By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
With a little luck, there will be cool air for the 2023 Hoisington High School commencement ceremony. USD 431 Superintendent Patrick Crowdis provided updates on the new chiller for the Activity Center and updates to turf replacement at the high school during Monday's Board of Education meeting.
P1 Group was awarded the bid to replace the Activity Center's chiller last June for $220,000. Nearly a full year later, the equipment has a shipping date of May 2.
"We'll work with P1 so that there's air conditioning for graduation," Crowdis said."If the ship date is May 2, I think we'll be just fine. Installation date will be after that as well."
Crowdis also updated the board about discussions with ATG Project Manager Dylan Driver, who was in town last week to look at the turf at HHS. Driver noted several differences in how the company operates today, including improvements in materials used since the turf was last applied 14 years ago. Crowdis is waiting on a final rendering of proposed changes that may be coming to the jumping and pole vault sections of the track.
"Currently, the pole vault jumping area is in the east D, and we're taking a look at moving it, as well as turning our long jump," Crowdis said. "I'm trying to do it within budget so we're not going over budget for the amount we committed, so we can use both ends of the long jumps, as well as having a quality pole vault area that runs north and south."
The $1.597 million turf and track replacement project is likely to begin at the conclusion of the school year in May.