Shawnee Mission school district sees growth spurt

School enrollment in the Shawnee Mission School District has increased at the fastest clip in 23 years.

Preliminary numbers show 27,699 students showed up at the start of this school year, an increase of 235 students from last fall. That’s the highest one-year increase since 1992, when enrollment in the district grew by 490 students.

Grades 10 through 12 led the gains with an additional 117 students, followed by kindergarten through sixth grade (76) and grades 7 through 9 (37). There were an additional seven special education students while the number of pre-kindergartners dipped by two.

Superintendent Jim Hinson highlighted the growth last Thursday at the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation’s fall breakfast. He framed it against the district’s ongoing efforts to add or replace five elementary schools, as well as other construction.

“Our increased enrollment is really small compared to what we think it’s going to be over the next several years,” Hinson said to the more than 1,000 attendees at the Overland Park Convention Center. “It’s certainly an exciting time for us.”

The nonprofit foundation provides scholarships, grants and other funding for district learning programs, totaling $4.2 million over the last 26 years, said executive director Linda Roser.

“We build the future by investing in our students,” said Roser, who will retire at the end of the year after leading the foundation for the last eight years.

Other achievements noted in the presentation:

▪ Eliminating the fee for all-day kindergarten as well as the fees on textbooks for elementary school students.

▪ Upgrading security measures and technology at all schools, paid for through the $223 million in bonds approved by voters in January.

▪ Reintroducing sports to middle schools, where more than 1,300 students now participate.

▪ Completing the rollout of around 30,000 iPads, laptops and other computer equipment to every student in the district for classroom and home use.

▪ Constructing the Center for Academic Achievement at 8200 W. 71st St. to consolidate around 500,000 square feet of administrative space spread across the district into about 70,000 square feet, at an estimated savings of $2 million a year.

Looking forward, Hinson said the district was going through what he called a “lifestyle” change as it seeks to make sure the education it is providing to students is relevant to the challenges those students will face as they grow up and deal with an ever-changing society and marketplace.

“Traditional education with a focus on academic achievement above all has created a gap between the speed at which society is moving and the speed at which public education is improving,” he said. “We believe the best way to close the gap or even reverse it is to adapt … that growth mindset, where technology is used to transform education by developing ways to infuse education with art, music, physical education, career education. To develop the drive, the perseverance that pushes students beyond what they believe they could accomplish and truly make a difference in doing what they didn’t dream possible for themselves initially.”

This story was originally published September 15, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Shawnee Mission school district sees growth spurt."