Rutherford County School Board approves rezoning plans
The special-called meeting took place Tuesday night.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Rutherford County School Board approved its rezoning plans on Tuesday night.
This proposed plan has been in the works for several months.
The scheduled vote comes one week after the school board talked about the changes made to maps based on parents’ feedback.
Sarah Saysoukha is the mother of a junior at Siegel High School and a leadership team member on Safe RCS, a group that educates people on issues within the district. She said she was in favor of the proposal.
“I feel like it’s a safety issue at this point,” Saysoukha said. “We have schools that started out at a very, very usable amount of kids to teacher ratio, and now it’s not that way.”
Saysoukha’s son won’t be affected by the changes because he’ll already be graduated. Several parents have pushed back on these plans because they don’t want their children to change schools.
We’ve heard from some parents who do not want their kids to leave their friends. Meanwhile, other parents are concerned about accessibility because their child walks to school now, but they fear rezoning plans could change that.
“Parents might be thinking about, you know, ‘If my child moves, then they’re not going to have any friends.’ Well, a lot of children are having to move schools,” Saysoukha said, “So I think that it’s going to be a lot less of an issue than teachers parents are worrying about.”
Overcrowding in schools is what the rezoning plan is set to solve as they brace for growth, according to Rutherford County School officials. They have been focused on addressing over-capacity concerns at Stewarts Creek Elementary, Middle and High School, as well as Blackman Middle and High School.
The district said by 2028, it will have 10,000 more students than they do in 2023.
If the rezoning plans are approved, changes to the middle and high schools will go into effect in August of 2025. For middle schools, the rezoning changes will go into effect in August of 2026.
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