”This community’s identity wasn’t formed by governing institutions; it was formed by the fight in the hearts of its people,” Topher Enneking writes in this letter to the Times.
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
The Lawrence school board has voted to close Broken Arrow and Pinckney elementary schools.
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
Lawrence community members rallied one more time Monday afternoon before the Lawrence school board’s big votes on whether to close Pinckney and Broken Arrow elementary schools.
Mackenzie Clark/Lawrence Times
After hearing from dozens of community members on Saturday, Lawrence school board members will decide Monday whether or not to close one or two elementary schools after the end of this school year.
”Equity resides in the community we’ve built for these children. And that equity was a priority because of these schools’ walls, where they feel the safety and security they deserve,” Melody Alexander writes in this column.
Mackenzie Clark/Lawrence Times
Members of the Pinckney Elementary School community frequently teared up on Saturday afternoon as they told Lawrence school board members why the small school is so special.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
A school is more than just a building, said parents, students and other community members Saturday at a public hearing on the possible closure of Broken Arrow Elementary. Instead, they said, it’s part of a community.
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
Local activist group Save Our Schools 497 has tentative plans to livestream Saturday’s public hearings on possible closures of Broken Arrow and Pinckney elementary schools.
”(The Lawrence school board’s) vote to hold a hearing on closing Broken Arrow Elementary School is a great disappointment and a clear testament that the winds of prejudice are still blowing across the land,” a group of community members write in this letter to the Times.
The Lawrence school district has released a map showing how elementary boundaries could change if the school board chooses to move forward with closing two elementary schools after public hearings, which are set for Saturday.
