Dear editor,
The April 2 school bond issue is a very good test of the faith people have in their community.
What is the point of pouring money into three grade schools that need so much maintenance and will never be up to par?
This is among a multitude of problems that have gone on way too long with our schools.
I dont want to see Iola become a memory like so many other towns in Kansas.
I am 82 years old. My family moved to Moran in 1944 and bought a home and started paying taxes. I graduated in 1954, got married and started paying taxes in 1955 and still do. That is the responsibility of owning property and fixing it up as needed.
In the 1950s, our high school played sports with Kincaid. The students there now go to school in Colony. We played Blue Mound, whose students now go to Mound City. Elsmore, whose students now go to Moran. Bronson, who now go to Uniontown, and La-Harpe, who now go to Moran or Iola.
When my five children graduated in the 1970s, Moran was a nice place to raise children and had a pretty good business district. Most of these towns lost their businesses before their schools and are now just memories.
It takes pride, ambition, foresight and knowledge of the consequences for the city fathers to step up and do what they can to inform the public of its needs. There has been a very good steering committee who has done an excellent job of studying the pros and cons of building a new elementary school and addressing the immediate needs of the middle school and high school.
We have been patching the problems way too long. The teachers and retired teachers have worked in these crowded classrooms for many years. They have done their part. The superintendents from Burlington, Garnett and Chanute have talked about how much they have saved on utilities alone because of their new facilities and how their schools are safer, too.
I am eager to see one campus for all the younger children on the east side of town. I am happy at the thought of them having one central cafeteria. The very idea of busing food around to the individual elementaries was ridiculous and eating in a gym for many years made it difficult for all concerned.
Think of the future of the children and the town. You cant live in the past or it keeps pulling you back there. Look ahead and Vote Yes for all three propositions April 2.
Thank you,
Norma Stahl,
Iola, Kan.
