16 April 2021
Greetings!
The East Knox Board of Education will hold a Special Board meeting on April 27th at 6:00 pm. in the Jr/Sr High School gymnasium. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the possible Elementary Addition project and give sommunity members an opportunity to provide input. Covid precautions such as wearing a facial covering, etc. will be observed. We hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Steve Larcomb, Supt.
12 April 2021
Greetings!
The Board and Administration want to update you on an exciting possibility for expanding our current campus improvements. We are considering adding approximately 10,000-12,000 square feet onto the west end of the Elementary building at no additional cost to our taxpaying community members!
The space would include a multipurpose room for a great deal of uses during the school day including indoor recess space, medium group-sized meeting space, Kindergarten screenings, Book Fairs and school pictures just to name a few things. Afterschool groups would be able to use that space as well. For example, our Elementary kids would be able to have basketball practice after school or early evening so that they aren’t practicing at 9:00 on school nights when the gym is available. In addition to the multipurpose space, our preschool and Kindergarten classrooms would be located in the new area. We would also include restrooms and several smaller-sized classroom spaces for things like special education small-group instruction, Title I Reading instruction, testing, etc.
The project would also include improving our parking lot and provide a blacktopped playground area for our Elementary students in addition to their grass area so that students can still go outdoors when temperatures are enough to do so, but the ground is too muddy. This will keep students off the parking lot that they currently use and improve safety.
The cost of the project, if the Board moves forward, would be approximately $5 million dollars. This would cost approximately $225,000 per year at current interest rates for thirty years. The Board would pay this from our Permanent Improvement levy funds which is different from our operating levy. The project can be scheduled for next Spring (2022), if the Board approves, and be completed around Christmas the same year.
Please feel free to send any comments or questions you may have about this project to Superintendent Steve Larcomb at: slarcomb@ekschools.org before April 26th.
As always, thanks for your time!
Sincerely,
Steve Larcomb, Supt.
2 April 2021
Dear Parents, Students and Community Members,
I don’t know about you, but I sure am excited to have warmer temperatures and a real sense that we are about to shed not only the winter months, but also the malaise of the pandemic. People just seem to be happier and more patient as of late. There is a real sense of joy and cautious optimism as Pfizer, Moderna and now J&J vaccines are increasingly available in the U.S. I in no way judge those who do or do not get their vaccinations. Everyone travels their own path. However, I will say that I am thankful to get mine and even more so when my wife was able to get hers as well a few days later.
The years continue to pass faster and faster as birthdays come and go. This past year has been both a blur and a long slog at the same time. What seemed unthinkable early last summer became the “normal” throughout the school year to date. Knox County Superintendents spent many hours last summer (not to mention before and since) discussing how to educate students in a pandemic environment. At the time, a “red” county designation was thought to be a critical crisis point that would keep schools shut down. Now the designation is barely noticed as we live with it every day and adapt accordingly. That is a real testament to how we typically find work-around solutions when presented with an issue that cannot be immediately resolved. Our students, staff and parents have been very cooperative in observing mask requirements and minimizing risk factors to exposure as much as possible as we continue all-day, every-day classroom instruction since last August 24th.
In other news, our construction project continues on time and under budget. Our construction folks were only delayed about a week when we had that cold spell around the third week of February. Fortunately, those types of issues were built into the schedule. Building footers should be in the pour process by the time you read this. This summer will be an exciting time as progress will continue to move forward swiftly. I remember well, spending many days of my fourth-grade year watching an overpass built outside my second story classroom window. In some respects, I get to relive my youth as I have a front row seat from my office. The windows occasionally rattle and I wonder at times whether the bulldozer is coming on through the building, but I am not complaining one bit. It continues to be an exciting time at East Knox and I am grateful to be a part of it. Our students’ futures are incredibly bright thanks to you and this community.
That’s the news for now. I hope you have a great spring!
Sincerely,
Steve Larcomb
Superintendent of Schools
