The Roane County Board of Education decided not to move forward with a plan to consolidate the county's five high schools into one school, and will instead look for ways to improve the existing schools.
The board first considered the consolidation plan in February, voting 7-3 in favor of it, and forwarding the proposal to the Roane County Commission.
The board reversed that decision Thursday, voting 7-3 during a called meeting to look at ways to upgrade the five high schools instead of consolidating them.
Board member Sam Cox told WBIR 10News he believes the results of a community-wide survey about the plan was the driving factor in the change of direction.
"We had directed the Director of Schools to develop a survey that was pushed out to the communities, and it was a very wide, broad survey and it came back more in favor of community education rather than one consolidated high school," Cox said.
The board will now work with The Lewis Group, a Knoxville-based architecture and design firm, to develop a plan for what needs to be done at each individual school.