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Sat Nov 21 17:17:56 PST 2009

NEWS

Wichita School To Be Torn Down/Expanded

KAKE News

Thursday, November 19, 2009 A unique solution to an overcrowding problem is facing the Wichita school district. It's one of the building projects moving forward, making use of bond money approved by voters last week. The building, Lewis Magnet, is 55-years-old. The classrooms are small, but today's standards and the overcrowding is really obvious in multipurpose rooms. "As you can see, we can't offer all the p.e. programs other schools have, because we don't have the full size gym with the height necessary for basketball and other activities," Lewis Magnet Principle Judy Zimbleman said. What Lewis has going for it is it sits on about a nine acre lot. School officials realized it has plenty of room to "kill two birds with one stone" by having schools here in one new building. "With this concept, with board approval, we won't have to acquire land for this school," Wichita Schools Chief Operations Officer Martin Libhart said. LIbhart says acquiring land is costly, especially if it's already developed. He says there will be savings by building two schools here. The new elementary school will be for the neighborhood. Lewis Magnet will still draw students from throughout the school district, but both schools will share such things as large multipurpose rooms. One Fema safe room will be built for both instead of two. Officials also say there will be administrative savings as well. This will be paid for with the bond money voters approved last year. The cost will be about 11.2 million dollars. It's expected to be completed by the fall of 2012. The Wichita School board will decided on this project. They will hear about it at their next board meeting Monday evening.

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