'Breathtakingly beautiful piece of property': Crews break ground on new Blackman school

Excavation crews recently broke ground to build Rutherford County's next elementary school on the westside's fast-growing Blackman community.

The nearly $59.9 million school project is expected to open by August 2025 on former historic Batey family farmland on the northside of Baker Road near Blackman Road.

The Rutherford County Board of Education led by Chairwoman Shelia Bratton recently won funding approval from the County Commission to pursue the project.

"We are thrilled we are getting a new elementary school in this location," Bratton said. "It's a perfect location to relieve overcrowding at Blackman Elementary, which is extremely overcrowded, and Stewarts Creek Elementary, which is also extremely overcrowded."

Blackman Elementary depends on 14 portable classrooms in west Murfreesboro and had a count of 1,068 students on Sept. 6. Stewarts Creek Elementary had a count of 1,335 students on the same date and relies on 15 portable classrooms in southwest Smyrna.

Fellow school board member Katie Darby said she's excited for the new elementary school.

"Rutherford County is in need of more schools and more seats for our kiddos," said Darby, who represents a Zone 4 district that includes where the future campus is located.

School utility agreement: Murfreesboro government offers planned Rutherford schools access to sewer without annexation

Future school will use similar two-story design as Rocky Fork Elementary

The future school also should relieve potential overcrowding at nearby Brown's Chapel Elementary on Baker Road, which reported a count of 797 students on Sept. 6, Bratton said.

The board already voted on rezoning for the future school.

The chairwoman expects the school board to announce the future school name, mascot and colors by the end of March along with two other future campuses:

• the district's third alternative school that will temporarily serve students expelled from their regular schools for disciplinary reasons for grades 6-12 at a building the board bought at 814 S. Church St. in Murfreesboro;

• and the district's first alternative school for grades 1-5 at the Roy Waldron Elementary Annex (previously known as La Vergne Primary School).

The board also has yet-funded plans to build a middle school by August 2026 adjacent to the future elementary school on the former farmland that dates back to 1807 when the Bass family settled on the property.

"It is a breathtakingly beautiful piece of property, and the new school is going to look phenomenal there," Bratton said.

The future elementary school will save money on architecture costs by using a similar design the board used for the two-story Rocky Fork Elementary that opened in 2019 in Smyrna, Schools Director James "Jimmy" Sullivan recently told the Rutherford County Commission Budget, Finance & Investment Committee.

"We are trying our best to keep our schools to a manageable size," Sullivan said.

The future school will built for a capacity of 1,000 students.

"We don’t want elementary schools bigger than a thousand to twelve-hundred (students)," Sullivan said.

Impact of Rutherford school rezoning: 'This is not just about changing schools'

School district plans for growth

The future elementary school also will have great access between Murfreesboro and Smyrna because of Baker and Blackman roads, Bratton said.

The board bought 61 acres and an old now torn-down house from seller John L. Batey for $5.2 million. He retained 347 acres of his family farm, including where he's building a new house on the northwest side of the farm on the northside of Baker Road.

Batey's remaining farm includes a historic family cemetery on the southside of Baker Road for Bass, Blackman and Batey ancestors. The cemetery has a tomb with "Some Pig" above the grave for Wilbur, the Batey family's pet hog that appeared on the book cover for the 2006 edition of E.B. White's children's novel, "Charlotte's Web."

Wilbur, 2006-2019: He was 'Some pig'

Fast-growing Rutherford County Schools has dealt with overcrowding for several years and depends on 179 portable portable classrooms. The district has a count of nearly 52,000 students in grades pre-K through 12 at 50 schools.

The board expects to spend $280 million on building three schools in the next three years to keep pace with growth, Director Sullivan said.

"From May of 2023 to now, we’ve added 1,300 kids," Sullivan recently told county commissioners.

The school building plans include the following:

• the future elementary school on Batey's former farmland;

• the adjacent middle school on Batey's former farmland that would relieve overcrowding at Blackman Middle and Stewarts Creek Middle;

• and a high school to open by August 2027 on the northwest side on yet-identified property to relieve overcrowding at La Vergne High and Stewarts Creek High in southwest Smyrna.

How much does school growth cost? Rutherford County Board of Education plans to spend $744.7 million on schools through 2028

Reach reporter Scott Broden with news tips or questions by emailing him at sbroden@dnj.com. To support his work with The Daily News Journal, sign up for a digital subscription.

Future elementary school facts

• When will elementary school with yet announced name open: August 2025

• Location of future school: northside of Baker Road near Blackman road on former historic farmland of John L. Batey

• Acres for future elementary school and yet-funded future adjacent middle school: 61.4

• Purchase price for property: $5.2 million

• Cost of elementary school construction: Nearly $59.9 million

• Square feet for elementary school: 146,457

• Construction costs per square foot cost: $351.34.

• Main low-bid contractor with Rutherford County Board of Education: R.G. Anderson

• Costs for main construction contract: $48.4 million

• Related construction contracts: $2 million

• Architecture design costs: $900,000

• Furniture, fixtures and equipment: $4 million

• Money from school board reserves for project: over $33.6 million

• Other available funds from school board for new project: over $4.5 million

• Money from bond authorized by the Rutherford County Commission to fund project: over $25 million

Source: Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Crews break ground on Rutherford County's next elementary school