For months, Mike Garren, director of schools, has been looking for an appropriate piece of property on the north end of Loudon County to locate the new 7-12 middle/high school. After reviewing many properties with engineers, the First Baptist property came to the top of the list. Any property to be considered needed three assets, adequate water supply, meaning enough water flow to provide fire suppression required in a school, public sewer and adequate roadways. The FBC property has all three.

Highway 11 is a major state highway plus the school will have secondary access to Simpson road. Public sewer and adequate water is also available. Maybe a fourth consideration should be price. The FBC property is the least expensive property Garren had looked at 1.825 million. All other properties considered were all 2-3 million dollars.

Even though the BOE and the church have both voted to proceed with the sale, closing will still be contingent on the BOE doing all due diligence on the property. If all reports come back good, the BOE hopes to close on the property by or before the end of the year.