CANNONSBURG —
The aging Boyd County High School building may be used for an alternative school, a preschool, technology offices or as a college satellite campus after the new high school opens in January.
Those are some of the ideas the district’s facilities planning committee mentioned when it met Monday.
The alternative school would be located in one of the newer wings of the school and conceivably could be moved there during the winter break, saving the district around $2,400 per month. The current library area could house technology offices and could double as a technology training center. Placing preschool programs there would consolidate them under one roof.
Superintendent Howard K. Osborne said he was in talks with an area college to place a satellite campus in the building. He would not say which one.
Committee members toured the existing high school before their meeting to familiarize themselves with its condition issues. The oldest part of the school was built in 1957, with additions constructed in 1962 and 1985.
The tour “facilitates discussion on what use the building may serve,” said committee chairman (and Ponderosa Elementary principal) Matt Spade. “It’s exciting to think of new ways to use old space.” The committee will need to make recommendations on what repairs and renovations are reasonable to make.
It will be up to the school board to make the final decisions on uses for the building.
While still probably useful to the district, it needs extensive renovations, said maintenance director Tim Black. It rates at the bottom of the state’s five-point system for assessing buildings and its electrical, lighting, plumbing and ventilation systems are mostly outmoded.
Its foundation is settling and there are leaks in the roof, which was replaced in the 1990s. It is insufficiently wired for modern technology needs. “For today’s educational environment, it doesn’t meet the need. It is not a very good environment for classroom instruction,” he said.
The district doesn’t need to be in a hurry, said Mike Oder, a consultant with the Kentucky School Boards Association. The new high school is the top priority. “When a building is new you focus on getting it ready and everything needs to be perfect. There will be time enough to decide about this building.”
The committee also approved a draft plan for improvements at the district’s other schools. The plan calls for extensive renovations at most of them over the next two years but that doesn’t mean the improvements will happen.
The plan is a “wish list” the district will submit to the Kentucky Department of Education in hopes of getting funding for at least some of the items on it.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or
(606) 326-2652.
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Committee discusses options for aging Boyd high school building
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