Maury County opens new school, biggest in the county

Maury County Public Schools are among the districts where students are going back Monday, and some students in the county get to start the school year, with a brand new school — Battle Creek High School in Spring Hill.

The school is evidence of how much the area has grown.

The building features classrooms that will give students the tools they need to get a head start on their careers, like visual art, computer science, and marketing as part of the new Career and Technical Education Program.

It also features three turf fields for softball, baseball, and football.

The school will only start with 9th and 10th graders. 11th and 12th grade will be added over the next two years to transition students out of Spring Hill High School.

Battle Creek High School is now the biggest school in Maury County – it is 300,000 square feet and can hold 2,000 students.

Superintendent Lisa Ventura said the growing population and new school means residents had to be re-zoned. There are new bus routes and that also means more traffic on the roads, so people need to be prepared and alert.

"As our population increases the number of buses that we run increases, or the number of car rides," said Ventura. "We are now getting well over 13,000 children to school whether that's parents bringing them or us busing them."

Luckily, to help parents and students navigate transportation, they can download the " My Ride K-12 " app. People can see estimated times for bus arrivals and departures, and other information.

A new school year also means a fresh start, and Ventura said the district is ready for that after dealing with the tornado that came through the county right at the end of the last school year in May.

Another feature of the new Battle Creek High School is that it was built with a storm shelter inside to make sure residents have somewhere safe to go if tornadoes were to ever come through again.

Ventura said moving forward as the district continues to make upgrades, every new school building will be built with a storm shelter, so this is setting a new standard.

She said the community has continued to care for the students and teachers who were impacted by the tornado that came through Columbia right before the start of summer break.

"When something like that hits, it's an immediate response and everyone wants to help, and then as time goes on sometimes things wane," said Ventura. "And I'm so proud that in Maury County I have not seen that wane. I have had so many businesses and churches come forward and say we've always given school supplies but we really want to double what we've given in the past. Or they've done drives for our students that may have been affected."

Ventura said safety is always the top priority. Every school is staffed with an SRO. The new Battle Creek High School was built with bullet-resistant windows and every school in the district has also been getting upgraded to have the same, as well as access control measures.

The district is making sure everyone is taken care of and can feel safe in their schools, which helps everyone start the new school year with confidence.

Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at brianna.hamblin@newschannel5.com.

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-Rhori Johnston