Corbin School System buys old City Utilties building for $225,000; plans to use it for alternative school

The Corbin City Utilities Commission approved the sale of its old main office building for $225,000 Tuesday evening to the Corbin Independent School System, and school officials say the facility will be the new home of the district’s alternative school program.

The three-member commission unanimously approved the bid during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting. CUC received only two bids on the property: one from the school system and the other for $207,000 through a property company owned by local attorney Robert Brown.

CUC General Manager Ron Herd said a 2009 appraisal of the property valued it at $290,000. An appraisal conducted recently for the school system produced the same result.

"Of course we would have liked to gotten more bids, but you get what you get," Herd said. "We had some other people inquire about it, but they didn’t bid on it."

The building is about 10,000 square feet, 4,000 of which is office space.

Corbin Schools Assistant Superintendent Darrell Tremaine said Tuesday the school system needed to find a new location for the Corbin Educational Center (former know as the Corbin Alternative School and Whitley Day Treatment Center) because Corbin Middle School’s enrollment is expected to increase by about 60 students next school year. Currently, the Corbin Educational Center is located in the basement of Edwards Gymnasium.

"It’s just a space issue," Tremaine said. "They have to have the two classrooms in the gymnasium back … My guess is they will probably move band back over there and something else."

A few years ago, Corbin schools realigned the location of its classes. Sixth grade was moved out of the Middle School, leaving it with only seventh and eighth graders. For a while, that eased enrollment pressures at the school. But the student population has quickly outgrown the space again.

That’s a good thing, says Corbin Educational Center Principal Rich Prewitt, who sees the move as one of opportunity for his program, and speaks well of Corbin Middle School.

"Obviously, Corbin Middle School has a reputation of being one of the better middle schools in the state of Kentucky. Because of that, their student population is growing," Prewitt said. "Technically, we are in their building. Part of the search for another building was prompted by the fact that they are getting more students and need the space we are utilizing."

The Corbin Educational Center provides an alternative school setting for students placed there for a whole host of reasons, ranging from discipline issues, family issues, drug abuse, broken homes, etc. All of the students at the school are ordered to attend by the Department of Juvenile Justice and the court system. The school accepts student from Corbin, Whitley County and Williamsburg school districts. Fifteen of the 45 slots available are reserved strictly for Corbin students. Special grant funds pay for another 10 students to attend the school for mental health reasons.

Prewitt said the new building would provide opportunities to expand services to students. The front portion of the building will be used for classroom and offices. Plans are to convert two of the six maintenance bays into a utility area where students can eat lunch and engage in physical fitness and other recreational activities.

"The layout is pretty perfect to tell you the truth," Prewitt said. "We are looking forward to putting up the signs there and letting the community know that we’ve got some kids in our school that have had some sort of bump in the road in their past … but we are doing a great job of getting them back on the right road."

Tremaine said that before the school system actually purchases the property, several assessments and studies of the property have to be done first, including an environmental study and a survey. An architectural estimate on the cost of renovation has already been performed. Tremaine said work on the building would cost around $110,000.

The remaining bays not used by the Corbin Educational Center will be utilized by the school system’s maintenance department.
If purchased, Tremaine said work would likely begin immediately on renovation. He’d like to see the project finished by June since programs within the Corbin Educational Center continue year round.