RIVERVIEW, Fla. — Hillsborough County is putting the finishing touches on a brand new high school in Riverview that will open its doors in the middle of a pandemic, along with the rest of the district.
It’s Hillsborough County’s first newly built high school in more than a decade.
“$70 million facility, with 265,000 square feet, and we will serve around 1,900 high school students,” said Hillsborough Superintendent Addison Davis.
It’s the district’s first Cambridge approved high school, that will start off by serving high school kids grades 9th to 11th for just the first year, then moving to 9th to 12th, and a separate wing of 6th graders to help alleviate crowding at local middle schools.
“Academy 2027, so it’s just gonna be this one class, we capped it at 450 students, and that 1 class of 6th graders will stay with us, and they’ll be able to stay all the way through graduation,” said Dave Brown, Principal of Sumner High School.
The all-new Sumner High School is joining the other Hillsborough County Schools in taking extra precautions to keep students safe.
“We have got to have everyone conduct self-checks. If you are feeling symptoms, you don’t feel well, you have symptoms related to a runny nose, a fever, a cough, just let us know. We will work with you from an attendance perspective,” said Superintendent Davis.
Superintendent Davis says the district will be following seating charts, one-way walkways, added lunch periods and working to achieve social distancing, as well as the other CDC guidelines.
And when the COVID-19 cases do pop up, they’ll work with COVID-19 school and district leaders to determine exposure.
“That exposure is three elements: did they have a mask on; were they in close proximity related to social distancing; and at the same token, were they in the classroom more than 15 minutes.”
"And we will overly communicate that to our communities that are impacted,” said Superintendent Davis.
The district starts Monday, with one week of virtual school for everyone, then brick-and-mortar starts on August 31.
