Can Farragut Change?

The Sentinel wrote, "Board member Chuck James, who represents the Hardin Valley area where the school is to be built, said officials should plan on spending only the approved $40 million."

That is irresponsible. If Chuck James was so concerned about school board money why didn't he push to have this high school built years earlier. We have needed this school for ten years.

Chuck James will not get my vote for any office.
 

If this school is built for 1300 students we will need another 1300 student high school the day the doors open. So that would be 115 million dollars. This is comical.

Build the school like the other schools and build it right. Do overs are too expensive.
 

Call in the peacemaker. Mayor Ragsdale what do you suggest?
 

As many of you know, I have been attending weekly meetings with the architect, contractor, and PBA since July. My interest has been to assure that this new high school will meet the needs of this community. The school, as designed, will serve the youth of Knox County. Many have quoted the 54 million dollar price, but the school can be built to house 2000 students, with full athletic facilities/parking etc. for 51 million. So, what we need to deal with is a deficit of 11 million dollars. (not insignificant in anyone's eyes, but also not impossible). I believe that the school system and Knox County need to remain consistent with our resolve to build the school for 2000, with all additional facilities that are available at every other high school in Knox County. Before jumping into a name calling and finger pointing exercise, we should be working together to see if there are any other possible solutions. (maybe a little from KCS' next year capital budget, a little from Knox County's budget next year, corporate donations, naming rights to different athletic facilities…). The 11 million dollars does not have to come from one source. I am firm in my commitment to deliver to the students of this area a new high school that will alleviate the overcrowding (our primary objective) and provide access equal to the other high schools. I believe that our other elected officials want the same. Let's come up with some ways to accomplish this goal.
Karen Carson
 

As a parent who will need this new high school I think it should be the same as the other high schools. It costs what it costs. I don't remember this kind of discussion on any other project. The idea to build the school for 1300 students is an insult to the parents that have fought so hard for this new school. This is what the wheel tax was for. The arbitrary 40 million dollar figure is just politics. I remember when the County Mayor said we could have both the high school and the new downtown library. Take the politics out of this and take care of the families that need this school.

Jordan
 

I appreciate the concern shown here for the new school, but the school itself is just a building. Education is about more than just a facility, and yet I don't see this community bringing the same level of attention and concern to other issues involving the public schools. You demand that the school be built at any cost, and you make threats about voting against any elected official who doesn't fall in line. Over and over, I read, "it costs what it costs." Well, where's your concern for good teachers with a decent salary and good administrators? What about textbooks and curricula? Have you looked at the costs of operating and staffing an excellent school, not just building it? You demand that the school have a soccer field and a football field, but I have yet to read anyone who's expressed an interest in what kind of education the children are getting instead of where they're getting it. I got an excellent education in an old school with one athletic field and some old wooden bleachers but with some top-notch, well-paid teachers. If you want better schools, emphasize the things that make schools great, not the building. This concern for the building itself smacks of the snobbery in West Knoxville and Farragut--it's all about appearance, not substance. The underlying and erroneous belief is that a big, fancy, new school is the same thing as a good school providing a good education.

And if you want to emphasize the cost, look at the most significant but under-reported part of the story: the site prep cost that almost doubled to over $8 million, a $4-million-dollar mistake in estimating. Roughly 10% of the original estimated construction costs has been wasted because the planners didn't bother to do an adequate site feasibility study. With errors on the order of 90% in estimating one of the most easily estimated costs, do you honestly think that even $51-54 million is going to get that school built as designed? So no, it doesn't "cost what it costs." It shouldn't cost more than it has to. Believe me--you're about to get hosed, and the winners won't be the students, but I suspect various contractors will be pleased.
 

Why should this high school have to sacrifice athletics or be built so small that it does not accomplish the reason it is being built for? Have other Knox County high schools like Karns, West, Bearden, or Farragut had to sacrifice athletics? Have other schools been recently built for only 1300 hundred students when the need is for 2000 students?

Then why should this one high school be singled out? I have not read here anything other than people that want to be treated the same as other residents in Knox County.

I agree with Karen. We all need to work together and find a way to build this school so its meets the needs of the community.
 

"This concern for the building itself smacks of the snobbery in West Knoxville and Farragut--it's all about appearance, not substance. The underlying and erroneous belief is that a big, fancy, new school is the same thing as a good school providing a good education."

The people in this community are not seeking a "big, fancy, new school." Actually, their desires are fairly basic:
• a school with hallways wide enough to allow all students to change class safely and within the timeframe allowed
• a school with enough classrooms to house each class
• a school with a cafeteria big enough to give each student a seat and section of table to eat at during lunch
• a school with enough bathrooms to allow the girls to actually use the restroom sometime during the day
There is a common misperception that the people in the Farragut area want plush, expensive, luxurious schools. Have you toured Farragut High recently? (Cement floors, cinder block walls, very crowded!) The facts are, the students of Farragut and Bearden High School receive fewer dollars per student than any other high school student in Knox County. We are not snobs; we are just very committed to assuring that our youth receive an excellent education. The people of this area have proven themselves (on more than one occasion) as being willing to work with the system to achieve this goal.
Karen Carson