Mom Sees Removal Of 4th And 5th Grades As 'nail In The Coffin' For Keplar

ROGERSVILLE — Tammy Lyons is among the parents who have been fighting to keep Keplar Elementary School open for years, but she's afraid that the removal of the fourth and fifth grades may be the final nail in the coffin for the rural Hawkins County School. On Thursday, the Hawkins County Board of Education voted 5-1 to begin busing Keplar's 38 fourth- and fifth-graders to Hawkins Elementary in Rogersville. Keplar is only 7 miles away from Rogersville, but it covers a huge area of south central Hawkins County all the way to the Sullivan County line. Lyons found out Friday that her daughter, who is in fifth grade, will now be attending HES. But Lyons has a lot of questions about how this decision came about.