Sue Morgan’s critics claim the Lawrence district’s $59 million bond and school consolidation plans are “knee-jerk” and “punitive” solutions worthy of nothing more than contempt.

“I’ve had people say, ‘It makes us feel like, at schools being consolidated, we did something wrong.'”

She also said people have alleged the bond for school construction was just thrown together.

Morgan, an incumbent among 13 people running for school board, said folks drawing those conclusions have read too many JFK conspiracy books.

School construction and consolidation have been years in the making and are now part of a long-range facility plan the public sought, she said.

Morgan said the board’s decisions — with her blessing — to close Riverside School in May and eventually end use of East Heights and Centennial schools as elementary buildings were academic and budget necessities.

While most bond foes fixate on consolidation, she said, too few pay attention to the millions of dollars that would flow into construction projects to improve education at more than a dozen schools.

“My goal is to serve kids and have the best achievement they can,” Morgan said.

She will test her popularity Feb. 25 when school-board hopefuls meet in a primary. Eight candidates emerge to battle for four seats April 1.

Morgan, 52, is business administrator at First United Methodist Church. She and her husband, Jeff, sent two children, Ryan and Erin, through Lawrence public schools. She has a master’s degree in public administration.

Elected to her first term in 1999, she was board president last year when $3.1 million in unpopular budget cuts and fee increases were adopted. A big chunk of that money went to a 5 percent pay hike for district employees.

Morgan said voters should judge her on the work she’s done on behalf of the district’s 10,000 students.

“That’s what we need as a district, to look at ourselves as one community trying to solve problems for kids — not as factions.”

Single-issue candidates — people running just to dump the bond, for example — will struggle if elected, Morgan said.

“You can’t be there because you’re mad about something,” she said.

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If re-elected, Morgan said she would focus on improving student achievement, hiring and retaining quality teachers, holding down class size and crafting a more challenging curriculum.

Failure of the bond has budget implications, she said. If defeated, she said, the board would cut deeper to balance the 2003-2004 budget. They’re putting together a priority list of $4.5 million in potential reductions.

“When you’re talking about figures in the millions of dollars, it’s really difficult to come up with that much in small changes,” Morgan said.

Consolidating three elementary schools is expected to save $1.4 million annually.

Morgan said closing schools that have been a big part of neighborhoods for decades is hard.

“I know folks think we don’t understand the emotions of closing a school. I think we do,” she said. “People think we don’t understand having a hard time dealing with your kids. I didn’t grow up in poverty … but my dad worked two jobs.”

She said consolidation would add enough students to New York and Cordley that each would have a minimum of two classes at each grade level. That stabilizes year-to-year staffing and gives each teacher a peer for collaboration. It also makes it easier to maintain reasonable class sizes, she said.

Construction projects would bring more equity to school buildings, she said.

Morgan said concentrating financial resources for at-risk students in larger schools — the expanded New York and Centennial will have about 275 students — helps the district respond to new federal student-achievement goals.

“We can choose to be proactive … and position our schools for a successful future or we can be paralyzed by fears, biases and narrow vision,” she said.