By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
January 11, 2012

As parents question the fate of Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas City Mayor Sly James stands firmly behind his plan – mayoral control.

“If anybody’s got a better plan, bring it on,” James told Northeast News.

Several City Council members asked James for an update on his plan during the city’s Jan. 5 Business Session since the community continues to ask questions.

James stressed he didn’t want his plan to turn “political” and said he and a group of more than 30 community leaders are continuing to meet to discuss the future of KCPS. Since 1993, the district has failed to earn full state accreditation and finally lost its accreditation earlier this month.

Some citizens are confusing the mayoral takeover with a city takeover, City Council member Russ Johnson said.

“The comment I have received is, ‘Why is the city wanting to take over the school district?’ Those are the actual words they’re using… so there’s some need for clarifying that,” Johnson said.

“This is not a takeover,” James said. “Nobody is showing up with loaded machine guns taking anything over. This is changing a governance structure from an elected board – which Jefferson City has said is not acceptable – to the only other form of local control, which is mayoral involvement.”

Currently, there are three options for the school district, he said. Those options include entering into a suburban school district contract, which would require surrounding suburban school districts to operate and staff KCPS schools; dissolving the school district; or a mayoral controlled school district.

If the state legislature approved a mayoral controlled school district, the mayor of Kansas City would oversee a three-member administrative team consisting of a chief executive officer (CEO), chief academic officer (CAO) and chief business officer (CBO). The mayor would select the CEO and the CEO would select the CAO and CBO with the consent of the mayor. In this scenario, the mayor would be the primary source of accountability.

Asked if legislators are in support of his plan, James told Northeast News that they’re working on drafting legislation for mayoral control. However, two bills are pending in the state Senate to disband the district, he said.

“Nothing at this point has been filed to stop that or offer another alternative,” James said of the two bills.

“Wraparound services” have been the key to success in urban school districts, which mayoral controlled districts across the country are adopting, he said.

Wraparound services for KCPS will depend on the needs of the school district, he said. Services could span health, ways to combat homelessness, nutrition, educational deficiencies, parenting, learning disabilities, among others, he said. These services would be provided by a variety of organizations that could range from the health department to United Way, he said.

Cincinnati, Ohio’s school district uses wraparound services to “lessen the impact of poverty and bad home situations, so they’re (students) in a better position to learn,” James said.

“The two things they (mayoral controlled school districts) do is stabilize the situation and build in accountability,” James said. “Somebody is responsible for the situation. In our current circumstances, nobody is. That’s where we’re at and that’s why we’re doing it.”