Parents left worried about transportation after Hutchinson elementary school closes

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (KSNW) — The Hutchinson Public Schools USD 308 Board of Education (BOE) voted to close Lincoln Elementary and merge it with McCandless Elementary on Monday night.

BOE members met Monday to determine what to do about a teacher shortage expected in the upcoming year. District leaders say they could be down 14 teachers.

The decision created concerns for many in the district, including transportation.

Parents of students who attend Lincoln say their kid(s) walk to school, and the two-mile trek from Lincoln to McCandless is unrealistic, and the route crosses many intersections.

A teacher at Lincoln says many of the families in the area have transportation barriers.

“There are a lot of parents down in this area that don’t have cars or that are working and only have one person that has the vehicle. A lot of them only have one vehicle a lot of the time,” said Erica Pinkston, the orchestra teacher at Lincoln.

Bussing is also a concern among parents.

“Bussing is really the only option. Unfortunately, USD 308 doesn’t have a bus. We contract through Durham, so it’s a large cost,” said parent Sarah Ulrich.

“What will happen if we don’t have bussing? How many of these kids are not going to get to school because their parents go to work well before they come to school or are at work when they come home,” asked Courtney Poster, a parent.

Many parents are left worrying about what will happen next school year.

“I heard from two separate sets of parents that they’re terrified for next year that their kids are gonna be taken away for truancy because they can’t get them to school,” Ulrich said.

Some are fearing the consequences will go beyond the elementary school.

“This area has a high concentration of people in poverty, and it also has a lot of people of color in this area. So, when decisions like this are made, and they have to be made because of policies that kind of trickle down to the local level, it really has a greater impact on those families and their futures,” Hutchinson Representative Jason Probst said.

The superintendent says they are still figuring out if bussing is an option.

KSN reached out to USD 308 to see what the next steps will be, but they said no one was available for comment.