photo by: Journal-World

The Lawrence school district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.

Lawrence school district leaders will soon receive an update regarding a “redesign” of the learning environment of some the district’s schools.

As part of its meeting Monday, the Lawrence school board will receive an update on the ongoing redesign of four schools in the district, some of which have begun implementing changes to how classrooms are run.

In June 2019, the board approved Broken Arrow Elementary, Deerfield Elementary, Hillcrest Elementary, and Free State High School to participate in the Apollo Kansans Can School Redesign Project sponsored by the Kansas State Department of Education, according to a district memo to the board. The memo states that the redesign aligns with the district’s goal to meet students’ unique academic, social, emotional and behavioral needs. For example, goals of Broken Arrow’s redesign include more personalized learning, “learner-focused” schedules, social and emotional supports and student behavioral supports.

The idea for a redesign originated in 2015, when Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson toured the state to talk to community members and business leaders and announced based on what he’d learned that Kansas schools “may need to be redesigned,” as the Journal-World reported on Sept. 16, 2015. Although the people Watson heard from generally agreed that basic academic skills were important, the vast majority of skills people listed as important were nonacademic skills, such as communication, interpersonal skills, citizenship and ethics, and the ability to work in teams with other people.

The 2019-2020 school year was the planning year for the four Lawrence schools, with the launch originally scheduled to take place the following year, but that schedule was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the memo. Some of the schools began implementing the redesign this school year, and the board will receive a report detailing where each school is at in the planning and implementation process.

The Lawrence school board will convene at 6 p.m. Monday at district offices, 110 McDonald Drive.