Pleasant Valley Elementary opened in 1881. Here’s why Wichita district plans to close it

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.

Pleasant Valley Elementary School opened in 1881 about a mile north of its current location at 29th and Athenian as a small, one-teacher school.

The original building was torn down and rebuilt in the 1920s. As Wichita’s population grew in the post-World War II aviation boom, so did the need for larger schools. The Pleasant Valley School District issued bonds in 1948, 1950 and 1951 to build the Pleasant Valley Elementary School that stands today.

As it was being built, The Wichita Eagle described it as a “buff brick structure, termed one of the best rural schools in the state.”

Houses, many purchased with GI bills, and a junior high school popped up around the new grade school, turning the rural school district into a suburban neighborhood. In the 1950s, the suburban Pleasant Valley community fought against being annexed by the city of Wichita. By 1964, the neighborhood and the school district had been annexed into the city.

Today, Pleasant Valley is considered a mature neighborhood on the city’s north side.

When the district developed its master plan last year, Pleasant Valley’s enrollment had dropped to 275 — 47 fewer students than it had at the turn of the century.

Enrollment at Pleasant Valley increased to 307 students this year, after the district closed four elementary schools — Clark, Cleaveland, Park and Payne — but district officials have said even that enrollment number is unsustainable when it comes to the expenses of paying for teachers, staff and programs at the school in the long term.

The target enrollment for pre-kindergarten to 5th grade is “a little over 600,” according to the master plan.

Two elementary schools, as of the 2023-2024 school year, had 600 or more students: Isely Traditional Magnet (626) — which would be converted to a K-8 school if the bond issue passes — and Minneha Core Knowledge Magnet (621). Four others had more than 500 students.

Wichita Public Schools plans to close some of its lower-enrollment elementary schools and rebuild others to consolidate students and staff in fewer schools, which the district says will also result in long-term savings with fewer buildings to maintain.

The district had 54 elementary schools at the time of the study. It now has 50. That will drop to 46 if the district follows its facilities master plan.

Pleasant Valley at a glance

Address: 2000 W. 29th St. North

Size: 43,287 square feet of building space on a 20.23-acre campus that is shared with Pleasant Valley Middle School.

Built: 1952 with additions in 1997, 2004 and 2013.

Enrollment (2023-2024): 275, with 92.4% economically disadvantaged, 44.7% English Language Learners (students who are not fluent in English language) and 18.9% students with disabilities.

Racial demographics: 69.8% Hispanic, 16% white, 8% African American, 6.2% American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian or multiracial.

Why was Pleasant Valley Elementary chosen for closure?

Consultants targeted Pleasant Valley — along with three other elementary schools — for closure based on enrollment trends and its proximity to newer schools or schools it plans to rebuild with the bond issue.

Wichita Public Schools is moving to a “newer and fewer” buildings approach to education, putting smaller neighborhood schools such as Pleasant Valley with smaller enrollment numbers in jeopardy.

A 2024 feasibility study found Pleasant Valley Elementary had an FCI of 0.8 — meaning the cost to maintain the building over the next five years was estimated at 80% of the cost to rebuild it with a new building of the same size — and an enrollment of 275 students, which was under the 350-student threshold the consultants chose as a standard. The building had a utilization rate of 62%.

Pleasant Valley was expanded in 1997 without a bond issue and then further expanded through a 2000 bond issue that upgraded and replaced infrastructure, and added four new classrooms and student support space.

It was expanded again after the 2008 bond issue that added a new multipurpose room designed as a FEMA shelter. The 2008 bond also paid to upgrade HVAC, install a controlled-access entry, renovate two classrooms and student support areas, and upgrade ceilings in existing classrooms. The district was unable to provide a detailed cost breakdown for how much money went to Pleasant Valley in the 2000 and 2008 bond issues. Kansas Department of Education records show the district received more than $1.9 million in the 2008 bond issue.

Where would students go?

Students from Pleasant Valley would be reassigned to Cloud, Earhart, McLean and Ortiz elementary schools, according to the facilities master plan approved by the Wichita school board in 2024.

The school district plans to rebuild McLean if the 2025 bond issue passes. Earhart and Ortiz were built using money from the 2008 bond issue. Earhart was completed in 2009 and Ortiz was built in 2011.

Most of Cloud was built in 1964, with small additions in 2005 and 2010.

When would Pleasant Valley Elementary be closed?

Pleasant Valley could be closed by 2028, according to a timeline in the district’s master plan that’s guiding the bond issue.

The closure is expected to coincide with the completion of a tear-down and rebuild of McLean, which is scheduled for 2028.

What happens if bond issue is not approved?

Luke Newman, facilities director of Wichita Public Schools, indicated that the district plans to close Pleasant Valley Elementary School — and three other elementary schools — whether the bond passes or not.

“The master plan is the master plan, and we have to move forward with it, with or without a bond,” Newman said. “And so what will happen is we’ll still need to move forward with the building retirements, but we would just have to do it without the rebuilds on the other side of it.”

This story was originally published February 15, 2025 at 2:33 AM.