NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — When school starts in Nashville on August 8, it will be the first time in more than 60 years that students won't be returning to Hillwood High School.
The new James Lawson High School in Bellevue is replacing the old school on Davidson Road.
For now, Metro Nashville Public Schools plans to use the 30-acre Hillwood campus as a "swing space" for things like professional training and sports.
Year-round, the athletic fields, track and tennis courts are very popular with people in the neighborhood.
Neighbors said they would really like to see the recreational areas remain and maybe even improve.
"It would be a shame to get rid of those," neighbor Paul Miller said. "They should enhance those, improve those, restore them, and I would love to see them resurface these tennis courts."
On Thursday, at the ribbon cutting for James Lawson, the director of schools said more about what's next for Hillwood.
"Immediately we'll be leveraging the Hillwood campus for professional learning and other training space," Dr. Adrienne Battle, MNPS director of schools, said. "Leveraging the fields and all the extracurricular spaces for some of our schools across the city, and long-term, we're looking forward to continuing to do what we're doing today in building new campuses and renovating our campuses."
The district is seeking funding to reconstruct West Meade Elementary and possibly H.G. Hill Middle School. If that happens, Hillwood could be used a relocation space during the construction process. Those projects would need to be funded through the next Mayor’s Capital Spending Plan in order to move forward.
At a later date, there will be a community engagement process for neighbors to share what development they do and don't want to see on the Metro-owned land.
"I do not want to see it become a series of condos or apartment buildings, like the kind that are appearing in Nashville on every available lot," Miller said.
