By Joe Jarosz
Northeast News
October 8, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – There’s a lot of winning going on in Kansas City.

Before the annual State of the Schools, KCPS Board President Jon Hile noted the recent success of the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals.

“Just as it’s exciting to be in the city enjoying our sports teams, it’s also a very exciting time for the Kansas City Public Schools,” Hile said.

While the main points of the state of the KCPS would be given by the superintendent, Hile pointed to the re-opening of two middle schools – Northeast Middle School being one – a new neighborhood elementary school and two new early childhood centers, as signs of progress in the district.

“We think there will be the opportunity to open more as we move forward,” Hile said. “They are amazing accomplishments and reflect the value that this district places in our students.”

At the annual address last Tuesday, Superintendent Dr. R. Stephen Green highlighted his plan for the next year to make sure the KCPS is accredited. Nearly two years after Kansas City Public Schools lost its accreditation, Green predicted the district will get full accreditation back next year.

The first step for full accreditation came this past August when the State Board of Education agreed to grant provisional accreditation status to the Kansas City Public School district. The district has shown steady growth and improvement over the last two years, since it lost its accreditation in 2012, but the state board wanted to see if the improvements would stick before promoting the district’s accreditation status.

“We were once in demise and now we’re on the rise,” Green said. “I am proud of the staff of teachers, the administrators and the board for not giving up on our children.”

Along with full accreditation, Green said another goal for the KCPS is to increase parental involvement. Although the KCPS sees a lot of volunteers throughout the district – 1,682 volunteers served a total of 60,783 volunteer hours last year – Green said he’d like to see more parents get involved with the KCPS. He said he wants to see more district parents volunteering at schools and hopes to get at least 65 percent of parents to schools for parent-teacher conferences this year. Later this month, Green said the district will start a door-to-door canvass to try and get families to return to the district.

“We’re going to increase the number of high performing functional parent groups by 10 percent,” Green said, adding they also plan to increase the number of new volunteers by 10 percent. “All I ask is you go with us. We’re going to make a significant effort in this area. Work with us as we seek to dramatically improve in this area…We’re going to be a destination of choice. We’re not there yet but that’s where we’re going.”