Kansas City Public Schools may close and consolidate as many as seven to 12 schools with low enrollment, so that the district can spend more money on updating classrooms, expanding programs and ensuring all students have access to the same opportunities.
Officials are evaluating how best to address inefficiencies and inequities caused by an overstock of outdated school buildings operating under capacity, as part of a long-term restructuring plan to improve offerings across the district. It will be a major overhaul of the Kansas City school system that officials say is stretched too thin.
Superintendent Mark Bedell has said that students in some under-enrolled schools are missing out on having full-time music or art teachers, as well as certain services, extracurriculars or even a football team. And while some schools have modern upgrades, others are outdated, with high school science classrooms that do not have sinks to use during lab experiments, for example.
Read more from The Kansas City Star.
