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WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 27, 2019
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LAMP S E R V I N G T H E C O M M U N I T Y O F F O RT L E AV E N W O RT H , K A N SA S , F O R M O R E T H A N 4 5 Y E A R S
CONTACT US | Phone: 684-5267 | E-mail: editor@ftleavenworthlamp.com | On the Web: www.ftleavenworthlamp.com
Season for giving
School board approves Patton replacement plan Katie Peterson | Staff Writer
Prudence Siebert
Spc. Hope Bridges, center left, Religious Services Organization, keeps track of the amount of each food item needed for families of 10 people as she directs volunteers Chaplain (Capt.) Jonathan Secrest, 705th Military Police Battalion (Detention); 1st Sgt. Nickie Wileman, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 705th; volunteer Connie Andrews and Sgt. 1st Class Jason Pruitt, HHC, 705th, as they sort food items while helping assemble Thanksgiving boxes for Fort Leavenworth families Nov. 21 at the Fort Leavenworth Commissary. For more on how the community is giving this holiday season, see page B1.
The new Patton Junior High School is set to open in August 2022. The approval of a two-year construction plan by the Unified School District 207 school board was made during the monthly board meeting Nov. 25 in MacArthur Elementary School’s cafeteria. The board was presented with two courses of action by Mike Burson, project construction manager with Titan Construction LLC. The two-year completion timeline was weighed against a three-year completion timeline and, while both had advantages, it was determined that the benefits of a shorter construction time would outweigh the benefits of a longer construction time. “I would not have presented a schedule or a course of action tonight that is not something that myself and Titan believes is doable,” Burson said. “If you were to look at the detail of each schedule, we have built in some unforeseen condition time including weather and other unknowns into the schedule. …I’m a very conservative scheduler.”
Advantages to a twoyear projection timeline include the school opening sooner; it will cost $100,000 less in Titan general conditions; there will be less construction administration costs from Hollis+Miller Architects; it will relieve over-crowding at Bradley Elementary School because all sixthgraders throughout the district will move to Patton; and there will be less of an impact on the district administration’s time. Disadvantages to the two-year timeline include a higher construction bank loan total of more than $1 million in interest (if it is not paid off earlier than eight years); the construction loan total will be approximately $5 million higher because of one-less year of Impact Aid funding; and the current labor shortage in the Kansas City area might limit subcontractor competition. No matter the fluctuation in bank loans and interest, the “All In” guaranteed maximum price for completion is $55 million. Though the board approved the two-year timeline, Myron Griswold, board president, did request the addition of safety
concerns with the current Patton and the operation of the current Patton for the additional year be added to the decision matrix for future discussions. It is expected that the twoyear timeline will still be the best course of action with those additions. For the two-year construction timeline, demolition of the former MacArthur Elementary School building is scheduled to begin April 2020, with an overall construction completion date of mid-July 2022. The completion date includes the moving in of all furniture and equipment, Burson said. In addition to briefing board members, Keith Mispagel, superintendent of schools, said he briefed Garrison Commander Col. Harry Hung and Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Antwone Jones about the projected courses of action during an earlier meeting, and they agreed to the twoyear timeline. The board will continue to receive updates at future board meetings.
Dome Theater In 2007, Bradley EleSEE SCHOOL BOARD | A4
Joint gathering shares SHARP knowledge Katie Peterson | Staff Writer
Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention professionals across the military gathered for a joint SHARP Training and Education Solutions Workshop Nov. 19-21 at the SHARP Academy. Though it was the third annual workshop for the SHARP Academy, for the first time it was open to all branches of service. “All the services are sharing our approaches (to SHARP training) with the goal of identifying and sharing our lessons learned and best practices so that we can learn from each other and take good aspects of how they do it … and see if it’ll apply to our own efforts,” said Col. Christopher Engen, SHARP Academy director. The Department of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office sets guidelines for all the services to follow, and then each service execute them in its own ways, Engen said. Eugene Purvis, deputy chief of Basic Officer Leadership Course at the Center of Initial Military Training in Fort Eustis, Va., said he thought bringing the services together to talk about SHARP training practices was a good idea. “Maybe they are doing something or they have some ideas that (the Army) doesn’t have that we can work on, or something
Prudence Siebert
Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention Academy Director Col. Chris Engen discusses terminal learning objectives with annual SHARP Training and Education Solutions Workshop participants Nov. 20 at the SHARP Academy.
that we’re doing that we can share with them,” Purvis said. “In the Army we have preached across the board, ‘One Army. One Standard.’ … If you got one training (for all services), you’ve got one standard, and I think that is a good thing.”
The workshop began with briefings from DoD SAPRO representative Suzanne Holroyd, senior prevention program manager, who spoke about upcoming changes to SHARP training. Holroyd also asked for feedback from the services about the timeframe
it takes to incorporate new policies into their training. Then, representatives from each branch of service briefed attendees on their service’s programs. The last two days included working group discussions addressing a memo from the secre-
tary of Defense and DoD SAPRO to begin developing preventionfocused training topics and ideas at the junior officer and junior enlisted levels. Engen gave the brief on behalf SEE SHARP WORKSHOP | A2
AT A GLANCE ■ THE FORT LEAVENWORTH DINING FACILITY’S THANKSGIVING HOURS are 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Nov. 28. The dining room will not be open for breakfast. The drive-through will be open 4:30-9 a.m. Grab-and-go hours will be 8-9:30 a.m. Holiday meals
are $9.10 per person or $6.80 for spouses and dependents of service members E-4 and below.
event will feature carriage rides, live music, and a visit from Santa.
■ The HOLIDAY TREE LIGHTING CEREMONY is 4-6 p.m. Dec. 6 at Zais Park. The free family-friendly
■ TRICARE OPEN SEASON continues through Dec. 9. Visit www.tricare.mil/openseason19.