OLATHE, Kan. — KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers Johnson County. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of healthcare, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
—
The Olathe School District is holding community boundary meetings for the six schools the school board voted to close at the end of next school year.
In October, the board voted to close Indian Trail Middle School and the Black Bob, Walnut Grove, Heritage, Tomahawk and Scarborough elementary schools. District officials said the vote comes amid declining enrollment and growing financial needs.
Families of these six schools can attend district boundary meetings this week to listen to and ask questions about the district's new boundary lines.
Impacted families at each of the six schools shared these meeting details they said they received from the district with KSHB 41:
- Scarborough Elementary and Heritage Elementary each meet Monday, Nov. 9th
- Black Bob Elementary and Tomahawk Elementary each meet Tuesday, Nov. 10th
- Walnut Grove Elementary and Indian Trail Middle each meet Wednesday, Nov. 11th
A district spokesperson told KSHB 41 the meetings are for directly impacted families to get the "opportunity to review the proposals and provide feedback." The spokesperson also said there will be six additional larger-scale boundary meetings for families to review several maps and provide feedback.
District administration will then bring a boundary proposal to the Board of Education in December, with a board vote anticipated in January.
Black Bob Elementary parents Nicole Trendel and Amanda Miller said their school is a community.
"We're definitely going into this with a little bit of hesitation and some guards up," Trendel said.
That community will now be splitting up — and parents like Trendel and Miller get to weigh in Tuesday night on where their students will go next.
"Going into this, they say they want parent feedback, but I don't know how much parent feedback they're actually going to take," Miller said.
"We don't know what we're walking into as far as what Black Bob's options will be, how many we will get and what those numbers will look like. Obviously, the concern is overcrowded classrooms, safety and transportation, so we just want to make sure all of those things are being considered," Trendel said.
After the board voted to close the six schools in October, KSHB 41 Johnson County reporter Elyse Schoenig sat down with the district's superintendent to ask about his goals for these community boundary meetings.
"It's an authentic process where the community really can help us determine where their kids will go to school, and that will be an important piece of that process," Brent Yeager said.
"It sounds like there are some options and an opportunity for some feedback from the parents, but ultimately the decision is going to be made by the district," Trendel said.
Ahead of the board's final vote in January, Trendel and Miller just want what's best for their community and for their voices to be heard.
"We know what's best for our kids. We know what it will take for them to thrive and be successful through this change, and so we really want to make sure that our feedback is taken seriously," Trendel said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
—
