Deputy Superintendent Jim McMullen presented the district’s enrollment and demographic update, telling the board the district’s current enrollment is roughly 28,000 students and that the district was down about 314 students from the previous year. McMullen said staff project a decline of about 2,300 students over the next nine years, putting the district near 25,700 pupils without changes to underlying demographic trends.

McMullen identified three principal drivers: a statewide and national decline in birth rates, a built‑out pattern of residential development within Olathe that limits new family‑oriented housing, and a rise in home prices that reduces the inflow of younger families. He told the board that if earlier birth‑rate levels had persisted, the district would have tens of thousands more students over time. McMullen also presented cohort‑survival data showing that once families enroll in the district they tend to remain but that kindergarten classes are smaller than outgoing senior cohorts — a structural trend that underlies the projections.

Board members asked about how enrollment decline squares with seeking a bond and about staff impacts of rightsizing. McMullen and other staff said the bond request responds to a backlog of capital needs and long‑term stewardship of district facilities; staff also said personnel adjustments would be managed primarily through natural attrition and planned transition steps and that involuntary reductions were not currently expected if the district proceeds methodically.

The board asked staff to continue community engagement, refine projections and report proposed rightsizing scenarios and transition plans to the board and the public. District planner Chris Grolup was credited for producing the detailed projections and attendance‑area maps used in the presentation.