After nearly a year missing, open public comment has returned to the Lawrence school board’s meeting agenda for Monday.
The board’s last meeting, on Sept. 14, marked the 18th straight without public comment. The board hasn’t heard in-person public comment since Nov. 17, 2025.
Board President Bob Byers said during the board’s July 13 meeting that he’d like to revisit possibly bringing public comment back to the agendas. He suggested during the Sept. 14 meeting that the board reinstate previous practices following board policy BCBI.
Members of the public will be allowed to share general comments that are germane to the school board for up to three minutes at the end of the board’s other agenda items.
People will need to email [email protected] by noon the day of the meeting to sign up to give public comment. Only in-person public comment will be allowed.
People are not allowed to display signs or banners in the boardroom, according to board policy.
In other business, the board will hear a fall facilities report from Larry Englebrick, deputy superintendent, according to the agenda. No report was attached to the meeting agenda as of Friday afternoon.
As part of the consent agenda — a list of items that are generally considered routine and approved with one motion, unless a board member or the superintendent asks to pull an item for discussion — the board will consider approving a memorandum of understanding between the district and the City of Lawrence for the Lawrence Police Department to continue offering the school resource officer program though May 31, 2027.
SROs work in district middle and high schools at no cost to the district, according to the agenda.. The MOU was not attached to the meeting agenda as of Friday afternoon.
Meeting info
The school board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 28 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.
The board will hear a report from Superintendent Jeanice Swift, then enter a 30-minute executive session to discuss attorney-client privileged matters, according to the agenda.
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 more ways to contact the school board at lawrencekstimes.com/contact-usd497bd.
If local news matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat — get the latest news from the Times delivered to your inbox:
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at [email protected]. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
