The Lawrence school board’s new agenda platform has launched, and the superintendent on Monday will share more plans for “enhancements,” this time focused on a new family engagement center.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift has shared updates on the district’s plans for enhancements, such as adding preschool classrooms to certain schools, “streamlining” district positions and an administrative shakeup with the goal of ensuring competitive pay for staff members. She has also spoken briefly about a welcome center planned for district offices at 110 McDonald Drive.

Swift will give the board a presentation Monday about further plans for the Family Engagement Center.

“The District recognizes the importance of authentic family engagement in promoting student success,” according to the agenda. “To strengthen these efforts, the District recommends the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships, developed by Dr. Karen Mapp, as a guiding model for schools to effectively engage families as educational partners.”

Starting in the 2026-27 year, “The center will serve as a centralized, one-stop location dedicated to supporting families through wraparound services, academic assistance, barrier reduction, and increased equitable access to resources for all families,” according to the meeting agenda.

This agenda is the board’s first on its new Diligent agenda platform.

The board in September approved switching meeting agenda platforms to Diligent Community, for $12,500 annually, from BoardDocs, which cost $9,000 annually.

iCompass, the agenda platform the City of Lawrence and Douglas County both use, is a Diligent brand, and the school board’s new agenda site layout is quite similar. It can be found at this link.

Board policies, previously available via BoardDocs, are also available via the new platform, at this link.

Older agendas were still available on the previous agenda website, at this link, as of publication time. Older materials going back to 2019 are also being imported into the new system.

In other business:

• Board members will consider renewing licenses for Xello college and career readiness platform, $25,610, and Imagine Learning online curriculum, $55,000.

They’ll also consider a $26,750 contract with Lankford | Fendler and Associates Consulting Engineers Inc. to “provide consulting engineering services associated with the development of documentation required” to replace boilers at Lawrence High School.

Those items are on the board’s consent agenda, a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion unless a board member or the superintendent pulls an item for discussion.

• Board members will meet in an executive session, or closed-door meeting, to discuss employee contract negotiations. That’s set to last 10 minutes at the beginning of the meeting, with no action to follow.

• No public comment: Monday’s board meeting will be the eighth meeting in a row with no general public comment period on the agenda. The board has not heard in-person public comment since Nov. 17.

Meeting info

The board meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, April 13 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.

Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@USD497, and broadcast on Midco channel 26.

See the full meeting agenda at this link. See ways to contact the school board at lawrencekstimes.com/contact-usd497bd.

Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.

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