CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Tuesday night was the first conversation of many in a series of virtual public meetings to discuss school rezoning efforts to make way for Kirkwood Elementary, and many community members are already raising objections.

With the new Kirkwood Elementary School set to open in the fall for the 2024-25 school year, CMCSS teamed up with RSP & Associates, a consulting firm with expertise in school system rezoning, and unveiled their proposal on Tuesday, Nov. 14.

Relieving overpopulated elementary schools

Robert Schwarz, CEO of RSP & Associates, explained that the current enrollment at five schools exceeds building capacity, even including the portables. Two years ago, he and his team made projections for the 2023-24 school year, which yielded 99.3% accuracy this year.

“When we forecast it going forward without knowing what this year’s enrollment was or what you’re looking at in this scenario tonight, we missed the projection by 67 students (out of over 19,000) for this year, giving it a 99.8 percent accuracy,” Schwarz said. “That’s important, because if we are moving households to these different attendance areas, we want to make sure we have the right space in each of these buildings.”

Five CMCSS elementary Schools are experiencing overpopulation pains:

• Oakland (1,290 current/1,210 capacity)
• Pisgah (1,062 current/1,012 capacity)
• Rossview (1,308 current/1,298 capacity)
• Sango (966 current/891 capacity)
• Woodlawn (789 current/781 capacity)

With the focus on phase one of a two-phase rezoning plan, 15.9% of current PreK-4th grade students would be impacted by this proposal when Kirkwood Elementary comes online. Based on the observations from CMCSS and RSP & Associates, 16 schools would have students affected by this.

According to the proposal, all 822 students in the Burt/St. Bethlehem zone are to be redistributed to other schools, as those schools will be repurposed. The proposal forecasts that Byrns, Oakland and Rossview are to be highly impacted in this zoning change, affecting over 200 students at each school.

Will there be an opt out?

Several parents raised objections Tuesday night.

“My wife and I moved back to Clarksville with the specific intent of putting our daughter in Sango,” an unidentified parent said in the chat. “We spent $100k more on a house than we had to, just to be in the neighborhood we’re in for that school. Now you people intend to just put is in a different school?”

There seemed to be one recurring question during the public response: Will there be an opt out?

“Why hasn’t the possibility of a grandfathering process been included in the proposal to this point?” one parent asked. “With formal processes like this, I’ve seen in the past that when you have a 99 percent product, that generally tends to be what’s going to happen. I believe that the feedback you are getting from us is probably going to fall on deaf ears.”

Parents asked Schwarz if they would revise the proposal to include the possibility of a grandfathering or opt-out process. Many of these questions weren’t directly answered. Elizabeth Vincent, CMCSS director of Continuous Improvement, reminded parents this wasn’t an official decision, and that these meetings were to hear the concerns of the parents.

“This is an opportunity for feedback,” Vincent said. “Those options may be considered, but this is an opportunity for feedback, and we appreciate you all sharing that feedback so we can know that that’s something that needs to be considered, and that’s what this time is for.”

Burt and St. Bethlehem to be repurposed 

Burt Elementary and St. Bethlehem Elementary are two schools that have served the same zone for over 20 years, with K-2nd grade attending St. B and 3rd-5th grade attending Burt. The schools are around 5 miles from each other, with a commute of approximately 15-20 minutes during peak times. Over the past several years, the expansive zone and split school configuration have presented several logistical challenges, especially for families who choose for their children to be car riders.

“CMCSS leadership strongly believes now is a critical time to improve educational services for families in the existing Burt/St. B zone and across the district,” CMCSS spokesman Anthony Johnson said.

CMCSS plans to transition Burt to a center for innovative high school models, including being the new home of Middle College at APSU, while St. Bethlehem will be repurposed into a facility for CMCSS to develop its first-ever Early Learning Center.

For those that want to know if they will be affected by the rezoning efforts, APSU has provided an interactive map to search for a specific address to learn more about the proposed zoning changes for that address.

If you missed last night’s meeting, there are still two more informal public hearings to take place.

• Thursday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m.
• Monday, Nov. 27 at 6 p.m.

A formal public feedback session will be hosted on Jan. 2 with the location to be announced.