A week from now, USD 253 Emporia Board of Education members will take final action on the proposed closure of Logan Avenue Elementary School; however, the proposed closure was the sole focus of a special meeting of the board Wednesday evening.
Specifically, Wednesday’s meeting was the second public hearing on the matter after USD 253 board members voted to close the school at the end of the current academic year in accordance with cost-saving recommendations from the district’s cost containment committee, seeking to find roughly $4 million in savings due to a budget shortfall created largely by a noticeable reduction in enrollment in recent years. The board’s vote was followed by a petition effort from residents seeking to keep the school open, which garnered the required number of signatures to trigger a review by the Kansas State Department of Education, which ultimately found the district’s decision to be reasonable given the circumstances.
During Wednesday’s meeting, residents and members of the Logan Avenue staff had their final opportunity to make a plea to the board to consider keeping the school active past the 2026-27 school year. This included Speech Pathologist Nathan Rytting, who had previously asked the board to consider eliminating certain positions, including, if necessary, his own, rather than closing the school.
Wednesday evening, Rytting began his comments by saying, “I feel like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner or Charlie Brown kicking the football. . . . But we have to keep trying.” He then questioned whether or not the reported cost savings would actually be attained as reported by district leadership in previous months.
Sarah McGrady offered comment on behalf of Tricia Parks, who posed the question, “Are we truly going to save a million dollars or simply trying to break even?”
As KVOE News reported in April, the vote to close the school was not unanimous, as Barb Fowler voted against the measure with Fowler stating her residence on the east side of Emporia and concerns the district had not fully examined other viable options before arriving at the recommendation to close the school. When speaking with KVOE News Wednesday night, Fowler couldn’t say definitively if her stance would change or not come next week.
While speaking with Board President Jami Reever following Wednesday’s meeting, KVOE News alluded to the decision in 2022 not to pause operations at William Allen White Elementary School despite all indications that the board would vote in favor of the proposed action and asked Reever if the same could occur next week. Reever could not speak to the future, but did note the WAW and Logan Avenue situations were different in nature, as one was due to a teaching shortage and the other related to a budget shortage.
Ultimately, Reever told KVOE News that, given the current circumstances, she does not believe a reverse in course would be feasible.
According to comments during Wednesday’s meeting, there has been some discussion on social media as to the district choosing to close a different school, Timmerman Elementary to be exact, with residents citing concerns of a potential data center being built in proximity to the building. Board member Jeremy Dorsey addressed those comments Wednesday, saying he was not swayed by this point, as he feels that if certain developments, specifically a petition to ban data centers in the community, unfolds as he expects, the argument will be a moot point by November.
Should the district choose to move forward with the closure in a week, Superintendent Dr. David McGehee stated there are several potential uses for Logan Avenue that have been discussed, including using it as office space for the district or for rentals from the community. No decisions have been made to that end, aside from one: the building will not be sold and will remain under the district’s ownership.
Acknowledging this has been a turbulent time within the district, McGehee noted it is an unfortunate reality of the current decline in school enrollment that has been affecting the entire state and one that current projections show will not be decreasing anytime soon. With that in mind, McGehee says the further ahead of the trend the district can get now, the less difficult decisions they may need to have moving forward.
The final vote on Logan’s future will take place as part of the USD 253 Board of Education’s regular meeting next Wednesday, September 9th at 6 pm inside the Mary Herbert Education Center.
