Lawrence school board members on Wednesday will consider approving a $1-per-hour raise for many district staff members, opening a new high school program at the Centennial building and expanding Langston Hughes Elementary.
The board’s regular fourth Monday meeting was rescheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24. The board will meet at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.
• The bargaining team for education support professionals earlier this month accepted an offer from the Lawrence school district for a $1 hourly raise.
The Lawrence Education Association represents teachers and ESPs, which include paraeducators, custodians, secretaries and other support staff.
Part of the agreement is to move the lowest paid ESPs to the next level on the salary schedule in addition to the dollar raise for all of them. If the board approves, the new lowest hourly wage would increase from $14.02 to $15.46 in 2025-26. The increase will cost the district about $1.13 million more.
• The district on Friday announced plans to open the former Centennial Elementary School to be used for a small high school program, and to expand Langston Hughes Elementary with additional classrooms.
Read more about that at this link. Board members will consider approving those moves during their meeting.
• They’ll also receive a report on attendance (no agenda documentation was provided about that report as of Tuesday afternoon) and consider refinancing district bonds at a lower interest rate.
• As part of its consent agenda — a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved in one motion, unless a board member asks to discuss an item — the board will also consider approving a whistleblower policy, which “provides new protections for municipal employees, including school district staff, who report unlawful or dangerous conduct,” according to the agenda.
• The board will also consider moving from BoardDocs — the meeting agenda platform currently in use for $9,000 annually — to Diligent Community, for $12,500 annually.
Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@USD497, and broadcast on Midco channel 26. Full meeting agendas are available on BoardDocs, via go.boarddocs.com.
To give public comment, sign up by noon the day of the meeting by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org. Commenters may request to participate by Webex video/phone conferencing.
The board’s next meeting, which would normally fall on Monday, Oct. 13, has been rescheduled to Monday, Oct. 20.
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Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
