COLUMBIA, Tenn. – Overcrowding issues in Maury County Schools have district officials and parents looking for solutions.
The issue was in the spotlight at Thursday’s school board meeting at Horace O. Porter School. Board members voted 7 to 3 to move 142 students from Marvin Wright Elementary School in Spring Hill to Randolph Howell Elementary School in Columbia.
The vote came after some parents addressed the board and asked them to consider other options.
“As a parent, I would prefer the students be moved to Spring Hill Elementary,” said one father. “The transition would be easier across the board.”
Board members also discussed adding extra classrooms at Marvin Wright Elementary, and moving 4th graders from the school to Spring Hill Middle School or Spring Hill Elementary School. All three proposals were voted down after some expressed concerns the changes would only lead to transportation issues and more crowding.
While the discussion was lengthy, board members did agree the district is only going to continue to grow, and they need to find a more permanent way to address potential overcrowding down the road.
“I think we will need to take a serious look at the whole county,” said Jerry Lassiter, a Maury County School Board member. “If you have been through rezoning before, you know people in the middle get pulled on all the time.”
“We have got to get together and do a study, a good study, to decide what kind of schools to build in Spring Hill,” added Jim Pennings, a Maury School Board member.
The students will be moved to Randolph Howell for the 2015-2016 school year.
There was no discussion on scheduling a formal comprehensive study of the school district to look at zoning and overcrowding issues.
