Art Glasgow, David Burleson, Dr. Mark Hendrix and Mayor Don Hall (L to R) share a laugh while touring one of the 80-plus classrooms in the New Hartselle High School. | Clif Knight

Hartselle Rotary Club members were treated to a tour of the new Hartselle High School following their regular weekly luncheon meeting on Jan. 15.

Led by Hartselle City Schools Superintendent Dr. Mike Reed, the tour group entered through the main entrance and used the central hallway to access the office area, media center, lecture room, cafeteria, competition gym, band and chorus rooms, auditorium and secondary gym. Returning to the front entrance on the second floor, they got an even better look at the competition gym and walked through some of the laboratories, classrooms and locker areas on both floors.

Most of the construction activity was taking place in the middle and north ends of the facility. Light fixtures were going up in the ceiling of the cafeteria, flooring was being installed on the gym floors and rear stairwells were being covered with wooden panels.

One of the amenities that caught the eye of the visitors is an elevated lecture room with the capacity to accommodate 90-plus students. It is being equipped with technology that will enable it to be used as a distant education center.

Another eye-catcher is a state-of-the-art auditorium with the capacity to seat about 1,200 people. It has an orchestra pit, a rear projection/control room and acoustics that will allow the normal voice of a person on stage to be heard by the entire audience.

The words “awesome,” “impressive,” “spacious” and “beautiful” were among the works spoken by the visitors as they walked through the school.

“I though the facility looked really good,” said Mayor Don Hall, “especially in the classroom part of the building. However, there’s still a lot of cleanup to be done before it will be ready for occupancy.

“I’ve asked a number of high school students how they feel about moving into the new school and they always give me a big smile,” he added. “That tells me they’re excited about having a new school and look forward to taking advantage of what it has to offer them.”

Dr. Reed said parking should not be a problem on the new school campus because it has more parking spaces than the existing campus. Students will enter the school grounds from Bethel Road and park on the west side of the building. They have their own ground level entrance and immediate access to locker rooms on ground floor and upstairs levels. Bus traffic will enter the campus from Road Road with the exception of SPE buses They will enter from Bethel Road and drop students at a south side entrance where they are located on the ground level.