Hamilton County Schools set to vote on new facilities plan

A photo of DuPont Elementary from Hamilton County Schools’ website. 

The Hamilton County Schools Board of Education will vote next week to finalize an updated district facilities plan to establish a new career and technical education (CTE) center and combine some schools under one facility, among other proposals.

According to documents provided by the board during Tuesday’s Facilities Committee meeting, the district plan includes a proposal to renovate a former BlueCross BlueShield building into a CTE facility for high school students inspired by the Harrison Bay Future Ready Center, which allows students from several schools to attend courses on subjects like engineering and architecture.

The new plan comes after the board approved a facilities priority list earlier this year that recommended turning the building into a combined middle and high school facility, where students could choose different pathways in fine arts and career and technical education. However, in October, Superintendent Justin Robertson recommended an update to change the plan after finding out combining fine arts and CTE pathways in the new center would cost more than $80 million.

The district will also host a community meeting soon to get public feedback from parents about different facilities proposals for Clifton Elementary School, which includes plans to renovate the school's current building or replace Clifton’s “portable classrooms” with a classroom wing at East Side Elementary. Robertson said that if the board builds on Clifton’s campus, students in portable classrooms would need to be relocated to the main building during the project.

“We feel confident that we could do it,” he said. “But there is a difference in us talking about it and having your kids for 18 months in tight quarters."

In addition to those proposals, the district is considering plans to combine Rivermont, Alpine Crest, and DuPont elementary schools at the existing DuPont site. As part of this plan, some students would need to be rezoned to other district schools to keep enrollment under 800 students, which has been a concern due to recent population growth in the district, according to board members.

The projects included in the district’s facilities plan will cost about $168 million, though Robertson said those figures could change once construction is underway. The board plans to fund that with the help of a bond issued by the Hamilton County Commission in August for capital projects.

Aside from those key projects, district leaders are also set to vote next week on a plan to use $100,000 to hire architects to provide ideas on seven other school facility projects, such as upgrades at Normal Park, adding additional space for elementary students at Signal Mountain, and upgrades at Orchard Knob Middle School. In addition, the district is considering plans to renovate the former Dalewood Middle campus to relocate Barger Elementary, among other project proposals.