Editor’s note: This is the second of two stories about a school board meeting held Monday at Great Bend USD 428’s District Education Center. It was the board’s second work session this year on long-range planning.
School safety is the number one priority for Great Bend USD 428 Board of Education members, board president Joyce Carter said Monday. Judging from feedback, it’s also the top priority for community members.
The board held work sessions on Jan. 30 and again this week to discuss long-range planning.
The list that was created after the first meeting, which was printed in the Feb. 26 issue of the Great Bend Tribune, was discussed on Monday.
“Don’t think of this as a final list,” interim superintendent Khris Thexton said.
The list includes safe rooms at schools, crossing guards at 10th and Grant and 10th and McKinley, improved traffic flow before and after school at Lincoln and Jefferson, and seat belts on buses.
“I think safety should be at the top of the list,” said board member Dr. Larry Kutina.
Maintenance of facilities is also important to the community, Carter said.
Thexton said administrators had several suggestions along those lines.
“The locker rooms at the high school have not been touched in a number of years,” he said. Administrators would like to see new LED lighting at the football stadium, which would cost about $190,000, as well as LED lighting and a new sound system for the GBHS Auditorium.
Board members also said the bus barn downtown has problems that should be addressed. But they aren’t convinced that a new bus barn/maintenance building is needed.
“There are other options,” Thexton said. However, the district does own land adjoining the District Education Center at 201 S. Patton Road, which would bring the cost of new construction down considerably.
Board members Cheryl Rugan and Chris Umphres expressed interest in better playground equipment and surfaces.
For all of these issues, Rugan said, the board needs more information about the cost. “We need an expert.”
Other ideas
One improvement on the list that is already scheduled to happen is the addition of water bottle filling stations at water fountains. Thexton said there are plans for three at the high school, two at the middle school and one at each elementary school.
Concern was expressed that Barton Community College’s new competitive swim program might reduce GBHS swim team members’ access to the pool. USD 428 has 10 years left on a 12-year agreement to use the pool at the college.
Carter asked about one item not on the list, GBHS ag instructor Kevin Hoff’s dream of a school farm near the high school, as reported in the Feb. 26 Tribune. However, Thexton said there won’t be GBHS livestock in town. The district is looking at a garden, not a farm, on lots south of the school, an idea that is being discussed with City Administrator Howard Partington.
Other items being discussed with the city include adding a school liaison officer at Great Bend Middle School, hiring a truancy monitor and hiring certified medical assistants to help school nurses.
The board is also interested in expanding the one-to-one technology initiative, which has made one Chromebook available to each student through grade six. Lower grades are currently two-to-one, with two students for each Chromebook in grades 2-5 and iPads in grades K-1.
