Maria Benevento
Education Reporter, Kansas City BeaconMaria Benevento is the education reporter at The Kansas City Beacon. She is a Report for America corps member.
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The district scored higher than 70% on its state performance report, but Missouri wants more data before it changes accreditation. -
The district has more than 14,000 students enrolled for the first time since the COVID pandemic, driven largely by growth in Northeast area schools. -
About 80 students in the Independence School District had transferred away from their neighborhood schools due to lack of space. The district hopes to relieve that pressure by repurposing an elementary auditorium into six new classrooms. -
The vote clears the way for school officials to borrow money to replace three schools and add classrooms to a fourth. It was the district's second attempt to pass a bond this year. -
Since it last closed in 2016, Southwest High in Brookside has sat mostly empty, occasionally rented out. But a draft of a Kansas City Public Schools building plans names the building as one of three options for a new middle school. -
During the first year of open enrollment in Kansas, where schools could allow students from outside their district, Olathe, Blue Valley and Shawnee Mission only accepted a few dozen applicants each. -
Kansas City Public schools combined two football teams last year due to low participation. With growing enrollment and a middle school feeder program, Central has its own team again this year. -
DeLaSalle, a charter school in Kansas City, started requiring students to place their cell phones in magnetically sealed bags in 2023. But now it’s thinking about relaxing the policy in response to student feedback. -
During the most recent school year, KCPS launched a different grading system where the minimum grade on any given assignment is 40% — even if the student didn’t do a single bit of it. It has drawn a mix of praise and criticism. -
Kansas City Public Schools saw about an 80% increase this year in new students arriving from other countries. Several of the schools with the highest growth rates this year were at risk of closure about 18 months ago.
