By Abby Cambiano
Northeast News
May 24, 2017

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Frontier Schools celebrated their 10th anniversary this year and broke ground on yet another expansion, this time at Frontier School of Innovation, located at 6700 Corporate Dr., which serves grades K-3 and 4-8.
As the Northeast News previously reported, Frontier’s STEM High School (6455 E. Commerce Ave.) completed a new gymnasium last year. The latest project, which is expected to be completed by October of this year, will cost approximately $2.2 million. Fogel-Anderson is constructing the gymnasium for the elementary and middle school.
While the new gymnasium will have many uses, Jennifer Watson, district outreach and public relations coordinator for Frontier Schools, said the primary use will be as an activity space.
“These kids need a place to run around,” Watson said.
The students were previously using a cafeteria, large classrooms and a parking lot for physical education and recess, Watson added.
Outreach Coordinator Andrea Taylor agreed that there was a “huge need for space” at the elementary school. The addition will be used for gym classes and sports teams, family events and cultural festivals. A stage will also be included, which Watson said is “paramount” for being able to hold events and performances.
“The gym will provide a more consistent place for physical education classes to be held in. It will be an event space for parents to join to celebrate multicultural events, like Hispanic heritage and Black History Month,” Taylor said, adding that it will provide more opportunities and consistency than were available before.
Since the addition of the gymnasium at the STEM high school, Taylor said they have been able to hold events for Hispanic heritage, assemblies and talent shows, and expand their sports. She said she envisions the same thing happening at Frontier School of Innovation.
With enrollment increasing from 100 to 1,600 in the past 10 years, Watson said expansion is necessary. She credits the growth of the school to the support of parents, who have helped spread the word. Taylor concurred.
“Kansas City has been looking for options and choices with their children’s education, and I think through word-of-mouth Frontier has been able to grow,” said Taylor.
Referencing the grades that have been consistently added over the past decade, Watson said, “(At) Frontier there’s so much community. Parents would say, ‘We want to stay.’”
Frontier STEM High School graduated its first class on Saturday, May 20 with 26 students. Some graduating students have pioneered the addition of new grades as they advanced, starting in fifth grade.
“There was an immediate connection with those families, and we wanted to continue to grow with them,” Taylor said.
Taylor said Frontier is planning to expand further still at their School of Excellence campus, while also potentially adding a pre-kindergarten.