Northeast News
March 11, 2015

The Kansas City School District, as part of its master planning process, has put James Elementary School on a list for demolition and replacement. District officials say it’s only an “option” right now, but given this old news dog’s experience, that “option” will be advanced to suggestion then on to the full board who will give a thumbs up or down on the wrecking ball. Considering the district’s abysmal history when it comes to maintaining its facilities, one begins to wonder if that’s the model followed for building replacement. Simply defer maintenance again and again to the point at which demolition is the only option. Certainly looks to be the case when taking in the big picture and the paradigm that was followed in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s when the district was flush with federal de-seg money and historic school buildings were demo’d routinely to make way for brand new palatial halls of learning.

Anyone remember the battle fought to save the old Paseo High School? Those kind of battles will be taking shape soon if the district continues to ignore history. Stacking the attendance deck at the master planning sessions doesn’t hurt matters, either. According to the sign-in sheet at last Tuesday’s meeting at Northeast Middle School, roughly 65 percent of attendees garnered some sort of paycheck from the district. Smelling a rat yet? Pretty easy to get what you want if you tilt the tables in your favor at the onset. Then, when the demolition die is cast you can shrug it off and point the finger of blame back on the “community.”

This news-canine remembers the conditions in the schools taken over by the Independence School District a few years back as a step up from deplorable. At least two of the schools were deemed unfit for habitation. Hundreds of volunteer hours were logged by Independence School District parents and district staffers to make the schools fit for students. That should give you an idea on how well KCPS does at maintaining their facilities. Note to district re-purposing honchos still hell bent on taking a wrecking ball to our schools: This news pooch thinks it’s ironic that history is a part of the curriculum in the classroom but seems to be ignored at district headquarters.