Paducah Public Schools shares progress on construction projects

PADUCAH — Superintendent Donald Shively provided updates on two district construction projects at a Paducah Public Schools Board of Education meeting Monday.

Construction on the district’s solar field project is in its final phase, while demolition and the first phase of construction has begun on Paducah Tilghman High School’s culinary lab project. Shively said he had a meeting on Monday with Paducah Power System, a community partner on the solar field project.

“We believe that we will be hooking up within the next three weeks, being live and producing energy,” Shively said. “That’s part of that Department of Energy grant that everybody looks at, but there’s other pieces that we’re super excited about. That spot is close in proximity to the Innovation Hub. As we’re getting students ready for solar energy, clean energy and engineering, that becomes a spot where we can see real-world application of all three of those. That’s a field trip for us. We’ve taken that, along with some additional funds from the grant, to create inquiry-based, project-based learning around the curriculum specific to electricity and clean energy in mostly fourth and seventh grade. So our students are getting a hands-on, real-world example.”

The roughly $860,000 project is funded by a Department of Energy grant received in the fall of 2024. The solar field is being built on the former site of the Forest Hills school building and will feed into the Paducah Power System.

Shively said while the district originally hoped to have the high school’s kitchens lab updated for a culinary program as part of the school’s family consumer science pathway by the beginning of the 2026-2027 school year, the project ended up more costly and time consuming than initially expected. He said while the project was originally estimated at around $500,000, by the time it was initiated, the estimate was closer to $900,000. Shively added that the current focus is having it completed by the 2027-2028 school year.

In the first phase of the project, there has been demolition, emphasis on installing gas hookups and doing electrical work to get the lab up to current codes, Shively said.

“As we’ve met with business partners, our community partners on our advisory boards, culinary is an area that our kids need to be ready for workforce-wise,” Shively said. “We have an original 1956 kitchen and we were able last year to purchase equipment to upgrade. However, since 1956, there’s been a little bit of change in building codes, so getting a 21st century kitchen together is going to take a little bit more time than we anticipated. […] It’s a huge opportunity. I think everybody sees in Paducah that people drive here to eat, and then there’s a wealth of opportunities through entrepreneurism in that field. We’re just trying to listen to our community and our business partners, and get kids ready for work here in Paducah by design and not by chance.”

Shively said the upgraded equipment was purchased with state grant funds from the 2025-2026 fiscal year and more than the first third of the project cost is being paid for with state grant funds from the 2026-2027 fiscal year.

A new school resource officer was also sworn in for the Paducah Public Schools district. Judge Deanna Henschel swore in Officer Michael Turman, who will serve as an SRO at Paducah Middle School.