Members of the South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council received an update regarding the construction of the new consolidated Christian County High School and the response to workers affected by the Metalsa fire at their Monday meeting.
Christian County Public Schools administrative members highlighted their approach to security and the benefits of a consolidated academic body.
District Technology Director Jason Wilson, shared that Christian County High School will have space for both general education and their career technical education classes making it the first of its kind in Kentucky.
Wilson says the combination of both forms of education under one facility meant that originally some students would have to be accounted for twice for building capacity. However, since students can’t be in two places at one time, Wilson says they were able to move forward with construction plans that counts for students once.
Focusing on security, Wilson says access to the facility’s second level spaces can only be accessed through the first level and there are no adjoining bridges to the career academy’s upper levels.
Steering the conversation toward academics, Assistant Superintendent, Jessica Addison shared that consolidating their academics will broaden student opportunities and make career pathway programs more accessible.
Addison says right now students enrolled in a career pathway have to commute to Gateway Academy during the school day, and by creating a career academy model at the new high school the opportunities will be accessible to students.
Addison says they can also expand their general education offerings, since they won’t have to focus on filling two identical positions for specialized courses since all high school students will be in one facility.
Redirecting focus to the local workforce, Council Executive Director Carter Hendricks shared an update to the Metalsa factory fire that started on November 21. Hendricks says the Hopkinsville Fire Department is still containing the fire and Metalsa’s operations are still disrupted.
Hendricks says Metalsa is working with the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board to provide resources for Metalsa employees who are now momentarily unemployed.