Fireworks Fly At Joint County Commission/County School Board Session

  • Tuesday, May 10, 2016
County Mayor Jim Coppinger, left, sat in on joint session
County Mayor Jim Coppinger, left, sat in on joint session

School Board Chairman Jonathan Welch had to gavel to a close a sometimes-contentious unusual joint session of the County Commission and school board on Tuesday night.

The session ended with board members Rhonda Thurman and Karitsa Mosley sparring about a proposed replacement Harrison Elementary School that was not on the priority list for the schools.

Ms. Mosley said she did not want to lose another elementary in her District 5 to District 9, which she said is already heavy with schools.

She said, "If you put it all the way to Harrison, you are asking for failure. You would never get a parent up there. You can barely get one to Hillcrest."

However, Commission Chairman Chester Bankston said the property given for a school is actually within District 5.

Board member Steve Highlander said Harrison "was an old school when I went there in the 50s."

Chairman Bankston said Harrison was on a priority list several years ago, but does not show up now.

Also at the close of the meeting, Commissioner Warren Mackey told school officials on the school replacement topic, "It seems like you are being reactive. You are not planning ahead. You are in crisis mode."

Commissioner Joe Graham, noting a list of $206.4 million in school deferred maintenance needs, said, "You've got $59 million in the bank. Take some of that and fix up the schools. Spend the money."

Another hot topic was whether to allow proceeds from a planned cell tower at East Ridge High School to go toward construction of a new $300,000 football stadium.

Chairman Welch opened the discussion by saying letting East Ridge put money toward a stadium "doesn't address other stadium needs. I worry about the precedent it would set."

Board member George Ricks said, "Other schools don't have the luxury" of such funding. He said money needs to be used to fix up athletic fields throughout the system. He stated, "The private schools have turf fields. Our students play them and see that their fields are nice and beautiful. These private schools are going to put us out of business."

He said students spend long hours on the fields. He said, "We need to do it for all - not just one."

Commissioner Tim Boyd said the money from the cell tower presents "a unique opportunity" for the community of East Ridge to replace its stadium that was condemned as unsafe. He said, "It's private, unexpected money."

He said the idea would be for the county to float $300,000 in bonds and have them paid off from the cell tower proceeds. Commissioner Jim Fields noted that would take quite a while at $18,000 per year.

David Testerman, board member from East Ridge, agreed with Commissioner Boyd that East Ridge should be able to use the money for a stadium.

Justin Witt, who heads school facilities, noted that the contract with the cell tower firm is for 25 years, but he said it comes up for renewal every five years and could be voided. 

Commissioner Boyd said a California businessman read about the East Ridge cell tower issue on the Internet and called him, offering to buy out the lease, make the stadium possible, and have a full 25-year guaranteed contract.

On school growth needs, officials said there has been an increase of 900 students downtown in eight years.

Dr. Kirk Kelley, interim superintendent, said one possibility was reopening the Howard Middle School, and officials said there is some space at Tyner.

One worry is rapidly-growing Ooltewah. Ooltewah High is back up over 1,600 students.

Lee McDade, assistant superintendent, said another option was making the current East Hamilton High/Middle just a high school and building a separate middle school there.

Mr. Testerman said fixing up Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts into K-12 would attract many students and free up a lot of space at East Brainerd schools.

Ms. Thurman said part of the overcrowding problem was that Pre-K classes are taking up space along with day care centers for children of teachers. She said the mission of the school system is "K-12" and not the other.

But Mr. Ricks said Pre-K programs are helping many young children learn and should not be discarded.

Mr. Witt said he would like to tackle some larger maintenance projects, such as the need for new heat and air systems at Orchard Knob Middle and the Center for the Creative Arts.

He said fire safety updates are a continuing focus, and he said the school system must upkeep 7 million square feet of roof.

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