Wellington school board at public hearing.

By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington school board has indicated it will revisit an option that could redefine the new Elementary School boundaries for the 2027-28 academic year, after a public hearing held at the Wellington High School Auditorium Monday evening.

The purpose of the hearing was to discuss the proposal to close Washington Elementary School after the 2026-27 school year and adopt the following school boundaries.

RSP, the consulting firm tasked with restructuring the USD 353 Elementary schools, provided a boundary consideration report to the board at a July 14 work session. It provided three options for the board to consider. At that meeting (see here), the board contemplated:

1 — Retire Washington Elementary by the 2027-28 school year and evenly distribute elementary students, kindergarten through fifth grade, over the three remaining elementary schools of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Lincoln, keeping the neighborhood schools concept intact. This would require new boundaries so each school would essentially have the same number of students.

2 — Retire Washington Elementary by the 27-28 school year and send all those students to Lincoln while leaving the boundaries of the other two schools as is. This would result in uneven class distribution among the three remaining schools, but it would reduce the impact of student transfers. Again, this retains the neighborhood school concept.

3 — Retire Washington Elementary and reconfigure to grade-level centers: Eisenhower (K-1), Kennedy (2-3) and Lincoln (4-5). Enrollment remains balanced.

At that time, the board retired Option 2 with little discussion and then held a special meeting to decide Option 1 (neighborhood schools) over Option 3 (grade-level learning center).

Now comes another wrinkle to the ongoing saga…

A parent at the public hearing expressing her displeasure with the recent board decision.

Monday night, it appears Option 2 is back on the table, thanks in part to the testimony of a couple of parents. For clarification, the grade-level learning centers are currently no longer an option.

Wellington resident David White, the son of board member Bob White, made a presentation. He said that after reviewing the RSP report himself, the board had erred by leaning into Option 1. Option 2 was designed to minimize the impact on students, and he said that is the better option.

D. White presented data comparing class sizes in the Option 1 and 2 scenarios and determined that the class size differences were not significant. But Option 1 would affect 132 students transferring in from Kindergarten to third grade, while Option 2 would affect only 55.

The difference in the two scenarios is where the students are transferred. In Option 1, the goal is a balanced enrollment amongst the three remaining elementaries. That would require all 55 Washington K-3 students to go to Kennedy, and then some reshuffling at the other schools. In Option 2, all 55 Washington students would go to Lincoln. That would make for uneven enrollment with Eisenhower getting 209 students in 2027-28, 162 at Kennedy, and 195 at Lincoln (see Projection Table graphic below).

Several board members promised to revisit that second scenario. Although the vote was taken to go with neighborhood schools, the boundaries have yet to be set, nor has there been a timetable for the transition.

One Wellington citizen asked about a deadline by which the board will give the Washington staff, parents, and students final notice. The general response by various board members on Monday was that they would like for that to happen by the end of December.

Wellington Superintendent Adam Hatfield said no formal deadline has ever been established. However, board member Mike Wilmoth, who was not in attendance on Monday, said a decision needed to be made by August concerning Washington.

Several other parents and teachers spoke at the meeting, generally expressing their displeasure with the decision to close Washington. But overall, the mood was a bit subdued. The one-hour-plus public hearing was not well attended, with a smattering of parents and teachers scattered throughout the auditorium.

One parent asked near the end why we even had this public hearing, since the decision had already been made. None of the board members really gave her an answer. At the beginning of the meeting, Hatfield said the Kansas State Legislature requires a public hearing by law when a school building is closed.

https://thegoldcorner.com/

/