KEARNEY, Neb. — Kearney Public Schools is growing its footprint by adding onto its high school and building a new entrance for an elementary school.

The district announced its plans for build a 28,704-square-foot flex space addition for Kearney High on Monday night. The new facility is designed to house dedicated spaces for the new girls wrestling team, a Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps air rifle range, and an indoor drill area for JROTC cadets. The space could also accommodate some needs for marching band, competitive dance, athletic teams and certain student groups.

“This will provide our girls wrestling program with their own wrestling room for practices and our JROTC program with a required air rifle range for marksmanship practice,” Superintendent Jason Mundorf said. “The flex space will be an amazing facility for our drill team to practice for competitions in as well as a tremendous resource for our other extracurricular and co-curricular programs.  There is little doubt this facility will be one of the most utilized spaces on the Kearney High footprint and an incredible addition to an already fantastic facility. We really appreciate the Board’s commitment to supporting our programs and the facilities for them.”

The project is expected to cost $10.3 million and will be funded through a seven-year lease-purchase agreement with a local bank, with annual repayments of approximately $2 million. The project is expected to be completed in the spring. Wilkins Architecture Design Planning of Kearney will design the space.

KPS also announced Monday that it plans to build a south entrance to Central Elementary. The new entrance will be adjacent to the Merryman Performing Arts Center and is meant to enhance safety and accessibility for students.

“The new entrance at Central Elementary is vital for improving safety and accessibility for our students,” Mundorf said. “With the current entrance on the north side of the building, and with the building being a national historic site, we cannot add any type of accessibility measures to help people navigate the stairs of the building.  Furthermore, this is our only elementary building that doesn’t have a vestibule area or a way to allow school personnel the opportunity to determine whether they should or shouldn’t allow a person into the building.  At Central Elementary currently, once a person is buzzed in, they have immediate access to any portion of the building. This project will allow the district to have a safe entrance for Central Elementary on the south end of the building that matches our safety standards and supports we have in other buildings.”

The new entrance to Central Elementary is estimated to cost $2.23 million and will be financed through KPS’s special building fund. The project is expected to be completed in fall 2025.