KC-area parents, teachers rallied to protect their school. They may get their way
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect that KCKPS’s board meeting will now be held at 4 p.m. Residents in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, may not have to give up their local elementary school after all, according to board documents.
Although school district officials in November pitched closing New Stanley Elementary School and combining it with two others into a newer, larger campus, the final recommendation going to Kansas City, Kansas Public School’s board asks that it stay where it is.
“New Stanley remains as it currently operates with a K-5 attendance boundary” according to the recommendation board members will consider Tuesday.
The change comes less than a month after school parents and staff spoke before the board and demanded KCKPS rethink plans to move New Stanley. They said the school was not listed for relocation on the bond issue that voters approved, that the district didn’t consult them before moving the decision forward and that their unique school community is worth preserving.
School board members are scheduled to vote on a districtwide realignment plan that will affect where more than 1,000 kids go to school beginning in the 2027-28 year. That meeting will be held at 4 p.m.* Tuesday.
The district expects the redraw to change where 243 incoming ninth graders, 346 incoming sixth graders, and 617 elementary students are enrolled.
KCKPS is redrawing its boundaries and changing which middle and high schools local elementary campuses feed into in order to redistribute enrollment numbers across the district. Some schools, like Wyandotte High School, are over capacity while others, like F.L. Schlagle High School, have room to grow.
Last month, the committee tasked with planning out the map redraw suggested that New Stanley, a school of about 250 students, combine with Noble Prentis and Silver City Elementary schools to form the new campus expected to be built near Haas Drive and Steele Road.
But, when voters approved the $180 million bond issue in 2024 that is prompting the realignment, New Stanley wasn’t part of it. School families didn’t know its move was up for consideration until September.
Randy Lopez, the board president, told attendees of last month’s board meeting that the change came up naturally as the planning process moved on. The district formally announced plans to consolidate New Stanley during an Oct. 1 community meeting.
As of Monday, six residents had signed up to speak about New Stanley during Tuesday’s meeting.
Districtwide changes
Aside from the elementary campus consolidation that now only includes Silver City and Noble Prentis, KCKPS is constructing new campuses for Argentine and Central middle schools and adding an addition to Sumner Academy. The district will demolish Silver City Elementary to make way for the new Argentine Middle School.
Should all go according to plan, Quindaro, Whittier and Grant elementary school students will attend different middle and high schools than where they previously would have.
Quindaro Elementary School, which currently feeds into Carl Bruce Middle School and Wyandotte High would instead feed to Gloria Willis Middle School and Schlagle High School.
Grant Elementary students currently go to Rosedale Middle School and J.C. Harmon High School. The plan would move students to Central Middle School or Carl Bruce Middle and then on to Wyandotte High.
Whittier Elementary feeds into Central Middle School and Wyandotte High. Changes would keep Whittier Elementary students going on to Central Middle, but then they’d then feed to J.C. Harmon High School.
Central Middle schools students would see a split feeder pattern. Some would go to Harmon High School and others would go to Wyandotte.
Douglass Elementary students will feed into Carl Bruce Middle School, not Central.
This story was originally published December 8, 2025 at 3:41 PM.
