Olathe Public Schools expects to open its new home for some of its career and technical education programs in time for the 2025-26 school year.
The new center, called the Olathe Innovation Center, will be at 450 Rogers Road in the old Lindenwood Business Center, near Interstate 35 and Santa Fe Street. The school district bought the building a few years ago for about $5 million.
Currently, crews are working on interior demolition, making way for the renovation project to convert the former 138,000-square-foot office building.
“I think this building is going to be such a hallmark for us and such a boost,” said Julie Steele, school board vice president, at the February Olathe Board of Education meeting.
Several CTE programs will move to Innovation Center
Today, many of the district’s career and technical education programs operate out of existing facilities, several of which are on high school campuses. Once the new Olathe Innovation Center is complete, many of those programs — particularly some of the more popular programs whose ability to meet demand are inhibited by space — will move there.
Those programs are:
- Culinary Arts
- Health Sciences
- Animal Sciences
- Avionics and Electronics Technology, a partnership with Garmin
The new building will also contain a restaurant space as well as a publicly accessible coffee shop that students in the culinary program will run.
Additionally, special education programs available to adults 18 to 21 will also operate out of the Innovation Center, as well as Olathe Public Schools’ mental health services. On the lower level, the building will have meeting space that can be used for professional development or other district meetings as well.
Innovation Center will have room for future CTE programs
The Olathe Innovation Center will also have space dedicated to a future CTE program the district will add down the line.
Exactly what that program will be is unclear at this stage.
However, during a joint meeting with the Olathe school board and the Olathe City Council, Superintendent Brent Yeager signaled it could be used for some kind of advanced manufacturing program. Such a program, he said, would support workforce needs in the community stemming from Panasonic Energy’s $4 billion electric vehicle battery factory in De Soto.
Olathe Innovation Center will house district service center
- Plans for the project also include a building addition that will be the new home to the district’s operation service division, which helps keep all of the facilities running.
- The district’s construction trades technical education program will also move to the building.
- That will allow the students in those programs to work alongside the teams that manage HVAC, carpentry and a whole host of other operation service specialties.
Innovation Center is part of Olathe schools’ 2022 bond
- The Innovation Center project is one of the largest planned in the $298 million 2022 bond measure.
- Olathe Public Schools budgeted $26 million for the purchase and renovation of the former Lindenwood building.
- Another $21 million was set aside for building a new home for the district’s service center.
- That means there’s roughly $47 million available for the Olathe Innovation Center project, in addition to $5 million identified for unspecified career and technical education program growth.
- Plus, there’s an extra $5 million to convert the old service center facility into a second transportation center.
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