South Point schools taking shape

Published 12:00 am Sunday, July 29, 2007

In October, high school and middle school students at South Point will have a whole new school.

The new school building is situated on 85 acres with two landscaped courtyards and a panoramic view of the Tri-State.

A few walls and adjoining rooms act as dividers to separate the high school from the middle school.

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“We’ve got 142,000 square feet of space,” said Ken Cook, superintendent of South Point Schools. “We’re going to have state-of-the-art technology.”

The school will have wireless as well as wired Internet connections, high tech science labs and larger classrooms.

“The big thing is the technology,” he said. “There will be interactive light boards in every room.”

In choosing the design, officials visited several buildings in the state and worked with architects McDonald, Cassel, Basset of Columbus.

One of the interesting features of the two-story building is that both the lower and upper levels are at ground level.

Some of the classrooms overlook the courtyard and all classrooms have a view.

A weight room is situated near the gymnasium and locker rooms are upstairs.

Several science rooms including a biology lab, science prep room and chemistry room — all state-of-the-art — are part of the new building.

Both the high school and the middle school will have computer labs. The vocal and instrumental music rooms are designed with acoustics to reduce noise and improve sound performance.

Students with instruments will have special lockers in the instrumental music room.

“The thing about this music room is that it is next door to the stage,” Cook said.

The cafeteria will be dual-duty with a stage for performing and seating for 600 people.

“The cafeteria is the common connector to the middle and high schools,” he said. “The middle school pretty much mirrors the high school.”

With the natural surroundings, a creek and woods at the school, science teachers will have a lot of resources, he said.

A reservoir for water storage in case of fire is underground in the back of the school.

The high school basketball gymnasium has 1,800 seats including a mezzanine.

The schools have separate media rooms that appear to be one room over the front entrance to the building.

Outside, a baseball field and place to shot put and throw discus are being built. The football stadium surrounded by an eight-lane track has home seating for 2,500 people and visitors’ seating for 1,000.

Aluminum like wrought iron fencing will be around the football field.

Completion date for the school is scheduled for Oct. 2.

“The nice thing about this school is you’re two or three minutes out of the traffic,” Cook said. “It’s so peaceful and quiet up here.”