By Emily Randall

Northeast News

The Northeast community fought for its schools at a school district forum this past Tuesday night.

There were about 400 people filling the Northeast Elementary School auditorium for the event, the first of five meetings in which the Kansas City, Mo., School District community sounded off to district leaders about the proposal to save $50 million by closing about half of the district buildings.

Neighbors, parents and students stepped up to the microphone, raising questions ranging from the issues of busing, gang violence, the blight arising from abandoned buildings, tradition and much more.

Northeast schools proposed to close include Northeast High School, James, Whittier, Woodland and McCoy elementary schools and Scarritt Early Learning Center.

Superintendent John Covington noted at the top of the meeting that he is asking every community across the city to give up “a little something” in this process. Indian Mound Neighborhood President Scott Wagner said his neighborhood is being asked to give up more than a little.

“Indian Mound in my estimation has to suffer a lot because on your list are Northeast [High School] and James [Elementary School],” Wagner said. “For those that live in Indian Mound Neighborhood, that’s a lot.”

Wagner also raised the issue of blight and crime.

“We’d like to know how you plan to maintain those facilities once you close them,” he said.

Covington responded that some of the buildings are in too poor condition to be sold.

“In those kinds of situations, we might be recommending — in many of our neighborhoods we don’t have parks — that buildings be razed and turned into green spaces,” the superintendent said.

Multiple parents and students raised concerns about safety if Northeast High School students were sent to East High School.

“What’s going to happen when you put together two schools with rival gangs,” asked Marguerita Serda, a James Elementary School parent.

Later in the forum, Jason Broom, an Aim4Peace worker, parent and grandparent of KCMSD pupils and self-proclaimed gang expert, answered that question at the microphone.

“You’re gonna have murders, you’re gonna have shootings, and you’re gonna have violence,” Broom said. “Some kids concerned about safety are gonna drop out.”

There were many Northeast High School staff and alumni in attendance Tuesday. The high school’s connection to its community was a repeated theme.

“We have a strong alumni organization,” teacher Gayle Richberg said. “We work closely with the neighborhood. … This is something for the future of the neighborhood.”

City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks, who represents the 3rd District, brought community development efforts to the district leaders’ attention. She noted that work is underway to bring development back to the East Side, which, she said, is virtually impossible without schools.

She spoke specifically concerning Woodland Elementary, citing the $26 million expansion to Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center — located just to the east of the school, the Century Towers apartment building that is one of the few performing TIFs in the city — located just to the north of the school, as well as new townhouses the Housing Authority has slated for across the street from Woodland.

“Really find out what is going on in the community, things you may not be aware of, before you make the closures,” Sanders Brooks said.

Toward the end of the evening, Mattie Rhodes youth advocate Jose Faus summed up the feeling many in the crowd were expressing.

“If ever there was a neighborhood that didn’t deserve to get kicked out,” he said, “it’s this one.”

The KCMSD Board of Education may vote on the closings as early as tonight (Wednesday) at the business meeting at 6:30 p.m. at 1211 McGee St.