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1 week ago | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
David and Betty Matthews, both retirees, lived in Aspen Place Apartments in Gardner for two years. That was two years of filling their bathtub every other week for when the water would go out; two years of uncompleted maintenance requests; two years of never-ending problems and frustration. The Matthews are now two of roughly 200 Aspen Place residents who on Tuesday were given 48 hours to vacate their homes after the city condemned the complex.
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1 month ago | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
The city of Olathe is conducting a space needs study to plan for city staffing changes over the next decade. The Olathe City Council recently approved spending $191,000 on the space needs study for city employees, which will consider staffing changes and help the city plan for the next 10 years. As part of the deal, the city council agreed on March 18 to hire Peckham, Guyton, Albers and Viet, Inc. — an architecture, design and planning firm.
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1 month ago | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
The Blue Valley School District has announced its next superintendent: Gillian Chapman, a former Shawnee Mission School District administrator who left Johnson County 10 years ago to lead a school district in Wyoming. The Blue Valley Board of Education’s decision, made in a special meeting Friday, comes after a months-long search to replace outgoing Superintendent Tonya Merrigan, who announced her plans to retire this summer at the end of the current school year.
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2 months ago | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Blue Valley Schools is adding a dozen social workers to its schools, the latest step in the district’s years-long efforts to address student mental health. The Blue Valley Board of Education last week approved adding 12 bachelor’s-level social workers to 12 schools in the district, under the Kansas Mental Health Intervention Team grant.
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Feb 14, 2025 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
While it appeared Martha Stewart pulled some very impressive dance moves during her Skechers Super Bowl commercial, two professional dancers were behind those moves, including Olathe West graduate Kaden Potter. Both Potter and fellow dancer Brett Kessler were featured in the ad, with Stewart superimposed over their bodies. So while it looked like Stewart, the dancing was done by Potter and Kessler.
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Feb 11, 2025 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Two key sections of Lone Elm Road in Olathe are primed for major upgrades. The Olathe City Council voted 5-0 last month to approve spending more than $32 million on two separate projects along the thoroughfare. The projects include adding turn lanes on Lone Elm between 119th and Harold Streets and expanding Lone Elm between 159th and 167th Streets from two lanes to four. Councilmembers Kevin Gilmore and Matthew Schoonover were absent from the meeting on Jan. 21 when the vote as taken.
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Feb 3, 2025 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Starting in fall 2026, students living in neighborhoods surrounding Aubry Bend Middle School near 179th Street and Quivira Road in the Blue Valley School District will attend the new Wolf Springs Middle School being built nearby. Earlier this month, the Blue Valley Board of Education approved by a 6-1 vote the boundary change. Board member Jim McMullen cast the lone vote against the measure.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Olathe Public Schools began the 2024-25 academic year with a new bell schedule for all of its building. Olathe administrators recently highlighted the positives of the new bell schedule, while also addressing the challenges in a presentation Thursday night at the Olathe Public Schools Board of Education meeting. The district implemented the changes in the fall in response to bus driver shortages, Superintendent Brent Yeager has said.
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Dec 16, 2024 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Johnson County is expanding its health services with a new building on the Sunset campus in Olathe. The Olathe Planning Commission last Monday unanimously approved the preliminary site development plan and final plat for Johnson County’s new health services building near 119th Street and Ridgeview Road.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
johnsoncountypost.com | Margaret Mellott
Olathe Public Schools’ new cellphone policy is going well four months after its approval, three administrators said Thursday. Principals representing the elementary, middle and high school levels addressed the Olathe Board of Education at its last meeting of the semester Dec. 4, providing an update on the personal electronic device policy that was approved in August. “Overall, it’s really been a non-issue,” said Olathe Northwest High School Principal Chris Zuck.
