School system faces major building projects
With the possible spending of millions of dollars in capital outlay in the coming years, the Warren County Board of Education is exploring the possibility of commissioning a master plan to guide its short- and long-range facility planning.
According to school officials, a number of important building decisions will have to be made in the coming years, including needed improvements to Nunley Stadium, Warren County Middle School and Warren Academy, the replacement of Centertown Elementary School and the possibility of building a second county high school.
“We’re at a crossroads and I think we need a long-term plan which will help us spend our capital money wisely,” said Building and Grounds Committee chairman Larry Judkins.
While the system has designed comprehensive plans for school roofs and HVAC systems, Director of Schools Dr. Jerry Hale said school officials have not looked extensively at the facilities themselves in 15 years.
In a presentation to the board last week, David Cockrill, of Knoxville-based Cockrill Design and Planning, told members the functional life of a school building is 40 years and the system would do well to adopt a master plan to address such problems as old schools.
It was noted the county has only built two new schools (Warren County High School and Hickory Creek Elementary) in the past 25 years, and that it has several which are considerably older. Centertown Elementary, for example, is 53 years old, while Warren Academy, the middle school, West Elementary and Eastside Elementary are all over 40 years old.
If commissioned, such a study would also likely consider the system’s current and future building needs in relation to such factors as the student population trends. Some schools, like West Elementary, Hale noted, are nearly overflowing, while nearby Bobby Ray Elementary is under populated and has a building sitting empty.
The board is set to hear from another planning firm and indicated it would like to conduct a planning session to determine its specific needs sometime during late summer/early fall.