In the late 1920’s, North Cookeville was in need of a new school  because  the only school in the area, Freehill School,  was  in  extreme  disrepair.   Mr. J.P. Jackson ,  a local resident, approached the school board to ask for a new school.  Mr. Jere Whitson was serving as school board chairman at the time and asked for a public meeting of  interested  citizens  of  the area.  The  meeting  was  a productive one.  It was decided that a new school would be built on what is the present site, property donated to the county by Mr. Jere Whitson.  The area  residents helped by supplying the money and much of the labor  for  the  project,  truly  making  it  a  community  undertaking. The school was  a  two room  frame structure and was named after  Mr. Jere Whitson because  of  his involvement  in the process and the fact that  he  donated  land on which  the  school was built.

The school was enlarged in 1952 to include a cafeteria, gym, office area, library, and fourteen classrooms.  In 1975, the  “lower  end”  of   the  building  was  built  to add  a  larger  cafeteria and kitchen, additional bathrooms, and six new classrooms.   A  renovation   in  1989  was  undertaken  to  paint, replace  carpet,  and  partition  some  areas  to  better utilize available space.  In  1994,  we   occupied   our  most   recent   addition  to  Jere  Whitson  Elementary.  This  is  the  new part  added to the back  of the building and includes  two first grade classrooms,  one CDC resource  room,  a multipurpose room, a new  library,  custodial  closets  and   a   staff  restroom.  The   old  library   was  converted   into   the  office  located  at  the  front   entrance  to  the  building  and  includes  the   main  office,  reception  area,   conference    room,   textbook  storage  room,   and  principal’s  office.

In March, 2007 Jere Whitson suffered a tragic fire. The front of the building, including the entire 4th grade, Title rooms, computer lab, music area, guidance and office complex, 1 kindergarten, a second grade and a preschool room were completely destroyed.  Other areas sustained heavy smoke and water damage.  Although the fire happened on a weekend, school began the next Monday at TTU”s Hooper Eblen Center.  The school year ended at Stevens Street Church.  The Jere Whitson faculty, staff and students are forever grateful to these two institutions who took us in during the crisis.  School continued as usual during this time, although many students sat on the floor and carried a backpack as a portable desk.  The community rallied to help us, providing needed supplies and equipment to get us through the tragedy.  We entered the old Algood Elementary during the summer and have worked hard to be ready for another terrific school year.  We anticipate getting a new school by the year 2009.