Lipscomb, MNPS reach agreement over old Stokes School site

The former Walter Stokes School site at the south end of Belmont Boulevard is about to get a new purpose—and a new building.

Lipscomb University and Metro Nashville Public Schools have entered an agreement that would construct a new facility at the site for teaching teachers, a “demonstration school.”

The long-disused facility was last used as a school during the 2008 Julia Green School renovation.

The new build will be a “demonstration school for teaching teachers with dedicated space, time and expertise going especially to high-dosage tutoring, the type Metro most needs to catch up learners who are lagging,” Adrienne Battle, director of Metro Nashville Public Schools, said at a community meeting at Hillsboro High School on June 3. 

Other attendees at the meeting included MNPS Chief of Staff Hank Clay; Casey Megow, MNPS director of facility planning and construction; District 25 Councilmember Jeff Preptit; and Lipscomb University President Candice McQueen.

First steps are hazmat abatement, then paperwork on bids and awards, drafting a contract, and obtaining permits. The project will go to the Metro Council, in part for funding. MNPS officials anticipate working with other universities and community groups for support and funding.

Demolition is set to begin in June and involves first taking down the brick, which will be reused as fill in the basement footprint.

The new facility will be constructed according to sustainability guidelines. Metro is now at LEED Silver standards, and the building will meet those standards at a minimum. (Longer term, department plans are underway for eventually building solar-ready and geothermal-ready schools.)

The new Stokes building will look similar to the existing building and will be leased to Lipscomb University on a 30-year lease with a 10-year optional extension.

It’s not the first collaboration between MNPS and Lipscomb—the two entities are already collaborating on college and career experiences for Metro students, and the university offers some full-ride scholarships to Metro students.

In the neighborhood, enthusiasm for Stokes School’s new arrangement may be less robust. One area resident noted that MNPS has sold off small schools over the years, and then later needed them as young families moved into the area.

Another resident said “Lipscomb has repeatedly broken its promises to the neighborhood in regards to its overlay. They promised they wouldn't cross Belmont Boulevard, then started buying up properties on the other side of Belmont and told the neighbors that it was just for a ‘buffer zone.’”