'We want to inspire them': 3 future Rutherford schools get names honoring people & places

Rutherford County Board of Education members will consider proposed names, colors and mascots Thursday for three future schools.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the board's administration building, 2240 Southpark Drive, Murfreesboro.

The three future campuses will join a fast-growing district with 50 schools this year serving nearly 52,000 children and depending on 179 portable classrooms.

District officials expect one of the future schools to relieve overcrowding at westside elementary schools and improve the behavior of students at two of the schools.

"We want to inspire them," board Vice Chairwoman Claire Maxwell said.

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Future westside elementary honors name of hill

The proposed name for the district's next westside campus will be Poplar Hill Elementary School on former historic family farmland of John L. Batey on the north side of Baker Road near Blackman Road. The $59.9 million school project will open by August 2025.

The board also will consider proposals for the mascot to be Coyote and school colors of hunter green and white with a metallic gold accent.

The proposed "Poplar Hill" name does have history, said Batey, who grew up on the farm and retains about 347 acres.

"That's what it used to be called because it was a hill and had two big poplar trees on it," said Batey, whose family farm dates back to 1807.

The westside school in the Blackman community is expected to relieve overcrowding at Blackman Elementary, which depends on 14 portable classrooms, and Stewarts Elementary, which has 15 portable classrooms.

The future school also should help prevent overcrowding at Brown's Chapel Elementary, board Chairwoman Shelia Bratton suggested.

District officials have plans to build a middle school by August 2026 next to the westside elementary school. The school board bought 61.4 acres from Batey for about $5.2 million to build both campuses.

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Future La Vergne school honors community volunteer

The proposed name for the current Roy Waldron Elementary School Annex will be Simon Springs Community School in La Vergne.

The proposal for the La Vergne school includes a Fox mascot, which is a woodland creature people can find near springs, said County Commissioner Laura Davidson, a La Vergne resident who served on the committee that recommended the name, mascot and colors.

The proposed school colors are metallic silver and burnt orange.

La Vergne Mayor Jason Cole said the proposed name honors the late Bob Simon, "one of our community volunteers" who died several years ago.

"He had always pushed for a community center for the city, and volunteered at multiple community events for several years," Cole said.

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Commissioner Davidson said that Simon used to tell people he was buying a lottery ticket and plans to use the money if he wins to build a community center for children and others.

"His family is real excited about this," Davidson said. "I felt like that was a great honor to memorialize him. He was a wonderful human. He really was."

Simon was also known for volunteering with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, the La Vergne Senior Center and Box 100, a Rutherford County non-profit organization that provides assistance to firefighters, other emergency responders and victims at structure fires, Davidson said.

Davidson said the "Springs" part of the name honors the springs in La Vergne leading to Percy Priest Lake.

Part of the plan includes $2.4 million in renovations for a building that's about 60 years old, and that should be great for the children at a school that used to be known as La Vergne Primary School, Davidson said.

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The plan for future future La Vergne school that will open by this August includes serving an estimated 20 children in autism spectrum disorder classrooms in grades 1-8. These classrooms are relocating from from Whitworth-Buchanan Middle in southeast Murfreesboro, Oakland Middle in northeast Murfreesboro, Smyrna Middle in the central part of the town and Rocky Fork Middle in west Smyrna.

The plans for the La Vergne school also would provide behavior intervention classrooms for grades 1-5 relocating from three schools: Cedar Grove Elementary in west Smyrna, Plainview Elementary on the far southeast side of Rutherford and Walter Hill Elementary on the northside.

District officials also view the future La Vergne campus as being the first alternative school for grades 1-5 for children breaking rules for behavior.

The goal for all the children at the future La Vergne school will be to improve behavior and return to their previously assigned schools, district spokesman James Evans said.

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Third alternative school for grades 6-12 to honor former city mayor, African American educator

The other proposed name is Westbrooks-Woods Academy. This future campus will be the district's third alternative school serving grades 6-12 for students expelled from their assigned campuses for violations of conduct, such as being caught with illegal drugs or hitting a teacher.

The third alternative school will open by this August at 814 S. Church St. near downtown Murfreesboro.

The proposals for the alternative school includes an Admirals mascot and blue and white colors that match what's used by Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

Maxwell, a school board member since 2020, served as chairwoman of the committee that recommended Westbrooks-Woods Academy name. She prefers the name include "Academy" instead of alternative school for a campus that will seek for the students to return to their zoned schools and "perform like they should have been doing in the first place."

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The name also honors former Murfreesboro Mayor Murfreesboro Mayor W.H. "Hollis" Westbrooks. He was partly known for leading the city efforts to build the historic Cannonsburgh Village to celebrate the nation's Bicentennial in 1976. The village includes a reassembled Westbrooks Store that belonged to his grandparents from rural Link community by Rutherford's southern boundary with Bedford County.

Mayor Westbrooks also had served as chairman of the Rutherford County Board of Education from 1942-1956.

The name also honors Olivia Woods, who died in 2016 at age 96. In 1962, Woods was the first African American undergraduate student at Middle Tennessee State Teachers College (former name of MTSU), according to the university's website. She graduated from the Murfreesboro college in 1965 with a degree in elementary education and a minor in humanities. Woods also earned a master's degree in 1974 from MTSU in curriculum and instruction.

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Prior to pursuing degrees from MTSU, Woods attended Tennessee Agriculture and Industrial State College, which today is called Tennessee State University and is located in Nashville.

Woods served as a 21-year teacher for Murfreesboro City Schools until retiring in 1986, Maxwell said.

Prior to college, Woods attended the city's Bradley Elementary and the county's Holloway High when both schools served Black students during the segregation era, Maxwell said.

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This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rutherford County names for 3 future schools honors people, places