Powell Middle School (PMS) is located at 3329 W. Emory Rd. The Powell community is situated ten miles northwest of the city of Knoxville and shares a long history in the overall growth of Knox County. The Powell community was originally named Powell Station after Mr. Columbus Powell, a farmer who donated land for a train station to be built to serve the railroad, which came through in 1860. The word "Station" was dropped in 1949. In 1874, Dr. John Ragsdale donated land for a new school. A two-room schoolhouse was built, one to house grades 1-4, and a "big" room to house grades 5-10. The school became known as Perkins School.

In 1948, the elementary and high schools were separated, and a high school was constructed on Emory Road. The current location of Powell Elementary School, which housed grades 1-8, was built on what was the original site of the first Powell Station School for grades 1-12. At that time, the Powell community had a population of 2,553 residents.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Powell experienced the effects of urban sprawl, due to more Knoxville residents seeking homes outside the city. In 1969, Powell Elementary underwent a major expansion allowing grades 1-6 to move into the new wing, while grades 7-8 remained in the old wing until the completion of the current Powell Middle School in 1979. 

In 2008, PMS began a renovation phase that would be completed in two phases.  The first phase was to construct a new cafeteria, new gym, and a new wing of classrooms that runs parallel to Shropshire Blvd.  The second phase included renovation of the existing school to include a new office, library, music wing, art rooms and more classrooms.  The beginning of the 2009-2010 school year marked the opening of the newly renovated school along with updated technology that includes a SMART board and projector in every classroom, several computer labs, including a lab with 30 Apple MAC computers, and two iPAD mobile stations.  At the end of 2016, there were approximately 950 students enrolled.

 

Obviously, COVID changed the educational system in more ways than one. First, Powell Middle is now a 1:1 school with Chromebooks. For over a year, students had all instructional material available on Chromebooks through Canvas. Now, as time has passed, teachers are integrating technology and hands-on materials/projects once again. While our enrollment dropped during COVID, enrollment is definitely coming back to prev-COVID numbers. Secondly, students are much more aware of the importance of hand washing/disinfecting. All rooms have hand sanitizer stations available for use. Finally, Powell Middle School is working to raise awareness of social/emotional mental health situations. Each morning during Advisory, all class have social/emotional lessons. We hope this will bridge the social gap that students experienced during the pandemic.

 

One thing that has never changed, is that our students and staff are loved and are the biggest assets to the Powell Community.