The Lawrence Public Schools Boundary Advisory Committee on Wednesday discussed three maps creating new high school boundaries in an effort to even enrollment between the two schools.
Lawrence High’s enrollment has fallen behind Free State’s by hundreds of students the last few years.
A headcount on Friday showed LHS had 1,484 students and Free State had 1,797. That count isn’t exact and is still shifting, but it shows the disparity between the schools — 313 students.
At a June meeting, Lawrence school board President Kelly Jones said the district needed to work to increase Lawrence High’s enrollment to reevaluate equity considerations and avoid the school dropping to 5A classification.
The committee considered three options for new high school boundaries: an L-shaped map, a feeder schools map and a grade-level map.
The L-shaped map would take the existing boundary and add a new line around Massachusetts Street so students who live on the easternmost side of Lawrence attend LHS.
Committee members who discussed this map said they liked that it was the least disruptive option.
“It is kind of the path of least resistance option right now,” said Jessica Hunt Reed, a community-at-large member.
But committee members weren’t sure the option was the best long-term plan because the district would likely have to reevaluate down the line because of growth in northwestern Lawrence.
The feeder schools map would send Billy Mills Middle School and Southwest Middle School students to Lawrence High. Liberty Memorial Central and West students would attend Free State, creating a zigzag boundary.
Committee members said this option produced some common-sense benefits, like better collaboration between the middle schools and high schools. It could also help reduce transfer requests from students whose friends are attending the other high school and make transitions smoother for families.
Ron May, director of human resources and transportation, said this option, like others, would require staff transitions that could be disruptive.
“When you move 300 students, staff is going to have to move,” he said.
May also pointed out that the option would shift the number of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch programs. Free State would see an increase, and Lawrence High would see a decrease.
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This option would also mean that many students who live right next to one school would be zoned for the other school across town. This is already a situation for many families under the current boundary, but it could happen more with this boundary.
The final option was a grade level option, where students in ninth and 10th grades would attend Free State and students in 11th and 12th grades would attend Lawrence High.
Committee members raised hesitations with this option but didn’t reject it. The committee was concerned with disruptions to school traditions and transportation challenges but said the option would eliminate disparities between students at different schools.
Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick walked committee members through a series of statistics and maps to guide their discussions.
Data projected general increases of students in northwest Lawrence and decreases in the southeast. There have also been more new housing developments in the northwest.
Englebrick also floated a fourth option that would create unique programs to attract students to each high school to help naturally balance enrollment without changing boundaries. The Olathe school district uses a similar program.
RSP & Associates, the consultant previously hired to support the committee’s efforts, were not present at Wednesday’s meeting after the school board decided to have the consultants play a smaller part in discussions. Englebrick facilitated the meeting. District spokesperson Julie Boyle said last month that staff were still finalizing an agreement with RSP.
Committee members said the district would need to assess its evaluation of transfer requests to keep enrollment of the two schools even. They asked the district to finalize information on transportation changes and bring updated numbers on what would happen if students already in high school stayed at their schools after the boundary changes.
The committee plans to hold two public input sessions in November, with recommendations to be presented to the school board in early December.
A list of BAC members and a tentative timeline for the committee’s work is available on the district’s website at this link.
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Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
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