JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (WDRB) -- A southern Indiana school district wants to relocate and rebuild one of its middle schools.
Greater Clark County Schools administrators have proposed moving Parkview Middle School, located at 1600 Brigman Ave, to a new site at 3616 and 3618 Utica-Sellersburg Roads.
The district hosted a community meeting on Thursday night to discuss ideas and the process.
The proposed site was previously owned by Kay Davis and her family for 100 years. Her and her husband decided to sell the property to move to Harrison County.
A developer purchased the land and originally considered building apartments or 87 single-family homes on the land. Now, GCCS has the opportunity to purchase the land if Jeffersonville City Council votes to change the land's zoning ordinance for a school.
Here at GCCS Administration Building for a meeting to discuss the potential of building a new middle school… (thread) pic.twitter.com/AZQcf1AnlN
— Katrina Nickell WDRB (@knickelltv) July 14, 2022
Superintendent Mark Laughner said relocating Parkview is the best option. Parkview currently sits on just over 11 acres and the proposed site is 26 acres.
"The biggest issue with the site where Parkview sits is the size of the site." Laughner said. "If we tried to build a new school on the Parkview site, I've talked to a couple different architects about that, they've looked at the site. Basically what they said is it would be virtually impossible."
The new school would be two stories and face Utica-Sellersburg Road. A track, football field, and tennis courts would sit behind the school. Parking would be in front of the school and a bus lane would be behind the building.
Many residents who live in the proposed site's surrounding area expressed concerns about busses blocking the existing narrow roads.
The district said the excess acres of land will help prevent traffic from backing out onto the roads.
"It over doubles the property we'd be dealing with in terms of buses and stacked cars, so we don't have cars backing up into the roadways and things of that nature," Laughner said.
GCCS said it wants to work with the city on addressing concerns, but many attending Thursday's meeting expressed disappointment in the city's ability to help, citing years of unkept promises.
Laughner said the athletics fields would not have lights and that 26 acres allows enough land to place in proper drainage systems, possibly even help surrounding neighborhoods with drainage issues.
Some in the audience at Thursday's meeting were also disappointed in the proposed site being a 15 minute drive from Parkview's current location, and father from the city's urban area.
"The students that live in our region are going to have to travel really far, there's already a bus driver shortage and numerous occasions where they have to do e-learning because the buses are not running," said Maxwell Malone, a downtown Jeffersonville resident.
Malone said he would support the new middle school, but only if the district keeps Parkview's current location.
The district said they have considered replacing the current school with soccer fields, but nothing has been finalized.
Laughner also said they would not have to re-district schools, if the proposed site is approved.
GCCS tentative timeline is to begin construction in late 2024 or early 2025. Construction would finish in 2027.
Laughner said this gives the district time to work with the neighborhoods and the city to address concerns and create a plan for what to do with Parkview Middle School's current site.
Jeffersonville City Council will meet on Monday to vote on the proposed site's zoning. However, administrators showed a lack of confidence in getting a majority vote from the council on Monday night.
GCCS said if plans fall through with the proposed site, it still intends on finding a different location to relocate and rebuild Parkview Middle School.
This project would be in addition to an existing project to rebuild two GCCS elementary schools, without raising the tax rate.
The elementary school project would create larger buildings at Wilson Elementary and Jonathan Jennings Elementary, allowing the space to merge Pleasant Ridge and Thomas Jefferson Elementary schools to the two new buildings.
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