TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — The Vigo County School Corporation is looking at the best way to use its buildings to keep up with the times in order to provide a high-quality education.
When Terre Haute North and South High Schools were built in 1971, computers were not yet common, Chromebooks had not been invented, and many other forms of technology used in teaching today simply did not exist.
WTWO/WAWV spoke exclusively with an employee at Gibraltar Design, the company that helped the school system develop a master plan for its schools and asked why the plan includes the consolidation Terre Haute North and South High Schools into a new high school.
Kris Kingery works for Gibraltar Design. He said right now, neither Terre Haute North nor South High Schools is near full capacity, making them expensive to operate.
He added that the ages of the buildings being more than 50 years old was another factor in the decision.
“If you’ve traveled around the state and you see what programming is offered at high schools there’s going to be some limitation at North and South,” said Kingery.
If the schools are kept as high schools, lengthy renovations would have to take place while students attended classes.
“It would likely be a kid starting at the high school would live in construction their entire high school experience. And I don’t think we think that is best for students,” said Kingery.
However, once a new high school is built, Kingery said, all the students can be moved out of North and South, and the buildings can be renovated into middle schools.
“We’ve built middle schools across the state that have similar infrastructure to North and South. We looked at that as an easy transition. Middle schools today have leveled up to the point almost like they have the needs of what high schools had in the ’80s,” said Kingery.
According to the plan, once the renovations are complete on the North and South buildings, middle school students will move in.
Meanwhile, Kingery said West Vigo High School in West Terre Haute can be renovated and modernized with students in the building. That’s if middle school students are moved to what is now Consolidated Elementary.
“It’s one of the best buildings in the district with the least amount of need. So modernizing that and creating a small expansion to have it operate as a middle school would then allow that opportunity to happen at West Vigo High School,” said Kingery. “When you vacate the middle school you then create a large section of the school that can operate in a staging place where teaching and learning can happen, because it would happen in certain areas of the building while they’re renovating another area of the building.”
Kingery added that the whole process for these buildings and the upgrades, along with moving some elementary schools, would take seven to nine years to complete.
When it comes to paying for renovations and building a new high school, Vigo County School Supt. Chris Himsel said they will continus to use the same bond services they currently do to cover costs. He adds, state law now allows a county to also help pay for schools if they wish.
Comments