The second of three Christian County Public Schools high school consolidation public forums took place Monday night at Crofton Elementary School, allowing individuals there to voice their questions or concerns.
Officials once again explained what differences there would be between building one large facility that contains Hopkinsville High School, Christian County High School and Gateway Academy and building two separate schools. There would be about a 15 percent difference in construction costs, with the more costly option being two buildings—Superintendent Chris Bentzel says they haven’t presented renderings of two buildings, because they believe they would be similar to what currently exists, just new and updated.
Superintendent Bentzel started the forum saying he wanted to make it clear that the consolidation is not a ‘done deal’ by any means.
It would have a savings approximately $2 million in operational costs to have one mega-school instead of two, with Assistant Superintendent Josh Hunt saying that would come from the elimination of duplicated services, such as transportation to and from Gateway and the existing schools—he says that does not mean they’ll be firing teachers.
Patty Schaffer asked what would happen if a student changed their mind about what academy field they want to go into, and Superintendent Bentzel says each student would be allowed at least one change, and they’ll work with them if things change later in their education career.
Barney Bishop says he sees true value in this idea for students that are being left behind and making up those achievement gaps.
Bruce Cline says he would prefer smaller class sizes, possibly having even three high schools instead of two or one, as he thinks one campus could cause problems not just for academics but for sports.
The third forum is set to take place August 12 at South Christian Elementary School in the gymnasium—it is open to the public and will be streamed online on the Christian County Tech YouTube page.