New middle school of the arts promised in Overland Park

A new middle school of the arts is set to open in downtown Overland Park next fall.

Organizers of the Metropolitan School of the Arts Kansas City said the private school is currently enrolling students in grades 6 through 8 for its inaugural year — 2017. The school will be located in the InterUrban ArtHouse space on Conser Street.

The plan is to add an upper grade each year to 12th grade.

Students are promised a regular academic curriculum along with two arts-based classes daily in dance, theater/music theater, vocal music or visual arts. Dance classes will be held in collaboration with the Kansas School of Classical Ballet, also in downtown Overland Park.

Stephen Aspleaf, executive director and principal of the Metropolitan School of the Arts, said the new school will be small with a weekly schedule that would allow students to participate in master classes, go on field trips or perform regularly in the community without interfering with academic classes.

“My exposure to different performing arts schools around the U.S. tells me that arts schools fill a need,” Aspleaf said. As proof, he said he has received numerous telephone calls from parents saying their child is into some form of the arts and does not fit in the traditional school classroom.

He said teachers at the middle school for the arts would tie the arts into the academic curriculum, “so that it becomes a very integrated curriculum,” that crosses subject areas, Aspleaf said.

“I wish there were a school that went all the way through high school that provided arts-friendly academics in the area my 10th-grader would attend now,” said Nicole Emanuel, founder of the InterUrban Arthouse, which provides studio space for local artists. “ I think there is definitely a need.”

Aspleaf, is a former principal at Kansas City Public Schools’ now closed Middle School of the Arts. He was let go in 2003 by the Kansas City Public School District for allegedly failing to call police about an attempted sexual assault at the school.`

Aspleaf, who had declined to answer questions about the incident at the time, on Monday told The Star that he had followed district procedures and reported the alleged assault internally and then referred the parent to police for details.

“What I did not do was follow the request of the parent who wanted me to call police to the building,” which he said was against district protocol. He said when the parent took her story to the media the district didn’t back him, and let him go.

Then in 2007, the U.S. Department of Education awarded Aspleaf — who at the time was proposing a Kansas City charter school for the arts — a $146,000 federal grant over two years to cover the cost of planning that high school.

But he was unable to recruit an institution of higher education to sponsor the school. Since the arts high school never got off the ground, Aspleaf said, only a portion of the money was ever released for planning by the federal department.

In his new school endeavor, Aspleaf expects the proposed middle school to fill about 5,000 square feet of space in the building , where InterUrban Art House is located. The art house has acquire the old Overland Park post office across the street and is expanding its studios there freeing up space it will share with the school.

Aspleaf said the school space will need some renovations to accommodate up to 80, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students. Students, who will pay $9,000 a year tuition to attend, will get instruction in math science, social studies, English and foreign language as well as in their particular arts area.

The middle school is looking to hire faculty, Aspleaf said. But, he said, founders of the Kansas School of Classical Ballet have signed on to teach dance in their studios a few doors down from the InterUrban Art space.

“We are going to be using a lot of space that won’t necessarily be our own,” Aspleaf said.

Other teachers also have already signed on to help Aspleaf said, including a former theater teacher from Shawnee Mission East and a vocal specialist who ran a music camp in Overland Park this past summer.

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 9:52 AM with the headline "New middle school of the arts promised in Overland Park."