History of Metropolitan School of the Arts
In the early 2000's, Dr. Stephen Aspleaf was an administrator at the Kansas City Middle School of the Arts. During his tenure in the Kansas City Public Schools, he became distressed to witness the effort and energy of the staff spent on two major issues at that time - being an unaccredited school district by the State of Missouri and being under the federal desegregation court order - taking its toll on delivering a quality arts-based program. During his time at KCMSA, he worked with the staff to plan for a middle level arts magnet program that would be organized in small learning communities to fully integrate the fine arts in to the academic program.
After leaving the Kansas City Public Schools, Dr. Aspleaf remained in contact with many of the KCMSA school leaders and discussions began on developing a visual/performing arts charter high school in Kansas City. These key leaders set out on a course to write a selective charter school implementation grant with the US Department of Education. The grant was awarded in the fall of 2007 and the leadership team worked with local arts partners and community partners to plan and implement the Kansas City School of the Arts. The team had identified a location in downtown Kansas City and all parts of the school implementation plan were in place (board of directors, location, funding, staff) except the approval of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of the State of Missouri. The school was not able to open without the state charter. DESE had a moratorium in place so that they could examine the effectiveness of charter schools within the Kansas City Public School District as many of the charters at that time were achieving at a level lower than the school district. The enthusiasm and interest in a comprehensive arts-based magnet program has not waned. In fact, much of the interest in the charter school came from families outside of the Kansas City Public Schools boundaries.
Undeterred, Dr. Aspleaf and his leadership team have been driven by the fact that the arts must remain the foundation of a solid college or career preparatory program and the foundation of all learning. He was inspired by close friends to pursue the creation of an arts-based magnet school as an independent school based upon the interest from the entire metro area as well as Kansas City being such an arts rich community. And so, the previous implementation plan for the charter school has been dusted off, reviewed and revised. The name of the school has been changed to incorporate the entire Kansas City metropolitan area.
After leaving the Kansas City Public Schools, Dr. Aspleaf remained in contact with many of the KCMSA school leaders and discussions began on developing a visual/performing arts charter high school in Kansas City. These key leaders set out on a course to write a selective charter school implementation grant with the US Department of Education. The grant was awarded in the fall of 2007 and the leadership team worked with local arts partners and community partners to plan and implement the Kansas City School of the Arts. The team had identified a location in downtown Kansas City and all parts of the school implementation plan were in place (board of directors, location, funding, staff) except the approval of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of the State of Missouri. The school was not able to open without the state charter. DESE had a moratorium in place so that they could examine the effectiveness of charter schools within the Kansas City Public School District as many of the charters at that time were achieving at a level lower than the school district. The enthusiasm and interest in a comprehensive arts-based magnet program has not waned. In fact, much of the interest in the charter school came from families outside of the Kansas City Public Schools boundaries.
Undeterred, Dr. Aspleaf and his leadership team have been driven by the fact that the arts must remain the foundation of a solid college or career preparatory program and the foundation of all learning. He was inspired by close friends to pursue the creation of an arts-based magnet school as an independent school based upon the interest from the entire metro area as well as Kansas City being such an arts rich community. And so, the previous implementation plan for the charter school has been dusted off, reviewed and revised. The name of the school has been changed to incorporate the entire Kansas City metropolitan area.