Audio clip
Jim Scales
The Hamilton County Board of Education will consider donating the current Hixson Middle School building to Chattanooga when the new middle school facility opens in January 2009.
At Thursday’s school board meeting, Superintendent Jim Scales presented board members with a letter from Mayor Ron Littlefield and City Council Chairman Dan Page requesting the donation.
“We realize that with completion of the construction of the new school, hopefully by the end of the year, the disposition of the old school needs to be decided long before vacancy occurs,” the letter states.
Board member Everett Fairchild, who represents Hixson’s district, said he had met several times with city officials to determine the best use of the building. Some had suggested another adult high school, Mr. Fairchild said, but since the school system is opening an adult campus next fall in collaboration with the Chattanooga Housing Authority, there is question about whether Hamilton County would have adequate funds to start another alternative program the following year.
“Most recently we talked about a joint use of the building, with an adult high school and a community center,” Mr. Fairchild said.
He said the city will send a structural engineer to determine how much of the 70-year-old structure would need to be replaced. The school board likely will take action on the matter at next month’s meeting, he said.
Several hundred teachers also received tenure at Thursday’s meeting in the Tyner Academy auditorium.
Kelli Gauthier covers K-12 education in Hamilton County for the Times Free Press. She started at the paper as an intern in 2006, crisscrossing the region writing feature stories from Pikeville, Tenn., to Lafayette, Ga. She also covered crime and courts before taking over the education beat in 2007. A native of Frederick, Md., Kelli came south to attend Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in print journalism. Before newspapers, ...
