Wilson woes continue

Dear Editor: So, Wilson wants to wait another year and then probably another and ... They have known for about a year what the situation is concerning moving 7-12 to Claflin. It seems to me Sylvan-Lucas and Ellsworth have said no to them. I applaud Sylvan-Lucas because my observation is Wilson wants everything their way. I cannot see how Natoma would gain anything except a headache. I guess Wilson would hope Natoma would let them keep their high school since it is 50 miles between them.

Wilson has had it good since the first consolidation. We do not have the Lorraine Huskies, the Bushton Trojans or the Holyrood Cardinals, but we still had the Wilson Dragons. They would have become the Quivira Heights North and the school at Bushton Quivira Heights South, but no, they had to remain Wilson Dragons.

In the second consolidation, we no longer have the Quivira Heights Thunderbirds or the Claflin Wildcats but we still have the Wilson Dragons. Wilson should have become Central Plains North and the school at Claflin Central Plains South.

It seems to me that Wilson never did want to be part of the district, but had to be in some district to meet the state requirements.

Two of the school board members were from Wilson and they had no trouble voting to close the building at Bushton (a mistake in my opinion). Early in the consolidation with Claflin they wanted new bleachers for the football field at Claflin. My suggestion was to play the games at Bushton, which had very nice bleachers. I had been told board members were not to comment about the comments made in the public forum time. However, the board president, who was from Wilson, said very emphatically the games would be played at Claflin. They could not afford to have an activity at Bushton which would have made it harder to close the school (my conjecture). Note: They spent thousands of dollars for new bleachers in Claflin.

A student from Wilson recently had a letter concerning the financing. It is not as simple as this, but basically the state provides X number of dollars for each student. Let’s say Wilson has eight seniors and Claflin has 16. That means the seniors at Claflin generate twice as many dollars as Wilson. Do you think the teachers at Wilson will work for half the amount the teachers at Claflin receive? I know it is more complicated than this, but I hope you get the drift of my comment.

A report I saw said 55 students from USD 112 were attending school in Ellsworth. I know they are not all from Wilson, but if it’s so important for Wilson to keep their school, why are some sending their children to Ellsworth?

Don Siemsen Holyrood