By Tyler Dahlgren

Part One: A Total Game Changer

You can’t miss the building. You just might not believe you’re in the right place.

Highway 26 runs along the north side of Scottsbluff, offering scenic views of the Scotts Bluff National Monument to the south and the serene vastness of the Great Plains to the north.

The Scottsbluff Public Schools Education Center stands in the space between, a 177,000 square foot game changer. You can cross the country without finding anything quite like it, a corporate call center hollowed out and transformed into an Early Childhood epicenter that was designed with the development of young Bearcats in mind, down to the very last detail.

“We believe this space will allow us to transform education for the students and families we serve,” said SBPS superintendent Dr. Andrew Dick. “First and foremost with our Early Childhood learners, which should put those students on a better path forward as they matriculate into our elementary schools for kindergarten going forward.”

Remarkably, this all came together in just two short years, without a bond issue and at a staggering purchase price of just $1.5 million. Built as a three story call center for SWBC Mortgage Lending Services in 2007, the massive building had been sitting vacant and on the market for years when the district came inquiring in 2023.

They weren’t looking for a new district office. Their location downtown, for the most part, sufficed. Input from stakeholders, from staff to community members to the families they serve, identified a need for an Early Childhood expansion. 

Not only could that empty building up by the community college give them both, it could open up a world of possibilities for a forward-minded school district. A blank canvas, and an unbelievable bargain.

“Our preschool was shoehorned into the east side of Bearcat Stadium and some classrooms at one of our elementary schools that were needed for other purposes,” said Dick, who assumed his role around the time ESSER funds were being released to school districts across the state. “We looked at new construction, we looked at renovating other buildings and had a bunch of conversations and, at the end of the day, this was the space that we felt met our needs the best and allowed for future growth and expansion.”

For a preschool staff that was previously scattered across town, having everybody under one roof has resulted in an immediate boost of cohesion. In addition to the 220 Bear Cub Preschool students housed in 11 classrooms (with plenty of room to add more), the SBPS Education Center is home to all district operations, including the IT department and the central receiving operations, a wrestling room, the Family Success Center, Sixpence Scottsbluff and an extended day care provided by the Scottsbluff Family YMCA.

The added space alone has been a revelation. Before, it wasn’t uncommon for staff to rent our personal storage units. Now, there's a literal warehouse with its own loading dock. District staff used to eat lunch in their cars. Now, they have a cafeteria and a lounge that feels quite luxurious.

“It’s been great for morale,” said SBPS communications director Melissa Price. “It’s been great to finally have the space that we need to do the things that we need to do. We have a secure entrance now, which we didn’t have downtown. That’s super important to us.”

They’re more of a well-oiled machine in their new digs, which includes a full commercial kitchen that’s likely worth more than $1.5 million itself and an entire third floor that still needs cleared out that will be utilized for Scottsbluff's many student organizations.

“From an operations and a service aspect, it allows us to better serve our families,” said Dick. “With so many of our operations all under one roof, the building is a one-stop shop that allows us to be more efficient and effective as a PreK-12 system.”

It’s difficult to encapsulate this place in words. There may not be enough. You really need to see it in person to understand Scottsbluff Public Schools’ excitement. 

“Our imagination was the limit, but we also knew we needed to be very fiscally responsible,” said Price. “We were able to utilize what was already here, and we think we turned it into something that is pretty amazing.”

With that, we embarked on the grand tour. 

Our first stop? The heart of this place, of course.

Part Two: The Bear Cub

For future Bearcats, the Early Childhood floor of this massive building is where thousands and thousands of first memories are going to be made.

Sprawling and state-of-the-art, Scottsbluff’s new facility is, perhaps, the premier preschool in the state, and they’re sure proud of it.

“We believe that all of our students in this district deserve access to high quality programming and the very best start to their education that we can give them,” said Dr. Bree Rock, SBPS’s early childhood director. “We just didn’t have the room before, but now we can really deliver that. Every child that is going to be in kindergarten with us has a place here at Bear Cub. Research shows that those first five years of life are so very important, and we believe that. We believe in what we’re doing.”

The new school has resulted in more fluidity and a strengthened connection with families. Parents don’t just drop the students off in front of school. They walk their children all the way to their classrooms. With 900 spots out front, there’s plenty of parking.

“Preschool is their first experience, their first memories of a formal education,” said teacher Kelli Kaul. “The warm, inviting and nurturing climate we offer, and the enthusiasm we have, we think it’ll set the foundation. Everything that happens in this space sets the tone for the rest of their educational journey.”

One thing is for sure, those memories made will be bright, colorful and fun. Before, preschoolers didn’t have windows. Now, the sun splashes into their classrooms and plants grow on windowsills. It’s an environment conducive to learning.

“It just makes the days even more amazing,” said Jami Wilson, who is in her sixth year teaching Bear Cub students. “As teachers, we have more opportunities to collaborate with each other. We have a break room. We see administration now, and we know we have their support. It’s truly awesome to have everyone here. We all get along so well and it’s so positive. Every day I get up and look forward to coming to work.”

Kaul, who coaches the Scottsbluff girls soccer team, is a young teacher in just her sixth year. She sees the facility as a recruiting tool that’s going to even further bolster what was already a great place to teach.

“It’d be hard to come in here to Bear Cub and not want to be a part of it,” Kaul said, pointing to the many conversations she had at the grand opening ceremony and open house in late August. “The brand new facilities are a big part of that, but so are the people. Once you get to know everybody, it’s really hard to not want to be a part of it.”

The Early Childhood team has ramped up its partnerships since moving into its new space, offering in-house extended care with the Scottsbluff Family YMCA, Head Start and, as previously mentioned, Sixpence.

For the first time in years, speech therapist Sarah Billingsley is enjoying her newfound stability. She used to spend her time running from one preschool to another. Not anymore. Recently, Billingsley brought her 73 and 74-year-old aunt and uncle, who have children teaching in Omaha and Lincoln, in for a tour. They were wowed, as anybody who’s been in the school would expect.

“They said, ‘We did not expect this. This is state-of-the-art,’” Billingsley recounted with a smile. “They shared that they believe this makes Western Nebraska a leader in Early Childhood, and not just because of the facility, but because our team is so special.”

The Bear Cub Preschool also houses an undeniably adorable cafeteria, where little students go through the line and sit around circle tables and talk, just like the big kids.

“It’s another one of those ways that they’re being prepared for kindergarten and beyond,” said Wilson. “They get to carry trays and they have responsibility. It’s amazing. I don’t think we could have ever imagined such a wonderful environment and space.”

Where used to sit an endless brigade of cubicles collecting dust now stands the future, and it’s got it all. The playground, we should mention, is a highlight, with a slide serving as the main point of entry. There’s sensory rooms and plenty of places to play. And there’s room for growth, which they anticipate is coming.

“The love for learning, that’s what I want the kids to remember their time here for,” said Wilson. “I just want them to go to school and to feel safe and to love school.”

Kauth echoed Wilson’s sentiment.

“I want them to feel loved and to know that they are important to us, every single one of them,” she said. “They should know that they’re special and capable of doing great things.”

Rock said that the new facility is a testament to the school board and the administration. Scottsbluff prioritizes Early Childhood in a way that many other school districts haven’t yet, and the staff at Bear Cub feels and appreciates that support every day.

“We’re definitely a forward-thinking district, especially for a smaller community way out west,” she said. “We’ve received tons of support. We want our families to feel connected and know that Scottsbluff Public Schools cares about them as a unit and that we want their kids to succeed. We want to be a big part of that success.”

Part Three: The Best Neighbors Ever, A Conversation with Scottsbluff Public Schools Administration

Q: What does this facility mean for Scottsbluff Public Schools? 

Mike Mason, Curriculum Director: The preschool is the future of our district and we talk about that all the time, wanting a bright future for our students. So for me, the biggest benefit of this is the preschool and the great facility. Our previous facility, it was adequate, but definitely not like this. This offers so much more for our students.

David Davis, IT Director: As far as the IT department goes, one of the issues that IT departments have when making a move is retrofitting buildings for new technology. The buildings were built 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago, and there really isn't space in these buildings for the IT department, for wiring closets, data centers, what have you. So we face that problem here in the district. We've done the best that we can, but since we've acquired this building, which has a purpose-built data center in it, that has allowed us to move most of our servers, our data facilities and things like that, into this building. This building has redundant power air conditioning. Like I said, it's a purpose-built data center, so that's a big plus for us. Not a lot of mid-sized or smaller school districts have something like that. When they build new buildings, they have that. But for us smaller ones, it’s a huge benefit. 

Travis Rickey, Facilities Director: From a facility standpoint, it's just ideal to have all the preschool kids in one building, whereas before they were spread out between three buildings. They had to have lunch delivered to the buildings, kept in food bags in order to keep it warm. Here, we have a kitchen where the food's prepared for the kids. They have their own designated playgrounds with indoor play areas. And ultimately this building, the way it was built, it was really easy for us to go ahead and come in and design it and build it to our specifications to what we needed as far as making it easier to run data, electrical, the HVAC and those types of systems.

Dr. Wendy Kemling, Director of Student Services: We were able to design the space as a universal design so any student can access any space at any given time, and that isn't always the case in other buildings. Sometimes you have to go in and adjust spaces for students, but we really were focused on making sure that every child had access. When you look at our motto of every child every day, this fits it.

Zach Carlson, Logistics Coordinator: Just the amount of space it gives us, that’s been huge. We’ve been able to cut down a lot on our travel for deliveries and different things. It’s big as far as convenience.

Q: Being near the kids and having them in the building with you, how awesome has that been?

Marianne Carlson, Director of Finance: These preschoolers are just so friendly. They just love meeting people and will always just stop and say hi. And so that's always fun, and you can hear them all day long. Sometimes it just kind of brings a smile to my face, just knowing that they’re up there having fun. There’s life in the building.

Wendy Kemling: And you get to see 'em on the playground. So anytime you leave the building, you see the kids playing and they're having a great time and it's just, I agree, it’s so much fun.

Melissa Price:  It's been so amazing and something special. For some of us, we've never had it at all before. It gives you that little reminder of why we got into education in the first place. Even though they jump up and down and ride tricycles on top of my office, it doesn't matter. They're amazing. They're the best neighbors ever.

Q: As an administrative team, do you view this as an investment into the community and a potential recruiting tool you can use with young teachers?

Mike Mason: I definitely think it is an attraction for our community and for our staff. We have really state-of-the-art meeting rooms now, whereas before we were in a very small confined space in our old building. Our new teachers and staff who come in, they just love it. It's so welcoming and we can do so much more here in terms of trainings and different professional development types of things.

I've talked to several community families that were on the fence of whether they should bring their kids to Scottsbluff or somewhere else, and I think they were persuaded by the new facility to bring their kids here. I have talked to families and heard that it's making a difference in their kids attending. This is definitely a game changer.

Wendy Kemling: Our high school's always been something that we've been able to show off and have shine, and this brings in the other end. So when you start to look at the preschool all the way to the high school, now we have the ability to shine all the way through. And I've had teachers that I've listened to say, wouldn't it be awesome to work there? And I think that I'm hearing that across the board just like Mike is. I'm hearing it with teachers. It's a great place to be. We had a little kid come in the other day, he was a first grader, and he saw the preschool and looked at his grandma and said ‘It's okay, grandma. I don't need to go to first grade. I'll just go here instead.’

Q: You’ve done something pretty amazing here, and you did it while reducing the tax levy 46 cents over the last three budget cycles. Do people around town know what you’ve pulled off here?

Travis Rickey: I think, especially working in facilities, a lot of the contractors, people that I deal with on a day-to-day basis, they completely understand what we did. And from everybody I talked to, I know there's some people on the other side of the fence, but I just get kind of an overwhelming sense that everybody's really happy that we took this on. They see the $1.5 million figure and realize the amount of work that we did within the district to keep the cost down, and just basically what we're able to do for the community on our own.

Marianne Carlson: We won't ever have everyone agree that this is what we should have done, but I feel like the majority does agree that this was the best thing for successful public schools in our community. And I think Melissa has done a great job just kind of putting out there the savings we were able to manage and what we were able to accomplish with this building by taking things on in-house. And so I think the more we tell our story, the more that we can just help educate the people in our community about why this was such a great move.

Wendy Kemling: During the open house, several people who actually worked in this building who hadn't been in it for years and then came back to see the building, were in awe. They were very inspired at the fact that this building wasn't just sitting any longer, that it was being utilized and it was being utilized for a great purpose.

David Davis: I spoke to a few people during the open house, some elderly people that were very skeptical about us purchasing this building, and they were so happy that we did this after seeing it. They approved and let me know that they approved, and it was kind of a neat moment.

Melissa Price: We'd be remiss without mentioning our board of education, they really are the people who helped us make this possible. It was a bold move. It was, and they kind of had to go out on a limb a little bit and trust what we were going to do and trust the vision and trust that our facilities team could do the work. Ultimately, they’re the folks who are responsible to the community.

Q: You saved a quarter of a million dollars by repurposing carpet, and nearly 900 grand by doing other things in-house. That is staggering. How did you do that?

David Davis: This building was a previous call center, so it was wired for network and everything. But what a lot of people forget is that this building's 18 years old, so that technology is that old and technology changes quite often. So 18-year-old technology, a lot of it had to be stripped out and replaced. The IT department used the existing network wiring for the main level on the second floor. We left that alone. We used that. But as far as this basement area, this garden area, we stripped out a lot of the wiring. We found it was damaged and so forth. So we rewired everything, pulled the network wire outlets, and installed the new technology down here. We’re still in progress, adding new technology.

Travis Rickey: And from the facility standpoint, we did a lot of the demo and we saved all the carpet. As soon as we acquired the building, we only had about three weeks. We had to remove all the cubicles and furniture from the first floor, pull all the carpet up, demo the ceilings, save the ceiling tiles, so that they could be reused as well. We were up here working from the day we acquired the building up until the open house. That’s when you could probably say that we finally got done with our part.

Q: It sounds like it’s been a whirlwind of a couple of years for you all, but when you think about the future, the next 50 years for Scottsbluff Public Schools, does it make it all worth it? A

Travis Rickey: I would say so. I think it's probably one of the biggest projects I've been involved with. You're able to stand back and take a look at what we did here, and it does give you a sense of pride.