Citizens of the World charter school in midtown finds a building on Broadway
Citizens of the World Charter Kansas City has selected a building for its new elementary school.
The midtown charter school on Thursday announced it has entered into lease negotiations on a building at 3435 Broadway. That location will become the campus for its new school, set to open this fall.
Charter school organizers chose the location on major thoroughfares linking east and west midtown along Armour and north and south midtown along Broadway to allow access to the campus by car, bus, bike or foot.
The building is being financed through nonprofit lender and real estate consultant IFF in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Citizens of the World is negotiating a long-term lease with IFF with plans to eventually purchase the facility.
“The new Citizens of the World campus marks a major milestone in our efforts to bring high-quality schools to midtown, with the intentional purpose of bringing together, under one school roof, members of a community that has been segregated for far too long,” said Kristin Droege, executive director of Citizens of the World Charter Kansas City.
Droege said the charter school focuses on providing an economically, culturally and racially diverse student population with a challenging academic program.
The Kansas City charter expects to start with about 288 students in kindergarten through first grade and reach about 1,800 students after expanding to all 13 grades in 12 years. Eventually it would grow to four schools, including elementary, middle and high schools, at a full capacity of 1,750 students.
Citizens of the World Kansas City is part of a public charter school network that currently serves more than 1,800 children across five schools in California and New York, where 60 percent are students of color and half qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Mará Rose Williams: 816-234-4419, @marawilliamskc
This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Citizens of the World charter school in midtown finds a building on Broadway."