Dear editor,
According to sources familiar with Monday nights School Board meeting, the members have given conflicting reasons for the decision to move art and music classes out of the Bowlus. The safety of Bowlus students during a lockdown, the cost of using the building, consolidation of resources, and potential staffing changes have all been suggested as primary reasons by school board members. As an architect, I believe there is not enough room to accommodate the arts in the high school building, which means they may be attempting to use this move as a reason to push for a new school building again only this time it will be at the sake of transparency, and it will be under the guise of more innocent motives.
Many parents were on-board with the recent walkouts of their students, yet both groups say the demonstration quickly became a talking point for the administration. The current board claims our school buildings the Bowlus particularly are unsafe, and that the walk-outs were supposed to bring awareness to our vulnerabilities. The police department, on the other hand, claims that the Bowlus would be one of the safest places during a lockdown. Clearly, safety is not a good reason to move classes out.
Another suggested reason is the cost to host classes in the building. This, however, is a moot point. Hosting classes in cramped, unfit classrooms will result in poorer education. The Bowlus has plenty of room, while the high school does not. We may as well give up the arts entirely, despite research showing that art and music improve test scores, intelligence, coordination, social skills, and much, much more. If I were a teacher, I would be looking to my board members to solve the problem from within, not sacrificing the citys best-known source of fine arts and culture for a few extra dollars. The art and music programs are just now finding their legs at the Bowlus. This move would cripple them.
New schools dont bring new residents to a shrinking town that is done with the action of a towns residents and businesses. Our town needs to shake off the old, and welcome new, bright, fervent young talent, not cower at the words of a few sitting on some board. We are the people, not some board. All this move will do is give them another round of ammo in their push for new school buildings (despite our votes against it), and that will lead to more taxes, higher utility rates (like the one on the front page of Tuesdays paper), and similar stabs in our dying towns chest. The local community has recently invested extensively to help the Bowlus expand in order to keep its doors open. The school boards vote will surely undo any progress it made. Help us, please, by supporting the teachers and families who really do care about saving this town. Help us keep classes in the Bowlus.
Mark Cunningham,
Iola, Kan.
