Letter to the Times: Lawrence school district’s palatial headquarters
If the board of education decides to close any school, the district should abandon its […]
If the board of education decides to close any school, the district should abandon its […]
Lawrence school board Vice President Shannon Kimball took the board commentary portion of Monday’s meeting as an opportunity to provide some insight into the history of USD 497’s funding woes.
Lawrence community members rallied at school district offices Monday in support of their neighborhood schools, and the board got to hear from some very young public commenters.
A tight timeline for the Lawrence school board to make decisions about whether to close schools seems to have lit a fire under many community members who are coming together to “#SaveOurSchools497.”
Nothing on the Lawrence school board’s Monday agenda indicated whether members will discuss proposals to close several district schools. But the board will consider deleting some high school classes, approving a calendar with a weeklong fall break and Juneteenth as a holiday in 2023, and more.
“If our schools are shuttered, the institutional mourning will be profound, but as a Lawrencian I’m optimistic we will not witness that outcome. Where the district sees opportunity in this budget crisis, I see opportunity as well,” Rebecca Zarazan Dunn writes in this column.
A proposal to close four Lawrence elementary schools and a middle school could save the district about $3.25 million, and the school board will have to decide by the end of the month whether to keep that option on the table.
The Lawrence school district’s Boundary Advisory Committee and its Budget and Program Evaluation Committee will both meet Wednesday, and the BAC will hear details about a proposal to close Hillcrest Elementary.
Parents, students, and neighbors on Monday covered sidewalks with chalk messages of hope at Lawrence schools that could face closures.
Multiple school closings were proposed to the Lawrence school district’s Boundary Advisory Committee Wednesday in an attempt to lessen an impending budget crisis.
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