On Wednesday night, the USD 253 Board of Education discussed grade configuration and decided to look into five possibilities.
Brian Jordan, assistant superintendent of personnel, and Randy Weseman, the configuration committee’s facilitator, outlined the options for the board. The choices were referred to as colors during the meeting. The options the board decided they wanted to consider include:
• Beige: The district would keep its current configuration with one preschool facility, six kindergarten through fourth grade buildings, a fifth grade center, a sixth grade center, a seventh and eighth grade middle school and a high school.
• Red (a): The district would have two centers that contain both fifth and sixth grade students that would be located where the current fifth and sixth grade buildings are.
• Red (b): Lowther North and Lowther South would alternate between fifth and sixth grade centers, one year a building is a fifth grade center, the next year the same building is a sixth grade center.
• Blue: Fifth grade would move to current K-4 buildings and Lowther South would close, middle school would be added on to for sixth grade, Lowther North would close.
• Green: Fifth grade would move to current K-4 buildings, Lowther South would close and sixth grade would stay at Lowther North.
The board is also asking for the public’s input. The public can direct comments to Randy Weseman at rweseman@hotmail.com or by mail to 1700 W. Seventh Ave., Emporia, KS 66801.
The board asks that comments be sent by Nov. 19.
Additionally, members of the public are invited to comment during the next board meeting, which will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 10. During that meeting the board will hear an update from the configuration committee, and people can speak during that time.
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