McGavock Comprehensive High School opened in 1971. It initially served students in grades ten through twelve who had previously attended Cameron, Donelson and Two Rivers high schools. McGavock added ninth grade in 1978. McGavock is a part of the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools system. It sits on a part of the McGavock plantation that was purchased by Metro Parks in 1968 for $68,000. The land is still the property of the park service. The school was named for the antebellum Two Rivers mansion built by David H. McGavock. McGavock was the first truly comprehensive high school built in Nashville. Planning for the school took place during the administration of Superintendent Dr. John Harris. Dr. James Burns, the resident consultant for secondary development for Metro-Nashville Public Schools, developed a structure that would serve as a model for other comprehensive high schools. McGavock was the first high school in Nashville that combined the academic program with extensive vocational training.
Facilities
McGavock is the largest high school in Tennessee, with a little under 500,000 sq. feet. McGavock has four softball fields, a baseball diamond, six tennis courts, a football stadium and a track. The 14-acre building houses 82 classrooms, 14 science labs, a credit union, a flight simulator, a bistro, nine Career and Technical shop/classroom areas seven business education labs, two gymnasiums, two cafeterias, a 586 seat auditorium, and formerly a two-story library with fiction, audio-visuals, materials and equipment on one level, and non-fiction and computers on the other. It has a green room, a planetarium, a computer and technical education lab equipped with 60 computers and a CTE presentation room equipped with state-of-the-art projection capabilities.
Marching band
The school has a strong band program, having won the state championship 25 times: 1972–1979, 1982, 1987–1991, 1993–1994, 1997–2000, 2002–2005, 2019. This includes being grand champion at the annual Contest of Champions 13 times, more than any other high school since the contest began in 1962. The McGavock High School Marching Band is a 25-time State Champion of the Contest of Champions competition held in Murfreesboro at the MTSU stadium annually. Winner of internationally acclaimed John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Shield Award 1994 Bands of America Southeastern Regional Champions, Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia 1995, 1996 First place awards at numerous competitions, including thirteen-time Grand Champion at M.T.S.U. Contest of Champions: 1972, 1982, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2019. Finalist band in Bands of America Grand National Championships in 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990 Southern Regional Grand Champions in Bands of America Southern Regional Championships - 1990 National television appearances include:
