Basketball: Fillies advance to substate title game See B1
The Weekender Saturday, March 8, 2014
USD 257 Director of Operations Scott Stanley gave The Register an insider’s tour of the outdated state of the school’s infrastructure. At top, the high school’s science lab has equipment from the 1960s. Middle photo, Stanley tears away crumbling sheet rock from the wall of the high school basement. At bottom, a book and ruler show how much the floor has buckled in one of the classrooms. REGISTER/STEVEN SCHWARTZ
Wear and tear take toll on Iola school buildings By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of stories on USD 257 schools. The series takes an inside look into USD 257’s facilities and sheds light on the problems the district faces. Dim, flickering lights illuminate crumbling plaster walls of Iola High School’s basement. Groundwater leaks have left stains and damage along the concrete floors and walls. Before the school’s remodel in 1988, the basement was its gymnasium. Now it resembles a scene in a scary movie. Scott Stanley, USD 257 director of operations, shines the light of his cell phone above his head into an air shaft. “The air from all three levels of the building is pulled down into here,” Stanley said gesturing to the basement. “It then is pumped back up into the school.” Dangling plaster and excess moisture are near this air duct, the same one through which air is pumped back into the school. The maintenance crew works diligently to keep moisture out of the basement but groundwater keeps sneaking in. The IHS basement is just one of multiple problems USD 257 constantly fights. “It’s a never-ending battle,” Stanley said. STANLEY, along with Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn See SCHOOLS | Page A4
Back to the drawing board for schools
Court: funding too low TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Supreme Court said Friday the state’s current public school funding levels are unconstitutional. In the much-anticipated ruling, the court said Kansas’ poor school districts were harmed when the state made the decision to cut certain payments when tax revenues declined during the Great Recession. The Supreme Court also sent the case back to district court for more review to “promptly” determine what the adequate amount of funding should be, but didn’t set a deadline for a hearing. It did, however, set a July 1 deadline for legislators to restore money for two funds aimed at helping poorer districts with capital improvements and
In recent years, school districts have trimmed their staffs, cut after-school programs and raised fees for parents. Classrooms became more crowded. general school operations. Kent Thompson, representative for District 12 which includes Iola and most of Allen County, said the decision “came as no surprise to me.” Late Friday morning Thompson told the Register there “isn’t much I can say about it yet. I’m just starting to read through the decision. The case has broader implications beyond the classroom: Kansas enacted sweeping cuts to income taxes in
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 92
2012 and 2013 championed by Gov. Sam Brownback that have reduced the amount of available resources to comply with a court order. The lawsuit was filed in 2010 on behalf of parents and school districts who argued the state had harmed students because spending cuts resulted in lower test scores. State attorneys maintained that legislators did their best See FUNDING | Page A6
Bolling’s recognized as emerging business By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Bolling’s Meat Market and Deli, Iola, is the definition of a growing business. Since opening its Iola location in 2010, the business has expanded multiple times. The market’s desire to grow helped earn it a Kansas Small Business Development Center Emerging Business of the Year award. Bolling’s manager, Cara Bolling Thomas, said the business is excited to have earned the award. Bolling’s became involved with the state’s small business development program when it opened in Iola. Thomas said they reached out to it when she wanted to update her cash register system. “It was hard for us to keep
“Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.” — Samuel Johnson 75 Cents
track of our sales and we wanted to switch over to a point of sale system,” she said. “We wanted a better idea of where our money was going.” Another area they needed assistance in was marketing. Thomas wanted to know how other meat markets were running. “We wanted to know how to target our customers so we reached out to them (KSBDC) for recommendations,” Thomas said. When she considered opening the deli portion of the business she used the marketing again. “We wanted to know who is eating at home and who is eating out,” she said. “We also See BOLLINGS | Page A6
Hi: 39 Lo: 24 Iola, KS