West Elk meeting still on for Monday night

[Rudy Taylor]

The hearing to be hosted by the USD 282-West Elk Board of Education will be held as planned tonight (Monday, Jan 4), according to the secretary at the board office. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and consist entirely of a hearing on the proposal to close Moline and Severy elementary schools and merge all instructional activity to the Howard campus. Anyone may attend and make their views known. Those speaking will be asked to sign in when they enter the auditorium. Those addressing the hearing will be limited to five minutes each. The hearing will adjourn at 9 p.m.

[MarkHall]

FYI

11 speakers total, meeting over at 7:45. Pretty low turnout... auditorium was less than half full... probably closer to 1/3 full.

[Mom70x7]

Thanks for the report.

Was anything of note said?

[Rudy Taylor]

West Elk patrons urge: Hold off a little longer

        About a third of the auditorium was filled with school patrons Monday night as the USD 282 West Elk Board of Education listened to views on the proposed merging of three campuses into one.
   Board president Marty Taliaferro told the audience that state laws require a hearing anytime a school is proposed to be closed, noting that proposal is to close elementary schools in Severy and Moline, moving all students to the Howard campus.
   Supt. Corey Reese gave a brief update on information from the Kansas State Board Education.
   "According to what I have received since the last board meeting, it appears that the state board has been granted the authority to make even more cuts than it has made already," Reese said. "I don't see this situation as getting any better, and the West Elk district stands to lose in the range of $400,000 more in state aid."
   Reese said the "full time equivalency" (FTE) for West Elk schools now stands at 331, adding that much of the district's state aid is based upon this enrollment figure.
   He said cuts at the state level include not only direct state aid but also aid to Capital Outlay funds, Supplemental budgets and Special Ed funding.
   Eleven individuals signed up to speak at the hearing and each was given five minutes to speak. The entire hearing lasted only 45 minutes.
   Severy Mayor Rodney Craig announced to the board that the Severy City Council had voted to donate all city utilities including water, sewer and trash fees, if the school could be left open.
   "That's about all we can do at the city level," said Craig. He also inquired about the ball field that the school owns in Severy, saying efforts should be made to keep it publicly owned.
   He was accompanied by Severy resident Gary Whittaker who said negotiations are underway with the gas company to see if any discounts could be derived. "We also have been in touch with Westar which has agreed to help us figure ways to cut our electric utility bills at the Severy school," Whittaker said.
   They both urged the board to hold off on closing the Severy and Moline schools until later in year while a better plan is devised.
   Matt Hilton expressed his support for the board's consolidation plan.
"We cannot operate as status quo," Hilton said. "I'm afraid consolidation is a must."
   L.W. Ross gave the board members a scolding about "vetoing the people's vote," referring to the recent election where local patrons turned down a proposal to build a central elementary school in Howard.
   Eric Krug urged the board and local citizens to get involved at the state level to lobby for more funding for the West Elk district. "This school has turned around my kids one hundred fold," said Krug. "We want to see it succeed." But he urged the board to "set this issue on the table for a while" until better information and figures can be obtained.
   Irene Julian argued that the board is rushing the issue, and expressed concern about what impact closing two schools would have on the Moline and Severy communities.
   "We in Moline find ourselves going ballistic over this issue because we all know what it will do to our community," she said.
   "Please sit on it for a while longer."
   Connie Garman tried to bring common sense to the hearing. "This is not an adversarial situation," she said. "I think the bond issue failed because we knew what it would do to Moline and Severy --- that it would close our schools."
   She then presented an idea for the board to consider: Hold another election asking voters to keep all three schools open for another 10 years. "I still feel that it would cost less to operate our existing schools than it would cost to buy these modular units that you are proposing," she said.
   She said waiting a while longer would also give the board a better feel for where the economy is going and how many students will be attending West Elk schools in future years.
   Byrdee Miller-Marcic, who serves as Director of Emergency Management for Elk County, told the board that FEMA funds might be available for construction of a safe room, regardless of which direction the board goes on consolidation.
   "Many have expressed the concern to me that the proposed new school --- the one that voters turned down --- had a safe room in it, and now we will be left without one," she said. "I think funds can be found to provide that safe room anyway."
   Cole Conard commented, "From purely a realistic standpoint, the modular plan is nuts."
   Conard said modular classrooms would be temporary at best, cheaply constructed and just as expensive to maintain as the existing buildings in Severy and Moline.
   Kenneth Klepper urged the board to "sit back and rethink this thing."
   He reminded the board of the vote in the recent bond election. "That's how the people felt then, and I think they still feel that way," he said.
   Duane Bohm echoed the opinion that modular units are not the solution. "Maintenance will be just as high," he said. "We would be better off to fix and maintain our existing two school buildings."
   Wanda Mills reminded the board of their feelings before the recent bond election. "You told us then that modular units were not suitable --- that we needed a new building. What makes the modulars suitable now? What has changed?"
   She urged the board to take other options such as closing one of the schools and leaving the other open, at least for 4 to 5 years.
   "How about a bond issue in Moline to keep our school open?" she asked. "We want to be involved in this process. Please come to us honestly and ask what we, the people, want to see happen with our schools."
   Board president Taliaferro said no action would be taken at the hearing, and invited everyone to attend the regular board meeting next Monday, Jan. 11, when the proposal will be discussed and action considered.
   Board members attending the hearing were: Taliaferro, Jim Roebuck, Mike Bellar, Shelly Hare, Roxane Walker and Robert Wolfe.