Rumor Mill-5432

Published June 28, 2013

The purpose of this section is to answer any questions parents, teachers or community members might have regarding the school district and to set the record straight in regards to any rumors that might be circulating.

If you have a question or have heard a rumor that you would like for us to address, simply SEND US your questions and we will respond to them in upcoming issues of IN FOCUS. Below are some of the questions we have received since our last issue.

Can you provide an update on when construction of the new high school in Nolensville will begin? Also, when it is expected to be open?

While the district has purchased the land for a new northeast area high school, the County Commission has not funded the construction of the building at this time.

The northeast high school projected opening remains on the School Board's Five Year Capital Outlay Plan as the fall of 2015. Construction of a high school takes about 1.5 years, so actual construction would need to begin about January of 2014 if the school is to open in the fall of 2015.

I would like to know if WCS has plans to use textbooks online. The high school books are oversized and weigh at least 10 lbs. each. My child has to carry at least two of them at a time along with binders, pens, etc. She just finished her Freshman year and she’s having back trouble due to the heavy backpack. I know she is not the only student struggling with this. Other school systems have put everything online, and we really need to do the same ASAP! When will we actually be using technology in our high schools?

A part of the strategic plan for Williamson County Schools is to make the transition to electronic texts whenever possible. Currently, there are few texts of the quality we require that are strictly electronic. However, with each textbook adoption, we are seeing great improvements in online access to texts.

For instance, the high school literature books purchased last year are available to students electronically. Rather than taking home that heavy volume, students can log in and access everything they need for English homework. This year’s K-5 reading adoption includes full electronic access for students, and we expect all of the social studies texts up for next year’s adoption to include electronic access.

The district’s BYOT initiative is one of the steps we are taking to increase the number of students who can take advantage of electronic texts as they become more prevalent in our district.

So the rumor flying through the McKay's Mill Subdivision is that half of the neighborhood is going to be re-zoned within the next two years to send elementary school students back to Trinity Elementary. What's the truth?

The 2013-14 school year will be our third school year since our county-wide rezoning took place in 2010. We anticipated that, with continued growth in our community, that rezoning should serve us three years, and it has done so.

At this time, we have not discussed any rezoning needs for 2014-2015. That discussion will occur after we have seen actual growth numbers at our schools for the 2013-2014 school year.