Great Bend USD 428 issued an incident report after a gas leak was detected Wednesday morning near Park Elementary School. Public Relations Director Andrea Bauer reported shortly after noon, “Everything is resolved and we’re continuing with the school day as normal.”

According to the alert :

• At 11:06 a.m., USD 428 and Park Elementary received an alert from Kansas Gas Service of a gas leak in the vicinity of Park Elementary School. 

• Students were quickly moved to the playground while the school district initiated a potential relocation plan for Park students and staff to Great Bend High School.  

• A small number of classes walked to the Panther Activity Center as part of the relocation plan.

• At 11:20 a.m., Park received the “all clear” from Kansas Gas officials. All students returned to the building for lunch and to resume their school day. 

There was not a gas leak at Park, and no gas was found in the building. Kansas Gas will continue to monitor the situation.

“While this is an unexpected situation on the first day of school, staff are trained in emergency response plans and work to ensure a calm and smooth response,” the district news release stated. “We are grateful the situation was resolved quickly with minimal interruption to the school day.”