By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The ball officially began rolling for a new Little Panthers Preschool and USD 428 District Education Center when the Great Bend district purchased the property at 1809 24th Street in September 2022. In August of last year, the board of education approved the final cost of the facility at $4.78 million. USD 428 Public Information Director Andrea Bauer said the doors officially open Thursday evening with an open house and job fair.
"From 4-6 p.m., we're going to be giving tours, we've got some refreshments, and a program planned at 5:30 where you can hear a little more about the process of how we get to today," she said. "We're going to thank some of our sponsors that sponsored classrooms as well. As a whole, we're just so excited about this new facility and what it does to serve our students and really further the educational opportunities for Great Bend kids."
The program at 5:30 p.m. will also include a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Thursday's event is not only a good chance to see the new preschool and district education center, but also to check out job openings in the district.
"As we gear up for school, of course we've got open positions to fill," said Bauer. "Some of those are supporting classroom instruction as a para or TA (teaching assistant), while others are more administrative or even working in our food service department. We feel like we've got a position for anyone who wants to have a meaningful career and impact public education."
USD 428 staff will be available to answer job-related questions and conduct preliminary on-site interviews to get the ball rolling. All current job openings in the district, as well as job descriptions, can be found by CLICKING HERE.
Little Panthers Preschool, with 13 classrooms, will be able to accommodate up to 450 students ages three and four. Of the final $4.78 million price tag, the district had approximately $2.2 million in federal ESSER dollars to use on the preschool side. The property, formerly owned by CUNA Mutual, was valued at more than $4 million when the district purchased it in September 2022 for $1.3 million.