Decatur Heritage expanding, new building slated for 2025-2026 school year

Apr. 26—In June, construction will begin on a $9.7 million expansion to the campus of Decatur Heritage Christian Academy which administrators say will give students more opportunities to learn about modern technology and provide more space to the school's growing population.

The new 26,290 square foot building will feature athletic and band spaces and a gymatorium as well as additional classrooms, an ICT (Information and Communication Technology) lab and STEM lab.

Head of School Steve Hall said the school had an initial fundraising goal of $8 million.

"It's a testimony to God's goodness, the fact that he brought us to $9.7 million is amazing," Hall said.

Fite Construction of Decatur and Fuqua & Partners Architects of Huntsville will be responsible for its construction and Hall said the goal is to open the new building for the start of the 2025-2026 school year.

Hall said while he still wants traditional teaching curriculums, he wanted to expand into utilizing more modernized labs and classrooms to teach technology and fine arts more efficiently.

"We are leaning into growing our program with technology and fine arts," Hall said. "Because of that, we have an ICT and a STEM lab. The STEM lab in the expansion can actually be divided into two separate classrooms so it gives us greater growth if we need it."

Hall said the computer lab classrooms that teachers currently teach STEM courses in are small and limiting.

"We don't have the larger hands-on experimentation that STEM labs bring," Hall said. "This opens up the opportunity to do more with pre-engineering and science classes. We'll be able to offer a real 21st century education and teach 21st century skills."

Enrollment at Decatur Heritage for the 2023-2024 school year stands at 370, an increase from 307 in the 2021-2022 school year. Hall said there could be a chance enrollment will increase further in the coming years with the passage of Alabama's CHOOSE Act last month, which will allow eligible families to access up to $7,000 in state dollars for private school tuition and other alternatives to public schools.

The new building will be constructed in the space where a portable building and wooden pavilion are currently situated. Hall said the portable building will be moved and pavilion will be dismantled to make way for the expansion.

"We use this classroom for band space and for football storage," Hall said. "When we move this building, those areas will be located in the new extension towards the back."

The building will feature an academic wing located in the front with four classrooms, a smaller "seminar" classroom, and the ICT and STEM labs. The gymatorium, a hybrid between an auditorium and a gymnasium, will be in the back of the building and Hall said they will host graduation ceremonies there.

"We also have four volleyball teams in addition to other sports and having two gyms will allow us to manage those teams better," said Advancement Director Lisa Barnett.

The private non-denominational Christian school contains grades Pre-K through 12. The school began in 1995 and relocated to their current location on Spring Avenue Southwest in the fall of 2009 where an 82,000 sq. ft. facility was constructed. This was made possible by the first fundraising campaign the school launched and the new extension was led by a fourth campaign effort.

"This is the most money we've made out of all the campaigns we've had in the last 16 years," Barnett said. "This is our fourth campaign and it was mostly from community donations."

According to Barnett, the second campaign resulted in an expanded wing for classrooms in grades 7 through 12 in 2015 and in 2020, a third campaign brought a softball and baseball field to the campus.

— wes.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.