New facilities a boon for Chanute, former admin says

CHANUTE — It’s been eight years since voters in Chanute approved a $42 million construction project to build new elementary and high schools for USD 413.
Steve Parsons, Chanute’s former superintendent of schools, remembers it well.
Parsons now works in the central office at the Southeast Kansas Education Service Center in Greenbush.
He answered a series of questions, particularly those regarding similarities (and differences) between Chanute and USD 257.
The Chanute schools project stemmed from a monthslong process, Parsons explained. A committee of parents, school staff, students and others in the community — more than 40 in all — began looking at all district facilities to determine what, if any, needed to be improved.
They toured each school in the district — four elementary schools, Royster Middle School and Chanute High School — to develop lists of what was necessary to bring each “to the level of an acceptable education facility,” Parsons said.
The group then looked at the schools from a district perspective, to determine the most cost effective way to serve all of USD 413.
The group formulated a list of potential solutions, fully vetting the merits of each, before approaching the Board of Education with its recommendation — to build a single elementary school and high school, while remodeling Royster.
“In evaluating all of the buildings, the facilities committee felt Royster should be kept and maintained,” Parsons said. “It was the newest building, and had the fewest issues.
The proposal in front of USD 257 and Iola voters, it should be noted, is almost identical. Study groups have determined Iola Middle School is the most stable, while its three elementary schools and high school are on life support.
It was not an easy decision, Parsons recalled.
“The first consideration given to each building was remodeling or upgrading,” Parsons said.
While he did not have the numbers available, Parsons noted a consensus quickly developed as the study progressed.
“In addition to the cost of renovation, consideration was given to the fact that the older buildings would be inferior to new buildings for providing the type of space for education today and into the future,” Parsons said. “Two major issues were space and technology.”
The committee also looked at future costs. The new buildings would be more efficient to operate than maintaining old ones.
The Chanute board accepted the recommendation, and without altering the proposal, put the issue in front of local voters in February 2006.

A GRASSROOTS effort in support of the construction project was borne.
At its height, more than 100 became involved, Parsons said, to conduct public information meetings and distribute literature. Most of the facilities committee members were a part of the campaign as well.
With bonds from renovating the high school in the 1980s — worth about 8 mills — about to come off the tax rolls, the district was able to buffer the cost to taxpayers.
“The bond payments were structured so that the increase in the mill levy was gradual, increasing about 2 mills each year,” Parsons said, leveling off at 16 mills over the course of 30 years.
“This helped control the tax levy and was also supported by the fact that all district facilities would be in good shape for at least another 30 years,” Parsons noted.
The $42.67 million project passed narrowly.

AS IN IOLA, several in and around Chanute opposed the measure, favoring instead anything that would keep the neighborhood schools in place.
Part of their concern was alleviated when the district announced it was going to sell or otherwise use the buildings, although no plans were set in concrete when voters when to the polls, noted Chanute High Principal Kent Wire.
One elementary, Lincoln, was kept by the district and converted into a preschool and office space for support operations. Two others, Hutton and Alcott, were sold to local churches. The fourth, Murray Hill, was sold to a private developer and converted to a senior living facility.
In addition, the district placed bus stops at each of the old school sites so that students could be picked up and transported to the new elementary school. “I think those helped,” he said. Even with the new configuration, no routes were added.
The old high school, meanwhile, was given to the city, where the old part of the building was demolished and used for a water park. The rest of the building now is used by the Chanute Recreation Commission and as a business incubator.

WHILE construction went well, and remained under budget, there were a few minor issues, particularly when the new elementary school opened.
“Probably one of the biggest was all the car traffic at the start and end of the school day, Parsons noted. Initial plans had to be tweaked numerous times.
“As parents and grandparents have become accustomed to the process and the traffic pattern, these issues have diminished,” he said. “As with anything new or different, it requires observing, evaluating and looking for solutions. I am sure that, even today, staff and administration are looking for ways to make the system flow more smoothly.”
Those issues were alleviated, Parsons opined, by numerous benefits of having one elementary.
“One of the major advantages of a single elementary school is that class sizes can be equalized and controlled. It is much easier to be efficient in the area of staffing. With neighborhood schools, class sizes would vary significantly between buildings.”
Staff turnover was not an issue, either.
“I recall we may have had one or two teachers who decided to retire rather than move to the new building,” he recalled. “I really do believe that as we have vacancies occur, the quality facilities provide an extra incentive for a teacher to want to come to Chanute.”

No buyer’s remorse
“I honestly did not hear much of any negative (feedback) from the public after the bond election,” Parsons said. “The opposite would be more accurate, in that there was a feeling of excitement and community pride surrounding the new and remodeled schools. I am sure that some complain every time they get a tax statement and see the levy for the schools. I am also confident some feel that something was lost when the old school was demolished. I fully respect that.
“Having a new pool where the old high school used to sit and having all the old buildings alive and being used may have helped to offset some of the negative feelings. On the whole, there was more generation of community pride than buyer’s remorse.”
As an aside, Chanute’s new athletic facilities — a football stadium, tennis courts and track and field arena — were not a part of the bond issue. Those, in fact, were built before voters went to the polls in 2006.
A group of patrons around the community and requested permission to solicit donations to assist in construction.
They were able to secure about $2.1 million in pledges, including a $1 million donation from Ash Grove Cement.
The district financed the complex through a lease purchase agreement with five local banks.
The project cost $3.1 million.