Lack of classrooms, inaccessible building: Why Wichita seeks to rebuild Adams Elementary
Editor’s note: Before voters decide on a $450 million school bond issue on Feb. 25, The Eagle is profiling many of the schools affected. Read more profiles and find continuing coverage of the bond issue election here.
Staff at Adams Elementary often only has five minutes to convert the gym into a cafeteria, adding 17 tables in between P.E. and when the first students walk in for lunch.
That’s because the school uses the gym as a cafeteria — one of the issues the principal is hoping could be fixed in the future.
Adams, 1002 N. Oliver, was built in 1947, according to the school district’s website. It opened with 13 classrooms and 15 rooms in total.
The building has had additions since then and is now 54,862 square feet with 23 classrooms to house 447 students.
What’s it like inside current Adams Elementary?
Even with a 2014 addition, the school needs more room, Principal Stacy Burke said.
“Space is tight,” Burke said during a recent tour of the elementary school.
Adams’ music class is on a cart, which means that it moves between classrooms and doesn’t have a permanent room.
In addition, Burke said, the foundation in the boiler room has issues that cause heavy leaks every time it rains. The HVAC system requires maintenance often, leaving classroom temperatures in the 60s.
One of the buildings’ main problems, she said, is the lack of ADA compliance.
The older part of the building has two floors. The second floor houses most fifth grade classrooms, and the only way to get to that floor is by taking the stairs. But one teacher uses a scooter, so they’ve had to keep one fifth grade classroom separate.
“It’s like this big honor when you get to be fifth grade, that you get to come up, you get your own floor,” Burke said about the building’s accessibility issues. “So that was kind of an adjustment for some of our kids that didn’t get to come up.”
Most entrances to the school have stairs. Only one staff entrance is wheelchair accessible.
The district is estimating the new school would be completed by fall 2028 and cost $32.9 million. Adams Elementary got $625,932 from the 2008 bond issue to add two general classrooms and a resource room and update the reception area.
What one Adams parent has to say
Parent Nicole Landry has three children enrolled in Adams – one in fifth grade, one in third grade and her youngest in kindergarten.
She said she would like to see basic needs addressed in a new building.
“Today my third grader was saying how cold she gets in the classroom. [They’re] basic needs that all these students need and that the teachers need,” Landry said. “If their students are upset, then it makes the day harder for the teachers, and the teachers are doing the best that they can with what they have.”
Landry also mentioned wanting the school to have upgraded technology for teachers, like newer computers in classrooms.
Other schools that would be torn down and rebuilt: Black, Caldwell, Irving and McLean elementaries and Coleman and Truesdell middle schools.
In addition to rebuilding schools, the district would convert two elementary schools to K-8 schools, consolidate alternative schools and close four elementary schools and two administration centers. It would build new outdoor athletic fields at Northeast Magnet High School, a new Future Ready Center for Trades at East High school and a new early childhood education center.
This story was originally published February 7, 2025 at 1:05 PM.
CORRECTION: Adams received $625,932 from the 2008 bond. An earlier version of this story had an incorrect dollar amount.
