New Elementary School Discussed With Commissioners

Putnam County school officials want to see more progress with building a new elementary school.

The school board purchased land for the new school in Southwest Cookeville last year. Superintendent Jerry Boyd said he would like the design phase to get underway.

“In the operational budget next year I may have to ask for additional funds to support the hiring of an architect to begin the design phase of the school,” Boyd said. “From there, the next step is having a discussion about the bond issue for the school. We really would like to be having that conversation next September, but I don’t know if that’s going to be realistic.”

Boyd said the school board will also have to decide whether to build a K-4 campus or K-8 facility.

“The conversation that I’ve heard is ‘what about a K-8 school?’ everybody likes a K-8 school,” Boyd said. “It would be very tight and we would have to do some creative engineering to put a functional K-8 facility on that 45-acres.”

Boyd noted that part of the 45 acres will not be developable without spending a large amount of money.

“We’ve got enough land to build an elementary school without getting into that kind of engineering,” Boyd said. “We will be spending some money to address the foundation of the building, but we’ve got enough land to build a good elementary school.”

Boyd discussed the building project during a joint work session between school board members and county commissioners earlier this week.