Iola Elementary School Principal Andy Gottlob, left, and USD 257 Superintendent Stacey Fager grill hamburgers for students at lunch Monday. Administrators at Iola middle and high schools will offer a cookout for lunch on Thursday.

The party is on. The Bowlus Fine Arts Center will commemorate its 60th anniversary on Sept. 14 with a fundraising gala that features a tribute to the 70s and multiple options to keep the celebration…

The Iola school district will enter a lottery to see if they can get two electric school buses for about half the price of one diesel bus. Board members, though, still have questions about the…

Iola’s school board members want a couple weeks to consider whether to upgrade to electric buses.  If they can actually buy one, though, will be a matter of chance. Aaron Cole, transportation director, asked the…

The biggest question facing USD 257 in 2024 will be what happens to its three former elementary schools. The district has agreed to a plan by BNIM, Kansas City-based developers, that will convert the three…

Stacey Fager, superintendent for Iola schools, is concerned lawmakers will bring back several educational bills that narrowly failed the last legislative session. The 2024 Kansas Legislature convened Monday.  Two issues in particular — commonly known…

The first few months after a school-based health clinic opened in January 2023 at Iola Elementary School, staff saw maybe one student per day.  By April, they were seeing about five on a daily basis. …

Preschoolers at Iola Elementary School serenaded their parents and teachers Thursday morning with a medley of holiday songs. Thursday marked the final day of classes for USD 257 students before the Christmas break. Classes for…

If at first you don’t succeed, go bigger. A development company hoping to convert Iola’s three former elementary schools into apartments is expanding plans for its first phase of construction.  The goal is to make…

USD 257 crews have been busy this week adding security cameras around the Riverside Park football stadium. The cameras were ordered after recent vandalism reports at the park. Ben Prasko, USD 257’s information technology director,…