CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System plans to have five new schools built by 2035, according to its 10-year construction plan. That includes three new elementary schools, one new middle school, and a high school. Plus, the plan is to use cost savings to develop a new, two-story design prototype for elementary schools.
With an average of 670 new students being enrolled every year, mainly in the northern and northeastern areas of the county, CMCSS plans to alleviate overcrowding with the new schools.
At the School Board study session on March 12, Norm Brumblay, CMCSS chief operations officer, said Montgomery County will be able to fund the design of the new, multi-story elementary school prototype entirely through cost savings.
Current school prototype designs
There are three school design prototypes currently in use: one for elementary, one for middle, and one for high school.
New prototypes were developed with Rossview Elementary in 2008, West Creek Middle in 2007, and Kenwood High in 1997. Since then, these prototypes have been used to build nine schools in total.
“I had to go back in time,” Brumblay told Clarksville Now. “When I built Barkers Mill, that was the first time I had used a prototype. Based on what I was able to find, that prototype actually started in 1987 with Minglewood Elementary.”
That prototype, with some “improved iterations,” was used to build Minglewood, Northeast, Sango, Liberty, Cumberland Heights, Glenellen, Barkers Mill and West Creek. Brumblay said after West Creek was built, they broke even on cost avoidance and were able to fund the design of the next (now-current) prototype in 2008 for Rossview.
The 2008 Rossview Elementary prototype was used for Carmel Elementary (2012), Pisgah Elementary (2013), Oakland Elementary (2015), Kirkwood Elementary (opening August 2024), and Elementary School #26 (planned for August 2026).
The current middle school prototype is from West Creek, which opened in 2007, and it has seen one improved iteration: the multi-level Kirkwood Middle (2022).
The current high school prototype is from Kenwood, which opened in 1997, and has seen three improved iterations: Rossview High (2002), West Creek High (2010) and Kirkwood High (2023).
During the study session on March 12, Brumblay told the board that ES #26 will be the sixth, and final, improved iteration from the Rossview Elementary prototype.
“Board policy dictates a 50% discount for prototypical, architectural design,” Brumblay said. “Our (Rossview Elementary) prototype has resulted in approximately $4.95 million in savings since we have been using it so far. Why is this important? As of Elementary School #26, Montgomery County will now be able to the fund the design of a new, multi-story elementary school realized entirely of cost avoidances.”
Coming up with a new prototype design
Brumblay said that while construction of the Rossview Elementary prototype occurred in 2008, planning of that prototype began much earlier.
“Collaboration with instructional team leaders and other stakeholders began in January of 2007 when we researched best practices of current elementary school designs,” Brumblay told Clarksville Now. “This led to the development of a programmatic design scope we were interested in seeing.”
In April 2007, the CMCSS Operations team received architect proposals based on that scope, and a selection of the next prototype was made. The project was bid in February 2008, and construction occurred between March 2008 and August 2009 when the school opened – about 30 months after the process began.
“The next elementary school prototype will likely be planned for Elementary School #27,” Brumblay told Clarksville Now. “Similar to the Rossview process, collaboration with instructional team leaders and other stakeholders will begin this fall.”
A designated team will research best practices in current elementary school design and function, which will lead to the development of a design scope. Brumblay anticipates they will receive architect proposals based on that design scope in the spring of 2025, and a selection of the next prototype will be made in summer 2025.
The project will first require land acquisition, then a minimum of 10 months to design, and a minimum of 15 months to construct before opening in August 2028.
Building up, not out
The current middle school design is a two-story, or multi-level, prototype. West Creek Middle and Kirkwood Middle are both multi-level buildings, and additions were made to Ringgold Elementary, Clarksville High and Montgomery Central High where land was not available to build out.
“Multi-story buildings have been an object of discussion for many years, but there hasn’t been a sudden shift to consider them just now,” Brumblay told Clarksville Now. “Where it makes good financial and logistical sense, we will continue to design multi-level buildings.”
However, Brumblay said, multi-level buildings cost more than single-story buildings, and land savings do not always offset that higher cost. “Where we have done direct comparisons between single-story and multi-story projects, there was a general advantage to the taxpayer to build single-story buildings,” Brumblay said.
Historically, CMCSS has avoided building multi-level schools for that reason, but as land becomes more scarce and expensive, multi-level buildings become a better option.
5 new schools by 2035
Brumblay told the board that the 10-year construction plan has ES #27 planned to open in August 2028, then ES #28 in 2031 in the southern area of the county.
“As both the county and the district continue to grow, there are plans for a campus with three schools by the mid-2030s,” Brumblay said.
Brumblay told Clarksville Now that if they can find an appropriate piece of land, there are logistic advantages to having an elementary, middle and high school on the same campus, for instance, sharing athletic facilities, buses and even dismissal times.
“If you look at Kirkwood, they actually share the same bus delivery area,” he said, “which allows us to streamline that process. … If it can only be two schools, then it would be a middle school and a high school, and then we would find a separate, standalone theater for the elementary school.”
Brumblay explained that they tend to go by the five-year plan, which is based on the most accurate data. He said the 10-year and 20-year plans assume populations do certain things, but population growth tends to have a mind of its own, and estimating that far out can be hazy. However, they do reassess the long-range plan every year.
“We try to update our crystal ball every year, usually in the summer,” Brumblay said. “So, we’re about to start updating our crystal ball, and we’ll update that report.”
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