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MARYVILLE HIGH SCHOOL EXPANSIONSubmitted by Amber Proffitt on Tue, 07/24/2007 - 00:11.
Maryville High School - To Expand or Not To Expand How many people in Maryville are aware that Maryville High School is considering expanding at its current location using Eminent Domain to consume as many as 30 homes/properties in its neighborhood? How many people in Maryville are aware that smaller schools are actually better for our kids? MHS has a current population of roughly 1500 students. If they expand they will create a facility to accomodate upwards of 2000 students. This is far from an ideal environment for our children as drop out rates and violence increase and participation, emotional well-being and parental involvement DEcrease. Please check out this great article: Link... . Yes, there are benefits to larger schools such as more extra curricular programs and a more "state-of-the-art" facility, but is this worth the expense in quality of education and student well being? As the large high schools are failing all over the country, there is a national movement back to smaller, community based schools. Funding is available through government and private institutions such as the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Aside from this, MHS resides in a very old and established neighborhood. This neighborhood is sandwiched between two historic districts and could be considered historic itself. Lamar Alexander grew up in this neighborhood. Many families will be displaced and the integrity of the neighborhood will be destroyed. Traffic is already a heavy burden here making roads questionably safe for kids to travel to and from school. Expansion will only make this worse. Please - LET'S PRESERVE THE INTEGRITY OF MARYVILLE. Let's stop a Mega-Highschool from being created in our community. Let's stop destruction of historic neighborhoods. Please contact your elected officials and school board members and tell them you want preservation, not destruction, in your Maryville. ( categories: )
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I agree with you. What is the alternative?
A second City of Maryville High School to create two smaller high schools?
I met a gentleman the other day, an important Maryville High School sports supporter. All sports all the time. Not that I care. I think people like this gentleman would oppose two smaller schools as it would disrupt the sports program.
I personally feel that two high schools would hurt academics as well. MHS has done a lot of things right with their academics that the County Schools have not (some of this has to do with their relationship with the city council). However, if you have two schools, where will the current teachers go? Will they be split? A lot of new teachers will have to be brought in to fill this new school. I just think a lot of what MHS does right will be hurt at least for 10-15 years until the "new" school gets developed.
There are several options on the table, and I don't know what would be best at this point. I'm not necessarily for destroying all the properties around the school (I would hate for that to happen for the people involved), but I think two separate schools is a bad idea.
Craig Thomas
http://blog.craigdthomas.com
I completely agree! I don't agree with placing a sports program before education. Afterall, there are far many more scholarships for education than there are sports. If the city council and school board choose option A, building a second high school,it will allow for more opportunity for our children. Create smaller schools and preserve the intergrity of historic Maryville.
It will also hold the longest capcity date of 2034/35, which in the long run would save taxpayers money.
F.
We watched as our old hometown UpNorth took advantage of a special state financing option. That financing caused the city's only high school to be moved from a central city location to a site well outside the current city limits. Think of it has taking MHS and moving it well west of Wm. Blount High.
In the old location the city only had to provide bus service for about 10% of the kids. Now, for those kids who don't have cars the city is busing 100% of the students. They pick up city kids and truck them to the country for school.
The old HS was converted into a new Jr.High but the massive football field and stadium is still used as the High's home field. Keeping the holy football field at its traditional site was always in the overall plan.
The same finance option also caused many small communities to abandon their local elementary schools and build those schools in areas well outside the community. We have seen first hand what happens to a rural community when the kids are removed and it is not a good thing at all.
Hands down- smaller schools are better schools and it that not what Maryville wants?
I am not at all familiar with the city schools but I do have a few questions.
With Pellissippi planning a new campus here is it not possible to relocate some AP and dual enrollment classes to that campus?
How about pulling all the vocational education programs out of the current high school and creating a joint Vocational School to serve all of Blount County. Better yet, build this new vocational school to serve not only Blount but neighboring counties as well.
The whole Vocational School concept really deserves further thought.
I don't know what alternatives/proposals the school board may be considering but is one of the possibility of converting the football field into parking areas or buildings, whatever is the greatest need? Could MHS possibly use the Maryville College football stadium for their practices and/or games? I know it would mean coordinating with MC and certainly some loss of time spent on the field but wouldn't that be better for the neighborhood and city than tearing down people's homes and causing long time residents to move? To me almost anything would be better than to destroy a family's home just to increase the size of the school. Developing a second city school is better than that.
Two high schools will not hurt academics. Large high schools do. You cannot simply say that have a small pupil teacher ration will make up for the disadvantages of a high school. How many people can participate in football or band etc. if you are choosing from 2500 kids. The school board needs to read the studies.
Previous commenter, yes I agree. Where is the research?! Why aren't people demanding it?
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