The Olathe Public Schools Board of Education on Thursday night unanimously approved the closure of six schools at the end of the 2026-27 school year.
The schools include:
- Black Bob Elementary,
- Heritage Elementary,
- Scarborough Elementary,
- Tomahawk Elementary,
- Walnut Grove Elementary,
- and Indian Trail Middle.
The move marks the largest set of closures at one time in district history. The district voted 7-0 to approve the closures during its Thursday night meeting, citing declining enrollment, rising home prices and chronic underfunding by the state.
“[I’m] devastated, completely let down,” Walnut Grove parent Jenny Frazier said after the meeting. “We don’t disagree that they needed to close schools and that they needed to fix the footprint, but they didn’t do the proper evaluation, and they chose the wrong schools. I am not just saying that because I wish my school wasn’t closing.
“They didn’t do this in a way that makes sense,” she added. “They owed us that.”
Board Member Stacey Yurkovich made the motion to close the schools, with a second from Board Member Brad Boyd. The board did not discuss the measure prior to the vote, save for a comment by Yurkovich.
“Clearly, I just made the motion to change a number of lives — Olathe Public Schools students and staff and community,” she said. “The motion, this work is [done] with a heavy heart.”
From parents
About 50 people attended Thursday’s meeting, with five speaking against the closures during public comment, including Walnut Grove parent Tony Hanna.
“There’s nothing disrespectful about asking for stronger evidence,” said Hanna, who helped create Olathe Families United, a group fighting against the closures in favor of more time and information. “There’s nothing disloyal about requesting another answer, and there’s nothing weak about taking more time when the consequences will follow the children, families, staff and the neighborhoods for years.
“As I’ve been talking to parents, they’re not asking the district to ignore challenging situations or avoid them,” Hanna added. “We’re asking for confidence that these six specific closures are the right decisions.”
Black Bob parent Hannah Jeffrey shared similar sentiments after the meeting, adding that she felt the board didn’t have enough information to make the vote tonight.
Specifically, Jeffrey said, her concerns lay with Black Bob’s dual language immersion program. For her child, they’ll have no friends from Arbor Creek Elementary because students — unless from native or near-native Spanish-speaking families — cannot join the program after kindergarten.
“I’m angry, and I’m frustrated,” Jeffrey said. “The questions I’ve heard from the board members in the last couple of weeks make it seem like they didn’t have enough information.”
“Change is never easy”
During her comments, Yurkovich also spoke to the long-anticipated decline in enrollment happening in Olathe and in districts across the U.S., which education experts have predicted as a result of declining birthrates. Those trends have been accelerating in the last few years.
Yurkovich emphasized again that the decision to close the six schools is being made with a heavy heart because of the students and families affected by these closures.
After the vote, board members Becky Johann, Will Babbitt, Claire Reagan, Boyd and board President Julie Steele all shared similar sentiments about how hard the decision was but also emphasized the district’s fiduciary responsibility and its gratitude to the community.
“We’re always trying to figure out how we can go through change — as a human, as a family, as a community,” Johann said. “I just wanted to remind everyone, you know, this is where we’re at. Change is never easy. Change is constant. Change is something we have to be a part of every single day.
“One thing I’ve learned in some of my leadership roles and other spaces is using questions to guide the change,” she added. “One [question] that I keep going back to is: what is the risk of not changing?”
Johann expanded, stating that “if we don’t change, we can’t progress forward.” Her hope is for the community to lean into the change, learn and grow from it.
Several audience members scoffed as the board spoke, with some sniffling and wiping away tears.
How did we get here?
Olathe Public Schools projections show enrollment across the district dropping to just under 26,000 students over the next 15 years — a decrease of about 4,000 students from its peak in 2019.
The district announced in February its three-phase plan to address declining enrollment.
That began with a districtwide 110-person task force that met to recommend how many schools should close, without identifying specific campuses.
Then, over the summer, a 20-person steering committee met to determine which schools specifically should close. That committee made the recommendation to close the six schools that the board approved on Thursday.
Finally, in a step that has yet to happen, a boundary committee will meet over the next two months and eventually bring recommendations in December for redrawing school boundary lines to send students at the shuttered schools to new campuses.
Meeting notes from both the task force and the steering committee can be found on the district’s Boundary and School Closures webpage, toward the bottom and under the Presentations, Resources and Communication section.
What happens now?
Now that the board has approved the six closures, the district will form a new committee to discuss boundary adjustments to figure out where the students will go.
Recommendations are expected in December, with a final board vote on new boundaries in January 2027.
The district has a plan for student and staff transitions, including site visits to their new schools, teams to monitor student well-being and staff transitions and planned celebrations for the closing schools.
Families continue to organize against the decision, though.
Olathe Families United is seeking 6,100 signatures to require the state Board of Education to review the decision under K.S.A. 72-1431. People wanting to learn more about the petition can click here.
To watch Thursday’s board meeting, visit the district’s YouTube page here.
District leadership gave a presentation starting at 11:08. Watch the vote and hear board comments on the closures starting at 2:18:15.
