By Sylvia Maria Gross
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-560938.mp3
Kansas City, MO – On Wednesday evening, Kansas City Missouri School Superintendent Anthony Amato proposed some new ideas to the community groups that have been looking at school consolidation plans. He said offering universal pre-kindergarten and restructuring elementary schools to go all the way through 8th grade could help reverse the district's declining enrollment. Last year, the school board paid an architectural consulting team almost a million dollars to analyze utilization data. The team presented three possible scenarios for school closures, but Superintendent Amato says that there are some factors they didn't take into account.
Amato spoke to KCUR's Sylvia Maria Gross about K-8 schools, school consolidation, the future of KC-MO schools in Independence and Sugar Creek and the upcoming mayoral race.