Safe Routes to School

Introduction

Hugoton, Kansas is the county seat of Stevens County, located in the southwest corner of the state. Our population of 3,966 includes a growing Hispanic community, currently representing one third of the total population. The Hugoton School District (USD 210) has just completed the construction of an Early Childhood Development Center, a new Middle School, a new state-of-the-art kitchen and cafeteria, and a new High School Athletic Complex. These projects were funded through a $21 million bond issue, showing the commitment and high priority the citizens of Hugoton place on their children's education.


The Hugoton School District (USD 210) is composed of three separate school sites. The Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) - a Pre K to Kindergarten facility with 175 students; Hugoton Elementary School - a 1st through 6th grade facility with 468 students is adjacent to the ECDC; the Hugoton Middle School (7th and 8th grades) and High School (9th through 12th grades) have a shared campus with 154 Middle School Students and 295 High School students.

The Early Childhood Development Center and Elementary school facilities are structured as a Primary School including Pre-K through 2nd grade, and an Intermediate School including 3rd through 6th grades with each school having its own Principal. Hugoton also has a parochial school, the Heritage Christian Academy, offering a preschool and classes for grades K-8. Total enrollment in the Heritage Christian Academy is 50 Students.

Public School Demographics

Race demographics within USD210 are shown in the chart at right, with an almost equal number of White (51%) and Hispanic (32%) students.The remaining 17% of the student population are Black, Asian or Multi-Ethnic. 59 percent of USD210 students classify as economically disadvantaged students.

Please refer to Appendix D for the complete 2011-2012 District Headcount by Grade, Race and Gender.

Public Involvement

All Safe Routes to School task force meetings are open to the public. A walk-through of the proposed Safe Route to School was conducted on May 17th, 2012. An article from the local newspaper, The Hugoton Hermes, documents the walk on the next page.

Public Involvement after Funding is Received

This SRTS Plan includes the public in the design process by holding public meetings to inform and educate the public about the infrastructure improvements proposed in this plan. Upon selection for funding of this Phase 2 Application, and before major design work has commenced, a public awareness campaign will be initiated. This campaign will include the involvement of the Project Engineer, who will provide large scale drawings for public display. Opportunity will be given to the public for comments, and their concerns will be considered and addressed. Some property owners will be affected more than others along the designated Safe Route to School. Increasing the sidewalk width to six feet will necessitate the removal of a minor number of trees and possibly fences or other structures built by homeowners on the public right-of-way. Homeowners and business owners alike will be inconvenienced when drive entrances are blocked for a few days while old concrete is removed, forms are set and new concrete placed and allowed to cure. Educating the public on the many benefits of the SRTS project will make these inconveniences acceptable. Adequate notice shall be given to property owners prior to commencing construction activities.

Frequently homeowners do not have a good understanding of where the public right-of-way is located in relationship to their property. This can become a contentious issue, best overcome with solid survey data. The right-of-way line will be marked with flags while the project survey is being done to alert property owners of the project extents. All construction proposed in this SRTS Plan is on the public right-of-way or USD210 School Property.

Total	Total		White		Black		Hispanic		Amer. Indian		Asian		Multi-Ethnic		Free Lunch		Reduced-Meal
Grade	All	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.	Male	Fem.
Kindergarten	99	48	21	42	47	0	0	29	27	<10*	<10*	<10*	0	0	0	23	28	<10*	<10*
1st	71	43	28	29	23	0	0	20	13	13	<10*	<10*	0	0	0	29	17	<10*	<10*
2nd	77	42	35	27	20	0	0	23	17	14	14	<10*	<10*	0	0	28	22	<10*	<10*
3rd	76	38	38	18	23	0	0	22	19	19	15	<10*	0	0	0	26	26	<10*	<10*
4th	80	42	38	25	19	0	0	20	21	17	19	0	0	0	0	26	23	<10*	<10*
5th	79	40	39	29	26	<10*	0	15	16	11	12	0	<10*	0	<10*	18	17	<10*	<10*
6th	71	30	41	21	25	0	<10*	13	19	9	15	0	0	0	0	14	23	<10*	<10*
Special Ed.
Special Ed  3&4 yr.	24	15	<10*	14	<10*	0	0	<10*	<10*	<10*	<10*	0	0	0	0	<10*	10*	<10*	<10*
Nongraded
4YO At Risk	37	17	20	17	20	0	0	11	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	<10*	<10*	<10*	<10*
	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
Total	614	315	299	222	211	<10*	<10*	156	145	89	85	<10*	<10*	0	<10*	178	164	31	29

NOTE: The Mulit-ethnic columns were added in 2003.

*The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents the disclosure of personally identifiable student information. KSDE has determined that any quantities less than 10 may be personally identifiable.

Total	Total		White		Black		Hispanic		Amer. Indian		Asian		Multi-Ethnic		Free Lunch		Reduced-Lunch
Grade	All	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Femal	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
7th	66	27	39	18	24	<10*	0	10	24	9	15	0	0	<10*	0	13	21	<10*	<10*
8th	78	45	33	44	33	0	<10*	21	12	<10*	0	0	0	0	<10*	25	12	<10*	<10*
	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
Total	154	92	62	50	31	0	0	39	30	0	0	N/A*	0	N/A*	N/A*	44	N/A*	N/A*	N/A*

NOTE: The Mulit-ethnic columns were added in 2003.

*The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) prevents the disclosure of personally identifiable student information. KSDE has determined that any quantities less than 10 may be personally identifiable.