KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Leaders in Knoxville celebrated Thursday as Knox County Schools opened a rebuilt wing at Sterchi Elementary School, an about $8 million project that adds classrooms plus dedicated arts and media rooms after more than a year of noisy construction.
District planners said crews delivered roughly 15,275 square feet of new space and refreshed about 7,945 square feet of existing rooms. The package covers a new front-office suite, special education classrooms, a media center, art and music rooms, gym touch-ups, new windows and a fire sprinkler system.
The school board had set aside $17 million for the work, yet builders brought the bill in near $8 million. Principal Jessica Doran said the 1959 campus never had enough room for staff or students, so art, music and media lessons lived in portables and administrators squeezed into one small office.
Knox County’s K-12 system, operated by Knox County Schools, enrolls approximately 60,500 students across 90 schools and is led by Superintendent Jon Rysewyk. The district operates under a unified county-city model; there is no separate Knoxville City Schools system.
Fifth graders snipped the ribbon with County Mayor Betsy Henderson, Superintendent Jon Rysewyk and other guests looking on. Doran thanked families and teachers for patience while crews hammered through a full school calendar around them.
Sterchi sits inside the countywide district that serves Knoxville and surrounding neighborhoods. Officials cast the project as catching the aging campus up with modern teaching space without spending the full board authorization.
Section: More Knoxville TN education news
