CHELSEA- Chelsea High School Assistant Principal Matt Stephens announced that construction on some new additions to the school will start soon at a regularly scheduled city council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 7.

Stephens said CHHS will add 21 classrooms and a new science lab, which will be a two story wing on the northeast side of the school.

“It’s already laid out, in addition to the hallways that we already have,” Stephens said. “Other than the gym, the building is currently one story.”

According to Stephens, plans for the new additions have been in place for about a year, and construction will begin around late March.

“We’ve been working to get plans approved so we can start on construction,” Stephens said. “We’ve been getting the ball rolling more recently, within the past couple months. We don’t have a set date on when construction will actually start, but that time is what we’re being told.”

Stephens said the new classrooms and science lab are necessary to accommodate the increasing amount of students enrolled at CHHS.

“With the way that our student body is growing, and this is definitely a need that we have. We’re going to be able to provide services for students, and to give them the resources that they need and allow us to teach them the best way that we can,” Stephens said.

At the city council meeting, Stephens also reported that CHHS currently holds a 98 percent graduation rate, and was the only high school in the Shelby County Schools system that received an overall “A” grade on the Alabama State Department of Education Report Card.