City school board reviews plans for new elementary school on Templin property
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 — The Bardstown Board of Education formally approved a contract with the firm Kodell to serve and project manager for the new Bardstown Elementary School building that will be built on the district’s Templin property, formerly owned by Salt River Electric.
The new building will be about 80,000 square feet, and include classroom space as well as non-traditional instruction space, including areas designed in the hallways, and a cafeteria area designed to serve as instruction space and recreation.
The board was told that they will have an opportunity at the next board meeting to use virtual reality to “walk through the proposed building.”
The new school will include two floors, and it will be built in front of the existing bus garage building on the former Salt River property. According to Superintendent Dr. Ryan Clark, the school will be about 200 feet off the highway.
In a presentation about the school design, the board was told that the building is being designed to blend in with the rest of the school district’s buildings, and will have a “classic, timeless” design.
The designers brought a group of teachers and staff members in to look at the new school’s design and offer their suggestions.
The board will approve the school’s final design at its December 2019 meeting..
BARDSTOWN HIGH SCHOOL. Principal Chris Pickett reviewed the school’s 2019-20 improvement plan with board members in the wake of the changes that affected the recently released KPREP scores.
The four focus areas the state looks at for accountability — proficiency, graduation, separate academic, and transition readiness each carry different weights when final scores are calculated, Pickett explained.
Proficiency, which includes reading and math, is 46.9 percent of the overall school score. Transition readiness is 37.2 percent; separate academic indicators (include social studies, science and on-demand writing); and graduation rate is 6.3 percent.
Transition readiness is a term that includes both academic readiness and career readiness.
The school received a 3 star rating, and according to statewide results, the school fell in the middle of statewide high schools. Of about 230 high schools across Kentucky, only120 were 3 star schools. There were only 7 Kentucky high schools that earned five stars, he said.
Pickett said having an individual working actively in a workforce development position will improve the school’s transition readiness.
In other business, the board of education:
— listened as students reported on the schools’ events that celebrated Veterans Day;
— two Bardstown High School students — Rory Kiser and Becca Walsh, told the board about their experiences as visual communication interns.
— heard the results of the district’s 2019 financial audit as presented by Jason Strange of Stiles Carter & Associates.
— voted to accept a $19,910 offer of funding from assistance from KETS that will be set aside and combined with future offers for the purchase of technology and needed upgrades in the district.
— agreed to sign an memorandum of agreement with the Guthrie Opportunity Center to extend the services offered to the school district’s special needs students.
-30-
