The KCMO School District

[taxi]

I LOVE to poke fun at AL because people are so damn pious about it, but it is a great asset to Midtown. I wonder if the presence of a sizable (for the midwest) population of fluent French speakers will ever play into some eco devo deals.

Perhaps we could get back to our fur trading roots.

[chaglang]

I LOVE to poke fun at AL because people are so damn pious about it, but it is a great asset to Midtown. I wonder if the presence of a sizable (for the midwest) population of fluent French speakers will ever play into some eco devo deals.

Perhaps we could get back to our fur trading roots.

Is that you, Monsieur Chouteau?

[FangKC]

I was sort of a part-time fur trader as a kid. Whenever I would see a freshly killed rabbit or raccoon on the highway, I would take it to a man who bought and sold fur in town, and get money from it to buy comic books and sundaes at the drug store. It was good going for awhile, before the Interstate came through and diverted traffic off our highway. The roadkill numbers dropped tremendously. So did the pop bottle trade redeeming them for the deposits.

[chrizow]

Really? I haven't heard a whisper about this from anyone I know at AL or in the repurposing world. Right now it seems like many of them go to Lincoln. It's interesting, because I know there was some pushback by parents when AL was considering buying Longan. One parent told a friend that the whole reason they sent their kid to AL was so they wouldn't have to go "over there". That's going to be an interesting internal dynamic going forward as it looks like the Longan Campus has made it much more of a Midtown school.

the AL cherry st campus has been well-received, i think. there was a small amount of pushback initially, mostly from the wornall/ward parkway set, but that is a pretty small fraction of the student population. midtown AL families have, of course, been thrilled.

and yeah, they are seriously looking at westport for the high school. it would just be a small part of the building though, they want to start small. i have heard this through HP board talks with the westport repurposing folks. it would be something like half the building redeveloped for residential, and the other half for AL.

[beautyfromashes]

^^^
I've heard this too. The Brookside families were scared to death of sending their babies to the new building off of Armour, probably mostly out of ignorance of the neighborhood. But, now that they have seen the area they are becoming more comfortable with it. I've heard they were originally planning an expansion to the Oak St. campus but have now decided to expand Longon instead since it has more space/land and is a newer building. I think this plays well for the city in general. A decade ago Brookside was seen by most people in the metro generally as a safe island in the city. Now, the boundaries of what is permissible have expanded. Grandma in Overland Park no longer will cry, "You're sending my babies to a school where??!?"

[KCtoBrooklyn]

I really hope the Midtown Community School Initiative can get something accomplished. They might have a more difficult time than the Hale Cook group, without the advantage of the leader being married to a school board member.

What are the options for locations of the school? Derrick Thomas was brought up and seems to be a possibility. What about the Norman School? Is that still owned by the district, or is it private hands now?

The other thing that occurred to me is who is/are the realtor(s) bringing them into the neighborhood? The reason I bring this up is that I have been told that there are a lot of realtors who won't even take their clients to KCMO south of the river. They automatically steer them into Johnson County, or the Northland. Especially if they are coming from out of town for a job. A pro-KCMO realtor might be making a huge difference.

There are a few out there who specialize in urban areas and do a great job at it. It wouldn't surprise me if realtors were actively steering people away from the core (my parents' realtor tried to steer them away from a house a block from Brookside Park in 1978)... but I don't know who they are because we never see them over here. If anyone has stories about people moving to KC and being steered to the burbs, I'd love to hear them.

Realtors steering people away from urban KC (and even Brookside) happens constantly. It is standard practice for relocations, who are usually sent to suburban realtors. I know someone who recently relocated from New Orleans to Central Hyde Park who was very frustrated with their realtor who kept attempting to steer them to the burbs and away from CHP, even though they knew that is where they wanted to be.

There are definitely a few realtors out there who live in and specialize in Midtown, and they are often very involved with their neighborhoods and great assets to the community. (If anyone wants any names or recommendations, pm me).

[brewcrew1000]

I really hope the Midtown Community School Initiative can get something accomplished. They might have a more difficult time than the Hale Cook group, without the advantage of the leader being married to a school board member.

What are the options for locations of the school? Derrick Thomas was brought up and seems to be a possibility. What about the Norman School? Is that still owned by the district, or is it private hands now?

I would actually think the Midtown Community School would have a good chance of getting a new school opened mainly because Midtown is a very diverse area with different races and socio economic classes. Hale Cook's boundaries are mainly upper class white neighborhoods and a little sliver past troost from Gregory to 63rd.

Another small factor that might help is the Mayor was a former resident of Hyde Park and a current resident of Union Hill which is more midtown than downtown IMO.

[taxi]

What about the Norman School? Is that still owned by the district, or is it private hands now?

It was purchased a few years ago by Del Hedgepath. As far as I know, he has done nothing to it except neglect it. It is for sale, listed through Block and Co.
I think it's one of the coolest buildings in Midtown.

[chaglang]

What about the Norman School? Is that still owned by the district, or is it private hands now?

It was purchased a few years ago by Del Hedgepath. As far as I know, he has done nothing to it except neglect it. It is for sale, listed through Block and Co.
I think it's one of the coolest buildings in Midtown.

To Del's credit, he did save it from KC Life. I'm surprised they haven't tried to buy it this time around. They sued over the 2008 sale.

The Midtown group is nowhere near needing a school, but it's interesting that the list of available schools in Midtown is surprisingly short. Swinney is being redeveloped and old Faxon is converting to senior housing. The best option might be my alma mater, Bryant, which is essentially being held hostage by the neighborhood. It's in good shape but a little far afield from Midtown. And Gordon Parks looks like it's going to remain open. The old Marquette Club building at Armour & Troost would be a cool setting but the building is in deplorable shape. What about Longfellow School? Is that open?

We have a couple of realtors who have worked with the neighborhood on a variety of issues. I'm also happy to provide names and contact info- just DM me.

AL looking at Westport Sr. is great news. Having a school across the street with the cachet of AL would be a boost to the area. It might even get the 39th and Warwick corner cleaned up... dare to dream.

[brewcrew1000]

Midtown school even made the news, hopefully the momentum can really build on this
http://www.kctv5.com/story/23160158/nei ... -education

[aknowledgeableperson]

I just think it is kinda interesting. Awhile back there were a few posters who bemoaned the existence of private and charter schools since it leaves a certain class of students behind. Now here we are talking about another school to further segregate the kids.

[chaglang]

I just think it is kinda interesting. Awhile back there were a few posters who bemoaned the existence of private and charter schools since it leaves a certain class of students behind. Now here we are talking about another school to further segregate the kids.

Jesus. If you had watched the video clip, you'd know the eastern boundary of the attendance area extends to 71. Brush Creek to 20th, State Line to 71. That's about as diverse an area as you'll get in KC, both economically and racially.

[aknowledgeableperson]

Wake up. There is more to it than that. Which kid is more likely to attend the school? One whose parent(s) are not involved in the kid's education or one whose parent(s) want something better for the kid. Parent(s) who may be more involved in school activities or parent(s) who don't give-a-s***.

[chaglang]

So charter schools are inherently racist?

[aknowledgeableperson]

What does race have to do with it? There are plenty of kids in all races who don't give-a-s*** about education.

Get into the real world.

[grovester]

Yeah chaglang, get out of your inner city fantasy and join the Belton real world!

[pash]

.

[aknowledgeableperson]

It was in a general sense I would assume. It was those who made the argument against private and charter schools that there would be kids "left behind" that would have to provide more detail about "what class".

[pash]

.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I was using it in a general sense, as those left behind. How others used it you have to ask them.