Brookside Charter to expand with new Primary School Building

By Sara Wiercinski

Brookside Charter School is seeking city approval to construct a new Primary School Building south of the current campus located at 1815 E. 63rd St.

The proposed site combines three lots, 1800, 1912 and 2100 East Meyer, into one 13.31 acre-plat. The new building will house up to 360 PreK to 2nd graders in pod-style wings with flexible shared meeting spaces. The expansion will free space in the existing building, growing 3rd through 8th grades from three classrooms each to four.

The City’s Board of Zoning Adjustment approved the special use permit on September 10. The project next goes before the Neighborhood Planning and Development Committee and finally city council.

Pending city approval, construction is anticipated to begin late fall with the new building complete in time for the 2027-2028 school year.

“Every aspect of our new school has been thoughtfully designed to nurture our youngest learners,” said Kelly Sales, Principal of Brookside Charter School. “We are excited to provide them with a new space where they will learn, grow and lead together.”

Brookside Charter School opened in 2002 and serves 846 PreK through 8th grade students who reside throughout Kansas City Public School boundaries. (Charter schools are publicly funded and require no tuition). The school’s virtual academy offers K through 8th grade online instruction.

During the public comment portions of both the September 10 Board of Zoning Adjustment hearing and the August 20 City Planning Commission hearing, representatives from Metropolitan Organization Countering Sexual Assault (MOCSA) brought up concerns over traffic during dropoff and pickup times.

In spring 2026, the rape crisis center will move to new headquarters at 6500 Euclid, located along a cul-de-sac which is also the proposed entryway to the new school building. MOCSA has around 100 employees and provides counseling and training to clients from six counties.

“There will be lots of folks coming in and out,” said President and CEO Julie Donelan at the August 20 CPC hearing.

Donelan said that while MOCSA supports Brookside Charter and wants to be a good neighbor, she has serious concerns over school traffic blocking MOCSA’s driveway, preventing clients from accessing vital services and limiting the mobility of ambulances transporting victims for hospital care.

MOCSA was not included in the project traffic study conducted by Kaw Valley Engineering as the organization had not yet moved. Donelan asked the planners to conduct a second traffic study and to consider making nearby Brooklyn Ave, not Euclid, the main school entrance.

In response to traffic concerns, Brookside Charter superintendent Roger Offield insisted the bus and parent pickup staging areas would be contained within the campus, with few backups on Euclid Ave. Offield said that Research Medical Center granted permission for buses to use the hospital access road to exit campus off Meyer Rd, meaning few buses would use Euclid Ave.

In recent years the charter rolled out limited bus transportation, with service now available to families of children in Kindergarten through 4th grade. Service will expand by grade each year, which Offield said will continue to reduce car traffic.

A second phase of the development project includes building a football field along the Meyer side the development.