Wyandotte - Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools

XIV. DISTRICT COMPONENTSSchool Mission Statement:The Mission of Wyandotte High School is toeducate, empower, and encourage all learners, so that they may create a better tomorrow forthemselves and our community."Pride Through Excellence"School Profile/Executive Overview:Profile (as described in QPA)History of SchoolCommunityHome to 150,000 Midwesterners, Wyandotte County is sprawledover 111 square miles of fertile Kansas riverbank where the Kansasand Missouri rivers meet. The strength of its early American Indianfonders and skills of the African, Asian, and European immigrats arestill alive today in a hard-working labor force of more than 80,000.The decades of the 1980s and 1990s were not kind to the city.Declines in the population base, housing values, and retail centersled to a highly negative perception of the city. However a 1997consolidation of the city and county governments has proven to be asuccess. The attraction of a NASCAR racetrack and the subsequetretail development of the surrounding area support this assessmentof the new government. Large industrial manufacturers have beenjoined by a new large EPA regional headquarters and a newconvention hotel.FacilitiesSite Council-- Kansas City, Wyandotte High School --In 2001, the KCK Public Schools received a grant from theKauffman Fondation in the amoung of almost $10 million over 5years. At the same time, voters passed the first bond issue ($130million) in over 30 years for the renovation of schools.Wyandotte High School traces its beginnings back to 1886. Thecurrent school building was completed on 1937 at a cost of $2.5million, covering 22 acres of land once occupied by the US Army totrain our WWI soldiers, and later by a golf course. The school wasbuilt to house 3000 students in 85 classrooms, seat 1900 in thegymnasium, and seat 1800 in the auditorium, which, like thebuilding itself, was designed in Indian motif. Wyandott's twin towerswere given names by then principal JF Wellemyer. The West towerrepresented knowledge and the East tower represented character.The West was land of pioneers, eager and ambitious to achieve andacquire. The East suggest maturity, stability of character, refinement,culture, and inspiration. Today, Wyandotte, the first free public highschool west of the Mississippi River, continues the tradition of thepioneering spirit. It is recognized as a national model for urban highschool reform.The purpose of the Wyandotte High School Site Council is to:-provide advice and counsel to the school in evaluating state, schooldistrict, and school site performance goals and objectives.-help determine methods which should be employed by the school tomeet the goals and objectives.-provide other assistance that the school may request.Membership:PrincipalTeachersOther school personnelParentsPage 39 of 42