As Hale Cook Elementary students and staff begin a year away from home, they carry with them something that has long defined their school community: a commitment to do whatever it takes to support students.
Hale Cook was relocated to Troost Elementary for the 2026-27 school year while its original building, opened in 1923, undergoes a $15 million renovation and addition project. These changes were made possible through Kansas City Public Schools' historic 2025 bond initiative, the district's first voter-approved bond measure in nearly six decades.
When construction is complete, students will return to a modernized school with expanded learning spaces, enhanced safety features, updated classrooms and common areas, and improved amenities designed to serve generations of students to come.
While the setting may be different this year, school leaders say the spirit of Hale Cook remains unchanged.
"The community makes [Hale Cook] so special," said Principal Kay Lowe, who began serving as principal in February after previously serving as vice principal at Hale Cook and Border Star Montessori.
"Our staff, students and caregivers all contribute to making it a wonderful school. Staff and parent volunteers have worked so hard to make the school look beautiful and welcoming. Many staff worked additional hours to get their rooms ready to welcome students."
That sense of community has deep roots.
Hale Cook served students for generations before closing in 2009 during a period of district consolidation. In the years that followed, neighborhood families organized to advocate for reopening the school, helping bring Hale Cook back to life in 2014.
More recently, many Hale Cook families joined supporters across Kansas City who advocated for the 2025 KCPS Bond initiative that is now making the school's transformation possible.
For longtime second-grade teacher Natasha Smith, the current transition reflects the same determination that has shaped the school throughout its history.
"Our school is like a family," Smith said. "Hale Cook is primarily a neighborhood school, many of our families walk to school. Even the neighbors that don't have kids at our school are still a piece of our community. So many of them volunteer in classrooms, participate in Lead to Read, volunteer in our school garden, or stop their cars to throw a ball back over the fence."
Smith, now in her 11th year at Hale Cook, said staff members, families and volunteers came together throughout the summer to prepare their new learning spaces at Troost Elementary.
"Walking through the building and seeing the amount of time and care everyone has put in is so impressive," Smith said. "On average, most of us spent upwards of 40 hours to get our classrooms ready. At Meet the Teacher, I loved hearing the families comment on how nice everyone's rooms looked."
Throughout the transition, educators have remained focused on the students at the center of the work.
"The thing I keep reminding myself is that this is the only second-grade year these kids will have and they deserve to have it in the best classroom possible," Smith said.
The renovation project will bring significant improvements to Hale Cook's historic campus while preserving key elements of the school's character.
Planned upgrades include renovated classrooms and restrooms, an expanded cafeteria, new playgrounds and outdoor learning areas, replacement windows, a new secure entry and administrative suite, an ICC 500 storm shelter capable of protecting the entire school population, and four new classrooms with collaborative learning space. The project will also preserve much of the school's beloved orchard while enhancing accessibility, safety and functionality across the campus.
Lowe said the temporary move also offers opportunities as the school community prepares for its return.
"Troost is a much larger school, so all staff have their own space, which wasn't possible at the old Hale Cook," Lowe said. "We just have to remind ourselves that this is only for one year, and that we'll be back at a newly renovated school next August. I am looking forward to having more space at the new school."
The work at Hale Cook is one of many projects underway across Kansas City Public Schools through the district's KCPS Bond initiative, which is focused on creating safe, modern and inspiring learning environments for all students.
For the Hale Cook community, the year ahead represents more than a temporary change of address. It is another chapter in a story defined by perseverance, partnership and a shared belief in the power of public education.
And when students return to Hale Cook in 2027, they will return not only to a renovated building, but to a school community that once again came together to invest in its future.
