Five things to know about the proposals for ‘newer and fewer’ Wichita schools

In less than two months, the Wichita school board will cast a vote on a facilities master plan that could reshape the district over the next 20 years.

Kansas’ largest public school system is grappling with $1.2 billion in deferred maintenance needs, and the vision for a reimagined USD 259 with “newer and fewer” schools may rely on voter support for a series of bond issues.

The plans outlined by a board-hired consulting firm this week range from one option for investing in 27 new or renovated schools to a no-bond option that would limit the focus to maintaining existing buildings.

None of the plans currently have a price tag, and all of them call for Wichita to consolidate nearly 20 schools in its effort to offset declining enrollment and rapidly-aging infrastructure.

When will we know which buildings are affected?

Although the consultant has identified specific schools that could be closed or rebuilt under each of the proposals, none of that information has been shared publicly.

David Sturtz of Woolpert, the Ohio-based firm hired by the board, said that’s because he doesn’t want the conversation about the district’s future to devolve into which schools should receive which treatment until after feedback has been collected on what scope of a project taxpayers might be willing to support.

“It’s too many numbers. It’s too many details to make meaningful sense of, and you would lose the forest for the trees. We want to clearly communicate the forest,” Sturtz said after a public meeting Tuesday, the last of four that Woolpert hosted over two days.

He said the next round of feedback, a community survey set to be distributed in May, will name specific schools that could be knocked down, rebuilt or renovated. After that feedback is collected, the school board will hold a workshop to review the facilities master plan recommendation before voting on it June 10.

Board member Melody McCray-Miller told The Eagle that it will be important to give community members a chance to weigh in on what should happen to individual schools before plans are finalized. She has been critical of the limited opportunity for meaningful input members of the public had before the school-closure vote in March.

What’s the difference between rebuilding, renovating and new additions?

A full rebuild means leveling an existing school and constructing a new one on the same property. This option would be reserved for the schools in the worst condition that would be the most expensive to maintain.

Renovations are a more targeted approach for when an existing building can be preserved while one or several portions of it are gutted and replaced.

In some cases, existing schools that are in fair condition might have a new addition built on to accommodate students and staff whose aging buildings would be permanently shuttered.

Is school consolidation the same as closure?

All four options presented by consultants this week call for at least 20% of the district’s current schools to be closed over the next two decades.

“Practically, closing, consolidating and merging — the effect is the same. You’re taking schools offline,” Sturtz said.

But not every consolidation has to be as disruptive as the closures of Clark, Park, Payne and Cleaveland Magnet elementaries and Hadley and Jardine Magnet middle schools, he said. Students at each of those buildings will be split between at least three different welcoming schools next year and teachers are not guaranteed a position at one of the schools their students will be moving to.

“You want to keep doing that? Don’t pass a bond issue. Just close schools,” Sturtz said.

If a bond issue plan earns voter’s support, though, learning ecosystems could be better preserved throughout consolidation, he said. That would mean teachers and students moving together into new and renovated buildings.

Where would students go while their schools are being rebuilt/renovated?

Rather than purchase temporary classroom units to accommodate students during construction, Sturtz said Wichita can get better value by repurposing existing space.

“The ideal is to frontload rebuilding,” he said. “Move kids into the rebuilt schools and the schools they vacate become swing spaces for other kids to move into while their schools are being renovated.”

For that to work, rebuild projects would have to take place on school properties with enough green space to construct a new building while classes continue in the old building. Once a new school is built, the old one could temporarily be taken over by students and staff whose building is undergoing renovations.

The aging buildings would only be torn down once displaced students and staff can return to their own space.

It’s also possible to keep classes in their own building during renovations but that process creates its own logistical challenges.

“You would swing the renovations in parts,” Sturtz said. “I’m going to renovate this section. We’re going to close it off and nobody’s in the auditorium for six months. We’re going to renovate all this stuff over here and then kids are going to move over to this area. You kind of hopscotch. It’s just more expensive and it takes more time.”

Could any high schools be closed or rebuilt?

None of the plans presented by consultants call for closing, rebuilding or renovating any of Wichita’s nine high schools. However, tens of millions of dollars would likely be pumped into addressing high schools’ deferred maintenance needs.

Rebuilds and closures would be limited to elementary and middle schools. Because the district has by far the most elementary schools — 54 before the closure of four at the end of the semester — that level would be most affected by consolidation.

The district is also gauging public interest in expanding the number of K-8 schools across the city from three to either four or eight buildings.

Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said last month that from what he’s heard anecdotally, the existing K-8 schools — Gordon Parks Academy, Christina McAuliffe Academy and Horace Mann — are “very popular.”

Wichita district wants bond issues to rebuild, consolidate schools. Check out four options