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Brookwood, Mission Valley’s futures on Monday’s board of education agenda

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It appears that local parents will get an answer on Mission Valley’s future sooner than they’d thought.

The Shawnee Mission School District has released the agenda for its Monday, Dec. 13 board of education meeting, and it includes a vote on the superintendent’s proposal to close both Mission Valley and Antioch middle schools. Many people had been under the impression that the board would wait to vote on the two school closing proposals until the superintendent had gotten the results of a committee report on middle schools he commissioned. That report wasn’t scheduled to arrive until after the first of the year. But at the board’s last meeting, members Donna Bysfield and Larry Winn expressed a desire to get the items addressed sooner so that parents and teachers could better prepare for the 2011-2012 school year.

Also a surprise, the proposal to move Brookwood Elementary into the SM South feeder pattern is back on the table.

It was unclear to many local parents (and this reporter) whether the Brookwood proposal could be reintroduced after a motion to vote on it failed to gain a second at the Nov. 8 board meeting. We spoke with Bysfield Tuesday evening, and she said she wasn’t surprised by the confusion, but that since the board had taken no action on the measure it could be reintroduced at any time as long as the agenda item was posted publicly.

Bysfield said she had made up her mind about which way she would be voting, but won’t be revealing the decision until the day of the vote.

Bysfield, who’s been involved in SM East area PTAs and administration for decades, said she understands the passion people have displayed campaigning to keep Mission Valley open.

“We’ve gotten to hear from so many people, and that’s always a good thing,” Bysfield said. “People are concerned because these are their kids and their schools. That’s what makes Shawnee Mission Shawnee Mission.”

The meeting will start at 7 p.m. at the McEachen Administrative Center, 7235 Antioch.

About the author

Jay Senter
Jay Senter

Jay Senter is the founder and publisher of the Post.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in business at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he worked as a reporter and editor at The Badger Herald.

He went on to receive a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Kansas, where he earned the Calder Pickett Award. While he was in graduate school, he also worked as a reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World.

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