Dear editor,
My name is Matt Kleopfer, and I have had the great privilege of teaching the students of Iola for the last three years in the high school and middle school bands. This town feels like a home away from home for me, and I want to invest my heart and soul into serving this community with my best teaching day in and day out.
Over the past three years, God has given me the opportunity to grow new friends and relationships with amazing students and teachers that will be with me for the rest of my life. It didn’t take long to figure out that Iola has a history that is as rich as they come. The unfortunate part to towns like this is that when change stares them in the face they usually tend to dwell on the past. Luckily Iola is not like this. In the 1930s the community of Iola pulled together to build new schools and invest in their children’s future in the middle of the most challenging financial times in our nation’s history. Well guess what? We are in the same shoes that those hard-working citizens were in some 80 years ago.
So I ask you Iola, if we do not build new schools now, then when and how?
Iola is at a fork in the road where we decide one of two things. Either invest in our children, their future, and infrastructure with new schools so we grow with the rest of the world, or vote no and continue dwindling as graduates don’t come back home, and new families don’t move to Iola.
In my opinion, the time is now. We have a great opportunity at our disposal with the state paying 51 percent of the bond. This state program has been in place for the past 21 years. Which means we have been paying taxes to help other towns just like us build new schools. Currently 89 percent of the school districts in Kansas have taken advantage of this program with our money. Which means we are of the 11 percent that have done nothing thus far to take advantage of this opportunity.
The unfortunate part to this decision is that the 51 percent of state aid has been on the chopping blocks for the last four years, and every time the House and Senate meet it comes closer and closer to being abolished. The next time for this meeting is this January, and what we can almost bank on is this state bond aid isn’t going to be around forever. If the bond issue and sales tax don’t pass and the state aid gets abolished Iola will most likely never be able to afford $50 million for new schools.
I say this not to spread fear, but rather because it is reality. I have read comments and conversed with many people who have asked some very intelligent questions of our school board and nearly all of them who were not in favor are now voting yes. My concern for those who do not get the right information and pass along rumors and crazy scenarios is that spreading negative banter does no good for this town.
To this date I have yet to hear someone who is not in favor of this bond issue come up with a scenario that our school board has not yet discussed and researched. That goes from remodeling to every possible scenario of using any part of the current schools.
Folks, I really hope you can come to a community forum meeting and at least listen to what has been researched and discussed. Even if you are not in favor, at least get educated on the issue. For the growing population of people who are voting “yes,” thank you for your support of the youth of Iola. It is an investment that you will not regret and one that will pay dividends for this town for years to come.
The Time Is Now!   
Matt Kleopfer,
Iola High School and Middle School band director

Dear editor,
Friday night was delightful in Iola at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center 50th Anniversary Celebration concert. People like me who were there in 1964 to hear the KC Philharmonic play the first concert in the auditorium, saw lots of visiting friends and alumni who turned out for the fun evening. And from the Mozart Overture at the beginning to the Bizet-Carmen suite at the end, the sellout crowd at the KC Symphony concert was treated to an evening of familiar melodies and tunes played beautifully.
The reason I am writing this letter is to thank the members of the board of education and the school administrators — particularly for the high school and middle school — for making it possible for all the band students to attend the event. Through a scheduling mix-up, IHS homecoming was originally on the calendar for Friday, Sept. 26, which would have involved the marching band members and, of course, their parents, as well as many other high school students and sports fans. Thanks to the recent extraordinary efforts of school administrators and the gracious cooperation of the opposing team, Osawatomie High School, homecoming was moved to a Friday night earlier in September and the normal Friday night game was played on Thursday.
Like a lot of rescheduling moves on a busy sports calendar, one change produced a domino effect triggering other scheduling changes. I understand at least one middle school event had to be moved from Thursday night last week to accommodate the switch, as well. For all those affected by this effort to allow the band students to attend the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Bowlus, I would like to say “thank you for enduring the inconvenience and confusion.” Listening to and watching a live performance by a group of 80 professional musicians was a rare and valuable opportunity for our student musicians.
Again, the school leaders, under the direction of Superintendent Jack Koehn and IHS Principal Stacey Fager, took care of the scheduling mix-up and made possible a very special evening for those students and parents who attended. On behalf of those able to attend the concert, thank you very much!
Jim Gilpin,
Iola, Kan.

Dear editor,
Wow! What a special weekend celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. Everyone who worked so hard to plan and carry out this event deserves our thanks and congratulations for a job well done. A special thanks to all of the performers, technical crew, ushers and particularly Susan Raines and the Bowlus staff who have worked countless hours to make sure the Bowlus’ 50th celebration would be one to remember. Kudos to the community for packing the Bowlus on both nights and showing their support and love for this wonderful gift from Thomas Bowlus. It certainly is the gift that keeps on giving!
I was especially intrigued by watching the tribute video at the start of the evening describing the history of the Bowlus. I did not realize that Thomas Bowlus started his vision for the fine arts center after attending a concert in the old Municipal Hall in the early 1960s. A performance by the U.S. Navy Band in the venerable structure (where he confided to friends that the acoustics were so bad he couldn’t enjoy the concert) would prove to be the catalyst for his gift. He thought the community deserved better and set in motion the mechanics of leaving his fortune to future generations. He would have been very pleased to see the performances Saturday night.
Even though Thomas Bowlus was in his 80s when he had his vision of providing the resources necessary to build the center, he had his eye on the future and not the past. He even ordered in his will the tearing down of the old, historical Bowlus home so a grand performing arts center could stand on the family grounds. Thank you, thank you, Thomas Bowlus! You certainly embodied the statement, “vision without execution is hallucination.”
If Thomas Bowlus saw the need to replace the old Municipal Hall after the poor acoustical problems, I am sure the current state of our 80-plus year old schools would cause him much alarm and dismay.
We were very fortunate to have the special vision and gift from Mr. Bowlus. While we would like to dream about someone like Mr. Bowlus providing the resources necessary to build new schools, we have the ability to make a worthwhile and necessary impact on future generations by our collective actions. That is what vibrant communities do to not only survive but to thrive in the hope that our best days are in the future and not in the past.
Respectfully,
Ken McGuffin,
Iola, Kan.

Dear editor,
We would like to share some thoughts on the USD 257 bond issue.
Everytime a new building is wanted we seem to go into “scare the people” mode. We needed a new hospital because the boiler might blow up. A new school is needed because the buildings are so bad it will cost a ton of money to fix them. I know why one grade school might be in bad shape. I worked 17 yrs. as a custodian. We would do extra cleaning, repairs and waxing floors, over the Christmas break. The maintenance manager at the time told us to stop, we were doing too much. Might still be the thought. By doing work along on our house is how we keep it up without having a big expense all at one time.
The SAT test scores of USD 257 students is posted on the school web site. Compared with other schools in the district they could be a lot higher. A new building will not help this.
We know that adding one mill to our taxes will only add a small amount too our taxes, but consider how much we are already paying now. We checked the delinquent taxes in the Register and found the total unpaid tax was $560,000 for one yr. Last year was more and many are delinquent several yrs. We were told that not much is done to collect the tax because it costs more on some property than the county gets out of it. Check for yourself, ask questions, use your own reasoning to make a decision.
We are retired, we have social security and KPERS retirement. Sounds like a lot, no I am afraid not. When we get a raise in SS check, then the increase in insurance and etc. eat up the raise. Forget the Ks retirement fund, never had a raise and don’t look for any. The Ks. Government promised to pay into the fund years ago, but never did. Now can we expect the government to come up with the 51 percent? It’s not free money, it’s your tax dollars.
The land the school complex is buying is so expensive. I know land does cost a lot, but do we really need to have 95 acres? There is no guarantee that Gates or Stover candy will stay in Iola. Gates has been doing business with China for a long time. Point is, the land is priced too high and we need more employment in the area. Our little town, and I mean it is getting smaller, does not have a great amount of employment. Population is decreasing, check the figures of today against 10 yrs. ago. What is to keep a young person here? The big paying jobs are in larger cities.
Our utility bill came last week and it increased due to a $5 surcharge because the city needs more money. Water, sewer and gas lines are old and needing to be replaced over much of the town. So, more taxes! I am sure that some people can well afford this bond issue, with the extra taxes that will come, but for those that can’t, I feel sorry for them. On our little block where we live, we have six retired people, two employed and several without employment. We all do not live very high scale in our area. Do we really think a new school building will bring in better teachers? We have good teachers now. We need to help the kids meet standards, know how to do something without a computer and be a good citizen.
I am so afraid that this project will cost more than what they are telling us it will cost. All the planning we can do will not cover unforeseen problems that will run the cost up. Slowly the Bowlus will lose the arts and music classes. One this yr, one next yr, but in the end all this will be at the new complex. Busing the kids to the Bowlus and traffic in and out of the school area will cause more problems.
The bond issue is a serious matter for all involved. Please, do a lot of thinking on the issue and make sure to vote. There are a lot of things to consider, so ask questions and check for yourself.
Jim and Martha Heffernon,
Iola, Kan.

(Editor’s note: Much of the Legislature’s increase in education spending this year went to shore up KPERS.)