Christian County Public School administrators shared what they have planned for the future regarding the construction of the consolidated Christian County High School, the implementation of a career-based curriculum and the relocation of multiple schools set to take place before the next academic year at Tuesday’s Hopkinsville Rotary Club meeting.
CCPS Superintendent Chris Bentzel talked about the phases of construction and what traffic flow will look like.
The first phase of construction focuses on the high school main building, bus staging, student drop off areas, parking, the main gymnasium and more. Bentzel says the second phase of construction focuses on athletic facilities.
Bentzel says they will continue to use the Stadium of Champions, but on campus he says they hope to establish an indoor multipurpose facility, practice soccer and football fields, a practice track, tennis courts, softball and baseball fields and more.
With the consolidated high school being built along Fort Campbell Boulevard, Bentzel shared that their will not be any entrance off of the boulevard. School bus traffic and parent traffic will enter from separate points on Lovers Lane and student traffic will enter from MSU Drive. Bentzel says the routes were determined after a traffic study was performed at both district high schools and on Lovers Lane and Conference Center Drive.
Moving toward academics, CCPS is being advised by the Henry Ford Learning Institute on how to develop a career academic model for the consolidated high school. Assistant Superintendent, Jessica Addison explained that as students progress through their academic work, they will also be taking elective courses that focus on their career interests.
Concluding the meeting, District Technology Director Jason Wilson highlighted the school transitions set to occur over the summer before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. The Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School campus will become home to Hopkinsville Middle School, the middle school campus will become home to Indian Hills Elementary School and the elementary school campus will become the Martin Luther King Jr. Early Learning Center.
Wilson talked about rezoning and the upcoming release of a system called “Infofinder” which parents will be able to use to check what attendance zone their student is in.
Wilson also shared that the school relocations are happening in part due to sixth grade transitioning back to the middle schools. From his experience working with the middle schools, Wilson says it is hard to transition students from elementary school to high school in just two years.
Wilson says they have their work cut out for them over the summer when it comes to making the campus transitions. However, he says the changes will largely be cosmetic as many of the sink and desk heights between the schools only vary by a few of inches.
Wilson says the necessary changes that need to occur in order for school to start will be completed by the start of the academic year. The only transitions that may possibly be unfinished when students come back to school are those that are cosmetic related.