LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Academy at Shawnee is Jefferson County Public School’s (JCPS) largest high school building but attendance is a fraction of the district’s most well-attended schools.

What You Need To Know

  • Renovations planned for the Academy at Shawnee

  • $40M will be used to fix the condemned third floor and other areas

  • Renovations hope to be completed by summer 2021

  • JCPS hopes to see enrollment increase with the renovations

 

That’s because for 40 years the entire third floor of the building has been condemned; but not for long. 

“This place is special to me. Anytime you start your career somewhere, this place is special to me," JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Polio said Tuesday. 

Polio started his teaching career at the formerly-called Shawnee High School on Louisville's far west side. Even then the third floor was vacant from any instruction. 

“And they said that floor is condemned and I could not understand how we could possibly have a school building with a condemned floor," Polio recalls. 

He says in 1982 voters declined to raise property taxes to salvage the third floor but now 39 years later the district is well on its way to rehabbing the entire third floor as well as other declining areas of the building. 

"I remember walking into this job as interim principal and said if I accomplish nothing else, one thing I was going to fix was the wrong that was done in 1981 to this school and to this community."

$40 million will restore more than 50-thousands square feet of space on the third floor. This is the most intensive portion of renovation and is expected to be finished by the end of summer 2021.

The school is also restoring its Olympic-sized swimming pool. It hasn't held water in several years. The cafeteria is adding a "Seniors Lounge," as well. The expectation is the improvements at Shawnee will eventually lead to a large increase in student attendance which has lagged for years. Currently, school attendance is around 500 students which is about half the size of the county's average high school attendance. 

Jefferson County Board of Education Chair Diane Porter said this Tuesday, “Our students deserve this renovated building. I’m proud to see the work on the third floor as we say to our students this floor will be open to use very soon."

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