A new elementary school?s design will incorporate safety features to better accommodate school buses and parents to transport students, and city officials plan to study area streets, sidewalks and traffic so that students can safely walk to school if voters approve an April 2 bond issue.
That?s the short answer to Karen Gilpin?s question, ?How safe would it be for kids to walk to the new school?? 
Gilpin submitted the question as part of a new weekly feature, ?Ask the Register,? where readers can submit questions as well as vote on those they would like to see answered. Answers are researched and reported in the newspaper.
But like most questions, the answer to Gilpin?s isn?t so simple. For one, many details remain unknown unless and until a bond issue were to pass. For example, steering committee members studying USD 257 schools have identified the site at Kentucky and Monroe as their preference for the new school. It?s possible the site will not work out, though efforts to secure the estimated 15 acres and obtain estimated costs for soil remediation are already underway.
The school?s exact location on the site, and its design in general, also have not been finalized.
?It?s hard to tell how far to look into the future when the bond hasn?t been passed yet,? Savannah Flory, a member of the committee working on the school project, said. ?We want to be wise with district funds and not spend too much until we get concrete answers,? such as passage of the bond issue.
THE DESIGN of the new school would feature separate driveways for buses and regular traffic. A bus loop, perhaps located on one side of the building, would not be open to individual vehicles dropping off students. Because the new elementary school would combine students now attending McKinley, Jefferson and Lincoln elementaries, more staff such as paraprofessionals would be available to direct and monitor traffic, Flory said.
For students who walk, it?s likely crosswalks could be added to traverse Kentucky Street. Savings from consolidating three elementary schools could including funding one or two crossing guard positions, if the district determined such a need, Flory said.
A previous study conducted for the failed 2014 school bond issue estimated about 15 percent of elementary students walk to school. That was before the district switched from neighborhood schools to grade-level attendance centers. Having all elementary students, pre-K to fifth grade, under one roof might encourage more students to walk because older students could escort younger ones.
For students who need to cross U.S. 54 highway at Kentucky, the intersection already includes a push-button crossing system. Another option for students who walk is to improve part of the long-abandoned Missouri Pacific railroad trail that intersects with Kentucky, giving students a traffic-free path through the middle of town.
City administrators are scheduled to meet with SJCF Architects, the firm tasked with leading the project, in coming weeks to discuss infrastructure needs. That discussion could include consideration of whether a turning lane might be needed on Kentucky Street to the school. Typically, those improvements are the responsibility of the developer, but the city council could be asked for their input and subsequent help.
BECAUSE THE existing schools are located in residential areas with limited parking and limited room for buses, traffic is a constant frustration, said Jared Warner, Iola police chief.
?Society itself has changed. Just about everyone is driving a vehicle and dropping kids off,? Warner said. ?You have increased traffic volume around schools that were never truly intended to have that.?
