Progress continues in Williamsburg Ind. football field upgrade project

Progress toward getting an athletics upgrade project started at Williamsburg Independent’s football field is continuing to move along.

During the Williamsburg Independent Board of Education’s regular monthly meeting last Tuesday, board members approved a surveyor to inspect the grounds for the upcoming project. Superintendent Tim Melton said that it was just one of the next steps in the process.

“This continues to keep the ball rolling with our athletic field project,” said Melton.

Getting the survey done will allow for a more precise assessment of what the board can do with the project and what can be done within the scope of work.

Currently, the main focus of the project is getting updated lighting around Ralph Prewitt/Finley Legion Field at Rose-Stanfill Stadium, though Melton has said that he hopes to also get updates to the bleachers and add artificial turf, if funds allow for additional work.

The board was also expected to formally approve an agreement with the architect firm Clotfelter/Samokar Architects, whom the board voted last month to move forward with to work on the project. However, the representative with the firm that was scheduled to be present at the meeting could not make it.

Initial construction documents for the project were also on the board’s agenda for approval, though those were not voted on either.

Both issues will likely be revisited at the board’s November meeting.

In other board of education business:

– Melton provided the board with an update regarding the district’s test score results in statewide testing, which was done this year for the first time since 2019.

Schools are rated on a color-coded system ranging from red—lowest performing—to blue—highest performing. According to the Kentucky Department of Education’s website, the elementary, middle and high schools at Williamsburg all scored in the yellow range, which is the middle-tier of performance.

Melton said that the district had anticipated scores to be lower than where they would like them to be, but noted that work is being done to ensure improvement is made.

“We know this past year we were on academic recovery and we know there’s places where we’re not really where we need to be anymore,” said Melton. “The students that will test this year in the third grade, their formative years were during the pandemic, so we’re working right now to make sure we have extra support for them because when you learn to read, you learn to read with someone in front of you. We did the best we could virtually, but there’s still some gaps that we are continuing to work on to make sure our students are successful.”