Administrators take “redesigning” talk to Lawrence schools

Redesigning for success

Upcoming site council meetings with a Lawrence school administrator scheduled to discuss “redesigning for Student Success,” the district’s reconfiguration plan set to be implemented for the next school year:

• Oct. 4: 4:15 p.m., Quail Run School.

• Oct. 5: 5:30 p.m., Schwegler School; 6:15 p.m., New York School; 6:30 p.m., South Junior High School.

• Oct. 6: 4 p.m., Woodlawn School; 4:30 p.m., Lawrence High School; 5:45 p.m., Cordley School.

• Oct. 7: 6 p.m., Kennedy School.

• Oct. 12: 5:30 p.m., Sunset Hill School; 7 p.m., Sunflower School.

• Oct. 13: 4:15 p.m., Southwest Junior High School; 6 p.m., Hillcrest School.

• Oct. 18: 6 p.m., Free State High School.

• Oct. 19: 4 p.m., Prairie park School; 6 p.m., Central Junior High School.

• Oct. 20: 3:30 p.m., Wakarusa Valley School.

• Nov. 4: 5 p.m., West Junior High School.

• Nov. 9: 5 p.m., Langston Hughes School.

• Nov. 18: 5:30 p.m., Pinckney School.

Meetings already were conducted Sept. 14 at Deerfield School, and Tuesday night at Broken Arrow School.

Anyone unable to attend a meeting may send suggestions, comments or concerns to SuggestionBox@usd497.org.

Junior highs will become middle schools, and high schools will become four-year schools — all in time for classes to begin next August in the Lawrence school district.

While such major changes have been settled for months, the details for putting them in place — regarding activities, campus safety, curriculum and more than a dozen other topics — remain very much in flux.

No wonder district administrators want to know what people think.

“We made a commitment from the beginning of this discussion to have conversations ongoing with parents and staff and students,” said Kim Bodensteiner, the district’s chief academic officer. “What are the important issues we need to consider? What are the questions that are bubbling up out there that we need to address?

“We want people to understand the wide range of committees and topics that we’re considering as we move through this process.”

To help gather information and boost such understanding, Bodensteiner and other administrators are attending meetings of site councils at each of the district’s 21 traditional schools. There, they review the process that formally started back in April, when the Lawrence school board voted to transform:

  • Junior highs (now with grades 7-9) into middle schools, with grades 6-8.
  • High schools into four-year schools, by adding ninth-graders.

One of three administrators will be scheduled to lead the “Redesigning for Student Success” discussion at an assigned site council meeting: Bodensteiner; Rick Doll, superintendent; or Frank Harwood, chief operations officer.

For more information, visit www.usd497.org/MSHSPlanning.