those worried that the Rutherford County Board of Education is failing to respond to his city's overcrowded schools. He joined others attending the board's parent input meeting Monday night in the La Vergne High cafeteria about proposed rezoning plans.
"There's a lack of care and planning for students in La Vergne," said Cole, whose wife works as a biology teacher at La Vergne High.
The elected school board could vote on rezoning by November for future years to move students from overcrowded campuses to schools with space available. The fast-growing district adds about 1,000 children per year and depends on 179 portable classrooms to help serve 52,000 students in grades pre-K through 12.
La Vergne High has the highest expected growth rate among the county's large high schools, according to the RSP study.
Nearly 68.9% of La Vergne High's students are eligible for federal free or reduced-price school meals based on family income, and that's the highest percentage among Rutherford County's high schools.
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La Vergne High loses out on expansion to Oakland High
Cole also questioned why La Vergne High was cut from the board's intial expansion plans for five high schools to serve 500 more students at each campus.
Oakland High instead will gain space for 500 students by August 2025 through the school board awarding a $61.6 million low-bid contract. The Oakland expansion won board approval even though the Murfreesboro school with a Sept. 6 count of 1,946 students is expected to decrease by 11% in enrollment over a five-year stretch by August 2027, according to the RSP rezoning study.
The study shows Oakland High has a building capacity to serve 2,152 students, and the campus also has 10 portable classrooms.
Oakland moving ahead of La Vergne as a high school expansion priority baffles Mayor Cole.
"That's unacceptable," said Cole, who's also worried about his city's students zoned to an overcrowded Stewarts Creek High in southwest Smyrna. "There's no plans for any of our students."
Stewarts Creek High has a Sept. 6 count of 2,458 students and depends on 12 portable classrooms. The school's existing zone also is projected to see a 20% increase of students over a five-year stretch by August 2027, according to the RSP rezoning study.
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'La Vergne needs an addition and a whole other high school'
Rutherford County Commission member Laura Davidson of La Vergne also attended the Monday meeting on the rezoning proposal at La Vergne High cafeteria. She worries about her 6th-grade granddaughter being impacted as a future La Vergne High student at a campus with an enrollment projected to reach 2,994 in four years.
"That's pretty disturbing," said Davidson, adding that there's no committed money in place by the school board to fund a high school project to relieve overcrowding. "We need a plan for this end of the county. La Vergne needs an addition and a whole other high school. All we're doing is pushing kids to schools already at capacity."
All the school board members and county commissioners should represent all of Rutherford County and not just constituents in their districts, Davidson said.
"We're not all treated the same," Davidson said.
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Expansion costs higher for Murfreesboro high schools
Oakland, Riverdale and Smyrna are gaining expansions adding 500 seats at each by August 2025 in a combined $156.3 million funding plan to fund low-bidding construction contracts. The school board initially also proposed similar expansions for La Vergne and Blackman high schools, but ranked both below Riverdale, Smyrna and Oakland high schools as top priorities in seeking an appropriation from the Rutherford County Commission.
Unlike Oakland's projected decrease in students in the existing zone, Riverdale is expected to grow by 9% by August 2027 while Smyrna is forecast to increase by 12%, according to the RSP consultant study.
Riverdale had a Sept. 6 count of 2,125 students at a campus that depends on 17 portable classrooms. Smyrna High relies on 19 portable classrooms to help serve an enrollment of 2,183.
Riverdale's expansion project has a board contract of $56.3 million, which is less than Oakland's $61.6 million. Riverdale and Oakland opened in 1972 using similar building designs.
Smyrna High's expansion project, including for roof work, will cost $38.4 million. Smyrna High and La Vergne High each opened in 1988 using similar building designs.
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Only one board member ranks La Vergne HS as top expansion priority
Board member Tammy Sharp of La Vergne was the only one of seven elected school officials in the first half of 2022 to rank La Vergne High as the top priority for expansion.
Five elected school officials (Coy Young, Claire Maxwell, and former board members Tim Holden, Tiffany Johnson and Jim Estes) ranked La Vergne as the fourth priority. Board member Shelia Bratton, who's now the chairwoman, ranked La Vergne as the fifth priority.
Sharp said she's been trying to tell her fellow board members for two or three years about the growth of La Vergne but was unable to convince them about the need for an expansion at La Vergne High.
"We got screwed royally by the Murfreesboro Mafia," said Sharp, who served as the previous chairman from September 2022 to August 2023.
La Vergne High did at least get about $1 million in building improvements this year that so far include new flooring, ceiling tiles and painted walls.
The upgrades, however, don't relieve overcrowding. La Vergne High lacks enough classrooms for each teacher, so 17 teachers are having to push a cart to go from classroom to classroom to educate their students, Mayor Cole said.
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5-year building plan does include northwest side high school
Although the majority of the board's priority decision cut La Vergne High from the expansion plans, they do hope to relieve the campus and Stewarts Creek High in particular by building a new high school for 1,500 to 1,600 students by August 2027 on the northwest side of the county, Schools Director James "Jimmy" Sullivan said.
Sullivan expects the proposed high school to be smaller than the ones being built in recent years that exceed capacity to serve more than 2,000 students because of the limits of what property is available in the Smyrna and La Vergne area.
The future northwest side high school also should help relieve overcrowding at Blackman and Smyrna high schools, Sullivan said.
The board's current five-year $744 million building plan lists the cost of a new high school on the northwest side at $137 million, which is less than the $156.3 million to add a combined 1,500 student seats through expansions at Riverdale, Smyrna and Oakland.
Mayor Cole, however, worries that the proposed high school could take longer to build and La Vergne High may need more portable classrooms.
"Portables aren't safe and secure," Cole said. "Until there's property, engineering and funding, there is no plan. It's all just hopes and wishes."
The mayor noted that the county has not built a new school in La Vergne since 2007 when La Vergne Lake Elementary opened.
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La Vergne elementary children may get rezoned to Smyrna campus
Mayor Cole also questioned proposals to rezone children from the large and still-growing Lake Forest Estates housing development on the northside of La Vergne to John Colemon Elementary on northside of Smyrna.
"Some commutes will be doubling or more for students going from home to school and back home," Cole said.
The proposal, however, will prevent overcrowding at Roy Waldron Elementary with an enrollment of 1,265 children by moving some students to a John Colemon Elementary campus with space available for 450 students, Sullivan said. Part of this plan includes moving children out of the Roy Waldron Elementary Annex, which used to be known as La Vergne Primary School, and sending some students to La Vergne Lake Elementary, which has a Sept. 6 county 836 students and six portable classrooms.
The commute from Roy Waldron Elementary to John Colemon Elementary is about 6.4 miles and took 13 minutes for Sullivan to drive recently, the director said.
Cole, however, said the commute during rush hour would be 20 minutes for the same trip. Those in La Vergne's Morningside area and Lynvhurst subdivision within Lake Forest Estates would face even longer commutes, the mayor said.
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Timeline on rezoning may start next year with one school
The board possibly could rezone La Vergne K-5 students to the John Colemon Elementary campus by next year, Sullivan said.
Most other proposed rezoning decisions will be implemented by August 2025, including for a future $57.4 million westside elementary school the board plans to open on part of the historic John L. Batey farm on Baker Road off Blackman Road.
The board also plans to open a $71 million middle school by August 2026 on Batey's property, a family farm that dates back to 1807. So any rezoning decisions to relieve overcrowding at Blackman and Stewarts Creek middle schools in particular will wait to be implemented when the future middle school opens, Sullivan said.
The board, meanwhile, has already made a decision to prevent additional overcrowding at Stewarts Creek Elementary, which serves a Sept. 6 count of 1,335 children and depends on 15 portable classrooms. The board capped enrollment from growing with any children in families moving into the Stewarts Creek Elementary zone after Sept. 29. Those children instead will be allowed to attend Stewartsboro Elementary, which serves a Sept. 6 count of 703 students in Smyrna and has space available.
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Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. Follow his tweets on the X social media platform @ScottBroden. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.
High School enrollment growth
The following shows Rutherford County student counts for large high schools on Sept. 6 with number of portable classrooms, the percentages of enrollment eligible for federally funded free or reduced-price school meals based on family income, and projected growth of existing zones over five-year stretch by August 2027:
Blackman High: 2,258 students; 4 portable classrooms; 32.3% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 14% increase in students in existing zone over five year stretch by August 2027
La Vergne High: 2,144 students; 7 portable classrooms; 68.9% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 31% increase in students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Oakland High: 1,946 students; 10 portable classrooms; 44.2% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 11% decrease of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Riverdale High: 2,125 students; 17 portable classrooms; 44.2% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 9% increase of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Rockvale High: 2,196 students; 10 portable classrooms; 34.6% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 13% increase of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Siegel High: 1,869 students; zero portable classrooms; 33.3% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 11% increase of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Stewarts Creek High: 2,458; 12 portable classrooms; 37.7% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 20% increase of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Smyrna High: 2,183; 19 portable classrooms; 59.9% eligible for free or reduced-priced school meals; 12% increase of students in existing zone over five-year stretch by August 2027
Source: Rutherford County Schools and RSP consulting firm in Overland Park, Kansas
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford school board proposed rezoning annoys La Vergne leaders
