What’s special about Lawrence? Our schools are.

These are not your cookie-cutter buildings filled with “Stepford” kids. These are small communities, each with its own personality and character, each serving its diverse population of students in a variety of ways and each relating to its neighborhood in unique ways. Although all of our schools deliver a common curriculum and are accountable for the same curriculum standards, they each adapt the instructional delivery of that curriculum and design support services according to the needs of their students. And speaking of our students, they are pretty special, too.

Every day almost 10,000 widely diverse kids in this community engage themselves in the business of learning. And, almost without exception, they support each other in the process. It’s not something we often think about; I believe we take it for granted.

It’s special that our students, parents and staff have made inclusive classrooms the norm in our schools. It’s special that we have schools on the opposite ends of town, New York and Quail Run, forming a partnership to bridge differences and collaborate for the benefit of their students and families.

It’s special that high ability, talented, and special needs students are all well-served. It’s special that student and programmatic excellence is present in multiple forms. Think about it. We have National Merit and Presidential Scholars; award-winning high school bands and orchestras; nationally recognized autism and special education programs; Scholars’ Bowl, High Q and Knowledge Master championship teams; choirs that consistently rank top in the state and merit prestigious performance invitations; championship chess teams; art students so accomplished that they routinely draw more than $2 million in college scholarship offers; a student film festival that showcases and encourages young filmmakers throughout our community; championship athletic teams; State History Day winners … And this is by no means an exhaustive list. The story doesn’t end with the students.

Our staff are highly qualified and committed to kids. That laundry list of student achievements above is as much a testimony to the staff as it is to the students. Academic achievement in the core curriculum is the foundation, but the commitment of staff to kids results in all the enhancements reflected in that list. It takes initiative and commitment by teachers, staff and administrators to make all those activities and opportunities available to our kids. Odyssey of the Mind competitions, concerts, plays, Encore and Showtime performances, debate tournaments, football and volleyball games, etc., don’t happen by themselves. It takes someone going the extra mile to make it happen, and our staff makes it happen for kids in our community.

We live in a community that values and supports education. From our parents, a child’s first teachers, to the businessmen and businesswomen who comprise our Chamber of Commerce, members of the Lawrence community have a tradition of supporting education through participation, partnerships and local financial support. Flourishing achievement partnerships, the City Commission and Douglas County Commission meeting regularly with the school board to do joint planning and problem-solving, and extensive collaboration with Kansas University, Haskell Indian Nations University and multiple social service agencies are all evidence of the spirit of support for kids that exists in our school district.

There are a lot of people to thank for making our schools special. It really does take a village to raise a child, and our village rises to the challenge every day.

Sue Morgan is a Lawrence school board member.