A first step in a process of what will hopefully bring some much needed renovations, or possibly even future construction to the Clinton County School District’s facilities began last Thursday night, December 8 when the district’s Facilities Planning Committee met with most of the members and some spectators present.

The facilities plan has been updated every few years with the Kentucky Department of Education and breaks down a prioritized list of needs and cost estimates for each school related building, as put together by the local committee.

The latest plan received KDE approval in February 2014.

Although the board of education primarily asked for a complete study of only three schools, the high school, middle school and Area Technology Center (aka Vocational School), it became apparent at last week’s session that all schools, including Albany Elementary and even the newest building, the Early Childhood Center, may be included in the plan after hearing some specific needs from AES from Principal Tim Armstrong near the end of the meeting.

Tim Eaton, with the Kentucky School Boards Association and a retired Pulaski County Superintendent, who will help guide the local planning committee’s work, outlined the planning process.

The new plan, which will be finalized in 2017, is actually an amended version of the one passed in 2013 and approved early the following year.

Among the criteria involved in putting together the plan is to hold two public forums, one of which was held prior to the start of the meeting last week and a second to be held after the local plan is drafted.

Although there were a couple of citizens, other than school officials and committee members on hand, no public comments pertaining to the plan were made. Several planning committee members, school principals, and others were on hand, as well as Superintendent Charlotte Nasief and school board member Kevin Marcum.

Kevin Cheek, who is a consultant whose firm has literally done a “walk through,” interior, exterior, and even the roofs, of each of the three aforementioned facilities, listed areas that needed to be addressed in the plan for renovations and repairs, with the vocational and high school, in that order, needing the most work.

Cheek noted the re-evaluation and amended changes for unmet needs will go before the (state) legislators after June 1, 2017. The legislature is in charge of dividing up funding for facilities across the state and allocating funds to individual counties and school districts.

Cheek said engineers had looked at every physical aspect of each of the buildings and would work with the Department of Education after the local committee has made their recommendations.

In an overall summary, Cheek said the local facilities were in “good general condition” despite several needed renovations, repairs and replacements at each school. He also noted that if renovation costs were deemed to exceed 75 percent of the value a facility, it would demand a “new facility” over renovation.

Cheek began a review of each facility, starting with Clinton County Middle School, one of the “newer” schools constructed back in 1963.

Some of needs at that particular school, among others, was exterior issues, interior items such as lockers, case work (cabinets, etc.), bathroom plumbing, the PA or sound system and fire alarms, doors and windows.

Cheek did stress the need for two things at each school building, that being switching to LED lighting to save on energy costs, and the need for certain things like water fountains, ramps, etc. that would meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements, noting that several facilities were not in compliance with ADA regulations at this point.

The high school, a portion of which was constructed in 1963 as an elementary school, has had some renovations over the years.

Those include additional classrooms that were built in the early 1970s when the facility was converted into a high school and included additions such as the gymnasium

The facility has also seen new roofing, ceiling and lighting through the years.

However, some critical needs were pointed out, including the need for a new sewer system, doors, windows and the removal of hazardous materials to make the building asbestos free.

Other needs were the leaking roof, no ADA accessibility and some major site issues such as flooding of the parking lot and football field. “There are several needs,” at CCHS he pointed out, but noted engineers could not “run the numbers” of cost of repairs to any facility until the planning committee has completed their recommendations.

When one committee member brought up the issue of security at the schools, Cheek concurred that if the district did one thing at all, it should involve security at each building.

Although a slightly newer facility, constructed four years after CCHS in 1967, Cheek noted the vocational school was the facility in most unmet needs.

The only major work done to the building was a new roof in 2006, but the engineer noted that just about all aspects of the building remained unchanged over the years with poor energy consumption (the school currently is still using window air conditioners), a new roof, heating and cooling system, among others.

He noted that the current facilities plan (from 2013) was underfunded for all the problems, especially at the high school and Area Technology Center.

Eaton informed those on hand that once the planning committee has completed its work in a few months and made their recommendations, it would be up to the school board on what actions to take and in what order.

He also said when the plan comes due again, “if done right,” the district may be able to obtain a waiver from KDE and not have go through the process again.

Following Cheek’s assessments of the three facilities, AES Principal Tim Armstrong addressed the forum pertaining to his particular school, noting there was not a walk-through done at the elementary school, but gave a list of deficiencies he sees at that school.

The principal noted that not only was there a sinkhole close to the school, but went on to list several renovation needs for the building. Apparently when the plan was written almost four years ago, funding was not available, but, Armstrong went on to list several needs cut from the original plan.

Cheek said that engineers would be happy to come back and do another study if deemed necessary by the (school) board.

School board vice-chairman Kevin Marcum agreed that the board should allow an assessment at not only Albany Elementary, but even the Early Childhood Center and possibly the bus garage.

One committee member said that “some parents have no other school options (outside of Clinton County) and it was “frustrating” to have to send children to schools with these types of problems, adding again that safety should be the biggest overall concern.

All in attendance did basically agree that an assessment needed to be done at all of the aforementioned schools and bus garage.

Prior to the first meeting being adjourned, Eaton noted the committee should separate the “wants from the actual needs” of the facilities, saying no one could “override” the KDE (Kentucky Department of Education) but went on to say they were good to work with and the KDE Commissioner put the concerns of students ahead of everything else.

The planning committee will continue to have occasional meetings and hammer out priorities they feel need to be funded the most and once a plan is put together, a final public forum inviting public comment will be scheduled.

It should be noted that the amended facilities plan is simply that at this state, a plan to prioritize the needs of each school and structure in the school district and funding and time line of any actual renovations will depend on approval from the Kentucky Department of Education and state legislators who have final say on who gets what…and when.