Collierville High growth prompts 22 teacher hires

Twenty-two new teachers are joining the staff of Collierville High School this year, a large number that reflects the school’s fast-growing student population.

Collierville is an affluent suburb and local leaders advertise the quality of local schools as they seek to attract businesses and new residents. The town’s population grew from about 32,000 in the year 2000 to about 49,000 in 2014, and the high school’s student count continues to climb.

Including the new teachers, the faculty will comprise about 130 educators serving roughly 2,400 students, an increase of about 100 pupils compared to last school year, said Kristy Krotzer, one of the school counselors.

Collierville High held a welcoming lunch Monday in its library for the new teachers, who will handle subjects ranging from theater to special education when the next academic year starts on Aug. 8.

The library was decorated with a two-dimensional mock-up of a classic car and other 1950s-style diner decorations, and the staffers lined up for hamburgers and root beer floats. Afterward, they left to take tours of the building.

Though some of the 22 new teachers are replacing staffers who retired or otherwise left the school, several others are filling brand-new positions created to accommodate growth, Principal Chip Blanchard said.

And hiring isn’t the school system’s only response to enrollment growth.

“We are over our current capacity, and that’s why we’re building a new facility,” Blanchard told the teachers.

The new high school under construction in southern Collierville will be large enough to educate 3,000 students or more. Builders hope to complete the new school in time for students to start using it in August 2018. In the meantime, the school is making do with portable classrooms.