EDMONTON — Officials with the Metcalfe County School System say four of the district’s five schools need to be replaced because they are old and in poor condition.

Plans call for building a new middle school and replacing the three existing elementary schools — North Metcalfe, Edmonton and Summer Shade — with two new elementary schools for students in preschool through the fifth grade.

All four schools have problems, including odor in the bathrooms, asbestos glue holding down tile, bad plumbing and poor handicap accessibility.

And while many members of the community are aware of the problems at the schools, they’re not ready to say goodbye to their schools.

Betty Dixon teaches preschool at North Metcalfe Elementary. Dixon is aware of the school’s physical problems.

“I know it needs updating a lot,” she said.

Still she fears if the board of education decides to build a new elementary school closer to Edmonton the children will have to get up earlier and stay on the bus longer to get to school.

“I know when my kids started riding the bus to the middle school at Greensburg, they didn’t even get to eat breakfast because their bus got there so late,” she said. “It wasn’t my children’s fault that their bus got them there past their breakfast time. I just hate to see children on the bus an extra 30 to 40 minutes.”

Dixon also likes the atmosphere at North Metcalfe.

“I just love it. It’s so family oriented here. Everybody pulls together and helps if there is a child in need or a family or whatever,” she said. 

Not everyone associated with the school thinks it needs to be replaced.

“The school building is in good shape,” said Lisa Perry, whose children attended the school but will begin classes at the middle school this year. Perry added she has no complaints about the school. “I would hate to see it leave down here, which is what is probably going to happen.”

Kelli Brown’s children attend Summer Shade and she is aware that the school is old.

“It just needs to be updated,” she said.

Brown is not opposed to a new school being built.

“As long as it’s built somewhere in Summer Shade that would be better,” she said. She later said she would not be opposed to a new Summer Shade Elementary being built closer to Edmonton.

“As long as they keep small classrooms ... I feel like that is an advantage of Summer Shade,” she said.

Brown said she likes the fact that the students at Summer Shade get a lot of one-on-one attention and believes that is because it is a small school with few students. She pointed out that the school typically has one class for each grade and believes her children excel because of the amount of attention they get from their teachers; something she says they probably wouldn't get as much of if they attended a larger elementary school.

Some additional problems Brown sees with the school include poor parking arrangements, lack of hot water, and the location of the computer lab, library and gym. She pointed out that students must leave the main building to go to either of the three.

“Kids have to come in and out all year long,” she sid. “That’s a disadvantage.”

She also sees the frequent opening and closing of the door leading to the gym, the computer lab and the library as a safety issue.

“Once you go through those doors you have easy access all down the hallway,” she said.

The school system is several years away from taking action to replace the schools, but talk as begun among district officials as to how best go about building new schools. The first school slated to be replaced is the middle school.

“Our middle school is our top priority,” said Steve Thompson, school board chairman.

Tentative plans call for constructing an addition to Metcalfe County High School so that students in grades 7-12 will share some of the same facilities, such as the media center. It is also possible that the two schools will share a kitchen.

District officials are looking for ways to generate revenue to fund the construction project. At present the school district has managed to save slightly more than $2 million, but that isn’t enough. They are looking at several options to increase revenue, including raising property taxes and establishing an educational foundation.

When the district’s local planning committee was devising the district’s school facilities plan two years ago, it tried to get the construction of three elementary schools listed but Thompson said that wasn’t possible. He said the district needed a minimum of 300 students to open one elementary school.

“The state’s projections for (grades) 1-6 would be below 900 students and wouldn’t justify having three elementary schools,” he said. “We were right on the boarder line and things may change. We’re probably a year and a half away from going through this again.”

Thompson is aware there are people in the county who do not want to see their local elementary school replaced, but he understands the need for new schools.

“It’s always a tough adjustment, but I really feel like our

community understands,” he said, adding when district officials explain what a new school building will offer their children they then come around to the idea. “There’s a lot of factors that go into giving up that homey feel. We want to give as new and as nice of facilities as we can.”

District officials have talked to representatives of the Kentucky Department of Education about its funding need for new facilities. They have also had that discussion with state legislators.

Both Sen. David Givens, R-Greensburg, and Rep. Jamie Comer, R-Tompkinsville, are aware that Metcalfe County’s schools are old and need some attention.

Some parents have contacted Comer about the schools and have told him they don’t want North Metcalfe or Summer Shade closed.

“This past year I had a few calls from people from Center and Summer Shade,” he said. “They were just concerned. They didn’t want to lose their schools. There’s no community that wants to lose their community schools.”

Comer said it is entirely up to the board of education to decide if they want to consolidate.

Comer’s father, J.R. Comer, served on the Monroe County Board of Education when Tompkinsville High School and Gamaliel High School were consolidated in 1985 to form Monroe County High School, so he knows how passionate people feel about their schools yet he also understands the need for new school facilities.

Pat Hurt, superintendent, pointed out that she and other district officials do not want to close any school.

“That’s not what this about,” she said. “We want to best serve the children of Metcalfe County in facilities that are state of the art because our kids deserve it.”