GERMANTOWN, Tenn. — Germantown is offering to buy the Germantown Middle and Elementary School buildings from Shelby County Schools for $5 million.
Tuesday, Germantown Municipal School District Superintendent Jason Manuel told WREG his district needs additional space.
“We do have capacity issues in our schools, because we have lots of growth in Germantown and lots of students who are choosing to come to our schools. We are adding six portables at Dogwood for this upcoming school year and six portables at Farmington,” he said.
Germantown recently broke ground on an addition at Riverdale.
Germantown has demonstrated interest in these SCS buildings before.
Superintendent Dorsey Hopson told WREG this week that he had not had much of an opportunity to review the offer.
Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo sent him a letter, discussing the matter, Friday.
That letter said the closing on the purchase would be on or before June 30, 2017, and the transition would take place in the 2017-2018 school year.
The letter said, “We recognize the stresses and strains both districts are experiencing in terms of capital and resource allocations. The proposal before you, when you consider the operational costs of these schools and the deferred maintenance, has a net fiscal impact to the Shelby County School District of approximately $11,000,000.”
Hopson said this is a separate issue from budget discussions.
He questions how the possible change could impact students.
“The issue becomes so many of those students that attend those schools don’t live in Germantown,” Hopson told WREG Monday.
Manuel agrees. He told WREG only about 70 Germantown Elementary students live in Germantown, but he is willing to work with SCS.
He said Germantown is willing to work out some kind of an agreement, in which the district could continue serving enrolled students and move forward with a mutually agreed upon transition plan.
Germantown provided WREG with data that suggests some area schools have room for additional students. Numbers that Manuel showed WREG indicate Lowrance Elementary had an enrollment of 833 in 2015. The school reportedly has the capacity to hold 1,240 students.
“I think if Germantown’s going to buy it out from the Shelby County Schools on over, I think that’s a good idea,” said Germantown Middle parent Austin Williams.
Parents WREG spoke with either said they were open to the idea or they needed more information before forming an opinion.
Hopson said enrollment is pretty high at both schools. He said both schools are performing well.
Manuel said that if SCS turns down the offer, the city will have to look at building a new school to make room. He said the city has already talked about borrowing in order to finance the construction.
