photo by: Meeting screenshot/Lawrence school board

Lawrence school board President Kelly Jones, left, reads a portion of the purpose for the board's new equity policy during a meeting on Monday, May 10, 2021. The board approved the policy with a 6-0 vote.

The Lawrence school board now has an equity policy that aims to address educational disparities in the school district.

During a meeting on Monday, the board approved an amended policy with a 6-0 vote. Board member Paula Smith was absent from the meeting.

Board President Kelly Jones said the amendments included using more direct language by changing some wording from “should” to “will,” which was suggested by a student leader. It also includes changes to the Continuous Improvement section of the policy, amending language to allow outside programs — such as Parents of Color Advisory Committee, Equity Advisory Council, and Native American Student Services — to participate in the district’s work.

Those changes were discussed when the board initially reviewed the policy during the board’s April 26 meeting.

Before the vote, Jones said she hoped the board members would approve the policy, noting its creation and approval was something she wanted to accomplish before her term as board president ends this summer.

She also read aloud the policies main purpose, which includes the district eliminating “inequitable practices, systems, and structures that create advantages for some students and families while disadvantaging others.”

After approving the policy, the board heard a report from district administrators about their work to improve equity in the district. Leah Wisdom, the district’s equity director, said the policy “means nothing” if the district does not put it into action.

Some of that work includes the district’s use of culturally sustainable resource criteria, which is a tool it uses to review instructional resources to make sure they are appropriate in terms of equity. An example of the tool’s criteria is whether an educational resource up for consideration includes “accurate representation of people of diverse backgrounds in culture, language, history and social norms free of stereotypes and bias,” among other criteria.

In other business, the board deferred taking action on a board governance manual. Parts of the proposed manual reflect a commitment to equity in education outlined in the proposed equity policy.

It also lays out guidelines for when board members can serve in the president and vice president positions and includes a two-consecutive-term limit for those positions. Board member Shannon Kimball said the term limit is only for consecutive terms, meaning a board member can serve in leadership positions more than two years, but must take time off after two years before serving again.

Additionally, Jones said the proposed manual also changes how leadership is traditionally selected for the board. Currently, members who received the first and second most votes in their election serve as board president over a two year span. But the manual would allow any of the board members to serve in the leadership positions, if elected by the board.

Board members Carole Cadue-Blackwood and Melissa Johnson said they did not support the change to board leadership selection, with Cadue-Blackwood suggesting it would disenfranchise voters.

But Kimball said there is no current policy that mandates the elected board member with the most votes to serve as board president. Additionally, Jones said she believed the new policy took into account that some board members may not have time to serve the extra responsibilities that come with board leadership.

Cadue-Blackwood said she believed the traditional way should be written into the policy instead, saying she “didn’t want to take the power of the vote from the people.” Johnson suggested a compromise for the policy to have the board first nominate the members who receive the most votes, and if they defer, allow the board to nominate and elect a different leader.

However, Kimball said because of the board’s staggered two-year election cycle, allowing a board member to serve two-consecutive year-long terms as president could block out the board member who received the second-most votes in their election from ever serving as president.

Noting Smith was absent from the meeting, Jones said she wasn’t sure if the board had the vote to approve the measure during the meeting and asked to table the item. She said the board would consider taking final action on the board during the May 24 meeting.