Anderson High School taking late start as major renovation continues

The new school year is still two weeks away from starting for Anderson High School as the building is undergoing a major renovation. "We knew at the beginning of the summer that this was going to be an aggressive schedule," Forest Hills Superintendent Scot Probles said. "We knew that it was going to be tight." It's a $21 million renovation to be completed by 2019. The school is updating everything outdated, including air conditioning, heating, electricity and plumbing, according to Prebles. Classrooms are also being upgraded. There's a new art wing and two more state-of-the-art science wings for chemistry, physics and other sciences. District officials decided to delay the start of school for Anderson High because there's so much going on. "If you want to put your finger on why we're moving it back four days, I think it's about the magnitude of things that are happening," Prebles said. All the mess should be cleared out in time for classes to begin Sept. 11. Construction will continue away from classrooms and during off hours after that. The students are ready to get back to school, according to Prebles. "They want to get in the building and they want to get off to another good start of school," he said. "So, we're going to do that as quickly as we can." Nine Forest Hills schools are being renovated. For all the other schools, classes resume Sept. 5.