By Glenn Gannaway

The sign announcing upcoming construction of the new Union High School
turned the heads of motorists Monday afternoon.

The co-presidents of Union's Student Government Association, the school's
principal and the construction manager joined forces for the historic moment,
as Principal William Austin has called it.

Site clearing and the demolition of several outbuildings is the next step,
said Paul Littlefield, S.B. Ballard vice president and senior project manager.
He expects the foundations to be started in mid-April and a dried-in structure
to be up by this coming winter.

Then new school is schedule to open its doors to students, faculty and staff
in January 2014.

And while the SGA co-presidents are seniors and won't attend school in the
new building, they were happy for the classes that will follow them.

"I think it's something the kids deserve," said Chase Christian,
who lives in Appalachia. "They've needed it for a long time due to
deteriorating buildings."

"It's an honor to be part of the new school (Union), even though we
won't be attending the new facility," said Kayla Miller of Big Stone Gap.
"We're setting a high standard."

Principal William Austin praised the two young people for their leadership
in the first year of the Powell Valley Appalachia consolidation. "You
couldn't ask for two better watches people to come along at the time they did,"
Austin said.

Littlefield is the manager for the Union and Wise's Central High projects,
with Wayne Bragg supervising construction of Union.

The old home economics facility, a garage and a building now used for
storage are slated for demolition, Littlefield noted.

Taking the garage down will give buses room to drop students at the rear of
the building and exit by looping around and not interacting with parent and
student traffic.