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Dedication, open house Saturday at new Tonganoxie Elementary School

By Shawn Linenberger - | Jul 22, 2015

The community will get an up-close look at the new Tonganoxie Elementary School this weekend.

A dedication of the new TES will start at 10 a.m. at the school, 1180 East St.

There will be a scavenger hunt tour, maps for self-guided tours and refreshments at the school, which is southeast of Tonganoxie Middle School off Washington Street.

The open house will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the new school.

A Tonganoxie movie night will take place that evening. The movie, which the Tonganoxie Recreation Commission and American Legion Post 41 are sponsoring, is the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” The movie will begin at 9 p.m.

Tonganoxie Public Library will be having a Golden Ticket raffle as part of the movie night, with money raised going toward its building fund. The winning ticket will win a Kindle Fire.

Proceeds from the American Legion concessions will go toward the post’s scholarship program and veteran programs.

District officials are working to rectify some grammar and spelling errors in murals throughout the new building.

New Board Member Kaija Baldock voiced concern about some wording on murals that were misspelled during the regular board meeting earlier this month. The murals pay homage to various symbols of Kansas, such as the state flower and state animal.

“I don’t think it’s acceptable to not have that fixed before the open house,” Baldock said at the meeting. “I think that should be covered up somehow. I think that’s embarrassing.”

Voters approved, in 2012, a $27.2 million bond issue to fund a new elementary school near Tonganoxie Middle School. The question passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote, 2,661-1,802.

The outcome was an about-face from an April 2011 bond question in which voters said no to a $26.9 million bond issue that would have funded additions to the elementary and high schools and construction of an intermediate school. Voters said no to that question with 62 percent of the vote (1,111-629).

The new school will encompass grades kindergarten through fifth grade. The current 5-8 middle school now will be home to grades 6-8 beginning with the upcoming school year.

Though the bond issue was for $27.2 million, state aid contributes about $9.3 million.

Tonganoxie’s previous successful bond issue, which funded the current middle school and upgrades to the high school and elementary school, passed in 2004. The last bond issue before 2004 was in the late 1980s when a new junior high — now part of the high school campus — was built.

District has new numbers

The Tonganoxie school district has new phone numbers.

Numbers at the district office now are 913-416-1400 (phone) and 913-416-1408 (fax).

To contact the high school, call 913-416-1460 (main line), 913-416-1465 (attendance), 913-416-1466 (east campus counselor), 913-416-1443 (west campus counselor), 913-416-1467 (school resource officer), 913-416-1468 (east campus fax) or 913-416-1469 (west campus fax).

For calls to the middle school, call 913-416-1470 (main), 913-416-1475 (attendance), 913-416-1476 (counselor), 913-416-1478 (fax) or 913-416-1477 (school resource officer).

And for calls to the new elementary school, folks should dial 913-416-1480 (main), 913-416-1485 (attendance), 913-416-1486 (counselor), 913-416-1488 (fax) or 913-416-1487 (school resource officer).

The Tonganoxie Recreation Commission and American Legion Post 41 will sponsor a movie night that evening on the school grounds. Families can return to the school that evening to watch the original “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” movie.