USD 379 Citizen Review Committee Will No Longer Consider Wakefield Consolidation

Clay Co., Kan. —Back in January, the Board of Education for USD 379 heard from a private consultant who made 10 recommendations about a long-range plan for the district.
Since then, they topic has become controversial due to one of the recommendations involving the possibility of closing Wakefield schools.

Clay County Residents await the start of the USD 379 Board of Education Meeting

A citizen review committee was created and is now set to consider the recommendations made however, now they will not consider the consolidation of the Wakefield schools after the most recent board meeting yesterday.
Part of the reason for removing the recommendation was explained by Board Member Linda Sleichter.

During the conversation, another board member, Debbie Brown, said the list is just a guideline and the committee can expand on the recommendations.

The board members voted unanimously at the end of the debate to remove the recommendation from the committee’s consideration.
The board however, will make the final decision on which recommendations are pursued, including the consolidation of Wakefield, and the committee will only make recommendations on what they believe should be prioritized.
Jonathan Lang covers state and local news for KFRM and KCLY. You can follow the KCLY or KFRM Facebook page for more stories.
KFRM covers news from across the state of Kansas, the Northern part of Oklahoma, and Southern part of Nebraska.
KCLY coverage area includes the nine counties of Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Marshall, Ottawa, Riley, Republic, and Washington.
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