Wichita superintendent’s tenure marked by budget issues, bond

John Allison’s tenure in Wichita is ending much as it began – with the superintendent, on the heels of a court decision, urging state lawmakers to get serious about school finance.

“If there’s a theme, that’s pretty much it: funding, budget, cuts,” says Allison, 53, who will leave the district next month to become superintendent of schools in Olathe.

“I’d been here barely four months, and we were doing midyear cuts. And that’s been every year, ongoing.”

Allison was hired in 2009 to replace former superintendent Winston Brooks. Voters had recently approved a $370 million bond issue to build and repair schools, but an economic crisis that began in 2008 spawned budget hardships that came to define Allison’s years in Wichita.

“Everybody stayed focused on students, trying to make the decisions that we had to make, but none of them were good,” he said. “It was, ‘What’s the lesser of the evils?’ And you always wonder: Were those the right choices?”

As Allison prepares to bid farewell to the Wichita district, here are seven issues that defined his tenure.

Bond issue

Allison will depart just as the final project of the 2008 bond issue is completed. The $370 million bond financed nine new schools – including two high schools – new classrooms, auditoriums, gymnasiums and dozens of tornado safe rooms.

In early 2011, district leaders voted to put bond projects on hold while they struggled with projected losses of more than $63 million in state funding targeted to the bond issue and millions more in federal funding for storm shelters. Several projects were scaled back or scrapped altogether.

“With the team that we had, and the board, we definitely made progress even in spite of all the financial issues,” Allison says. “It’s one of those things, when you’re neck-deep in it at the time, you wonder.”

Early literacy

Shortly after taking over the top district post, Allison pledged a renewed emphasis on reading instruction, citing research that showed that students who can’t read by third grade are at greater risk of dropping out of school.

“Literacy is our No. 1 job, and it all starts in those early primary grades,” he said in 2011. “This is one of those investments we can’t afford not to make.”

Board members approved millions for Read Well, a new kindergarten reading curriculum. At the same time, officials mandated a renewed focus on decoding – the practice of breaking words into individual sounds – and third- through fifth-graders got 30 minutes of intensive phonics instruction each day.

“We had to tackle literacy. You can’t teach math or science or social studies if you can’t read and comprehend,” Allison says. “So that had to be a focus.”

Math instruction

Math instruction, too, evolved over Allison’s time in Wichita and will continue to change as the district rolls out a new $4 million math curriculum for middle school and high school students.

District officials say the new curriculum is more closely linked to what and how students are learning in elementary school. More difficult concepts, such as algebra, are introduced at earlier ages, and certain subjects receive a more in-depth look than in previous years.

Standardized systems

Allison helped to develop and execute the Multi-Tier System of Supports, a framework of teaching strategies and behavior management plans that is consistent throughout the district.

A lasting sign are the “CHAMPS” or “ACHIEVE” posters in most district classrooms and hallways – a hallmark of Randy Sprick’s Safe & Civil Schools program – which spell out teachers’ expectations for student voice levels, how they should ask for help, whether they should move among desks, and more.

“It should now be part of our (school) culture,” Allison said in 2013. “Just the way we do business.”

School closings

In March 2012, following months of debate and emotional testimony from parents and others, the Wichita school board – following Allison’s recommendation – voted unanimously to close five schools.

Allison said the closures, paired with new attendance boundaries, were necessary in order to open and operate five new schools built as part of the 2008 bond issue.

“Those are always tough decisions,” Allison said this week. “We were reducing programs, in the middle of a bond issue where the state reneged on their portion of equity payments. Federal FEMA (storm shelter) dollars dried up. … It was not a good place to be.”

Also closed during Allison’s tenure in Wichita were three alternative high schools – Metro-Midtown in 2010, Metro-Boulevard in 2012 and Metro-Meridian in 2016 – as well as Blackbear Bosin Alternative Middle School.

Teacher morale

Hundreds of Wichita teachers rallied outside North High School before a board meeting last fall, holding signs and shouting “Enough is enough” and “We want respect.”

That capped a union-organized “Contract Day,” during which teachers were urged to work only the hours required in their contract – no more, no less – to illustrate how much teachers do during their off-hours.

Teacher contract negotiations have become more challenging, meanwhile, as the district struggles with rising costs and tightening budgets.

“It is very unfortunate that that’s the state of affairs across the state of Kansas,” Allison said. “Just look at the lack of individuals wanting to become teachers. That’s going to become a true crisis three and four years out from now.”

Teacher workload and morale will be a “major focus” for incoming superintendent Alicia Thompson as she transitions into the top post, Allison said. “Unfortunately, a lot of the things that would improve morale we don’t have a lot of influence over.”

Security

Wichita schools ramped up security during Allison’s term, much of it in the wake of mass shootings like the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

In 2013, the district rolled out a $3 million school security upgrade that included new high-definition cameras, computers, keyless-entry doors, buzz-in entrances, a revamped dispatch center and more.

The school board closed a small library branch inside Colvin Elementary School, citing security concerns because patrons couldn’t be adequately monitored. It implemented the Hall Pass visitor management system, which checks visitors’ driver’s licenses against a nationwide database of sex offenders.

And Wichita teachers now receive training in the “Run, Hide, Fight” intruder response plan, a strategy supported by many law enforcement agencies.

This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Wichita superintendent’s tenure marked by budget issues, bond."