Monthly Archives: January 2011

Hale Cook Open House-January 30, 2011

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I attended the Hale Cook open house yesterday.  Even though my two girls are beyond this school, I’m still interested in the quest to re-open a ‘neighborhood’ school for Brookside/Waldo families.  About fifty people attended. 

Derek Richey of the KCMO School Board opened the remarks in the auditorium.  The school needs 300-350 applicants by March 31 to open in the fall–currently there are 20-25 applications submitted. 

Two local Brookside moms gave comments about having children who went through the KCMO schools and graduated from Lincoln Prep Academy.  Patty Mansur and Melissa Ashcraft remarked ‘any school situation has challenges’  and ‘the key is to be involved’.  There are ‘a lot of community messages that tell you it’s risky and not a good decision’ to have your child in the KCMO public schools.  They are both happy with the education their kids had as part of a minority  in the schools–they welcomed the diversity. 

Dr Covington, KCMO School Superintendent, answered one question from the audience (there were only two questions), talking about the pay grade of teachers.  He would like to see a significant jump in pay after 5 years of teaching, instead of the pay jump at 15-20 years, so that the good, eager, younger teachers are rewarded faster for their efforts.  Sounds good–how will he make that happen?  Where will he find the money?

Clearly there is a lot of interest in re-opening this school and I hope there are enough applicants for Fall 2011 classes.  As stated in the program handout, the ‘success and sustainability of Hale Cook will be directly tied to our level of ownership and support and the level to which our parents enroll their children’.  The success of Hale Cook will also depend on how well the school district officials and the local parent group work together. Mr. Richey says Hale Cook has the ‘full support of the administration’.  That’s a good start. 

Visit the Hale Cook website and thanks for reading my blog!  You can reach me directly at mary.hutchison@prukc.com

New Neighborhood School? Hale Cook Elementary

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It’s well-known that the Kansas City Missouri school district suffers from a poor reputation.  As a real estate agent, I am often asked, ‘what about the schools?’. Answering that one in a diplomatic yet informative way can be a challenge.  I consistently tour houses for sale where the owners want to move to enroll their children in a Kansas school district.  Still, there are options for Brookside/Waldo families…and a group of residents is trying to add another one.

Hale Cook Elementary, at 7302 Pennsylvania, is trying to re-open in the fall of 2011 as a neighborhood school.  It would be operated by the Kansas City MO public school system, with heavy parental involvement.  I believe 300 students need to sign up before the school district will proceed with the details of re-opening the building.  This is GREAT news!

The school would have a pre-K tuition based program, and the elementary classes would run through grade 6.  Boundaries for  the school enrollment: State Line to Holmes, 75th to Brush Creek.  No bussing for these students, but hopefully before and after-school programs, plus art,  music and foreign language classes.  What is so different about Hale Cook is it’s  a community based movement to re-open the school, not a school district directive.  Strong parental input and participation will be expected and required, and these parents will have a say in faculty selection and budget.  Sounds like a promising formula for success.                                                    

Hale Cook Elementary, 7302 Pennsylvania

As a personal interest, I follow education issues closely. My daughter wants to be a teacher, and at one time, I did as well.  In an urban school environment, it’s often the teachers that get the blame for a poor performing student. The pay for performance reform has some merit. I won’t  get into the tenure argument here.  But the emphasis on learning and importance of a good education must come first from the home environment–and that means parents (or guardians) who take an active interest in the child’s education.  By having these local parents band together and actually do something about re-opening a neighborhood school shows the community, and the KCMO school district, that change can happen when parents get involved.  Wouldn’t it be nice if this initiative was coming from the KCMO school district?  Sure.  But I’ll bet you things will move along much faster precisely because the active residents want to make it happen. The big question?  How much of a help — or a hinderance–will the school district be?

Everyone is invited to the Open House at Hale Cook on  Sunday, January 30 from 3-5pm. Stop by, learn more, tour the building,  get involved if you like.  This is the beginning of a story that could provide another option for children in the Brookside/Waldo area.

Brief Recap-January Armour Hills Homes Assn Board Mtg

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We had the first board meeting of 2011 last night and happy to report, we had a couple of residents attend as guests!  Of course all residents are welcome, usually though, it’s just the board members.

David Pucci is our new President, and Tiffany Moore is Vice President.  New board members Dan Newman and Mary Caesteker were present. Some of the things we discussed:

*Residents seemed pleased with the first private snow plowing of the year.  Our contract with Ray Wynn, KCMO firefighter, is for a plow through Armour Hills when the snow reaches 4″ or more.  I actually saw two City vehicles make a run down my block – twice!

*We will investigate getting together with other area homes associations and request a meeting with someone from the KCMO school district regarding the continuing problems at Southwest High School.  There is a question of who to call regarding truancy when students leave the campus.  Residents have reported students on private property, perhaps ‘casing’ out homes for break-ins.

*Momentum is gaining for the re-opening of Hale Cook Elementary School at 7302 Pennsylvania.  Two public events are scheduled in January

*Gunner Hand handed out a recap of the break-out sessions from the November  Annual Meeting. It was decided that we would poll the residents again for their top 3 or 4 priorities regarding improvements in the area, then  put together a plan to work on them.

*The board agreed that the elections held at the November meeting could have been handled in a more orderly fashion.  We will make plans to do better this year.

The next meeting is February 15, 2011 at Tiffany Moore’s home.  All residents are invited.

Habitat ReStore-Grand Opening Celebration

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A quick reminder blog post this week….Join me at the new Habitat ReStore in Waldo on Thursday January 20 for their grand opening celebration! 

Complimentary food and beverages….door prizes…tours….you’ll probably find something there you can use in your own home!  Stop by anytime from 4-7pm, 303 W 79th St, just east of Wornall.  There is plenty of free parking.

I’ve been volunteering here for a couple of  months now and it’s worth a visit.  Friendly staff, low prices, non-profit and always lots of merchandise to check out.  Hope to see you there.

Continuing “The Brookside Story” – Notes on Neighborhoods

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Still reading LaDene Morton’s recent book “The Brookside Story” , and today I’ll write a few words about the Morningside Park subdivision and the various architecture styles found here. It’s so interesting to read a few pages..then go out and actually drive the areas she writes about.  Knowing more about the history of my neighborhood makes me appreciate it so much more.

Brookside had its beginnings in the early 1920s, and JC Nichols recognized the importance of the automobile.  He designed Brookside to be car-friendly…which is ironic, as today so many people want to live in Brookside specifically because it’s such a walkable community!  Nichols published a brochure, “A Scenic Route Through the Country Club District” for “pleasure driving” . This map is found in the book, and  takes you through Brookside, Mission Hills and the Plaza. One interesting note, at the top of the map is a headline:  200 ACRES RESTRICTED, which I assume means the area was for whites only.  The book doesn’t address the headline.

As Nichols was plotting the home sites, he created various  middle, upper-middle and high income housing but in a subtle way:  the larger, more expensive homes are to the west, and the homes gradually change as you go east.  The houses and lot sizes are different, but the exterior attractiveness of the homes are similar–there are no very sharp divisions.  To this day, home values are determined not only by lot and house size, but how far east or west of Main the home is located.  This plan ensured a variety of middle and upper income bracket residents for the area. 

Another residential developer for the area was Fletcher Cowhert, a colleague of Nichol’s. Although much older than JC, he too had travelled extensively in Europe and was impressed with how cities were planned there.  Fletcher created one of my favorite subdivisions in Brookside, Morningside Park.  General boundaries are 59th to 62 Streets, west of Oak and east of Brookside Boulevard.  The most  prestigious address in this area is on Morningside Drive–a wide street of larger homes and lots.  The homes surrounding Morningside Drive are still beautiful, but a bit more modest. Fletcher built 6140 Morningside Drive, a magnificent home,  for his son, Fletcher Jr

6140 Morningside Drive

There is a brochure cited in the Morton’s book, “Coherd Built Homes” that Fletcher developed to sell the subdivision.  It’s motto was ” The Standard of Value” and featured photos of the finished homes.  Inside, you can read this copy:  “The high degree of beauty and permanence in Coherd Built Homes has been and will be steadfastly maintained” .  Still true today–this is one of the prettiest areas of Brookside.

Next up in the book–details on retail development in Brookside through the years.  The photos are fascinating and oh so nostalgic.  I’m heading to the Kansas City Library next week to copy some of these photos for myself–they will be great wall decor in my house!

Thanks for reading my blog, your comments are welcome!  You can reach me directly at mary.hutchison@prukc.com or my website, www.maryhutchison.org

Brookside – How It All Began

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A new book about Brookside came out last Fall and I’m finally getting around to reading it.  Titled “The Brookside Story – Shops of Every Necessary Character” by LaDene Morton, this short but well-researched book tells the history of one of the nation’s first shopping districts built outside of a downtown area.  For as much as I love Brookside..I didn’t know that much about its history.  Shame on me–but that’s resolved now!  I’m not quite finished with the book but wanted to share a few facts that surprised me.

*Brookside was started in 1919, before the Country Club Plaza.  I had always assumed the city grew south from downtown and Brookside followed the Plaza. But JC Nichols created his plan for the Brookside shops to serve the residents of the Country Club District–“America’s first planned subdivision to be built on a massive scale” according to the book. 

*The Country Club District was created to attract wealthy residents from Quality Hill, who were moving due to the growth of the downtown area.  Nichols wanted to attract these people to the Brookside area to keep property values stable.  He wanted the families who moved here to stay here–and so designed the winding boulevards, tree lined streets, large and smaller homes with easy access to shops and other amenities. This was his “‘plan for permanence”.

*The Brookside Shops were born in 1919, when Nichols first broke ground at the northeast corner of 63rd and Brookside Blvd. Over the next ten years, more shops were added. In a very shrewd move, he first sold a lot on 63rd to the City of Kansas City MO for construction of a new fire and police station, knowing that this basic public service would be essential to attract residents.  The Station Building now houses The Fiddly Fig.

I’ll write about  more interesting Brookside stories in future posts.  If you are a fan of Brookside,  buy this book!  Visit the website, www.brooksidestory.com, for more information. 

Thanks for reading my blog–your comments are welcome!