USD 259 parents petition to stop closure of six schools

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – After the Wichita Public Schools board voted to close six schools, parents are petitioning to have the decision reviewed on the state level.

Parents KSN has spoken to are upset, and you can see it. In the video above, you can see signs dotting a lawn, protesting the BOE decision and encouraging parents to get involved.

On Tuesday, parents started going door to door to get a petition signed trying to stop these closures. Parents say closing the six schools was a decision they don’t feel they had a say in.

“I think it’s pretty evident that most of us already felt like the decision was made when we walked in the building,” said Thomas Montiel, a parent at Cleaveland Traditional Magnet Elementary School.

“We found out the same day the staff members found out and the staff members only got notified I think an hour or two before the news stations published their articles so we all were in shock together,” said Ruth Lehman, a parent at Cleaveland Traditional Magnet Elementary School.

The district says no one likes to close schools and that their hands were tied.

“Our students are gonna be cared for, and there will be a welcoming teacher at a welcoming building that is gonna love and nurture those students,” said Fabian Armendariz, Wichita Public Schools Division Director of Operations.

Parents aren’t satisfied with the district’s answers. that’s why they’re putting together a petition. The goal is to get nearly 10,000 signatures within 45 days.

If they reach their goal…

“It will be brought to the board of education up in Topeka where it will be reviewed, where they will decide to either overturn the decision or review it or leave it how it is,” said Lehman.

Parents say this will give them another chance to advocate for their schools and rally other parents across the district together.

“If it was someone else’s school, I would hope that they would step up because some of these teachers are afraid to. Who will be their voice? They are educating our children,” said Samantha Stillman, a parent at Payne Elementary School.

The countdown for collecting signatures has already started.

To find more details about how the petitioning process works, click here.

WPS shares next steps

Representatives from WPS say they’ll be in touch with parents over the next few days.

They say families at the six closing campuses were already sent a letter telling them what options they’d have if their schools were to close. Now that the board voted to move forward with the closures, another letter is going out again listing options for families.

An online intent form is also being sent out to affected families. They need to fill out that form within the next few weeks to tell the district what their plan is for next year.

March 22 is the deadline to apply to magnet schools.

Even with the school closures, the district still needs to make more budget cuts.

“This next phase were looking at central office and so we’re looking at some of the pieces that exist within central office to see if there’s opportunity for some potential consolidation or cutting,” said Armendariz.

Armendariz says the district is trying to keep cuts away from schools in the next phase of reductions. He says they’re also considering pulling from cash reserves to make up for the deficit.

Travel safety concerns

Some parents are worried about safety and how their kids will get to class.

Parents are worried because their kids will go to schools farther away from their homes, and many of them have to walk. If they live within 2.5 miles of their new school, they’re not guaranteed bussing options.

Montiel has been following along with the decision to close schools. He says some of the campuses being closed are located in areas he considers to have a dangerous walk.

He says the soon-to-be-closed Park Elementary School near 10th Street and Main Street has some students needing to get to Washington Accelerated Learning, which is near Central and Interstate 135.

“If you’re pulling a kid that’s 6-7 years old through that, that’s tough, and now they’re being asked to walk a mile and a half to Washington. That’s not OK,” said Montiel.

“We understand that the Park Elementary boundary in particular has some shelters so some students that are qualified for McKinney Vento as well as some strenuous conditions within the neighborhood,” said Armendariz.

Armendariz said that the area does include some children who are being housed in a shelter.
The school district heard a lot of concerns about kids walking in the Park Elementary and Jardin Middle School areas during listening sessions.

The district is now looking into bussing options for students. That could involve using Wichita Transit to get middle schoolers to and from their school.