The Wichita Board of Education voted 5-2 to close six schools as part of Phase 2 budget reductions during its March 4, 2024 meeting. Stan Reeser, Diane Albert, Kathy Bond, Julie Hedrick and Hazel Stabler voted yes, with Melody-McCray Miller and Ngoc Vuong voting no.

The schools that will close at the end of the school year are:

• Hadley Middle School
• Jardine STEM and Career Explorations Academy
• Clark Elementary
• Cleaveland Traditional College and Career Readiness Magnet Elementary
• Park Elementary
• Payne Elementary

The BOE also approved 6-0 the school boundary adjustments at Hamilton, Marshall, Mead, Pleasant Valley and Wilbur Middle Schools, and Allen, Beech, Caldwell, Harry Street, Irving, Lawrence, Linwood, Stanley, Washington and Woodman Elementary Schools.

Specific information will be shared with impacted families. 

Read the BOE presentation.

Watch the March 4 BOE presentation (Part 1)

Watch the March 4 BOE presentation (Part 2)

The recommendation to close schools solves some immediate needs for filling vacancies, focuses resources in fewer buildings, reduces the repairs and maintenance backlog, better utilizes remaining buildings and reduces expenditures to balance the budget. The recommendation also supports our long-term planning to envision what district facilities could be in the future, respond to community needs and support future-ready schools. No current employee is expected to lose their job in this process.

Many factors were considered for building closures including capacity at neighboring schools, how to minimize impact to the district, building FCI (Facility Condition Index) scores, utilization rate, enrollment, and more. FCI score indicates the general condition of building systems. The higher the score, the greater the volume of large-scale maintenance needs. Utilization is the school's official enrollment divided by building capacity.

More information is available at www.usd259.org/transform24.