New high school designs revealed
The front entrance lobby of the new Hartselle High School features the school logo and natural brick trim, with administrative offices located on either side. | Artist renderings courtesy of Hartselle City Schools
When the new Hartselle High School opens in 2012 it will be Alabama’s newest and most modern secondary education facility.
The 55-acre campus, located on Bethel Road adjacent to F.E. Burleson Elementary School, will consist of a two-story education building with 50 traditional classrooms, seven science labs and five computer labs, 1,200-seat theater, 1,800-seat competition gym, a 300-seat auxiliary gym, modern library and cafeteria and a multi-purpose indoor athletic facility.
Other entities will include a ground-level suite for special needs students, a 100-seat elevated lecture hall, an outdoor classroom area, a competition track and field complex and tennis courts and outdoor practice fields for football, baseball, softball and soccer.
The school will accommodate 1,200 students, or 200 more than the number expected to be enrolled at the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year. Space is available for future expansion on the south side of the campus.
Classrooms on the bottom floor of the main education building will be used for social studies and English courses while upstairs classrooms will be used for science and language courses. Administrative offices and a suite of classrooms for special needs students will be located on the same floor. The school nurse will also be located in this area.
Labs for biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, environmental science, earth science and language will be located on the second floor. Currently, the school has only two science labs and no language lab.
Individuals lockers will be located in open areas on both ends of the ground floor and will be easily accessible to students.
The classrooms are designed and will be equipped to meet the individual needs of students as well as teachers,” said Principal Jeff Hyche.
Located across from the library, the lecture hall has a separate outside entrance and is designed to be used for both school and community functions.
A modern library and café-style cafeteria are located back-to-back behind the main school building. The cafeteria will have a bar running alongside one wall and its furnishings will include individual tables and matching chairs.
A glass-encased south wall on both the cafeteria and library gives visibility to an outdoor classroom/park area.
“Lunch is the only big break students have during the day,” said Hyche, “and we wanted the cafeteria to be an attractive, comfortable place where they can go and relax.”
The theater is designed so that it can be easily reached from the school’s main parking lot for after-school functions such as band concerts, choral programs, plays and other staged entertainment events. It will be a state-of-the-art facility complete with acoustics and high tech sound and lighting.
The campus will have two gyms—one for varsity basketball and the other for PE, wrestling and volleyball competitions.
The main gym will have a second floor mezzanine encircling the basketball court. Conces-sions and restrooms will be located on that floor and fans will enter the gym’s bleachers from the same level.
The main gym will feature a four-sided scoreboard suspended over the playing surface.
A walkway will link the high school and F.E. Burleson Elementary and a playground will be developed between the two schools for elementary student use.
Other facilities will include a shop and greenhouse for vocational agribusiness, a suite of classrooms for business education courses and art and drama classrooms.
Ample paved parking will be provided for students, faculty and visitors.
“It’s going to be a very nice facility and we’re excited about the opportunities it will bring to our students and staff,” Hyche said.
The cafeteria at the new Hartselle High School will feature round tables and matching chairs and a bar with stools along one of its walls.
The main gym at the new Hartselle High School will have 1800 seats and an upper floor mezzanine with concessions and restrooms.
