Bonding authorized for Corbin Career Center construction

The Corbin Board of Education took the next step in the construction of the Corbin Career Center during a special called meeting last Thursday by authorizing the issuance of $4.3 million in bonds.

Superintendent Dave Cox said the bonds will pay for not only the construction of the 9,100 square foot stand alone building on property behind the high school but also the replacement of the elevator at the Corbin Traditional School building on Kentucky Ave.

“This way we won’t have to pay the fees twice,” Cox said of the cost of the bond sale.

Cox said site work has begun for the career center project, with the goal of starting actual construction in July.

The goal is to have the project completed by August 2022.

The building will include two classrooms and a lab to permit the instruction of students in the construction trades.

“We are going to attempt to start with plumbing and HVAC,” Cox said noting the facility would be designed to permit subjects to be changed in order to prevent a glut in the job market in certain trades.

The classes would be taught by masters in the fields.

Classes at the Corbin Area Technology Center, which include criminal justice, electrician, automotive, bio-med, engineering and aerospace, welding, and video production and cinematography, will remain unchanged.

While those classes are open to students from Williamsburg Independent and Whitley County Schools, Cox said classes at the career center will initially be limited to Corbin students.

“We would be willing to work with the other schools if there is more class space than interested Corbin students,” Cox said.

In addition, Cox said the classroom could be made available in the evenings as part of a retraining program for displaced workers.

“There are lots of grants out there,” Cox said of how that would be funded.

Cox said the existing elevator in the traditional school, which currently houses the elementary school and previously served as the middle school, is approximately 40 years old.

While there is nothing wrong with it from a safety standpoint, Cox said the elevator has seen extensive wear and tear.

Issuing bonds for the career center offered the school system the opportunity to fund the elevator project.

“It is working fine,” Cox said. “We had the bonding potential and it was the next thing that we needed to work on.

Cox said the elevator project will include new controls and a new cabin. The new controls will be installed in time to be ready when school begins, with the goal of completing the project by Christmas break.

“The pretty much fulfills our District Facilities Plan,” Cox said when asked what other construction projects are planned for the Corbin school district. “All of our kids, grades K through 12, are in a new, or newly remodeled building.”