Trigg County’s Board of Education absorbed good news with the bad during Thursday night’s deep session — concerning construction and renovation updates around the co-curricular building, Perdue Field and the CTE vocational school.
On the positive, Chris Jones, architect and West Kentucky director for Sherman Carter Barnhart, said all that remained for the school’s newest building, as well as the press box, is a specific type of sliding glass window.
The press box has been in working order for some time, while the co-curricular building has now been opened — and adamantly used — by school authorities and students. Jones said these windows would come available, and be installed, by the start of the 2024 spring semester.
On the negative, comes a considerable delay for the CTE vocational school.
While the refitting of Trigg County’s oldest campus addition was made possible through a $10 million state grant, construction and lead times have dramatically increased since the project’s inception. It originally was supposed to be made available to students and staff by Fall Break of this year.
Nathan Kelso, the newest project manager from A&K Construction, said a plethora of issues will push completion — and its anticipated opening — much, much later than expected.
Kelso also noted it would be almost impossible to work on punch list items if students and teachers moved in prior to 100% completion, and a three-week fabrication period was necessary in order to create a missing connector piece for certain bar joists.
And though he wasn’t specific, Kelso also mentioned there have been some sub-contractor issues, especially for one unnamed roofing crew — which he had lined up, only to have them not respond to the job.
Kelso, himself, is new to the task, and a new job superintendent has come on board. Kelso noted everyone getting up to speed has taken extra time, and change orders have also needed to be addressed. Furthermore, some A&K assets were shifted for the expedited completion for the co-curricular building, and other times, subcontractor attendance has been reportedly “spotty.”
While the board openly admired Jones and Kelso admitting and communicating this delay, the news still brought some dismay and ire.
Board members Charlene Sheehan and Clara Beth Hyde, both retired teachers, said students seeking these pathways have now lost almost two years in the building instead of one — and instead have been relegated to smaller classrooms and digital tools for learning skills and trades.
Hyde double down further.
Working in strong trades themselves, Kelso and Jones vehemently agreed about the delay, but all parties have also agreed to not move in any materials, students or faculty until the property is fully operational.
Kelso said A&K assets haven’t intentionally been moved to other job sites in west Kentucky, and that current projects in Christian and Hopkins counties have their own due diligence without drawing upon these allocated resources.
Board Attorney Jack Lackey Jr. said he appreciated Thursday’s forthrightness, but only sees fault in the general contractor.
Hyde closed, saying “kids need to be in the building.”
In other board news:
— Conferencing at the TCMS Media Center, officials spent the first 90 minutes of Thursday’s meeting talking with leadership, students and parents from all four parts of the district: primary, intermediate, middle and high. The goal: to discuss and explore the next steps following the release of the Kentucky Summative Assessments, which were made public last week. Under the direction of Matt Boehman and James Mangels, board members were given intimate presentations about the district report card. Officials expect this to be a continued tradition.
— Superintendent Bill Thorpe confirmed that, as of this week, more than 100 students throughout the district, boys and girls, have signed up for “wrasslin’” or “wrestling,” depending on one’s preferred vernacular.
— Taylor Mathis, staff accountant for DGA, reported there were no findings of question in the Trigg County audit for school year 2023, and that the district earned a clean, unmodified opinion following a review.
