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Kansas City considers closing 31 of 61 schools

It is hard to grasp the enormity of this move. The reader comments at the newspaper site are ugly beyond description.

John Covington: The Broad Superintendents Academy Class of 2008, he has extensive experience as a superintendent. Look who's applauding his plan.


By Greg Toppo

In the pantheon of unpopular moves by school superintendents, perhaps none rivals what John Covington wants to do.

Faced with declining enrollment and a $50 million budget shortfall, the Kansas City, Mo., schools chief wants the school board to close as many as 31 of the city's 61 schools and lay off one-fourth of its employees — including 285 teachers.

Covington wants it done by the time school starts in fall. A vote could come in March.

"The bottom line is the quality of education we're offering children in Kansas City is not good enough," he says. "One reason it's not good enough is that we've tried to spread our resources over far too many schools."

Closing schools in shrinking urban districts is nothing new: It's happening in dozens of cities, including Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Memphis, San Antonio and Washington, D.C. But the scope of Covington's plan sets it apart from even the most cash-strapped school districts.

"When you're in danger of having more school buildings than students, it's not a good sign," says Rick Hess, who studies school management at the American Enterprise Institute.

He notes that several larger districts, including Washington, D.C., and St. Louis, have spent years closing and consolidating schools. "We tend to think of those as large-scale, but they're nothing compared to what we're seeing in Kansas City."

Hess calls Covington's plan "tremendously bold," adding, "This gives Kansas City a chance to actually not spend the next five or eight years trying to manage its decline, but gives them a chance for a fresh start."

Covington's move — he calls it a "rightsizing" — comes after decades of dropping enrollment but few efforts to reduce buildings or staff.

Twenty years ago, the district enrolled more than 75,000 students. Facing suburban flight, the growth of charter schools and even the 2008 secession of eight schools to a neighboring district, Kansas City now enrolls just 17,500 students. School occupancy now stands at about 50%, district officials say.

"This is mostly Kansas City catching up with questions that a lot of major city school districts have," says Mike Casserly of the Council of the Great City Schools, a Washington-based coalition of the USA's largest school districts.

A comprehensive 2006 review by the council noted bluntly that Kansas City was struggling, with four facilities directors in the previous seven years and a "sketchy vision for where it is going and how." Casserly notes that Covington, who arrived last July, is Kansas City's fourth superintendent since 2006.

"They've just operated for a very long time without biting the bullet on how many staff they ought to have and how many facilities they ought to be operating," Casserly says.

Covington unveiled the plan just 11 days ago and has since faced about 1,500 community members in a series of hearings.

Andrea Flinders, president of the Kansas City Federation of Teachers, says everyone agrees on the need for downsizing — in that sense, Covington's proposal is no surprise. She just hopes the cuts will be made fairly.

But, she says, many people are still upset about the plan: "When your school is on the list to be closed, sentiment runs very high and you're very much against it."







— Greg Toppo
USA Today
2010-02-24
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-02-24-kansascity24_st_N.htm

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