Regular Meeting
Documenter name: Ayshia McCray
Agency: Wichita Board of Education
Date: July 7, 2025
See more about this meeting at Documenters.org
Board of Education Meeting - July 7, 2025
Notes
The Wichita Public Schools Board of Education (BOE) meeting began at 5:59 p.m. and was called to order by president Diane Albert. All board members were present and the meeting was live streamed. There were about 40 people in attendance and the meeting ended around 9:42 p.m. Between 9:05 p.m. and 9:20 p.m., board members were in an executive session. Several community members presented, including educators and the Financial Oversight Committee.
- Melody McCray-Miller
- Kathy Bond
- Diane Albert
- Hazel Stabler
- Ngoc Vuong
- Julie Hedrick
- Stan Reeser
- Clerk of the Board: Litona Hoyt
- Wichita Public Schools Superintendent: Kelly Bielefield
COUNCIL VOTING AND UPDATES
Council voted unanimously on issues pertaining to unrestricted reserves and an artificial intelligence policy adoption. A motion regarding on-call general contractors was passed 6 to 1. Board member Julie Hedrick was curious about classroom sizes in high schools and wanted to ensure that the learning environment for students was equitable and appropriate.
AWARDS AND CELEBRATIONS
The Wichita Heights High School Color Guard presented the Kansas State Flag and the American Flag at the beginning of the meeting. This was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Awards and celebrations were then given out. The first presenter celebrated Wichita Heights junior Isabel Einwich, who became a 2-time gold medalist by winning the all-class wheelchair 400 race with a time of 1:22.89. Einwich also prevailed in the mixed wheelchair 1600 with a winning time of 5:37.03.
Rachel Bell, District Chief Communications Officer, then highlighted the accomplishments of five employees. Among them were Dr. Steve Noble-Key who has been named USD 259’s new Chief Operations Officer. Alicia Allen, marketing coordinator, and Litona Hoyt, USD clerk, were selected to participate in the Wichita Business Journal’s Emerging Leaders Program. Fabian Armendariz, director of operations, completed the BOLD (Business, Operations, Leadership Development) program through the Kansas Association of School Boards. Finally, Dr. Lauren Hatfield, assistant superintendent, participated in District Administrators Leadership Academy | United School Administrators of Kansas program.
In other news, the Native Women's Collective is hosting a three-day camp for Native Youth in grades 6 to 12 on July 10 to 12 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It will take place at the Mid-American All-Indian Museum. More information can be found at nativewomenscollectiveICT@gmail.com and board members were invited to attend and support.
LITERACY AND ENGLISH FOR SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES (ESOL)
At one point in the meeting, David Hawkins, Rotary Club member and Wichita State University (WSU) Adjunct Professor, shared with the public and board the benefits of the Reading is Fundamental-Rotary Club of Wichita. Hawkins noted how the club promoted reading literacy by reading to students and allowing students to select a book during their book fair visit. Having books at home promotes reading so the club also assists students with building their home library as some students do not own books at home. So far, 20 Title I schools have partnered with the rotary club, and 17,000 books have been distributed to 8,600 students. Hawkins shared that future plans include visiting classrooms more than twice a year, creating a program similar to United Way's Read to Succeed, and collaborating with Project Teacher for funds and resources.
Such programs are useful and build upon USD 259’s ESOL programming. As Holly Ingram––Secondary Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction––and Kristina Bowyer––ESOL director––reported, there is a 1992 Supreme Court decision mandating schools serve all students despite citizenship status or language spoken. There are 116 languages spoken in the district’s students’ homes and 21 percent of WPS students are ESOL. To accommodate such students, the school district is promoting shared instructional models and implementing a “newcomer” program that supports students between 2nd and 12th grade who have limited English proficiency. The district plans on adding 20 ESOL professionals, including 11 newcomer teachers and paraprofessionals. Through this program, students can attend their neighborhood schools and do not have to attend a specific ESOL school. They will share large class sizes to meet ESOL needs and be exempt during the KELPA Assessments | Kansas Assessment Program.
BOND AND FINANCIAL OVERVIEW
A majority of the BOE meeting was devoted to discussing the budget. More than $6.3 million in federal funds has been paused for Wichita students. Furthermore, because property valuations in Sedgwick County are up 8.7 percent, state aid from the Kansas Department of Education has decreased. Other financial burdens include the fact that repairs for East and North High Schools are averaging around $65 million in structural repairs. However, the silver lining is that reserve funds can be used to offset some of these deficits. Addi Lowell, Chief Financial Officer of WPS, reiterated the need to have cash on hand and not to not deplete funds for all needs. There is no intention that shared essential programming or staff need to be cut.
Lowell also provided recommendations on how to tackle the budget for the upcoming cycle. The Financial Oversight Committee (FOC) has recommended developing an unrestricted reserves policy and transferring approximately $17.4 million to the capital outlay fund to help support facilities needs.
There is also an option to have a bond vote in November 2025 or March 2026. However, Lindsay Poe Rousseau, Vice Chair of the FOC, cautioned against this move. As part of her duties on the committee, Rousseau went out into the community to ask residents why they did not support the most recent bond initiative in early March. The community, although enthusiastic about funding public schools, is generally suspicious. They feel there has not been a proper relationship established between USD 259 and the citizens and more trust building and two-way communication needs to occur before another bond gets put on the table. Members of the public spoke at the meeting as well, echoing this claim. At the very least, Rousseau reports that residents are interested in having bonds broken into smaller chunks. However, if a bond issue is set for within the next year, Rousseau relayed that residents were sure it would fail.
Summary
Summarize the 3 most important outcomes or takeaways from your notes....
- Outside of doing personal research, I wish there was more information on the bonds and its effects on property taxes. An example was given for property taxes but more depth is needed to fully understand how this bond is and will impact funding.
- I am confused about the ESOL portion. Yes, it was informative and perhaps another conversation took place but I did not understand why the presentation was needed. I wonder if the presentation emphasized the importance of ESOL but it was not explicitly expressed during the presentation.
- I also believe the format of the BOE should be revised. For instance, Financial Oversight Committee portion should have went first and then presentations. It felt the meeting wanted to start with good news and highlights. However, the “meat and potatoes” is the budget. It may have more of an impact to have good news and highlights at the end. While also giving the public opportunity to respond the budget in real time instead of a later date. I presumed many of the presenters address to the board would have been more soothing and correlated.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at dhaslam@kansasleadershipcenter.org with "Correction Request" in the subject line.