Parents at six Olathe schools recommended for closure are organizing petitions, door-to-door campaigns and open-records requests before an Oct. 1 board vote.

Families at Heritage Elementary, Walnut Grove Elementary, Black Bob Elementary, Scarborough Elementary, Tomahawk Elementary and Indian Trail Middle School have launched Change.org petitions, created public Facebook groups and organized neighborhood meetings since the Olathe Public Schools board unveiled the closure list Sept. 4, according to the Kansas City Star. The six closures would affect roughly 2,200 students.

Miranda Lawson, a Heritage Elementary parent, said families have filed Kansas Open Records Act (KORA) requests seeking the studies behind the recommendation. "We really want to approach the meeting with knowledge, not just emotion and frustration because everyone is emotionally charged right now," Lawson said. "Our big thing right now is to get documentation."

Chelsea Medved, another Heritage parent who attended the school herself after moving to Olathe in 1999, now has three children enrolled there. She said the announcement caught families off guard.

Tara Yantis, a Walnut Grove Elementary parent and PTO executive board member, called the timeline "extremely forced." She said families want to understand the long-term consequences of what she described as an irreversible decision.

Parents from all six schools plan to march in the Johnson County Old Settlers Day Parade on Saturday, Sept. 12, in downtown Olathe. Several also plan to speak at the board's public input session Sept. 22 at 5:30 p.m. at Olathe South High School, 1640 E. 151st St.

Speakers will get three minutes each. Board members will attend but will not take questions, according to the Kansas City Star. No sign-up is required.

The Board of Education is expected to vote on the closures Oct. 1.

District's case for closures

Olathe CFO John Hutchison told the Olathe Reporter the six closures would save about $12 million a year.

District enrollment peaked at 30,216 in 2019 and fell to 28,140 last school year, according to the Johnson County Post. Projections show enrollment dropping to just under 26,000 over the next 15 years. Eight elementary schools are below 55% capacity, KSHB reported.

Five of the six targeted schools feed into Olathe South High School. All six generally sit in south Olathe, an area where Brougham Drive alone has six elementary schools.

A 110-person task force of parents and staff unanimously agreed in June that the district needed to close three to four elementary schools. A 20-person steering committee then identified the specific buildings.

Deputy Superintendent Jim McMullen said in a district statement that the recommendation was not made lightly. The district has pledged no staff members will lose jobs in the transition.

If closures are approved, the district would drop from 33 to 28 elementary schools. Black Bob's Spanish Immersion program would move to Arbor Creek Elementary, and Scarborough's deaf and hard of hearing program would relocate rather than close, KCTV5 reported.

When the closure list was announced Sept. 4, Jackie Price, Tomahawk Elementary's PTO president, told KCTV5 she received "over 80 text messages of just families and friends saying they're devastated."

Boundary adjustment meetings would run from October through December if the board approves the closures, with a vote on new attendance zones expected in January 2027.