ABOUT OUR SCHOOL

   Copper Ridge Elementary School is nestled in a scenic, rural Appalachian community, on a beautiful 35-acre campus.  Most mornings the sun reflects off the ridge with shades of copper.  In the early morning hours, roosters can be heard crowing and welcoming the staff and students.  The Heiskell and Green Hill communities form the responsibility zone.  Our graduates move on to attend Halls and Powell Middle schools.  Copper Ridge was built in 1979 to meet the needs of these two communities.  It is a result of the two community schools becoming one school.

   The first record of a school in the Heiskell community was in the middle 1800's.  One such school was Heiskell High named for Senator Heiskell of Tennessee.  In 1880 Green Hill School was built near the present day Copper Ridge site, on one acre of land donated by Green Harris.  The need for a new community school had its beginnings as a result of a fire on May 15, 1974 at Green Hill School.  This fire led to a year of overcrowded classrooms.  In the fall of 1974, temporary classrooms and an attempt to rebuild Green Hill ensued.  By the fall of 1977, Green Hill was deemed inadequate and the school's students and staff were moved to classrooms provided and shared with Brickey Elementary for two years until the new school could be built.

   The community members and parents had an important part in the creation of many features of the present day Copper Ridge Elementary.  They, along with School Superintendent Earl Hoffmeister, Architect Earl White, and School Board member Paul Hodges, met many times to determine the specific needs of the new community school. Copper Ridge Elementary was soon built on farmland purchased from the Darden family in the spring of 1977 near the old Green Hill site.  The name for Copper Ridge Elementary was also a community collaboration, with many polls taken and votes being made by all concerned.

   The two schools of Green Hill and Heiskell became Copper Ridge when it opened its doors in August 1979. Copper Ridge Elementary served approximately 200 students in grades K-6 with 23 teachers and 2 teaching assistants in its first year.  The school opened with no cafeteria, no office, no chalkboards, and no working plumbing. Pleasant Hill Baptist Church allowed the school to use their bathroom facilities.  Eventually the plumbing was connected and the special shower facilities built in the school were used to meet the needs of those in the community without running water.
   Now Copper Ridge Elementary has tripled in size serving over 600 students in grades PreK-5 with 66 teachers and 9 teaching assistants.  This growth, however, does not deter the occasional cow from wandering from the adjacent farm onto the playground, or for the community dogs to greet the staff and students in the mornings.