Public weighs in on what to do with Wichita Public School buildings and master plan
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Wichita Public Schools started its listening and input sessions on the facility master plan Monday night with two sessions. It comes on the heels of surveys as to what the public wants.
“And the public really helped on that, and the board of education focus on what our citizens want our school district to do,” said USD 259 School Board President Stan Reeser. “We’re now asking them again.”
Some hoped for more of the public to be on hand to offer their ideas at the first meeting on Monday night at the Alvin E. Morris Administration Center.
“Actually, I thought it would be a larger turnout,” said Shawn Robinson, who was at the meeting. “But I’m glad that we do have those that are interested and are coming out and sharing their thoughts and their ideas about Wichita Public Schools.”
Wichita school leaders did not offer a specific plan on what to do with buildings that will be empty next year after closing and consolidating six schools. However, they did bring in a consultant to talk about what issues need to be considered while looking at all the buildings that house students in the district.
“You have over a billion dollars in deferred maintenance, and that’s just, you’re not going to catch up on it,” said David Sturtz, VP of advisory services with Woolpert Cooperative Strategies. “We also know that there is a lot of surplus capacity in the district.”
Sturtz told the audience there is a lot of work and fact-gathering to be done, including public input, before decisions are made on the facility master plan for USD 259.
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“And that’s what we’re here for tonight to start working on with the community. You had a survey already. Following up with these meetings to say, look, you have a gradation of opportunities for investment over time. And this will take time,” said Sturtz.
District leaders also talked about key objectives with the audience, including things like what district buildings should look like in five to 10 years.
Questions to be answered include things like the condition of other buildings in use now. Do students have equitable access to high-quality learning environments? And what facilities are in good enough condition along with which buildings need maintenance or major renovation or replacement?
The district plans on compiling public input and gathering more data. The plan includes having a recommendation on what to do with the facility master plan to the school board for consideration by June 10 of this year.
There will be another set of listening and input sessions on Tuesday. The first will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Wichita West High School. The second will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Wichita North High School.
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