Dear editor,
Read where there will be committee meetings for those who will support a new school and then there will be a meeting that the “public” may attend at 6 p.m. You stated that “all USD 257 buildings were built to accommodate the ways education was delivered three-quarters of a century ago” and wouldn’t that metaphor also apply to The Iola Register and how it expresses and reports the news and opinions over the past years and like education, the news is really about the same thing as it was 100 years ago.
I’m actually quite proud of our “old” buildings that my grandparents designed and built for us. They have and will outlast anything these architects will propose because they don’t want buildings to last a long time or they would be out of business. Just because we are being told that these designers are not to receive any money if their design is rejected is all the more reason for the misinformation and bad “facts” to be supported and pointed out by their surveys. The “public” just went through one of these false fact fiascos in dealing with the need for a new hospital and how out-of-date and expensive it would be to modernize the old one. Well, with a new building that is five years old and they are litigating leaking showers. I for one do not trust or believe one-tenth of the biased and unfounded facts that are being bantered around as “why” we should build new.
Not to be a griper, I have actually positive suggestions for both the USD 257 school board and The Iola Register to bring some honesty and transparency to their current situations. The school board should also establish groups to meet with them that do not support a new school and reasons why; The Iola Register should allow half of its opinion page to reflect the conservative point of view instead of 100 percent liberal in a red, not blue, county and state.
Also, in the interest of fact finding and general discussion of the needs of our community versus the wants of a select few, I propose that three public debates occur where, just as a debate class was held in school, the pros and cons of each side may be presented for the public to hear and decide on facts rather than opinions, innuendos and inferences. I further propose an independent and non-local individual moderate these debates and that they be held in the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.
Also, let me be perfectly clear that the failure of the maintenance of our physical buildings and their deteriorating conditions is the responsibility of our past school boards and school superintendents. Whether the new superintendent and school board follow their predecessors is yet to be seen and everything I’m seeing indicates they, too, will allow the buildings to fall apart so they can put their names on a cornerstone of a new school rather than take care of what we gave them.
Respectfully,
Larry Walden,
Iola, Kan.
Letter to the editor — January 30, 2018
