Long-range plan lands amid heated debate
By Marcus Clem
Contributors to a key St. Joseph School District panel often talked over each other and struggled for common ground Wednesday as a presentation on the district’s future arrived from Superintendent Gabe Edgar.
The plan, which in part envisions St. Joseph becoming by the year 2030 a two-high-school town — with both schools being of new construction — comes after the Board of Education did not develop a permanent school boundaries plan over the winter. Instead, they turned to Edgar and his superintendent’s cabinet to pilot the way forward, and the 2024-29 Long-Range Plan he presented to the committee at the Troester Media Center prompted abundant commentary.
“I think that there’s a lot of work that still needs to be done,” said Kristie Arthur, St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce director of workforce development. “But, as a part of the Chamber of Commerce, we do see everyday folks that are coming into our community that are concerned about the way some of our facilities look; I do believe that we lose people to the Kansas City region or surrounding areas because of our facilities.”
On one side, leading individuals in local business, such as Kevin Kelly and Arthur, along with former Vision Forward co-chairman Bob Miller, advocated for broad changes to district buildings. If every step of Edgar’s plan is realized, all three current high schools — Central, Benton and Lafayette — will be transferred away from their current purpose in some manner. On the other side, school board candidate Kim Dragoo, fellow candidate Warren Ingram III and several members of the public pushed back on the Long-Range Plan.
Kenetha Weidmaier, a retired teacher who is a longtime contributor to the facilities committee, said having watched the debate, she is of two minds on the high school question. One plank in the Long-Range Plan greatly concerns her, she said: the idea of re-inserting sixth graders into the middle school environment across the board. Weidmaier fears, they will not be ready, she said.
“That doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “That is my biggest concern with it, the whole plan. I know many people are straight, ‘We have to keep our old schools no matter what.’ And, I’m somewhere in the middle on that. I do think we have talked about this forever, and perhaps we should go ahead and put it to the voters, and see what happens. Or … you could still have a three-school option in this new plan, do something with the three schools to improve them as they are.”
Other contributors included Kelly Bristol, president of the St. Joseph arm of the Missouri State Teachers Association, who is a school counselor and social worker in her day-to-day duties; Lynnea Wootten, president of the St. Joseph Missouri National Education Association, also Central High School director of bands; and board members Kenneth Reeder, Rick Gehring and Whitney Lanning. Board President LaTonya Williams appeared to focus on trying to keep order.
Gehring said that there are obviously more problems to solve than just building new structures. However, the appeal to him of being able to do this is undeniable, and he trusts the plan as presented. He co-chairs the committee, alongside Edgar, and colleague David Foster.
“You know, everybody likes new cars,” Gehring said. “We get excited when we see new restaurants or a new house. But, for some reason, when you talk about a new school for our high school kids, we don’t have quite the same excitement.”
