Lawrence school board to hold special meeting of executive sessions

Article updated at 4:34 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4:

The Lawrence school board will have a special meeting at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 7, according to a news release from Lawrence Public Schools spokesperson Julie Boyle. 

School Board President Erica Hill called the special meeting so that the board can recess into four consecutive executive, or closed-door, sessions, according to the release.

Those sessions will be as follows: 

• Discussion of the superintendent’s evaluation. (60 minutes) The board also recessed to an hourlong executive session at the beginning of its Jan. 24 meeting to discuss the superintendent’s evaluation. Boyle said in response to follow-up questions that these evaluations typically take more than an hour.
  
• Kansas Open Meetings Act training, which the release says is deemed privileged in the attorney-client relationship. (30 minutes) Boyle said this training is standard when new members join the board.
  
• Negotiations, “to protect the public interest in negotiating a fair and equitable contract.” (15 minutes) The session is related to PAL-CWA, the union of classified staff, though Boyle said negotiations with the teachers union, Lawrence Education Association, are also ongoing.
  
• Discussion of safety measures, to ensure the security of district buildings. (15 minutes) Boyle said discussing district security issues when new members join the board is a standard practice.

The board will not take any action following the executive sessions, according to the release. The school board’s special meetings generally do not have public comment periods.

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