LUCAS — An atmosphere of concern tinged with cautious optimism filled the Lucas Area Community Theater Aug. 31, as the USD 299 Sylvan-Lucas Unified board of education conducted a community meeting regarding a possible land transfer of the Wilson Schools to USD 299.

A transfer was brought to the forefront in April after the Central Plains USD 112 board of education voted to close grades 7-12 at Wilson Junior-Senior High School following the 2022-23 school year.

Under that plan, students would attend classes at Central Plains Junior-Senior High School in Claflin. However, kindergarten through sixth grade students would remain at the elementary school in Wilson.

Community members from Wilson and Dorrance first approached USD 299 to see whether they would be interested in taking their seventh through 12th grade students.

Representatives also approached the Ellsworth-Kanopolis-Geneseo USD 327 school board, but no action was taken.

The community meeting opened with a short presentation by Marc Lovin, board president, and Jeff Starkey, superintendent. Nearly four dozen patrons attended the meeting. They were given the opportunity to ask questions and comment on whether the USD 299 board should pursue the land transfer. Starkey said if the land transfer was pursued, the 7-12 junior-senior high school in Wilson would close and those students would attend class at Sylvan-Lucas Unified High School in Sylvan Grove.

Elementary schools for students in K-6 grades would be located in both Wilson and Lucas.

“We’re in a good position regardless of what we decide to do,” Starkey said.

Of the patrons who spoke, a few were against the land transfer, and a few were undecided. Most saw it as an opportunity and were optimistic.

However, all were concerned — and adamant — that the Sylvan-Lucas portion of any future school board maintain control.

“Right now, this board, every one of us, is elected to take care of USD 299 Sylvan-Lucas,” Lovin said. “We’re not elected to take care of Wilson.

I don’t want to say anything bad about Wilson neither.

They’re good people, they’ve got good kids. But right now, our board is elected to take care of all you people and your kids. We’ve got to figure out how we, Sylvan-Lucas, can keep control. I do not want to be standing here in four or five years in the same boat that Wilson is with Claflin right now.”

Lovin, who said he still hasn’t decided how he is going to vote on the land transfer, said if the control issue can be worked out, the rest of the issues can be worked out.

Starkey presented three possibilities for the make-up of a new school board if the land transfer happens.

The first option would be a school board with six districts, with one representative from each district plus one at-large member. The second option would have three districts, with two representatives from each district and one at-large member. The third possibility would be a school board with three representatives each from two districts and one at-large member. Board elections would be at-large.

According to Lovin, the at-large seat could be significant.

“We hold darn near every card in the deck in this deal,” Lovin said. “That’s to our advantage.”

Lovin admitted it is going to be the biggest decision he has ever made.

Patrons thoughts

“I feel this is a great opportunity for us to get big enough where we could be that regional school,” said one patron.

“We have something special and Wilson knows that,” said another patron. “That pull is a big thing.”

“If we were in the same situation as they (people in Wilson) are, I would hope they would help us out,” a third patron said.

“Without all of our little towns together, we would not have a school district,” reminded another patron.

“The more kids you can have, the better,” another patron said.

“I think you ought to do it,” said a patron.

One patron asked whether there is enough money coming into the district to do the land transfer.

“I think there is,” replied Starkey. “I think we can pull it off for the foreseeable future. The hard part is always looking down the line.”

Another patron asked for clarification. He wondered if USD 299 does not do the land transfer but still gets some students from Wilson attending classes in Sylvan Grove, would USD 299 get state funding for those students, but not get state funding to transport them from Wilson to Sylvan Grove for classes.

“We will get funding for them, correct,” Starkey said. “The perpupil, $7,000 I showed you.”

Starkey said the district would lose out on the transportation part of the funding if those students were not part of USD 299.

It was noted that if USD 299 does do the land transfer, one of the things that will have to be negotiated with USD 112 is low enrollment weighting and the funds associated with that.

One patron asked whether there would be more teachers hired by USD 299 since more students would be attending classes.

“Definitely yes in the high school,” Starkey said.

Board thoughts

Lovin said USD 299 is one of two districts in Kansas, along with Beloit, that do not have collective bargaining agreements with teachers.

“In the past, our negotiations have always been very easy,” he said. “The teachers come to us with what they would like to see. In the past, Mr. Stecklein, now Mr. Starkey, penciled it all out and said this is what we can do. And a lot of time we’d split the difference and we go on.”

Lovin said he would think the staff members at Wilson School would probably be for that.

“Our base is about $4,000 higher over here than it is over there,” he said. “I’m sure their staff would like to probably hear that. I think our staffs align really well.”

“I don’t want to turn students down at this point,” said board member Virgil Lawson. “If this passes I think we will be getting a good group of kids.”

Board member Kylo Heller said census data for Mitchell, Lincoln, Osborne and Russell counties indicate the populations in those counties have declined 40 percent over the past 20 years.

“So having a strong district is important for keeping schools here, too,” he said.

Heller also raised financial concerns about the land transfer.

“From the numbers I’ve looked at and from gathering information from Mr. Starkey, based on our current budget as far as what we spend on additional expenses, on staff and utilities, if you use that same ratio looking at what we would need to spend with the additional students and the additional building, it looks to me like we come up significantly short. The numbers I come up with are around $400,000. That’s a concern of mine.”

The USD 299 board of education is expected to vote on the land transfer during the Monday, Sept. 12, board meeting at Sylvan-Lucas Unified High School in Sylvan Grove. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m.