What does the future look like for Covington Schools?

Covington Independent Public Schools’ reassessment of its facilities has entered its next phase, shifting from analysis by professional consultants to actual decision-making about the possibility of either closing some schools or, at the very least, reorganizing the district.

The assessment began following a proposal from district staff in 2023 to consolidate some of the district’s elementary schools.

The board of education heard a presentation from the contracted architects, SHP, on Thursday. No official action was taken at the meeting, but Board President Tom Haggard emphasized that this signified a transition in the process.

“It’s not the end of this,” Haggard said at the meeting. “It’s really SHP passing on the baton to us now so that we can really figure out what it is that we want to do. It would fall to [the] planning committee to really start taking a lot of this and figuring out what does it really mean, and what’s the timing of this going to be? How do we do some of those logistical things?”

The planning process has been going on for over a year. The proposal presented to the board in 2023 called for the closure of 9th District Elementary and the redistricting of its students to curb costs amid declining student enrollment.

This proposal proved to be unpopular among district families, however, and the board eventually tabled a vote on the proposal to explore alternatives.

The district contracted with architectural firm SHP to lead the planning process. Starting in early 2024, SHP began gathering information about the district through community focus groups and the establishment of a community advisory team, which met six times between April 2024 and January 2025.

The process explored the values and aspirations of community families (and their students) and also assessed the potential financial implications of various proposed changes. Additionally, SHP also assessed each building’s effectiveness as an instructional facility and assigned it numerical scores. Other assessments included projections on overall student enrollment, which are still predicted to decline.

Several insights came out of the process: First, families advocated for a full-day preschool service across the district. Secondly, while some leaned towards closing the 9th District, about half of all individuals who took part in the process did not want any elementary schools to close.

Additionally, families generally expressed a desire to keep the district’s current neighborhood-based structure, rather than converting to specialty academies focused on particular subjects, like STEM or the arts. As an alternative, there was a desire among district families for what was dubbed an innovation hub at the Holmes campus, where students could study in-demand jobs in technology and science that weren’t offered in conventional classrooms.

The board held a working session in February to examine what SHP had found through the process and consider options. That session came away with a handful of ways the district could reorganize. SHP presented three new options – viewable below – on Thursday, based on feedback they’d received in February. Several options featured the closure and repurposing of the 9th District into a preschool program.

Boardmember Stephen Gastright, who works professionally as an architect, had been especially involved in the process. At the meeting, he laid out what some of the goals of the reorganization were, especially when it came to enrollment competition with other districts.

“We want to at least be as competitive as the county we’re in,” Gastright said.

According to Gastright, Kenton County Schools currently have about 82% of county families choosing to send their students to the county district, compared to 75% for Covington elementary schools and 60% for the high school.

“When we’re looking at our elementary population, if we got to that 82% could we still fit all those kids in four elementaries versus five?” Gastright said. “I think this study allowed us to say, ‘yes, if we consolidate an elementary and achieve a capture rate we’ve had comparable to our county, we would still be able to have all of our kids in schools.'”

Gastright also discussed the possibility of eventually providing expanding full-day preschool services in the district. Currently, the district only offers pre-K to families with qualifying income and students with IEPs.

Repurposing a closed elementary for preschool, Gastright said, “really sets us up to both consider tuition models and eventually a full-day program when that becomes financially viable. I think we would all agree that a full day preschool program would help prepare our kids.”

Boardmember Kareem Simpson said he was interested in seeing “what’s the economic impact on us, on each one of these options at a high level.”

The board and planning committee will continue discussing the future of the district’s facilities at future meetings.

You can read and download SHP’s full summary of its findings below. You can also learn more about the master facilities plan at futurecovingtonschools.com.