East Antioch Elementary families will get their next chance to weigh in on the Overland Park school's proposed closure at a district-hosted community meeting Sept. 17 at 6 p.m.

The Shawnee Mission School District (SMSD) scheduled the meeting at the school, 7342 Lowell St., according to the Johnson County Post. It comes roughly three weeks after about 140 parents, students and community members packed the Aug. 25 board meeting to oppose the district's recommendation to close East Antioch by fall 2031.

The district's boundary committee began its work Aug. 26 and is expected to present its final recommendation to the Shawnee Mission Board of Education on Oct. 26. The board is expected to consider the recommendation at that meeting, giving families less than two months to make their case.

PTA president Barnett Cardin has been organizing the opposition. In an Aug. 24 interview with the Johnson County Post, Cardin said families had nine weeks before the Oct. 26 deadline and planned to use every one of them.

Supporters launched SaveEastAntioch.com over the weekend of Aug. 22-23. The site lists board members' phone numbers, provides a pre-written email template addressed to board clerk Shelly Trenholm and tracks upcoming public comment opportunities.

Among those listed: a public comment session at the Center for Academic Achievement on Sept. 14 at 5:30 p.m., which is separate from the Sept. 17 community meeting at the school.

The district's proposal calls for merging East Antioch with nearby Santa Fe Trail Elementary and rebuilding Santa Fe Trail on a new campus projected to cost $46 million. Both schools were built in the 1950s and sit less than two miles apart, each enrolling fewer than 300 students.

Superintendent Michael Schumacher cited site differences as a factor: Santa Fe Trail sits on 8.9 acres with four road access points, compared to East Antioch's 6.5 acres and one access point. The Kansas City Star reported it would cost the district roughly $2 million in infrastructure replacement costs and about $800,000 per year to maintain the aging building, according to Schumacher.

The closure is part of a bond referendum the district is preparing to present to voters as soon as 2027. The current list of tentative projects totals about $370 million.

Parent Ian Fannin-Hughes told the board Aug. 25 that families were not given a chance to evaluate alternatives before the closure recommendation. "Families like mine weren't given an opportunity to understand the problem, to evaluate the situation or alternatives and to participate in a process before being told that the school our children attend … is going away," he said.

Fannin-Hughes's son Ollie, a fifth grader with a lifelong disability requiring a ventilator and wheelchair, lives less than a quarter-mile from East Antioch. He can navigate to school on sidewalks. Crossing Metcalf Avenue to reach Santa Fe Trail would be more difficult or impossible.

If approved, East Antioch would be the first school the district has closed since a wave of closures in the early 2010s.