CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW)- ‘Clarksville is growing,’ is an understatement for Clarksville-Montgomery County School System officials who have seen the growth firsthand as student enrollment sky-rocketed this school year.

Millard L.  House II, Director of Schools said CMCSS  is expecting an unprecedented number of newly enrolled students. At the September formal Board meeting, he reported CMCSS reached their 36,500 student attendance mark and had 1,200 additional students from the previous year.

Middle schools are at an uncomfortable overall capacity of 104%.  School Operations are keeping a close watch and strategically planning the placement of portables.

CMCSS seemingly has been in a perpetual state of filing building permits to both build and/or move portable classrooms due to the need for classrooms. Ten portables were most recently located at Rossview Elementary, Glenellen Elementary, Oakland Elementary, and West Creek Elementary. It costs between $4,000 and $8,000 for power connections, ramps underpinning and skirting alone.

Rossview Middle School which is at 117 % capacity and Richview Middle School which is at 100 % capacity are included in the portable classroom plans.

Plans move forward in alleviating the need for portable classrooms and  CMCSS has worked with the Joint Land Acquisition Committee, made up of County and CMCSS officials and staff to purchase land and have the architectural design complete by January 2020.

While no decision has been made, negotiations continue for a property owned by Rossview Farms, LLC near Kirkwood Road. Many worry about traffic congestion on Rossview Road, and if negotiations proceed, there will be road work done to make an eventual three-school campus better accessible. This would be part of the site package.

“An opening date of the proposed middle school is yet to be determined, but the goal would be to open in August of 2022,” said Elise Shelton, chief communications officer at CMCSS. “ A high school would be one or two years behind the middle (school), and an elementary school opening is still to be determined.”

CMCSS will recommend to the School Board that the new middle school duplicate the layout and design of the two-story West Creek Middle School.

The zone planning meetings to establish the eighth middle and high school zone will be conducted starting in October of the year before the middle school opens in a few years and will involve comprehensive adjustments to current zone lines.

Meetings to address the 2020-2021 zoning begin this week.

“We are hopeful that negotiations will be successful and appreciate the support of the members of the Joint Land Acquisition Committee in moving this project forward,” said Schools Director Millard House II.

CMCSS explains the growth and how CMCSS is handling it here: https://youtu.be/KPSvKooEbZo