Lawrence school board members from left, Scott Morgan, Vanessa Sanburn, Marlene Merrill, Mary Loveland, Bob Byers, Mark Bradford and Rich Minder.

The only boundary separating Lawrence and Free State high schools could be a line of the past.

Members of the Lawrence school board agreed Monday to start a community “conversation” regarding potential changes to attendance areas for the two high schools.

The boundary — a map line that runs east and west along 15th Street, Bob Billings Parkway and North 1500 Road — is the same one established for the opening of Free State back in 1997, with students to the north going to Free State and those to the south heading to LHS.

The line originally served to balance socio-economic and other population profiles between the two schools, said Mary Loveland, a board member when the line was set. She’s still on the board now, having watched as population changes and demographic shifts have convinced her that a change must be made.

“The trouble is, it isn’t working anymore,” Loveland said.

Board members discussed the issue during their annual goals-setting session at district headquarters. The “conversation” is among several new initiatives they intend to address during the coming academic year.

A draft list of goals will be compiled for review Sept. 13, then scheduled for approval Sept. 27.

Just where the new line ought to be drawn remains undetermined. Board member Marlene Merrill mentioned — but didn’t necessarily advocate — relying instead on feeder schools. Under such a plan, certain elementary schools would send their students to particular junior highs, and then each junior high would forward its students on to a predetermined high school.

No more school splits based solely on a student’s address.

“That’s a whole different philosophy,” she said.

Making such decisions this year could be opportune, Loveland said, given that about half of the enrollment of each high school for next year will be new. Both LHS and Free State will go from being three-year schools to four-year schools, meaning there will be incoming classes of both ninth- and 10th-graders.

“Maybe this is the right year to do that,” Loveland said.

But other board members were less enthusiastic, saying they would prefer only to open the conversation now as a way to enable decisions later — with implementation likely to start even farther down the road.

“I think it’s time for a discussion,” said board member Bob Byers. “It’s not necessarily a time for action.”

Mark Bradford, the board’s vice president, said that new boundaries for the high schools and other schools could be implemented in a phased approach, one that might take multiple years.

Then he cracked a wry smile.

“I think it’s a good campaign issue,” he said.