By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Carter County will definitely be getting some sort of new school building in the next few years. But whether it will be a new high school campus with an attached career and technical center, or a standalone career tech school is still up for question. While the district still hasn’t made a final decision about whether they will consolidate the county’s two high schools at a new central location, they are moving forward with site selection for a new building.
The district issued a release last week noting they were, “continuing the process of site selection for construction of a new Career Tech Center and for a potential new central high school.”
The release explained that the district is bound by regulations and guidelines issued by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE), and must complete “several steps… before final property selection and approval.”
Superintendent of schools Dr. Paul Green noted several months back that the county had narrowed their options to a handful of sites, all located as near to the geographic center of the county as possible. As the recent release reiterated, however, “a site cannot be purchased without KDE approval.”
“These steps are in place to ensure the selected site(s) meets all KDE requirements for school construction,” Green wrote in the release.
And, he noted, while the board is “continuing to make progress toward selection,” the process is expected to continue for several more months at least.
“No final decisions have been made,” Green wrote.
But, he continued, the school district does “(hope) to be able to make a final determination on property selection by the end of the calendar year.”
Further facility planning would then continue, with decisions made before the next school year begins.
“It is anticipated that planning for a potential new school facility would start in the spring of 2023,” Green wrote. “It is anticipated that final decisions on facility construction won’t occur until the summer or fall of 2023.”
None of this planning will begin, however, until after site selection has been completed, Green said.
“In order for the district to move forward with the planning for any new facility, site selection must be completed first,” the superintendent wrote.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com