Pickett County Schools will begin renovating the bathrooms at Pickett County High School later this summer.
Pickett County Director of Schools Diane Elder said preliminary camera work for the plumbing has been completed. Elder said the major portion of the project is set to begin sometime in July.
“It’s been something we’ve hoped to be able to do, and now the time is here, so I’m excited for the students and the employees of the high school to walk in next fall, and it either be taking place or it be finished,” Elder said.
Elder said renovation will consist of a new plumbing system and a brand new bathroom interior. Elder said the company doing the project has assured the school board that if the project lingers into the start of the next school year that they would be able to work around it.
“Our students may have to go instead of going to the restroom in one hall, they may have to go to another hall to use the restroom, but there shouldn’t be any problem with that,” Elder said.
When the school board began the process of renovating the plumbing for the bathrooms, many vapes were found in the septic system. Elder said she hopes students will respect the bathrooms once they are finished.
“We hope they don’t go in and, you know, write graffiti all over the walls and the petitions, but that’s an issue that we will just have to deal with,” Elder said. “I hope they take pride in it. We have what I consider the best students in the state, and I think they will, and I put my confidence in them.”
Elder said the bathroom renovation could very well be the first step of a larger renovation project that the school board and county commission have been discussing over the last several months.
“If the board decides to go forward with the renovation project, this will be the first step, but that will be a meeting to be held in the future as to whether or not they want to go forward with the overall renovation,” Elder said.
