NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Krystal Young with USD 308 is hoping for guidance from the steering committee over the next year as to what they want to see the district do with its facilities.
"It's about where we are overall with enrollment," Young said. "It's also about how we can best serve our students. We have done what we've done in Hutchinson forever, because that's what we've done. There are many school districts across the state that are configured in different ways. I think there's an opportunity for the committee to come together and talk about what our needs are."
Any changes are on the table, as each school district in the state has its own recipe for how to split things up and use the facilities they have.
"We have neighborhood buildings," Young said. "If you go to some districts not too far from us, you'll see that they have grade banded buildings. They might have two K-3 buildings or two K-2 buildings. Really, we want our committee to know everything that they could possibly know about our needs as a district and for our students and then help us make some decisions."
Part of the problem is unequal distribution of grade levels across the city.
"We have some split classes in our district," Young said. "That would mean I have one teacher teaching two grade levels in the same classroom. We have that right now because of enrollment. It's really difficult for us to have class sizes of 10 or 12 in one building and class sizes of 24 in another. We have found after one year, that is very difficult, to meet the needs of students, teach the standards for that grade level and still do all of the things that come with teaching."
The steering committee meets the second Monday of every month after the Board of Education meeting and will go through the district's buildings throughout the year-long project.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.