Rural school district's creation began 50 years ago with talk of change

Older people hate change, George Snow says.

So when school consolidation swept Kansas in the 1960s, many area residents opposed forming a single school that would serve the children in the southeast portion of Franklin County.

“As you get older, you hate change,” Snow said. “There was a group of people that were strictly against the consolidation.”

And he would know.

Snow, of Lane, was an original member of the USD 288 Central Heights School Board, serving two terms.

Although the schools of Richmond, Rantoul, Princeton and Lane didn’t become Joint District 10 until the early 1960s — and later Central Heights in 1965 during unification of schools in Kansas — talks of consolidation began years earlier, about 50 years ago.

‘Difficult time’

“We had meeting after meeting,” he said. “Sometimes, they’d last until 1 or 2 in the morning, and I remember having to get up and go to work the next day.”

But it took that many meetings for the board to make decisions, like where a consolidated school would be located.

“We finally got through it after week after week after week of meetings,” Snow said.

Pending litigation against the district relating to the consolidation slowed the process, he said.

“It was a really difficult time,” he said. “We couldn’t sell the bonds if there was anything in court filed against the district.”

Eventually, the district was able to move forward.

“I remember we sold the bonds when we were clear one night a minute after midnight,” Snow said.

‘Make an X’

“There was one gentleman in particular who said he wasn’t against the four schools going together but was against a school being in the country,” he said.

The school’s location, 3521 Ellis Road, is a central point between the four towns, Ardyce Wilson says.

“If you make an 'X' connecting the four towns, the center is just about where the school is located,” she said.

Wilson, of Princeton, also was an original member of the Central Heights School Board.

For the most part, she said the choice of the school’s location was a good one. She said one drawback might affect children in after-school programs.

“If they stay after school for basketball or football or other activities, they may not be old enough to drive,” she said. “Someone may have to come get them because they can’t walk home.”

‘Central Heights kids’

“For a while, the Rantoul fans sat here, the Richmond fans sat here and so on,” Wilson said of early sporting events. “After two years or so, everyone was together.”

Snow said he wasn’t surprised by how the students and families were divided at the start of the unified school.

“Friends sat with friends,” he said. “People in the same district kind of hung together. Rantoul kids were still Rantoul kids. Lane kids were still Lane kids.”

He said it didn’t take long for some of the division to go away.

“I wouldn’t say it was still four schools, but it was probably still divided in four little communities,” Snow said. “Eventually, they began to realize they were Central Heights kids, but it was more or less divided for a while.”

The students were in charge of picking the school’s name, colors — Columbia blue and gold — and mascot — the Vikings.

“I really think they were pretty excited about that,” Snow said.

‘Full of hay’

“They said it would end up as a hay barn,” she said.

Snow also hasn’t forgotten the discussions going on at that time.

“We’d hear all kinds of comments,” he said. “People would say in three or five years it would be full of hay.”

But Snow said he still supports the consolidation of the four schools.

“There are people who still are against the school,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were some people who think the school is no good.”

But as the school’s 50th anniversary approaches in the next decade, Snow disagrees.

“I think the school is doing really well,” he said.

Jenalea Myers can be e-mailed at jmyers@ottawaherald.com.