Five-in-Five: Interview With Jefferson County Schools’ Michael Phagan

The Jefferson County Post recently caught up with Jefferson County Department of Education Director of Business Affairs Michael Phagan for a five question in five minute interview.

JCP-The School Board just hired a construction manager for the new White Pine School renovation project (Burwill) and a familiar face, Tony Petitt, will be overseeing the project. Can you give me a time line?

MP-I am expecting to ink the contract with Burwill very soon and then we will be going out for a mini bid package for demo and erection of a wall to separate the kitchen from the cafeteria this fall. Portable will be moved the first few weeks of school and students that will have to be relocated will be relocated around Labor Day.

JCP- New lights on the football field, are they complete?

MP-Drilling work, setting bases, concrete and electrical work is being done or has been done now. The lights arrived Thursday and will be erected this week, so they should be up and running very soon. We are running about 2 ½ weeks ahead of schedule and everything will be ready in time for kickoff.

JCP-You just presented to the County Commission, at their request, a capital projects out look that is in the range of around $29 million dollars. That document has some long range projects but I noticed that Rush Strong sewer was on the list. What is the situation there?

MP-Some work has been done on the sewer at Rush Strong School and there are some historical issues with the plant that are brought on by routing issues. We are in contact with the State and will be presenting what we have done and the progress that we have made, in writing, to them. We will monitor the situation through the school year to see what impact the changes have made.

JCP-Will there be anything new with buses this year?

MP- I really don’t expect any issues with school bus routes at the start of school this year. We have partially completed the paving at JCHS, at least what has the most impact on the buses, and so flow should be good. There could need to be some adjustments done at White Pine School at fall break due to construction but to start school everything should be good.

JCP- I know that there was some question of a possible school calender change to accommodate construction at White Pine. Is that still on the table and is there anything else that parents, students and the community might want to know before the first day of school?

MP- Actually, we were able to rework some things so we will not be requesting a calender change at this time. Things should run as expected. We made sufficient progress over the summer and students, parents and the community will notice that there has been renovation work done on the JCHS football stadium and bathrooms. Those projects should be ready by the first home game, which will be nice for Patriot fans. The bathrooms at the stadium have needed work for some time and it will be a great improvement to get that job finished.

The Jefferson County Post would like to thank Director Phagan for taking the time to answer a few questions that are of interest to our readers. We know that the start of school is a busy time of year for the Department of Education and wish students, teachers and staff a safe, productive new school year.