UPDATE: Jan. 25, the Kansas City School Board approved the revised Blueprint 2030 plan by a 4-to-2 decision (Nate Hogan and Kandace Buckner were the No votes).

Kansas City Public Schools’ plan to close schools is taking a big step back.

Only two schools — Longfellow and Troost elementaries — are slated for closing at this time, according to revised recommendations presented to the school board before a crowded audience Wednesday night.

Most notably, the district is no longer proposing that Central or Northeast high schools be closed, as was the case in a proposal offered in October that would have closed or repurposed 10 buildings over the next four year as part of the district’s Blueprint 2030 plan.

Instead, the district is proposing a renewed community process it is calling “Moving Forward Together” to inform difficult decisions that still loom for the district.

The board expects to vote on the new proposal at its meeting Jan. 25. (See note above.)

More closings will likely be necessary in coming years, but the district is in the process of selecting its next superintendent and also wants to focus on a potential bond issue election in 2024.

Interim Superintendent Jennifer Collier said the new plan is a “call to action” to the community to fully engage in ensuring a “thriving, sustainable school system.”

“If there is not a significant increase in enrollment we will likely be back here to discuss closures,” she said. “I wish it was not true, but it is true with the current reality.”

The new proposal comes after many crowded and emotional public meetings.

School closings have proven to be the most difficult step in building a future vision for the district as it aims to build a stronger, more equitable education experience for Kansas City children.

The district, now with an enrollment of 13,340 students, needs to close buildings after decades of declining enrollment to better focus its resources on improving the classroom and extra-curricular experiences across all of its remaining schools.

By consolidating students and staff into fewer schools, the district expects to provide more robust academics — such as science labs in high schools, and foreign languages and instrumental music in elementary schools — for all students in higher quality facilities.

Students will enjoy fuller and stronger extracurricular experiences like band, debate, sports and other clubs.

The mission, Collier said when the original closings plan was proposed, is to build a district community that is “connected, empowered and liberated — every child, every educator, every family, every day.”

The original closings proposal was projected to redirect $13.2 million to Blueprint 2030 plans.

Reducing the number of closings will strain some of the budgetary gains the district factored into its improvement plans, but the district administration and the board made changes in response to strong public feedback after the original closings plan was unveiled in October.

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.

Systemwide, KCPS and independent public charter schools in Kansas City operate 80 schools serving a total enrollment of some 26,700 students. By comparison, the Springfield, Mo., school district, with an enrollment of 23,428, operates 50 schools.

In its original proposal in October, the district planned to shut down or repurpose Central High School and James, Longfellow and Troost elementary schools in 2023-24. Whittier, Wheatley and King elementary schools would have been impacted in 2024-25. And Northeast High School and Faxon and Melcher elementaries would have been impacted in 2026-27.

The district’s original proposal also called for three new buildings: 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.

Now only Longfellow and Troost are proposed for closing, but difficult decisions still lie ahead as the district and its community reimagine the education of Kansas City’s children.

“You've shown us you care about our district,” Collier said to the audience and the full community. “We need your input. We need your advocacy and your warm critique.”

“We need your voice.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer