WICHITA (FoxKansas.com) -- A groundswell effort by parents to save a couple of Wichita schools that are facing possible closure is underway even though administrators have not made a final decision on what schools -- if any -- will ultimately be closed.
A preliminary proposal has recommended that five schools be closed after the district redraws its attendance boundary zones. Those schools include: Bryant, Lincoln, Mueller, Payne and Woodland Health and Wellness Magnet. The school board is expected to approve the new boundary lines early next year, which would undoubtedly cement the closure process.
Parents of students currently attending Woodland and Payne Elementary are mobilizing to take their schools off of the closure list. They have launched or are working to organize petitions that express opposition to the closure of the schools. The parents hope to present their petitions to school board members.
"Please help save our children's future!!" reads the petition to save Woodland.
The Wichita public school district has hired an outside consulting firm to help it re-engineer the way it operates. A preliminary plan calls for closing the five schools but also recommends opening two new elementary and two K-8 schools, increasing the size of eight other campuses and revising student attendance boundaries.
School administrations have advised parents that the plan is still preliminary but that has obviously not swayed some parents.
FoxKansas.com Staff Writer Alfred Charles contributed to this report. He can be reached at acharles@nptvgroup.com.
