Price-Harris Communications Magnet Elementary School

Price-Harris Communications Magnet is located at 706 North Armour and is housed in a beautiful facility renovated with facility bond monies. The Price-Harris PTA and Site Council are an intricate part of the school and work collaboratively with the staff to support student learning. Price-Harris offers a before- and after-school program, ESOL services, and instructional level reading and math groups in addition to “real life” communications opportunities through student run, grade level media.

Parents, students, media partners, and staff  work together to develop a school based on the importance of communication using technology and the arts. Price-Harris students focus on the following grade level media during the year:

• Kindergarten: Exploration
• 1st Grade: Radio
• 2nd Grade: Print Media-Books
• 3rd Grade: Newspaper
• 4th Grade: Television
• 5th Grade: Computer Technology

The blending of communication and technology can be as simple as paper and pencil, or as complex as the most sophisticated computer and electronic video transmissions. They relate directly to educational and vocational endeavors, regardless of the specific areas students choose to pursue in higher education and/or the job market. Mastery of communication and skills in the use of technology are ranked highly as characteristics employers look for in employees.

The curriculum is integrated with USD 259 standards and is supported by community media partners including Wichita State University, The Elliott School of Communication, UPN,  The Wichita Eagle, Watermark Books, Heartspring, C.A.R.E.S. (Canine Assistance and Rehabilitation Services) and KMUW. Our curriculum is continually improved as we work with our media partners through our Communications Advisory Board, Site Council, and PTA.

Exit east Kellogg at Woodlawn. Go north on Woodlawn to 9^th St. Go east on 9^th St. to Armour. Go south to the Harris Campus, which is at 7^th and Armour. See Maps for all USD 259 locations.

The Price-Harris educational community provides a positive, safe, equitable and challenging environment with differentiated learning opportunities where all students will enthusiastically learn skills and acquire knowledge necessary to become productive citizens, life-long learners and effective communicators.

Beliefs

Collaborate with the educational community, utilize research, and support a safe, caring environment so that all students can achieve success.

Vision Statement

Changes can come from the power of many, but only if the many come together to form that which is invincible; The Power of ONE!

• Optimize Success by collaborating with students, team, parents and the community.
• Only implement research-based strategies.
• Never give up!
• New answers to challenges are residing in your team.
• Embrace life-long learning.
• Energize your students and others.

All student groups meet yearly District & AYP Goals in Reading, Math & Writing.

The Price-Harris Site Council consists of a group of parents, community members, business representatives, teachers and other school staff who meet to identify, consider and discuss educational problems and issues relating to the school. They provide advice and counsel for evaluating state, school district and school site performance goals and objectives, and may also recommend methods that may be employed at the school site to meet these goals and objectives.

They meet the third Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. in the Price-Harris library. The Chairperson is Gitsa Lampton, 686-8161.

• All-day Kindergarten: 9 a.m. - 4:10 p.m. (no Pre-Kindergarten program)
• A reading/math intervention program and a parent/community volunteer tutoring program to assist students
• A Waterford Early Reading program is used in grades K-2
• An SRI computer program and DIBELS program for ongoing formative assessments in reading
• A computer lab and computers in classrooms with Internet access
• An English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) program helps students develop skills in understanding and using the English language
• A Public Art Sculpture Project and performing arts programs
• A Special Education program which has interrelated classes serving gifted, mildly physically disabled, behavior disordered, educationally mentally retarded and learning disabled students
• A before- and after-school program operates at the Price-Harris campus, 7 - 8:50 a.m. & 4:10 - 5:45 p.m.

Student Activities

Will G. Price Elementary School opened for classes in the fall of 1957 with an enrollment of 171 pupils, six full-time teachers and one half-time. The staff of 15 included the principal, special services, a secretery and a custodian. Of the 14 regular classrooms, seven were used full time, and the school had a library and an all-purpose room situated in the center of two wings of classrooms.

The school was named in honor of the late Will G. Price. Mr. Price came to Wichita in 1879 with his parents. He attended Kellogg School and graduated from Wichita High School. He chose school teaching as a career and enrolled in the County Normal School to enable him to qualify for teaching. During the summer months he attended the Wichita Commercial College to learn shorthand, typing, penmanship and bookkeeping. He then taught at Wellington High School, Wellington, Kansas. He later joined two teachers at the Wichita Commercial College forming a partnership and started a new business college, the Wichita Business College. He operated the school until 1916. Mr. Price was never too busy to serve his community and devoted himself to numerous civic activities. He helped found the Wichita Boy Scouts and was instrumental in organizing the Wichita Planning Commission, serving as a member for its first 12 years.

As the Price community continued to grow, the enrollment also grew. By the year 1959-60 the enrollment had increased to 310 pupils with 11 teachers. In 1961-62 the annexation of Spring Acres by the city added to the Price School community, and the enrollment jumped to 381 with 14 teachers on the staff. The following years the enrollment showed a slight decline, and the staff varied from one to two teachers.

By the 1966-67 school year a boundary change was made to relieve a neighboring school of crowded conditions. This transferred approximately 50 students to Price. Enrollment again jumped to 382, with a staff of 14 teachers. With more building of homes north of 13th Street, the enrollment reached a peak of 413 in 1967-68. A drop to 385 in 1968-69 began a gradual decline to between 250 to 300 pupils in the 1970s.

In 1969-70 the school library was enlarged by removing a wall between the library and room six, thus making possible all expansion of the audiovisual activities.

Enrollment further declined to the low 200s in the 1980s as the number of neighborhood school age children fell. In the late 1980s a Latch Key program was begun at Price to accommodate the needs of working parents for before and after school care.

The 1989-90 school year brought the merger of Price with Harris Elementary to become a single school located on two campuses. The Price facility houses kindergarten through second grade while the Harris campus houses third through the fifth grade. The attendance area of Price-Harris was expanded in 1991 to include the Williamsburg development. Enrollment at the Price campus averages about 175 students. The school population has mirrored the demographic changes of the district as a whole.

Beginning the 1996-97 school year, Price-Harris converted to a communications magnet school.

Kos Harris Elementary School was completed in 1956. The first year of operation Miss Nan Wade was the principal, and there were six teachers with an enrollment of 132. Two portables were added, one in 1965 and one in 1966.

The building was constructed by Caro Construction Company with C.A. Griffin and F.L. McAleavey as the architects. The cost was $213,000. The building contains 21,639 square feet with 14 classrooms, a library, general purpose room, offices, kitchen and a teachers' lounge. The grounds include 10.7 acres.

The school was named after Mr. Kos Harris, one of Wichita's earliest citizens who was also one of the city's first lawyers. Mr. Harris's father was an early judge and set up a law practice in Wichita in 1874. Upon the death of his father, Kos Harris practiced law with his son, Vermillion Harris, until he retired in 1924 - 50 years to the day after he opened a law office in Wichita. "Fifty years is long enough for any lawyer to practice law," he commented, and never returned to his office. Mr. Harris was regarded as a profound student of the law and a versatile lawyer, trying both civil and criminal cases. He took active interest in civic affairs. He was a member of the Board of Trade (precursor of the Chamber of Commerce), served on the Board of Education from 1881 to 1885, helped initiate the building of Forum, wrote authoritative chronicles of the history of the plains, was a member of the Pioneer Society of Sedgwick County and was a life member of the Kansas Historical Society.

The memorial resolution adopted by the Wichita bar in 1931 following his death on October 10, noted: "He was more than a lawyer; he was a friend, a philosopher, a scholar, a pioneer, an historian of the community in which he lived his life. To preserve that part in accurate detail, he devoted his time and his talent to a greater degree than any other citizen in Wichita."

Enrollment grew through the 1960s, reaching a peak of 492 in 1965-66. To alleviate the overcrowded conditions, a portion of Harris enrollment area was reassigned to neighboring Price Elementary in 1966-67. A gradual decline in enrollment followed, leveling to around 300 by the late '80s. Beginning the 1989-90 school year, Harris was merged with Price Elementary School to become Price-Harris, a single school located on two campuses. Harris houses grades 3-5 and Prices houses K-2 students with one principal for both schools.

The attendance area of Price-Harris was expanded in 1991 to include the Williamsburg development. Enrollment for Price-Harris rose to the low 400s by 1995. The school population has mirrored the demographic changes of the district as a whole.

Beginning the 1996-97 school year, Price-Harris was converted to a communications magnet school.

In April 2000, the voters of the Wichita School District approved a $284.5 million bond issue. The projects began in the fall of 2000 and were completed over the next five years. The plan built 19 multipurpose rooms, upgraded science labs, replaced portable classrooms with permanent construction, improved handicap accessibility to all buildings, rebuilt five existing elementary schools, added a new elementary and middle school, expanded seven other elementary schools and provided nine new libraries as well as the expansion of nine others. Building infrastructure in 82 buildings was also upgraded, including the replacement of antiquated plumbing, updates and expansion of electrical systems, replacement of inefficient or broken windows and doors, upgrades of heating and cooling systems, and asbestos abatement when required.

The Price Campus closed in the fall of 2004 and the students were moved to the Harris Campus after the addition and renovations were completed. The board approved the reopening of the Price building and moved the Alcott Academy Middle School program to the Price building. On June 26, 2006 the site was renamed Black Bear Bosin Academy.

When the students were combined at the end of the 2004-05 school year, the name was changed to Price-Harris Communications Magnet.

The bond project dedication ceremony was held on October 27, 2005.