The Burt Innovation Center, a facility for innovative high school models, including being the new home of\u00a0Middle College at Austin Peay State University<\/a>, is making building improvements for new classrooms, conference rooms, offices and even an esports room.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a renovation of 21,336 square feet of space at a cost of $3.681 million,\u201d said Norm Brumblay, CMCSS chief operations officer, during the Nov. 4 board meeting. \u201cThe best part? This project is being funded through a Tennessee Innovative Schools grant. So, not local dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n Dr. Robert Burt opens Burt High School<\/p>\n Named after Dr. Robert Tecumseh Burt<\/a>, what was then Burt High School opened in 1952 as a segregated school for Black students. In 1970, it was changed to an integrated 7th grade school and became an elementary school in 1980.<\/p>\n As CMCSS began school rezoning efforts toward the end of 2023 and going into 2024, it was revealed that\u00a0Burt and St. Bethlehem would be repurposed<\/a>\u00a0to serve the community in different ways.<\/p>\n Burt Innovation Center opens, renovations begin<\/p>\n In May 2024, Burt Elementary closed its doors, and just months later, at the start of the 2024-25 school year, it reopened as the Burt Innovation Center.<\/p>\n In January 2025, the CMCSS Operations Team proposed a $2 million renovation and expansion project to be paid for with Innovative School Model grant funds and using Lyle-Cook-Martin Architects for design services. The board voted and approved the design services at the Feb. 18 meeting.<\/p>\n This project involves renovating areas of the Burt Innovation Center such window replacement, ballistic film, a new fire alarm system, a new parking lot, and new HVAC systems, according to CMCSS spokesman Anthony Johnson.<\/p>\n | GET YOUR MORNING NEWS: Sign up for the free daily Clarksville Now email newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n The new entrepreneurship program, Founders Inc., will enable CMCSS juniors and seniors to launch a business, create an innovative product, offer a service, or explore social entrepreneurship, all while earning high school credit. It\u2019s based on the INCubatoredu curriculum.<\/a><\/p>\n Brumblay told the School Board the Founders Inc. wing at Burt will include a variety of site improvements:<\/p>\n 5 makerspace classrooms<\/p>\n 2 collaborative conference rooms<\/p>\n 2 team prep rooms<\/p>\n Offices<\/p>\n Janitorial storage rooms<\/p>\n IT Data<\/p>\n An esports room<\/p>\n Prep kitchen<\/p>\n A large, multi-purpose product pitch space with a stage<\/p>\n Renovations are scheduled to be completed before the 2026-27 school year begins in August 2026.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Burt-renovation-11-2025-tight.jpg\")
A rendering of a view of the new Founders Inc. renovation at Burt School in November 2025. (CMCSS, contributed)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Burt-renovation-11-2025-2.png\")
Founders, Inc., the new student entrepreneurship program at Burt Innovation Center, will renovate the existing school with a variety of building improvements, Nov. 4, 2025. (CMCSS contributed)<\/p>\n