CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Students, faculty and county officials gathered Friday beneath some tall trees at Bradley Central High School to celebrate the start of construction on a $3 million fine arts building.
"We were just talking about these beautiful trees, but it's going to be a new look for Bradley Central High School," principal Todd Shoemaker said.
Tri-Con Inc. of Cleveland will build the new structure on the spot where the trees stand next to a parking lot.
The Bradley County Board of Education saved for four years to help pay for the new center. Funding also will some from local sales taxes after year approved a rate increase.
County Schools Director Johnny McDaniel thanked voters and the board.
"We are going to build a facility that will host arts, entertainment and theater," he said. "It's going to be a place to perform drama and music and for the community to be with us here at Bradley Central in a way that we have not been able to do in the past."
Board Chairman David Kelley said the facility has been needed for years.
"Not just to renovate something old and make it look nicer, but to do something that is a lot bigger and a lot better than what we have had before," he said.
The new center also makes room on campus for an ROTC program, Mr. Kelley said.
County Mayor D. Gary Davis said he was an agriculture student at the former location of Bradley County High School when he and others planted the trees on what was then a golf course. The new high school was built at the site in the 1970s.
"This is another one of those projects special to me because it does not add to the county debt. It is being paid for in cash," Mr. Davis said. "That's a great thing for Bradley County."