Kansas City’s Southwest Early College Campus begins the new year with a new principal.
Ben Boothe, who has been principal at Attucks Elementary, becomes the third principal since August to guide a school that has struggled for control since the district’s major consolidation last year.
Boothe will lead the school as it embarks on its new structure as three academies in one.
Beginning with the second semester, Jan. 19, Southwest will have an early college program led by David Ketchum; a Life and Engineering Sciences Academy led by Ken Holstine; and a Children as Individuals program led by James Kilgore.
Before joining the Kansas City School District in August to lead Attucks Elementary, Boothe had been early childhood director for the De Soto School District.
Before consolidation, Southwest Early College Campus was a growing magnet program that had about 500 students last year and was projected to add 250 students.
The program’s enrollment grew to more than 1,200 under the new alignment.
The district tried to continue its early college program for the entire school population before opting to create three separate programs.