06-05-2025
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.
