WICHITA, Kansas — Not long after Payne Elementary School opened near the corner of Harry and Meridian in west Wichita, it had more than 650 students.
In the late 1950s, crews brought in a dozen portable classrooms to handle the overcrowding.
This year, Payne Elementary is Wichita’s smallest school, with 231 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. And after this week, Payne and five other Wichita schools will sit empty for good — victims of declining enrollment, deferred maintenance, and a trend away from small neighborhood schools.
“We were all heartbroken,” said Tracie Hahn, who works at Globe Engineering, an aircraft component manufacturing company just down the street from Payne Elementary.
The business has partnered with Payne for more than 30 years. Employees buy school supplies, raise money for holiday gifts and manage the school’s field day each spring.
“We enjoy hearing the kids play at recess time and seeing their smiling little faces and knowing that if they need something, we’re just a couple blocks away,” Hahn said. “Our second thought was: 'What do we do now?' ”
In March, the Wichita school board voted to close four elementary schools and two middle schools to help fill a $42 million budget shortfall. Hadley and Jardine middle schools will close, along with Clark, Cleveland, Park and Payne elementaries.
Board president Stan Reeser said at the time that closing schools was the only way to avoid massive layoffs or program cuts.
“Rarely does it come before us where we are asked to make a decision to create hurt first, with the promise of helping our students, staff and community in the near future,” Reeser said. “If we’re not able to make this decision now, then we will see everything that we’ve worked for start to feel the stress.”
District leaders said enrollment losses, staffing challenges and more than $1.2 billion in deferred repairs and upgrades across the district made closing some schools the smart choice. This summer, board members will consider a long-range facilities master plan that could call for closing or consolidating more.
Wichita isn’t the only community facing that challenge. Lawrence has closed some schools. Some rural Kansas districts, including the Central Plains district near Great Bend, have also closed school buildings, citing declining enrollment and rising costs.
Russell Miller was principal at Payne Elementary in the 1990s, when Wichita also closed some of its older, smaller schools. He said this year’s vote brought back lots of memories and emotions.
“Just sadness for this staff and the community,” Miller said. “I just remember the heartache that went with those closures, and I just knew that it would be a tough battle for principals to lead their staffs and their communities through this process.”
Payne Principal Tina Young said the past few months have been an emotional roller coaster, ever since district leaders announced that they planned to close the school.
Leading up to the last day of school Thursday, Young gave out bright gold T-shirts to students, staff and alumni who visited the school. The shirts feature the phrase, “Forever stepping to success,” and a smiling cartoon panther, Payne’s mascot.
“I would say bittersweet,” Young said of her emotions as the school year wrapped up. “It’s more like happy tears. I think we’ve gone past the denial part, and we’re in the acceptance part. And it’s really about cherishing the moments and celebrating the time in the present.”
D’Aisha Gray, a fourth-grader, smiled as she talked about her experience at Payne. After the school closes, its students will be assigned to Lawrence, Stanley or Woodman Elementary, depending on their address. But D’Aisha said she doesn’t know where she’s going yet.
“There’s nice teachers here. We have a nice principal,” she said.
Young, the principal, spent the past several days visiting classrooms and reading the Dr. Seuss book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” She said she’s focusing on important lessons the kids can take with them.
This fall, Young will move to a new position as principal of McLean Science and Technology Magnet Elementary School.
“Being respectful, being responsible, being honest and trying your best,” Young said of her message to students. “No matter where you’re going, we’re going to plant our Payne seeds where we go and then just bring that positive learning mindset to wherever we land.”
Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.
The Kansas News Service is a collaboration of KMUW, KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and High Plains Public Radio focused on health, the social determinants of health and their connection to public policy.
Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished by news media at no cost with proper attribution and a link to ksnewsservice.org.
