Dan Neuenswander attended New York School in 1944. At the time, it was one of five elementary schools in the town, the former Lawrence public schools superintendent said.

“Pinckney was the farthest school west,” he said. “The school district had also just bought the property for Lawrence High School. People were upset about that. They thought it was too far west.”

While it may have been too far west in the 1940s, Lawrence High School now is a central point in the city. And the number of schools now in comparison to 50 years ago has changed substantially — let alone 150 years ago.

The physical layout of the school district has also changed substantially over the last 150 years. But current Supt. Randy Weseman said some things about education would never change.

“Students still are expected to learn reading, writing and arithmetic,” he said. “There still are questions about resources and neighborhood schools. Those are the same issues people had to deal with 100 years ago and probably 150 years ago.”

People continue to be interested in what students are doing and learning in school, which is something the Rev. Richard Cordley wrote about in 1892.

“The people of Lawrence have always been profoundly interested in their schools,” Cordley wrote. “They have never refused anything the schools have asked of them. They simply ask that their money be wisely expended.”

The same holds true today, Weseman said.

History

The Lawrence school district was established May 6, 1867 — well after the area was settled in 1854, according to The Columbian History of Education in Kansas, which was published by the Kansas State Historical Society.

The book provides information about Lawrence public schools pulled from an 1892 speech given by Cordley, who served on the Lawrence school board for seven years and was president for six years.

“Our students stand among the best,” Cordley wrote. “Whether the students enter the university for further study, or engage in teaching or business, they stand equal to the best of the same grade. With better facilities and larger scope, we expect still larger and better results.”

At the time of Cordley’s speech, Lawrence had 10 schools and 3,459 students. That was a far cry from what the city began with in 1855.

According to Cordley’s speech, a school opened in 1855. It was maintained by voluntary contributions and open to all children.

People gathered in the early 1940s to lay the cornerstone of Lawrence High School.

By 1857, schoolrooms were established in the basement rooms of the Unitarian Church. School trustees were put in charge of the school in 1858, which was supported by the city treasury. And the school came out from under the city in 1861 when it was allowed to levy a tax.

Early school budgets ranged from $10,000 up to $25,000.

Presently, the Lawrence school district has 10,228 students, 15 elementary schools, four junior high schools, three high schools, an adult learning center, an early childhood center and a virtual school, and works with $96.9 million budget.

Consolidating

The state of Kansas had more than 1,000 school districts at one point. But that all changed in 1965 when the Kansas Legislature passed a law that caused school districts to unify.

Lawrence already had a unified school district in place, but the change brought in some smaller school districts in the area. Schools had to join together to form their own unified school districts or be brought into the fold of an already established district, like Lawrence.

People weren’t happy about the change, said Neuenswander, who was superintendent of a high school district in Clay County at the time.

“There were a lot of incredibly hard feelings,” he said. “But it probably was necessary to get the job done. It was really a stroke of genius.”

Neuenswander said legislators gave a deadline for school officials to figure out the consolidation. If a district didn’t unify, then the state would intervene.

“Everything was up for grabs,” Neuenswander said. “Some formed county school districts.”

Educating everyone

It used to be that people weren’t required to go to school, Neuenswander said.

They also could leave high school and get a well-paying job to support themselves. That just isn’t the case anymore, Neuenswander and Weseman said.

“We no longer live in a society where people who can’t read comprehensively, write concisely and work mathematical equations is acceptable,” Neuenswander said.

The role of schools also has increased. Students learn about physical fitness, cooking, even sex education at schools. They also are taught how to drive. These are things that haven’t always been taught at a school, Weseman said.

The basic concept of what is taught still holds true, he said. But now schools must teach more to make sure students can succeed in a global economy. Weseman said he thought teachers would need more time with students and noted that the school calendar has traditionally been based on the need for children to help at harvest times.

“But not too many of the kids are picking corn or holding a sickle any more,” he said. “That’s just not the way it is now.”