ShawneeDispatch.com

To the Editor:

Patrons of the De Soto School District,

The De Soto School board needs your help. The seven current members and three new members of the board have begun discussing the upcoming bond.

The list includes an expansion at Starside Elementary to provide space for the extra programs needed to serve their English Language Learners and disabled student populations, expanding Mill Valley High School to 1,250-1,300 students to keep the current boundaries intact, adding on to the gym and weight room at De Soto High School to allow for expanded classroom time as well as additional practice facilities for school sports programs, an Early Childhood facility at Horizon Elementary in Shawnee to serve pre-school students with disabilities and the Parents as Teachers Program, additional kindergarten rooms at Clear Creek, Riverview and Starside to prepare for all-day classes, additional classroom space at Clear Creek, Riverview and Mize, and an expansion of the Monticello Trails Middle School band room.

There are some members who believe you will not support the above list. Alternative suggestions like continuing to send Shawnee 3-4 year olds to Countryside Learning Center are being discussed. In order for that to work classes would need to be larger than they are today. Also under discussion is moving Starside fifth-graders to Lexington Trails Middle School and not expanding DHS because it will only be used as a high school until another larger one is built at 83rd and Mize in Lenexa. At that time it would be converted to a middle school and LTMS would become an elementary school to serve De Soto students.

I would like to hear from you before the board meeting on April 26. Please email me at sthierer@usd232.org or attend the April 26 board meeting at 6 p.m. in De Soto.

Sandra Thierer

Board Member