By 1969 the Precious Blood Sisters had withdrawn, and the impending closing of Sewart Air Force Base seemed to be pointing to the closing of the school, since half of the St. Rose parishioners were Air Force personnel at the time. Until a decision could be reached by the diocese, the Congregation of St. Cecilia, with Sister Ann Marie Karlovic as principal, took the school in an unusual one-year arrangement in the 1969-1970 school year so that the diocese could decide what to do. At the end of that year, the school did close. 

In the twenty-five years that followed, the greater metropolitan population of Nashville began to spread south and southeast, and the Catholic population of Murfreesboro grew rapidly along with the growth of Middle Tennessee State University and the building of the Nissan and Saturn automobile plants in Smyrna. With the tremendous influx of Catholics into the area and the growth of St. Rose of Lima Parish, in 1999, after almost thirty years, Bishop Edward Kmiec decided to reopen the school under the direction of St. Cecilia Congregation. With an enthusiastic welcome the Sisters have returned to the school with a goal of further expansion. 

The school’s motto reads “Learning, Love, and Service”. With such a focus, the future is filled with promise.  

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