Families at East Antioch Elementary in Overland Park have two days to organize before the Shawnee Mission school board hears a recommendation to permanently close their school by fall 2031.

The district emailed parents Aug. 22 with the news. By Sunday, a campaign website, SaveEastAntioch.com, was live, and the school's PTA was urging families on Facebook to sign up for public comment at Wednesday's board meeting.

If approved, East Antioch at 7342 Lowell St. would be the first Shawnee Mission school to close since a wave of shutdowns in the early 2010s.

The closure is one piece of a roughly $370 million bond referendum the district plans to put before voters as soon as 2027, according to the Johnson County Post. That package includes a new $46 million Santa Fe Trail campus that would absorb East Antioch's 282 students, $42 million rebuilds of Belinder and Rosehill elementaries, a $113 million career and technical center, and more than $30 million in middle and high school renovations.

A quarter-mile walk at stake

For Ian Fannin-Hughes, the fight is personal. His son Ollie, a fifth-grader who uses a ventilator, a tracheostomy, a walker and an electric wheelchair, can navigate to East Antioch on neighborhood sidewalks from their home in the Milburn Fields subdivision, less than a quarter-mile away.

The family moved there in 2020 specifically because of the school's proximity.

Under the district's plan, East Antioch students would attend a new Santa Fe Trail campus about 1.5 miles away, east of Metcalf Avenue. The Save East Antioch campaign says crossing that busy thoroughfare would make it impossible for students to safely walk or bike to school.

"I'm looking out for that next kid, especially the kid like my son, Ollie, who needs extra support," Fannin-Hughes told the Johnson County Post. "This is an anchor in our community. Without this anchor, we're risking losing all sorts of families."

Enrollment decline driving the decision

The district is projecting a roughly 2% enrollment decline over the next decade. Total pre-K through 12 enrollment fell to 26,248 in 2024-25, down nearly 300 students from the prior year. Kindergarten enrollment hit a 10-year low, according to an April 2026 district report.

East Antioch enrolled 282 students last year, making it one of three Shawnee Mission elementary schools below 300. The other two, Santa Fe Trail and Highlands, are also forecast to stay below that threshold for the next five years. Kansas funds school districts on a per-pupil basis, so fewer students means less state money.

Both schools date to the 1950s.

Superintendent Michael Schumacher signaled the direction at an April 2026 board meeting, telling members the district needed to determine "what's a floor, what potentially is too few kids" at a school.

What happens next

PTA president Barnett Cardin said he has been in contact with board member Mario Garcia III, who represents the SM North feeder pattern that includes East Antioch. Cardin said those conversations led him to believe the closure is not a done deal.

No final vote is expected at the Aug. 26 board meeting. The district has scheduled a public meeting at East Antioch on Sept. 17 at 6 p.m., and the board is tentatively set to vote on new boundary lines on Oct. 26.