COVINGTON — In honor of a $19 million educational feat, Covington Schools will be holding a dedication ceremony for their new PK-8 school building on Sunday at 2 p.m. The ceremony will take place at the new school, which is located at 807 Chestnut St.
“The entire community is invited,” Gene Gooding, superintendent of Covington Schools, said. “It’s a great day for our entire community.”
The dedication ceremony will include a series of short speeches, including ones from Gooding, Project Manager Steve Miller, Covington Mayor Ed McCord, teacher Beth Humphries, Covington Board of Education President Dr. Dean Pond, and a representative from the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC).
The band will also be performing during the event, and there will also be a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Afterward, there will be light refreshments served.
“This has been a lot of work. This has taken an entire community effort,” Gooding said.
The project was co-funded by the OFCC. Its total cost — including its mutiple phases, such as engineering and construction — was approximately $19 million. The Covington school district approved a 3.89-mill levy and a 0.25 percent income tax in May 2013 in order to fund the $9 million portion of the project for which the district was responsible. That portion included $8 million for the newly constructed PK-8 school and $1 million for the renovations at the high school.
“This is one of those days we’ve been looking forward to for a long time,” Gooding said. “This building belongs to the entire community, and it’s here because of their support and dedication, and we would simply love it if they would come out and take part in the ceremony.”
It is Covington schools’ hope that the building will be able to service the community over the next coming decades.
“It’s proving our students with a state-of-the-art educational environment,” Gooding said. “We’re so happy that it’s providing a fantastic educational environment for our students, and it’s also there to service the community for any additional needs.”
Gooding said that the district has community clubs and groups that meet at their facilities, and Gooding encouraged them to continue doing so in this new school.
“This is a huge project that benefits not only kids but the entire community and that’s why we want to thank the community,” Gooding said. “We’re just so grateful to our community for providing this opportunity.”
