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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2016
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SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION
DISCUSSIONS CONTINUE
By Jessie Wagoner
[email protected]
Discussions among Kansas lawmakers regarding school district
consolidation continued this week.
HB 2504 proposed by Rep. John
Bradford would require school districts to consolidate into countywide school districts.
If HB 2504 were adopted it
would reduce the existing 286
school districts in the state down
to 132 districts. This would be a
53.8 percent reduction in school
districts. Increasing the average
district size in Kansas from 1,719
students to 3,724 students.
The proposal is meeting a great
deal of resistance from school
boards across the state.
“We believe this bill will likely
result in closed school buildings,
less local control and widespread
disruption in efforts to help students succeed in communities
throughout Kansas,” the Kansas
Association of School Boards said.
“These bills have nothing to do
with helping our students.”
Locally, HB 2504 would lead
to a consolidation of three local
districts into one. Emporia Public
Schools, USD 253, would absorb
North Lyon County, USD 251, and
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SHIVLEY
CHOSEN TO
LEAD ESU
FOUNDATION
Special to The Gazette
COURTESY ILLUSTRATION
This map shows the current school district boundaries. The counties in yellow are counties that would
be unaffected by HB 2504.
Southern Lyon County, USD 252.
Student enrollment headcount for
Emporia Schools is currently 4,632
students, North Lyon County is
430 and Southern Lyon County is
515. Consolidation would increase
the district size to 5,577.
“For Lyon County it would create one school district under the
Emporia umbrella,” Susan Brinkman, Emporia school board member said.
On Wednesday, 41 people submitted testimony against HB 2504
and three supported the bill. Opponents worry that HB 2504 would
Please see Schools, Page 5
BECAUSE YOU ASKED
Q
If the $31 million bond for
USD 251 North Lyon County
passes and the school districts later consolidate who is responsible
for the bond payments?
If the bond passes and the
North Lyon County is eventually absorbed by Emporia the
residents of North Lyon County
would still be responsible for
bond payments. HB 2504 section
C reads, “Any bonded indebtedness shall remain a charge upon
the territory of the school district
being disorganized or realigned
and the provisions of K.S.A. 10119 and amendments thereto,
shall apply.
A
Q
If the school districts consolidate and school buildings
are closed what happens to the
desks, buses and other supplies
owned by the dissolved districts?
According to the HB 2504 the
secretary of administration
will be in charge of selling surplus
district property. Section H reads,
“The proceeds derived from the
sale or disposal of surplus district
property shall be deposited in the
state treasury to the credit of the
state general fund.”
A
COURTESY ILLUSTRATION
This map shows how school district boundaries would be affected by HB 2504. The state would go
from 286 school districts to 132 districts.
The next
leader of the
Emporia State
University
Fo u n d a t i o n
brings with
him 20 years
as a key member of Hornet Shivley
Nation, first
with Intercollegiate Athletics and later the
Foundation. Shane Shivley was
named president/CEO of the
ESU Foundation and Emporia
State vice president for advancement, effective March 1. The announcement was made jointly by
Stephen Williams, chair of the
foundation board of trustees,
and Allison D. Garrett, president
of Emporia State University.
“Shane has played an important role in Now & Forever: The
Campaign for Emporia State
University, which is our largest
comprehensive campaign in university history,” Williams said.
“During the campaign, Shivley has cultivated, asked, and
stewarded numerous six-figure
endowed gifts establishing academic and athletic scholarships.”
Under Shivley’s leadership,
the foundation and university
recently cultivated and received
$375,000 in scholarship support
from the City of Emporia and
Lyon County. Shivley has also
raised private funds for a number
of Emporia State athletics facility upgrading campaigns. The
Dennis Shogren Scoreboard, a
state-of-the-art video board, was
unveiled for the 2015 football
season. New turf was installed
on the softball field at Trusler
Sports Complex in spring 2015.
The John Baxter Sports Medicine Center was established in
fall 2014. Coming soon at Welch
Stadium, new artificial turf will
be installed on Jones Field, and
Witten Track will be resurfaced.
“Shane came to Emporia
Please see Shivley, Page 5
SHERIFF’S OFFICE HIRES
NEW EMERGENCY MANAGER
By John Robinson
[email protected]
Lyon County has a new emergency manager after the Lyon
County Sheriff’s Office hired Jarrod Fell to fill the position.
Fell has been with the Sheriff’s
office for 13 years and is taking
over for former Emergency Manager Rick Frevert, who died in
October of 2015 after a 22-month
battle with pancreatic cancer.
Fell became interested in the
emergency manager position
when he worked with Frevert during the Reading tornado in May of
2011, he said.
“I was given the opportunity to
work more closely with Rick after
that,” Fell said. “I was accepted
in the Northeast Kansas Incident
Management Team, received some
training through there and helped
Rick with several different projects.”
Fell said he hopes to grow into
the position, using already-established relationships to help him
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get acclimated. At the same time,
Fell said he wants to continue the
work Frevert started and stay involved in the community.
“I think Rick had a vision when
he star FVB2V