Great Bend USD 428’s Parent Teacher Resource Center (PTRC) will hold an open house from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. No room fees will be charged Thursday. PTRC is a workroom available to educators and the community, located on the southwest side of the Washington Early Childhood Center (the former Washington Elementary School) at 2535 Lakin Ave. For easy entry park on Washington Street close to 12th Street and look for the PTRC sign.
Few school districts have a facility comparable to the PTRC. Some 20 years ago, Steve Wolf visited Wichita and saw a resource center where teachers could find everything they needed to make posters and bulletin boards. That was the inspiration for Great Bend’s Parent Teacher Resource Center, which opened its doors in January 1997.
At the time, Wolf was director of the Great Bend USD 428’s migrant program, and he received a grant from the Migrant Education Program that was used to buy hundreds of patterns for die-cutting.
The district has continued to add to the resources. The center has 1,345 die-cut patterns, including 17 different alphabets and an assortment of mascots, shapes and borders for creative projects.
All sorts of construction paper, card stock, stickers, wiggle eyes and other craft necessities can be purchased by anyone. The price is the same for everyone, but there is a $5 an hour fee to use the workroom if it’s not a USD 428 project. They also have laminating machines, paper punches and binders.
The PTRC is open even during school breaks, although it is closed on major holidays.
Regular hours are:
Monday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Tuesday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Wednesday 12:30-4 p.m.
Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Friday, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.