LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The halls of Academy at Shawnee High School are full of kids but just above the second floor, is where an old abandoned floor sits, covered in dust and debris.
“When I first got here, I heard there was a condemned third floor and I heard it was scary there was a lot of graffiti a lot of field mice running around dead birds,” Shawnee Principal Kym Rice said.
It's been 39 years since the third floor of the Academy of Shawnee has been used. Since then the floors have been covered in debris, chipped paint on the walls and on every inch of the floor, layers of forgotten dust!
“In 1981, enrollment had declined some and they found that floor was structurally unsound so instead of renovating it at that time, they decided to let it stay condemned and shut it off,” JCPS Dr. Marty Pollio said.
Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio was a teacher at Shawnee back in 1997. While his days are spent teaching, his mind frequently drifted off to that abandoned third floor.
“We approached it a year ago as part of a facility plan so we brought a package to our board of education last March that included building four new schools and renovating Shawnee and fixing that third floor,” Pollio said.
Shawnee joins the Academies of Louisville, and these upgrades will better reflect the upcoming changes.
“We need to add programs to the school that will attract students,” Pollio said.
Developing pathway programs like nursing, early education, and aviation by adding labs, simulators, and day care-like centers.
“Now that it’s getting fixed, I think it'll go a long way saying Shawnee is on the rise,” Pollio said.
Renovations have already started on the third floor. The entire project, as well as other upgrades to the school, will cost $40 million.
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