Post updated at 7:20 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13:
The Lawrence school board on Monday will consider a draft school calendar for 2023-24, which includes a few changes but keeps five-day weeks — for now.
“The Calendar Committee will present its four-day student week calendar proposal to the board in March,” Julie Boyle, spokesperson for the school district, said via email.
As the district narrows in on its 2023-24 school year budget plan, the Futures Planning Committee agreed upon a possible budget scenario that suggests closing three schools that have yet to be publicly named, cutting a district administrative position, cutting high school elective courses and more.
The current proposal also includes a possible four-day week, which would save the district an estimated $700,000. Though the calendar committee so far has presented a four-day model to various district committees, such as the Executive Leadership Team and the District Site Council, Boyle said that piece won’t be presented to the school board for consideration quite yet.
The committee decided to keep fall break an entire week off for students and nine-month staff “based on the continued positive staff feedback,” the agenda said. Twelve-month staff will work Monday through Wednesday during fall break, and Thursday and Friday will remain paid holidays for all eligible staff.
As negotiated with the classified staff union, PAL-CWA, there are two classified professional development days included in the recommended calendar, according to the meeting agenda.
The calendar also includes the addition of a paid holiday for Juneteenth. Starting in June 2024, staff who have worked 12 months will have a paid holiday on June 19.
View the Calendar Committee’s presentation at this link and the 2023-24 calendar draft at this link.
Accreditation report
The school board will consider accepting an outside accreditation report of the district. The district hosted the Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) Outside Visitation Team (OVT) on Feb. 1 as part of its required annual accreditation process, according to the agenda.
This is meant to assess the district’s success regarding social-emotional factors, kindergarten readiness, individual plans of study, high school graduation and postsecondary success, according to the report. OVT then provides a written report to the Kansas State Department of Education and the Accreditation Review Council.
According to the report, high school graduation rates within the district have continued to increase but still fell below the state average in 2021. The report also included areas such as community partnerships, student program initiatives, equity and inclusion work and others.
Areas for improvement recommended to the district include kindergarten readiness, individual plans of study, and the need to select a program for social emotional learning, according to the report.
View the presentation for Monday at this link. The full OVT report can be read at this link and the shorter summary of the report at this link.
In other business
• Capital outlay report: The board will also hear and consider an annual report on capital outlay expenditures during this year and the budget for the three years to follow, according to the agenda. The district’s capital outlay fund is primarily funded with tax revenues from the mill levy, or property taxes, which finance the upkeep of school buildings.
View the capital outlay presentation included in Monday’s agenda at this link.
• Resolution regarding state funding: As part of its consent agenda — a list of routine items that the board usually considers with one vote — the school board will consider a resolution in support of adequate state funding for public schools.
In accordance with the Gannon ruling in the Kansas school finance case, the Kansas Legislature must follow the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 2022-2023, which would result in a school funding increase. However, the district will not know that actual number until this March or April. In addition, the Legislature has unveiled plans to shift funding to private schools.
District administrators and school board members had predicted that this legislative session will threaten public education.
“This Resolution is to urge the Kansas Legislature to reject proposals to divert tax dollars to non-public schools and to support Kansas public schools and provide the necessary funding for them to serve all Kansas students,” according to the meeting agenda.
The resolution is a consent agenda item, meaning it will most likely be approved unanimously without discussion unless a board member asks to pull it. Read the full resolution at this link.
The school board meeting will begin at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13 at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. The meeting will start with an hourlong executive (closed-door) session to discuss personnel matters.
Meetings are open to the public, livestreamed on the district’s YouTube channel and broadcast on Midco channel 26. Full meeting agendas are available at this link.
To give public comment virtually during the board meeting, email PublicComment@usd497.org by 6 p.m. on the day of the meeting to sign up to participate by Webex video/phone conferencing.
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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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