Lawrence school district administrators want flexibility in planning for the change to four-grade high schools and newly configured middle schools for the 2011-2012 school year.

During negotiations Wednesday with the Lawrence Education Association, school board negotiators proposed contract language that was less specific on teacher preparation time compared to the current contract.

“Our intent is to come away with a schedule at each level that is the best schedule for that level,” said Frank Harwood, the district’s chief operations officer. “We are not going into it with the intent of increasing or reducing planning time; either one of those could be the impact of the schedule.”

Harwood said the district needed the flexibility particularly because it is planning sixth- to eighth-grade middle schools that will operate differently from the current junior high schools.

“We are not challenging the fact that we want our middle schools to operate under best practice. Everyone is interested in having them be the best that they can be,” said Lois Orth-Lopes, the LEA negotiations chairwoman. “Given that, we recognize how important plan time is, so obviously that’s what we need to safeguard.”

She said in addition, the LEA has worked for several years to try to increase planning time for elementary teachers.