14 February 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — A former Wichita elementary school is for sale.
During Monday night’s Wichita Public Schools (WPS) Board of Education (BOE) meeting, the Board will discuss whether to approve selling the former Blackbear Bosin Academy to Garvey Ventures for $500,000.
The school and the more than six acres of land it sits on are at 6123 East 11th Street North, near 13th Street North and Woodlawn.
The school was originally Price Elementary. But in the 1989-1990 school year, it combined with Harris Elementary to become Price-Harris Elementary. Kindergarten, first- and second-grade students went to Price. Third- through fifth-grade students went to Harris.
A WPS spokesperson said that during the 2000 bond issue, the district expanded Harris and moved all Price-Harris students to Harris. As a result, the Price school building closed in 2004.
But in 2006, it reopened as Blackbear Bosin Academy, an alternative middle school. The academy only lasted until 2011. That is when WPS moved the program to Jardine and closed the academy because of budget cuts.
In 2017, the BOE approved a resolution that the school should be considered surplus and sold.
According to the Monday night meeting agenda, the BOE will consider a real estate contract submitted through J.P. Weigand and Sons Inc. to see the property to Garvey Ventures for $500,000.