The move of the Knox fifth grade class to the middle school is underway. Outgoing Middle School Principal Josh Pugh told the school board Tuesday that four and a half out of the six fifth grade classrooms had been moved over, thanks to some help from the high school football team last week. Pugh said the fifth grade class has also been worked into the middle school schedule, after some hard work from several staff members to make everything fit.
The move ties in with some major facility upgrades planned at the three Knox Community Schools. The first phase of that work is now underway.
The bulk of that is taking place at the high school. School Board President Gary Dulin said he recently got a tour of the building’s new roof from Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart. “We were walking around there and it’s all white rubber,” Dulin explained, “and I said, ‘So what goes on top of this?’ And he said, ‘That’s it. It’s done. There’s no stone. Nothing.’ And it’s like walking on cushions, I guess. It’s real soft.”
One part of the roof that isn’t being replaced is the section above the high school office, since it’s relatively new. But Reichhart said some leaks have been noticed where the newer office building connects to the original school. “I’ve asked CMS to look at this, since they’re working on this section of the roof, anyhow,” he told board members. “Somehow, where they matched up the new with the old, they did not somehow lay that correctly. And so, that’s one area, if you hear that we’re still having water leaks in the high school, I just wanted to bring the board’s attention to that, as well.”
Other than that, Reichhart said the high school’s old HVAC units are being removed and the new ones have arrived. Tuck pointing is being done, and new exterior doors are being installed. Crews have begun removing the old ceiling and light fixtures, in preparation for new LED lights.
In addition, Reichhart said the school’s pit area is now a thing of the past. “They wheelbarrowed concrete into this pit area last week, and then they troweled it out on Friday,” he explained. “So today, it looks like a solid piece of concrete.”
He said it was becoming a safety concern. “I know that nobody wants to hear this, but the reason that that high school pit area needed to be filled in was because of the crisis if we had a school shooting,” he said. “And that’s one of those things that just we didn’t think about 40 years ago, but we have to think about today in 2018. Times have changed.”
Meanwhile at the middle school, new carpeting is being installed in four classrooms, as well as the band hallway. Principal Pugh expects that work to be done within the next week.
Several exterior lights around the three schools have been upgraded to LED technology.
