In Kansas City’s most affluent suburbs, where districts pay the highest salaries and traditionally have had an easier time recruiting teachers, schools have been struggling to ensure every classroom is staffed this fall. The Blue Valley school district in Johnson County — with among the highest starting teacher salaries in the metro at $46,000 — reported a high of 250 resignations and retirements this spring. The district started the school year short 90 paraprofessionals, said Eric Punswick, chief human resources officer. “It doesn’t matter what job it is right now in our district, the pools of applicants are much smaller than [...]

With many positions still left empty weeks into the school year, several districts are scaling back operations and finding new ways to keep schools running, while trying to have a competitive edge to recruit and retain enough employees. Unable to fill enough teaching positions, Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools partnered with a company to hire some virtual teachers from out of state, who are livestreaming lessons to classrooms of middle and high school students on their computers, while a staff member watches the kids in person. Source: KC Star Local News

A Johnson County development company tied to home builder Tom French will pay a $51,690 penalty for allegedly failing to adequately control storm water runoff at two housing developments in Olathe, according to a news release from the Environmental Protection Agency. Heartland Development LP has agreed to pay the penalty to resolve violations of the Clean Water Act at the Covington Creek and Covington Court housing developments near 115th Street and Lone Elm Road. In the consent agreement, Heartland Development neither admitted nor denied the allegations and legal conclusions in the settlement with the EPA. Source: KC Star Local News

In the past year, Overland Park police officer Justin Shepherd has responded to mental health calls including a homeless man experiencing hallucinations and another person who was having thoughts of self-harm. But Shepherd has few options for getting someone in distress the help they need. Only two options are available 24 hours a day for people without insurance: take them to a hospital emergency room or to the crisis center in Kansas City, Kansas. Source: KC Star Local News

Mission Hills hopes to have 10 intersections outfitted with cameras or license plate readers by the end of the summer. The city has been installing cameras and automatic license plate readers at key intersections to help police solve crime, said Capt. Ivan Washington with the Prairie Village Police Department, which contracts with Mission Hills for police services. “The purpose of the initiative is to help as an investigative tool to provide tips or leads to the investigation division to hopefully be able to bring criminal cases to a positive resolution,” Washington said. Source: KC Star Local News

Leaders of a southwest Johnson County community that is starved for housing on Thursday approved its first new single-family housing development in almost two decades, according to a news release. In an unanimous vote, the Edgerton City Council approved a conceptual plan proposed by developer Rausch Coleman Homes to build about 275 homes on more than 80 acres at the southwest corner of Braun and Eighth streets, according to the news release from ElevateEdgerton!, a public-private economic development partnership with the city. The new housing development is much needed for the community that sees its population nearly triple each day as [...]

Johnson County commissioners on Thursday approved funding for up to $3,000 in retention bonuses to combat staff vacancies in the sheriff and corrections departments due to a labor shortage. In an unanimous vote, commissioners agreed to spend more than $4.6 million over the next two years to help those agencies retain staff. The money is coming from the Countywide Support Funds reserves. “We are struggling, at least in some areas of the organization, to be able to recruit and retain,” said Maury Thompson, interim director of the human resources department. Source: KC Star Local News

Johnson County will add another $15 million to a growing pot of incentives dedicated to Panasonic’s new $4 billion factory planned for De Soto. The Board of County Commissioners on Thursday voted to spend $7.5 million on local road improvements and commit another $7.5 million toward building a new fire station with hazmat capabilities for the factory. Kansas officials have already committed $829 million in incentives to lure the Japanese electronics maker to De Soto. That includes $500 million in refundable tax credits, which allows the firm to not only reduce its tax burden, but receive cash directly from the [...]

Mental health professionals across Missouri and Kansas are preparing for Saturday’s launch of 988, a 24-hour call and text line they expect will change how mental health crises are handled. They hope 988, which will replace the 10-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, can help callers more easily access local help at any hour. “I’m someone who lives with mental illness and so it’s like, ‘Oh my gosh we finally have a resource that we can use,” said Holly Miles, board vice president for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Missouri. “So you’re gonna see this huge flock of people, especially individuals [...]

This week Gov. Laura Kelly announced that the Japanese company Panasonic will be building a $4 billion factory in De Soto, Kansas. This factory will focus on building batteries for electric vehicles and will bring over 4,000 jobs to De Soto. Here’s what you need to know about De Soto, Kansas, and the new Panasonic factory on the way. De Soto is a small city in Johnson and Leavenworth counties. The city is northwest of Olathe and is about a 30 minute drive from Kansas City proper. It also sits along the south bank of the Kansas River. The town has [...]