Meeting for parents of LGBT students to be held Thursday

There will be an informal meeting for parents of LGBT students in the Lawrence school district Thursday evening, with the goal of forming a support group of local parents.

Lawrence schools Superintendent Rick Doll and Sonja Feist, president of the Lawrence/Topeka chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays, will also be in attendance at Thursday’s meeting.

One of the Lawrence school board’s 2015-2016 goals, which were finalized last month, is to investigate issues related to LGBT students and implement supports. The goals are generated by asking teachers, staff and administration what issues to focus on, and the discussion started that LGBT students are a group that the district needs to be more concerned about, Doll said in September.

Doll will be at the meeting as part of the work on the school board goal, said district spokesperson Julie Boyle. Doll said in September that district officials would like to learn more about what it means be an LGBT student in the Lawrence schools.

The investigation into LGBT student issues is one of the action steps of a larger initiative to develop district curriculum to raise the achievement of all students. Doll is in charge of the LGBT action step along with two other district administrators: Jose Cornejo, mental health facilitator, and Kevin Harrell, director of student services.

For more information about the parent meeting, you can contact Kim Kreicker at kkreicke@usd497.org. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at South Middle School, 2734 Louisiana St.