Efforts to transform two of Iola’s former elementary schools into much-needed housing continue to advance, though construction remains at least several months away. USD 257 Superintendent Stacey Fager said BNIM, the Kansas City-based architecture and…

The halls of McKinley and Jefferson elementary schools have been quiet for years. No clatter of lunch trays, no shuffle of little feet, no morning announcements crackling through the intercom. But if all goes according…

Now that school is out for the summer, the library at Iola Elementary School was eerily quiet Wednesday morning when a young boy popped in. He was there to see about a dog.  Not just…

Laura Caillouet-Weiner remembers walking down the hall at Jefferson Elementary School as a student teacher in the spring of 1981. Then-Principal Richard Sears stopped her and asked, “What are you going to do next fall?”…

If at first you don’t succeed, go bigger. A development company hoping to convert Iola’s three former elementary schools into apartments is expanding plans for its first phase of construction.  The goal is to make…

A day of play turned into a cleanup effort for two Iola youth. Riley McGinnis, age 9, and Shakyia Trester, age 8, wanted to take advantage of Sunday morning’s nice weather and headed to a…

Former Jefferson Elementary School teacher Linda Brocker remembers when she switched from third grade to first. She was dismayed to realize the younger children “didn’t know anything.”  But by the end of the school year,…

Former teachers at Jefferson Elementary School will offer tours and nostalgia Thursday. The Allen County Historical Society will feature Jefferson Elementary at its annual meeting. A business meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.; the tours will…

The bell is back.  Iola’s first school bell has been installed at the new Iola Elementary School. A crew from McShane Bell Company in St. Louis, Mo., finished restoring the 1868 bell and installed it…

Traffic around Iola’s three former elementary schools will flow differently in the coming days as city crews revamp signage around each of the buildings. Iola Police Chief Jared Warner provided a list of the changes…