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Metro Schools proposes unifying Ida B. Wells feeders into Maplewood cluster starting 2026-27
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Summary
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools staff recommended rezoning Ida B. Wells Elementary so all students feed to Jerry Baxter Middle and Maplewood High beginning in the 2026-27 school year; the change would move about 60 students and include grandfathering but place transportation responsibility on families.
Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools staff presented a proposal Sept. 9 to end a split feeder pattern at Ida B. Wells Elementary School by directing all students to Jerry Baxter Middle School and then onward to Maplewood High School beginning with the 2026-27 school year.
The proposal, presented by Ryan Latimer, executive director of boundary planning, would rezone roughly 60 students from the portion of Ida B. Wells that currently feeds Stratford Middle and Stratford High into the Maplewood cluster. The district recommended extending grandfathering to students already in transition to Stratford, but said transportation for grandfathered students would be the parents’ responsibility. Latimer said families wishing to remain at Stratford can use the Shelby 4 route bus through the WIGO and STRIDE programs at no cost.
The plan is part of Metro Schools’ multiyear Reimagine initiative to align cluster pathways and create consistent academic programming from elementary through high school. “We began this work more than five years ago with the goal of aligning cluster pathways to create cohesive academic programming from elementary through high school,” Director of Schools Dr. Adrien Battle said during the presentation.
Latimer displayed district zoning maps showing the current split zone and the proposed unified boundary. He described the affected area’s rough boundaries and said the rezoning would primarily affect middle- and high-school transitions rather than Ida B. Wells’ campus assignment. “Ida B. Wells Elementary School is the only elementary school in Nashville with a split feeder pattern,” Latimer said.
Board Vice Chair Bob McKinney and other members asked for clarifications. McKinney confirmed the rezoning would apply to all students in the affected zone, not only rising sixth-graders, and that the district estimated the total number of students impacted at about 60. In a later exchange a board member cited more specific counts — 20 students from the lower campus and 36 from the upper campus — a difference the district characterized as a small variance within the roughly 60-student estimate.
Member Sakyong raised long-term growth concerns for the East Bank area and asked whether continued development might force further boundary changes in six to eight years. Battle and Latimer said the district monitors enrollment, birth-rate projections and city planning annually and can delay rezoning if growth suggests a near-term reconfiguration would be premature. “We try to make sure there's kind of a long-term strategy so we're not impacting the same zones frequently,” Battle said.
The district said no capital investments are currently known to be required to absorb the rezoned students and that capacity at Jerry Baxter and Maplewood is adequate. Sean Brasted, chief of communications, outlined a family outreach plan: the district will notify families after the Sept. 9 meeting, hold a community meeting at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 16, send flyers through school principals and, if the board adopts the rezoning, send letters to affected Stratford students explaining options.
No formal vote took place Sept. 9. The board is scheduled to consider the rezoning proposal at its Sept. 23 meeting. The district encouraged families with questions to attend the Sept. 16 community meeting.
Details such as the final count of affected students and any transportation exceptions remain subject to the board’s final action and follow-up communications from district staff.
