Crossroads Academy (Kansas City, Grandview, Center: credit, homes, school district)

[simpleinthecity]

Can anybody tell me about this school? I have searched and searched and have not found much of anything. We are contemplating moving back to Brookside (we currently live in south Kansas City) but of course schools are always an issue. We have an 11 year old daughter. We are not interested in sending her to a catholic school. My husband works downtown and we found out we could send our daughter to Crossroads Academy. What interests me is their "profile" portrays them to be very aggressive in academics and in the arts. What doesn't attract me is that it is an inner city school. KC inner city schools seem to have problems with providing a good education and a positive, safe environment. We currently homeschool and want to put our daughter in a regular school this year. We have to maintain a KCMO address because of my husbands job, but we really don't want to move up north because we love the city. Any advice?

[TabulaRasa]

It's a small charter school that's been open only about three years. It was started due to the belief that there were underserved families living in the central business district that would appreciate a charter school option for their children. It's not part of KCMO Public Schools, the beleaguered district serving portions of central KCMO. It is run by an executive director and a board unconnected to that of KCMO Public Schools. Like most charters, admission is by lottery. Any children in the grade levels served who live within the boundaries of KCMO Public Schools are eligible for the lottery. If you live in South KC and your address is served by a different school district (Center, Hickman Mills, etc.), you may not live within an eligible area, so you may want to check on that.

[simpleinthecity]

Thanks, Tabularasa. We were told if you have a parent that works downtown despite living somewhere else than your child is eligible. So that's why we were looking into it.

[TabulaRasa]

From Crossroads Academy's website, actually residing in KCMO District is key:

As an independent charter school, Crossroads Academy is accessible to any family living within the KCMO School District. Among these families, those living or working within the Greater Downtown Area (State Line to Woodland, the Missouri River to Linwood) receive priority in our admissions lottery. All parents who are personally committed to high-expectations and want their child to learn in an academically rigorous environment are encouraged to apply.

http://crossroadsacademykc.org/about/

It appears that the school was founded, like many charters, to specifically give kids living in the boundaries of the currently-beset-by-accreditation-problems KCMO Public Schools district another option, so those kids are the priority, not those who are located in better-performing districts.

[TabulaRasa]

Also, from a personal standpoint as an educator (and eventual parent of a school-aged child), I find that when a school's website and other literature is specifically extolling its significant emphasis on high academic expectations and scholastic rigor, it's probably best if the website and literature be edited carefully to catch errors of spelling, punctuation, grammar, and syntax. When that's not the case, it makes me...skeptical.

[simpleinthecity]

hmmm...interesting. Guess I didn't read the website close enough. Otherwise I would have understood we are not eligible and that there are grammatical errors. Lol. Thanks for the input. I keep trying to get back to Brookside because we miss the community feel but want to find an awesome school and I just can't make it happen. Sigh. I guess we'll stay put in south KC and either continue homeschooling or find a good private school. We are in the Grandview school district (which we live nowhere near Grandview) and I'm not going that route. So frustrating.

[TabulaRasa]

I'm skeptical of charters, to be honest, particularly new ones that have not yet been vetted or proven. I've known too many well-meaning folks who got together and rushed to toss together a charter, and have simply NOT done a great job of it. The motivation is real in a city like KC, where accreditation has been lost, to come up with quick alternatives, but nothing much that's too impressive has been proffered as a viable alternative. A really excellent charter would be one thing. But many I've known have been fraught with issues.

[pacificwhim]

You might consider University Academy, a charter in Brookside. It's been around since 2000 and has a good reputation.

http://www.universityacademy.org