By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
While the wait list to sign children up for the new childcare center in Great Bend is expected to come out this month, a similar facility to be built in Hoisington is ready for the project to be sent out for bids.
The childcare facility in Hoisington will be located behind Roosevelt Elementary School and is expected to have a capacity of 59 children. USD 431 Superintendent Patrick Crowdis said a modular building currently on the Roosevelt campus will need to be removed.
"In the past, I've tried to get companies to come out and move the modular to little avail," said Crowdis. "Companies won't respond. The only company I was able to contact was out of Nebraska."
The Hoisington Board of Education approved a motion to seek bids to demolish the modular building. Crowdis expected to have those bid proposals for the board’s approval in January.
Roosevelt school staff uses the modular for laundry services.
"We're trying to find a temporary laundry solution for them," said Crowdis. "There will be a permanent laundry solution when the daycare center is built that we'll be able to use."
The Hoisington school district is giving the Advancing Barton County Childcare committee, under the direction of the Great Bend Economic Development, the land for the center. USD 431 will also provide food services for the childcare center and custodial services.
The $1.6 million Bright Beginnings childcare center in Great Bend is expected to be finished next spring. The Advancing Barton County Childcare committee, under the direction of the Great Bend Economic Development, received a $2.23 million grant to assist with the Great Bend facility and build a similar daycare in Hoisington.
Crowdis said as construction is wrapped up in Great Bend, a very tentative groundbreaking for the childcare center in Hoisington is next May.