An 85-year-old Lexington high school needs a new building. The questions: When and how?
The future of Lexington’s Lafayette High School could include a renovation or a new building, officials on the district local planning committee said at a meeting Monday night.
“We know Lafayette needs a new building,” said Fayette district chief operating officer Myron Thompson. “It’s a matter of timing.“
There could also be changes in store for the School for the Performing Arts magnet school at various grade levels.
SCAPA at Bluegrass for students in fourth through eighth grade is unlikely to move into the former Central Office building at 701 East Main St., as the Herald-Leader reported in 2021.
“It’s not going to work from a feasibility standpoint,” Thompson said.
On Thursday night, district spokesperson Dia Davidson-Smith said there is no plan by Fayette County Public Schools to pull the high school SCAPA program from Lafayette.
Monday’s discussion was “centered around facilities on Springhill Drive and the existing SCAPA (grades 4-8) moving to free up space for Lafayette’s expansion. There is no intent to pull the high school SCAPA program from Lafayette,” Davidson-Smith said.
On other issues regarding Lafayette, no decisions have been made.
“The (Fayette schools ) board has not made a final decision on any of these issues. The next step for the committee is to report their recommendations to the board,”Davidson-Smith told the Herald-Leader Tuesday.
Lafayette High School
Lafayette High School, which opened in 1939 to replace Picadome High School, was originally built with Works Progress Administration federal funds, according to the district website. It was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who gained fame in America’s Revolutionary War.
The school building was totally renovated in 1998, and a stadium overhaul was completed in fall 2010.
Currently, Lafayette High School in south Lexington is at 113% capacity, district officials said.
Lafayette is an academically driven high school and is home to the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) gifted and talented program, as well as the district’s pre-engineering program.
The School for the Creative and Performing Arts is designed for students who excel in art, ballet, band, contemporary dance, creative writing, drama, piano, strings and voice.
To be eligible, a student must have documentation and an audition in the chosen arts area.
A growing district
Pupil Personnel Director Steve Hill said Fayette County Public Schools has 41,397 students as of Monday.
Fayette County Schools is a growing district, Hill said
There are 9,377 new housing units planned in Fayette County in the next five years which will generate an estimated 2,749 K-12 students.
The vast majority of those students will be in Fayette County Public Schools.
High schools are not growing as much as elementary and middle schools.
Coventry Oak is Fayette County’s most rapidly growing elementary school.
In the Hamburg area, Frederick Douglass High School is at 89 percent capacity, and with the special program Carter G. Woodson Academy in that building, is at 100 percent capacity.
Henry Clay High School, slated to get a new school building, is at 91 capacity.
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School has 90 percent capacity. Tates Creek High School has 85 percent capacity. The student capacity for Bryan Station High School is - based on a enrollment of 2039 - is at 110% capacity.
Lafayette, at 401 Reed Lane, will need land if it’s reconstructed, district officials said.
“It’s going to take a little bit of a domino effect to free up some space for Lafayette, It’s a very cramped campus. We need to be very strategic,” Thompson said. “We can’t say how that’s going to look going forward. I think it’s going to be a transformed campus.”
Note: A previous version of this article said the high school SCAPA could move from Lafayette’s campus. On Thursday night, district officials said they had no plans to do that.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 7:00 AM.