The Wichita Board of Education voted 4-2 Monday to schedule the closure of four elementary schools in the district — rejecting a community effort to persuade the board to reconsider.
L’Ouverture, OK, Pleasant Valley and Woodland elementary schools will close as soon as the end of next school year. None of the schools are closing this year.
The timeline passed by the school board provides two sets of dates for closing the schools: one if voters approve a bond issue in November and another if they don’t.
The school board first voted to close the schools in 2024 as part of the district’s Facility Master Plan. Community discussion about the closures was recently revived after district staff recommended a timeline for closing the schools.
District staff say closing the schools is the right move financially and for students. But in recent months, many people affected by the closures have organized against them to pressure board members into reversing course.
On Saturday, community members rallied at Woodland in an attempt to persuade board members. They had also planned a silent, sit-in protest during the meeting Monday but moved the protest to the front of the building after the district posted a notice outside banning signs and posters at the meeting.
Board member Amy Warren, who was elected in November, asked her colleagues to consider reopening discussion on the closures. Three of the four schools slated to close are in her district.
“Coming freshly from being on the other side with neighbors and with community members — being a parent through all the facility master plans and going to listening sessions — I understand deeply the frustration,” she said.
Warren said she spoke up on behalf of community members who wanted the district to consider other options.
“But I want to say, too, that I don’t know that [the district’s] vision is wrong, I think it’s just a different solution than what many of us would want.”
She and fellow board member Ngoc Vuong voted to reopen the plan but could not convince the majority.
Board president Stan Reeser said he feared reopening the facility master plan would invite politics into the process.
“Those four schools would be replaced with another group of schools,” he said. “It’s going to pit school communities against school communities.”
Board member Amy Jensen, also new to the board after November’s election, said she trusts district staff and their recommendation to close the schools. She said some neighborhoods don’t have as many students as they once did.
“That doesn’t take away from the love that people feel for their neighborhood schools — that love is real,” she said.
“We hired these professionals and we pay them very well because we trust their expertise. If we don’t trust them to do the work that we’ve asked them to do, then I have to ask: Why are they still working here?”
The school board ultimately approved the timeline to close the schools, with Warren and Vuong voting against it.
District staff recommended closing the four school buildings because they say they are aging and too costly to repair.
They also say the district is short on specialized staff — including school nurses and counselors — and that consolidating schools would provide a more equitable learning experience for students across the district.
In recent meetings, though, many members of the public have said that the closures would harm students and families. They say neighborhood schools provide short commutes, easier access for parents, stronger cultural ties and better relationships with staff members.
Amy Draut, who addressed the board during public comment Monday, said school closures often impact people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
“Empty buildings become community wounds,” she said. “Closed schools sit vacant for years — draining property values, hollowing out neighborhoods and leaving communities with nothing to show for the investments that built them.”
Some members of the public have also said the buildings are in poor condition due to years of neglected maintenance. Others say they wish the district had been more transparent and collaborative in its decision-making process.
Although her motion to reconsider the closures failed, Warren encouraged audience members to remain engaged with the district’s plans for the future.
“I guarantee nobody up here wants to close schools, but we are trying to look for the best options for students and staff,” she said. “Please stay with us and keep giving feedback so that we can hopefully marry [the district and the community’s] visions together better as we move forward.”
