Brookside schools - options? (Kansas City, Parkville: 2014, how much, house)

[Kchilders]

Wife and I are looking at brookside. Love the neighborhood, love the homes, love how much house we can get for not a lot of money. Our budget is around $130-160. We're both 29.

The real question we have is what do people do for schools? Public schools seem to be horrid. We do know there is a French immersion school that is suppose to be amazing, but it is only K-8. We don't have 20,00 / year to spend on a private high school, especially if we have 2-3 kids.

Are all the people living there able to afford private schools? Are there affordable ones?

Thanks for any help!

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

The French immersion school, Academie Lafayette, is working on opening a high school (likely at the old Westport High), so that should be an option soon.

From your post, I'm i'm guessing you don't have any school aged kids yet, so it seems that you will have quite some time before they reach high school age. The way things are progressing with new and expanding charter schools and new neighborhood schools like Hale Cook, I think we'll see more good option for HS in the coming years.

The current best option for a KCMO public high school is Lincoln Prep - which was recently ranked by US News & World Report as a top 100 high school in the nation.

I don't think most private high schools will cost $20,000 a year - I believe Miege is around $9k and St. Theresa's and Rockhurst are around $11k. Still a lot of money, but not $20k. Also, most private schools will offer some sort of financial aid and work study programs for those who qualify.

[Kchilders]

Awesome! This is just the kind of info we were looking for. Thank you so much!

[pacificwhim]

There are also some solid charters that go to grade 12.

http://www.universityacademy.org
Hogan Preparatory Academy - Homepage

[Kchilders]

Yes! University academy looks perfect. My wife says she's heard really good things about that place.

I'm beginning to think schooling won't be as big an issue after all... Exciting!

[TabulaRasa]

There is also the Kansas City Academy, which is a longstanding independent school that specializes in expeditionary learning. It's grades 6-12 and is in the neighboring Waldo neighborhood.

[Weaubleau]

I am not sure if you have kids right now or are just planning to have them in the future, but the KCMO district is opening a neighborhood school in northern Waldo/southern Brookside in fall of 2014, Hale Cook Elementary. It is at the corner of 73rd and Jefferson in the Ward Parkway Homes subdivision. It may be worth looking into for your situation.

[pacificwhim]

KC Academy is private, not charter, FWIW.

[kcmama]

We used to live in Brookside and moved mostly because of the schools. We know people who stayed there, and the school situation seems to be a constant struggle. We do have friends who have been very happy with Academie Lafayette, but they always thought the HS issue would be resolved by the time their kids reached that age. Their daughter is entering 8th grade this year, and they have no idea what to do next year. Our other friends ended up driving their daughter to a montessori elementary school 30 minutes away every day, and their preschooler 30 or so minutes in the other direction. Not sure why the options mentioned by others did not work for them, but I know they claim to have thoroughly researched all options.

Just about any other school district in the KC area is pretty great. If Brookside is the area you really really want to settle into, I'm sure you will find a school that works for you. But if you are like us, and you want to eliminate that cost and headache of private schools, and you want your kids to go to school with neighborhood friends, I would suggest looking elsewhere. Maybe Prairie Village or Parkville.

[westender]

^So true, and so depressing. Why has the KC School Board refused to sell the old Westport HS building to Academie Lafayette? Could it be because they fear the competition? Wish there were a political method that Brookside could split off into its own school district and resume the fabulous education that used to be commonplace at KC Southwest HS.

Brookside will continue to bleed parents to Prairie Village until this is resolved.