Over the years, the Fayette County Board of Education has partnered with Carrol Daniel Construction to renovate sections of McIntosh, such as adding the Skywalk, which connects the main building to the foreign language and science building. The most recent plan for capital improvements, which began in 2023, was to build an auxiliary gym, add tennis courts, create a new baseball stadium, add new football concession stands as well as expanding the existing golf cart parking lot.
Most of these plans have been completed, or are about to be. The new baseball stadium ribbon cutting was on Feb. 10 and the McIntosh tennis team tryouts were held on their new courts. According to Assistant Principal and Athletic Director Dr. Jason Carrera, the new auxiliary gym is anticipated to open in early March 2026.
So while McIntosh spring sports teams are getting settled in their new spaces, construction is still making it difficult for students to park, and learn, on campus.
“Parking is very cramped. And the road is very accident prone due to a lot of the construction and uneven parking spots. It makes it really hard to park correctly and safely around other students. Today when my friend and I were coming into the parking lot, and tried to squeeze between two golf carts. [This] resulted in a funny accident that I hope will not happen again,” sophomore Taylor Buckingham said.
There have not only been issues with vehicles not fitting into spots. Driving into and through the golf cart parking lot itself has also become an issue.
“The only issue I have with parking that I’ve seen with my friends and their golf carts [is that] the space that is being taken up in the golf cart parking lot has created a thin entry road and lots of traffic from the limited amount of spots,” junior Vincent Blaze said.
Golf cart and car drivers have both been affected when it comes to parking spots, but students also say that the noise that comes from the construction is distracting during instruction time, even during a state-issued benchmark for English.
“[The construction] is really loud when I’m in class. I mainly hear them when I’m in English and the construction workers talk really loud, and sometimes put music on while we’re doing the DSC [benchmark testing]. I lose focus when someone is talking or making loud noises,” junior Pearl Landeros said.
Since construction has caused a multitude of issues, is the end in sight? The short answer, according to Dr. Carrera, is no.
“Having [construction] out of here 100%, we’re probably talking next year. Pieces are starting to finish up each and every day so it will look a lot different when kids return to school next year. It’ll look a lot different at graduation and it’ll look a lot different in a couple of months,” Jason Carrera said.
