KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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It’s back to school for many students across the Kansas City metro this week.
In the Shawnee Mission School District, elementary schoolers have just started their year, some walking into a brand-new building.
Tomahawk Elementary, newly constructed for the district, is welcoming students for its first-ever school year, including the school’s first pre-kindergarten class.
“Watching kindergartners come in, never having been in the school environment before and learning how to be students, by bringing that down to pre-K, any early intervention we can get is fantastic," said Wendy Johnston, an early childhood unified pre-K teacher at Tomahawk.
In the district, early education can start as early as age 3.
“We know how important early intervention is for our kids,” said Meredith Bush, an early childhood and special education teacher. “We're offering those environments.”
Johnston is leading the first group of Tomahawk’s pre-K students.
“Having multi-age groups is really beneficial for both the older students and the younger students, and they can learn from each other,” she said.
Bush, meanwhile, is preparing for her final year at the Broadmoor Center, which currently serves as the district’s early childhood education center.
“In our classroom, currently, it's what's called an integrated classroom, so we have a majority of our students have IEPs, and then we have two peer models. So they're in our classrooms to help be models for language, behavior, some friendship skills,” Bush said.
The district has seen growing demand from families and is now expanding pre-K offerings at more schools. Plus, SMSD is designing an entirely new building dedicated to early learning.
“Being able to design the building specifically for them will just make our program so much better for what they need,” said Sarah Patterson, another early childhood and special education teacher.
The new early childhood center remains in the design phase. It will be built on the site of the former Carpenter Elementary School and is expected to open for the 2026–27 school year.
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