Members of the Central and East Lawrence Elementary School Consolidation Working Group — including, center row, left to right, Mike Myers, Chris Lempa and Chuck Epp — will have until Feb. 15 to come up with recommendations for the Lawrence school board. Monday night, Myers, Lempa, Epp and several other members secured from the board another two weeks to finish their work, which began in September. The group's next meeting is 7 p.m. Jan. 16 at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive.

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Josh Davis, a member of the Central and East Lawrence Consolidation Working Group, categorizes condensed options previously forwarded by representatives from six schools identified as candidates for potential consolidation: Cordley, Hillcrest, Kennedy, New York, Pinckney and Sunset Hill. Davis, a representative from New York School, was among more than two dozen group members who met Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, at Lawrence school district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive.

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Representatives of Pinckney School on the Central and East Lawrence Elementary School Consolidation Working Group gather to discuss upcoming meetings. Seated, from left, are David Unekis, Stacey White and Karla Hughes. Standing, from left, are John Wilkins, an architect hired by the Lawrence school district to assist with the group's deliberations, and Pinckney teacher Alison Nye.

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Terri Durgan, right, an elementary teacher who favors use of standards-based grades in school, listens as members of the Lawrence school board receive a report at district headquarters, 110 McDonald Drive. In the row behind her are Megan King, left, and Jill Patton, two parents who have been critical of the Lawrence school district's use of standards-based grades for sixth-graders, now in middle schools. Folks on both sides of the issue listened intently Monday night as board members reaffirmed the district's use of standards-based grading.

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Dawn Shew, a member of the Central and East Lawrence Elementary School Consolidation Working Group, points out a potential new boundary — which would be Ninth Street to the North — for a new school that would combine the bulk of Kennedy and New York schools at a site near the former home of East Heights School. Shew made the presentation during the Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 meeting of the working group, advocating for a new school. "If we are going to be consolidated, this would be ideal for us," she said.

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In this file photo from September, Jill Patton, left, joins more than 80 people in attending a Lawrence school board meeting that included a discussion of standards-based grading for sixth-graders in Lawrence middle schools. Recently, Cordley Elementary School teacher Julia Rose-Weston began leading a petition drive in support of preserving the use of standards-based grading in the Lawrence school district.

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Alacia Beeson, second grade “There’s miniturkeys and big turkeys. If you cook three mini ones, you put them in the stove, in a pot — a big, black pot — for 28 minutes. At 30 degrees. And then you’re all done. You eat them. You can put lettuce and a huge tomato on top.”

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Samuel Yeadon, second-grader at Schwegler School.

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Samuel Yeadon, second grade “You put it in the oven for, like, two hours and 30 seconds, and then you put the stuffing inside of it, and that’s how you cook a turkey. It’s easy. I did it before. I’m half German. They don’t pluck the feathers out. They cook it first. They cook it, chop off the head, and take the feathers out and stuff it and cook it again. You cook it the first time for, like, one hour and 30 seconds. Then, the next time, you cook it for 30 minutes and 50 seconds. It’s good.”

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Kevin Honas, second grade “You put spice on it and you will want to stuff it.”

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Chase Felmlee, second grade “You put the turkey in the oven, and then there’s this little thing — once it pops up, it’s red. Once it pops up, you take it out of the oven. Probably takes a half an hour.”

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Micah Barron, first grade “Shoot it and then you pull off its skin. Then pull out the bones. Some people don’t like bones.”

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Amiyah Sanders, first grade “You look for a turkey and you have to go to a store and buy it, or go hunt a turkey and then you have to cook it. With salt. And pepper.”

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Amiyah Sanders, first-grader at Schwegler School.

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Geraldlynn Guingao, first grade “First, you hunt for a turkey. Then you put the stuffing in there, the stuff that makes it good. Then you put it in the oven, and you take it out and put salt on it. And that’s how you make a turkey. It takes eight minutes.”

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Kemi Ojeleye, first-grader at Schwegler School.

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Kemi Ojeleye, first grade “You just put your hand on the paper, and you trace your hand, and then the thumb is the head and then you start making the legs.” (So, how do you make a real turkey?) “Oh. I don’t know that.”

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Kyle Ramer, second grade “You either hunt it or you buy it. You take the feathers off, and then you get the stuff inside of it out, and then you stuff it and cook it and cut it and slice it. You cook it about 30 minutes, maybe. It’s a big, big turkey — 30 (pounds), 40 maybe.”

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Taikai Morrison, first grade “What’s 10 plus 10? 20. You cook it for 20 minutes. … I can tell you how to make cookies.”

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Terek Stoll, first grade “First we always get the turkey from the store and then we just put it in the oven and it lasts for a couple minutes, for 20 hours and 30 seconds. Then you get it out and take the skin out. Then it tastes like turkey.”

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