Committee approves final draft of Lawrence County School District facilities plan

LOUISA — The Lawrence County School District Local Planning Committee held its third and final public forum on Jan. 12. There were no community members in attendance.

The Local Planning Committee meeting was held directly after the public forum. Superintendent Dr. Robbie Fletcher thanked the committee members for their attendance at all the meetings throughout the process.

Chairman Matt Maynard called the LPC meeting to order, and the floor was given to Fletcher to discuss the final District Facilities Plan (DFP) update, with the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) recommendations. The DFP plan was sent to John Gilbert at KDE and returned to the school district with priority changes and/or recommendations.

A rule that the committee was not aware of was the fact that if a building is not greater than 30 years old (built by 1988), then it cannot be listed in the Priority 1 section of the plan. Some items listed on the plan were recategorized into different sections due to this rule, but there were no building projects cut by KDE.

“There were no items removed from the plan by the Kentucky Department of Education, which is not always the case,” said Paul Christy of the Kentucky School Plant Manager Association, who is currently assisting the Lawrence County district with its DFP plan.

Louisa West Elementary School is still in the Priority 1 section of the plan, with the recommendation of a new building. The biggest change to the plan is with Blaine Elementary School, where a new cafeteria may be constructed instead of a new gymnasium. Another change to the plan by KDE was with Louisa West Elementary School, which will become a preschool through the second-grade school.

Also, KDE will only allow for two preschool classrooms, but four additional classrooms may be added through funding by LIPSA. The Louisa Middle School building’s major renovation will still include a complete roof replacement. The rest of the District Facilities Plan remained relatively the same.

After all the Local Planning Committee members reviewed the final draft of the District Facilities Plan, a roll-call vote was taken by Maynard, with all members voting yes. The Local Planning Committee members include Maynard, Jim See, Neil Wilson, Darrell Combs, Chuck Price, LaKeisha Huff, Shawn Jennings, Teresa Prince, Ed Dixon, Heather Frazier, Jessica Helton, and Thomas Burns.