Wichita School Board member clashes with facilities plan critics during meeting
Wichita School Board member Stan Reeser criticized several people who spoke out against the district's Facility Master Plan at Monday's meeting.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, several people spoke in opposition to closing OK Elementary, which is part of the master plan, with one person suggesting that the plan was not tied to student academic achievement.
Reeser made the comments about the critics during a budget discussion, which led to an outburst by an audience member, Marty Fish, who had spoken during public comment earlier in the meeting.
'When the speaker says the plan had nothing to do with academics, that is … an example of not listening to a single thing that was said during the summer of that presentation,' Reeser said during the meeting
Fish responded towards the end of Reeser's comments by yelling at the board, 'Is this an open forum now?'
Board President Diane Albert responded saying it was not; Fish left for the rest of the meeting.
The budget presentation that board members were listening to at the time said the district had saved $14.5 million after closing six schools last year.
'So if you think about the actions that we took in the spring of 2024, extremely hard, extremely emotional,' district chief financial officer Addi Lowell said. 'The last thing, the last resort in our budget toolbox for resolving budget issues is closing schools. … We did not close schools only for the budget. We closed schools because we were faced with other challenges, because our facilities have needs, major needs.'
During the public comment section of the meeting, former state school board member Walt Chappell had criticized the district, saying it didn't save money from those closures.
'My concern is very sincere, folks,' Chappell said during public comment. 'I've been in your place. I know how it is to get accurate information, and I ask you to please look at this master plan again.'
Chappell was not in the board room later in the meeting when Reeser made his comments.
Reeser indirectly spoke about Chappell during his comments, saying he was 'censured' during his time as a state BOE member. Eagle reporters could not find records that confirmed a censure, but Chappell was reprimanded by the state board chair during his tenure.
When asked for further comment after the school board meeting, Reeser initially declined to comment further, but then clarified some of his statements made during the meeting.
'All I was trying to say was that we are making these decisions based off the total picture,' Reeser told The Eagle. 'I got offended by the fact that it seemed like they were insisting… this bond issue was not about student achievement. It was about buildings.
'That's not true. We spent all summer tying those two items together.'
After the meeting, Reeser approached Dave Fish, husband of Marty Fish, to apologize for some of his comments. Dave Fish had also spoken earlier during public comment against closing OK.
Despite Reeser's comments, Dave Fish still questioned whether the district should be closing schools.
'I just feel like, if I don't step up and talk, then nobody else will,' Dave Fish told The Eagle.
Budget conversations come amid a looming deficit for the school district, and a shaky financial future as the school's current bond is set to expire by 2029.
Voters turned down a bond issue earlier this year that would have extended that bond. The district has said it currently does not have plans to revisit the bond issue.
The district has also created a financial oversight committee to address some of those budget issues.
The committee is an advisory group that makes recommendations to the board on its financial future, but school superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said that group would not revisit the district's Facility Master Plan, including parts that would close and consolidate several of the district's school buildings.
'That isn't what that group is doing,' Bielefeld said.
Contributing: Chance Swaim of The Eagle.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business Insider
Truist Financial Sticks to Its Buy Rating for Celsius Holdings (CELH)
Truist Financial analyst Bill Chappell maintained a Buy rating on Celsius Holdings (CELH – Research Report) today and set a price target of $50.00. The company's shares opened today at $40.67. Confident Investing Starts Here: According to TipRanks, Chappell is a 3-star analyst with an average return of 1.4% and a 48.75% success rate. Chappell covers the Consumer Defensive sector, focusing on stocks such as Celsius Holdings, Freshpet, and Church & Dwight. In addition to Truist Financial, Celsius Holdings also received a Buy from William Blair's Jon Andersen in a report issued on June 4. However, on May 29, Bank of America Securities reiterated a Sell rating on Celsius Holdings (NASDAQ: CELH). The company has a one-year high of $75.11 and a one-year low of $21.10. Currently, Celsius Holdings has an average volume of 7.98M. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 62 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of CELH in relation to earlier this year. Most recently, in March 2025, Caroline S Levy, a Director at CELH sold 70,000.00 shares for a total of $1,878,800.00.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Average UK house price falls £1,150 in May
Average UK house prices dipped 0.4% in May, representing a fall of nearly £1,150, after changes to stamp duty came into effect, according to the latest data from Halifax. The average UK property is now valued at £296,648, down from £297,781 in April, when house prices rose for the first time this year. On an annual basis, prices rose to 2.5% – adding just over £7,000 to the value of a typical home – though this was down from 3.2% in April. Amanda Bryden, head of mortgages at Halifax, said: 'These small monthly movements point to a housing market that has remained largely stable, with average prices down by just -0.2% since the start of the year. The market appears to have absorbed the temporary surge in activity over spring, which was driven by the changes to stamp duty." "Affordability remains a challenge, with house prices still high relative to incomes," she added. "However, lower mortgage rates and steady wage growth have helped support buyer confidence." "The outlook will depend on the pace of cuts to interest rates, as well as the strength of future income growth and broader inflation trends," Bryden said. "Despite ongoing pressure on household finances and a still uncertain economic backdrop, the housing market has shown resilience – a story we expect to continue in the months ahead." Halifax data showed that house price growth across Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland continued to outpace English regions. Northern Ireland once again recorded the fastest pace of annual property price inflation, up by 8.6% over the past year, with the typical home now costing £209,388, though this was still well below the UK average. Read more: Mortgage lenders raise rates amid uncertainty over BoE interest rate cuts In England, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber saw the fastest annual house price growth of 3.7%, with the average property in these areas now costing £240,823 and £213,983 respectively. London continued to see more subdued growth, with prices up just 1.2% year-on-year, though the capital remained by far the most expensive part of the UK housing market, with the average home costing £542,017. Professor Joe Nellis, economic adviser at MHA, the accountancy and advisory firm and one of the creators of the Halifax House Price Index, said that price "growth is set to continue as huge demand for houses persists in the UK. This is something that the government has recognised, setting an ambitious target to build 1.5 million new homes by 2029, but recent estimates suggest that this is looking overly optimistic." "One thing to consider over the next year is the Renters' Rights Bill introduced to parliament by Angela Rayner in her role as secretary of state for housing," he said. "Expected to pass in the autumn, this bill will provide greater protection for tenants and impose new restrictions on landlords, including ending 'no fault' evictions." "These new restrictions could disincentivise landlordism, encouraging the sale of rental properties and increasing supply, or discouraging potential landlords from buying properties and reducing demand," he added. "Both scenarios would apply downward pressure on prices and provide some respite for would-be homeowners." Holly Tomlinson, financial planner at Quilter, said: "The fact that prices fell only modestly in May indicates that supply remains constrained and sellers have not yet been forced to adjust their expectations. However, with affordability still stretched and borrowing costs relatively high, the risk of a more prolonged slowdown cannot be ignored." Read more: 11 homes with spectacular swimming pools UK mortgage approvals drop for third month in a row Home renovation mistakes and how to avoid themError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Vandalia residents oppose development, have election spat with city leaders
Jun. 5—Petitions with nearly 600 signatures calling for a referendum vote on a Vandalia housing development have been ruled legally insufficient by the city of Vandalia despite a recommendation to the contrary by the Montgomery County Board of Elections. A group of Vandalia residents earlier this year formed a committee to petition for a public Election Day vote on a 167-home development planned at 7848 S. Brown School Road — a project facilitated by a city council-approved rezoning of the site in March. Using petition forms provided by the city of Vandalia, the resident group collected a total of 797 signatures, 683 of which were initially found to be valid by the Board of Elections in April — in excess of the 547 total votes required to get the issue on the ballot. But the petition forms the city provided contained critical errors, including the omission of mandatory legal statements to which the petition's circulator must agree, as required by Ohio election law. The referendum petition forms used by the committee did not include the full, required circulator's certification against election falsification under the penalty of law, including an attestation that all signers were qualified to sign the petition to the best of the circulator's knowledge. Rather than ruling the petition invalid altogether, the Board of Elections voted to recommend the city of Vandalia give petitioners another 10 days to re-collect signatures on corrected forms. However, the city contends the issue is not simply a signature deficiency, but rather a "legal defect in the petition format," and ruled the petition cannot proceed. 'Fair and common sense' Typically, the Montgomery County Board of Elections is involved in city-based referendum petitions only so far as to provide a courtesy check of signature validity and conduct elections under the cities' respective charters and election law. However, in this case, BOE Director Jeff Rezabek said the city requested the board also review the sufficiency of the petition itself, which ultimately lead to the board's vote to recommend the 10-day extension. Rezabek pushed back on a statement made by the city this week, claiming BOE officials inaccurately suggested the city is required to provide referendum petition forms. "I don't believe anyone said they were required to give out a petition, but rather that if they did, it's only fair and common sense that you would give out one that is correct so that petitioners could trust the city," he said. Vandalia responds Vandalia city officials said this week that petitioners were provided a petition form as a "courtesy," and that it was to serve as a "sample petition" to show what is needed to satisfy the city charter. "The petitioners are not required to get their petition from the city. They are, however, required to format the document in a standard fashion as required by the charter," city spokesman Rich Hopkins said via email Wednesday. "The petition the city provided was to serve as a guideline to format." City officials do not provide legal advice on the preparation or filing of referendums, and the city does not keep up with the latest laws and requirements for referendum petitions from the county or state level, Hopkins said. "Through every part of this referendum process, we have been as transparent and helpful as we could," he said. "We gave (petitioners) a sample petition that met the standards set forth in our charter. We also advised the petitioners both verbally and in writing that they should check with their own legal counsel to make sure the petition complies with any applicable election laws." 'A disappointment' Vandalia resident Jeff Hoagland lives near the South Brown School Road project site and assisted with signature collection for the referendum petition. Hoagland, who serves as president and CEO of the Dayton Development Coalition, spoke with the Dayton Daily News only in his capacity as a resident of Vandalia. Hoagland said he welcomes housing development in the city, and even on the South Brown School Road property, but he and many others in support of the referendum were in opposition to the project's proposed density and building materials. The property in question is north of Little York Road, south of I-70, and east of the Foxfire subdivision. Project plans call for the construction of 167-single family homes on the 85-acre site. Hoagland said the referendum petition outcome is "a disappointment." "To say that it's on the citizens to make sure that the form they gave to us is correct is very disappointing and is putting it back on the citizens of Vandalia," he said. Hoagland also said he disagrees that the provision of the form is a courtesy, as claimed by the city, citing the Section 9.3 of the city's charter. This section of the city's charter reads: "All petition papers presented to council relating to either initiative or referendum shall be uniform in size and character, and shall be substantially in the same format as provided by the clerk of council." "I know there are things that are up for interpretation, but when I read the phrase, 'provided by the clerk of council,' that isn't a courtesy," Hoagland said. "Everything in this process is really black and white and we followed it to a T."
