The Metro Nashville Public School board seems to be playing a shell game. Shuffle the money and find the plan. Here’s the latest:

At the old Hillwood High School, they have contracted the renovation of approximately 4000 sq ft of one of the buildings for a “Pre-K Learning Center” (something us old timers used to call Nursery School). This space represents a little over 1% of the total square footage of the entire facility. We think this is a good use for a portion of the property, and we are sure there are young families who would benefit. Why not give the unused portion of the property back to the residents as H.G Hill, Jr. intended?

What are they doing with the rest of the buildings?

Well, they have hinted at using it for temporary classes, should they get the go-ahead to renovate the H. G. Hill Middle School. They have also proposed turning some of the building space into MNPS offices (which would NOT be for educational purposes, and would put business offices in the middle of our residential neighborhood – something WMNA would STRONGLY object to, since, among other things, it is against the zoning code.

But the reality is, other than leasing out a portion of the buildings for church services (which is the same place they refused to let WMNA use for a meeting, saying it wasn’t safe to meet in) and using the buildings for MNPD Training, the facility is mostly unused.

The question we, as a community, have to ask ourselves is –

Do we want this ->

or do we want this ->

And, do we want this ->

Or do we want this ->

What Can We Do?

The Metro Nashville Administration, in the last 5 or so years, has decided to follow the playbook that stresses housing density, up-zoning and imminent domain. It seems clear that other metro departments are reluctant to suggest that MNPS is operating beyond its capacity to make smart financial decisions. Although, to be fair, they are smart to hold onto the 31 acre property that H.G. Hill, Jr. donated to the city for “school purposes” as an investment property.

But it is time to GIVE IT BACK, and get back to running Nashville’s schools.

Update: MNPS has published a page on the Hillwood High School property on their website, so we are starting to be heard, and they appear to have some un-published plans for the facility. Here is the link: https://www.mnps.org/departments/facilities-and-construction/hillwood-campus

In the article, they talk about converting a portion of the school – “The campus currently is being renovated to house support hub offices that serve other Metro schools in the area. These spaces will be ready for the 2026-27 school year.” They are willing to put Metro offices in a residential neighborhood. As far as we can tell, these are the offices that are included in the 4000 sq ft renovation they are doing now.

The article also says, “The auditorium and several other spaces at Hillwood, located at 400 Davidson Road, are available for approved community use.” This, however, is untrue, as WMNA tried to get the auditorium for a meeting and were told that it was not safe for people to use.

Update 2: Due to the Metro Council approving the Alternate Budget, which calls for an audit of the MNPS budget, at the cost of $550,000 to MNPS, the school board has voted to NOT open a Pre-K Early Learning Center at Hillwood, saving 1,400,000 – 550,000 = $850,000 (minus the amount already spent on the active construction). This amount is roughly 0.05% of their budget.