Want to move to Brookside/Waldo - but what to do about schools? (Kansas City: 2009)

[OneKC]

Hello, new forum member here.

I have lived in the Kansas City suburbs for many years, but my wife and I absolutely LOVE the areas of Brookside and Waldo and would like to purchase a house there. We have found several houses within our price range that we like but our big concern is what do we do about schooling for our young child (and any children of the future)?

The KCMO school district has a pretty terrible reputation overall, but are there certain schools in the district that do well despite this reputation? Are the elementary schools in Brookside acceptable? Or is private school our only option?

Can we afford private school? I know Academie Lafayette and University Academy are free, but they have lotteries, and I don't want to take a chance with our kid. Our combined income is in the low six figures and I know schools offer some financial aid, but still this seems like it will be a great expense.

I guess my questions are:

1. Are the public elementary schools acceptable in the Brookside/Waldo area or should we avoid them altogether?
2. What are our private school options for the area and what are the tuition price ranges?
3. Can we afford it?

Option B is Prairie Village/Shawnee Mission School District. Thanks for any information you can provide.

[cocoman18]

academie lafayette or st.peters

[westender]

Back in the 1980s, several of my classmates at SM-East lived on the Missouri side, at least two from locally prominent families on Ward Parkway. I believe they paid tuition to the Shawnee Mission district. Not sure if this is still an option.

[kcmo]

From my experience, the elementary schools are ok, it's middle an high where you need to get out.

Also, the KCMO district goes to 85th I think and the Center starts south of there. I have hear good things about the schools south of 435 (Red Bridge) although that's not Waldo.

It would be nice if SM schools went into that area. Housing values would double overnight.

[Jimmy Burma]

Other than the "lottery" schools mentioned I wouldn't even consider KCMO public schools for your children if you care about their education or welfare. Oh, I'm not being a snob or sensationalist either; I'm far from being of the private school class. I actually experienced KCMO public schools for a time as teenager as well as Center Public School district and they're both overall pretty bad with KCMO being far, far worse. Trust me, there is a reason that most everyone who has kids in Brookside and Waldo to an extent, sends their kids to private and/or Catholic schools. I don't think I've ever known anyone from Brookside proper who actually went to KCMO public schools (after the 70's that is) unless they were art kids who went to Paseo (Magnet Academy of the Arts) and had pretty liberal parents who let them or encouraged them to do it. Bottom line, if you can't afford or don't want to send them to a private/Catholic school do not move into the KCMO school district; go with plan B. If you can work out the finances for school I would go with Brookside over plan B. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[TabulaRasa]

If you're an "outside the box" education person, there's also a Montessori elementary school, Border Star, in Brookside, and a small private school serving grades 6-12 in Waldo, Kansas City Academy, that specializes in expeditionary learning. Here's a Kansas City Business Journal article profiling the latter:

Kansas City Academy offers textbook case on teaching kids - Kansas City Business Journal:

[cp1969]

Originally Posted by westender

Back in the 1980s, several of my classmates at SM-East lived on the Missouri side, at least two from locally prominent families on Ward Parkway. I believe they paid tuition to the Shawnee Mission district. Not sure if this is still an option.

I don't think there is any provision for out-of-state parents to pay tuition for sending their child to SM or any other Kansas school district. We Kansans end up picking up the tab.

The small school district where my kids went to school had many Missouri kids attending (about 90 out of an enrollment of 800). I asked about how this was funded and was proudly told by a school board member that the 'state' (meaning Kansas) sends the district money based upon enrollment. I asked if there was any transfer mechanism in place between Missouri and Kansas (such as there is for truck fuel tax) or if Kansas taxpayers are stuck with the entire bill and he went blank on me.

Bottom line is, the school district gets funded from the state, so they could care less where the money comes from to educate these kids whose parents have abandoned their own school districts. The state of Kansas, in all it's complexity, is oblivious to the fact they are educating other states' kids for free.

[dnw]

you have a 6 figure income family with one kid so send him/her to a private school. My family's income was probably less than half that and we had 4 kids in catholic schools so you can afford it if its important to you.