Updated: Scott County High to get new building. Second high school opened last fall.
Months after opening a $90 million second high school campus in Scott County, the board of education announced plans to construct a new building for Scott County High School.
The $80 million project will be located on property already owned by Scott County Schools near the intersection of Long Lick Road and the county’s bypass, Scott Superintendent Kevin Hub said. The building is expected to open in August 2023.
“Thanks to the support of the community and the vision and fiscal responsibility of the Scott County Board of Education and district leaders, the new high school facility can be completely constructed without levying an additional nickel tax,” according to a district statement.
The decision to replace the Scott County High School building, which was constructed in 1996, made more financial sense than renovating the 24-year-old building that wasn’t large enough for the county’s growing population, Hub said.
The district plans to break ground on the new Scott County High building, which will accommodate 1,500 students, in July 2021.
The incoming freshman class, the class of 2024, will be the first to graduate from the new Scott County High School building. The current Scott County High School building on Cardinal Drive will be renovated and Scott County Middle School will move into it.
“We are always looking for capacity,” Hub said.
Scott County’s growth is projected to make it the top-growing county in Kentucky by percentage by 2040, the Herald-Leader has reported. In 2015, the population was 52,420. By 2040, about 97,745 people are expected to be living in the county, according to projections.
The new Scott County High School will be just under 230,000 square feet. The plan is to build a full set of athletic fields on the new Scott County High School campus just as the new Great Crossing High School has, Hub said.
The current Scott County High School is now sharing the new Great Crossing High School’s football stadium.
In 2017, the Scott County school board approved a property tax increase to help fund the construction of the new Great Crossing High School which opened in the fall of 2019.
It was built to relieve overcrowding at Scott County High School.
Hub said Great Crossing has the capability to expand to accommodate 1,930 students.
Including the athletic facilities, Scott County’s Great Crossing High campus cost a total of about $90 million. The new 3 1/2-story building cost a little more than $70 million.
Great Crossing Principal Joy Lusby previously said Great Crossing’s 278,000-square-foot building is about the same size as the current Scott County High building.
A post on the Scott County High School’s Facebook page about the proposed new building said, “We are super excited about this awesome opportunity!”
“We know that the fine arts are going to be important, we know that ...extra-curriculars are going to be important, we know that this board really has a focus on career and technical education, “ Hub said. “So all of those will be incorporated into the design.”
This story was originally published June 26, 2020 at 7:01 AM.