Gas odor forces sudden closure at KC area high school. Class to resume Tuesday
Update: Monday evening, school officials announced all classes and activities will resume on a regular schedule beginning Tuesday, Sept. 30, after what they said was a precautionary temporary closure.
A gas leak at Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas, forced the school to send students home and cancel classes Monday.
Staff members arriving around 7 a.m. noticed the odor of natural gas at the school, located at 7340 Leavenworth Road, said Markl Johnson, a spokesman for the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools. Initially, the source was thought to be in an area between the football stadium and the high school’s dock area, but the gas utility determined that the leak was somewhere within the building.
“We’ve reached out to contractors to see if they can come and locate the leak and cap it,” Johnson said.
A handful of students who had arrived early at the school were escorted outside. Meanwhile, students arriving by bus for the start of school at 7:25 a.m. were held outside as a precaution, Johnson said.
Once it was determined the leak could not be found and fixed immediately, officials decided to send students home for the day, Johnson said. Buses, which were in the midst of running routes for middle and elementary schools, were instructed to return after completing their routes to pick up the high school students and take them home.
The buses began arriving back at the school around 9 a.m., and the last students left around 9:45 a.m., Johnson said, estimating that after being picked up, most students were back home within 10 to 15 minutes. The school has an enrollment of 1,256 students.
It was not immediately known when classes would resume. Johnson said he was waiting to hear back from the district’s operations director. He also did not know whether a contractor had found the leak or how long it would take to repair.
“If it’s going to take him a while to repair, we will communicate with parents to let them know,” Johnson said. The district uses the BrightArrow communication system, which notifies parents of information through phone, email or text messages.
Monday evening, school officials announced publicly that all classes and activities will resume on a regular schedule beginning Tuesday, Sept. 30, following the precautionary closure Monday.
This story was originally published September 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM.
