Residents who want to voice their concerns about a possible operations pause at Emporia’s William Allen White Elementary will have a chance to do so.
The USD 253 Board of Education has slated a special meeting at 2 pm Thursday for the express purpose of hearing public comment, both on the immediate future of William Allen White and the staffing crisis plan. It will precede a special discussion meeting for the board at 3 pm. Both meetings will be at Mary Herbert. Both will be live-streamed on the district’s website, www.usd253.org.
The district’s recommended plan, online at www.usd253.org, would pause school operations for an unspecified period of time and transfer certified and classified staff members districtwide to the most urgently needed open positions. William Allen White staff will have a chance to list their top three preferences for both buildings and positions.
The meetings and the plan — including William Allen White’s future — come with the district processing over 40 staff resignations just since mid-April and with the school at its lowest enrollment point in the last decade.
The staffing plan also lists several options, including the hire of qualified student teachers from Emporia State, but it lists only four available at ESU in December. Emporia State says it has placed four interns in Emporia Public Schools elementary classrooms for the fall semester as part of 42 headed across the state. ESU anticipates over 30 additional student teachers are on track to graduate in December, with higher numbers expected in May.
KVOE.com has a news poll asking you if there is a need to close an Emporia school due to a staffing crisis, is William Allen White the best option? Go to the KVOE.com home page and news page to vote. The poll will end at 2 pm Thursday.
3:30 pm Tuesday: Special meeting called to possibly ‘pause’ operations at Emporia’s William Allen White Elementary
Operations at William Allen White Elementary could well be “paused” — if not closed outright — if the USD 253 Emporia Board of Education approves a staffing crisis plan to be presented at a special board meeting Thursday.
The meeting at 3 pm is designed to address what the district calls its current staffing crisis, which involves 12 certified staff positions open at the elementary level, three certified staff positions open at the secondary level, almost 30 classified positions open districtwide — not including activity drivers or paraprofessionals — and over 30 para positions open. There have been over 40 resignations since mid-April.
The meeting also comes as William Allen White officially had 189 students for the 2021-22 school year, its lowest enrollment of the last decade. William Allen White had 190 students for the 2020-21 academic year. Its 10-year high had been 276 students in the 2015-16 academic year, but enrollment has been declining every year since then. Nearly 80 percent of the school’s students qualify for free or reduced meals, the highest of any Emporia elementary school.
The district plan, online at www.usd253.org, would pause school operations and transfer certified and classified staff members districtwide to the most urgently needed open positions. “Every effort” will be made to maintain appropriate class sizes in the other five elementary schools, and William Allen White staff will have a chance to list their top three preferences for both buildings and positions.
Other options include:
*Transferring instructional strategists to classroom teacher positions
*Hiring qualified student teachers in December, but only four are available at Emporia State
*Adjusting instructional strategist schedules to go into classrooms for part of the day and teaching flex groups for part of the day
*Combining grade levels into “multi-age” classrooms
*Staggering start times
*Increasing class sizes
*Scheduling flex groups with more students per group
The plan does not mention renovation funding earmarked for the school as part of the nearly $80 million Building for the Future bond initiative passed by Emporia voters several years ago. It does ask residents to consider job opportunities with the district, encouraging family members and friends to apply and to be more actively involved in supporting the district.
KVOE News has been told district administrators will not comment on the meeting until after its completion. The school was built in 1950, according to Lyon County records, and has over 30,000 square feet of education space. It’s appraised at over $615,000.
