photo by: Mike Yoder

At left of center, Angie West and her son Julian, 7, a student at Broken Arrow School, join supporters of the local Save Our Schools group in a rally outside of the district office, 110 McDonald Drive Monday evening. The group was holding the rally before the Monday evening school board meeting to demonstrate their opposition to proposed cost-saving measures that would close a number of neighborhood schools.

Community members rallied outside prior to Monday’s Lawrence school board meeting after months of concern around the potential closure of neighborhood schools.

The crowd on hand was sizable, despite the temperature’s steady drop as the sun set. Students, parents and teachers — and at one point, Superintendent Anthony Lewis — milled around in the area outside both entrances to the Lawrence Public Schools district office until the school board meeting began at 6 p.m.

The rally is the latest event in a long line of action related to proposed Lawrence school closures dating back to the first half of 2021. A board-approved plan to close Kennedy Elementary last April ultimately was followed by an “exploration” of closing New York Elementary and turning it into a Montessori school, first reported by the Journal-World in mid-December.

A month later, scenarios were on the table to potentially close not just New York Elementary but several school buildings at once, all located in eastern and central Lawrence. Along with that school, Broken Arrow, Pinckney, Woodlawn and Hillcrest elementary schools and Liberty Memorial Central Middle have all been mentioned in the various scenarios that the school district’s boundary committee has been considering so far.

Community response has been prompt, starting with a chalking demonstration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at the sidewalks of the schools that could be affected, and most recently at Monday’s rally.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Grace Goodison, 8, chalks out a sign on the sidewalk outside of the school district office, 110 McDonald Drive , on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, during a rally held by supporters of Save Our School. The group was demonstrating their opposition to proposed cost-saving measures that would close a number of neighborhood schools. Goodison, who attends Quail Run school, was supporting her cousin who attends Woodlawn Elementary school, which is one of the schools that could be closed.

One parent who attended the rally, Shannon Berquist, said she’s always felt strongly about investing in neighborhood schools, even before having children who attend them. Berquist has two children currently at Broken Arrow Elementary.

Berquist said neighborhood schools play an important role in building a surrounding community where everyone knows and helps one another. She said that’s being lost more and more in this day and age.

Her family bought their home in the neighborhood around Broken Arrow, specifically for the value of having a neighborhood school nearby.

Now, that may be in jeopardy. But Berquist was still feeling optimistic during the rally.

“It just really makes me happy to see that so many of our families are so invested in our community,” Berquist said. “And I think what’s really cool is that we’re all coming together in such a short period of time and creating this group that is really supporting each other, and really trying to have a very specific message. I feel really positive about all of that. I feel like it’s a real opportunity for us to continue creating that dialogue between schools, and creating that community.”

photo by: Mike Yoder

A young New York School elementary student does a little dance Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, as she joins supporters of the local Save Our Schools group, concerned about possible school closings, outside of the district office, 110 McDonald Drive.

Another parent, Jessica “Bird” Weiner, has a daughter at Woodlawn Elementary School. The school’s essentially their front yard — the family lives two houses down and across the street.

Weiner said her daughter seems happy at Woodlawn, and the staff seems to be happy she’s there, too.

The possibility of losing that, she said, made her reaction almost instinctual.

“When I found out that Woodlawn could close, I’ve been telling people I didn’t just decide to do something,” Weiner said. “It was like my body took over and just started doing something about it.”

A sign Weiner held at Monday’s rally read “Climate issues? COVID? Our neighborhood school is one thing we can feel good about.” It’s frustrating to think of losing that, she said.

A document from the district’s Budget and Program Evaluation Committee provides a summary of the estimated savings to the district from 60 different scenarios, and only four out of that group are scenarios which would result in school closures. Other scenarios involve restructuring classrooms and reducing positions.

One scenario — closing Broken Arrow and New York elementary schools — would save the district an estimated $1,679,942, while another closing Broken Arrow and Woodlawn elementary schools results in an estimated $1,707,699 saved. The final two scenarios are tied together and would involve closing all of Broken Arrow, New York, Pinckney and Woodlawn elementary schools, along with Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. That pair of scenarios would save about an estimated $3.25 million.

The district is trying to close a $3.3 million budget gap left by declining enrollment during the pandemic that reduced state funding.

photo by: Mike Yoder

Supporters of the local Save Our Schools group, concerned about possible school closings, rally outside of the district office, 110 McDonald Drive on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. The group was holding the rally before the Monday evening school board meeting to demonstrate their opposition to proposed cost-saving measures that would close a number of neighborhood schools.