Trigg County school board members approved documentation Thursday evening that will be submitted to the Kentucky Department of Education and awarded a bid for an emergency gas line replacement.
Mechanical Engineer Baccus Oliver from Marcum Engineering says the gas lines were installed in the 1960s and are made of carbon steel and are rusting out.
The project is being declared an emergency because of gas leaks occurring within the district.
Board members approved a bid from Murtco, Inc. in Paducah to do the additional work needed to connect new gas lines to the middle, high, and vocational school buildings. A&K Construction, the contractor on the elementary school renovation, will work on the gas line work for that building. The elementary gas line work was already included in bids awarded for the renovation project.
The minor set back will cost the district around $65,000 and will have to be completed before additional outside work can be completed on the elementary gymnasium renovation project.
The old gymnasium is set to be changed into two levels of classroom space, with a permanent walkway constructed between the elementary and middle schools to replace “the tunnel” that connects them now.
Additionally, all school site-based decision-making councils held a joint meeting with the board to discuss student accountability results from last year’s K-PREP testing. Members learned goals the district has to score higher on the next round of assessments. All schools in the district scored three out of five stars, which is the current rating system for schools statewide.
Interim Superintendent Tim McGinnis notes the district’s goal will be to have every school ranked as five star by the Fall of 2023.
