By Michaela Bishop
Northeast News
June 3, 2015

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The demolition of Thacher Elementary has been pending for years. But with work recently beginning to remove the former elementary school, many in the community are wondering what will happen to its historic materials.

Thacher Elementary is being removed with the intent to expand the athletic field and parking lot for Northeast Middle school. Gator Industrials LLC., plans to recycle all the brick, stone, steel, metal, concrete and asphalt. However, neighborhood representatives Manny Abarca and Brian Stalder, organizers of the “Save Thacher, Save our Schools” grassroots group, have better ideas up their sleeves on what to do with the historical debris.

“It is very important that we preserve and try to find a way to reuse the infrastructure,” Stalder said.

Thacher Elementary School was built in 1900.

“The property is being destroyed and demolished, and being sold to people who won’t appreciate it like we would,” Stalder said.

Stalder is not the only one mad about the building remains being thrown away. Abarca has been protesting the demolition since the first school board meeting to try to preserve the historical features of the Thacher building. However, he is not happy demolition is ahead of schedule.

“If the district decides to move forward anyways the Save Thacher, Save Our Schools group would be happy to find alternative ways to halt the demolition of this building through community action and will not hesitate to ensure our school gets the fighting chance it deserves,” Abarca said. “As of right now we are planning on going back out to protest. The school district is not even budging and is retracting their statements.”

Many people have expressed their anger at the school district for not keeping or repairing the building.

“I don’t think Thacher should be torn down, it’s a landmark,” Judy Kelley, a former student, said.

Kelley is just one of many others who is upset to see their old school torn down. Many other former students have expressed their disappointment with the demolition. In a Facebook poll, Northeast residents voiced their displeasure on the demolition. John Hill, who commented on the post, replied, “it is one of the last links to old Northeast. A classic building.” He added remodeling or repurposing the building into a community center would make more sense.

With the former elementary school eventually coming down, construction is slated for completion by the end of July, former students will just have to hold Thacher in their memories.

“I remember the comfort and stability the situation seemed to give me to attend the same school from kindergarten through the sixth grade,” Ruth Wise, another former student said. “I had many friends that I attended class with year after year. The teaching staff and the principal were pretty much a constant.”

The Historic Kansas City board of directors has been working with Jantsch Architects to design a memorial to serve as a reminder. Ray Weikal, public relations coordinator for the Kansas City Public Schools, said as far as any memorial goes, there have been some discussions with community members about providing some KCPS funds for a memorial if the money is available, but no final decisions have been made.

“Those talks are ongoing,” Weikal said. “That would be a decision for the [School] Board once the demolition process is complete.”