KC closing half its schools--wow

[bobbymitch]

The KC school district has been failing for decades. They couldn't ever get a bond issue passed and then when the Springfield judge tried to integrate the schools by setting up magnets just pushed it downhill even further. Ya got a school board micromanaging everything and kids being bussed every which direction as there were no more neighborhood schools. The district was paying the local cab company to pick up students to go to and from school.

The billions of dollars spent to build new schools and renovate others was a total fiasco. In one school, the replacement windows were actually aluminum storm windows and they didn't fit. Buildings that were falling apart, bricks falling off, and steps sinking, etc.

The maintenance department was so inept, they left roofs leaking which caused mold to build up in class rooms. I ran across exposed live wires in hallways, missing handrails, numerous fire hazards, and fire doors that couldn't close.

One thing that needs to happen, and is beyond the districts control, is parental involvement. Until that happens, the district test scores don't stand a chance of improving. They also need to get back to teaching the basics.

One reason why we never considered ever moving back to KC proper was the lack of decent schools. I went through the KC school system through my freshman year at the old Paseo High ('60 - '61). When we moved to Shawnee and attended Shawnee Mission North, I was about a year behind everyone else.