By: Madison Fugate
The progress for the new elementary school continues and the Powell County Board of Education board was made aware of that growth and the updates at the last meeting held on September 7th, 2021. A series of images showcasing the layout designs and almost exactly what rooms would look like inside of the new and modernized building were made into a slideshow and presented to the board in order for members to have a more thorough understanding of what to expect when walking into the new elementary school. The images displayed a lot of natural lighting throughout the building as well as color schemes and designs that represented Red River Gorge elements throughout. Some of the components that helped create these natural elements were blue floor tiles that created an abstract take on water flowing throughout the cafeteria, vinyl tree designs on walls, stone beams throughout and hexagon panels hanging from ceilings to mimic trees. These designs are still subject to change at this point, but the board appeared to be overall impressed with the ideas and work by and between the architectural firm and planning committee (including parents, teachers, and SES principal) that was organized to be responsible for the design of the new school building. The layout of the new building will also include classroom pods that connect the classrooms using garage doors and the standard sized classroom was said to be 800 square feet.
Thereafter, Doug Brewer presented the BOE with information regarding grants PCS had derived for the sole purpose of school security funding. PCS received $60,564 for the purpose of replacing security needs such as damaged or non-working classroom locks, main-entrance intercom systems, and classroom door window coverings. After inquiring staff, analyzing and inspecting buildings, Brewer and a select few others came to terms that they would be able to legally utilize $46,400 of said funds.