Payne Elementary named for ‘kind of infamous’ man but also known for being tight-knit

David L. Payne Elementary School

Address: 1601 S. Edwards, near Harry and Meridian

Enrollment: 262 — 36% Hispanic, 33% white, 18% Black, 11% multiracial, 2% other races

Opened: 1954

The Wichita school district describes David L. Payne as a former member of the Kansas Legislature and a well-known figure who helped open the Oklahoma Territory. He’s sometimes referred to as the father of Oklahoma.

However, his organization of what became known as the Boomer Movement and his repeated attempts to settle the territory weren’t universally lauded — by American Indians or others.

“I just know he was kind of infamous,” said former Payne Elementary School principal Donna Simpson. “I remembered being really shocked when I read about David Payne.”

Simpson was Payne principal from 2007 to 2017 and was principal at Clark Elementary School — another school slated for possible closure — for five years before that.

Payne holds a special place for Simpson.

“Payne was my favorite school because of how close we were as a staff,” she said.

Thanks to that, Simpson said the teachers truly made an impact on the school, which had been in need.

“We totally reversed the trajectory of our student test scores, and it was because of how the staff worked together.”

At one time, Payne had been using a model similar to an Edison School, a national system that experimented with longer school days and longer school years. That was over by the time Simpson arrived.

Payne is a small school in an industrial area that Simpson called “just a great neighborhood school.”

“The families that we had there . . . kind of tended to stay there,” she said. “We just saw the same kids all the way through. . . . Most of the teachers knew all of the kids.”

As a former school administrator who had to make tough decisions herself, Simpson said she knows what school board members are going through.

“They’re between a rock and a hard spot,” she said. “Sometimes you have to choose the best bad resolution.”

Simpson said the situation is like an administrator having to cut a position.

“You love the people, but you have to look at it in a different way. It’s hard. It’s so hard, and I don’t envy them having to do this.”

Still, she said, “It makes me sad.”

Information from USD 259’s “A History of Wichita Public School Buildings” contributed to this report.

This story was originally published March 4, 2024 at 4:04 AM with the headline "Payne Elementary named for ‘kind of infamous’ man but also known for being tight-knit."