The Kansas State Department of Education has issued its findings following the USD 253 Board of Education’s decision to close Logan Avenue Elementary School at the end of the coming school year following a review of a petition of opposition submitted last month.
According to an update on the situation during USD 253 Superintendent’s report from Superintendent David McGehee as part of the board’s monthly meeting Wednesday evening, the district received the results of the KSDE review of a petition seeking to stop the closure just ahead of Wednesday’s meeting. In its report, KSDE noted that the investigator handling the petition and subsequent fact-finding determined the district’s decision to be “reasonable” based on several factors, including the better than $4 million budget deficit the district is facing, coupled with the state of enrollment at the school, which has been stated to be the lowest in the district.
The petition did state several concerns with the board’s decision, including a perceived lack of transparency, lack of community involvement and a lack of exploration of alternate options, just to name a few. When asked his feelings on those concerns, McGehee stated he felt it was a matter of differing opinions.
That said, McGehee noted the state recommended providing additional information as to the decision-making process, including more details on the state of the district’s financial situation as an example.
As for the next steps in the process, the district will hold an additional public hearing on the matter before taking a second vote on the closure. The timeline for that process is currently under development, according to McGehee, with no dates set in concrete at this time.
While no date has been set as of yet, McGehee says it could be September before the board renders its final decision.
In other business, Wednesday evening, the board received a presentation on the Emporia Recreation Commission’s rec facility expansion project from ERC Director Amanda Gutierrez. Gutierrez provided a brief history of how and why the project developed and where it currently stands.
As of now, plans are to construct a new rec facility out by the Jones Aquatic Center while also conducting significant upgrades to the Lee Beran Recreation Center, providing access to rec facilities for residents on both sides of the community. Newly appointed USD 253 Board President Jami Reever says this approach was one of the most important conversations for the steering committee over the last few years, noting she and others did not want to see any segments of the community lose access to rec facilities and programming.
Original plans were to simply create a new facility at Champions Landing and do away with the current facilities to a degree. Following several pauses on the project due to economic impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic and other local issues, the steering committee decided to go in an alternate direction, moving away from the better than $40 million single facility to a scaled-down construction project with the upgrades to Lee Beran set to cost around $24 million, which is set to be funded through a bond initiative.
The new facility would include two gyms, two pools, restrooms, locker rooms, a commons area and a slide, with the new facility costing around $16 million alone. The updates to Lee Beran would include converting the existing natatorium into a fitness area while creating a new lobby and remodeling the interior with components like plumbing repairs, replacing the roof, improving the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, repairs and painting for the building exterior and repairing the parking lot, with those upgrades costing around $6 million.
With the scaled-down price tag also comes a scaled-down funding mechanism of a quarter-cent sales tax, which Gutierrez says they are hoping to place on the November 3rd ballot.
Looking at the current plans, along with Reever, the other members of the board expressed their favor for the project, including former Board President Art Gutierrez, who says he sees many benefits to the new rec facility, including reducing strain on district facilities due to an overabundance of use.
According to Bruce Boettcher of BG Consultants, the engineering firm handling the design of the project, though it is smaller than the original plans, the new facility would still provide ample space for residents to take part in the activities they want without having to wait due to space and time constraints.
Amanda Gutierrez also stated that the new facility and updated Lee Beran open a door for the community to host more youth sports activities throughout the calendar, noting that youth sports are a billion-dollar industry.
You can find additional details from Wednesday’s meeting online under the board docs tab at USD253.org. The USD 253 Board of Education is next scheduled to convene in August.
