The Lawrence school district is not expecting additional costs associated with transportation for students attending its planned STEAM school, which will most likely have longer school days but maintain early release Wednesdays.
Liberty Memorial Central Middle School Principal Jennifer Schmitt and Assistant Principal Phil Mitchell on Wednesday updated the school board about the transition to a STEAM — Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math — school next year.
Schmitt and Mitchell said Wednesday that they learned from the district’s transportation service, First Student, that there will be no difference between costs to bus current LMCMS students and costs next year to bus STEAM students.
The current projected enrollment at the STEAM school next year is 400 students, slightly more than current enrollment at LMCMS.
With an increased focus on sciences and arts, the STEAM school will require more full-time teachers, members on a committee planning for the first year of STEAM told the board on March 26. Schmitt and Mitchell, who both serve on the committee, said Wednesday that the STEAM school will need two additional full-time-equivalent teachers.
“We’re advocating for an FTE that will not add to our class sizes,” Schmitt said. “We certainly don’t want to have an added burden of students having tons of classmates where it just becomes more difficult to manage.”
Committee members on March 26 also shared with the board a proposed schedule for the STEAM school. It featured a potential 9:45 a.m. late start on Wednesdays, which some board members said could inconvenience parents and increase busing costs. School would be released at 2:30 p.m. Wednesdays.
Presenters returned with a schedule that nixes the late start idea and instead suggests Wednesdays begin at 8 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. School on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays would begin at 8 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m., according to the updated proposed schedule.
They said the calendar builds in at least 1,154 instructional hours, which is more than the current amount at LMCMS. Extending the school day aims to offer flexibility to test what works the first year and allow time for the “inquiry block” — a class period at the end of the day for project-based learning or for students to meet with activity clubs — without content classes being impacted. Teachers will also need to use that time for planning.
In the updated proposed calendar, four additional days — one during each quarter — are allotted for LMCMS teachers to participate in professional development. That’s opposed to the five days included in the previous proposal.
STEAM students would be off from school during those professional development days; meanwhile, other schools will still be in session, so board member Anne Costello asked if the district would commit to maintaining lunch service for STEAM kids. Superintendent Anthony Lewis said he’d inquire with Julie Henry, director of nutrition and wellness.
The school board was pleased with the update and thanked committee members for their work.
“For me, you’ve taken this from the idea to the reality,” board Vice President Bob Byers told presenters.
Board members did not take action on the report Wednesday.
Transfer deadline approaches Friday
The new open enrollment policy requires the district to allow enrollment through June 30, but the deadline for students to request to transfer to schools outside of their boundaries was set for April 1; the district has extended the deadline to Friday, April 12.
Lewis said the district can make deadline exceptions for non-LMCMS students who may be interested in attending the STEAM school.
Family outreach nights, where folks interested in STEAM can learn more and ask questions, are scheduled for 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 16 and Tuesday, May 14 at LMCSM.
View the presentation committee members shared with the board Wednesday attached to the agenda item on BoardDocs.
Read more about the proposed STEAM classes and curriculum in this article.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison (at) lawrencekstimes (dot) com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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