New schools may have to be built soon in east Hamilton County, superintendent says

photo Rick Smith, Superintendent of Hamilton County Schools.

When the brand new 1,100-student East Brainerd Elementary School opens in August it soon will fill with students- and other new schools in eastern Hamilton County may soon be built.

That's what Hamilton County Schools Superintendent Rick Smith said Wednesday morning at the general meeting of the Hamilton County Council Parent Teacher Association (PTA).

"It will open approaching capacity," Smith said of East Brainerd Elementary.

He predicts the district will soon have to build another new elementary school and a new middle school in eastern Hamilton County.

"That's something that's probably going to have to happen," Smith said, citing increased growth due to such employers as the Volkswagen assembly plant, which is adding a sport-utility vehicle to its production line.

Smith also said that the district needs to build a new Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts on the 40 acres it owns on East Brainerd to replace the current aging facility. The magnet schools should be expanded in size to serve pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade, he said.

"CSLA needs to happen," Smith said. "Our board supports that. I support that."

Read more in tomorrow's Times Free Press

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