GLASGOW – Sunbeams radiated from the skylight and throughout the oval room as Barren County School District Superintendent Bo Matthews ceremonially cut the red ribbon commemorating the district’s new central office Thursday.

Matthews posed for photos with project supporters as others watched through floor-to-ceiling glass panels enveloping the meeting room. Later, people milled through the surrounding hallway and into district employees’ spacious offices, where natural light shone on maroon furniture through equally large windows.

The new, state-of-the-art central office at 600 Trojan Way was a long time coming, Matthews said. Since district staff moved into their previous Glasgow Square residence in 1965, student enrollment has climbed from 1,300 to 5,200, and part and full-time staffing has also increased from 210 to 1,200.

“We had just outgrown the infrastructure,” Matthews said. “The support staff that it takes to operate the district grew beyond the walls of our central office.”

The central office project cost $4,790,657, according to Joe Murley, Barren County School District finance director. This figure excludes the costs of the property itself and Trojan Center, the building across the street that will house additional district staff, a districtwide pre-school and child care spaces, he said.

The ultimate goal of the project was to remain “fiscally responsible” out of consideration for the taxpayer money being spent, said Shelly Groce, Barren County Board of Education chairperson.

“This has been a goal for a lot of years,” Groce said. “We hate to leave the Square, but this building is amazing. It will serve our students and our community hopefully for years to come.”

The board decided to take on the project after years of consideration. Other facility needs always took precedence, Matthews said.

“It just never was the right time, wasn’t the right opportunity,” he said. “But we were finally able to do it, we’re ready to put a checkmark on it, we’re ready to move onto what’s next because it’s what we do in Barren County Schools.”

To give back, the building will be available as a meeting space for community organizations, he said.

The Board of Education contracted Alliance Corp. and RBS Design as project architects. RBS Design President Craig Thomas said the board was involved in every step of the design process, with the goal of creating a synergic space for innovation and collaboration.

Matthews was pleased with the result.

“Being able to see daylight and what the clouds look like today, it does something for the spirit, and we’re just really appreciative of everything that’s been designed in this building,” he said.

The new office will reap benefits for the entire community by showcasing the value of the Barren County school system, said Maureen Carpenter, Barren County Economic Authority president and CEO.

“One of the things when we’re working to recruit industry or talking to our existing industry is being able to reach out to the school system and say, ‘Hey, we have a great partner that’s out here to develop our students to be your future employees and to work with them now,’ ” Carpenter said. “This is a very well-deserved reward.”