After years of declining enrollment, Olathe Public Schools will be closing more schools — and is gearing up to decide which ones.
At the Feb. 5 board of education meeting, district leaders shared a multi-phase plan to determine how many and which schools will close.
Once those determinations are made, the district will redraw boundaries and consolidate schools.
According to the district, enrollment peaked at 30,216 students in 2019. The district now has 28,140 students. Projections show enrollment dropping to just under 26,000 students over the next 15 years — a decrease of about 4,000 students from its peak.
Officials have pointed to slowed birth rates, rising housing costs and an aging population as key factors in the decline.
Earlier this school year, the district voted to close Westview Elementary and send those students to nearby Rolling Ridge Elementary. The district plans to repurpose the Westview building into an alternative school for grades K-8.
Deputy Superintendent of Organizational Operations Jim McMullen presented the timeline for the study to consider which schools to close, as well as how the district will be making the determinations.
“We will be conducting a three-phase study to analyze our student enrollment and facility alignment to really look at reducing our footprint of our schools,” McMullen told the board.
Phase one
The first phase centers on a “Student Enrollment Facility Alignment Task Force.”
One parent and one staff member from every school in the district will make up the task force, along with several principals, district leaders, and potentially city and Olathe Chamber of Commerce representatives. An outside consultant will assist the task force’s work.
The task force will meet three times in April and May. The group will learn about enrollment, financial data and geographic considerations.
At the June school board meeting, the task force will recommend a range of the number of schools the district should reduce
Still, at that time, the task force will not be set yet to determine which schools should close.
Phase two
Next, a 15-person steering committee will dig deeper and look at under-enrolled schools.
“For example, there may be an area where there are four elementary schools that used to have anywhere from 500 to 800 kids,” McMullen said. “And many of those schools are sitting at the 300 range or 350 range.”
McMullen emphasized that consolidation will not be solely based on school size but also on what would make the most sense geographically.
In September, the steering committee will recommend which schools will close and a possible timeline. The board will vote on the recommendations in October.
McMullen said the transition will happen over the next two to three school years.
Phase three
If the board approves specific school closures, then the district will begin adjusting school boundaries.
That process will include community meetings, gathering feedback and analyzing data.
The board, according to the current timeline, will review boundary options in December and vote on them in January 2027.
Once the board makes final decisions, the district will reassign staff and work out other logistical details.
McMullen said the district has a lot of options for what will happen to the buildings of the schools after they close.
“Sometimes those buildings are repurposed internally,” he said. “Sometimes those buildings are sold to another entity — could be a church, could be another educational group.”
Westview Elementary
In August, the board voted to close Westview Elementary and repurpose the building as a K-8 alternative education program.
Westview Elementary’s enrollment dropped to 150 students this school year. The next smallest elementary school in the district is Northview, with 199 students. The largest is Manchester Park, with 601 students.
Next school year, current Westview students will attend Rolling Ridge Elementary.
Staff looked for boundary changes that would keep all Westview students together, preserve the middle and high schools they would feed into and prevent overcrowding at receiving schools.
Westview’s building will house the only alternative school for younger students in the region.
At last week’s meeting, Board Member Claire Reagan acknowledged how much a change like this could impact families.
“This isn’t about individual school closures,” she said. “It’s about remaking what our district is going to look like. And that’s a community shift.”
McMullen said that shift needs to happen soon.
“We’re at the point now where we, really, given our enrollment and, frankly, our financial status, we’re really gonna have to make these decisions at this time,” he said.
