While housing a larger preschool for Great Bend USD 428 is the first priority for the recently acquired CUNA Mutual campus on 24th Street, Superintendent Khris Thexton said the District Education Center and the Barton County Special Services Cooperative could also be housed there in the future.
The school district was set to close on the property at 1809 24th St. on Thursday. The school board approved acquiring the property in September.
Meanwhile, preparation for construction/remodeling continues at the 625 East 10th St. property the district purchased last April.
CUNA campus
Thexton said the administrators are just starting to meet with architects in regard to the 24th St. property. The district wants to have a preschool that could be available to all 4-year-old children in Great Bend and to preschool children of all USD 428 employees. At present, USD 428 has Helping Hands Preschool, Riley Elementary Preschool and Little Panthers Preschool.
The second priority for the property would be to have a preschool that could also accommodate 3-year-old children as well, Thexton said.
After that, he would like to see Special Services move there, allowing the district to tear down the portion of the Washington Early Education Center that is more than 100 years old. The district would keep the newer part of the building, he said.
Last on the priority list would be moving the district office from the property at 201 South Patton Road.
Combined with the project on East 10th Street, the district could eventually get rid of the District Education Center at 201 S. Patton Road, the Central Kitchen at 2201 Broadway Ave., the oldest part of the Washington Education Center at 2535 Lakin Ave., and the Maintenance, Transportation & Grounds Building at 2019 12th St.
10th Street property
Currently, most of the work going on at the East 10th Street building is demolition, Assistant Superintendent John Popp said. “Pretty soon the construction will start.”
While there are “a whole lot of holes” in portions of the concrete, they also found the asphalt that is nearly 8 inches thick and will provide a good base.
Other projects
The updates on projects were presented at last Monday’s school board meeting. At that time, Thexton also reported on a sewer line repair at Great Bend Middle School. “They found a chunk of sewer line was gone,” he said.
ComfortPro will begin plumbing next week when students are out of school.
Another project that is moving forward is the replacement of locks on buildings with a new key card system.
Background
In April, the school board voted to purchase the property at 625 East 10th St., owned by Central Power Systems & Services, for $1,550,000. The plan is to renovate the site to house the maintenance, transportation, custodial and grounds services. Eventually, the district will vacate the Food Services building on Broadway Ave. and the maintenance building on 12th Street.
Then in September, the board approved the acquisition of the CUNA Mutual Group property at 1809 24th St. The approved purchase price was $1.3 million, after CUNA Mutual offered a $2.7 million donation off the valuation price of more than $4 million.
At the time, Superintendent Thexton told the school board that the CUNA campus “provides a beautiful, well-maintained facility, but also a wonderful opportunity.”
“We can address our top priority of increasing capacity for early childhood education and also explore consolidating various department and services under one roof to work more efficiently,” he said.
