By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
ELLSWORTH COUNTY —Regardless of Tuesday's Primary Election vote in Ellsworth, Barton, and Rice counties, the students that made up the Wilson High School Class of 2024 were headed elsewhere.
The USD 112 Central Plains Board of Education voted to close the school at the close of the 2023 school year, and WHS supporters thought disorganization of the district was the only way to keep the school open. With that option decided by Tuesday's vote, Wilson High School Future Committee Member Michael Kratky said former WHS students now have the choice to leave the district's other option of Central Plains High School.
"It's too far away and the animosity that was created, they're not going there," he said. "Some are going to Ellsworth, some are going to Russell, and some are going to Sylvan, so they're split three ways. A single class in Wilson may be in three schools next year."
The Wilson High Alumni met in May and determined that former Wilson students who were set to graduate from the high school prior to its closing, will still be honored as WHS alumni.
"Most of the kids started in kindergarten here, if not preschool, " Kratky said. "The hardest thing is if they're a junior here, they won't graduate together and they won't graduate in the school they hoped to graduate from and they originally thought."
Unofficial results from Ellsworth County showed 67 percent of votes in USD 112 voted against disorganization, which would have put the district's fate into the hands of the state board of education. In Barton County, 643 patrons voted against disorganization compared to 17 patrons for.
"We probably would have been surprised if it had passed," said Kratky. "We had anticipation, but it doesn't change anything for the time being. We will continue to look at ways to leave the district."
The WHS future committee plans to continue looking for ways to keep the high school open, and members plan to continue advocating for small schools before the state legislature in Topeka.