Neighborhood activists raised their voices Monday to urge changes in Lawrence school district facilities that strengthen rather than weaken residential enclaves.

DLR Group, an Overland Park consulting firm hired by the district, is studying options for improving K-12 facilities. The study will result in a multimillion-dollar bond issue, perhaps the largest in district history.

Jim French, a consultant with DLR Group, discusses proposed improvements to the school district's elementary and junior high schools during a meeting with neighborhood association representatives at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive. French is shown in front of a projection on Monday depicting neighborhood school divisions.

“Just as neighborhoods need strong schools, schools need strong neighborhoods,” said Jordan Lerner, chair of the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods.

Lerner said preliminary findings by DLR Group need to be challenged, especially potential ideas that undermine the future of existing elementary schools.

Close scrutiny is required of DLR Group’s $91.2 million list of possible facility upgrades at the 18 district elementary schools and four junior high schools, he said. DLR Group hasn’t finished the high school wish-lists yet.

“I think all assumptions need to be questioned,” Lerner said. “You need to look at needs versus wants.”

The group held a community meeting Monday at district headquarters that attracted 17 members of the public.

Deborah Snyder of the Centennial Neighborhood Assn. said she took exception to the school board’s strategy, incorporated into DLR Group’s study, of setting a minimum of two classes at each grade in elementary schools. Several low-enrollment schools in Lawrence have only one class at each grade.

Snyder said the two-section limit was “arbitrary” and ignored students’ academic requirements.

“Those students have special needs because of their socioeconomic status,” she said. “There is a passionate argument here to keep those one-section schools.”

Jim French, representing DLR Group, said the district’s older, smaller schools were missing critical spaces sought by teachers and staff. It’s not fair that students in a new school on the city’s west side have a well-equipped art classroom while children at an older school on the east side have no art classroom, he said.

“They schools may be perfect in your eyes, but there are programs that are missing,” French said.

Marci Francisco of the Oread Neighborhood Assn. said her preference was for the district to renovate or expand existing elementary schools instead of replacing them with new, larger structures. Schools with historic flavor she mentioned Cordley and New York deserve special consideration, she said.

There was no opposition at the meeting regarding the replacement of South Junior High School rather than renovating the building for about $17 million.

Lerner, who has criticized the district for not seeking neighborhood input, said the session was worthwhile.

“There’s a lot of issues. It’s important to have this dialogue,” he said.

Board President Scott Morgan said he welcomed involvement of residents in the facilities study.

“If we shut this community out,” he said, “we’ll be shut down.”