Latest news with #KellyBielefeld
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Wichita Public Schools launch community engagement survey
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Wichita Public Schools is launching a community engagement survey to gather input from families, staff, and the community. USD 259 hopes to gain a deeper understanding of public perceptions surrounding school funding, facilities, district communication, and overall community awareness. 'The survey will be a powerful tool for better understanding how our community perceives our schools, how connected they feel to our district, and how deeply they trust us to educate the next generation of workers and leaders,' Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said. Summer Food Program begins for Wichita kids The district says the feedback will help guide future decision-making, ensuring that resources and strategies align with the community's needs and expectations. 'We want to make sure that our families hear from us, and we want to make sure that we hear from them, and so we want to make sure that we get the data we need to help move forward, so to help make informed decisions to make sure our students are future-ready,' Susan Arensman with USD 259 said. The survey includes 23 questions and takes approximately 5–10 minutes to complete. Click here to take the survey. It will remain open throughout June, and WPS plans to share the results in the fall. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Til the last vote has been counted': Wichita school district isn't conceding bond election
The Wichita school district would not yet concede Wednesday morning in a close race for the approval of a $450 million school bond issue. 'Yesterday didn't end the way we had hoped, because we hoped we'd have a very clear answer by now, which we don't,' said USD 259 Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld. 'There was a very solid turnout with close results, and we're going to wait til the last vote has been counted.' Updated results from the election office Wednesday afternoon showed the no vote leading by 295 ballots, or 1 percent of the vote. That is up from a lead of 228 votes at the end of Tuesday night. The district held a news conference Wednesday morning at Black Traditional Magnet, which is one of the schools that was set to be rebuilt as part of the bond issue. The money from the bond issue was sought to rebuild seven elementary and middle schools, close four elementary schools, convert two elementary schools to K-8 buildings and consolidate alternative school programs, among a number of other items. State law allows mail-in ballots to be counted up to three days after Election Day, if postmarked by Tuesday. The county election office sent out 10,147 mail-in ballots for the special election, but only 6,121 have been returned as of Tuesday night. About 13% of eligible voters participated in the February special election with a single question on the ballot. According to Bielefeld, the district has not yet looked into whether it should call for a recount if the vote is within 1 percent. 'It would have to just depend on how close it is and the cost of that and all of that,' he said. The Vote No campaign, which opposed the school bond issue, said it's prepared if the race goes into a recount. 'If that's what's going to happen, that's what's going to happen,' organizer Ben Davis said Tuesday night. 'At the end of the day, I feel pretty secure where we are, but obviously, that can change, and if it does change, then I will accept the results of that.' Moving forward, the district said it's unsure of its next steps until all the votes are counted. 'So until all those votes are counted, we're just gonna wait and see and then make determinations after that,' Bielefeld said. There's some speculation whether the school district, pending the final results of this election, would go back and ask voters for a much smaller bond issue than the $450 million it was asking for. Bielefeld would not confirm that that was an option the district is considering on Wednesday. 'I think we need to get through this vote, before we talk about that next vote, if there is one,' he said. Voters in the Kansas City, Kansas school district rejected a $480 million bond issue in early 2024 – the district then downsized its plans to a $180 million bond issue, which passed several months later. Davis, with the Vote No campaign, said he does not want that to be the case in Wichita. 'I want to send a hopefully unmistakable message that we shouldn't be putting a bond measure on the ballot again,' he said. The district has said even if the bond issue doesn't pass, it will still shutter L'Ouverture, OK, Pleasant Valley and Woodland elementary schools. Those students would be moved to newer, larger schools if the bond issue was approved. The district has said recently it would still move those students to other schools, but spread them out more among existing schools to keep class sizes down. Many questions still remain about other capital projects that are planned as part of the district's facility master plan. Election results will be certified in a canvass at the Sedgwick County Election Office on March 6. Contributing: Chance Swaim of The Wichita Eagle
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wichita superintendent discusses too-close-to-call school bond vote
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The vote on the $450 million bond for Wichita Public Schools is still too close to call. The unofficial result as of late Tuesday is almost 50-50. Currently, the no votes are in the lead by just over 200 votes. However, about 4,000 mail ballots have not been returned to the election office yet. They will be counted if they are postmarked as of Tuesday and get to the election office by Friday. The results won't be final until after the vote canvass, which is tentatively scheduled for March 6. On Wednesday, Wichita Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld held a news conference on the close vote. He is not ready to speculate on what the district will do if the bond fails. 'Yesterday didn't end the way we hoped because we hoped we'd have a very clear answer by now, which we don't,' he said. 'There was a very solid turnout with close results, and we're going to wait until the last vote has been counted.' Wichita Public Schools has big plans for the money if the bond passes. It says the zero-rate-change bond issue will help improve student performance. The district wants the money for its Facility Master Plan, which updates aging buildings. It would rebuild seven elementary and middle schools and add a new early childhood center and Future Ready Center for construction trades. The plan also calls for closing four elementary schools because they are old and too expensive to repair and modernize. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Wichita schools change restraint, seclusion policy for students. Why, what it means
The Wichita school district will no longer use seclusion as punishment for students and will use restraints only as a last resort, according to changes in its emergency intervention policies after a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice. Last year, the department found that disabled and Black students were disproportionately punished from 2020-2023. It also found that the district would often seclude and restrain students with disabilities. The revisions also create a crisis prevention team at all schools. 'Restraint may not be used as a form of discipline or punishment, as a method of forcing compliance with staff directions, as a convenience to staff, or as a substitute for appropriate educational and/or behavioral support,' part of the district's new policy reads. The revisions were approved by the USD 259 school board at its Monday evening meeting. The revisions were part of the board's consent agenda, meaning there was not a public discussion on the item. Staff that are part of the crisis prevention team will be trained on restraint uses according to the Crisis Prevention Institutes standards, according to the new policy. Only members of the Crisis Prevention Team are allowed to 'ordinarily' restrain students. The new policy outlines that staff who are not team members are allowed to restrain students only if a team member is not available or if they need assistance. Principals, assistant principals and other staff will receive 'role-appropriate' training on emergency safety interventions. The new policy also outlines 'debrief' processes for parents, staff and students after emergency safety interventions (ESI) are used on a student. 'Each notice shall invite the Parent to discuss the circumstances of the ESI and ways to avoid future ESI,' the policy reads. 'A summary of any such discussion and any actions taken as a result shall be recorded in the District's student information system.' The policy also states that students who are subject to an ESI must be evaluated by a trained medical professional for potential injuries and treatments. The Department of Justice opened its investigation into the district's restraint policies during spring 2022. It evaluated disciplinary records from the 2020-21 school year until the end of the 2022-23 school year. The investigation found that the district 'inappropriately and repeatedly secluded and restrained students with disabilities and relegated those with the greatest behavioral needs to inferior facilities with inadequate services and support.' 'We don't know what may have prompted the initial inquiry. But I can tell you that we can and we must create a more equitable school district, and we will do so by changing some of our practices and procedures going forward,' district superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said last year after the settlement agreement. During the three-year period covered by the investigation, more than 98% of the 3,000 students restrained and secluded by district employees had disabilities, the DOJ found. At least 44 students experienced 20 or more episodes of restraint or seclusion, including one child who was secluded 99 times for a total of over 15 hours. It also found discriminatory treatment of Black students when discipline was administered at several schools, especially Black girls. The investigation also found evidence of racial discrimination in referrals to law enforcement and a pattern of security officers responding to routine discipline matters and escalating those incidents, 'resulting in the unnecessary referral of Black students to law enforcement for routine or minor misbehavior.' The district created a new office to monitor restraint practices and ensure compliance with the agreement, called the Office of Behavior Management, Support and Oversight. The district also made other promises as part of the settlement agreement, including creating a student code of conduct and standardizing its dress code policies. Bielefeld told The Eagle in an interview that those changes would be addressed by the school board likely during the spring. The DOJ has investigated other school districts for its restraint policies and racial discrimination in disciplinary practices, including in Spokane, Anchorage and Cedar Rapids.
