KC school board sends concerns over Academie Lafayette talks to committee
The Kansas City school board will see if it can bridge a community divide over any potential future talks with Academie Lafayette with a committee.
The decision Wednesday night came two weeks after opponents of the controversial union with the charter school forced the board to adjourn its meeting.
The committee will take on the concerns as a policy issue, looking to see if its guidelines for establishing school partnerships or opening and closing schools protect current students from displacement or discrimination.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” said the Rev. Wallace Hartsfield II, who led the demonstration at the last meeting. “But it keeps the talks in abeyance.”
He and about 100 people who stood with him in the last meeting wanted the board to agree to end any future negotiations toward the proposal — currently on hold — to let Academie Lafayette run a high school for both charter and district students at Southwest Early College Campus.
The concerns went beyond the Southwest proposal and raised broader concerns that the district is not protecting the best interests of its current students as it explores potential partnerships and programs to grow enrollment.
The committee will be led by Amy Hartsfield, a school board member who is the wife of Wallace Hartsfield. Other board members named to the group were Carl Evans, Marisol Montero and Airick Leonard West.
The committee will begin the work and then involve the community in the discussion, board Chairman Jon Hile said, and potentially bring a recommendation for changes in policy to the full board in its July business meeting.
The boards for the school district and Academie Lafayette decided in March to suspend negotiations over Southwest. The district is involved in districtwide master-planning, and the board determined it would complete that process before reopening any plans for Southwest.
To reach Joe Robertson, call 816-234-4789 or send email to jrobertson@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 9:04 PM with the headline "KC school board sends concerns over Academie Lafayette talks to committee."