Let’s Get Growing
Huntsville City Schools builds new schools to accommodate growth

The new Huntsville High School features tech-ready classrooms.

The Huntsville City Schools system is doing its share of expanding, as more than 300 new students enrolled for the 2005-06 school year.

It’s a number that’s expected to rise over the next few years, says Ann Roy Moore, superintendent of Huntsville City Schools.

One of the most visible ways the school system addressed the growth was in building a new Huntsville High School on the site of the original school at Billie Watkins Drive. And although the building opened during the 2004-05 school year, it already looks as if six or seven additional classrooms will need to be added over the next few years.

“We addressed state-of-the-art kinds of things, but at some point if our enrollment continues to increase, we’ll be adding classrooms,” says Moore, who has been superintendent for the past five years.

“The community appreciates having a state-of-the-art building. We’re seeing private school students and home-schooled kids coming back.”

Several other expansion projects are in the works, including additional classroom space in several elementary schools, the potential remodeling or building of new physical education buildings at elementary schools, and some basic maintenance projects, including new HVAC systems and roofs at certain schools.

The school system also took a critical look at the western side of the city and opened two new schools there for the 2005-06 school year.

“We took a look and realized we were transporting students five, 10 or more miles by bus to the schools where they were assigned,” Moore says.

Additional sales tax revenue from an arrangement with the city was used to help build the two new schools – Columbia High School, which also houses New Century Technology High School, and Providence K-8 School.

Columbia High and New Century Technology together have about 600 students in an 800-student capacity building. Students from all over the county can apply to New Century Technology, where they are screened and selected, Moore says. If that enrollment continues to grow, there is enough land to expand the school in the future.

“We’re seeing additional subdivisions being built and the approval for more,” Moore says.

And with most of the remaining facilities in the school system 30 to 40 years old or older, there is currently discussion within the school system about what to do with those facilities.

“We have to determine whether it’s cost effective to just refurbish,” she says.

The school system will also continue to conduct demographic studies as the BRAC move takes place over the next several years.

“We’ll be looking at what school age children are coming and where they’ll live so we can better prepare to serve those families,” Moore says.

Story by Nancy Humphrey
Photo by Wes Aldridge