Families and community members of Briarwood Elementary in Prairie Village got a look at a second concept for redrawing the school’s enrollment boundaries and, for the first time, were able to give public input directly to Shawnee Mission School District officials about the school’s impending boundary changes.
- Attendees at a special community meeting Tuesday night told district officials, in part, that they want to see walkability maintained and additional economic diversity within the new Briarwood boundaries.
- With two concepts now on the table, no final decision on the school’s future boundaries has yet been made, and the district plans to continue to collect feedback in coming weeks.
Driving the news: For years, the district has discussed the need to change Briarwood’s enrollment area in order to alleviate overcrowding at the school near 86th and Nall, and district officials earlier this year formally launched the process to redraw the school’s attendance zone.
- A special working group made up mostly of parents presented a concept for new boundaries to the school board last month.
- Last week, the district released a second concept on its Briarwood boundary change webpage, which, unlike the first concept presented, would move some students from nearby Tomahawk Elementary into Briarwood’s zone.
- The district says it is sharing the new concept now because of “the need to make additional reductions to enrollment at Briarwood.”
Second concept: The new proposed boundaries, dubbed Concept 2A, pushes the Tomahawk boundary along Nall Avenue between 75th and 83rd Streets to Roe Avenue — between the same streets.
- It also sends a portion of Tomahawk’s boundary — between Metcalf and Lamar Avenues and as far south as 85th Street — to Tomahawk.
- A map of the second concept is found below. Both concepts are drafts and no final decisions have been made at this time.
- Read about the first concept, Concept 1A, here, including an image of Concept 1A and an image of current boundaries.
People are saying: On Tuesday, some community members like Colette Panchot say they worry that Concept 1A would move Briarwood families who live in areas with the lowest median home value to Tomahawk.
- A district enrollment presentation from April 2020 shows median home values are the greatest east of Nall Avenue and south of 79th Street, and are lower in the northwest and southwest corners of the two boundaries.
- Concept 1A expands Tomahawk’s boundary in the southwest corner of the two boundaries, while concept 2A makes a more north-south boundary line along 83rd Street.
- That’s part of the reason why Panchot and others at Tuesday’s meeting said they are more fond of concept 2A.
- David Smith, chief communications officer for Shawnee Mission, told the Post via email there are several issues to balance with the boundary change process and it is unfair to the work group to discuss one specific issue out of context.
- Additionally, several comments left on feedback notepads encourage the district to keep walkability in mind for both schools, as many families cherish walking their children to school each day.
Walkability, neighborhood conflicts: Concept 1A also cuts the Beverly Hills and Estates neighborhood, from 83rd to 87th Streets and Lamare to Nall Avenues, in half via Woodson Drive.
- Some in this neighborhood, including Panchot, want to see the neighborhood kids go to the same school — even if that means sending them all to Tomahawk.
- Others who live in that neighborhood like Denise Deah, a mom of a first grader and kindergartener at Briarwood, aren’t in favor of an all or nothing approach to the neighborhood.
- Deah’s children recently became acclimated to Briarwood after attending Highlands last year because Briarwood’s overcrowding doesn’t offer pre-kindergarten, and Deah wanted to keep her children at the same school.
- Deah said her children, like others, look forward to walking to and from school each day — and have created friendships at Briarwood because of the walking experience.
- While Concept 2A would send the entire neighborhood to Briarwood, Deah said she’s hoping her children get to stay Bulldogs either way.
Key quote: “It’s going to be a hard change either way,” Deah said. “The kids are comfortable, and it took a lot to adjust to this school. I know it’s really hard, especially for my kindergartener because it takes a while for her to warm up.”
Background: The overcrowding issue at Briarwood isn’t anything new. Years ago, parents brought this issue to the district’s attention regarding class sizes.
- A boundary change work group presented a draft proposal to the board of education last month to shift some Briarwood students to Tomahawk.
- Briarwood’s projected enrollment for the 2022-23 school year is 643, well above the district’s target for elementary schools of 525 to 575 students.
- Tomahawk is one of the five elementary schools being rebuilt as part of the 2021 bond issue, and the new building will be able to accommodate more students.
What if I couldn’t attend Briarwood boundary change meeting?
The district is providing an online survey link to those who attended the meeting and those who didn’t or couldn’t, to gain additional feedback.
- District officials at the public input meeting say a message is being sent to Tomahawk and Briarwood families via SkyWard to share the link to the survey.
- A link to the survey can be found here.
- The survey closes at 5 p.m. on Oct. 14.
What’s next: The boundary work group meets on Oct. 27 to discuss results from the online survey.
- A second public input session is scheduled for Nov. 3 at Shawnee Mission East, the feeder high school for Briarwood and Tomahawk.
- The board of education is set to hear an update and recommendation from the work group at its Nov. 14 meeting.
