HUTCHINSON, Kan. – The Hutchinson USD 308 Board of Education Monday approved spending up to $150,000 to provide bussing service for students in the former Lincoln Elementary School attendance area who will be attending classes at McCandless Elementary School starting this fall. Transportation funding was factored into the financial data presented to the Board when it voted to close Lincoln in May.
Prior to discussing this issue, Hutchinson City Councilman Greg Fast addressed the board on the closing of the school and his disappointment with that decision. “Over the past ten years, that school has turned around,” Fast said. “There is a cohesiveness in that part of town with the underserved and a lot of good things.”
Fast said the city is willing to work with 308 on ideas to re-open Lincoln in the future. “Please don’t put that decision to bed,” he said. “I get it, it’s dollars and cents, but it’s not real helpful for that part of town as you know.”
Fast also noted that the closing will likely impact property values and tax revenues for the city.
The bussing proposal brought comments from one Lincoln area parent who supports the idea. Victoria Graf told the board, “We don’t want any of these kids to fall through the cracks or them to not make their benchmarks because they’re not making it to school because they can’t get there.”
A survey of Lincoln families noted many of them have just one car, which is, in many cases, used by one parent to get to work well before school starts. Families also raised safety concerns over Lincoln neighborhood students walking to school. They would have to cross two railroads and the heavily traveled 4th Avenue to get to McCandless.
