DECATUR, AL (WAFF) -
The Decatur City School system is considering building one school for all of the city's high school students. It would be the largest high school in the state.
Nothing is set at this point, and there are other options on the table.
Superintendent Dr. Ed Nichols said it would take three years from the time the board would decide to build a new high school for that school to be open for classes, so they want to put a plan in motion between June and August.
What that plan will be is not known at this time.
Nichols said the city's two high schools, Decatur High and Austin High, are aging and need some work or need to be replaced.
There are several options they could go with. They could just renovate the existing schools, build two new high schools, or build just one for all high schools students.
A big reason they want to decide by August is that interest rates on the bond market are low right now.
"We'd like to do it within the next three to five months because we think the opportunity out there for bonds and the rates that are low. And also we know those facilities need the work done on them. But we could easily upgrade two facilities as easily as we could develop two new ones or develop one new one," Nichols said.
A committee made up of teachers, parents, and students are helping come up with solutions for this and with the school system's five year plan.
It will be interesting to see if the schools would merge into one school. The Black Bears and the Red Raiders have been rivals on the playing fields and courts for a long time.
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Nothing is set at this point, and there are other options on the table.
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