Updates on Facilities and Future Plans for Franklin County Schools
Sep 05, 2023
Superintendent Mark Kopp
How would you like to be part of the transformative journey that is reshaping the landscape of Franklin County Schools? Your hosts, Superintendent Mark Kopp and Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Perkins, are all set to give you a firsthand look at the exciting developments that are making headlines in your neighborhood! From the new grandstands at our high schools to the innovative lighting features that are about to transform games into mesmerizing light shows, we're making strides in redesigning our facilities for our students' future. What's more, we're racing against time to have these ready for the big game in October. We're also progressing on the demolition of the old central office and a major renovation of the transportation department's parking lot.
But, we're not stopping there! Our vision for Franklin County Schools extends beyond the present. We’re eager to share our ambitious plans for auxiliary gyms and new greenhouses, bringing enhanced learning spaces to both sides of town. Meanwhile, we share an update on the progress of purchasing property for the purpose of building a new school! As we shape the future of our facilities, we're also placing emphasis on the indispensable role of the Ag department in our curriculum – a testament to our commitment to holistic education. We're all ears for your feedback and questions, so don't hesitate to voice them. Strap in for a fascinating conversation that promises to be packed with updates, plans, and the pulse of Franklin County Schools!
How would you like to be part of the transformative journey that is reshaping the landscape of Franklin County Schools? Your hosts, Superintendent Mark Kopp and Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Perkins, are all set to give you a firsthand look at the exciting developments that are making headlines in your neighborhood! From the new grandstands at our high schools to the innovative lighting features that are about to transform games into mesmerizing light shows, we're making strides in redesigning our facilities for our students' future. What's more, we're racing against time to have these ready for the big game in October. We're also progressing on the demolition of the old central office and a major renovation of the transportation department's parking lot.
But, we're not stopping there! Our vision for Franklin County Schools extends beyond the present. We’re eager to share our ambitious plans for auxiliary gyms and new greenhouses, bringing enhanced learning spaces to both sides of town. Meanwhile, we share an update on the progress of purchasing property for the purpose of building a new school! As we shape the future of our facilities, we're also placing emphasis on the indispensable role of the Ag department in our curriculum – a testament to our commitment to holistic education. We're all ears for your feedback and questions, so don't hesitate to voice them. Strap in for a fascinating conversation that promises to be packed with updates, plans, and the pulse of Franklin County Schools!
Speaker 1:
Welcome to FCS Unscripted, a new podcast for one team, fcs, where we look at the stories behind every one in Franklin County schools. Welcome to this week's episode of FCS Unscripted. This is Superintendent Mark Copp. I am pleased to be joined by Jennifer Perkins, our Assistant Superintendent of District Services. Welcome, jennifer.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:
We are going to talk about facilities. Today we're going to talk about facility updates. This is, uh, we're recording this Tuesday after Labor Day and we thought it was a really good time to give everyone some updates on some of our building projects that we have going on now and some that are coming in the not too distant future. So I want to start off and talk about grandstands. So we are building two new sets of bleachers at each of our, one new set at each of our high schools. Jennifer, kind of talk us through where we are with those grandstands.
Speaker 2:
Well, we better knock on some wood, because I believe we are ahead of the ball game right now.
Speaker 1:
Right.
Speaker 2:
With the grandstands. The weather has been very good for building outside, and so we are just hoping that the weather continues to work with us. Right now we are. We've already broken ground at Franklin County. In fact, they've already started to pour the footer in and that's for the supports of the grandstands. So that part has already been done. We still have some more concrete work to do over there and then they'll start to build the actual grandstands on top of the concrete, clean up some things, install some fencing. At Western Hills just last Thursday, I believe, they broke ground over there, and so it's a little bit behind Franklin County as far as getting it completed. But we are really on a time crunch when it comes to Franklin County because there's a big game towards the end of October and Franklin County is hosting and we need to have those visitors.
Speaker 2:
They'll now be the home side, but grandstands are ready for that big game.
Speaker 1:
And that's probably a good time to talk about. You know why we're doing this. You know our our football fields have become the site of our graduations. Since the Civic Center was imploded years ago, we used the Kentucky Horse Park for a few years and it was. It was really great. But it's always also kind of a hassle to make people drive 35-40 minutes outside of of our county to watch their sons and daughters graduate. So we've been blessed with wonderful weather the last two years. We've had just beautiful graduations on our football fields.
Speaker 1:
But looking at Franklin County this past May, we needed additional space and we had known that that was going to become an issue. We actually began this process and this project before that. So it's. It's about putting in a larger set of bleachers on at Franklin County. What was the visitor side? It will become the new home side because, in addition to much larger set of bleachers, it will have an additional press box. At Western Hills, the visitor side has never had a set of bleachers, so the home side is actually a really good in terms of its number of seats available, but we need the additional seating on the visitor side, so we're excited about those going in.
Speaker 2:
In addition to all of that that's going in, we are also I'm very excited about this part but installing new lighting of both of the school locations and they're the big LED lights and they're color coded and they move to the music and the background, so that will be so exciting for our students and our fans. That part probably won't be complete until after football season this year, but we will definitely be able to have some of those things that their surrounding districts have had for a little bit of time. We'll now get to have that as well.
Speaker 1:
I think one of the things I mentioned when I hired you into this position was we want to have the best facilities in the area. We want to offer the very best that we can for our students and I'm very pleased with the job that you're doing and the job that our board is doing in terms of, you know, supporting that with resources. The lighting is going to be great, being able to have the light shows like that. We do see it. Some other, some of the other high schools around us, and you know our kids deserve the best Absolutely, and we're really excited about that process starting. So by the end of this football season, we're very hopeful that all of those things will be completed.
Speaker 1:
We do know, and we've been pushing our construction companies to make sure that we get those bleachers, the grandstands, done by the time of the big game which is Western Hills at Franklin County. Yes, so very excited about that. If any of you ever have any questions about any of these facility projects we're talking about today, please feel free to shoot an email to me or to Jennifer here at central office and we'll be glad to answer any questions that you have. Another project that we have getting ready to get started is the demolition of the old central office. We've put that out to bid. Where are we with that process?
Speaker 2:
This Thursday we will be accepting bids and then we'll make the determination, based on what's been given to us, on which contractor we will go with that. Then there will be a scope of work and a calendar to go along with that. And we're trying to. That one's kind of tricky because it's right there next to the transportation department and so part of that plan and demoing is also to re-ass fault their parking lot. Well, we have to do that when buses aren't necessarily running. So trying to find those pockets of time plus staying within weather terms of when you can ask fault will, is a little bit tricky. But we're we're hoping to go ahead and get started on that, probably next week.
Speaker 1:
And this, by the way, for any of you who do not know, this is what people used to refer to as the old spaceship building, the round building on the east side of town, right next to our transportation department. We had looked at trying to find a way to salvage the building. It was just unsalvageable if that's a word Absolutely it. You know it. It served as its purpose and now we're going to be demolishing it and building some additional parking there and giving extra space for our transportation department, which desperately needs it. So, excited about that, we have some upcoming projects that we can talk about, and these are things that we're asking the board to do, and some of them the board have already approved the initial BG ones on.
Speaker 1:
The first one I want to talk about is something that I'm just going to editorialize. For a second, something that should have happened a long time ago in this district, and that's auxiliary gems for each of our high schools. We know that we have multiple sports, both boys and girls, and in some of those sports we don't have a place for those kids to practice. I've seen it when I've gone into the high schools in the after afternoon hours, after school is out, and you'll see kids running through the hallways at Western Hills and the cheer and dance team practicing in the cafeteria and the archery team at Franklin County practicing in the cafeteria. We need to be better. We need to make sure that we provide what we can. So we have planned an auxiliary gym on each side of town. Let's kind of talk about that.
Speaker 2:
Yes, and this is one that I'm really excited about, because I also have a daughter that plays basketball, and so currently, when they do their conditioning, they're running through the hallways of Western Hills, and so this will be great to provide them a space to have practice. The auxiliary gym right now the blueprints kind of show there'll be an extra gym. It's a full size gym. It is set up for basketball, but it's also set up for volleyball, it's set up for archery, but then surrounding it will be rooms that are big enough for other sports. So there will be a dance cheer room in which they can have their practice in there. There will be a wrestling room in which they can keep their mats down the entire time and they're not having to do all that rolling up and whatnot. So there's a golf almost forgot that one that's probably your favorite one, mr Kopp, that's a golf simulator room.
Speaker 2:
So I'm sure our golf coach is really excited about that, because that's one of those things where you really can't do a whole lot indoors unless you have a simulator, and so I'm sure the golf team will love those too.
Speaker 1:
I think we have a lot of administrators that are secretly asking to get a key when we build that there will also be softball hitting facilities on each side of town in the auxiliary gym. Again, this provides more space, more opportunities for all of our sports and it's not an inexpensive project. We know that there's some cost to that, but our kids are worth it and we're very excited to be beginning that project in terms of a timeline.
Speaker 2:
As far as timeline is concerned, right now we're in the beginning phases of. We've drawn out the blueprints and we had the plans. We've also brought in athletic coaches and the 80s and administrators from both schools to come and give their feedback. So right now we are responding to the feedback. That makes it somewhat different, but the same at every school.
Speaker 2:
So, for instance, over at county because it's going to be sitting right next to the football field, in between the basketball court and the basketball gym and the football field they would like a space there for their athletic trainer and that makes it a really easy space to come to off of the football field. However, at Western Hills it's going to be sitting closer to the gym but away from the football field. So that's not something that they really need over at Western Hills. But they would also like to bring more of the weight Um, you know, lifting weights and things like that to the kids and making it closer to the actual campus as opposed to having to walk across campus behind Bondurant to get to the white lifting facility.
Speaker 1:
So, and the auxiliary gym there at Western Hills, uh, we're actually looking at the spot in between Bondurant and Western Hills. There's a green space there that, uh, it's going to be a perfect set. Right now, there are sunflowers growing in it. Yes, uh, it's beautiful, it's yeah our ag department is going to lose their sunflower space there, but I've already spoken with them and we'll find some other places to grow those flowers.
Speaker 1:
And speaking of which, it's a great segue into greenhouses. Yes, each, each of our high schools currently does have a greenhouse, but we are looking to expand, so there will be an additional greenhouse for each side of town.
Speaker 2:
Uh, let's kind of talk about that being someone who grew up in the city I was I grew up in Fayette County we didn't have a greenhouse, in fact we didn't have an ag department, and so, um, it was one of those things that I really realized when I came to Franklin County that ag is such an important part of our curriculum here in our district and, uh, we have a lot of kids that that take ag and they don't just have to be like farmer kids that you know they, they get up and give speeches and compete, and so, uh, you know they really do utilize these greenhouses. And so we um have been fortunate enough to receive some grant funding through our CTC school, and our CTC principal has put, established and put aside some of that funding for the greenhouses on each side of town.
Speaker 1:
Yep, and uh very excited about that. You know our ag departments do an amazing job. They are uh unbelievable, um. And one last thing we can talk about here is we are still finalizing, trying to get to a closing uh, which hopefully would be within the next two weeks. Uh, we're we're going to be closing on a piece of property that we're purchasing, uh to build a new school on. Um. So just kind of briefly go through where we are with that.
Speaker 2:
Some people out there might be thinking why is it taking so long? Because we've been talking about this since the spring and so, uh, one of the reasons it takes so long is because we have a lot of rules and hoops we have to jump through with the Kentucky department of ed and there's like a list of 20 things we have to to get, and it involves getting surveys completed and drawings drawn out and then also just to make sure that there's enough utilities running to each of uh or to that site, and so we have finally received everything that we need and it has been given to the Kentucky department of ed. So we're just waiting now for their approval and hopefully we can move to closing here in the next week or so.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it's. It's one of those things where it's very different than if you're buying a piece of property and you know you can't just write a check Right. There's uh, you know, with uh, with school districts, you know it is a there's a process, so we're excited that we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for that, and so hopefully we'll be taking that to the board soon so that we can begin the process of building a new school. Having said all that, there are also some things way down the road that we're that we're looking at. Not going to really talk about those things just yet, but uh just wanted to let everyone know that uh, our, our local facilities planning committee does a tremendous job of putting things on our district facilities plan, that, uh, those things are are student centered at things that are put on there to help students uh, succeed, and very excited about a lot of the things uh, that are that are coming.
Speaker 1:
We've made a lot of progress since 2017. We've built a lot of things. We've added turf fields. We, you know we've got these things coming up. We built a new school in that time and, uh, lots of bright lights on the horizon, very excited, and now it's time for fun facts with Jennifer Perkins. I think, uh, you know we're we. We need to make sure we get these, these four fun fact questions, in. So the first fun fact question, we'll kind of mix them up a little bit today. Jennifer Perkins, what is your favorite food?
Speaker 2:
My favorite food would be crab legs.
Speaker 1:
Oh, my goodness, that's a. That's a good one. Uh, had the kids in here last week. By the way, the oh they like the fettuccine.
Speaker 2:
Fettuccine, Alfredo, all three of them Try and tell they all three like the fettuccine Alfredo, uh, the school food, uh, uh, food service probably needs to pay attention to that, like we might need to make sure fettuccine Alfredo is on our menu.
Speaker 1:
I love it. So, uh, the next one. What is your favorite movie of all time?
Speaker 2:
My favorite movie uh, I would say, is the notebook.
Speaker 1:
Oh, nice, very good.
Speaker 2:
Think about that one.
Speaker 1:
That's, that's good. What about your favorite TV show or streaming show?
Speaker 2:
So my favorite streaming show would be Ozark oh that's fantastic.
Speaker 1:
I'm sad that it's gone Me too, I mean I kind of established the streaming on it.
Speaker 2:
Okay, am I bored with it yet, or do I still want another season? And that's another one that I would want another season, that's not here.
Speaker 1:
Jason Bateman is so good in that. Yeah, Uh, last one favorite music or musical group.
Speaker 2:
Okay, my favorite music genre would be hmm, I have two of them, so it's like country slash hip hop, and so Cain Brown kind of fits into that.
Speaker 1:
Okay.
Speaker 2:
Took my daughter not long ago to go see that concert. I screamed really well. So, yes, it would be Cain Brown for the win on that one.
Speaker 1:
All right, very good. Well, thank you for joining us today. We appreciate it. Uh, hope everyone has a wonderful week. We will talk to you soon. Well, that wraps it up for this week's episode of FCS Unscripted. Thank you for listening in and I encourage you to subscribe and follow this weekly podcast, where we will share updates, information and interviews with hashtag everyone the wonderful students and staff who make up one team, fcs. Have a great week everybody.