Building renovations underway in Borden-Henryville
Jul. 19—CLARK COUNTY — Borden-Henryville School Corp. is in the process of completing building renovations across the district.
The district is installing new solar panels, lighting and flooring at both the Borden and Henryville campuses. The facility projects will be supported with nearly $20 million in bonds.
"We're going to provide the best educational experience and the best facilities possible for our kids...while being financially responsible to our taxpayers," Borden-Henryville Superintendent Johnny Budd said.
The move to solar is expected to save the district $7.5 million dollars over the next 25 years, according to Budd.
The solar panels are already installed at Borden High School and Borden Elementary. As energy costs increase, the solar panels will allow Borden-Henryville to maintain consistent energy costs, Budd said.
The district is putting in more than 5,000 new LED lights and replacing old carpets with hard surfaces that will be easier to clean and sanitize, he said.
The facility updates will not raise rates for taxpayers, and the tax will remain at 80 cents, according to Budd. Borden-Henryville's rate is the lowest in southeastern Indiana, he said.
When work is complete at the Borden campus, renovations will begin in August to replace lighting and install solar panels in Henryville. The flooring has already been placed at both campuses.
In addition to the cost savings, the switch to solar power will have an educational component as students learn about green energy and solve math problems, Budd said.
"There will be a lot of hands-on, project-based learning and STEM lessons that teachers will be able to use with that solar panel as a focus," he said.
Monitors in the schools will show how much energy the panels are producing on a daily basis.
"You can see exactly how many kilowatts of power those have generated," Budd said. "Kids can say, well, what does a kilowatt cost, so there's a lot of math problems they can solve, and they can actually calculate the savings for the day, the week or the month.
Borden-Henryville Board President Myra Powell said the district is "trying to be more energy efficient and cost conscious for taxpayers" while improving the facilities for students.
Other facility projects include updates to athletic fields at both campuses and the replacement of the pipe system at the Borden campus.
The Borden campus has not seen significant renovations for 20 years, Powell said.
The district is also considering additional upgrades in Borden-Henryville over the next couple years. Budd is planning to work with the school board and seek community input to consider "what will have the biggest impact for our students."
"We have the capacity to go out and bond or borrow a lot of money and to do upgrades," he said. "Our facilities have just been neglected over last several years a little bit, and being our own entity now, we're able to take care of ourselves."
