Monday's joint meeting of the county commission and the school board went very well. Only one commissioner was absent for the meeting. The meeting which was called by the school board was in response to several commissioners who had complained that they didn't know what the school board was wanting to build.

Don Shell with Community Tectonics, the architectural firm hired to design the new schools, was the keynote speaker at the meeting to present the building plans in detail to commissioners and members of the community. Commissioners seemed to have very few questions after the building presentation leading one to believe they now know what the school board wants to build.

One of the most interesting points presented by Mr. Shell came when asked by a citizen in the audience what the timeline on construction for the new schools could be. Shell stated that if funding were made available by the time the constructions drawings were complete in about three months, the new Loudon Middle School could be completed and ready for use by the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year with the Greenback school taking a little longer.

A new school for Loudon, a new school for Greenback by next year? All we need is 6 commissioners to vote YEA.

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Architects present plans for a new Greenback School

By MONA NAIR 6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) -- Plans for a dilapidated school in Loudon County were presented Monday night.

Students and faculty at Greenback School have to endure crumbling conditions every day, at times even missing school because of the poor facilities.

But these plans don't necessarily have a future because funding for it is shaky.

Terri King had a special t-shirt made for the meeting. It read "I Support The Loudon County Building Program".

King's grandparents went to Loudon county schools, so do her four grandchildren.         

"Our school is 70 years old, there's been gas leaks, structural issues, mold in the school," says King.

Architects presented designs for a new Greenback School. They also showed plans for improvements to Fort Loudon Middle and Philadelphia Elementary schools.

The estimated total cost is between $42 and $47 million dollars.

The plan for Greenback is to build a facility that's almost like three separate schools connected by corridors.

"We designed a Pre-K wing for the smaller kids, middle school wing and high school wing," says architect Don Shell with Community Tectonics Architects.

Their target audience tonight were county commissioners. The commissioners would have to okay the funding.

We spoke to one commissioner, Wayne Gardin, who says it'll be tough considering they're really cash strapped and may have to consider raising taxes to make this happen.

"I'd like to see Greenback have a school. I don't think we can afford to do all of it," says Gardin.

In the next two months the county will figure out exactly how much they can afford.

And then the architects will have to go back to the drawing board.