The Providence School wrestles with temperature, maintenance issues in old buildings as staff hope for full-scale …

A lot has changed over the years at 210 S. Lexington Ave. in Wilmore. A school that once housed all of the citys students from youngest to oldest has seen buildings, names and student populations come and go over eight decades. The campus has once again housed students of all different ages at separate times recently as it transitioned from Wilmore Elementary School to Jessamine Early Learning Village to The Providence School.

The things that have stayed the same are marks of pride for the city: The site has always been home to students right in the heart of the community, and the buildings in use today contain the same hallways many walked through 50, 60 or 70 years ago. But with history comes a price, and that price for The Providence School has been a fair share of maintenance issues in the old buildings for students and staff to sweat through recently.

The school district has patched problems in the school as theyve come up, but with a new facilities plan on the horizon, the age and condition of the Providence building could put it right at the top of the list for major renovation projects in the coming years.

Providence, which is the districts alternative middle and high school and houses about 150 students, opened in 2002 at a building on Computrex Drive in north Nicholasville. When the Jessamine Early Learning Village moved from the campus on SouthLexington Avenue in Wilmore to the old East Jessamine Middle School in 2010, the administration announced that Providence would move to the old JELV building in less than a year.

Part of that building on South Lexington Avenue is the oldest school still in use in Jessamine County. The stone structure on the south side, called the Roberts Wing, used to be one of three stone buildings in a U shape to make up the Wilmore School. The Roberts Wing was built in 1938, according to district records, with the current building completed with additions in 1960 and 1972 and some renovation work performed in 1987 and 2007. The next-oldest structure still in use as a public school in Jessamine County is the oldest part of Nicholasville Elementary School, which was constructed in 1943. That school underwent a comprehensive renovation during the 2012-2013 school year.

Providence principal Denise Adams, who opened the school in 2002 and oversaw the move to Wilmore, said it was clear the old buildings would need a renovation in terms of ventilation and electrical systems. Adams retired in July; her successor, Charlanne Pook, said the breaker boxes are full and cant accommodate any additional technology.

Its just hard to run a 21st-century school in a building that was designed and built in the 60s and 70s, Adams said. Its difficult.

Around the same time that Providences move was announced, the districts facilities plan which dictates construction priorities for the next four years or so was being developed. That plan came to the board for approval in January 2011, five months after the announcement that Providence would move.

But the plan only had one item related to the Providence building in Wilmore: some work on a science classroom as well as selected renovation for a change in student population. That item was last on the priority list.

Now in charge of the facilities as chief operating officer for the district, Val Gallutia was principal at Warner Elementary School four years ago and served on the team that developed the 2010 plan. Gallutia said the major construction projects of the new Red Oak Elementary School and comprehensive renovations to Nicholasville and Warner were the top priorities and that the unexpected move of Providence came along late in the months-long process of developing the plan. The old building in Wilmore had sat empty for a year, and administrators had signaled that it could have been sold.

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The Providence School wrestles with temperature, maintenance issues in old buildings as staff hope for full-scale ...