Volunteer Diane Karpowitz had a front-row seat in Lawrence public schools for an astonishing 28 years.

In that span of time, starting with son Chris in 1974 and ending with daughter Beth this spring, she has been mother and benefactor for her six kids and their schools.

“We had wonderful, wonderful experiences,” she said.

She followed her children  Chris, Wendy, Matt, Jenni, Joel and Beth  from Centennial School to Central and Southwest junior high schools and then to Lawrence High School.

Now that the last of her group of youngsters is moving on, folks shouldn’t expect her to reduce her commitment to public education. After all, she has three grandchildren headed to Sunflower School in August.

“I hope they still need some community help,” said Karpowitz, whose husband, Dennis, is on the Kansas University faculty. “I’ve always pushed to have as much parental support as possible.”

Karpowitz has been in the thick of things since the days Richard Nixon ruled the White House. She’s served on committees that picked two Lawrence superintendents, Don Neuenswander and Al Azinger.

For many years, she was a volunteer “homeroom mother” responsible for helping teachers plan and conduct special events. She was there for music concert trips and after-school study halls. More evenings than she wishes to count were spent at school PTO or site council meetings.

She earned the Outstanding Citizen Award from the Lawrence teachers’ union in 1984.

Her affection for public schools in Lawrence make the district’s decisions to cut budgets and raise fees difficult to swallow.

As she looks back over the years, the district’s theater, music and sports programs had a major impact on her children. The contribution of school counselors, language teachers and library staff was always appreciated in her family, she said.

But it’s in those areas, and more, that the district is cutting staff to come up with cash for rising operating expenses and to improve salaries and benefits for employees.

“I get very concerned when I see these programs start to go,” Karpowitz said. “I worry about the long-term effect. Think about theater. That helps students become more self-confident.”

All of her children made their way to Brigham Young University in Utah, her home state. Matt now works for Sprint, while Wendy is program director at a Lawrence child-care center. Jenni is an interior designer in Utah. Chris is getting a doctorate at Princeton. Joel and Beth will be at BYU this fall.

“They had outstanding teachers in Lawrence schools,” Karpowitz said.

That raises another painful point: There is a troubling public perception that public school educators are less committed to the job than they were at one time. It surfaces when people talk about teacher salaries or their role in after-school events or the number of days they aren’t in the classrooms.

Karpowitz said such talk was silly.

“If I could wave a magic wand, I’d get more money for schools. And I’d make sure teachers were paid for everything they do.”