HOPKINSVILLE, KY (CHRISTIAN COUNTY NOW) – The Christian County Public School Board of Education approved several hefty projects during their latest meeting, including an age-appropriate playground at the early learning center, and moving forward with bids for turf, landscaping, and a band tower at the new Christian County High School.
Preschoolers in Christian County will soon have access to new playground equipment as the school board approved a bid from Miracle Playgrounds. This $100,000 investment will bring age-appropriate play structures, a playhouse, spinner, and mulch to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early Learning Center that opened in August 2024.
“This has been a need from the beginning,” said Assistant Superintendent Jason Wilson to the board. He explained that the current playground equipment at the school was built for older age students at the old Indian Hill Elementary before the early learning center was built. The current equipment has been mostly unusable by the current students.
Due to the revenue generated by the tuition of the preschool, the board feels they are in a position to invest in the playground now. The new equipment will be installed in closer proximity to the school, abiding by the safety features and lower height requirements for preschool age students.
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Turf, band tower, landscaping costs for Christian County High School
Multiple bids were approved by the school board during the Oct. 16 meeting related to finishes on the new Christian County High School. The approved expenditures are within the $100 million budget for construction of the school and are individually approved by the board based on competitive offers.
On the interior of the school, a $48,000 bid was accepted to purchase 15 welding booths for one of the CCHS academies that will be installed in the welding lab. For the exterior, they accepted a bid for landscaping work, which was awarded to a Hopkinsville company at the cost of $231,000.
The board also voted to accept a $2.8 million bid for the instillation of synthetic turf for the soccer, baseball, and softball fields on the new campus. Wilson said installation of the turf includes proper drainage to prevent the fields from flooding.
Another necessary investment into the exterior of the school includes the construction of a band tower, which comes in at around $83,000. This tall, steel structure will be just over 35 feet tall with multiple levels of staircases that will be installed into the concrete. The tower will be used by the marching band to get a high-angle view of the field.
Additional expenditures will continue to pop up for approval by board over the next few months as construction wraps up and the focus shifts to finishes.
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