Supt. Justin Robertson told school board members on Tuesday that putting a new Red Bank Elementary at practice fields at Red Bank Middle/High was found to be unworkable.
He said the geothermal system for Red Bank Middle School is under practice fields at the area that was proposed by school board member Ben Connor and County Commissioner David Sharpe.
The county schools plan to close Alpine Crest Elementary in Red Bank and Rivermont Elementary and Dupont Elementary in Hixson and build a new elementary.
The site that had been recommended was on the Dupont campus on Hixson Pike.
Red Bank officials said that would leave the town without its own elementary.
Red Bank Elementary School is near Red Bank, but in the Chattanooga city limits.
Here is Dr. Robertson's email:
Board Members,
I know that the facilities conversation has been hard. I appreciate everyone's perspectives on the issues and the boards commitment to improving facilities across the county. I know the process can be frustrating and considering multiple options can be cumbersome; however, it is important to consider multiple options.
I wanted to take a minute to update you about the Red Bank MS/HS site. Initially, the Facilities teams used GIS to determine if the property was big enough for the proposed ES. After the meeting Thursday it appeared that there may be traction for this option, so I asked the Facilities team to go deeper to see if it was viable. Our team pulled the utilities plans, spoke with utility companies and were in the process of doing as much in house as possible to see if it was a viable site. Unfortunately, as they looked more into the site it was determined that the geothermal system for Red Bank MS is under the soccer field and two practice fields. The attached blueprint (apologize for the poor quality of this pic) shows the geothermal lines highlighted in yellow. The lines run the full length of each practice field and more than half the length of the soccer field. It is not a viable option for a school to be built on the MS/HS site.
Again, exploring options is part of this important process. I again appreciate everyone's work on this and your willingness to make these difficult decisions. If you have any questions, please let me know.