The Geary USD 475 Board of Education has approved the selection of a construction at-risk manager for the new Junction City High School construction project.

Hutton Construction will essentially serve as the general contractor for the building of the new school.

The Board has been updated on the effort to acquire the land for the new school just west of the city and north of K-18 Highway. The school district’s Chief Operations Officer, David Wild, reported that the land acquisition is in the hands of the District Court. The appraisers have worked on the effort, and there will be a public forum for input on the pricing of the property at 2 p.m. April 17 at the Dorothy Bramlage Public Library. After that the appraisers will finalize their appraisals and the district will know the value of the land.

The schematic design of the new high school will be presented to the Board on April 16. There will be no final decision but authorization will be sought to proceed before they bring the schematic design to the BOE for approval. There will be a public forum to be announced on a future Saturday when the community can attend and provide input.