My husband and I have lived in this community since 1985. We chose to make USD 308 our school district of choice many years ago. Our three sons attended Hutch schools, and two of them have boomeranged back to Hutchinson, which I love to see from our HHS graduates.
It was exciting to be a part of the bond campaign that brought us the new and improved Gowans Stadium in 2004. That project has allowed us to hold local, state, and national track and football events in Hutchinson, among other activities that highlight our community in such a positive way.
I also worked with Dr. Winn and Darla Neal in 2006 to pass a much-needed bond campaign that touched every school building in our district with updating facilities, addressing safety concerns, modernizing our aging buildings and building a new state-of-the-art Career and Technical Education Academy, which serves not only Hutchinson Public School students and staff but kids from all over Reno County. This project cost $78.8 million almost 10 years ago and has added such value to USD 308, and the Hutchinson/Reno County communities.
Now, almost 20 years later and after working for three years with the District’s Facilities Committee, I am once again very enthusiastic about what the next steps can be for our school district and community. The Vote YES For Hutch Kids 2025 Bond Campaign will add more renovations to our Eelementary schools, move our preschoolers to their own site for the optimal early childhood education experience and finally address a need that we have felt for a long time—bringing our sixth to eighth graders together, in one building, for a top-notch middle school educational environment. These decisions were not made lightly—much time, discussion and energy went into the process that led us to this bond initiative proposal. The Facility Committee was made up of teachers, administrators, parents, and patrons of our school district. When you hear “building community for stronger futures,” it is an important statement and means what it says. The passage of this bond can help strengthen our early learning opportunities for families/students, create a better middle school experience, make our elementary schools safe and functional and overall allow our school district to offer efficient, right-sized facilities to lower operating costs and protect taxpayers’ investment.
Go to https://www.voteyeshutch.com/ to get all the information you need to make an informed vote on Nov. 4.
Starla Wells, Hutchinson