A group calling for a revote on the sale of Westport High School is meeting this Sunday, April 6 to plan its future actions.
The group, calling itself Re-Vote Westport, is asking the school board to vote again on its March 26th decision to not sell Westport High School to the developers recommended by administration.
The school is one of those being repurposed by the district, and its future had been the subject of community meetings and proposals from several developers.
KCPS administration last month recommended the sale of Westport High School to Foutch Brothers, a Kansas City redevelopment company that proposed its reuse as market-rate apartments and a charter high school.
Many parents in Midtown were excited about a plan by Academie Lafayette to locate a public charter high school in the building.
But in a closed session, the school board voted to reject the sale.
Calling for reconsideration, ReVote Westport argues that many citizens have already expressed their support for the reuse of the building to include a school, which they think could be one of the keys to a stronger Midtown area.
“Over the last two years, hundreds of Kansas City residents in the Westport High area adamantly guided and supported the sale of Westport High for the use of market rate apartments and a charter school facility proposed by the Foutch Brothers,” supporter Crissy Dastrup, a resident of Hyde Park, who is part of the group, wrote on her blog.
Dastrup says the school board vote not to sell the building to Foutch Brothers “sets an alarming and demoralizing precedent regarding how elected public servants treat the voices of the community.”
The group has started a blog and a Facebook page. Sunday’s meeting is at the Central Presbyterian Church, 3501 Campbell at 7 p.m.
Who’s talking