Butler County Schools Invest in Classroom Construction
Butler County School District is investing more than $3 million into adding classrooms onto two schools.
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W.O. Parmer Elementary and McKenzie Schools both have classrooms in buildings not attached to the main schools. Superintendent of Butler County Schools Amy Bryan said the traveling can cause problems for smaller children.
“I would like to add onto the main building so that there is no problem with students having to leave the building in weather, or also for safety, lock down, that kind of thing. To have everybody in one place is better, preferable,” she said.
Bryan said the school recently refinanced bonds from 2007. The bond money must be used within three years, she said, and can only be spent on capital improvements. That is why the schools are getting the much needed upgrades.
“With the $3 million savings that we have from the bond refinance deal, we hope to spend the $3 million on, basically, replacing classrooms,” Bryan said.
Bryan said there is an urgent need for new second grade classrooms at W.O. Parmer.
“What you see there is a new building, when you go,” she said. “But what you don’t see behind it is the whole second grade is in an old building. And their library is in an old building.”
The building was built in the 1930s and has seen most of Greenville’s population come through its doors. Even current principal of W.O. Parmer, Jacqueline Thornton, started her career there.
“I taught in the old building 25 years ago, when I first began my experience in Greenville,” she said. “And at that time it was the old building!”
Thornton said that as of now, her students have to walk under covered walkways to get to their classrooms. She thinks once the classrooms are connected, it will be easier for her students to learn.
“When it’s an easy flow, transition from one area to the other less educational time is lost. So less instructional time will be lost with this new addition,” she said.
Even though the new classrooms are exactly what the students need, the old buildings will be missed.
“It has a sentimental value, even now as I walk through it, it’s like being home. So on the one point we’re excited about the new building, but on the other, we’re losing a part of ourselves,” Thornton said.
Plans for the construction will be presented at the next Butler County School Board meeting on February 25. Construction is slated to begin in August, with a completion date of August 2017.
