The Kenton County Schools Board of Education has approved building plans for the second phase of renovations at R.C. Hinsdale Elementary in Edgewood.
The designs, furnished by the district’s contracted architect, Newport-based Emboss Design, will serve as the primary plans for the renovations. Matt Rigg, the district’s chief operations officer, told the Board of Education Monday night that the project will go out to bid later this month, and construction will begin in May after school lets out.
Preliminary plans for the construction were approved late last year. The project is a continuation of another round of renovations that started in 2021. The project calls for the addition of parking spaces and coincides with a city of Edgewood-led realignment of the intersection at Dudley Road, Charter Oak Road and Tupman Drive, which leads into the school.
Once complete, the realignment will transform the currently uneven intersection into a true four-way. The plan also calls for a new roof and a new geothermal HVAC system for the school, renovations of the small learning pods on the campus, new restrooms and other renovations to strengthen the school’s ability to provide specialized learning interventions.
To facilitate the road project, the board approved dedicating a portion of Dudley Road to the city of Edgewood. The board also agreed to take ownership of a portion of Tupman Drive once the project is completed and accept a transfer of a parcel of land on Dudley Road from the city. No money will be exchanged for the property transfers, and the city will eventually need to vote to transfer the Dudley property.
Rigg stated the project will take about 14 months to complete, and although the construction is scheduled to begin after the students leave for the summer, it’s likely students and staff will need to be moved around during the subsequent year. Fortunately, Rigg said, the district will not need to employ mobile classrooms to accommodate the construction.
The construction will make the school’s entrance ADA-compliant and add 45 new parking spaces. The project originated in the district’s desire to address a parking problem called stacking, in which cars back up along Dudley Road, creating safety hazards.
“With the alignment of the new intersection that the city is doing and the combination of our loop, we are confident the number of cars we count on that campus each day that we’re not going to have stacking issues, not only back onto the road but on our own campus,” Rigg said.
“It’s really going to be a little bit inconvenient next year,” Superintendent Henry Webb admitted. “There’ll be staff and students moved to the gym and being moved all around, so we want to make sure we really communicate with everyone.”
District and Hinsdale staff will meet in the coming weeks to develop strategies for keeping everyone, including district families, informed about the construction process.
Check out full design renderings of the approved plans, provided by the district, below. Use the arrows to move between images.
