The citizens of Hernando are raving with excitement about the construction of a new Hernando High School. This building marks an exciting new chapter for the education of Hernando’s students; with the creation of new classrooms, practice fields, an arts center, and a bigger library, it’s extremely hard to maintain eagerness for the grand opening.
Hernando High School officially opened in 1958 and has moved around to multitudes of different buildings ever since. The original school was a two-story brick building. Back then, Hernando’s population was much smaller than today’s; it served and taught kids from grades 1-12. This building held the school from 1958 to 1970, then moved to what we now know as Oak Grove Central Elementary. Oak Grove served as Hernando’s high school for years, until it moved into the high school we know and love today in 1994.
At 7 am on August 12th, 1994, firefighters responded to a call at the historic “old Hernando High School.“ When they arrived, the school was completely ablaze. It wasn’t until 10-11am that morning that the fire was put out. The damage to the old high school was extreme, and the severity of the damage caused a total loss of the school.
“I know that a lot of the older folks were very upset, and some of the teachers, that had started their career in that building, they loved that old building,“ stated Duane Case, current principal of Hernando High School.
It is now 2025, and it is a year of new beginnings! With these new beginnings comes a new high school. Due to the traffic problems and the socioeconomic state of the growing school, the Board of Education came together and proceeded to the conclusion that it was time for a clean slate.
The idea of constructing a new school was on the books for a very long time.
“It was first talked about in 2019, and that’s when I was first made aware of it,” explained Case.
However, right after they started talking about building the school, Covid hit America, locking down everything. The virus halted any talk or idea about a new school, and the project was forgotten about until 2021.
This multimillion-dollar project has people impatiently waiting for the final reveal.
Hernando High teacher, Destin Westmoreland, told The Golden Report, “I’m excited about the new baseball field and having a classroom with floor-to-ceiling windows.”
When first walking into the school, the main office is on the left, and the counselors area on the right. Continuing forward is the commons area which has the library and the cafeteria located towards the back of it. The library is much larger than our current one and it mirrors the cafeteria, which should fit up to 400 students at a time.
Off of the commons, there are mini common areas which both have 3 halls connected to them. This is where the classrooms will be located. When walking past the library and cafeteria, there is a hallway that leads to the gym. The gym will be smaller, and it is a concern with teachers and students due to how big Hernando’s pep rally’s are. However, it will have retractable bleachers to create more space for other activities.
The school will have many new and fun features, such as the school logo being stamped onto the floor in the commons, a multipurpose room, special designs on the floor up and down the hallway, an in-school auditorium, and much more!
Our sports teams will benefit from this school immensely, with separate softball and baseball fields, eight new tennis courts, locker rooms for every sport Hernando has to offer, several practice fields, and plenty of new weight rooms. The coaches and players are thrilled with all that is included for their teams.
“I’m super excited about four weight rooms because tennis will not have to share with anyone, and we can spread out with not having to worry about having too few of a certain weight of dumbbell,” shares tennis coach, Natalee Hain.
It is safe to say that this high school will be a fresh start for the entire town of Hernando. The school is set on 94 acres and is 215,000 square feet. It was originally predicted to be finished by the 2025-2026 school year, but with the amount of work done, it should be finished by May, maybe even sooner.
