Shawnee Mission School District

The Shawnee Mission School District (Kansas Unified School District 512) is one of the major school districts in the Kansas City metropolitan area. It is in northeast Johnson County, Kansas, and enrolled about 27,000 students in the 2009–2010 school year. As of 2011, the district comprises five high schools, five middle schools, 38 elementary schools, and six instructional centers. Its headquarters are in Overland Park.

In 1969, these school districts unified to become the Shawnee Mission School District: Greenwood District 39, Shawnee District 22, Lenexa District 500, Districts 10 and 90, Valley View District 49, Overland Park District 10, Linwood District 1, Roeland District 92, Merriam District 99, Antioch District 61, Westwood View District 93, Prairie District 44, and Corinth District 82.

South Park Elementary school, in Merriam, Kansas, played a role in school desegregation before the unification of the Shawnee Mission School District. South Park opened in 1948 for white students, leaving African-American students in the inadequate Walker Elementary using an outdated curriculum. Corinthian Nutter, an African-American teacher, resigned in protest and taught the students from her home. In 1949, the Webb vs. School District 90 case paved the way for Brown v. Topeka Board of Education five years later.

Skyline Elementary School was presumed to have been named for the fact that one could see the Kansas City, Mo., skyline from the area around the school.

McAuliffe Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas, was one of the first schools in the nation named in honor of Christa McAuliffe.

The district converted from 7–8–9 junior high model to the 7–8 middle school model in 1986.

In 2013, Jim Hinson replaced retiring superintendent Gene Johnson (who was superintendent since 2008).

Shawnee Mission Rural High School opened September 12, 1922, having cost $950,000 to build. It had 12 faculty members and a senior class of 20. The school colors are Red, Black and White and the school mascot is the Indian. The average annual enrollment is approximately 2,000 students. Shawnee Mission North was formerly known as the Original Shawnee Mission High School.

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