News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
With the new Park View School project underway, the Putnam County School Board is exploring what to do with the old building.
Board Chair Lynn McHenry said that one potential option could be using it as a location for Cookeville Pre-K students.
“It’s a good central area and the parents could drop off there for a Pre-K,” McHenry said. “Give us space in other elementaries, therefore allowing us to add students without having to build a new school or find additional classrooms as quickly.”
McHenry said that the school has seen about a three to four percent increase in enrollment over the last year. He said that when you start to have those increases, you have to plan on how to accommodate those students. He said that with the completion of the new school about two years out, they have time to make a decision, but would like to do so sooner than later.
McHenry said that if they can do renovations and upgrades on the old Park View School for some $10 million instead of building a brand new school for $50 or $60 million, it could save time and money. He said that before the old Park View School could be used, the main upgrade would be a new roof.
“And then it needs some interior bathroom upgrades, things like that,” McHenry said. “And then the parts of the school that we can use would need some basic facelift stuff that would make it useful for a pre-k area and still save us quite a bit of money.”
McHenry said that they expect about two years before the new Park View School would open. He said that while they have some time before that decision needs to be made, but they would want to have something in place before the school made the transition so they know what they want to do with the building.
