KCPS recommends closing two high schools, eight elementary schools
The Kansas City Public Schools moved into the final — and most emotional — stage of its Blueprint 2030 process Wednesday as it put names to 10 schools that the administration is proposing be closed or designated for repurposing for other district use.
Welcome to Phase Four.
The district, throughout a public brainstorming process, determined that some facilities would need to close to put the district in a stronger position to provide the improved educational and extra-curricular programming that it is imagining for students and families in the years ahead.
Now the hard decisions are coming.
The 10 schools proposed for closure or repurposing over a three-year process are:
Central High School
Northeast High School
Faxon Elementary School
James Elementary School
King Elementary School
Longfellow Elementary School
Melcher Elementary School
Troost Elementary School
Wheatley Elementary School
Whittier Elementary School
The district also proposed new schools: a new south middle school, a new King Elementary School and a new elementary school in the Northeast Kansas City neighborhood.
The new King would draw students from current King, Faxon and Melcher schools.
The district will continue community engagement before a final proposal is brought to the board for a vote.
The district currently operates 37 schools. LINC provides Caring Communities services through before- and after-school programs at all of the district's elementary schools.
Closing facilities will ease the strain on the district, which has been trying to provide programs and resources across under-enrolled schools.
The driving mission, Interim Superintendent Jennifer Collier said to a filled board room, is increasing academic achievement and enhancing the student experience.
But the work will be hard, she warned.
“Give us your thoughts,” she said to the community. “At the end, a decision will be made and there will be discomfort. (But) do it for the children. Let's do it together.”
“We must do it together,” she continued. “We want to thrive.”
The district is doing the work to “reimagine what education can — and should — look like in our schools.”
The mission, the district said in its presentation, is to build a district community that is “connected, empowered and liberated — every child, every educator, every family, every day.”
By consolidating students and staff into fewer schools, the district can provide more robust academics — such as science labs in high schools, and foreign languages and instrumental music in elementary schools — for all students.
With fewer buildings, the district can make more renovations and improvements to provide state-of-the-art facilities for all students.
Students will be able to enjoy fuller and stronger extracurricular experiences like band, debate, sports and other clubs.
The reduction in buildings would redirect $13.2 million to the academic vision investments, district consultants said.
The reductions would not result in cutting any teachers. The district is currently understaffed and closures would help the district provide better placement of its teachers and better teacher-to-student ratios.
The Blueprint work aims to build on the momentum in public confidence that the district gained when it achieved full accreditation in January, Collier said earlier this week at the All Souls Community Forum.
If the district, working with the community, does the hard work on its end by paring down its costs and enhancing stronger programs in schools, then the district will finally be in position to ask the community to support even stronger improvements for the district by passing a bond issue — something that hasn’t happened since the late 1960s.
Wednesday night, Collier said the administration is looking at seeking a bond issue election in Spring 2024.
To get to Wednesday’s proposal of school closings, the district spent most of three years conducting a building analysis with consultants, gathering surveys of stakeholder groups and convening an advisory committee to help shape the essential issues.
Then came several months of community listening sessions to hear as many voices as possible to help inform the district’s recommendations to its school board.
Under the proposed closure and repurposing plan, Central, James, Longfellow and Troost would be impacted in the 2023-24 school year.
Whittier, Wheatley and King would be impacted in 2024-25.
Northeast, Faxon and Melcher would be impacted in 2026-27.
The work with the community will continue as the board weighs the decisions ahead, board President Nate Hogan said.
“We have been listening, learning and adapting,” Hogan said, “and we will continue to do so. These steps weigh heavily on us.”
By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer