[UPDATE] Stokes school has been taken off the market, due to a potential increase in students in the Hillsboro cluster.
Candace McQueen, dean of the college of education, will not let this lost opportunity to partner with public schools in Nashville divert the education department from being a vital member of the community.
“The College of Education at Lipscomb University is already partnering with the city in some very productive ways, including in the Cameron Partnership to bring education innovation to that community,” McQueen said. “We look forward to continuing, and expanding, that and many other beneficial collaborations with the public school district.”
[ORIGINAL STORY]
Lipscomb has expressed interest in purchasing Walter Stokes School from the Metro Nashville school system.
Currently, the university uses the school’s lot for overflow parking. The building has been used in recent years as a temporary site for Metro schools undergoing renovations but has been vacant for two years. The school was built in 1936 and sits on five acres of land.
Stokes School is located on Belmont Boulevard one block north of Lipscomb's campus.
Metro had previously declared the property a surplus, but after some questions were raised at a Metro Committee meeting, the school has now gone back off the market. The Metro Council must again pass the property through three readings before they can again deem the school surplus.
The last of these reading will be held on Oct. 5. As long as the readings pass and no other Metro agencies are interested in the property, then negotiations with Lipscomb will begin again.
“From what we have been told, no other agencies want to purchase the property, so it looks like we’re back on track,” said Lipscomb General Counsel Phil Ellenburg.
If Lipscomb purchases the Stokes lot, the building will be the new home of the College of Education. Lipscomb plans to keep the historic look of the building while making 21st century renovations to the inside.
“When we first started talking about the purchase of the Stokes building, the intent was to move a college that would have some usage of the building that would be connected to what it had been used for before,” said Candice McQueen, dean of the College of Education.
McQueen added that the undergraduate and graduate programs are growing and more classroom and office space is much-needed.
There have been some ideas of keeping the lobby and a couple of classrooms untouched to preserve the history of the building. The Metro Historical Commission has much interest in maintaining the condition of the building.
Lipscomb has a partnership with the Metro Nashville public schools on several different initiatives. Lipscomb has trained Metro teachers on campus as well as partnered with Cameron Middle School, training its teachers within the school. The purchase of the Stokes School would also provide a new and larger home for these causes.