Allen County-Scottsville High School students are settling into a new $3 million science wing, which opened Jan. 3.

Most of the wing’s 12 classrooms are packed with modern science equipment, like lab stations with natural gas, water and sinks. Cabinetry and storage areas are also abundant, according to Greg Dunn, the school’s principal.

The wing features a life-science lab with tables where students sit for lectures, dissections and experiments. The lab’s perimeter consists of counters with gas, water and mirrors. All of the science rooms have a demonstration table with gas and water for the wing’s six science teachers to dabble in chemistry, physics and biology, Dunn said.

The high school, which has about 950 students, was built in 1969.

Ground was broken on the new wing in the fall of 2005. It’s nearly a mirror image of another wing completed in 1994, which has 10 classrooms. The wings share a lobby, with a small classroom in between for driver’s education courses. Another phase is also planned to eventually renovate the rest of the building, which is still stuck in the 1960s, Dunn said.

Media teacher Lisa Logsdon has one of the largest classrooms in the new wing. The extra storage and electrical access for computer and video equipment is a stark contrast to her old, smaller classroom.

&#8220I was constantly having to plug and unplug things. I was tripping over wires and chairs a lot,” she said. &#8220It wasn’t terrible, it was just very cramped.”

The cluttered conditions compounded stressful teaching times, said Logsdon, who helps students broadcast the school’s announcements and publish the school’s newspaper and yearbook.

&#8220Now the message has been sent to them that media is important. For me, it’s been a real morale booster,” Logsdon said.

The media center will get another boost when a new computer lab, replete with a new line of Apple computers, is completed soon, she said.

A new media center is also being installed at Franklin Elementary School, where a $4.4 million renovation project, which began in the spring, should be ready for students by Aug. 1.

The old media center consisted of two classrooms with a double door between them.

In addition, office areas and front classrooms are getting an upgrade, according to Frank Schwab, assistant superintendent of Simpson County Schools.

He said the elementary school, which houses about 400 pupils, &#8220is still pretty rough,” as preschoolers have resided in mobile units behind the school for a while.

The whole facility, constructed in the 1950s, is getting a makeover – a new facade, energy-efficient windows, heating and air conditioning, lighting, and tiling to replace the asbestos in the old cafeteria.

&#8220It was an urgent-needs building,” Schwab said.

The state determined it was one of Kentucky’s older school buildings. Thus, a vastly renovated facility will ensure &#8220equity for all,” he said.