The Daviess County Public Schools Board of Education responded positively to renderings they were shown of Apollo High School’s upcoming expansion. The designs were presented to the board by RBS Design Group at Tuesday’s board luncheon.
The RBS renderings revealed what they called a fairly accurate portrayal of the new building’s layout at AHS, which is expected to offer 26 classrooms, two separate wings and a second floor.
Mike Ranney, principal architect for RBS Design Group, said his team traveled with Superintendent Matt Robbins to have a face-to-face meeting with Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) officials regarding the designs for both the AHS addition and the Daviess County Middle School property. That meeting went very well, Ranney said.
The last eight weeks have been very busy for RBS as they’ve been meeting with teachers and staff at AHS to revitalize and refine floor plans, determine fixture and furniture layouts, and develop sections and elevations for the new building.
The new addition will house 26 classrooms to replace those in the upstairs pods of the existing building as well as new engineering and agricultural departments. In front of the building’s main entrance will be an outdoor amphitheater. A new parking lot will be constructed and pathways will be built to bridge the new addition to the rest of the school and to the parking lot.
Ranney said a fence will likely be built between the new building and the gymnasium to redirect pedestrian traffic to the gym during construction.
During construction students will enter the school from the parking lot through the gym and a temporary office will be set up for visitors.
In the next phase of renovation, AHS will double the parking in front of the school for those who are attending events.
“We’ll lose some of that green space for additional parking spots,” Robbins said.
Board Chair Tom Payne said he was impressed with the new structure’s curb appeal.
“For the first time in a long time, it has the look of timelessness,” he said. “It’s extremely handsome and deserving of our students who call that home.”
The board will approve the design development drawings at Thursday night’s board meeting. Ranney said RBS was hoping to come back to the board for approval of construction documents in February or March 2020. Construction should begin sometime in May, he said.
The entire project should take 14-15 months and be completed by Aug. 1, 2021. AHS’ entire renovation process, which includes some construction and renovation on the inside of the school, should cost a little over $22 million.
