By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
October 14, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — In October 2014, the Della Lamb Charter School moved its elementary and middle school to a new location.

During that time, remodeling and upgrades were still being made while students were in session.

On July 7, students began the school year with its building, located at 414 Wallace St., operating fully functional. Students from grades second through eighth now share a building with more amenities, space and learning opportunities.

“The 10th and Charlotte facility was bursting at the seams,” Judy Akers, executive vice president of Della Lamb Community Services, said. “We wanted to try and consolidate as much as possible.”

Akers said she wrote charter for the school in 1998 and not long after that, they were looking for a new facility for their students. The former Lutheran High School building came available around 2000, but, she said, it wasn’t a good fit at the time. The building was purchased and an annex added onto it, then became available again recently.

“It was too costly early on, but with our growth, it was easier to justify the purchase,” Akers said. “Waiting on it was better for us because over time, the annex was added and that’s something we wouldn’t have been able to do ourselves.”

Since the purchase, Della Lamb has invested roughly $3.6M to purchase and upgrade/update the new building, which houses just under 400 students. Upgrades to the building include the addition of an elevator, an expanded cafeteria, fencing around the building, more restrooms, and the transformation of offices into classrooms and vice versa. Jennifer Wilson, principal of the charter school, said the move has been advantageous. Students in kindergarden and first grade are housed at the 500 Woodland Ave., location.

“The advantage to this location is the students have a gym and auditorium on site, when before, they had to be bussed from one location to another and that would eat up everyone’s time,” Akers said.

Wilson said there are 39 classrooms, which allows them to keep a low teacher-to-student ratio.

“We needed more rooms to keep the ratios low,” Wilson said.

Although only slightly outside the Northeast, the move has generated positive feedback from students, parents and staff. For the students, Akers and Wilson noted this is the first time many students have access to either a gym and auditorium.

“Being able to have all these amenities in one location is important to everyone,” Wilson said, adding she’s seen more parent involvement at recent school functions because of the move. “The configuration works for us.”

With everyone settled in and the building’s renovations complete, Akers said Della Lamb probably won’t be moving again for a while.

If you’d like more information on Della Lamb Charter Schools, call 816-221-0043 or visit http://www.dellalamb.org/.