Photo by Erin Nelson.
Students change classes at Hewitt-Trussville High School.
Plans for the C wing addition to Hewitt-Trussville High School are underway.
The Trussville City Schools Board of Education at its August meeting approved an agreement with Lathan Associates Architects to begin the drawings for the addition, as well as an agreement with Arrington Engineering to complete a survey of the high school.
According to a document presented at the August meeting, Hewitt-Trussville High School currently houses approximately 1,570 students. The classroom space capacity of the school is 1,600 students and 2,400 students in common areas such as the library, gymnasiums and cafeteria.
“There is ample space in the common areas for growth, but classroom space is almost full,” Superintendent Pattie Neill said on Aug. 25.
Phase One includes finishing the basement, which will yield eight classroom labs when they are completed about one year after work begins. At 28 students per classroom, that area could hold 224 additional students, Neill said.
The original footprint for C wing called for four floors with eight classrooms per floor. However, with the basement yielding eight classrooms, Phase Two now calls for three floors total. Adding two floors to C wing would equate to 16 classrooms, space for 448 additional students.
Using this year’s high school current enrollment of 1,570 students, and including 224 more students in an alternate for a third floor, the final capacity for Hewitt-Trussville High School with a fully completed C wing is 2,466 students, according to the plan.
According to the school system’s fiscal year 2022-23 capital plan that was approved in August, the funding year for the C wing addition will be in 2025-26 with a budget of $13 million.
Other projects in the capital plan include:
Cahaba Elementary School outdoor classroom: $225,000 funded by the PTO (2023-24 funding year)
Hewitt-Trussville High School academy labs: $1.7 million (2023-24 funding year)
Hewitt-Trussville High and Hewitt-Trussville Middle state lighting: $1.1 million (2023-24 funding year)
Turf and covered practice field: $8.3 million (2023-24 funding year)
Hewitt-Trussville High School band carpet replacement: $125,000 (2023-24 funding year)
Security upgrades: $100,000 (2023-24 funding year)
Fieldhouse renovation, weight room expansion, practice gym: $10 million (2024-25 funding year)
New elementary school: $52 million (2025-26 funding year)
New academy building: $3 million (2025-26 funding year)
Replacement of mechanical units at Paine Elementary School: $500,000 (2026-27 funding year)
Gym roof replacement at Cahaba Elementary School: $500,000 (2026-27 funding year)
