Add Students to Urban Revival: Downtown Backers Plan Charter Middle School As Part of Downtown’s Renaissance.

By Kevin Collison, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Mar. 9–Downtown is welcoming some new urban pioneers to join the empty-nesters and single adults who’ve dominated its revival — via big yellow school buses.

Efforts are under way to open a charter school for fifth- through eighth-graders in the heart of downtown. A potential site has been identified in a historic building at 910 Grand Blvd. owned by UMB Bank. Organizers of the KIPP Endeavor Academy, which stands for Knowledge is Power Program, want to begin classes in July.

The school, which has the backing of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City, would fulfill a two-year endeavor by the Downtown Council to make downtown a place where young adults might want to stick around after they’ve started families.

“To continue the revival of downtown, it’s important to show the 20-somethings looking for an alternative that they may want to stay downtown because there are educational opportunities,” said R. Crosby Kemper III, the chairman of the Downtown Council education committee.

Kemper briefed the board of the council, an organization of business and property owners, about the plan Thursday. He also introduced Jon Richard, a former Kansas City elementary school teacher who has graduated from the KIPP Foundation training program at Stanford University in California and is eager to open a school here.

“I was passionate about teaching and good at it, and the kids got great results,” Richard said of his experience teaching fifth grade at Richardson Elementary. “I became frustrated when all the gains I had with the students fell apart in middle school.”

The plan calls for beginning with 85 fifth-graders and adding a grade each year until eventually 340 students would be at the school. A charter school application sponsored by Metropolitan Community College is scheduled to be submitted to the state March 22.

The KIPP program, which was founded in 1994 by two teachers in Houston, concentrates on motivating fifth-graders from underprivileged backgrounds who are on the cusp of success or failure at school. They attend class from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, every other Saturday and three weeks during the summer.

“If we don’t grab them then, we really lose them,” said Margot Quiriconi, director of research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation. “KIPP has an aggressive approach that helps children change their attitude about school. It’s amazing to watch the difference between fifth- and eighth-graders.”

The success rate is phenomenal, Quiriconi said. Eighty percent of students who finish a KIPP middle school go on to attend four-year college. The KIPP school in Oklahoma City is one of the top middle schools in that community, she said.

There are currently 52 KIPP schools throughout the United States. New KIPP schools also are scheduled to open in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Columbus, Ohio. The program has received substantial support from Don and Doris Fisher, the founders of Gap Inc., who learned about the school while watching a segment about it on the “60 Minutes” news program.

The Kauffman Foundation began exploring the possibility of bringing KIPP to Kansas City about two years ago and donated $500,000 to the KIPP Foundation. The money was intended to help fund the leadership program and pay for initial startup costs, Quiriconi said.

Richard, who is a native of New Hampshire, wanted to open a KIPP downtown.

“The Downtown Council understands that part of having a successful urban city is a strong education system,” he said. “We may be one small school, but one small school makes a difference.”

J. Mariner Kemper, the chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corp., liked the idea and is working with KIPP organizers to locate the program at 910 Grand, a 25,000-square-foot building owned by the company.

The building also had been considered as a potential site of the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey before that group recently decided on an 18th and Vine location.

Mariner Kemper could not be reached for comment.

Walton Construction is assisting the KIPP supporters in evaluating the building and determining renovation costs. Richard said if that site fell through he would look elsewhere downtown and in the Crossroads Arts District.

Funding for the program would come through the $7,500 per student the charter school would receive from the Kansas City School District, as well as philanthropic sources. Quiriconi said some of the earlier grant money the Kauffman Foundation provided the national KIPP organization is still available.

“There’s interest from a number of other businesses and private individuals,” she said.

John Anderson of Prudential Kansas City Realty, a member of the council education committee and a board member of the new KIPP school, has been spearheading the council’s effort to attract a school for 1 ½ years. A previous plan to locate a K-12 school in the old U.S. Courthouse at 811 Grand fell through.

“A lot of us who have been interested in the redevelopment of downtown realize a school is the missing link to creating a true community,” he said. “We want to offer people who want to live downtown with families that opportunity.”

The other board members include Peter Ho, chairman of VISOR Consulting; Crosby Kemper III; Michelle Wimes, an attorney with Spencer Fane Britt & Browne; Victoria Thompson, Prudential Realty; Joan Caulfield, a professor and author, and Tracy Dunn, an educator.

To reach Kevin Collison, call (816) 234-4289 or send e-mail to kcollison@kcstar.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Kansas City Star, Mo.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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