Parents at two Wichita elementary schools set to close at the end of this school year now have a better idea of where their kids might go next fall.
The district is redrawing attendance boundaries to accommodate students at L’Ouverture Magnet Elementary in northeast Wichita and Pleasant Valley Elementary in northwest Wichita — both of which will close in the spring.
At the same time, some community members are calling for district and city leaders to find a way to preserve the L’Ouverture building.
Wichita schools leaders are recommending the majority of students at Pleasant Valley, about 161, relocate to Ortiz Elementary, which is about a mile-and-a-half away.
Students who live near L’Ouverture would be split across two schools, with about 62 students attending Mueller Magnet Elementary and another 36 going to Spaght Elementary. Both schools are within two miles of L’Ouverture.
When redrawing boundaries, district officials consider factors like staffing ratios, enrollment and proximity.
“As much as possible, we want to put kids closer to the schools that they’re assigned to,” said Fabian Armendariz, division director of operations for the district.
Armendariz says the goal is to minimize disruptions for students and teachers.
“We want to move more chunks of students together, so that way staffing can follow, and we’re not piecemealing it as we move forward,” he said.
Impacts on class size, staffing
The district has said that consolidating schools does not necessarily mean larger class sizes, but rather more classes offered at the schools for each grade level.
For example, the average class size at L’Ouverture is 16, while the average class size at Mueller is 21. The district projects the average class size at Mueller next year, after the boundary changes, would be 19.
Pleasant Valley averages about 19 students per class, and Ortiz averages about 20. That would go up to about 21 students per class at Ortiz next year, if the school board approves the new boundaries.
The district says it will not lay off any staff members as part of the transition.
Staff at the two closing schools are filling out forms to let the district know their intent for next year.
Many staff members will relocate to the same schools their students do, where possible. Some staff members will relocate elsewhere in the district, with others set to retire or leave the district next year.
The district is planning to host informational meetings about the boundary changes for families at L’Ouverture and Pleasant Valley.
The meeting at Pleasant Valley is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The meeting at L’Ouverture is at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 3.
Soon after, the school board will vote on the proposed boundaries at its monthly meeting on Dec. 14.
Some advocates say land swap could save L’Ouverture building
The district is in talks with the City of Wichita about potentially swapping L’Ouverture and its property for land at Claude Lambe Park near 13th and Oliver.
Many community leaders with ties to either L’Ouverture or the surrounding neighborhood spoke in favor of that plan, describing it as a way to preserve the school.
Lavonta Williams, a former city council member, asked the council to approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which would allow the city and district to survey properties that would be included in a potential land swap.
“You're talking about a third school that is closing … all within a one-mile radius,” she said. “No other community in the city of Wichita has had to have that happen.”
Williams argued the city could potentially refit the building to serve a new purpose — such as a library or museum installation on Black history in Wichita.
“Let us work after the MOU to figure out how to put something in there that's going to be resourceful to the community,” she said. “And one of those is helping our young kids understand their history.”
Kathy Johnson, a music teacher at L’Ouverture who has worked at the school for 23 years, said it would be a “travesty” if the building was torn down like the former Chester Lewis and Mathewson building — another formerly all-Black school and longtime institution that was torn down in the summer.
“I just want the city to understand that this school played a very important role in the Black community,” Johnson said. “It's just a shame that nobody took the time to really look at the history of the school and what the effect was going to be for the community.”
Some city council members have indicated they would support a land swap only if it yielded potential park land for the city to make up for public land lost from Claude Lambe.
What’s driving the decision to close schools?
Others in the community have called for the district to reconsider closing L’Ouverture altogether.
LaWanda DeShazer, a community activist and former city council candidate, asked the school board to reverse course and protect Claude Lambe Park.
“We cannot continue to talk about equity, opportunity and community investment while watching historically Black neighborhoods lose institutions that have been part of their identity for generations,” she said. “Schools are more than buildings; they are anchors in neighborhoods. They represent history, relationships, memories and a sense of belonging.”
The district has cited declining enrollment in its decisions to close the two schools. The district reported about a 3% drop in overall enrollment this year, and that trend is expected to continue until at least the early 2030s.
L’Ouverture currently has 194 students, which is 40 students less than last year. That represents nearly 43% of the building’s capacity.
Pleasant Valley is at nearly 48% capacity, with 255 students. That’s four students less than last year.
“There was a point in time in Wichita where we had 92 elementary schools, and pretty much every square mile had an elementary school that had 400 to 500 kids in it,” Wichita Superintendent Kelly Bielefeld said in a recent interview with KMUW. “We’re in a different era in our community where there's not a need for that many schools.”
Both schools also have a high Facility Condition Index, or FCI, which the district uses to measure the relative condition of each building.
The index divides the total cost of repairs by the cost to replace the entire building; the lower the number, the better. Pleasant Valley’s FCI is 0.83, while L'Ouverture's is 0.84.
District leaders have said the high level of maintenance needs at the two schools and others stems from a limited capital budget — which often gets spread thin by maintaining large and historic buildings like East and North high schools.
DeShazer said she understands some of the district’s challenges in managing its budget and inventory of buildings but asked the board to “look beyond spreadsheets and square footage.”
She also asked the district not to pursue Claude Lambe Park as the potential site for a rebuild of Adams Elementary School.
“Our parks are not vacant pieces of land waiting for development,” she said. “They provide children with places to play, families with places to gather and neighborhoods with opportunities for recreation, exercise and connection.”
Two more elementary schools, OK and Woodland, will close at the end of the 2028-29 school year. The district will convert OK into an early childhood center under the $615 million bond issue approved by voters last week.
Triple-A choice, magnet programs
Some students attend L’Ouverture or Pleasant Valley not because of where they live, but out of choice.
L’Ouverture houses a magnet program, and Pleasant Valley hosts students through the Assigned Attendance Area or “triple-A” boundary.
That stems from integration efforts in the 1970s, when the district began busing students in historically Black neighborhoods to predominantly white schools in other parts of town.
While the district no longer mandates busing, some families can choose to still have their students bused to a different, designated school, rather than attend the one in their attendance boundary.
Under the proposed new boundaries, about 26 students in the triple-A program at Pleasant Valley would instead attend Black Elementary, which will eventually be rebuilt under the new bond issue.
As for magnet students at L’Ouverture, the district will encourage them to apply to a different magnet program, with priority placement in the magnet lottery — or attend their neighborhood school.
Students in Wichita can also apply for special transfers to attend another neighborhood school.
Click here for the district's full presentation on proposed boundary changes from the Nov. 9 school board meeting.
KMUW's Meg Britton-Mehlisch contributed to this report.
