BOE moving forward with Corbin Primary School expansion

The Corbin Board of Education took the first step last Thursday toward building an addition to the primary school to house the third grade when members approved the BG1 proposal for the project.

“It shows the Kentucky Department of Education that we have the funding to pay for the project and the ground on which to build it,” said Corbin Superintendent Dave Cox of the document.

Cox said the school system, which is in the midst of the construction of a new middle school set to open in 2018, has the bonding capacity to finance the addition.

The $3.6 million project would add 10 classrooms to the existing building on Fifth Street Road.

How the addition would fit onto the existing building has yet to be determined.

Kevin Cheek, with Sherman, Carter, Barnhart Architects, who is overseeing the design of the project, offered the board several options during a presentation of schematic designs.

This initial design of the 10-classroom “pod” is similar to the three existing pods at the school. Cheek said options include attaching it off of the kindergarten pod at the front of the building, or off of the gymnasium.

Cox said no decision on location has been made.

Cheek pointed out that if the location is off of the kindergarten pod, the access road that currently ends with a loop at the back of the building, would have to be extended around the building to permit adequate access for the fire department in the event of an emergency.

That would necessitate bringing the road through the existing playground area.

Cox said when the primary school was built, the media center, gymnasium and cafeteria were all constructed with this addition in mind.

The plan is to let the project for bid later this year with the goal of having the facility ready in 2019.

Upon completion, Cox said the third grade classes would move to the primary and the fourth and fifth grades would be combined at either the existing elementary or intermediate school building.

“We don’t anticipate any job losses,” Cox said noting that support staff would follow the students and any excess could be dealt with through normal attrition.

Cox said the long-term facilities plan calls for the construction of a new building to house third, fourth and fifth grades.

Upon completion of that project, the new addition would house the preschool.

“The classrooms we are building are also preschool compatible, so that wouldn’t be a problem,” Cox said.

“This won’t happen for many, many years,” Cox said about that project.