The county’s most historic school is getting a long-deserved refresh—construction is in progress for the new Cherokee High School campus. Located next to Teasley Middle School, the new building will bring the same school spirit to an updated location. Cherokee’s large population will be less crowded in the larger space and will benefit from the most modern classrooms in the county.
A design for greater measures
The new campus, which was officially approved in a CCSD board meeting in May of 2023, will take up 88 acres and 473,761 square feet of facility space. Structured to support over 3,000 students (for reference, Cherokee’s current population is roughly 2,800 students), the building will include 152 classrooms, state-of-the-art labs, and specifically designed CTAE (Career Technical and Agricultural Education) classrooms.
The campus consists of five different buildings, one specific to CTAE next to “the H building,” the largest building on campus and shaped like its namesake letter.
The H building is the main building where the majority of the classrooms and offices will be centrally located. Standing three stories tall, the H building has two elevators—one on each end—and opens into a courtyard where students can eat lunch outdoors.
The site heavily incorporates greenspace into the campus’s design, and heavy foot-traffic spaces like the courtyard will include artificial grass to cut back on maintenance costs. Additionally, the building is designed to allow for as much natural light as possible. Massive windows will go into the building’s front lobby, providing an open view over the landscape below.
The school sits high on the hill overlooking Teasley Middle School, the reservoir and dam, and Riverstone Plaza. While the building is located closer to Waleska, the attendance zones will not change. Traffic with Teasley Middle School is anticipated but not expected to be a major issue; the high school campus has strategically placed entrances to avoid traffic jams in the morning and afternoon.
“The proposed layout of the new Cherokee will ensure that CCSD capitalizes on 21st century teaching methods and learning styles. Cherokee students deserve to have state-of-the-art CTAE classrooms.”
–Patsy Jordan, CCSD Board Member
An emphasis on efficiency
The school district received $31 million from the state government to help cover the construction cost. The contract with Carroll Daniel Construction is the largest ever for a CCSD high school, sitting at $179 million. Funds for the contract are paid via Education Special Local Option Sales Tax (Ed-SPLOST) revenue, as noted by the signs at the entrance to the construction site.
Beyond updated classrooms, the Ed-SPLOST funds will contribute to building a two-story student parking deck, a first for a Cherokee County school. This is a major step up from the current campus’s four student parking lots, one of which is located in Boling Park. Parking will now be consolidated into one multi-layer area, saving ground space and centralizing student parking.
Additionally, the new auditorium will seat 1,000 and the new football stadium will seat 4,500. A large gymnasium will be attached to the H building, on the opposite side of the CTAE classrooms.
The school’s design will also include new safety and energy efficiency features. The CCSD Chief Support Services Officer, Mr. Trey Moores, noted, “[The campus] will have LED lighting throughout the facility (including athletic fields), state-of-the-art mechanical equipment, two offices for the school police, badge readers to control access to the facility, and impact-resistant glass along front of the building.” The updated infrastructure is a historic growth from the original, back when the building was the only high school in the county.
| In 1956 Cherokee High School is established. In the same year: Play-Doh is invented The Price is Right airs for the first time Tom Hanks is born Elvis makes his stage debut The Federal-Aid Highway Act is signed Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong release a collab album |
So long, Marietta Highway
The original campus has been standing since 1956 and has been continually expanded upon over the decades. Cherokee is the oldest school in the county, as well as the largest and most expensive to maintain. The original building was only the 100 and 200 halls, but the school has been expanded, one hallway at a time, with the more recent takeover of Canton Elementary in 2018.
While no official plans have been made, the school board supports transforming the North building back to Canton Elementary and using the main campus for the Cherokee College & Career Academy. Currently housed at ACE Academy, the Cherokee College & Career Academy allows students around the county to take career pathway classes outside of school, such as cybersecurity and aviation.
“We have around 100 workers here on the day, arriving around seven in the morning and working into the evening,” said Chris Waters, from the CCSD Office of Support Services.
The construction site is manned by a large team, covering everything from brick masons, electricity, plumbing, inspections, and more. Two large cranes operate on the building each day. While the project is massive, the new school building will be beautiful, larger, more energy efficient, and in a better smelling location.
Construction is on track for the building to open in August of 2026, exactly 70 years after the original campus opened. While the community is disheartened to see the original campus close down, the new building offers exciting new features and promises to hold more memories for the next generations of students.
