BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Department of Education approved a major expansion plan for the Nelson County School District.
The plan will combine middle and high schools into one community, but there's still some concern from parents and others, who are now taking steps to stop it from happening.
The conversations started last April after district officials released a plan to consolidate the schools. People were invited to a series of meetings to share their support, thoughts or concerns.
"And a lot of people showed up because they were concerned it was going to be closing two of the middle schools and consolidating all the middle schools into two high schools,” said Vanessa Hurst, a Nelson County parent.
The plan is to create a united middle and high school community, closing Bloomfield and Old Kentucky Home middle schools and New Haven and Boston schools, which are K-8.
"I previously had three children in Nelson County," Hurst said. "It is a little concerning to put 12-year-olds in the same building footprint as 17- and 18-year-olds."
Nelson County School officials presented it as a seven-year experience for students. The district held 25 public meetings in the second half of 2021, and on Wednesday morning, Nelson County Superintendent Wes Bradley presented the plan to the Kentucky Department of Education.
After several questions, the board voted, and while the vote was unanimous, but not exactly a done deal.
On Tuesday, a group of residents, including parents, filed a lawsuit against Bradley and the Nelson County Board of Education. They are asking for "a temporary as well as permanent restraining order and injunction, prohibiting the closure of the schools."
Hurst isn't part of the lawsuit, but she did take action.
"Ours would be transported to Thomas Nelson," Hurst said. "I pulled my youngest children out to go to private school."
Right now, the plan is for the transition to take place in the fall of 2023, unless the courts intervene.
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