Fleming County High School will undergo a $7 million redesign over the next year.
Mike Sparkman, with Alt 32 of Lexington, was present during a board of education meeting Wednesday to give a presentation showing what the high school could look like once construction has been completed.
Renovations will include updates to safety and access for students, wireless connectivity, lighting and interior.
"We want this building to have a face to the community," he said. "We want people to see a place for education."
Some of those updates could include changing traffic patterns, adding parking, developing a student store and student bank, adding flexible, open classrooms, a culinary arts suite, industrial lab suites, information technology suite, collaborative spaces, a flexible multipurpose room, industrial changeable student displays, and a food court.
"We'd like to have better lighting and give kids options for food," Sparkman said. "We want to make it more inviting."
Other updates could include a music education room, multipurpose gymnasium and an indoor track.
"We want an indoor walking track to help promote exercise on and off the court," Sparkman said. "There are going to be a lot of changes over the next few months."
According to Sparkman, the goal is to have everything ready to go by Jan. 1, with a construction start date in February.
"Hopefully, construction will last about 20 months," Sparkman said.
The schematic design is only preliminary and will change before the final designs are presented to the board, according to Sparkman.
The schematics were approved by the board.
During the upgrade discussion, Sparkman also suggested the board advertise for a construction manager instead of a general contractor for the project, due to its complexity.
"One of the plus sides of a CM over a GC is that a CM would move a trailer on site of the project and be a resident of the county while construction continues," Sparkman said. "It's a very complicated project. It can be done with a GC, but due to the size of the project, it would be better with a CM."
Board Member Ed Ward expressed concerns that with a construction manager comes several contracts and there will be no way to hold only one person accountable if something goes wrong with the project.
"I want one person to be responsible, not multiple people," he said. "Who would be in charge?"
Sparkman suggested the board approve the advertising and revisit the discussion once proposals have been received.
"At that time, you can look at my recommendations, you can have a committee, however you want to do it," he said. "You don't have to accept anything, but I would at least advertise for a CM and then discuss it."
The board approved the advertisement and said they will revisit the discussion of upgrades at the high school during the September board meeting.
The upgrades to the facility were proposed after the district was awarded $5.5 million through the Kentucky General Assembly in June. The funds were provided to the top 10 core academic facilities that levied two nickels for facilities and have an unmet facilities need from the 2011 Parsons report.
In addition, the district must also have a funding gap in renovating or replacing the facility to meet current standards.
The Parsons report is an independent report conducted on school districts throughout Kentucky. It ranks school buildings to help officials decide which district shows the most need for upgrades.
"It's a program through House Bill 235," Conway said. "Fleming County was very far down on the list originally, but because we have the two nickel tax, we were moved up to the top 10."
Fleming County is exactly 10 on the list and was offered $5.5 million in funding. The district must then bond $2.1 million for a total of about $7.8 million.
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