USD 253 Emporia has officially closed Kansas Avenue School.
The board of education unanimously approved the closure of the building at 315 South Market as part of its regular meeting Wednesday evening following a brief public hearing. The building was previously leased to Crosswinds Counseling and Wellness which moved out of the facility in late December and was also being utilized by the Kansas Special Education Cooperative which will be moving to a new location at the end of the current academic year.
With no occupants and rising costs of maintenance and operation, USD 253 Superintendent Dr. Allison Anderson-Harder stated there was no further use for the facility by the district. With the closure now official, there will be a 45-day protest period for the local community before the building will go to the Kansas Legislature for the right of first refusal per Senate Bill 113.
If the legislature chooses to pass on the building, the district will then be able to put it up for sale. Anderson Harder says there has already been some interest expressed in the facility.
According to Anderson Harder, while the legislature ponders whether or not it would like to claim the building, the district can consider “contingency offers” on the property.
In other business Wednesday, the board unanimously approved a memorandum of understanding with the Emporia Recreation and Emporia City Commissions for the development of a steering committee for the potential update or construction of a new Emporia recreation center. The district’s involvement on the committee came after conversations on the district’s absence in the original document as part of the ERC’s monthly meeting in January.
This led to a series of revisions and an updated MOU which was approved by the ERC Monday night and the city commission Wednesday morning. Anderson Harder says it is very important for the school district to have a seat at the table for several reasons including the district’s longtime connection to the ERC.
Per the MOU, all entities involved will have one board representative and an “at-large” community member appointee. Both the ERC and city commission are tentatively set to appoint their representatives at their next meetings in two weeks.
The ERC has not indicated who those appointments may be while conversations amongst city leadership Wednesday indicated the appointees may be commissioners Erren Harter and Susan Brinkman. The MOU also states the Lyon County Commission will have a single representative on the committee, however, the county has yet to review the document according to commission chairman Rollie Martin.
In other business Wednesday, board members received a presentation on the results of a recent district climate survey from Kansas Association of School Boards Leadership Services representative Dr. Alicia Thompson. The survey allowed district stakeholders an opportunity to offer honest feedback on district operations and helped to emphasize the district’s strengths and areas of weakness or needed improvement.
Dr. Anderson Harder will be discussing the survey results in more depth when she joins KVOE’s Newsmaker Two segment at 8:20 am Tuesday.
The USD 253 Board of Education will next convene on Wednesday, February 28 at 6 pm inside of the Mary Herbert Education Center.
