ENON — After four years of planning and construction, Greenon Local School District held a community open house and a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their new K-12 campus in Enon.
More than 300 people came to get the first look at the $50.6 million school.
Darrin Knapke, Greenon Local School District Superintendent, told News Center 7′s Michael Gordon that he is excited about the state-of-the-art facility.
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“We are very excited about our [chemistry] labs at the high school level, to the moveable walls throughout the high school and elementary side, to the court yards being a vital part of this,” Knapke said.
The new school’s design also includes state-of-the-art security features. Several classrooms have panic buttons installed to allow teachers to trigger an alarm in case of an emergency. Dennis Henry, Greenon School Board member, said the panic buttons help in instances when there is an intruder on campus.
“The ratio is for every minute we slow down the intruder you can save three lives and that was our philosophy: slow them down as much as you can because we cannot prevent everything,” Henry said.
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Courtyards and green spaces were also included in the design to help with students and staff’s mental health. Abby West, an incoming junior, said she thinks the spaces will help students and staff.
“I think it will help people and help them learn better [by] having different environments, and being able to see friends and talk to them when they have some free time,” West said.
Just under 1,600 students will return to the new school for in-person classes on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
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