Participants who gave the Lawrence school district some feedback in the fall said teachers and staff are the backbone, but they see areas for improvement in student discipline and more.
Interim Superintendent Jeanice Swift and other district administrators facilitated a series of conversations with students, staff, families and community members in the fall. Swift said they asked groups open-ended questions.
A volunteer University of Kansas research team collected data from 55 in-person meetings as well as an online survey that more than 1,000 people responded to.
According to the data, praises went to the district’s teachers and staff and their commitment, inclusivity efforts and connection to community. Participants felt the district needed to improve on safety and discipline — especially in regard to bullying and better security measures — balancing classroom sizes, communication and academic rigor.
Priorities targeted several of the strengths and shortcomings mentioned before, according to the data. Increasing teacher salaries and bettering working conditions was a top goal.
Swift said the district will use the feedback in plans moving forward. Board member Bob Byers said the report is an integral step in creating a strategic plan each year.
“I want to reassure the community that once we have this conversation with the board, we’ll be back out in the spring to check in on our progress along these priorities and goals,” Swift said. I’m so proud to live in a community cares enough about their children to respond and speak to what they want to see for our children, our young people, and our high quality public schools.”
Here’s the full report:
20250127-Fall-engagement-report-rIn other business:
• No high school boundary changes yet: The district’s Boundary Advisory Committee on Monday updated the board that it’s decided to defer changes to high school boundaries they were previously considering and recommend no changes next year.
Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick, who oversees the BAC, told the board the committee is instead interested in pursuing a feeder system in the future. A feeder system could tie all three school levels together by keeping students with the same cohort through graduation, but some committee members had expressed concerns that it could be too disruptive.
“A lot of districts have looked into that,” Englebrick said. “I think we’d have to be very cautious as we look into that, if we choose to, of the possible disruption that it could cause. We don’t want to go in and start moving boundaries and changing a great deal of things if there are simpler, easier ways to do it.”
Board member Anne Costello said a possible next step in the process would be to reevaluate the district’s current system for in-district transfer requests. Funding does not follow students from building to building, which could disrupt funding across schools.
Recent data from consultant RSP & Associates reiterates an expected decline in enrollment over the next five years. It also shows a trend of smaller incoming kindergarten classes than graduating senior classes. Previously, there was concern that enrollment numbers at Free State and Lawrence high schools could be too imbalanced, but Englebrick said the 235 projected difference of students between the two schools is not enough to make changes at this time.
Committee members had cited a need for a longer-term solution by analyzing elementary, middle and high school boundaries altogether.
• New solar project: The board on Monday approved a bid and contract to get solar panels installed at Sunflower Elementary School.
The contract is with solar installer company Cromwell Environmental for the base bid price of $245,770, according to the agenda item.
There were two cheaper bids, but the district scored Cromwell Environmental with the highest evaluation among the eight bidders. Funding for the project will come from the district’s 2025 fiscal year capital outlay fund, and the district will work with the company on ways to lower costs.
Cromwell also installed solar panels at Prairie Park Elementary last year.
Board members voted on the contract as part of their consent agenda, a list of items routinely approved in one motion unless a member or the superintendent pulls an item for further discussion. See the district’s rubric for evaluating bidders and request for proposals document attached to the meeting agenda item on BoardDocs.
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Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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