To the editor:

The recent community-wide discussion regarding public education has been a long, arduous road filled with moments of unity, moments of divisiveness, high anxiety and finally, a bittersweet calm. SONS was simply one layer of how the community engaged with this process. Neighborhood associations, KU, downtown businesses, the City Commission, pastors, teachers, students, retirees, west side and east side residents all came together to talk about K-12 education. To everyone who was outspoken and to those who quietly played a role behind the scenes, thank you.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the district administration and the members of the school board for their many hours of work finding solutions that caused the least amount of harm to students and teachers, and for listening to the community suggestions. Every single member of the board met with community members multiple times to discuss ways to find palatable solutions that we could all live with.

Lastly, I believe the Lawrence Journal-World, and specifically George Diepenbrock, deserves recognition for managing to remain even-handed in the coverage of this story since it first began back in November.

There’s been a lot of talk these past few months regarding “what makes Lawrence Lawrence.” The answer is, we do, all of us, and I’m honored to be a member of this community. Please help take this fight to the state legislature so we don’t have to suffer more teacher losses or deeper program cuts next year.