Nelson County public hearing records broad community support for district facility plan emphasizing 6–12 campuses and CTE expansion

BARDSTOWN, Ky. — Nelson County held a local public hearing in June 2025 on the district's District Facility Plan (DFP), a facilities roadmap that would move toward two 6-through-12 campus models, repurpose older school buildings for career and technical education (CTE), and fund multiple renovation and site projects across the district.

The hearing officer, James Nighoff, opened the session by noting the hearing was convened under 702 KAR 4:180 and that the DFP had been advertised and made available to the public. He read a summary of the plan approved by the local planning committee and previously approved by the Nelson County Board of Education on 05/20/2025.

The plan's core elements include converting Nelson County High School and Thomas Nelson High School campuses into sixth-through-twelfth grade centers, demolishing a 1969 wing and building new classroom, lab and support space, repurposing the Old Kentucky Home building and Bloomfield Middle School for CTE programs, and smaller classroom and accessibility renovations at New Haven and Cox's Creek elementary schools. The summary read into the record specified square-foot figures for the larger projects: demolition of a 1969 section (59,735 sq. ft.), new construction at Nelson County High of 48,152 sq. ft., new construction at Thomas…