Cherokee High School rang its final bell at its longtime Marietta Highway campus on May 22.
What’s Happening: Principal Andy Hall rang the bell himself as the last buses pulled away from the campus that has served Cherokee County students since 1956. The school’s 2,600 students will report to a brand-new building at 1500 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. when classes resume Aug. 3.
What’s Important: The new campus was paid for through an Education SPLOST — a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, meaning a small percentage of local sales tax dollars set aside specifically for school construction. The new building is designed to hold up to 3,000 students, giving the district room to grow beyond its current enrollment.
By the Numbers: The original Cherokee High opened in 1956, making it the oldest high school in the Cherokee County School District. The new campus is built for 2,600 students now, with capacity for more than 3,000.
The Path Forward: Cherokee High students return Aug. 3 to a campus built for the next 70 years — assuming, of course, the district’s growth projections hold and the Warriors don’t outgrow their brand-new digs before the paint dries.
B.T. Clark is an award-winning journalist and the Publisher of The Georgia Sun. He has 25 years of experience in journalism and served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta for 15 years and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc. for 8 years. His work has appeared in several newspapers throughout the state including Neighbor Newspapers, The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal. He is a Georgia native and a fifth-generation Georgian.
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
- B.T. Clark
