White County High Bathroom Renovation Scheduled

The White County School Board approved a $130,000 renovation project for White County High School’s bathroom Thursday night.

Director of Schools Kurt Dronebarger said the school was built in the 1960s and though the bathrooms have been worked on since, they need repairs. He said new fixtures, countertops, and composite flooring will be added. Maintenance Supervisor Randy Alley said a solid plastic partition in the men’s rooms will make cleaning up graffiti easier, an issue that persists in the bathrooms.

“They’re very heavy, very durable,” Alley said. “It’s the best that they make. But, the good thing about it is, if somebody goes in there with graffiti, our janitor can go in their with a lighter, heat it up, and scrape it off.”

He said the composite flooring is much easier to clean, which helps cut down on germs. Alley said this is one of the first projects in years that has come in well under budget.

Dronebarger said work will begin this summer and students can expect brand-new bathrooms by the start of next school year. He said he expects students to take care of the nice, new facilities.

“I don’t know what makes young men break things off the wall, but they do,” Dronebarger said. “We’ve done a lot to try and curb that, but we do from time to time.”

In other business, the board approved a new Student Data Privacy Agreement. Technology Coordinator Ashley Rust said the district does not have an existing agreement with third-party vendors. She said going forward, if the district chooses to leave a third-party vendor or one has its system breached, the district will know what is being done with student data. Chairman Bob Young said the board is dedicated to protecting the data of students and stakeholders.

“Any third party that wanted to contract with us for any type of service, it establishes their responsibility for protecting the data,” Young said.

The board also added Decision Making for Math to its high school curriculum. Secondary Curriculum Supervisor Valarie Butcher said the district has had Bridge Math and Applied Math Reasoning, and now, between those two, there will be Decision Making for Math. She said only one textbook option has been made available for the course, but teachers have given positive feedback about the contents of that one option.

The board scheduled a budget work session for May 28 and an official budget meeting for May 30.