Two New Schools Should Not Leave Wichita With Two Unfinished Parks

Key Takeaways

• USD 259 is considering land exchanges involving McLean Elementary and Columbine Park, as well as Adams Elementary and Claude Lambe Park.

• The district would build new schools on existing city parkland and later transfer the old school properties to Wichita.

• Those properties would initially be former institutional sites—not completed replacement parks.

• USD 259 should contribute substantially to demolition, site preparation, landscaping and recreational improvements at both replacement sites.

Why It Matters

Wichita Public Schools wants to rebuild McLean and Adams elementary schools on neighboring city parkland.

McLean would be rebuilt on part of Columbine Park. Adams would be rebuilt on part of Claude Lambe Park. After the new schools opened, the existing school properties would be transferred to Wichita for use as replacement parkland.

The exchanges would allow USD 259 to construct each new building while students continue attending the existing school. The district would also gain larger and more functional campuses.

Those are substantial benefits for USD 259. The cost to Wichita, however, cannot be measured solely by comparing acreage.

Columbine and Claude Lambe are functioning neighborhood parks. They contain established trees, shade, recreational facilities and landscapes that residents can use today. The former school properties would arrive with buildings, pavement, utilities, compacted soil and other remnants of institutional use.

Wichita would therefore be surrendering two developed parks in exchange for two future park-development sites.

The distinction matters. Removing a school building does not create a park. The replacement properties would require demolition, grading, drainage work, soil restoration, trees, landscaping, paths and recreational amenities. Unless those improvements are funded in advance, Wichita taxpayers could inherit two expensive and unfinished obligations.

Tree canopy presents the most difficult problem. Columbine Park was acquired in 1954. Claude Lambe Park was donated to the city in 1993. Trees established over several decades cannot be meaningfully replaced by planting rows of saplings. Even with prompt planting and careful maintenance, it could take 20 to 30 years for the replacement sites to provide comparable shade and neighborhood character.

For families living near these parks, that represents a generation.

The Linwood Precedent

Wichita and USD 259 have completed a similar exchange before.

Following passage of the 2000 school bond, the district built a new Linwood Elementary on land in Linwood Park. The original school site on Pattie was later transferred to the city and became Goldenrod Park.

Linwood demonstrates that a school-and-park exchange can work. It also demonstrates that the transaction extends beyond drawing new property boundaries. A successful exchange requires the former school property to become an actual public park.

The Linwood experience should inform the current negotiations, but it should not substitute for enforceable commitments involving Columbine and Claude Lambe.

My Perspective

USD 259 should contribute substantially to redevelopment of both replacement parks.

The new schools would serve important public purposes, but so do the existing parks. Wichita should not surrender mature, usable green spaces and receive unimproved parcels requiring millions of dollars and decades of additional development.

Any agreement should include:

• A professional inventory of existing trees and recreational amenities.

• School designs that preserve as many mature trees as reasonably possible.

• District participation in demolition and environmental preparation of the old school sites.

• Substantial USD 259 funding for trees, landscaping, drainage, paths and recreational facilities.

• Replacement standards based on lost tree canopy and functional value, rather than merely the number of trees planted.

• Firm deadlines for completing both replacement parks.

• Legal protections keeping the former school properties in public recreational use.

These costs should be recognized as part of the school projects from the beginning. They should not be transferred quietly to the city after construction is complete.

Wichita is being asked to provide two established public assets so USD 259 can build two schools more efficiently. The district should help ensure that residents receive two fully developed parks in return.

Anything less would leave Wichita with two new schools, two diminished neighborhoods and two vacant parcels labeled as parks.

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