MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
Posted: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 12:20 pm

Siblings of McFadden School of Excellence students will not get preferential placement in the new Central Middle Magnet School.

Director of Schools Harry Gill Jr. will cut out the sibling rule from CAMS’s proposed admissions policy after some local parents questioned the policy.

“Other changes may be discussed, as well, from Board members at the meeting,” RCS spokesman James Evans said.

Discovery School at Reeves-Rodgers parents voiced concern last week that their gifted students may not make the cut into Central’s new magnet classes when it opens next year because of a provision that grandfathers in McFadden School of Excellence students and their siblings.

McFadden students and siblings would not be admitted automatically under the proposal, Evans said. They still need to meet the same criteria as other students to qualify for admission and get first shot at open seats for the next five years.

According to the proposed admissions policy, all applicants, including McFadden students, must have a minimum of 3.0 GPA and score at least in the 80th percentile in all areas of the TCAP.

Evans explained at the time the clause was put in because McFadden students were promised a kindergarten through eighth-grade education and the school will no longer offer the middle school grades after Central opens as a sixth-grade through12th-grade magnet school next fall.

• The board will also consider the school’s colors, mascot and final name.

It was recommended the mascot should remain the Tigers and the colors should remain black and gold. But the board has mixed feelings about the acronym CAMS for the Central Academic Magnet School.

The board will consider rescinding a motion approved April 24, 2008, which states, “to name the proposed magnet school the Central Academic Magnet School” and change the name to Central Magnet Academy.

• The board will also look at approving the names, colors and mascots for two new middle schools, slated to open next year.

The new middle school on DeJarnette Lane will be named Oakland Middle School with the school colors being red, white, and blue and the mascot name to be Chargers.

The new middle school on Manchester Highway will be named the Whitworth-Buchanan Middle School with the school colors being green, gold, and white and the mascot name to be Yellow Jackets.

• The board will also consider the beginning steps to expand Eagleville High School, which has 14 portable classrooms.

The current site is limited and RCS needs to enlarge the campus as property in the area becomes available, Gill said.

The board will consider purchasing a one-acre lot with the small frame house at 628 Highway 99 after an appraisal is completed. The property is east of the school’s new greenhouse.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.