After spotlighting Black History Month with a proclamation, the Christian County School Board approved construction change orders for the consolidated Christian County High School, the establishment of a district website to highlight student athletics and the purchasing of a playground for Indian Hills Elementary School at their meeting on Thursday.
The change orders approved by the board were noted as orders six through 11. Changer order six was the deduction of a coiling tornado shelter door which results in a decrease in construction costs.
However, change orders seven through 10 results in construction cost increases. Tim Geegan of Alliance Corporation, the company managing the construction of the consolidated high school, says changes seven and eight concern doors in the school and accommodating to the outflow of traffic.
Eric Rang from Hafer Architects explained that the changes were made after construction plans were presented to the state government, and Rang says they were advised to more add exit doors to the gymnasium which started a cascading effect and led to them adding more doors across the entire campus.
Rang says two doors were added to the gymnasium, a set of double doors was added to the exterior of the school and some single doors were converted to double doors. Both orders seven and eight focus on the purchase of additional doors, frames and overall doorway revisions.
Geegan then listed off what change orders nine through 11 concerned. Change order nine was for electrical revisions and fire alarm access controls, change order 10 concerned changes being made to exterior doors and change order 11 was to change science lab desktops from a wood veneer to a chemical resistant laminant which costs less than the initial option.
In regards to construction progress of the high school, Project Manager, Kevin Hitchell from Alliance shared that most of the building is under construction, by spring all of the foundations should be laid and says he is happy with the progress they have been making.
Along with discussing construction, the board heard from District Athletic Director, Kerry Stovall regarding the establishment of a district website spotlighting student athletics and activities. Stovall says his daughter was a swimmer in the district, but her sport did not get much coverage, so this website would spotlight all sports as well as student clubs and career pathways.
Stovall says athletic coaches or club supervisors in the middle and high schools will be able to post about their organization directly to the website. The board approved a contract with software company rSchoolToday to create a student extracurricular focused website.
Concerning early childhood education, the board approved to accept a grant and to put out a bid to refurbish a bus into a mobile classroom to offer learning opportunities after school and during the summer for preschool students.
The bus will feature classroom elements such a tables, cabinets and flooring and will require an HVAC unit and a generator.
To conclude the meeting the board approved the purchase of playground equipment for Indian Hills Elementary School which is transitioning to the Hopkinsville Middle School campus. District Technology Director, Jason Wilson says they looked into having the playground from the Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School campus transported, but found that it would cost nearly $100,000 to have the equipment moved and that would not account for damages or replacements.
The board approved a contract for a new playground costing around $197,000.