CHANUTE — Here’s proof that planning pays.
For the last several years, the Neosho County Healthcare Coalition’s No. 1 goal has been to provide more childcare opportunities.
“We made it a priority because Neosho County had been designated as a childcare desert,” said Matt Koester, superintendent of Chanute schools. “And I knew the school had to be a part of it.”
According to 2025 data provided by ChildCare Aware of Kansas, an estimated 262 children need supervised care. That’s 40% of the 654 children age 6 and younger whose parents are in the workforce.
“Finding childcare in Neosho County is a workforce problem,” Koester said. “I hear the need from district employees, from manufacturers like Orizon, and at the hospital.”
Though the need was urgent, coming up with an answer took much, much longer.
But then steamrolled.
FOR KOESTER superintendent for the last three years, it began with the sobering reality that school enrollment is on a significant downward trend.
“In 2014, we had 884 students in elementary school, K-5. Next year, we’re projected to have 634,” he said.
When the district built its new elementary school in 2008, it created 43 classrooms, of which 34 are now utilized as classrooms.
Districtwide, the district has around 1,600 students.
Koester said discussions on what to do with the available space at the elementary school cropped up at a long-range planning meeting in mid-November.
Realizing the significance of the discussion, he became more specific. “It was Nov. 12. It’s fixed in my memory now. There was a comment that if we were going to build a new preschool, it would need to be at the new elementary school. We have the space there and we can utilize its services,” he said.
Though frequently referred to as the “new” schools, the elementary and high schools were constructed in 2008.
“You’ll be calling Iola Elementary School ‘new’ for the next 40 years,” he quipped.
In 2006, USD 413 voters approved a $42 million bond issue to build a new elementary and high school as well as renovate its middle school.
Three of the town’s four elementary schools were sold, with Lincoln Elementary retained for its preschool program. The central part of the high school was demolished to make way for a swimming pool which stands beside the old school’s gymnasium, now used by the city as a rec center.
