The Great Bend High School gym is looking brighter these days, thanks to fresh paint. Assistant Superintendent John Popp reported on this and other projects at Monday’s USD 428 Board of Education meeting.
Great Bend Middle School had its gym floor refinished this summer. There are new boilers at GBHS and GBMS. The middle school also has new security cameras and the concrete entry was redone.
At Eisenhower Elementary, the “U drive” was redone with new concrete, and a playground swing was replaced. Meanwhile, the Great Bend Recreation Commission is adding a basketball court to the park across the street, which is used by the school.
These are some of the projects funded by a capital outlay mill levy. Roofs, parking lots and HVAC systems are typical capital outlay projects. Next year’s proposed budget calls for 8 mills for capital outlay, estimated to raise $110,00 more than last year.
The board reviewed the schedule of possible capital outlay projects and estimated costs.
Fire panels need to be replaced in all of the district buildings, Popp said. “We’re going to start trying to get the elementary schools done this year, and then the middle school and high school will come after that. We’re going to try to work on some classroom doors at Lincoln School.”
Park School had about a third of its roof replaced after the 2023 storm and the rest of the roof needs to be replaced. The district is also looking at possible roof replacement at Riley Elementary.
“The high school, I have budgeted $700,000 to look at the major HVAC replacements (for) the auditorium and the gym. These would be big jobs, and we’ve been saying we need to take a look at them for several years now. They are still operational, so it kind of makes it feel like it’s not urgent. But as soon as it becomes not operational, that’s going to feel like a real urgent thing to get fixed,” he said.
“I have put in here $700,000 for tearing down Washington,” Popp continued. That price included razing the 1900 portion of the former school and building back restrooms for the adjoining Parent Teacher Resource Center. Tearing down the older part of Washington with no new construction would be around $400,00, or the board could decide not to do anything with the building.
“So overall, I have $3.1 million budgeted to be spent this year. I do not think that we will spend that much money but that’s if we did all of these projects.” He said some things can be delayed, but roofs and parking lots will only get worse if not addressed.
