Blue Valley School District

Climate change-driven weather events are causing more damage and wear and tear to school buildings in Missouri, driving up districts’ property insurance costs.

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 invested millions in keeping students cool this year after districts grappled with record-high temperatures last fall.

More than a dozen law enforcement agencies — from Overland Park to Prairie Village — will be encrypting their primary channels so listeners can't hear what police and dispatchers are saying over the air.

Candidates for the Blue Valley Board of Education who campaigned as the “pro-public education” slate won their races. Shawnee Mission School District board candidates who voiced strong support for the district’s approach to diversity and equity also won comfortably.

Kansas City, Missouri, had several ballot questions to vote on — including a sales tax that could determine the future of the public bus system. Cities across Johnson and Wyandotte county also chose winners in local council, mayor, school board and other consequential races.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 7! While Kansas City, Missouri, has no candidates on the ballot, voters will have several important questions to answer. In Johnson and Wyandotte counties, voters will have all kinds of local council, mayor, school board and other races to decide.

Ahead of the Nov. 7 election, conservative candidates for school board seats across Kansas have repeatedly asserted that scores on the state standardized test show schools are failing. But experts say that's not necessarily true — and scores are just one part of the picture.

Diversity initiatives, book bans and teaching about race divided races for some Johnson County school boards down ideological lines.

Eight candidates running to be on the Blue Valley School Board spoke at a forum hosted by the Blue Valley Post on Wednesday. With four open seats, candidates have split into two even slates: one that represents the status quo, and another that seeks to push back against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and lessons about race and racism.

Gavriela Geller, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau and the American Jewish Committee, says that more education is needed to combat antisemitism in Kansas City communities.

Riley Long, a high school teacher in the Blue Valley School District, is taking his passion for educating outside of the classroom to help others learn how to be better trans allies.