NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson USD 308 Superintendent Dr. Dawn Johnson said conversations still continue on the best way to purpose current facilities in the district to move into the next several decades.
"Our first step was to have some focus groups, some smaller groups," Johnson said. "From this, then we'll want to open it up to community meetings. We'll get those announced and advertised when we have those, so the community can come to those. The focus groups are kind of to help us just get ready for those community meetings. We're really sharing a year's worth of work with that facility committee, steering committee that we have."
Priorities are being made for entry points into the district.
"The first is the early entry point, early education," Johnson said. "How do we want to best serve students in that three to five range and sometimes even zero to five range? The Governor's State of the State address talked about supporting early childhood education. We want to be poised for that. The next is that transition into high school. What are we doing in the middle school arena to make sure we're offering the best middle school education we can, to get our students ready for high school."
Currently, in Hutchinson, students are in buildings in 7th and 8th grades each for a single year and then on to Hutch High from there. There at least is some thought of having a more traditional middle school and having it start at 6th grade, but how to do that with the facilities that exist or if something new would be needed hasn't been fleshed out yet.
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