Lawrence school board to learn next steps for $87M bond issue

Lawrence High School is pictured on Nov. 6, 2015.

After last week’s successful passage of the Lawrence district’s $87 million bond issue, school board members on Monday will hear a report on the plan’s next steps.

Administrators and school board representatives on the district’s facility planning committee have been in the process of developing a plan for implementation of bond projects. On Monday, Tony Barron, the district’s executive director of facilities and operations, will present a report providing details about how the district plans to proceed with the bond improvements.

Topics to be addressed in the report include: development of district standards and guidelines, project packaging and timelines, plus information on the timelines and selection processes for a Construction Manager at Risk, architect/engineer and commissioning agent.

The $87 million bond issue, which passed last Tuesday with more than 74 percent of the vote, aims to modernize Lawrence’s secondary schools, including the mid-century Lawrence High School, which is set to receive $50.8 million in renovations and additions.

The earliest projects, according to a master plan released in February, would tentatively begin construction in 2018 and wrap up by the end of 2019. Because of the scope of proposed improvements at LHS, it likely won’t be completed until 2021.

In other business, the board will:

• Hear a report on the district’s new U.S.-China Kindergarten Exchange, which is being piloted this semester by students at Sunset Hill Elementary School and Shanghai’s Copernic Kindergarten Elementary. Jerri Kemble, assistant superintendent of innovation and technology, will present the report with Tara Martin, the district’s facilitator of elementary curriculum, and Nicole Corn, a kindergarten teacher at Sunset Hill who has piloted the program with her students this semester.

• Hear an update on the district’s Parents as Teachers program, specifically its current practices, partners and projects, and school readiness. The report will be presented by Kevin Harrell, the district’s executive director of student services, and Suzy Green, Teachers as Parents coordinator.

The school board will meet at 7 p.m. at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.