Wichita school board signals next steps after failed bond issue vote
The Wichita public school district has provided some insight into its next steps after last week's failed $450 million bond vote.
The proposal lost by 1 percent of the vote.
In a budget presentation to school board members Monday night, Chief Financial Officer Addi Lowell said the district will host a focus group this month with people who voted in the bond issue election and also distribute a survey for community members.
That feedback will then be used when the school district creates a new financial oversight committee sometime in April.
The committee will not focus exclusively on the bond issue, but the district's budget as a whole, revenue streams, and facilities needs.
'We do want to enact a focus group for constituents that cast a ballot on February 25 to help us get objective opinions on our education efforts to date and the facilities master plan,' Lowell told the board Monday.
District Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said the district had already planned to create the financial oversight committee before the bond vote.
The district did not provide immediate details for people who would be interested in serving on the committee or being part of the focus group. It's likely the committee would begin being formed in April.
Feedback from engagement efforts and the committee will help the district and school board decide its next steps, which some on the Vote Yes campaign signaled earlier could mean a smaller bond issue vote.
'We don't have the specifics of the makeup of this committee, but we'd like to include district leadership, Board of Education members, independent financial advisers, our municipal finance adviser, parents and students to help guide this work and help us figure out our path forward in funding those facilities needs,' Lowell said.
More specifics on how the district will move forward after it gathers feedback aren't likely until later this summer.
'We will need to make more decisions down the road,' Bielefeld told the board, 'and that's April, May, June, July, somewhere later on.'
Last week, the district continued to say it would still shutter L'Ouverture, OK, Pleasant Valley and Woodland elementary schools. Those students would have been moved to newer, larger schools if the bond issue were approved.
Several members of the public pushed back on that idea at Monday's board meeting, including renowned architect Charles McAfee.
McAfee asked the district to reconsider closing L'Ouverture Elementary School, which sits near the pool in McAdams Park that he designed and is now named after him.
But that's not McAfee's only connection to the school. His wife, Gloria, also served as a principal there.
'What we want you to do is not do anything with L'Ouverture school without talking to a group of us sitting up there, over there and over there, because we're very interested,' McAfee said, pointing to supporters in attendance at the meeting.
Two people also spoke in opposition to closing OK Elementary.
'Families have settled in the area expecting long term stability, and didn't expect closure talk and busing children elsewhere,' Dave Fish said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Bill banning teaching antisemitism vetoed by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who says it's actually an attack on educators
Phoenix — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a proposal that would have banned teaching antisemitism at the state's public K-12 schools, universities and colleges and exposed educators who violate the new rules to discipline and lawsuits. The proposal would have prohibited teachers and administrators from teaching or promoting antisemitism or antisemitic actions that create a hostile environment, calling for the genocide of any group or requiring students to advocate for an antisemitic point of view. It also would have barred public schools from using public money to support the teaching of antisemitism. Educators would have personally been responsible for covering the costs of damages in lawsuits for violating the rules. Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday that the bill, also known as the "Antisemitism in Education Act," wasn't about antisemitism but rather about attacking teachers. "It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits," she said in a statement. "Additionally, it sets a dangerous precedent that unfairly targets public school teachers while shielding private school staff." Hobbs described antisemitism as a very troubling issue in the U.S., but said students and parents can go through the state's Board of Education to report antisemitism. The measure cleared the Legislature last week on a 33-20 vote by the House, including a few Democrats who crossed party lines to support it. It's one of a few proposals to combat antisemitism across the country. Democrats tried but failed to remove the lawsuit provision and swap out references to antisemitism within the bill with "unlawful discrimination" to reflect other discrimination. The bill's chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Michael Way, of Queen Creek, called the veto "disgraceful," saying on the social media platform X that the legislation was meant to keep "egregious and blatant antisemitic content" out of the classroom. "To suggest that it threatened the speech of most Arizona teachers is disingenuous at best," he added. Opponents said the bill aimed to silence people who want to speak out on the oppression of Palestinians and opened up educators to personal legal liability in lawsuits students could file. Students over the age of 18 and the parents of younger pupils would have been able to file lawsuits over violations that create a hostile education environment, leaving teachers responsible for paying any damages that may be awarded, denying them immunity and prohibiting the state from paying any judgments arising from any such lawsuits. Last week, Lori Shepherd, executive director of Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, wrote in a letter to Hobbs that if the bill were approved it would threaten teachers' ability to provide students with a full account of the Holocaust. Under the bill, "those discussions could be deemed 'antisemitic' depending on how a single phrase is interpreted, regardless of intent or context," she said. The bill would have created a process for punishing those who break the rules. At K-12 schools, a first-offense violation would lead to a reprimand, a second offense to a suspension of a teacher or principal's certificate and a third offense to a revocation of the certificate. At colleges and universities, violators would have faced a reprimand on first offense, a suspension without pay for a second offense and termination for a third offense. The proposal also would have required colleges and universities to consider violations by employees to be a negative factor when making employment or tenure decisions. Under the proposal, universities and colleges couldn't recognize any student organization that invites a guest speaker who incites antisemitism, encourages its members to engage in antisemitism or calls for the genocide of any group. The Anti-Defamation League reported that the U.S. saw the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2024 since the organization started keeping records 46 years earlier, CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV noted. Thirteen organizations, including the Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, signed and sent a letter on Friday to Gov. Hobbs, asking her to veto the bill, KPHO added. Elsewhere in the U.S., a Louisiana lawmaker is pushing a resolution that asks universities to adopt policies to combat antisemitism on campuses and collect data on antisemitism-related reports and complaints. And a Michigan lawmaker has proposed putting a definition of antisemitism into the state's civil rights law.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: Want to show true patriotism? Challenge Trump's military parade with peaceful protests
On Saturday, while tanks rumble down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., for President Donald Trump's military parade, we must rally against the cruelty and madness of this administration. Perhaps Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young or other great performers can give free concerts, all voices against what is being perpetrated against law-abiding citizens, legal residents and migrants seeking asylum in our country. Come all protesters, music lovers and peaceful people from all backgrounds who are the backbone of this once great country. Let us take back Flag Day from those who have no understanding of what our flag represents and show the world that good, empathetic human beings populate our country. I challenge political leaders and celebrities to organize this quickly around the country to celebrate humanity. There are too many vulnerable people who need to know that we have their backs. Mitchell Goldman, Richmond Kindness amid ugliness Regarding 'How support helped AB Hernandez, trans track and field champ 'with mad attitude,' brave national backlash' (High School, June 9): Thank you for the wonderful story about AB Hernandez; her accomplishments to date, on and off the field, bode well for her aspirations in life. But let's not forget the kindness and affection shown her by her fellow competitors. The decade is only half over, and promises to be eventful, but I already have my photograph of the 2020s — the podium picture of Hernandez and her co-runner-up, arm in arm, glowing in accomplishment and togetherness. In that unforgettable moment, these two young women showed us moral compasses that point true north. Four centuries ago, Shakespeare reminded us that 'when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner.' Current events are putting that proposition to a stern test, but when I read about the twisted view of humanity at work in Washington and around the nation, I will remember that photo and feel better. Bill Koopman, Palo Alto Lowell High is elitist Regarding 'These graduating Lowell students were called 'lottery kids.' The stigma never went away' (San Francisco, June 6): 'You belong in every room you walk into,' Lowell High Principal Jan Bautista said at the commencement for the school's class admitted through the lottery system. The sad truth is that students like them will no longer 'belong' at the school even though the data shows they were just as able as students accepted through test scores. Yet, the San Francisco school board has no plans to reconsider Lowell's merit-based admissions policy. This is despite data and evidence that show that such admissions and hiring policies are contributors to class and racial inequality. As a San Franciscan committed to fighting the worsening inequality in this city, I'm grateful to the now-ousted school board members for having made lottery admissions at Lowell possible, if only for a couple of years. Given the data from these graduates, as long as Lowell stays elitist in its admissions policy, it will remain not our star in the school system, but our shame. Dave Madden, San Francisco RFK Jr. is bad for health Regarding 'RFK Jr. ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory committee' (Nation & World, June 9): Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is worse than an anti-vaccine activist or vaccine skeptic. He is a vaccine cynic. He does not understand the scientific method in clinical trials. Real scientists, such as the 17 who were ousted Monday by Kennedy from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, are always skeptics. Seeing is believing for them. They want to see data in appropriate clinical trials before they will accept that a proposed treatment is safe and effective. On the other hand, Kennedy is a cynic. He only sees what he already believes, even when repeatedly confronted with properly conducted research that refutes his beliefs. In his position of authority, this obstinacy is a danger to the health of us all and will lead to a rise in vaccine-preventable diseases. Brian Klein, San Francisco
7 hours ago
Arizona governor vetoes bill banning teaching antisemitism, calls it an attack on educators
PHOENIX -- Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a proposal that would have banned teaching antisemitism at the state's public K-12 schools, universities and colleges and exposed educators who violate the new rules to discipline and lawsuits. The proposal would have prohibited teachers and administrators from teaching or promoting antisemitism or antisemitic actions that create a hostile environment, calling for the genocide of any group or requiring students to advocate for an antisemitic point of view. It also would have barred public schools from using public money to support the teaching of antisemitism. Educators would have personally been responsible for covering the costs of damages in lawsuits for violating the rules. Hobbs, a Democrat, said Tuesday that the bill was not about antisemitism but rather about attacking teachers. 'It puts an unacceptable level of personal liability in place for our public school, community college, and university educators and staff, opening them up to threats of personally costly lawsuits," she said in a statement. "Additionally, it sets a dangerous precedent that unfairly targets public school teachers while shielding private school staff." Hobbs described antisemitism as a very troubling issue in the U.S., but said students and parents can go through the state's Board of Education to report antisemitism. The measure cleared the Legislature last week on a 33-20 vote by the House, including a few Democrats who crossed party lines to support it. It's one of a few proposals to combat antisemitism across the country. Democrats tried but failed to remove the lawsuit provision and swap out references to antisemitism within the bill with 'unlawful discrimination' to reflect other discrimination. The bill's chief sponsor, Republican Rep. Michael Way, of Queen Creek, called the veto 'disgraceful,' saying on the social media platform X that the legislation was meant to keep 'egregious and blatant antisemitic content' out of the classroom. 'To suggest that it threatened the speech of most Arizona teachers is disingenuous at best,' he added. Opponents said the bill aimed to silence people who want to speak out on the oppression of Palestinians and opened up educators to personal legal liability in lawsuits students could file. Students over the age of 18 and the parents of younger pupils would have been able to file lawsuits over violations that create a hostile education environment, leaving teachers responsible for paying any damages that may be awarded, denying them immunity and prohibiting the state from paying any judgments arising from any such lawsuits. Last week, Lori Shepherd, executive director of Tucson Jewish Museum & Holocaust Center, wrote in a letter to Hobbs that if the bill were approved it would threaten teachers' ability to provide students with a full account of the holocaust. Under the bill, 'those discussions could be deemed 'antisemitic' depending on how a single phrase is interpreted, regardless of intent or context,' she said. The bill would have created a process for punishing those who break the rules. At K-12 schools, a first-offense violation would lead to a reprimand, a second offense to a suspension of a teacher or principal's certificate and a third offense to a revocation of the certificate. At colleges and universities, violators would have faced a reprimand on first offense, a suspension without pay for a second offense and termination for a third offense. The proposal also would have required colleges and universities to consider violations by employees to be a negative factor when making employment or tenure decisions. Under the proposal, universities and colleges couldn't recognize any student organization that invites a guest speaker who incites antisemitism, encourages its members to engage in antisemitism or calls for the genocide of any group. Elsewhere in the U.S., a Louisiana lawmaker is pushing a resolution that asks universities to adopt policies to combat antisemitism on campuses and collect data on antisemitism-related reports and complaints. And a Michigan lawmaker has proposed putting a definition of antisemitism into the state's civil rights law.
