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Kansas City To Shut Down Almost Half Of Its Public Schools
Mar 12th, 2010 | 43 responses
Let me just say this straight out: This could not happen, and it would not happen, in a country that actually was the greatest country on earth.
43 Responses to “Kansas City To Shut Down Almost Half Of Its Public Schools”
Well to be fair about it the article suggests that the reason they are closing is lack of students.
I mean does it make sense to keep a school open when they are only half full ?
To spend money on all the support costs for that school instead of spending on teachers, supplies, etc ?
There's no reason to be agitated about this in and of itself, a school closure. (Nor about closures elsewhere. Even before the slump, years ago, there are many parts of Blue Nation where consolidation of entire municipalities as well as their school districts are overdue.) California is threatening to go broke.
On the other hand, if you know your history, it's good for a chuckle. Kansas City's district was the subject of a stellar example of judicial activism and court overreach. Serves 'em right!
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html
http://web2.umkc.edu/whmckc/collections/IKC0250…
“does it make sense to keep a school open when they are only half full”
No. And if the money's tight and the enrollment is low, they can join the four-day-week crowd, as well as play 6- or 8-man rather than 11-man football this autumn. Bursting with kids and money to spare, year-round school it ought to be; when money's tight, it's time to go to the minimum when this becomes necessary.
If employers do it (such as the 9/80 system in Michigan which a number of us enjoyed), why not schools?
“The four-day school week isn't new. But until recently, it has been used mostly by small, rural districts. A few rural Colorado school districts implemented four-day calendars in the 1980s for financial reasons, and now about a third of the state's 178 districts operate on a four-day calendar.
The system is currently most prevalent in Western states, where districts with four-day weeks in some cases comprise a quarter of the schools.
Four-day weeks have been in place for decades in states like New Mexico, Idaho and Wyoming and initially came about as states were looking to combat growing energy prices.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB200014240527487…
[older story]
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,917…
Effects on education, etc.
http://www.principalspartnership.com/fourdayschoolweek...
bonus
http://six-eight-eleven.blogspot.com/
Wasn't it Kansas that wanted to teach creationism in schools as a science topic? Perhaps they were waiting for divine intervention.
Yes, and also Texas.
It is an enrollment issue. How the hell can this be spun so negatively by you, Kathy?
It is a good decision, making sure that more education dollars are spent per student on their education than spending them on unneeded buildings (and their upkeep), or more teachers that are no longer needed.
It is no different than building more schools when they get overcrowded.
You slipped up there and let your anti-Americanism clearly show.
That is another of our big disagreements. I love America, and I do think we are the greatest country on earth. That is not saying we are perfect, but if you do not think we are the greatest country, why haven't you moved to the one you think is the greatest?
And can you share with us here at TMV what country you DO think is the greatest?
When middle class citizens lost control of the schools at the ballot box and the school board meeting, they voted with their feet and left. Now, Kansas City Missouri is a schools that does not have enough black student left to justify its existence as a jobs program and source of government contracts along with a shrinking tax based.
Maybe government should remember that in the long run people will find a way to avoid the governments institutions when they feel that they have lost control.
Exactly how I feel about mandatory healthcare with violators fined and imprisoned.
I have to agree that this shouldn't be happening in our great country:
The flight of parents to schools that are actually teaching kids is a perfectly logical and positive response to that appalling siuation, as is the subsequent closing of underutilized school buildings. Hopefully along with the consolidation, the school board will find ways to improve the quality of the educational product that they are tasked to provide.
I was born and raised in KC….the Kansas side. This comes as no surprise to me. The district lost accreditation when I was in high school. It has been plagued for decades.
If they actually would have handled these closing correctly…and over a longer period of time. They wouldn't have 3rd graders now in school with 12th graders. KCMO, meaning the Missouri side, may have the most dysfunctional school district in America.
No, this shouldn't be happening, but with an inactive school district watching its deficit increase, this is what must happen. Having watched this, http://bit.ly/b1FVLV I think this will vastly improve the quality of the remaining schools. I just hope that the board has a solid plan for busing those children whose schools will be closed.
DLS,
You are correct, but incomplete, when you remind us that the 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education arose from the Kansas City School District (at least in part – there were multiple school districts whose cases were heard simultaneously). You are also correct that it is an example of judicial activism. Where you are incomplete is in failing to mention that Brown, argued for the NAACP by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, jump started the civil rights movement.
The results of that decision are a vibrant integration and diversity in America that would not have occurred without it. It's progeny include the integration of learning institutions like the Universities of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Auburn and scores of others. It's progeny also includes the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, giving access to growing equality to millions of previously under valued citizens. I could go on…and on and on, but you know your history well enough that I don't have to.
Speaking only for myself, thank God we no longer have to witness govrenors and school officials standing in front of school house doors denying access to the children of their states and communities. And for that we can, in very large part, thank the “activist” decision in Brown v. Boad of Education.
Tidbits,
I'm not concerned about Brown. (There actually are activism questions that can be raised about Brown–it wasn't perfect– but it doesn't matter here.) Brown has nothing to do with this situation.
I'm concerned about the desegregation case in later years, that included a court ordering an elaborate plan that would have to be implemented, and the spectacle of a court ordering a tax increase.
The court proved Hamilton's reassurance wrong. The judiciary can exceed its legitimate place.
http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa78.htm
Hamilton was proven wrong. The judiciary _can_ levy taxes.
The reason for the closures is money, pure and simple.
It may well seem common sense to close schools half full, but this solution holds its own unintended consequences.
“
RIGHT NOW:
Kansas City Events Calendar
Parents Sound Off at Final Meeting for Kansas City School Closings
Reported by: Bob Stepanich Edited by: Christie Walton
5:09 PM CST, February 20, 2010
KANSAS CITY, MO – Dr. John Covington met with the public for the final time Saturday to get some feedback. The Kansas City Missouri School District wants to close 31 schools. Dr. Covington said the decision is a matter of dollars and sense.
The school district plans to sell its school board office to the city to make a few bucks. But, Saturday's forum was more about the safety of the children. McCoy Elementary School remained in the spotlight. And, parents and students are staying true to their school.
“I think McCoy is the best school on the planet and deserves to stay open, said Angelica Cox, McCoy student.”
But McCoy Elementary is one of the 31 schools on the chopping block in the Kansas City Missouri School District. The 94 year old school escaped closure a year ago. Parents here said boarding up their school jeopardizes the safety of the entire neighborhood.
“It does,” said Karrie Cox, McCoy Parent. “It has a lot to do with safety because if the school is forgotten in a neighborhood then so are the children. They have nothing to turn to.”
Safety took center stage Saturday. Parents and students said it's not just about combining schools, it's also about combining grades.
“What is going to protect our little ones from the big ones,? said Parent, D'mitria Downs.
The plan for now would combine third graders with sixth graders and seventh graders with 12th graders. Garfield parent Kyra Roseburr said said the school board should think twice before mixing older children with younger ones because of an incident involving her daughter.”
The effects on the downtown area should allso be considered. From AP:
“Kansas City Councilwoman Sharon Sanders Brooks said the closure plan had prompted some housing developers to consider backing out of projects.
“The urban core has suffered white flight post-the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. the Board of Education, blockbusting by the real estate industry, redlining by banks and other financial institutions, retail and grocery store abandonment,” Brooks said to applause from the standing-room-only crowd.
“And now the public education system is aiding and abetting in the economic demise of our school district,” she said. “
It seems to me failed credit default swaps on Wall Street continue to penalize our country in ways not readily apparent.
DLS,
You get no argument from me that any branch of government can exceed its powers. That includes, most particuarly, examples of both the judicial and executive branches usurping powers reserved to congress, as well as federal branches generally usurping state and local powers. We have strayed far from the original delineations of power and control first set out in the Constitution.
To touch on your point about taxation, it can be argued that the greatest source of coerced taxation occurs at the state and local level as a result of unfunded federal mandates.
“To touch on your point about taxation, it can be argued that the greatest source of coerced taxation occurs at the state and local level as a result of unfunded federal mandates.”
Without a doubt. It's a history of imperious behavior by the federal government, and in the years to come I view it even more cynically, as an opportunity for cost-shifting (when not already done to free revenue for new, more newsworthy and federal career-improving, things).
In fact, what I saw in Michigan with the people caught in the legal system there was another kind of unfunded mandates — all kinds of court costs and fees and probation conditions that involved a good deal of expense. (If government orders something, government should assume all the costs of it.)
And, being quick learners, Indiana has been using unfunded mandates to make counties raise their taxes. It's a great way to say that they've accomplished something “without raising taxes”.
DLS,
Regarding your comment on imperious federal government behavior, we again find ourselves in agreement…which, as you know, annoys the heck out of me.
Let me also take this opportunity to take responsibility for incorrectly assuming that you were referring to Brown v. Board of Education in an earlier comment when you were apparently referring to the forced taxation case (whose name I forget).
“assuming that you were referring to Brown v. Board of Education in an earlier comment when you were apparently referring to the forced taxation case”
It was the desegregation case.
http://web2.umkc.edu/whmckc/collections/IKC0250…
[A] Federal judge can go so far as to order a tax increase to pay for an effort to integrate a school system.
Justice Kennedy said that under the Constitution, ''the power of taxation is one that the Federal judiciary does not possess.'' He said that both the state and the Federal Constitutions gave the legislative branch the power to tax as a reflection of ''our ideal that the power of taxation must be under the control of those who are taxed.''
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/19/us/court-says…
With the district enrollment down so hugely, what is it, exactly, that those who are outraged suggest be done?
The city is Kansas City, Missouri. The metro area is split between counties and cities on both sides of the state line.
This article refers to the Kansas City, Missouri schools. Not in Kansas
While closing many of the schools is a good idea, there is a lot that could be done. Revenue in the state is getting hit hard by the recession, and there are things they could do to improve things on that side of the balance sheet… like closing the yacht tax loop hole (you have to pay a sales tax if you buy a small fishing boat. If you buy a big yacht, you get a big tax break.)
Really? There are that many yacht sales in Missouri? What are they defining as a yacht, a 21-foot bass boat instead of an 18-foot one?
StockBoy
Kansas City has a Kansas and Missouri side. Kansas side has a long tangled history of schools and creationism. This refers to Kansas City School, Missouri side. In the thirty plus years i have lived here no issues of KCMO school district and creationism but we do have a long long history of difficulties with School Boards and Superintendents and ongoing serial power struggles.
Hi Tidbits
Many people think Kansas City and think Kansas. It was not Kansas City that is noted for the Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. Once again that is the Kansas and not the Missouri side.
From Wiki: I checked to see if Missouri was part of the case and did not find any reference to Missouri. . . .
” Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954),[1] was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students, denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional. “
“Many people think Kansas City and think Kansas.”
Shallow, like seeing references to “the East” and thinking only of the Northeastern Corridor. [rolling eyes]
Kansas City, Missouri (home of Gates BBQ, though there are outlets on the Kansas side as well) is Truman Country as well as Royals Stadium land, and so on. Independence (in the Kansas, City, MO metro area) is a leading location for relocation of the federal capital if that ever were to happen (not that it ever will).
“we again find ourselves in agreement…which, as you know, annoys the heck out of me.
”
I'm not denying racism and segregation, either.
I haven't lived in Kansas City (though I've traveled there numerous times), but I did live in St. Louis metro for four years. I was aware of a history of segregation and racism in St. Louis metro (motivating at least some of the creation of the numerous independent municipalities in that metro area, though there are other kinds of reasons as well) and school desegregation (due to living segregation) has an established history in both cities.
[1981 -- related to the later KC schools desegregation case]
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/...
My first comment got lost, so if this is repeat Stock Boy please dismiss. Two sides of Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas. Often times people only think Kansas when speaking of Kansas City. This school district is on the Missouri side. The history from Civil War border wars still lingers in the psyche of the locals in the Greater Kansas City Area. Kansas side conservative whereas Missouri more liberal. Kansas City Missouri School District has a long history of severe problems with finances, Superintendents, and School Boards. This is just another; ” and this too.”
Actually we have very large lakes in Missouri. . . .
Large lakes — beware the drunk boaters. Many in Missouri don't go boating there for just that reason.
Kansas City — I actually prefer the Blue Nation Missouri side.
Here is a good link to give background of the Kansas City Mo. School District. As a local i think the closing of the schools may be very positive yet many do not. We have such a long complicated history of sincere attempts with dismal failures. What has been most interesting about this thread and comments has been the opinions from non-locals and experiencing the issue from a local view. Truly caused me to ponder on news and comments in general. Very interesting.
As a resident of Kansas City Missouri School District the only thing left we have to say from time to time is that at least our rankings are not as bad as St. Louis School District.
Do follow this link for background.. . . .
http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html
HA!
The 5 biggest lakes in Missouri (Truman Reservoir, Lake of the Ozarks, Table Rock Lake, Stockton Lake, Mark Twain Lake) combined (about 178,000 acres) are not as large as the largest lake in Texas (Sam Rayburn Reservoir, 185,000 acres)!
They are just big puddles.
As it has been said before: Sometimes one picture can say a thousand words.
See avatar. . . .Ha!
LOL
Sparrow,
You're right…has not been my day on this thread. Thanks for the correction.
It's more than an enrollment issue, AR. What happens now to the neighborhoods where these shut-down schools are? Where do their children go to school? When these schools are closed, it's not just a matter of “unneeded buildings.” That's dozens of public schools that aren't there anymore! Where do those students go?
Duh. To the schools that are still open, and now can be more fully funded, and do a better job.
Oh, Austin. Sighhhhhhh. If I didn't love my country, I wouldn't care about half of a city's public schools being cut. I wouldn't care if all the public schools in the whole country got cut. If I didn't love my country, I wouldn't think it was any big deal at all if American children even got to go to school at all. Why would I care?
You say, “I love America, and I do think we are the greatest nation on earth.” Well, what I don't understand is why you link loving your country with thinking it's the greatest nation on earth. What do the two have to do with each other? If loving your country means you have to think it's the greatest nation on earth — if that's just a natural sequence — then you must be saying that Iraqis don't love their country, that Iranians don't love their country, that Saudi Arabians don't love their country, that Afghans don't love their country, that the Chinese don't love their country, that Russians don't love their country, that Malaysians and Indonesians don't love their countries.Wait, let me correct that. You must be saying, either that all of the above peoples don't love their countries, OR, you must be saying that all of them believe their countries to be the greatest nations on earth. Because how is it possible to love your country and yet understand that it's not the greatest nation on earth?
And can you share with us here at TMV what country you DO think is the greatest?
Ahhhhh. Now this, Austin, is really going to make your head explode. I don't believe any country is the greatest country on earth. I think there are greater and lesser countries when measured against specific values, but I do not think that any one nation is the greatest nation on earth, period end of story. In fact, I believe the very notion that there could be one “greatest nation on earth” is really silly.
“What happens now to the neighborhoods where these shut-down schools are?”
That's not “society's” “problem,” Kathy.
One thing in the East, including New Jersey, that is backward is the presence of toll booths on what should be freeways, i.e., freely-running, with no obstructions of any kind. The toll booths should be removed (dynamited first by a lucky normal person winning a lottery for the privilege of doing this). (Ignorant people say there is E-Z pass, but the problem remains: obstructions and narrowing which don't permit full-speed operation). You really don't believe that “society” “owes” the toll booth personnel jobs, do you?
The automobile fueling situation in New Jersey is mentally ill, too. You don't believe we “owe” the people at fueling stations who are allowed by law to fuel vehicles those jobs, do you?
Just wondering.
With what money, Austin? The school district is financially strapped. It's shutting these schools to cut the budget, not to reallocate the same money elsewhere.
Also, have you given any thought to how exactly students from these dozens of school districts in Kansas City that are to be closed will be gotten to the schools that are still open? Do you know what distances are involved? Whether those other schools have room to take in hundreds more children from dozens of closed schools? What the logistics are, and how implementation of this “getting them to the schools that are still open” is going to be funded?
Maybe before saying, “duh, to the schools that are still open,” you should consider if you yourself have thought this through and asked yourself any questions at all about how this is to be done. It's easy to say “duh, to the schools that are still open” when you don't live in Kansas City, you don't have children in the affected school districts, and the whole matter is just an academic exercise to you. There actually are real, tangible educational consequences that flow from closing dozens of public schools in one fell swoop.
As to other government excess:
We'll see more of this someday. It's already overdue. The unrealistic and impossible will end someday.
Louisiana could provide a test of how states will restructure their public pension systems to reduce costs. Lawmakers are considering a proposal to scrap the current system, which provides lifelong defined benefits for state police, state employees, public school teachers and other education personnel. In its place would be a defined contribution system similar to 401(k) plans common in the private sector.
“Promises with a Price”
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_deta…