Ever since the Kansas City public school lost its accreditation in 2012, they have been having a hard time leaving the problems in the past. The loss of accreditation came in the wake of a district-wide consolidation in 2010.

Some of the students that were directly affected by the catastrophe, have prevailed in the wake of a potentially devastating event – they have decided to fight for their school instead of lay down and just give up on returning to their school in a normal setting.

One student laments that “we know we are capable of going in the classroom and learning, just like any other school.”

They await the performance scores that come out this summer, and have high hopes of scoring high enough to make the school a candidate for accreditation again. However, other factors including attendance and school population could jeopardize that.

Additional plans to bring the school back to life include partnering with charter schools, such as potentially handing over control of Southwest to the charter Academie Lafayette, which would in effect relocate the school’s juniors for their senior year. However, most of the students do not want to go to another school. Junior L.C. Burton attests that “you’re not dealing with problems by moving kids around.” According to Burton, “this school built our character.”

Superintendent Steve Green has expressed how impressed he is with the students, lamenting that the Kansas City community can learn from its student’s commitment to bringing their school back.