Beacon of Hope: Ground broken for new Johnson Central High School
Gov. Andy Beshear was one of several officials to speak at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony. BSN photo/Tony Fyffe
By TONY FYFFE
BSN Editor
PAINTSVILLE – State and local officials went high on a mountain Tuesday to break ground for the new Johnson Central High School.
Gov. Andy Beshear and other officials broke ground Tuesday for the new Johnson Central High School in Paintsville. BSN photo/Tony Fyffe
Gov. Steve Beshear joined school and local officials for the ceremonial event at the groundbreaking site, which is located on a mountain behind Walmart in Paintsville.
“Here we stand ready to break ground for what I describe as a beacon of hope,” Johnson County School Superintendent Thom Cochran said in his opening remarks at the ceremony. “A beacon of hope for Johnson County Schools, for each and every student, for our parents and for our staff, for our entire Johnson County community and, truly, for the entire Eastern Kentucky region. It’s something that we all should be proud of.”
The new Johnson Central High School and Career Technical Center will have the capacity for over 1,300 students, Cochran said.
“It will overlook the community from this prominent mountaintop,” Cochran said. “But it’s more than just a traditional high school building. All of the career and technical education pathways will be completely blended into the design, allowing us to continue the unique opportunities that we have for full integration between the CTT and the traditional high school curriculum. But before the first brick can ever be laid, over five million cubic yards of mountain and earth have to be moved to make way for this facility, and that will all happen over the next twenty months.”
The new high school will include a social area with seating for students after they enter the building along with a double-height cafeteria and outdoor dining area.
“At the heart of the two-story facility is going to be a courtyard offering an outdoor collaboration space for the media center and an outdoor dining area for the cafeteria as well as the culinary arts program,” Cochran said. “Each of the four classroom wings is going to contain a media hub that provides a variety of seating and resources for collaboration outside of the traditional classroom setting.”
The new JCHS will also have a 3,200-seat gymnasium, a secondary auxiliary gym that will also serve as a storm shelter and an auditorium that will seat more than 1,000 people, Cochran said.
“The first phase of this construction is also going to include plans for a new and very-much-needed transportation facility,” Cochran said. “I know all of this sounds simply amazing and, trust me, it’s going to be.”
When site preparation is completed, there will be 110 “flat acres developed right here, with additional development available in future phases,” the superintendent said.
The high school site also connects to the existing Highland Elementary property, which gives the school district more than 400 “prime” acres “right here in the heart of Johnson County,” he said.
Before Beshear spoke, Cochran noted that the last time the governor visited Johnson County, he delivered a $10 million grant for the new career and technical education center.
Beshear said the new high school is the largest construction project in the history of Johnson County.
“I can’t wait to show potential employers what this facility is going to look like, because they’re going to see where their workforces come from,” Beshear said. “And they’re going to see a community that has the courage to step up and to do a project like this.”
Also speaking at the event were Beshear’s senior advisor, Rocky Adkins; state Sen. Phillip Wheeler, R-Pikeville; and state Rep. Bobby McCool, R-Van Lear.