MORGAN COUNTY, TENN. — The Morgan County School Board approved a budget that will close Petros-Joyner School at the end of the school year. All members except one voted in favor of the budget, which the board passed two days after its regularly scheduled meeting.

The school system has lost around 600 students, resulting in a loss of about $4 million in funding. The board, which had been working to pass a balanced budget, considered three options before adopting the one that includes the closure. The approved budget includes assurances that transportation will be provided, along with transition and special education staff.

Petros-Joyner School serves 157 pre-K through eighth-grade students and has 30 staff members. School leaders said they will start work quickly to determine which schools families want their students to attend.

Director of Schools Jamie Pemberton said he has spent hours searching for other ways to make up the funding. Pemberton said conducting feasibility studies for other schools would generate around $1,000, far short of the necessary funding.

Dorothy Williams, a parent of a third grader, questioned the decision. "I don't have all the information they do. I do believe with digging deeper into things that they could have found an alternative solution," she said.

Williams said two more buses will be needed at a time when the county is facing a driver shortage. "I do understand we voted them in to make decisions. But that is to represent our students, and I do not believe our students were represented in this decision," she said.