November 18, 2017
KDE REPORT GIVES AN EVALUATION OF THE LOUISA WEST BUILDING
Local Facilities Planning Committee To Hold First Meeting DEC. 5
Earlier this week, Dr. Stephen L. Pruitt, Commissioner of Education, released the 2017 Kentucky Facilities Inventory and Classification System (KFICS) Phase I Report. Of the school facilities that were evaluated, Louisa West Elementary ranked as the 33rd “most needy” school facility when compared to the other schools that were evaluated throughout the state. In comparison, the Louisa West facility ranked in the bottom 100 out of 465 evaluated schools in 2011.
The new KFICS process was implemented by the Kentucky Department of Education under HB 303 (2016) and includes the assessment of one school facility from each of 169 school districts throughout Kentucky. As stated in the report, “While the KFICS Phase I Report contains poor condition permanent buildings, there may be other district transitional facilities (in the state) in worse condition, in need of replacement and not included in the list.” Phase II of the process will be expanded to include all Kentucky school buildings.
Every four years, each Kentucky school system is required to submit a school facilities plan, and the LC Schools plan is due in 2018. Using the processes outlined by KDE, the Lawrence County Board of Education and Superintendent Fletcher has assembled 20 local planning committee members to make recommendations to the Board of Education. Members of the committee include teachers, community members, and administrators that represent the Blaine, Fallsburg, and Louisa areas. The KFICS report will be used as a source of information to help decide the next steps for facilities planning in Lawrence County.
If you are interested in having input, the Lawrence County Local Facilities Planning Committee will have an orientation meeting on December 5 at 6 PM at the Lawrence County High School Library and will be followed by a public forum at 7:15 PM. The public forum will be an informal gathering to obtain public opinion regarding future district facility priorities.
