The public had an opportunity to view the preliminary schematic design drawings and pose their questions about  the new Junction City High School project Saturday.

The Chief Operations Officer for USD 475, David Wild, said it provided real time feedback with open dialogue between the viewers and the architects.  Wild said the proposed design of the school has emerged over several months. “This is several months worth of analysis and needs assessment that’s been done.”

Wild noted suggestions on improvements from the public included a lot of interest in a natatorium. “Those kind of things, there’s a lot of interest about the placement there, how that may all fit together, the rationale. That all really ties in to the desire for a top loading gymnasium and football stadium.”

Architect Trey Hertel noted the public had some questions and concerns about where some of the spaces are relative to one another. “They talked about the Freshman Success Academy wing and where that should be in relationship to the rest of the building. Parking lots, how do those all work and flow with each other.” Hertel added a parking count has not been designed. “We’re trying to get input from everybody so we can determine how much parking we really do need.”

On specific facilities Hertel estimated that they are considering an auditorium capable of seating 900 people, approximately 2,000 to 2,400 bleacher seats in the gym and 3,000 to 5,000 seats in the football stadium. “Now people just don’t want to just sit in a seat, they want to move within a stadium itself, so there may be opportunities that we could create other types of seating formats and put that within the stadium so that’s something we’re exploring a little bit.” He also commented that there could potentially be some tailgating events at both ends of the bowls. That could allow more flow of people, “and have more open tailgating kind of concept during the game. That’s very popular versus just sitting in a grandstand for the ent

 

 

Posted by USD 475

JUNCTION CITY, KAN.  – Geary County Schools USD 475 announced this week that Rachel Buessing and Jared Larson will become the new assistant principals at Seitz Elementary School (beginning July 1, 2018), pending board approval. Both Rachel and Jared are excited to join the Seitz Elementary team.

Buessing is previously of USD 320, where she was named Elementary Teacher of the Year in the Spring of 2018. She has spent seven years teaching and five years in marketing and human resources. Buessing received her Bachelors in Journalism from William Allen White School of Journalism at the University of Kansas. She has also earned a Master’s in Educational Leadership from Kansas State University Leadership Academy.

Larson has taught as a third grade teacher at Ware Elementary and has been a CHAMPS trainer for the past nine years. He has spent the last seventeen years in education. Larson received his Bachelors in Elementary Education and Master’s in Educational Leadership from Kansas State University.

The Geary County Booking Photos on Friday included the arrest of Christopher Thomas, 19, Junction City on allegations including three counts of Attempted Murder in the 1st Degree, three counts of Aggravated Assault with deadly weapon and one count each of Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and Failure to Appear.

According to Junction City Police Detective Captain Trish Giordano, the arrest of Thomas occurred on a Geary County District Court warrant Thursday on Parkside on the north side of the city. He was taken into custody without incident.

Giordano explained the arrest stemmed from an alleged altercation with multiple people earlier in April. “There was an altercation in the 100 block of West 16th Street with some individuals. About 10 shots were fired off. No one was hit. There was a vehicle that was hit, and we had been looking for Mr. Thomas.”

Giordano indicated police were unsure what the altercation was about, but added they believe “it was over a girl.”

Education is huge with the Secretary of the Army ( Dr. Mark T. Esper ).

Perry Wiggins, Executive Director of the Governor’s Military Council, provided that information to a Military Affairs Council audience in Junction City on Thursday.

“When he goes to installations he visits, one of the things he likes to do is he likes to talk about schools. The fact that you’re improving your high school, the fact that you’re looking at your other schools, how you can continually improve the education of those students that are a part of military families is absolutely one of the most important things you can do….quality of life.”

A new high school is planned for construction on the west side of Junction City. The planning is under way at this point.