Currently, the county is looking at buying 32 acres from First Baptist Church on Simpson Road. Director of county schools, Mike Garren, has been searching for property for several months to locate the new school. Any property considered should have adequate water supply, sewer and adequate roads. The First Baptist property has all three. 

The Issues:

Does Loudon County need a additional high school?

Anyone would be hard pressed to argue that a new high school isn't needed and probably a long time. Currently, on the upper end of the county, most county students attend Lenoir City High School. Estimates are that 50-60% of LCHS students live in the county. Both school systems are at or near capacity now. Both systems are going to have to take measures to deal with the growing student populations. Loudon County's proposal to build an additional 7-12 high school which would alleviate over crowding in both school systems almost immediately A 7-12 high school would move two grade levels from North Middle to the new school. Eatons would become a K-3 and North Middle would become a 4-6. This would not only eliminate over crowding at those two schools, it would also reduce the traffic problems there too. When the new high school is opened and if 50% of Lenoir City high school students moved to the new school, this in turn would allow the Lenoir City system to adopt the same strategy as the county to eliminate over crowding in their grammar and middle schools.

Where are we in the process?

The Loudon County Board Of Education has already voted to allow director Mike Garren to enter into negations with the church to buy the 34 acres. The church has held two member/community meetings to discuss the potential sale of the property. The church membership will vote on the sale of the property on October 16th. If the church approves the sale, then the due process by the county would begin. If all the soil tests, engineering reports, traffic studies and so on come back that the site will work, then the county would close on the property, likely by the end of this year. The price of the property has been set at 1.825 million. After close, then the county would hire a architectural firm to design the new facility. This could take another nine to twelve months. Construction could begin by or before the end on 2023. 

Traffic Issues?

The number one concern I've heard raised thus far is traffic problems. The current plans call for a road from Hwy. 11 that would connect to Simpson Road. Would a new school and a new road on Hwy. 11 cause some traffic issues? Very likely. But school traffic would be far less than six or seven hundred apartments or four or five hundred homes. All measures to address traffic issues will be taken into consideration in the design of the facility.

The Cost?

It would be hard to predict, with any certainty, what the cost of the new school and complex of this size, might be in a couple of years from now, but it won't be cheap.  Very preliminary guesses would be in the 75 million range. And yes, it would require a property tax increase to fund it. To pay the debt service on a 75 mil. loan for twenty years would require a property tax increase between twenty-five to thirty cents. This would include a couple million per year to staff and operate the new school. Of course, the cost of labor and material and the interest rate at that time will determine the ultimate costs. The county already has the funds to buy the property.

The Politics?

As we all know, everything is political. The idea of building a new county high school on the upper end is already becoming a political issue. There are some Lenoir City officials who are already fighting the idea. Lenoir City director of Schools, Jeanne Barker, went so far as to contact the church to try to buy the property out from under the county. Of course, the church declined the offer unless the county backs out of the deal. Ms. Barker has also contacted county school board members and administrators trying to talk them out of building a new high school. I'm sure she feels the idea of losing half or more of her high school students would be bad for her. But in the big picture, it would be the best thing for all the students. There's always talk about combining school systems and that's a discussion for another time. But if both systems were combined tomorrow, that wouldn't solve the overcrowding in both systems.

Property tax increases are always a hot political issue and usually unpopular among citizens. If the county school board and administrators are convinced this is the best path forward for the school system, it is on them to sell the idea to the citizens of Loudon County. It will ultimately be up to the county commission to vote for any property tax increase needed to pay for the new school.

What about Social Media?    

I really hate to even mention this part but it's probably necessary. My first statement is, if you're taking anything you read on social media as fact without checking the details, you may find yourself sorely misinformed, a lot. A little over a year ago, the church bought the property in question, which adjoins the existing church property. The property know as the Harris farm had been on the market since 2009. One of the church's main reasons for buying the property was to have access to Highway 11 for additional ingress and egress from the church. No specific use for the rest of the property had been decided. The church had not considered selling the property nor was it on the market to sale. While looking for property for the new school, county director Mike Garren contacted the church to see if they would be interested in selling the property. So back and forth and here we are at this point. Not only would the sell include the Harris property, but there's an additional six to seven acres included in the sale on the current church campus. The church bought the property at the asking price with no conditions, stipulations or restrictions.

We'll know in a few weeks/months if all the parts will come together and if Loudon County will have a new high school.