New life has been breathed into a potential partnership between the Kansas City Public Schools and the area's most successful charter school.
On Monday, the Academie Lafayette board received a $2 million offer of support from the Stowers Foundation to try and revive a partnership that would involve the Southwest Early College Campus on Wornall Road.
The offer apparently took both the Academie Lafayette board and KCPS administration by surprise.
"It was not on the agenda for the meeting. It was unexpected," Lafayette spokeswoman Sarah Guthrie says.
The offer, contained in a letter signed by James Stowers III, also stated that up to $15 million could be raised from other Kansas City business leaders and philanthropists, including Henry Bloch, Tom Bloch and James Nutter.
"The goal is to help you restore an excellent high school facility — without ongoing payments to hobble your program," the letter stated.
For two years KCPS and Academie Lafayette tried to negotiate a deal that would create an International Baccalaureate high school at Southwest. It would have fulfilled the long-time goal of Academie Lafayette to open a high school. Currently the French immersion school only serves kindergarten through 8th grade students.
Despite the multi-million dollar offer, Kansas City Superintendent Steven Green says before anything happens the district needs to finish its master plan.
"It doesn't change much for us," he says. "But I'm very encouraged by potential investors showing up to try and re-start the process."
Green says nothing will change at Southwest next school year, but there's a chance a partnership could be forged by the 2016-2017 school year. There's also a chance, Green says, that Southwest might close by that time.
