The USD 257 Board of Education has tapped the Wichita-based architecture firm of Schaefer Johnson Cox Frey to design and help implement a master plan that could pave the way for a successful bond campaign.
More than six months ago, the board created a facilities planning committee and convened a series of community conversations — led by current BOE president Dan Willis — whose chief purpose was to identify the district’s pressing infrastructure needs and then create a practical, streamlined, cost-smart approach for delivering on those needs.
SJCF president Shannon Ferguson-Bohm told the board on Monday that the firm hoped to build on the committee’s findings by adding “a little expertise” to the mix. Superintendent of Schools Stacey Fager, whose due diligence led him to reach out to a handful of other districts that have partnered with SJCF in the past, spoke in favor of the group’s reputation, and spoke to the importance of a creating a master plan that includes as much community buy-in as possible. The divisiveness of 2014’s failed bond issue is fresh in the district’s mind. A transparent, common-sense master plan — one inclusive of the entire community — is, said Fager, “what we’ve lacked in the past.”
Representatives from SJCF hope to begin their preparatory work — meeting first with district administrators and staff and then, eventually, with community groups — as soon as next week.
Iola High School is on the brink of replacing its sound system. “Most of you have been in our gymnasium,” said IHS principal Scott Crenshaw, addressing the board. “Well, contrary to what you might think, our current sound system is not one of Thomas Edison’s originals.” The current technology, said Crenshaw, which is used during sporting events but also during graduation ceremonies and at awards banquets, is “lacking greatly in quality.”
The district is looking to purchase an arena-quality sound system from the South Dakota-based electronics manufacturer Dacktronics. The system is of a quality used by the University of Kansas, Washburn University and the area’s larger high schools. The cost for the new sound system is $16,859. After a period of “shaking the bushes,” said Crenshaw, the district was able to accumulate $15,000 in community donations toward the purchase of the system.
Crenshaw hopes to have the system ordered and installed by the start of the high school basketball season.
