Superintendent Lance Hatch took time on the Carbon School District weekly update to speak about how the upcoming school improvement bond would benefit Carbon High School. The enhancements would include improving student safety, incorporate additional classroom space, expand the parking area, as well as, some mechanical and general upgrades are needed.

“Carbon High was built in 1960 and there is some major issues we need to address there. So, the majority of the bond $26 million is dedicated to Carbon High School and addressing those needs. Our number one priority issue has to do with student safety and classroom space,” said Superintendent Hatch. Right now, there are a few modular buildings that have been set up behind the school to accommodate the much needed classroom space the school is lacking and it’s because of this that the back entrance of the school is left unsecured.

“So, we really need to bring those classes into the facility so that we can secure the perimeter and have a single point of entry and that is the recommendation across the nation is to have a single point of entry that goes through the office. So, another challenge for Carbon High is that the office is in the middle of the building and so a significant change needs to be made and we’re proposing a major addition and renovation to the school,” stated Superintendent Hatch. What school officials are looking to do is to enclose the outdoor courtyard to accommodate the need for a front-facing office and additional classroom space.

With the school’s enrollment growing each year, this has put the parking lot situation at its capacity. “We’ve dedicated $3 million of the bond toward that parking issue but what we want to do is move the transportation department, anyone who has been over at the high school you see all the busses parked that’s quite an area, by moving the transportation department we can almost double the parking at Carbon High. On top of that we’re going to have some studies done to address the flow of the traffic,” explained Superintendent Hatch. Between the additional parking space and the new flow, both will greatly improve the traffic at the high school.

Last by definitely not least is the mechanical and general upgrades that are needed at the school. “Some of the things that we need to do aren’t very flashy we have an old boiler system and you know its noisy, and its inefficient, it doesn’t work well and we want to replace that with rooftop units that are efficient that would do the heating and the air conditioning at the same time,” said Superintendent Hatch.

It has been almost 20 years since Carbon County has been approached for a school improvement bond. This year the voting process will take place via U.S. Postal Service. The ballots went out on October 15 and should hit mailboxes on October 16-17 with the election on November 15. Voters interested in supporting the Carbon High and Helper Middle School projects will vote “FOR” the bond and follow ballot instructions to submit their vote through the mail.

To learn more about the Carbon School District Bond Election visit their website at https://sites.google.com/view/carbonschooldistrictbond2019/home