In most court decisions, there’s a “them vs. us.”
So in their request to ask a judge to review the will of Thomas H. Bowlus, Iola school officials will be represented on one side with, most likely, an attorney representing the students and citizens of Iola on the other.
As contentious as that may sound, representatives of both sides agree the 50-year-old arrangement needs reviewing.
“I’m 100 percent behind the petition,” said Susan Raines, Bowlus director.
Raines, several members of the USD 257 Board of Education, and Jack Koehn, superintendent of schools, met with this Register reporter last week to discuss the legal petition the school district is preparing to file in Allen County District Court.
At their Aug. 22 meeting, school board members heard attorney Daniel Schowengerdt read the petition that asks the court to review the charitable trust, which gives the school district responsibility of the Bowlus. Once the case is the hands of a judge, it is expected he or she will appoint a guardian ad litem to represent district students.
The main purpose of the petition is to ensure the Center’s future, say school officials, by learning exactly what its parameters are, including whether they could hold what are considered fine arts classes elsewhere without violating the will.
Tony Leavitt, president of the school board, said the petition poses “the hard questions that I think people have purposely avoided since the Bowlus was put in place.
“We have to find out what the guidelines are. There have been a lot of presumed facts that have been shared throughout the years between the public and trustees. But I’m not sure they are the facts and it’s important for the community to know.”
Among those questions: If the school district feels it can no longer take responsibility of the Bowlus, could it become the property of the University of Kansas?
Ever since the district accepted the responsibility of the Bowlus in 1961 that’s been the “nuclear option,” Raines said, referring to the threat of the Center reverting to the KU Endowment Association unless Mr. Bowlus’s trust was followed to the letter.
Raines looks at the procedure philosophically.
“As my Board of Trustees, I want them to have their questions answered,” she said. “Whatever happens, there will be change. So let’s get the court’s blessing and as a community discuss where we want the Bowlus to go for the next 50 years.”
For the last 50 years, the school district has overseen the management of the fine arts center as what has been interpreted as the directive in Mr. Bowlus’s will.
While school board members see that responsibility as a privilege, it also can be a burden, said Koehn.
