News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Putnam County Board of Education got a closer look at plans for the new Southwest K-8 school.
The Upland Design Group showed exactly how they were able to cut roughly 5,000 square feet from the design while still keeping the same number of classrooms. Director of Schools Corby King said this was all an effort to stay within budget.
“We are concerned about the building costs right now,” King said. “That’s cutting the square footage Aaron and Kim both have worked really hard and we trimmed quite a bit, there are other things. It’s just trying to get within that budget. We know we’ve got to stay under the $44 million.”
Architect Aaron Grohol said that Upland Design met with administrators and teacher groups to discuss the space needed. Grohol said the school will still have 44 classrooms, leaving room for 500 elementary students and 500 middle school students.
King said the trimming would still allow the school to operate as plan. He said there would be enough room if the elementary students and middle school students were having a school function at the same time.
“This is going to be a little different for us because everywhere we’ve got K-4 and then we’ve got 5-8 here,” King said. “We have to think that it’s got one administration, one school, one K-8. So if something is going on, it’s going to be a school wide event or function. But if the elementary teachers were doing something, we have the multi purpose space and that will seat I think 130 and then you’ve got the auditorium.”
King said another distinction between the new school and those that exist, is there will not be a designated feeder school. That means the elementary schools that feed students into a middle school.
“All of our middle schools have multiple feeders and that will be different,” King said. “This is going to be a true K-8.”
The school is being designed for some 1,040 students. The system expects plans to be complete in mid-February and bids received by the end of March, 2022.
