New Elementary School to be built in Rosedale

[justin8216]

Kansas City, KS school district is building a new Elementary school on W 43rd Ave in the Rosedale area, which is the continuance of Westport Rd when it crosses State Line. This will be the 4th new urban elementary school built East of I-635 in Kansas City, KS in the last 3 years.

The reason this is significant to me is that the Kansas City, Ks public schools is building all this without a bond issue. I believe they utilize a lease-purchase model with a private developer that they pay for out of thier dedicated capital outlay funds.

It is also further proof that the development west of I-435 is benefiting Kansas City, KS's urban core. I learned an interesting fact. Nascar drivers at Kansas Speedway travel through 3 different school districts as they race around the track; the Kansas City, Bonner Springs, and PIper USDs. Furthermore Nebraska Furniture, Cabela's, the Cerner Campus, KC Sporting Park, the casino parking garage, Schitlerbaughn, and the future Corporate HQ of Dairy Farmers of America are all within the boundaries of the Kansas City, KS USD 500 and pay full property tax.

So I would say the development out west is most certainly benefiting KCK's urban core contrary to the myth propagated by so many uninformed people including many on this very forum.

http://www.wycokck.org/WorkArea/Downloa ... x?id=41221

[Eon Blue]

That's a perk of all that stuff being the fruit of state subsidies like STAR and PEAK as opposed to the typical KCMO cocktail of TIF and tax abatements.

[justin8216]

That is true, STAR bond TIF districts only divert Sales Taxes (both the state and local portions) and not property Tax. So the developments out west cost Wyandotte County's taxpayers nothing (other than their 2 % of the sales tax that didn't exist before the development anyway) and local taxing jurisdictions gain immediately in the form of full property taxes paid by all the new developments in the STAR Bond TIF District. It is a win-win for Wyandotte County taxpayers, particularly the residents of USD 500, because of the expansion of the Tax base allows them the revenue to do things like build new school buildings. Not to mention all the new roads that was either paid for entirely by the state or heavily subsidized by the state/feds. The point being that when it comes to The Speedway and Village West, Wyandotte County's citizens got a really good deal and it is paying dividends in the form of lower property taxes and new schools for KCK's urban core.

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[justin8216]

Furthermore Nebraska Furniture, Cabela's, the Cerner Campus, KC Sporting Park, the casino parking garage, Schitlerbaughn, and the future Corporate HQ of Dairy Farmers of America are all within the boundaries of the Kansas City, KS USD 500 and pay full property tax.

False.

which part? Everything I listed is definitely within the boundaries of USD 500. That is a fact. And as far as I know everything I listed pays full property tax. The only possible exception, and I'd have to go back and research it, is KC sporting Park and Cerner Campus. The Casino, NFM and Cabelas (minus the city owned Mule Deer Museum) all pay full property tax and that is a fact.

[justin8216]

Furthermore Nebraska Furniture, Cabela's, the Cerner Campus, KC Sporting Park, the casino parking garage, Schitlerbaughn, and the future Corporate HQ of Dairy Farmers of America are all within the boundaries of the Kansas City, KS USD 500 and pay full property tax.

False.

So I have determined that you are an uninformed troll.

I reviewed the development agreement for Cerner Campus/Soccer Stadium and they do in fact pay full property taxes including to Kansas City, KS USD 500 within which they are both located.

The Unified Government Staff even went so far as to negotiate preset property values for the Stadium and Office campus as to avoid what happened with Cabelas and Legends who appealed their valuations to the state who ruled in their favor and the city/school districts had to refund a portion of the property tax that had been paid under protest. Eventually the Legends owners reached a compromise with the Piper USD 203 over their property value/taxes including a 1-time payment to the school district if I recall correctly.

Anyways the point is everything in my original post is absolutely CORRECT. Truth is when it comes to Wyandotte County and Village West I am the most informed person in this forum.

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[justin8216]

So I have determined that you are an uninformed troll. ... Anyways the point is everything in my original post is absolutely CORRECT. Truth is when it comes to Wyandotte County and Village West I am the most informed person in this forum.

False.

DFA is getting 75% of its property taxes abated for a decade.

one thing, that's it? Troll...

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[AlbertHammond]

What’s the deal with all this new school building resulting in tearing down the existing school? Sure..these post WWII buildings are not architectural gems, but they are decent and seem to be fully serviceable structures for today’s learning environment. Lawrence is currently renovating several of their older schools instead rebuilding for less than half the cost of new.

I only know this Rosedale school be driving by, so I do not know if it has some greater failure. But my question is: Why is it so popular to raze and rebuild at twice the cost of a thorough renovation? Shawnee Mission just approved a $223M bond, much of which is for reconstruction of 5 schools. When I asked district officials why they are rebuilding, it was because that’s what people want. Well, sure! If there is no financial ramification, why not get a shiny new building? But there is, and it all seems so wasteful of money (not to mention the old building going to the landfill). It just seems so short-sighted.

[flyingember]

The style of how to teach is on the cusp of massive change. It's no longer about renovating inside the existing walls, it's about redesigning the entire inside. The pace of knowledge gain is dramatically outpacing our ability to memorize facts and figures. That everyone can learn the same basics of math, writing and reading skills so you can stay at the same career for 45 years is well past it's use by date. It's why NCLB failed and why Common Core above elementary school will too. Education is changing to be about group exploration and gaining an interest in life-long learning so people can be capable of changing careers.

Look at Epic Elementary in Liberty for one of the first metro public schools in this model
http://www.libertytribune.com/schools/k ... ge&photo=0

It has approx. 50 kids per grade (300 kids at the school), and each grade has one room with multiple teachers. I'm sure it's possible to redo to this design with a classic school layout but I doubt it's half the cost of building new.

[AlbertHammond]

The style of how to teach is on the cusp of massive change. It's no longer about renovating inside the existing walls, it's about redesigning the entire inside.

Look at Epic Elementary in Liberty for one of the first metro public schools in this model
http://www.libertytribune.com/schools/k ... ge&photo=0

It has approx. 50 kids per grade (300 kids at the school), and each grade has one room with multiple teachers. I'm sure it's possible to redo to this design with a classic school layout but I doubt it's half the cost of building new.

This Liberty example reminds me of the pod layout 1970s schools that Shawnee Mission happily razed a decade ago because they simply didn't work. I suppose they should have left them a bit longer so education style could catch up to the building layout.

Almost all new schools I see going on-line still follow the same formula that has been typical for the past 7 decades: standard classrooms for each class with hallways and specials (music, art, etc.) in their own classroom. Nothing revolutionary, just fresh and new. The technology is too hard to keep up with and a building is already outdated when the first student walks in the door, so that will always be a catch-up game. Shawnee Mission is spending big money updating technology on buildings only 8 years old or so.

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[chaglang]

If history has taught us anything about architecture, it's that big boxes make the most adaptable, future-proof buildings.

Not a fan of the 60's round school building fad?

[flyingember]

I think Liberty high school before the late 90s renovation had the pod style mentioned already.
it had pods of six classrooms without walls, each room didn't have it's own door, so you had to walk through other classrooms to get to some of them. I'm not quite sure what it was, but the big common area between the pods was called the Media Center.

when they expanded the school in 1996-8 they tore that out and put in hallways with rooms.

one common thing with some of the schools is they put in the shared walls that could be opened up. so you could do larger classes with more teachers at once if that's found to work. that seems like a decent choice as it's more about teaching flexibility without having a bunch of large rooms that need renovation if it doesn't work for everything

[aknowledgeableperson]

An advantage to building new over a rehab is time. Doing a rehab may require more time than a summer break. A new building does not cause an interruption of the school year.

[justin8216]

What’s the deal with all this new school building resulting in tearing down the existing school? Sure..these post WWII buildings are not architectural gems, but they are decent and seem to be fully serviceable structures for today’s learning environment. Lawrence is currently renovating several of their older schools instead rebuilding for less than half the cost of new.

I only know this Rosedale school be driving by, so I do not know if it has some greater failure. But my question is: Why is it so popular to raze and rebuild at twice the cost of a thorough renovation? Shawnee Mission just approved a $223M bond, much of which is for reconstruction of 5 schools. When I asked district officials why they are rebuilding, it was because that’s what people want. Well, sure! If there is no financial ramification, why not get a shiny new building? But there is, and it all seems so wasteful of money (not to mention the old building going to the landfill). It just seems so short-sighted.

Actually KCK SD has renovated and expanded quite a few of their 1950's era school buildings. Some that come to mind include Thomas Edison Elementary near S 10th and Locust also in the Rosedale area. They built an addition that doubled the size about 5 years ago. Also Francis Willard at N 34th and Orville Ave was renovated and expanded.

It seems that when they completely raze a school building and rebuild it in the same location it is because they are significantly expanding the schools capacity. The current Frank Rushton is a single story building that accommodates 200 t0 250 students. The new Frank Rushton is Planned as 2 story structure designed for over 500 students. Same goes for Mark Twain near 22nd and Minnesota Ave, replaced with a much larger 2 story facility. Both those are boxed-in urban sites so doubling the buildings size without going up would have taken away space needed for expanded parking lots and playgrounds.

The KCK school district had been actively expanding school capacity east of I-635 because of an increasing enrollment driven by young hispanic families.