'Transparency and time': Olathe families fight to keep Walnut Grove Elementary open as district closures loom

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.

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Last week, the Olathe Board of Education heard recommendations from the school district to close Indian Trail Middle School and five elementary schools — Black Bob, Heritage, Scarborough, Tomahawk and Walnut Grove — after the 2026-27 school year.

This comes in addition to the previous decision to merge Central Elementary with Ridgeview Elementary and combine Northview Elementary with Fairview Elementary.

New chalk messages on the walls of Walnut Grove tell the story of a community fighting to keep its school open.

"It's a very great school. It's been here for a very long time," said Rodrigo Soto, a fourth grade student at Walnut Grove. "This is the only school I've ever known, and it would be kind of weird to go somewhere else."

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Tara Yantis, a Walnut Grove parent and PTO executive board member, said the community is still reeling from the news.

"We don't disagree that probably some realignment needs to happen in the district. We're just really struggling with the timeline," Yantis said.

Yantis and other families want more time and more transparency before a decision is made.

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"We're asking for complete transparency from the board to help us understand why Walnut Grove was selected and what the implications of that are," Yantis said.

Yantis said she loves this district and community. She was an Olathe student herself.

"I'm using all of those lessons that I learned in this district to demonstrate to our kids that your voice matters, you have to speak up," she said.

Parent Tony Hanna echoed that message, saying families are not asking the district to stop the vote — only to delay it.

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"Really, all we're asking is just more information, what's the student plan, and we feel that we're owed that before they make a final decision that is irreversible," Hanna said.

The recommendation for closures comes as the district faces a significant decline in enrollment, brought in part by lower birth rates and not as many families moving into Olathe with rising home prices.

MORE COVERAGE | Find KSHB 41's full Shifting Education series here

There were several factors the task force considered when deciding which schools to recommend for closure. Among those were enrollment, building age and condition, transportation, maintenance costs and more.

The district also said schools on the recommended closure list only have a few hundred students each, yet are still costing the district millions for operations and maintenance.

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.

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