In the months ahead local school board members will decide what USD 257 will do to deal with building needs that are a constant and nagging source of concern.
We can build new schools for all students; build a new elementary and renovate others; renovate all.
A given is repairs and improvements for what we have can not be put off indefinitely.
Heating and air-conditioning in many instances are well beyond predicted lives and have staff on edge each time a switch is thrown. Many roofs need attention. Science facilities at the high school look a better fit for alchemists of Medieval times and classrooms are designed to deliver education of generations ago.
Buildings are like fortresses, but concrete footings and foundations are showing their ages in crumbling fashion. Simple things like vehicle access are a nightmare; just ask Supt. of Schools Stacey Fager, who once watched in horror when his young son nearly became a traffic statistic because of congestion near the high school.
Make repairs as money is available, whine those who oppose any bond issue and also allude to schools having been good enough for them, and, consequently, good enough for today’s students. What a crock; let’s do better for our kids, and grandkids.
Tony Leavitt, an outgoing board member with exceptional insight, pointed out the district capital outlay fund didn’t generate enough revenue to meet ongoing building needs. “Eventually, we’re going to have to pass something,” he said.
A series of meetings to consider what should be done led to its moderator, Dan Willis, also a board member, to conclude a new elementary school would be better than renovating the three older ones. If that occurred secondary schools likely would renovated.
Willis pointed out cost of a new elementary — many folks have conceded the best opportunity for a new school in Iola — would be comparable to remodeling and upgrading the three built more than 80 years ago.
Three things probably have torpedoed a new elementary proposal:
— A single elementary in town would require enough land (15 to 18 acres) that several, maybe many, homes would have to be taken, likely by eminent domain proceedings.
— Forces favoring renovation would render a bond issue difficult to pass.
— Regardless of educational practicalities, the bond with neighborhood schools is difficult to break.
Thus, the more likely outcome is a bond issue to renovate schools, which only will shove a most difficult decision — to uproot existing schools in favor of new ones — down the road, for a new set of board members and community leaders to decide.
I am very much interested in seeing Iola-area kids — those everywhere — have the best of all opportunities for educations that prepare them — immediately or after post-secondary training — for work-a-day lives.
We all should have that goal, with ready acceptance of the few dollars a month more it would cost in taxes.
At Week’s End: What awaits for local schools
