Sharon Harper

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Bradley County high schools and middle schools are close to being full.

Johnny McDaniel, county schools director, and Dr. Sharon Harper, school system statistician, reviewed rough estimates of the immediate future growth needs late Thursday evening for the county school board.

"Our discussion over a year ago led us to the construction of Park View Elementary" and the expansion of Valley View Elementary, Mr. McDaniel said.

That extra space, plus the planned fine arts building to be built at Bradley Central High School, will create more student space, he said.

But the coming of the new Volkswagen plant nearby in Hamilton County and Wacker Chemical in Bradley County, both $1 billion enterprises, could affect the school system with new students in five years or less, Mr. McDaniel said.

County population has been growing steadily each year, and so has student population, Dr. Harper said.

She said her projections are very conservative, not taking the potential of the two giant companies into account.

In their proposals to be consultants for long-range planning for Bradley County, two firms projected a county population of 140,000 people by 2030. That would mean more than 14,000 county students, Dr. Harper said.

Those numbers do not reflect population growth in the Cleveland city school system, she said.

In a slow economy with residential construction at low levels this year, it could be several years before the County Commission is willing to fund more schools, school board member Troy Weathers said.

The economy, Dr. Harper said, may buy some time for the school district.

"But 20 years will be here before you know it," she said.