Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences prepares for first class as Demopolis campus plans advance

The Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences is scheduled to welcome its first freshman class in August 2026, but students will begin at a temporary mini-campus on the University of West Alabama grounds in Livingston rather than at the school’s permanent Demopolis site.

At the same time, plans for the permanent campus are moving forward. The residential high school is planned for a 10-acre site in Demopolis, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for October 14, 2026. The first phase is scheduled to open in fall 2027.

What is planned for Demopolis

ASHS is a specialized public residential high school focused on health-care training. Its Demopolis campus is planned as the school’s long-term home, while the Livingston mini-campus will support the inaugural academic year.

The first construction phase is described as a $72 million project. It includes sitework, a residential hall, a cafeteria and an academic building. Brasfield & Gorrie has been selected as the project’s general contractor and construction manager.

The available materials document the site, contractor selection and scheduled milestones. They do not establish that physical construction has begun beyond those planning and contracting steps. The permanent campus should not be confused with the August 2026 launch: the first class is scheduled to start in Livingston, and the Demopolis campus has a fall 2027 opening target for its first phase.

Demopolis police staffing

The school’s temporary start in Livingston also prompted a local public-safety action. Demopolis City Council voted July 2, 2026, to pay for one Demopolis police officer assigned to protect students during the school’s 2026 operation in Livingston.

That decision means the city’s police staffing plan will include an officer assigned to the school while the inaugural class is operating away from the permanent Demopolis campus. The source materials do not provide the cost of the assignment or identify a larger staffing total.

What comes next

The immediate education milestone is the scheduled August 2026 arrival of ASHS’s first freshmen at the University of West Alabama mini-campus. The next identified Demopolis construction milestone is the October 14 groundbreaking ceremony, followed by the planned fall 2027 opening of the campus’s first phase.

Final enrollment, staffing and the lineup of health-care pathways were still being finalized in the available materials. For Demopolis, the project therefore represents a developing education and construction effort, with the city’s known direct action so far including funding for one police officer during the 2026 school year.