COFFEE COUNTY, Tenn. (WTVF) —
Students across the state are saying goodbye to summer and hello to a brand new school year. Students in Coffee County started school on August 4th. Over the summer, the high school underwent a major construction project while students were away.
Michelle Henley has been teaching at Coffee County Central High school for nearly three decades.
"I am the business teacher, actually head of the department here," she said.
But her connection to the school, is much deeper. She's teaching in the same room her mom did years ago.
"This was actually my mom's room. She taught here for 49 years."
The rennovation to the school, proves each school year brings its own set of firsts.
"It was open classrooms so you didn't have doors, so you heard everything from the next classroom. Now this will be the first year with doors," she explained.
Coffee County Central High School is celebrating 50 years. As it enters the next era, the original part of the building, is leaving its open concept layout behind.
"On this campus, McArthur St., opened in 1976. Many schools were built with an open concept. What that meant was if you went into a department, math for instance, English for instance, business for instance, you might just see doorways, no doors," said Principal Paul Parsley.
The $750,000 renovation started when students left for summer break, and was completed just in time for the school year to start back up.
"Just about 6 or 7 weeks ago, you went into an open space here that was six foot wide, going right into a classroom, no door."
Parsley knows things have changed since he roamed these same halls as a student.
"We are in a different time, and today we think safety. I think back during that time, you think about openness, you think about the fact that you want people to be able to freely communicate, and we are all about that, but first and foremost we need everyone to be healthy and we need everyone to feel safe," he said.
While the project creates layers of protection for students and staff while inside the building, that's not the only benefit. Parsley said with doors for each classroom, it will benefit student learning and instruction.
"We've created a learning environment that is more conducive for our students. We've created an environment where our students can feel definitely more safe. When you feel safe, when you're healthy, when you're happy you can learn much better."
Another major addition to Coffee County Central High focused on security, is the addition of metal detectors at the school entrance.
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