During Tuesday night’s Cumberland County Board of Education work session, a 10-year plan for the school system was discussed. The plan was requested by the county commission to get a glimpse of what the school system would need by the year 2027.

According to the plan, the renovation and expansion of Crab Orchard Elementary School ranks number one on the list. The 9.3 million dollar project is set to get underway in the next one to three years.

Renovations to Cumberland County High School comes in second on the plan. The project totals just over 2.5 million dollars. Of that total, $512,000 will be directed towards redoing eight bathrooms in the school at a cost of $400,000, workroom renovations at $22,500 and polishing the original floor that was installed in the school in the early 1960’s at a cost of $90,000. What was absent from the plan is any renovations to the auditorium at CCHS. Board member Josh Stone said that the items on the plans for CCHS was on a need versus want basis. “I understand that the auditorium upgrades has been wanted for years but there are other more pressing items that must be addressed,” said Stone.

The remaining two million of the CCHS renovations will go towards upgrades to Jet Stadium. The exsisting concession, bathrooms and locker room areas underneath the home seating of the stadium will be redone with all new areas. Also, the seating in the stadium will be renovated as well as the track being replaced. The issue of storm drainage will also be addressed during the renovations. The board learned last night that field officials from Neyland Stadium at U.T. has talked with field crews at CCHS about how to upgrade the football field conditions.

The third item on the ten year plan is regarding the portables that are being used at the schools. The plan calls to reduce the portables by 25 percent in the next one to three years followed by the total elimination of the portables in the next seven to ten years. By the time the plan expires, all the portables would be eliminated. It would require either an addition to one to two elementary schools or the construction of a new elementary school close to the Crossville city limits. Zoning would also have to be addressed in the future with the growith of the school system.

Director of Schools Janet Graham said that the plan is the best shot of being transparent with a working plan to show the county commission.