The Westwood View community got two pieces of exciting news earlier this month when Shawnee Mission Superintendent Jim Hinson and Westwood Mayor John Yé visited the school’s PTA.
First, Hinson told the group, the closure of Westwood View was no longer an option under consideration for the district. The specter of the administrators shuttering the school, which has one of the lowest elementary enrollments (and some of the best test scores) in the district, had hung over the community since the early 2010s, when a strategic planning committee identified it as a target for closure. When Hinson took over as superintendent in 2013, he quickly shifted the district’s posture on the matter. At a PTA meeting Oct. 15, Hinson told Westwood View parents that Westwood View would not be closing — and that, in fact, on account of expected growth, the district may have to construct a new building for the school.
Hinson told the group that the district had made inquiries about purchasing the Entercom property at 50th Street and Belinder Ave. as a potential location for a new Westwood View building.
