Six months later and still no decision for vacant NE school

Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
Sept. 24, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — The former Thacher Elementary School is going to stand a little while longer.

But for how long has yet to be determined.

Back in March, the school board voted to give the grassroots group “Save Thacher, Save Our Schools” a six-month reprieve. The century old former elementary school in northeast Kansas City, Mo., once destined for demolition was supposed to learn its fate at Wednesday night’s Kansas City School Board meeting. However, the measure was pulled.

Bryan Stalder, member of the grassroots group, gave one more impassioned plea to the superintendent and school board members to work together to save the neighborhood’s prize building, located at 5008 Independence Ave.

“Last month, we provided you with information that our volunteers put together about the building,” Stalder told the school board. “Hopefully you had time to read it and seriously consider what Thacher means to our community.”

Also during the meeting, the school board heard from Hector Casanova about the murals he and students from the Kansas City Art Institute are painting on the panels on the former Scarritt Elementary School, also in the Northeast. Stalder noted the positive examples that arose from the partnership between Casanova and the KCPS.

“It’s my hope that we can continue to search for a solution to Thacher, that we can sit down and work with the school district and school board and come up with some positive solutions to preserve Thacher much like how the Scarritt school has been saved for the Northeast,” Stalder said.

The school board originally wanted the vacant school to be razed in time for the opening of Northeast Middle School, which opened this past August and sits on the same parcel of land as the former elementary school. If demolished, the land would be used for multi-purpose athletic fields and parking for the middle school.

After the meeting, Stalder said a meeting with the school board and district officials about the building has been discussed, but no date has yet been scheduled.