Shawnee Mission releases its ‘Plan B’ on elementary school boundary changes

The Shawnee Mission School District is in a hurry to get a slate of elementary school boundary changes finalized, with the latest amendments scheduled to go before the school board in less than a week.

District officials on Friday released the latest update to the proposed plan they first issued in March. The update modifies changes to four schools and removes changes to Shawanoe Elementary from the process outright.

Most of the changes reflect suggestions made Monday by school board member Patty Mach, who said she thought the previous proposal was too complicated, split neighborhoods and would remove the majority of single-family homes from Shawanoe.

The boundary changes are scheduled to go into effect in the fall of 2018 and are designed to ease crowding, prepare for the 2018 opening of Lenexa Hills Elementary and otherwise address expected boosts in construction of single-family homes and apartments in the school district.

The district will hold a public meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Center for Academic Achievement, 8200 W. 71^st St. in Overland Park, to gather public input and answer questions about both the previous plan, called Plan A, and the new Plan B. Residents can also submit questions and comments by email at smsdboundaries@smsd.org.

The school board will then hold a special meeting at 3 p.m. Thursday at the center to vote. The board will not allow public comment during the special meeting.

School officials have said they want to get the changes approved as soon as possible to give parents of affected students time to plan. For example, some families may want to move to a different school attendance area before the 2017 school year begins in August.

The changes under Plan B include:

▪ Students living between 79^th and 87^th streets and between Lackman Road on the west and Randall Drive and Hallet Street on the east would move from Rising Star Elementary to Christa McAuliffe Elementary.

The previous proposal for Rising Star students living south of 91^st Street between Santa Fe Drive and Pflumm Road and those living south of 89^th Terrace from Pflumm to Widmer Road to move to Sunflower Elementary would remain unchanged, as would the proposal that Rising Star students could choose to enter the feeder pattern for either Shawnee Mission Northwest High School or Shawnee Mission West High School.

▪ Students living in the Wedgewood subdivision east of Lackman Road would move from Christa McAuliffe to Mill Creek Elementary

▪ Students living from Midland Drive to Richards Drive, south of 71^st Street, and those living from Lackman to Midland Drive, south of Autumn Park, would move from Rhein Benninghoven Elementary to Mill Creek.

▪ District officials would not change the boundaries for Shawanoe Elementary.

Plan B makes no further adjustments to those previously proposed for Broken Arrow, Sunflower or Lenexa Hills elementary schools or the minor change affecting a single student at Rosehilll Elementary. The school board has already approved changes for Overland Park and East Antioch elementary schools.

This story was originally published May 26, 2017 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission releases its ‘Plan B’ on elementary school boundary changes."