The City of Great Bend says 8^th Street between McKinley and Grant is open for traffic. The news comes after the two-block stretch caused a good amount of challenges for a relatively small connector street.

Originally, 8^th Street was going to be a straight stretch to the south of The Reserves of Trail Ridge apartment complex, but needing to line up the street with the adjacent 8^th Street across McKinley caused the road to curve on the west side. Tractor Supply began building their new store south of 8^th Street and needed to fix their plat. Then there were difficulties finding the sewer line and extending it for Tractor Supply. On top of all that, the bidding process to determine which company would handle the pavement of the street had to be rebid with some debate and question on who was qualified for the bid.

Great Bend City Attorney Bob Suelter says after all that, the street is ready for traffic but will eventually need “no parking” signs.

Bob Suelter Audio

The Great Bend City Council approved the placement of stop signs at 8^th & Grant and 8^th & McKinley.

The corridor connecting Walmart and Dillons is finished in time to help alleviate some of the traffic problems that might pop up during the intersection improvement at 10^th Street & Grant. The geometric design project will widen the intersection allowing larger trucks to turn onto Grant or onto 10^th Street without issues that are currently presented with the tight turning space. City Administrator Kendal Francis says that project could begin as soon as March.

As a result of the prolonged partial government shutdown, several USDA grain production, supply and demand reports have been postponed indefinitely. And the grain markets have moved forward without the benefit of those USDA numbers…but that information still remains vital, according to a K-State grain market economist. Dan O’Brien says that the absence of the USDA reports which were to be released the second week of January is not without consequences.

Dan O’Brien Audio

Nor have the markets had access to grain usage numbers, which O’Brien notes are currently important to feedgrain price discovery in particular.

Dan O’Brien Audio

O’Brien also says the uncertainty about how much winter wheat was actually planted this past fall would have been addressed in a USDA report earlier this month. However, that is on hold as well.

Teachers from USD 428 Great Bend, USD 489 Hays, and USD 350 St John-Hudson are among the more than 3,900 teachers nationwide who achieved the highest professional credentials they can earn – they attained first-time certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in 2018.

Traci Miller, from USD 428, Kristy Oborny, from USD 489, and Angie Webb, from USD 350, are now national board certified teachers.

Miller teaches second grade at Riley Elementary School in Great Bend and earned her certification in exceptional needs specialist/early childhood through young adulthood.

Oborny teaches fourth grade and is the librarian for O’Loughlin Elementary in Hays and earned her certification in literacy: reading-language arts/early and middle childhood.

Webb is a technology teacher at St John Elementary School and earned her certification in literacy: reading-language arts/early and middle childhood.

National board certification is recognized nationwide as a model for identifying accomplished teaching practice. Teachers were notified in December if they achieved the certification.

“This process of board certification is similar to how a doctor becomes certified in a special area,” said Alvin Peters, director of Emporia State University’s program which assists teachers working toward national certification. “This is voluntary – no state, school district, or program is demanding them to go through this process and each teacher can take from one to three years to complete the process.”

Before certification, teachers must have a bachelor’s degree, a valid state teaching license and three years experience in the classroom. Miller is the lone national board certified teacher in USD 428 Great Bend. USD 489 Hays now has 12 with the addition of Oborny. Webb is the lone national board certified teacher in USD 350.

The national board process is often misunderstood to mean a teacher passed a test or was nominated for the award. Peters adds, “National Board certification is a different kind of honor. Teachers must submit extensive documentation of their instruction, including videos of their students at work in the classroom.”

The accomplishment of national board certification benefits the teachers, the schools they work in, and studies have shown NBCTs improve student learning. The program hosted at ESU, Great Plains Center for National Teacher Certification, has a 78% initial certification rate over the past 13 years. This is nearly twice the national initial certification rate of 40%.

The national board standards were created by teachers. The standards represent a consensus for 25 certificate areas in 16 disciplines, including art, English, mathematics, science, world languages, school education and physical education, from pre-kindergarten through high school and six student development levels from early childhood through adolescence.

Kansas currently has a total of 449 national board certified teachers. To date, more than 122,000 teachers in all 50 states are NBCTs.

The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards was launched in 1987. A decade of research shows board-certified teachers positively impact student learning. The goal is to create standards for high-quality teaching and to professionalize teaching through licensure, following the lead of fields like medicine, engineering, and architecture. More information about ESU’s program can be found at www.emporia.edu/teach/great-plains/.

More information about Kansas and National Board Certification can be found at www.nbpts.org/in-your-state/in-your-state/ks/.

After delaying the decision from December, the Great Bend City Council voted 6-2 Monday night to go against city administration’s recommendation to approve a proposal for retail recruitment. The consultant, Retail Strategies, would gather community statistics and represent Great Bend at national and regional retail conferences.

Councilmember Dana Dawson felt Great Bend needed a push to reenergize the Great Bend economy.

Dana Dawson Audio

The City Council voted to table the decision in December so the newly-elected councilmembers could have a say. At the December meeting, Great Bend Chamber of Commerce CEO Jan Peters noted having Retail Strategies’ connection at large retail conventions would be helpful.

The consultant came with a $50,000 price tag each year and councilmember Chad Somers felt the lack of retail businesses in town comes down to population and not recruitment efforts.

Chad Somers Audio

Somers went on to further state he felt it is more important to recruit industry businesses and then the retail companies would follow.

The Chamber along with Barton County Young Professionals formed a steering committee and hired a consultant last year to form strategic plan to identify ways to improve Great Bend. Hopes of having that master plan in the next couple of months also encouraged Somers to wait on making any action of hiring Retail Strategies.

Councilmember Dana Dawson remembered 20 years ago when Great Bend had several clothing, jewelry, and drug stores. As those shops closed, out-of-town shoppers went elsewhere to shop.

Dana Dawson Audio

Somers also did not like the idea of spending $50,000 a year to hire Retail Strategies from Alabama with no guarantee of success.

Chad Somers Audio

The $50,000 price tag would have come from the Economic Development line from the 2019 budget. The 2019 budget set aside $100,000 for an economic development project, and the entire fund has $1.7 million.

Dawson and Dan Heath were the only two councilmembers that voted to approve the proposal from Retail Strategies.

BOOKED: Andrea Moser of Great Bend on GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $1,425.50 cash only. Newton County District warrant for failure to appear, bond set at $1,000 C/S. BTDC warrant for failure to appear, no bond.

BOOKED: Erin Burton of Hoisington on Great Bend Municipal Court case on failure to appear, bond set at $250 C/S.

BOOKED: Eric Buckley of Great Bend on GBMC warrant for contempt of court, bond set at $692.50 cash only or to serve 28 days in jail.

BOOKED: Justin Wilson of Tahlequah, OK on BTDC case for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, bond set at $10,000 C/S.

BOOKED: Tammy Lowe of Great Bend on BTDC case for serve sentence for 30 days.

BOOKED: Benjamin Bruce on Great Bend Municipal Court warrant for contempt of court with a bond of $1,041 cash only or 85 days in jail. GBMC warrant for contempt of court with a bond of $371.75 cash only or 351 days in jail. Kiowa County District Court warrant for contempt of court with a $1,834.86 cash only bond.

BOOKED: McKinley Keith Payne on Barton County District Court warrant for unlawful possession of a controlled substance with a bond of $1,000 C/S.

RELEASED: Matthew Grandclair of Great Bend on a Great Bend warrant with no conditions.

RELEASED: Erin Burton of Hoisington on GBMC case for failure to appear, posted $250 bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

RELEASED: Justin Wilson of Tahlequah, OK posted a $10,000 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding on BTDC case for possession of methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia.

RELEASED: Mark A. Caton of Great Bend received a 48-hour OR bond on BCDC case for failure to appear.

RELEASED: Tiffany Marie Wedgeworth on BCDC case with a serve sentence.

RELEASED: Juana G. Perez on GBMC warrant with a serve sentence.

RELEASED: McKinley Payne on BCDC warrant with a $1,000 surety bond through Ace Bail Bonding.

Phillipsburg @ Hoisington basketball games Tuesday are postponed. No make up date yet announced.
Hoisington Middle School Scholars Bowl has been postponed. No make up date yet announced.
USD 327 Ellsworth Early Dismissal at 12:05PM