FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) -- Students at Fayetteville High School will be coming back to several major changes when they start school on August 17.
First, there will be more students at the school than ever before as the school welcomes its first 9th grade class. Dr. Chad Scott, the new high school principal, said he is excited about the new group of students.
"It is a great opportunity for program directors, sports and all those things," Scott said, "Now they have more continuity because now they can start with those students in 9th grade and have those students 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th."
Scott said ninth graders have always earned high school credit even when they were in junior high, so the only difference is now they will be in the high school building.
Steve Jacoby, the former principal at FHS, said the shift in the grades will benefit the students.
"You talk to students who come to the high school in 9th grade and they are excited to be there," he said. "There is also an increase in maturity of the 9th graders when they are on the high school campus."
High school students will also now be able to participate in high school sports, clubs and activities they were not able to participate in before.