Dear Parents/Guardians,
Missouri lawmakers are working on a new law that will split our district into two groups of schools.
If the law is passed, our elected board would be replaced with a 5-member appointed board. The Commissioner of Education and the Mayor would appoint our board members. The appointed board would then hire a new superintendent.
The appointed board would manage the top 8 schools in the district. The other 23 schools would be turned into charter or contract schools.
The District Advisory Committee (DAC) has been working hard to make sure the lawmakers hear from parents. This new law goes against what most of the parents who attended the DAC’s Governance Town Halls said they wanted for their students and schools.
Before Winter Break, we gave parents information about how the loss of accreditation effects us, governance options being considered at the time, including dissolution and splitting us up, and making the district all charter schools. At the end of the presentation, parents and community members were asked to tell us what our children, our schools and our district needed in order to improve student achievement.
We know in the past our board and district administration had created many problems that hurt our children. However, most of the people who attended the town halls believe the current board has made the changes we need and that we were moving in the right direction as a district.
The majority of the people who attended the town halls wanted to keep elected board, find a stable superintendent and continue moving forward with the transformation plan focusing on teaching and learning.
If you believe our lawmakers need to listen to the voices of the KCPS parents and community members call or write your representative and the House Education Committee to tell them why you do NOT support Bill 2043 which would split the district into two groups of schools (those with an appointed board and charters).
District Advisory Committee
Kansas City Public Schools