Olathe school district staff recommends district close 6 schools at Thursday school board meeting

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The Olathe Board of Education heard recommendations for the school district to close one middle school and five elementary schools after the 2026-27 school year.

Olathe Public Schools' recommended closures include Indian Trail Middle School, and Black Bob, Heritage, Scarborough, Tomahawk and Walnut Grove elementary schools.

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

“Our district has been having a tough conversation about how we align our facilities with the number of students we serve for the past 18 months,” Deputy Superintendent Jim McMullen said in part in a press release. “We currently serve approximately the same number of elementary students as we did in 2001, but operate nine more elementary schools. That data must inform our decisions, but we also know how deeply personal this is for our students, staff and families because it is deeply personal for our district leaders too."

The message that was reiterated at Thursday night's school board meeting was that the closure of eight schools is a tough, but necessary decision for the district.

Yet, the decision weighs heavily on the dozens of families and teachers who will be relocated at the end of this year.

"My heart goes out to our Lancer community as they comprehend this news," an Olathe Public Schools staff member said during public comment.

The decision comes as the district is facing a significant decline in enrollment brought in part by lower birth rates and not as many families moving into Olathe with rising home prices.

"We have fewer students, fewer teachers but the same amount of physical space," McMullen said.

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

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

Eric Johnson is a parent of two elementary school students and a volunteer on the steering committee which voiced their opinions on which schools should close as part of a survey. Those survey results were then used to help Olathe staff make the list of recommendations.

Fabian Rosales

"There's no easy way to make decisions like that," Johnson said. "Everyone in the district is going to be impacted, not just those with kids at schools that are closing."

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

"Downsizing actually puts the schools and the students in a better situation, not only financially but educationally," Johnson said.

If the board approves the decision to close all the schools on the recommended list, staff report it could save the district $12 million a year.

"It's going to be hard for folks hearing this news [Thursday night], but the reality is is that we did this as transparently and with as much parent input as we possibly could," Dr. McMullen said.

The school board is expected to vote on the recommendations in October. If approved, the schools would close for the 2027-28 school year.

The goal would be to have new attendance boundaries approved by January 2027, per a press release from the school district.

Eight elementary schools are now below 55% of capacity.

Parents are asked to give their input at a public meeting on September 22 at Olathe South High School at 5:30 p.m.

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