BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT THOMAS — Plans for a $15 million middle school with a three-story academic wing, gym, cafeteria, arts and music rooms and a parking garage were approved by the Fort Thomas Board of Education Monday.
The action comes after several different versions of the plans and months of review. And with a goal of opening the school in the fall of 2000, the board vote signals the first move toward construction.
The approved plan calls for the school to house 600 students in a 121,000 square-foot building to be constructed where the school's parking lot is now.
“There has been some talk where the community feels we are going too big, but there does come a point where we are cutting into programs,” board member Teri Morris said.
Last month the board directed Steed-Hammond-Paul architects to reduce the building's size by 20,000 square feet. A slowdown in student population growth reduced 20-year projections from 750 students to 600.
The board also voted to hire Covington-based BBL Maescher as construction managers. The company will maintain a Web site that will monitor the school's construction.
The district expects to receive one-third of the building's cost from the state and will likely use $13 million of its bonding potential to help finance the project.
With the middle school component finalized, the board discussed two ideas for a new Highlands High School and campus that would retain the original Highlands High structure.
New options include renovating the existing Highlands structure to house an auditorium and arts rooms that would connect the middle and high school buildings.
