Final USD 259 boundary focus group meeting held

Wichita School District Superintendent John Allison opened the final focus group on school closures and boundary changes Thursday evening. The group, originally scheduled to meet four times, held its fifth meeting in the library of North High.

Allison joked that when the group started this process a little more than three months ago, “I expressed that by the time we got through with this process you might hate me.”

On Monday, the district released a report compiled of community feedback left on USD 259’s website, as well as responses received at the four community engagement meetings this month. The report totaled 149 pages, which Allison joked, “wiped out my printer.”

Allison said that most of the concerns expressed by the community were similar. Common themes included grandfathering students into their current schools after the boundaries change, transportation costs, and Special Education and ESOL programs. Allison said that, unfortunately, those are questions that can’t be answered “until we get really close to that (final) proposal.”

Allison addressed the concern that boundaries will put schools over their capacities by saying that, for example, of the more than 2,000 students within the Heights High School boundaries, only 1,470 actually attend there.

Rob Schwarz, of RSP & Associates, introduced what are the firm’s final drafts of proposed closures and boundary changes. It would still move the high school magnet program to the northeast high school that is under construction in Bel Aire, despite meeting extreme opposition from the community. High school students will continue to be bused from the AAA area according to their addresses.

Concerning the middle schools, the new north east facility (originally slated in 2008 to open as a K-8) would open as a K-5. The Isley Magnet program would move to the new facility, and Mueller Aerospace and Engineering Discovery Magnet would move to Isley’s building.

Parents watched from the North High lecture hall as RSP presented its last draft of elementary school changes.  They did not make the changes that so many asked for in the weeks preceding Thursday’s meeting: Bryant, Emerson, Lincoln and Mueller Elementary Schools would still close, while Woodland and Payne would not.

As their final activity for the night, Allison asked the focus group, “If this is the supposal that the board works from, can you live with it? And, if not, what is it in here that is the hill to die on?” He asked them to explain what makes the unacceptable parts of the plan unacceptable.

Before they left the North High library for the final time, Supt. Allison told the group, “Your community will never know how much you served them.”

On February 6th, a Committee of the Whole will meet at 6:00 p.m. at North High. On that night, Supt. Allison will present his first draft of the final proposal to the Board. The following week, on the 13th, he will present his final proposal and on February 27th, the Board will vote on whether or not to accept it.

Julia Schwinn, KFDI News