Board of Education: News Releases

Panel to Review Fate of Old PHS;

Parts of Building Will Be Isolated To Save Energy

by Dennis Gonzales & The Pratt Tribune

May 07, 2008

If, as Key Construction Inc. promises, the new Pratt High School addition to the Pedigo Building is completed by next August, the halls of the current home of the Greenbacks at 401 S. Hamilton could be uncharacteristically quiet. Plans to convert the building to another district use are still in the very early stages.

The USD#382 Board of Education has discussed the make-up of a committee to study its use, and has identified some areas of expertise needed, but no committee members have been named, Superintendent Glen Davis said. The board would like for the committee to include a realtor, someone with knowledge of mechanical functions, representatives from the central office, from the charter school and some folks from the original bond issue committee that proposed moving the new addition "up the hill" instead of expanding at the current PHS site.

At some point, Davis expects that the Walden Center charter school, now located in a district-owned building at 123 N. Oak, will use a portion of the building. Plans for moving the central office have also been discussed.

Some teachers have already requested storage space for classroom equipment at the old building.

Early speculation called for moving the maintenance department and bus barn to what will become Old Pratt High, but there wasn't much interest in that by maintenance personnel, Davis said, because the building is not conducive to the installation of the necessary overhead doors. Building a new bus barn to replace the 1930's facility on West Fifth that a 2004 district infrastructure committee judged to be structurally unsound with gaps in the wall large enough to see outside continues to be "high on the list each year," Davis said. The board has felt that the high school should be completed first, before allocating capitol outlay funds for a new facility.

The committee - when it is appointed - will also have the task of evaluating whether to dispose of district-owned property on Iowa Street, west of the Elks Club, for which there is no long-term plan for development, and for the band practice field at Eighth and High Streets. Band instructor Don Buhler has requested that the Liberty Middle School parking lot be striped for practice, Davis said, eliminating lost time in walking to the current practice area and also avoiding the inconvenience of wet grass.

The Frog Dome gymnasium will continue to get heavy use as a practice facility for volleyball and basketball.

At this point it is unclear how much of the rest of the building will be utilized, Davis said. Consideration will be given to isolating areas for utility service.

"We don't want to heat and cool a big old three-story building," Davis said. "Better efficiency was part of the reason to build new."

Pratt High was built in 1939 and expanded with a library addition in 1969. In 1997, Finney and Turpinseed, a Topeka firm of consulting engineers, considered the structure to be "in very good condition for its age and the amount of maintenance it has received through the years," and suggested maintenance items to insure the structural integrity for years to come.