14 February 2023
SABETHA (KSNT) – Parents, teachers and students gathered in the auditorium of Sabetha Middle School Monday night to find out if the school board would decide to shut down the Wetmore Academic Center. It’s a debate that goes back years according to 2002 Wetmore graduate Analyssa Noe.
“There’s a perception in the Sabetha community that they are subsidizing the Wetmore school system,” Noe said. “We are a small school. We have low enrollment, we’ve always had low enrolment, but we’re also a very efficient and humble school system.”
Now parents are seeking answers, saying they feel they didn’t get a proper explanation.
“I don’t understand how they can get away with that,” Lacey Mills said. “How you can close a school that’s valuable financially, that has good grades, that students excel, and you can do it without cause. Without explaining to the community, without explaining to us parents, without explaining to the teachers.”
If one positive came out of the boards decision Monday night, it’s the compassion that the Wetmore community showed according to Sabetha High School student Emerson Montgomery.
“The fact that they can stand together like this, it just shows that they are a strong community and they deserve our compassion and our hope,” Montgomery said. “Tonight sucks, but I’m really just proud of how Wetmore came together.”
At the conclusion of the boards decision, people that were in attendance quickly left the auditorium where they went to go sign a petition to hopefully bring back the school.