By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
All three of the Hays USD 489 bond options include the closure of Westside school and moving that program to Wilson Elementary School.
The Westside program is in cooperation with High Plains Mental Health and assists children with mental health needs that can't be addressed in their home schools.
The school was built as part of the high school that is now Rockwell Administration Center. Even if the district would pass a bond, the earliest ground would be broken would be is 2023.
Members of the Hays school board toured the school with Lindy McDaniel, assistant director of special education.
The program can accommodate up to 40 students. Students from the full special education co-op can qualify for the program. That includes children from Hays, Ellis, Victoria and La Crosse public schools, as well as local private schools.
The program is currently serving 28 students.
McDaniel pointed out some improvements that have been made in the last couple of years and many limitations that remain.
Westside programs are not accessible to students with physical disabilities. Students must climb two flights of stairs at Rockwell Administration Center to attend their mental health therapy sessions with High Plains because Westside doesn't have enough space.
The students also have to maneuver down stairs to access the Rockwell gym, which is used for their PE and recess in inclement weather.
Westside has a handicap ramp to the first floor. It's at the back of the building and is quite long.
The only access to the second floor, the location of the middle school and high school classrooms, is via a steep set of stairs.
The elementary classroom on the first floor is small for the number of students being served, but state law prohibits young elementary children from attending classes on the second floor of a building.
The Westside program has a very small playground. It has received a grant from the Heartland Community Foundation to add a swing set and picnic area for outdoor learning. Those are on back order due to supply chain issues.
The elementary and middle school students in the program go to O'Loughlin Elementary School for lunch, and the high school students go to Hays High School for lunch.
That's at least 3,600 instructional minutes lost each year just in the commute to the other schools for lunch, McDaniel said.
Seventy-one percent of the students in the program also go to their home school for some portion of their day, which means more transition time and instruction time lost.
"One of our kindergarten elementary kids starts his day at Westside, goes to one of the elementary buildings, but that's not where this group of elementary kids eats lunch, so then he goes to another elementary to eat lunch. These are the kids with the most severe needs," McDaniel said.
Ideally, there would be a Westside program at each of the grade levels, elementary, middle and high, McDaniel said.
Westside serves students kindergarten through 12th grade. All of the students meet in the same room for breakfast in the morning. McDaniel said she had a concern about young children being mixed with high school students.
A secure entrance is in the works for Westside school. It's the last building in the district to receive a secure entrance. COVID has further delayed work on the project, Superintendent Ron Wilson said.
McDaniel said the school recently faced a potential security threat. School officials realized the school had no outside cameras to see who they might be buzzing into the school.
The school also doesn't have an intercom system or the background check system that the others schools have.
The board has approved replacing windows at Westside. The new windows should be in place by the end of the school year.
The current single-pane windows are likely original to the building. They are not insulated and are not conducive to security either, McDaniel said. One teacher also said the windows to do not seal completely, so water and dust both blow into the building.
There are only two bathrooms in the building. They are both one-stall bathrooms — one for boys and one for girls. There is no staff bathroom in the facility.
When Washington school closed, Westside repurposed some of the lockers for the middle school and high school students. Even though Westside has been a program for more than 30 years, it did not have its own library. That was added, in part thanks to donations from the Hays Public Library, in 2021.
All of the students have been assigned a laptop or Chromebook from their home school, but not all of the devices are working.
"Because these kids have this school and their home school, we have to be very diligent about getting them the things that they need," McDaniel said. "We were definitely the last school to get our access to our computers this year."
Despite the challenges the school faces, the staff remains dedicated. Carla Emerson has taught for 14 years at Westside in the middle school classroom.
"I can't seem to leave this place," Emerson said. "These are great kids. They just need a little bit of a boost."
The district bond committee is set to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday via Zoom. The link is https://dlrgroup.zoom.us/j/2112122300. Members will be considering bond plans to send to the school board.
The board could hear a recommendation from the committee as soon as Monday at its regular meeting a 6:30 p.m. also at Rockwell Administration Center.