During the Wednesday afternoon study session of the Barton County Commissioners, a group of Central Plains USD 112 patrons presented a background, as well as a perspective on the impact, a special question vote will have on the school district and the economics of Barton County.
On Aug. 1, voters in the USD 112 school district will decide whether to disorganize or keep intact the district which covers not only most of the top half of the county, but also portions of four other neighboring counties. Last May, a group of Wilson School patrons in the district utilized a rarely used state statute to petition to disorganize the district, in response to the USD 112 Board of Education’s vote to close the building housing grades 7-12 in Wilson in January.
The petition was filed in Ellsworth County, as the school district’s county of record.
Ballots are being prepared and polling places announced in the five counties of the district. The voter registration deadline is July 11.
The advance voting period begins July 12.
Spanning five counties
As one of the largest districts in the state in terms of geographic area, USD 112 spans five counties, with Ellsworth County serving as the county of record. It was formed over time from a series of consolidations, with the latest coming in 2010 with the merger of Lorraine USD 328 and Claflin USD 354. The district includes the communities of Holyrood, location of the district office; Bushton, Claflin, Dorrance, Frederick, Lorraine, Wilson, Beaver, Dubuque, Odin and Hitschmann, with nearby rural areas.
Wilson and Claflin operate junior-senior high schools, with separate school colors, mascots, activities and sports programs. Central Plains Elementary is located in Holyrood, while Wilson Elementary is located in Wilson.
Wednesday’s meeting
Eight patrons from Claflin, including Claflin Mayor Mike Urban, apprised the commissioners with a brief history of the district and its representative school structure as well as how the measure would affect Barton County communities.
“This district is messy; it covers a lot of area,” said Christina Hayes, who is also a patron of USD 112. “What we are fighting for here today is to keep Wilson Elementary open, keep the grade school in Holyrood open and keep Claflin Jr./Sr. High School open.
“People in Wilson are very, very mad, so they circulated the petition that they said would save their school,” she said. “But if you look at the ballot question, that basically says that all schools within the district would be closed.
“Our belief is for a strong ‘no’ vote,” she said. “If we vote ‘no’ and the ‘no’ vote wins, our schools would stay as is. With a ‘yes’ vote, it would then be up to the state to determine how to draw the lines so that our kids would then go to whatever district.”
Economically, Hayes said, a “yes” vote would eliminate 107 full-time education jobs in affected counties. That equates to $3.3 million annually in loss to local economies.
The group is organizing meetings in Bushton, Claflin, Holyrood and Odin in July. The Kansas Department of Education is hosting additional informational meetings on June 27 at 6:30 p.m. at the Immaculate Conception Parish Hall in Claflin, and at 8 p.m. at the Catholic Parish Hall in Wilson.
“We realize that you cannot tell your patrons to vote yes or no, but you can tell your patrons to be educated on this issue,” Hayes said. “It’s going to affect all of Barton County.”
Patron Braden Miller told the commissioners that if the schools are closed, it would adversely affect a current economic development push in the Claflin community.
“If this ‘yes’ vote goes through, this effort definitely goes away,” Miller said. “We truly believe that a ‘yes’ vote will destroy everything we’ve been working for.”
Hayes said that their current focus is to get as many district patrons registered as possible. “I think that if people get the information about how this would affect their communities overall that it would help,” she said.
