Portland Christian School expanding its campus with new high school building

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Steel beams are in place to form what will be Portland Christian School's newest expansion project.

A 25,000-square-foot addition to the current building will allow high school students to move into the new space that features classrooms and labs.

Another small addition on the other side of the building will be home to a new music room.

"We just needed more space," said Danny Taylor, board chair at Portland Christian School.

Portland Christian currently enrolls more than 400 students and hopes the expansion will allow them to comfortably house around 600. However, they're looking to find a balance between growth and stability.

"We'd like to maintain the things we've been known for as a small school: family and character and culture," Taylor said. "At the same time, we want to upgrade our facilities and have a better culture and environment for our students."

The current layout of the building off of Westport Road is far too small for the students inside. Hallways are packed with students transitioning to class, the rooms aren't large enough for some classes, and, sometimes, there's no classroom space at all.

The $6 million expansion will fix those issues.

"It seems like, a lot of times, it's hard for other kids to get through the high school wing, especially with the lockers being close together," said Tyler Kennedy, a junior at Portland Christian. "It seems like with this new building, it will open up a lot of new space."

"The school's definitely grown a lot since I've been here, and we've had to kind of make due with the space that we have," added Shiloh Kiefer, a freshman at the school. "So it's going to be nice to have the new classrooms."

The new spaces will connect to the current building. A person would be able to navigate the entire campus without going outside.

For Portland Christian, which recently claimed a 14-acre property for athletic facilities and its small school, this was all part of the vision.

"It was just a strategic planning process of updating everything we're doing to a model that can serve the next century," Taylor said.

Construction is expected to be finished by next summer.