photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Kennedy Early Childhood Center, located at 1605 Davis Road.

The Lawrence school district has announced that the district will use federal pandemic relief aid to provide free preschool for the children of classified staff for at least the next two school years.

As part of the school board’s meeting Monday, Superintendent Anthony Lewis announced that the district will use federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to support free early childhood education and before- and after-school programming for the preschool-aged children of classified employees.

“Our community needs to look at more creative approaches like this to expand high-quality early childhood educational opportunities and recruit and retain employees,” Lewis said in a district news release. “This should be a significant benefit to classified staff working in our schools. They will know that while they are at work, their young children will be building kindergarten readiness skills and receiving two nutritious meals in a safe and nurturing environment.”

Classified staff work as paraeducators and instructional support staff, food service and custodial personnel, and secretarial, clerical, and technical services staff in the district, according to the news release. The new program will begin Sept. 6 and will be open to the three- and four-year-old children of classified staff. The release states the new program will support two areas affected by the COVID-19 pandemic by providing early learning opportunities for those children and supporting the recruitment and retention of classified staff to maintain operations and continuity of district services.

During the meeting, Lewis said the district currently has more than 100 open classified positions posted on its website. He said he thought the free preschool program would serve as a model for other organizations and businesses that are struggling with retaining or recruiting staff.

“We really wanted to be innovative in this approach, in terms of looking at potential barriers to why maybe some of our current classified staff decide to leave us or maybe a barrier to new staff that are looking for employment,” Lewis said.

Lewis also said he announced to all district staff last week that the district would double its current staff retention incentive payment plan this year, also funded using ESSER funds. He said instead of receiving three payments of $500 for their continued employment, staff are eligible to receive three payments of $1,000 each, for a total of $3,000. He said combined with last year’s retention payments, that’s a total of $4,500 in retention incentives for all returning employees over the past two school years.

The district included $955,000 in its ESSER III application to support two additional early childhood classrooms at Kennedy Early Childhood Center, 1605 Davis Road. These classrooms will serve the preschool-aged children of district classified staff from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and provide a longer “enrichment” schedule on Wednesday. The Wednesday schedule includes before and after school care from 7 to 8 a.m. and 3 to 4:30 p.m., making the full Wednesday schedule 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

ESSER funds will support staffing the program with two certified teachers, an enrichment coach, and four instructional paraeducators. They will also provide curriculum and classroom furniture, supplies, and materials, as well as any facility modifications required for licensure.

Due to limitations on when ESSER funds may be used, the district will offer this benefit to new and existing classified staff during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, unless it finds a permanent source of funding to continue the program. Lewis said he is among those advocating for districts to be allowed to allocate their ESSER funds through 2026.