Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Superintendent endorses Hardin Valley middle school, passes on Gibbs

Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre has proposed building a new middle school in the Hardin Valley area to alleviate continued student enrollment in West Knox County. But he doesn't think there's a "viable need" to support a similar proposal for the Gibbs community in East Knox County, according to a letter he sent to Board of Education members Wednesday.

Instead, students near Gibbs can continue to commute "some distance" to Holston Middle School, where the education that students receive – "including personalized learning opportunities supported by instructional technology – is very high quality," the memo states.

He called the financial impact to build a Gibbs middle school "considerable," adding that the school – if paid for over 20 years – would cost almost $60 million.

"Such a financial commitment is challenging enough when there is a clear necessity, but I do not believe it would be fiscally responsible for the school board to take on such a significant debt obligation for a school that an independent expert has told us we simply do not need," McIntyre wrote.

The rest of the story RIGHT HERE.

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