Commissioner Joe Graham, R-Lookout Valley, told his colleagues on the Hamilton County Commission on Wednesday that he will need their help as officials evaluate ways to ease overcrowding at The Howard School, which is at 180% capacity.
"I'm asking you today to keep an open mind," Graham, who represents that part of the county, told the 11-member body. "I don't know exactly when or what because we're still working desperately on it, but I'm going to present some solutions that I'm going to need help with. And I'm going to need at least five of you to jump on board with me and help me with this solution."
The Howard School has a capacity in the range of 800-1,000 students, Graham said, but there are almost 1,600 students at the facility, which is a number that he said grows by the day. There are less than 900 lockers at the school, and the cafeteria also isn't large enough to accommodate the student body.
"This is not a situation that started yesterday," Graham said. "This is not a situation that's going to go away tomorrow. This has been building for the last three or four years."
Graham's district includes growing parts of Broad Street and a new minor league baseball stadium that local leaders are building for the Chattanooga Lookouts at the former Wheland Foundry/U.S. Pipe site -- two factors that Graham said will increase the number of students in the area.
"I know (Mayor Weston Wamp) has talked several times and campaigned on another downtown school, and that's fine," Graham said, "but even if we had the money today to build another downtown school to alleviate the problem, it's a minimum of three years. I can't wait three years. These students can't wait three years."
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / The Howard School is pictured on March 3.Graham attended the school board's facilities planning meeting Monday. There, members suggested relocating students from Howard Connect Academy, a no-zone magnet school that neighbors The Howard School. It serves about 300 middle school students and has the capacity for 500.
Graham said officials need to have a fix in place by January to help alleviate pressure at the school as well as a longer-term plan that will help officials through August.
Superintendent Justin Robertson has said the district is looking in the short-term, from January to May, at satellite locations and using spare classrooms at Howard Connect to transfer about 200-300 students from The Howard School. A longer-term solution may involve relocating Howard Connect.
Some of the school's approximately 75 doors also don't properly lock, Graham said Wednesday, although the maintenance department is working on making those repairs.
"I don't know what it's going to take," Graham said. "Obviously, it's going to take some money, gentlemen, and I assure you there's nobody that's more reluctant to spend money than I am, but we are going to have to partner with Howard School, and we're going to have to make this better."
A lot of ideas have been thrown around, Graham said after the meeting, but rezoning could be key. There are some schools in that area that are not yet at capacity, and Graham reiterated that the solution could involve relocating Howard Connect or figuring out a better way to utilize the academy in its existing location.
"There's ideas, (but) there's no quick fix," he said. "There's no magic wand that's going to fix this."
Nothing is off the table, Graham said, and the solution could include allocating funds from the county.
"I'm willing to propose what I can," Graham said. "but we have some funding, the school (system) has some funding, so what I'm hoping happens is that we combine our funding and make it happen quicker because they have a fund balance as well."
Commissioner Warren Mackey, D-Lake Vista, thanked Graham for his thoroughness and assured him that he's 110% in support of his efforts.
Commissioner David Sharpe, D-Red Bank, also chimed in, pointing out the system has several schools that are overcapacity, but The Howard School has been the recent focus of attention.
"We're well aware broadly as a community that deferred maintenance, facility upgrades in Hamilton County Schools are a tremendous problem," Sharpe said. "I heard you mentioned the idea of a new school downtown, and I certainly applaud the concept of wanting to build a big, new fancy school, but we've got a lot of kids in schools already that are falling apart."
Sharpe said he supports efforts to improve conditions at The Howard School as soon possible, and he believes that there are resources available to handle those capacity issues.
Gertha Lee-Sharp, vice chairwoman of the South Chattanooga Community Association, thanked commissioners for their comments and stressed this is a dire situation for the school.
"It's critical, it's urgent and it necessitates immediate reaction," Lee-Sharp said. "This is something that has been discussed for the four years that it's continued to evolve and worsen."
She estimated there are 900 more housing units almost complete in the community, which will result in another influx of families.
"We are already behind the eight ball, so everyone please put your minds together and really come to immediate solutions for things that need to happen at Howard School," Lee-Sharp said.
Reporter Carmen Nesbitt contributed to this story.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.