The public got its first formal opportunity Tuesday night to respond to a proposal to build new elementary and high schools on the north edge of Iola. KOEHN AND CO. fielded several queries from the audience, including one skeptic. BOB COLEMAN, director of the ANW Special Education Cooperative, spelled out other concerns. TONY LEAVITT, school board president, responded to Iolan Paul Zirjacks’ proposal to build a new high school, then erect a new elementary school in the old high school’s site. IOLAN JOE HESS said the bond issue is a moral issue facing local voters.
Administrators from USD 257 greeted a crowd of about 100 for the first of a series of public forums related to the proposed $50 million bond issue.
The district is looking to build the new schools, while renovating Iola Middle School, and either selling or demolishing the old portions of the 98-year-old high school and the three elementaries.
Voters in the district and Iola will vote in November on a pair of issues, a general obligation bond that would raise taxes about 9 mills from this year’s levy, and a quarter-cent sales tax within Iola’s city limits. Both must pass in order for the project to proceed.
Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn spent about an hour spelling out the current issues facing the district:
— The lack of safety and security within each of the buildings, including an inability to control access to each of the schools, and traffic concerns at the start and end of each school day;
— Educational inefficiencies, stemming from having unequal class sizes at the three elementaries; disparities in technology among the three buildings; forcing entire classrooms to relocate if a student has issues climbing stairs; and a host of issues related to providing special education services equitably throughout the district.
— Operational inefficiencies, noting the district has spent over $3 million on maintenance over the past seven years, and expects to spend $5 million over the next five — at the cost of being able to provide better technology and raises for USD 257 staff. In addition, the district spends nearly $100,000 more on utilities than newer, more energy-efficient schools.
Koehn also spoke about the district’s plans for the Bowlus Fine Arts Center if the bond issue passes. The high school would utilize the Bowlus for career and technical programs, rather than fine arts classes. He also reiterated the opportunity the district has in terms of having 51 percent of the project (plus interest) funded by the state.
“It’s buy one, get one free,” he surmised.
Iolan Kathy Ronay wondered why the district favored new construction over renovating existing schools.
She recalled an earthquake in Bakersfield, Calif., in 1951 that damaged several schools and hospitals.
“They didn’t say, ‘We have to plow these schools down,’” Ronay said. “They took down the part that fell down and built next to it. Those schools are still running today. They managed to keep them up. Why can’t we keep our schools up?
“Why do we need to completely bulldoze everything and start fresh? People like me don’t have enough money for this issue.”
Indeed, renovating the schools was the tack by architects, said Kirk Horner of Hollis and Miller, the Overland Park-based architectural firm helping design the new schools proposal.
Among the issues with renovations:
— Because the work would be so extensive, it couldn’t be completed in a summer; thus alternate sites, such as modular buildings, would be necessary to house students temporarily.
— Building onto existing elementaries would require additional land, which in turn would turn into eminent domain issues because all three elementaries are essentially landlocked with surrounding houses.
“When you dig down into renovating older buildings, the cost becomes almost as equal or more expensive,” added Steve Shogren, of George K. Baum, the district’s bond adviser.
A report from Hollis and Miller pegged renovations for each of the schools, plus the middle school, at $56.6 million, or $6.6 million above the proposed construction project.
“Think about it,” Horner said. “A couple of these schools were designed in 1939. Think about how technology has changed, enrollment has changed, traffic has changed, kids have changed, and how we deliver education has changed. Think about how the community has changed. Yet those buildings have not changed.”
“It’s the teachers, not the buildings,” Ronay responded.
Horner agreed, but noted new facilities would better equip the teachers to meet students’ needs in the 21st century.
Koehn agreed, noting he has no idea what new innovations in teaching will come down the road in the next 10 years or so. But the existing buildings make it difficult to adapt to those innovations.
“Right now, Iola does not have a preschool for special ed kids,” Coleman said. “The Co-op has to lease a facility outside. If we don’t have a facility in the near future, we’ll probably be out of compliance with the state, and you’re going to be forced to find some place for that.
“On top of that, if we don’t pass the bond issue, I have real concerns talking with parents, particularly within our elementary schools and the high school, about accessibility. I give the school district quite a bit of credit. You’ve worked hard to make sure you have space available. We are using closets and old locker rooms and bathrooms for kids.”
Coleman said it’s not unusual for parents with special needs children to tour school facilities before moving to a community.
“They look and see what’s here, they see the facilities, then they go to Humboldt or Chanute or someplace else,” he said. “If we don’t have good schools here, people are going to go elsewhere. That’s pretty well known across the country. That’s not new.
“I’d like to think of myself as a fiscal conservative,” Coleman continued. “We have a rare opportunity, and we need to take advantage of it.”
Doing so would require an additional 10 acres of space — 19 acres in all are needed — which would require condemning as many as 19 houses surrounding the current high school.
Putting pen to paper, that could cost an additional $1 million, not counting the public relations headache the district would face by forcing Iolans from their homes through condemnation.
In addition, a new elementary school at the high school site would require closing off Cottonwood Street, which would be affected by several easements beneath the street, Leavitt said.
Leavitt spoke about other challenges.
“My first term on the board, I was trying to figure out how other districts were able to afford to give teachers raises, how they could buy new technology,” Leavitt said. “I guess I’m a slow learner. It took me four years to figure out we’re spending money for utilities that we would be spending on kids. Our buildings are so inefficient energy-wise that we’re spending $94,000 on utility bills that we could be spending elsewhere.”
Leavitt noted the board’s first choice was to build inside city limits and they looked at several locations. None was deemed suitable because of lack of space.
“I’m a retired educator, biology and chemistry teacher, high school counselor and school administrator,” Hess aid. “I started out in a one-room schoolhouse. When I got to the eighth grade in town, I figured out I didn’t know very much. I had a special teacher who took an interest in me and helped me get my feet on the ground. I made it through.”
He was one of two students in his graduating class of 26 to go onto college.
“What we’re talking about here is providing for the next generation,” he said. “Somebody provided for me and made it possible for me to get my feet on the ground and be a contributor to society. We’re looking at the future, not the present.
“We’re either going to take care of our next generation, or we’re going to ignore it.”
Public sounds off on new schools plan
