The Cherokee County School District could deal with overcrowding by having Cherokee High School expand into the neighboring Canton Elementary School STEM Academy – with STEM students moved to other sites, educators said at a recent school board meeting.
Follow-up discussions are planned for 7 p.m. Oct. 25 and 26 at Cherokee High.
Two staff plans have the high school taking space in the STEM Academy, and STEM students consolidated into Knox and R.M. Moore elementary schools, or moved to the ACE Academy campus; Ace students would move to the former Tippens Elementary School.
A third staff idea would split Cherokee High, with ninth-graders moving to ACE, and ACE students moving to Tippens. A fourth proposal, by STEM Academy parents, would put high school freshmen in the STEM building, and STEM and ACE students swapping schools.
“What we’re talking about now is a necessary stop-gap; we remain committed to building a new high school to serve north Cherokee,” schools Superintendent Brian V. Hightower said.
The district owns land in Ballground and Sutallee, and would like to find land between Cherokee High and Woodstock, Highertower said. But it will not have the more-than $70 million to build a new high school until voters renew the Education SPLOST six years hence.
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