East Hamilton School may become a high school only much sooner than schools officials thought.
The long-range plan always was to make the school, which now houses grades 6-12, for high schoolers only and build a new middle school behind Apison Elementary. But in just its second year, the new school is about 300 over its 1,650-student capacity.
"We knew eventually East Hamilton would have to be a dedicated high school," said County Commissioner Larry Henry, who represents East Hamilton's district. "It may come sooner than we thought it would."
Although there's been no official discussion of plans to put East Hamilton's middle schoolers in a new building, Hamilton County Board of Education Vice Chairwoman Linda Mosley said the board needs to start discussing options including new construction, rezoning or consolidating.
"If we start having the conversation and knowing where we want to go, we're half of the way there," she said. "The sooner we get working, the better."
When the school was built two years ago, even the name was an indication of its future. Unlike most 6-12 schools, the words "middle-high" conspicuously were left out of East Hamilton's name.
"When it was built, we all realized there was a good possibility of turning that into a high school," Mosley said. "It was a strategic move to keep it neutral so we wouldn't have to replace the signage."
Gary Waters, the school system's assistant superintendent for auxiliary services, said there likely won't be talk about plans for East Hamilton until after new school board and commission members are sworn in Sept. 1.
And even once discussions have begun, a new school wouldn't be a reality for several years, Waters said.
"If someone voted for this to happen, and funding miraculously appeared, it would probably take three-plus years," he said.
Henry said funding would depend on what county commissioners - who decide how much local money the school system receives - see as the biggest priority. Because the elementary schools in the area, including Westview, East Brainerd and Apison, have been at or over capacity for years, he believes a new elementary school should be built before a new middle school.
"We still have quite a bit of space still left in (East Hamilton) ... they're not having to meet in the cafeteria or the hallways," he said.
"The school, while it is over capacity as far as numbers go, it's not like we're out of space already."
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