COMMENTARY: Upgrading schools, a historical perspective

A longtime Hutchinson educator gives his overview
of how local residents have viewed school building proposals, and how those plans were approved

From William Scherer
Hutchinson

An open letter to the Hutchinson Board of Education:

There is an often repeated truism about the importance of history.

"Those who are ignorant of history are doomed to have it repeated," or words very close to that. After the failure of the third attempt to have the citizens of District 423 approve the building of a new high school, I am sorely afraid that this old adage does, indeed, directly apply to our board. If the board had studied (or if they now will) the history of school building bond issues during the past 60 years, they will discover one important inescapable fact, “The citizens of Hutchinson will pass a school building proposal only when it is clearly evident that the need is crucial and dire,” and I might add to that “and it might be a darn hard battle.”

At the ripe old age of 87 (and in possession of most of my faculties, although I might get an argument on that), I am one the few educators still around who remembers many of those hard-fought bond issue battles. So come with me down memory lane back to 1936 when the present Park Elementary building was being proposed as a new K through 12 school building. (I didn't arrive in Hutchinson until the fall of 1942 but the city was still abuzz with the fallout from that campaign.)

The battle for Park Elementary
The proposal was to demolish the very old Pendergast and north buildings, which were elementary buildings, and build a new building which would house the elementary, junior and senior high schools. The new building was to be attached to the old Merrill building whose rooms were to be used only as growth and expansion required. It was a hard, hard sell (and during the Great Depression) but the need was evident and with money available from the federal government in the form of WPA funds, the voters did approve the bonds. The building was completed in 1938, but feelings were still in such a state that the superintendent and the high school principal were both fired and at the next Board election two members were voted out of office.

Jump ahead with me now to the 1950s. With the coming of 3M to Hutchinson also came rapid and consistent city growth and this, naturally, put subsequent pressure on the school system. The elementary school was demanding more and more space which put increasing pressure on the junior/senior high. Class sizes had to be increased, the entire Merrill building was once again 100 percent in use, and the need for a new junior/senior high school was becoming evident. There were not enough classrooms so each teacher could have a room to call their own. Personally, I taught six classes a day in six different rooms which were vacated by teachers during their preparation hour. Frustrated, I asked then Superintedent Knutson, “When are we going to propose and vote on a new junior/senior high school?” His reply was one that the present Board of Education should take to heart, “We’ll submit that question to the voters when things become so bad they cannot turn it down.”

Battle for the present high school
The entire bond issue for the 1962 building was possibly the most bitter in school history. It was complicated by the desire of the Hutchinson Board to enlarge the tax base of the district by taxing farm lands outside district boundaries. At that time rural school districts could send their ninth graders to Hutchinson by simply paying a nominal amount for tuition. Their land could not be taxed to build a new high school, of course, because their land was not included in District 423. So an ultimatum was handed down to these country school districts: Join Hutchinson’s district or we will no longer accept your students!

Wow, did it ever hit the fan, as the old saying goes. The rural residents fought with each other bitterly pro and con, but in the end the handwriting was on the wall and most districts did join Hutchinson. This movement swept through the state in the ’50s and thus was the demise of the little red schoolhouse. Although we did get the right to tax their farms, even to this day resentment is still somewhat evident when it comes to asking for rural support for school improvements. The bond issue for the 1962 building passed on the first vote and Hutchinson had a brand new junior/senior high school.

The battle for the middle school
Let’s take another leap forward to the late 1980s. With continued city growth, it soon became apparent that the “new” high school could no longer house both the junior high and the high school. The board determined that a middle school housing grades six though eight was the way to solve the problem and a bond issue went before the public only to be turned down because of the “outrageous cost.”

After pruning the cost considerably, a second attempt was made, only to suffer the same fate — too costly. The third attempt to pass the bond issue cut the cost and size of the proposed building to the bare minimum. It finally passed after waging an all-out campaign by its supporters. The building was completed in 1990 and the board immediately authorized an addition to be built and within another year or so another addition was added bringing the school size to what was originally proposed. They did this with no bond issue but used existing capital outlay funds that required no bond election. Clever!

The most recent attempt
So here we are in a new century and three attempts to build a high school have failed. Why? The answer is simple — because convincing evidence has not been presented to the citizens that the present building is in a crucial and dire condition. It is simply not possible to convince the voters of District 423 that infrastructure problems such as heating, plumbing and electrical systems meet the category of crucial and dire. Many citizens over the past few years have questioned the board as to why these needed repairs and replacements weren't handled as they became evident. These expenditures could have been made using capital outlay funds requiring no bond issue or vote of the public.

For example, literally millions of dollars have been poured into Park Elementary when it was necessary to convert every nook and cranny of that building into classroom space and update its infrastructure. Never once was the public asked to approve a bond issue for these expenditures until 1956 when the much maligned north wing was added.

Now the board is asking itself, “Where do we go from here? What should our next steps be?” From the humble perspective of 40 years as a teacher and vocational administrator, and as an active and concerned citizen of the Hutchinson district for 66 years, I would like to pass along some words of wisdom that Harold Popp, our state senator back a few years ago observed about the political process, “We can accomplish anything in politics if we just do it in small steps.”

This strategy has worked well in Hutchinson in the past so I would like to suggest the following:

1) Forget another attempt to build a new high school in the near future. Instead concentrate on securing capital outlay funds for the repairs and upkeep of that building.

2) It just might be possible to get a bond issue passed to demolish the 1956 wing of Park Elementary and build the new wing onto West Elementary. Perhaps with a great promotional campaign and clear evidence of need, it might even be possible to combine one and two.

Having taught nearly two generations of Hutchinson's youth (and having enjoyed every minute of it), I watched our students mature and become good solid citizens of Hutchinson who, like all hard-working people, watch their dollars very closely.

When will the board be able to convince them that a new high school should be built? My best guess is, “When they see temporary classroom buildings dotting the lawn of the old high school.”