According to Putnam County Commissioner, Gene Mullins, a called meeting was held last week which included City of Cookeville, the Putnam County School Administration, the Putnam County School Board, and Tennessee Tech University to discuss possible location options for the new Jere Whitson School. The meeting was called to bring issues to the fore and to get all parties involved in the same room at the same time.

Currently Jere Whitson is meeting at old Algood school and will do so until a new building is built.

Different ideas surfaced where the city would like to see schools moved out from city to alleviate traffic concerns.
Meanwhile the school board had considered property out towards Bangham and out Gainesboro grade but were
concerned about lack of sewage availability.

Time frame for construction could was not ready to be addressed as it is dependent on new building's location. For instance, if decision was made to use Jere Whitson ballfields as a new site, the county commission could
act on beginning building process as soon as next month's meeting. If the school system chose to buy property, then negotiating terms
for purchasing property would be a factor.

Another option is to put Jere Whitson on the site of current Prescott Middle. However the school board is concerned about $1M price tag to demolish current building.

The school system considered building on the old airport property, but the county commission expressed concerns about traffic and the smaller
children's safety.

No consensus was reached at the meeting, but a strong desire was expressed by community members to have Jere Whitson remain a community school.

Mullins notes the Jere Whitson faculty is proud, passionate, and possessive of their students. The students have been through difficult times, but have not missed day of school; the test scores are outstanding.
Mullins says it's critical to move along with their school replacement as quickly as possible to reward their efforts.