WCS Rezoning for Nolensville Approved

by Zach Harmuth

As widely expected the Williamson County Board of Education passed a measure for a rezoning plan for Nolensville on Monday night on West Main Street.

Also, unsurprisingly, parents at the meeting were not ecstatic about the plan.

WCS Superintendant Mike Looney put forward the plan, whiclh will accommodate three new schools being built in the Nolensville area and opening in 2016, which the board passed unanimously. There was one change, however, from earlier versions, in that Brittain Downs subdivision was zoned for Sunset Elementary, Sunset Middle and Nolensville High School.

This vote came after two public hearings, in which the public generally seemed against the rezoning. The meeting room in Franklin was full of concerned parents, some who have been rezoned more than once in recent memory and were unhappy about it.

But WCS officials have long cited the need for more schools, as the county grows- and it is projected to grow faster than any other part of the state. For the most part, officials have stressed the need, not the want, for rezoning to prevent over-crowded schools , with an eye to the future.

The WCS rezoning plan approved last night will make the following changes: Nolensville area subdivisions zoned for Ravenwood High School (Subdivisions: Brookfield, Sonoma, Taramore, Tuscany Hills and Inglehame Farms.Burkitt Place and Village, Benington, Bent Creek, Catalina and Sherwood Green) will be zoned for Nolensville High School now starting in Fall 2016.

A projected 171 students will be rezoned from Sunset Middle to Mill Creek Middle. Sunset students will be split between Ravenwood and Nolensville High Schools. About 65 percent of Sunset students will go to both Ravenwood and  35 percent to Nolensville.

Mill Creek Middle will open with an expected 494 students, lowering attendance in Sunset Middle to 339, projected. Mill Creek’s capacity will be approximately 800 students.

Ravenwood High School will lose about 500 students to Nolensville High,   The plan is for Nolensville High School to open with 404 students- all of which will be freshmen of sophomores in the first year- and going up to 611 students, in 2017, and 801, in 2018. The schools capacity is about 1,800.