Sullivan School Officials Get First Look At Plan

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. – Sullivan County officials got their first look this morning at a $200 million plan to build three new schools over the next decade and close and make extensive renovations to others.

During the first phase, the county would close Valley Pike and Weaver elementary schools and Holston Valley Middle School. Students at those schools would be sent to a new K-8 school that would be built at the county’s east end near U.S. Highway 421. Some of the elementary students could go to an expanded Emmett Elementary School.

Five other schools – Akard and Blountville elementary schools, Blountville and Bluff City middle schools and the Mary Hughes Elementary and Middle School campus – would close during the plan’s second phase.

“This is a first shot,” said Don Solp, with the Johnson City, Tenn., architectural firm of Beeson, Lusk and Street. “It’s just something to put on the table and talk about.”
Solp presented the plan to the Sullivan County Board of Education and other county officials during a retreat at Northeast State Technical Community College. He said the plan is designed to move students out of older buildings, some of which date back to the 1920s. The plan has two phases – one from 2009-13 and the other from 2014-19.

Some students attending these schools would be sent to an expanded Bluff City Elementary, while others would go to one of two new K-8 schools the county would build in Blountville and Piney Flats.

County commissioners seemed to favor the plan, although they said it would be up to school officials to iron out the details and bring it to the commission for funding.

“They’re going to have to make some big decisions,” said County Commissioner Eddie Williams of Kingsport, who is chairman of the commission’s Budget Committee. “Somebody is going to have to make the call, and that part’s going to be tough.”