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The Weekender Saturday, October 11, 2014
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BOE member: New schools pivotal for efficiency ADA issues centerpiece of bond vote
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Efficiency was the key word Thursday as USD 257 officials hosted the latest in their series of forums regarding an upcoming election for new elementary and high schools in Iola. Board of Education President Tony Leavitt, Superintendent of Schools Jack Koehn and architect Kevin Nelson of Hollis and Miller spoke in front of a crowd of about 100 at Lincoln Elementary School’s gymnasium about how building new facilities would better serve the district financially than other options, such as renovation. Leavitt referred repeatedly to the projected $690,000 in annual savings the district would realize by replacing “six old buildings with two new ones.” “The Board of Education is responsible to the students,” Leavitt said. “The students don’t have a say. And we’re responsible to the patrons to give them the most bang for their buck. That’s what the board has considered going through this.” Among the savings Koehn cited was spending $124,000 less annually on utilities, another $120,000 less on repairs, and $70,000 less because the district would employ one less administrator. “It adds up to almost $700,000 in savings we could have made available to put in classrooms,” Koehn said. “That’s my point. This money has been going to the wrong place. It’s been going to maintenance in old buildings that could have been going to kids in the classroom.” Voters in the district will vote Nov. 4 to determine whether to construct the new schools, presumably along Oregon Road, near the Prairie
By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
From left, Lesley Skahan, Paul Sorenson, John Wilson and Gary Hoffmeier listen to a presentation Thursday evening at a school forum at Lincoln Elementary School. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
The Board of Education is responsible to the students. The students don’t have a say. And we’re responsible to the patrons to give them the most bang for their buck. That’s what the board has considered going through this. — Tony Leavitt, USD 257 school board president
Spirit Trail. A general bond vote would raise property taxes a net 9 mills from this year’s, while Iola voters also will decide on a half-cent sales tax proposal. Both must pass in order for the project to proceed. More than half of the project’s cost — 51 percent — would come in the form of state aid made available to school districts to improve
their facilities. The combination of factors makes November “the last, best chance we have to improve our facilities in USD 257,” Koehn said. NEW VS. RENOVATION
Nelson answered several questions from Iolan Aaron Franklin regarding the accuracy of the district’s projections to renovate vs. new con-
Gay marriage still in limbo in KS By HEATHER HOLLINGSBWORTH and JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Wedding plans of gay couples across Kansas were in limbo Thursday, with all but one of the state’s 105 counties refusing to issue marriage licenses and the American Civil Liberties Union preparing to sue in a bid to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex unions. Couples began showing up at county marriage license offices around the state Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear appeals from five states seeking to preserve their bans on gay marriage. Because Kansas is in the same federal appeals court district affected by the high court move, same-sex couples across the state hoped they soon would be able to marry. But without a direct legal challenge that results in an overturn of the state’s ban, judges were largely re-
luctant Thursday to move on their own. So far, only Johnson County has announced plans to issue licenses to gay couples. The county could be poised to issue the state’s first samesex marriage license as soon as Friday, two days after Chief District Judge Kevin Moriarty ruled the county could no longer deny the applications. Kansas has a three-day waiting period before licenses can be granted, but although Moriarty issued his ruling Wednesday, the county accepted one application Tuesday from a same-sex couple, said Sandy McCurdy, the county’s court clerk. By late Thursday afternoon, the county had accepted 42 applications. Attorney General Derek Schmidt and his spokeswoman didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment. The ACLU was working with potential plaintiffs from across the state for a lawsuit that would challenge the ban, said Doug Bonney, legal di-
Quote of the day Vol. 116, No. 244
rector for the group’s Kansas office. Bonney said the challenge wouldn’t happen until the middle of next week at the earliest. Some counties initially refused to even hand out marriage license paperwork to same-sex couples until the lawyer for the Kansas Office of Judicial Administration sent an email Tuesday to chief judges suggesting that counties accept the applications and noted that litigation was likely. “My recommendation is that judges, not clerks, make the decision to grant or deny a marriage license under existing Kansas law, rather than requiring a district court clerk to do so and then be required to defend a civil lawsuit,” said the email from Martha Coffman. Most counties appeared to be taking the advice. A judge in south-central Kansas’ Cowley County issued an order Thursday saying that See LIMBO | Page A3
struction. Previous estimates from Hollis and Miller pegged the renovations budget at $56 million, while building new will cost not quite $49 million. “There’s not enough detail for me to buy into what you are saying,” Franklin countered. “You don’t have estimates. You have generalizations.” Thus, Franklin charged, the $56 million was inaccurate. He also charged the district with not having a long-term plan in place to prevent maintenance issues from compounding if a new campus is built. Not true, Koehn responded. “We hired a professional firm that does this all the time,” Koehn said. “To say we would somehow give you different figures just to make a
Take a moment and pretend you are a USD 257 student with a physical disability. First off, all classrooms on the upper levels of elementary schools are off limits for lack of elevators. The simple task of using a restroom becomes complicated because there isn’t enough room to manuever a wheelchair in the restrooms. Recess time is limited because playgrounds are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. These situations aren’t pretend, but a reality for disabled students in USD 257. Lesley Skahan is the mother of Mason. Mason has special needs and attends school at McKinley Elementary School. Skahan’s other two children attend Lincoln Elementary School. “The ADA concerns are very important to me,” Skahan said Thursday night at a school forum. “When these See ADA | Page A8
certain outcome is incorrect.” Scott Stanley, USD 257’s maintenance and transportation director, offered to show the bills the district has paid on maintenance over the years. “I’ll be happy to review them,” Stanley said. “They’re broken down by projects, by See FORUM | Page A6
Attack survivor wins Nobel Prize OSLO, Norway (AP) — Taliban attack survivor Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel winner ever as she and Kailash Satyarthi of India won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for working to protect children from slavery, extremism and child labor at great risk to their own lives. By honoring a 17-year-old Muslim girl from Pakistan and a 60-year-old Hindu man from India, the Norwegian Nobel Committee linked the peace award to conflicts between world religions and neighboring nuclear powers as well as drawing attention to children’s rights. “Child slavery is a crime against humanity. Humanity itself is at stake here. A lot of work still remains but I will see the end of child labor in my lifetime,” Satyarthi told The Associated Press at his office in New Delhi. Since 1980, Satyarthi has been at the forefront of a global movement to end child slavery and exploitative child
“Marriage is give and take. You’d better give it to her or she’ll take it anyway. — Joey Adams, comedian 75 Cents
labor, which he called a “blot on humanity.” News of the award set off celebrations on the streets of Mingora, Malala’s hometown in Pakistan’s volatile Swat Valley, with residents greeting each other and distributing sweets. At the town’s Khushal Public School, which is owned by Malala’s father, students danced in celebration Friday, jumping up and down. When she was a student there, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two years ago for insisting that girls as well as boys have the right to an education. Surviving several operations with the help of British medical care, she continued both her activism and her studies. Appropriately, Malala was at school Friday in the central English city of Birmingham when the Nobel was announced and remained with her classmates at the Edgbaston High School for girls. She See NOBEL | Page A3
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