Officials with Carter County Schools said plans to construct a new central high school are in motion. The school, which will consolidate East and West Carter High Schools and the Career and Technical Center, is still in the planning and development phase. The district hopes to break ground in the summer of 2025 and complete the school’s construction in 2028, though no firm dates have been set.
Paul Green is the superintendent of Carter County Schools. He said district leaders have been working tirelessly to decide the best path forward.
“We’ve been at the process for the last two years. We went through a lengthy process of site selection and obtaining the property in the center of the county took more than a year,” said Green. “We finally completed those purchases in the spring of 2023. We have since then developed a site development plan to prepare the site for construction.”
The new facility is made possible through multiple grants, including a $30 million award from the state School Facility Construction Commission, and local facility bonding potential funds.
He said both current high schools are more than 50 years old, and the career and technical center is even older. The new school building will provide up-to-date facilities for students. Green said the district hopes to add an auditorium, an auxiliary gym, and new technical programs like industrial maintenance and electrical engineering to the central high school.
“The initial thought process, and we’re in the middle of the planning and design phase right now, is that all of the amenities that we currently have, we want to make sure we have those amenities. Everything that our students use and our students appreciate and they like, we want to make sure we have those. Thing about that is they’re all going to be upgraded, they’re going to be nicer, they’re going to be modernized,” said Green.
Green said it is possible the current high schools will be converted into middle schools, which are also in need of updates across the county. He added the community will have many opportunities to provide public input on the project as planning and construction move forward.