Open old Kansas City school
Lewis DiuguidKansas City Public Schools officials would look like wise old sages if they reopen Hale Cook Elementary School in 2014.
A community advocacy group, Friends of Hale Cook, has been pushing for the school to reopen to serve children in the Brookside-Waldo area. The school at 7304 Pennsylvania Ave. had closed in 2009, a year before the district shuttered nearly half of its schools to save money and match the declining student enrollment, The Kansas City Star reports.
Now it appears that people want to send their kids to Kansas City schools, and the district should capitalize on that trend, particularly because the head of the Friends of Hale Cook, Ashley Z. Hand, is the spouse of Kansas City school board member, Gunnar Hand. The community organization gives the school a ready-made parent support group and a neighborhood of people and businesses that will embrace efforts to boost student achievement.
What’s not to like about that? Hale Cook could reopen if the group pulls in 50 kindergartners and 25 first-grade students by May who aren’t already enrolled in district schools.
All the school district has to focus on afterward is increasing the enrollment and keeping the kids and the parents fully engaged through high school.
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