Olathe Public Schools in suburban Kansas City serves about as many elementary students as it did in 2001, yet it runs nine more elementary buildings, according to the district’s own consolidation page. On Oct. 1, the Board of Education voted 7-0 to close six of its schools at the end of the 2026-27 school year, a plan the district says affects about 2,200 students.
The closing campuses are Indian Trail Middle School and five elementary schools: Black Bob, Heritage, Scarborough, Tomahawk and Walnut Grove. No school closes during the current year, and no high schools are on the list.
Six Olathe campuses, and where their students could go
Board member Stacey Yurkovich made the motion and Brad Boyd seconded it, KCUR reported. The station said the district describes it as the largest set of closures at one time in its history.
The district has not yet assigned any child to a new building. Its consolidation page lists the neighboring schools that could take in students from each closing campus:
- Indian Trail Middle School: Chisholm Trail, Frontier Trail, Santa Fe Trail, Pioneer Trail or Oregon Trail middle schools.
- Black Bob Elementary: Brougham, Green Springs or Havencroft.
- Heritage Elementary: Brougham, Havencroft or Madison Place.
- Scarborough Elementary: Brougham, Sunnyside or Madison Place.
- Tomahawk Elementary: Briarwood, Havencroft or Indian Creek.
- Walnut Grove Elementary: Countryside, Heatherstone or Pleasant Ridge.
Black Bob’s Spanish Immersion program will move, with its students and teachers, to Arbor Creek Elementary. The separate Spanish Immersion program at Manchester Park stays where it is…