Communication, equity and technology were key concerns of Lawrence school parents who met at Pinckney School.
An informal group of Lawrence school parents Thursday identified lack of communication between administrators and community members as the district's paramount problem.
The secondary concern among two dozen people meeting at Pinckney School was the inequity in resources funneled into schools in the 10,500-student district.
Another key point was that Lawrence trailed comparable districts in access to classroom computers and technology.
"It's vital that parents not go to sleep," said Rudy Conrad, a Grant School parent and president of the Lawrence Schools Area Council. "Meetings like this afford more people an opportunity to communicate concerns."
The council sponsored the forum and will pass along the group's thoughts to the district.
Riverside School parent Duane Filkins offered an example of the lack of communication between parents and district officials. He said Riverside parents offered to help select a new principal for the school over the summer. Eventually, the district placed an assistant principal in the school as part of a new mentoring program.
"We were completely and totally steamrolled," he said.
Filkins praised the assistant principal, David Theilen, but said "it still distresses me that a pretty fundamental shift in policy was made in a vacuum."
Lawrence school board member Sue Morgan told parents the board was developing a new liaison program that might foster better communication.
Under the program, each board member would be assigned three or four schools. Members would attend a forum at each of their schools twice a year to outline actions contemplated by the board and gather feedback.
"We're hopeful it's going to get off the ground this year," Morgan said.
-- Tim Carpenter's phone message number is 832-7155. His e-mail address is tcarpenter@ljworld.com.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.