photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Lawrence school board met at the Lawrence school district offices, 110 McDonald Dr., for their business meeting on Monday, July 22, 2024.

The Lawrence school board tentatively approved an agreement with the teachers union for salary increases next school year, with the salary pool receiving a 4.077% increase.

The board members ratified a tentative agreement with the Lawrence Education Association (LEA) at Monday’s meeting, with the certified employees’ salary pool increasing by $1,920,218, which includes a $1,400 increase to their base salary.

As the Journal-World reported, Lawrence teachers that qualify for an increase to their base annual salary may experience vertical movement, resulting in a pay increase based on years of experience, horizontal movement, which involves an increase based on levels of certification, or both.

School board president Kelly Jones said the school district will continue to see what tweaks can be made to teachers’ wages as they strive to attract and retain educators.

“That’s something that I will continue to advocate for, but I’m especially hopeful that we will look at becoming more competitive with that base salary,” Jones said. “I think it would go a long way toward recruiting and retaining other educators that join us.”

In other business, board members:

* Discussed the development of the school district’s new cellphone policy, which is currently in the works. While the policy is being drafted, the board will include feedback from key stakeholders and be seeking input from students, teachers, families and staff, Jones said.

As the Journal-World reported, board members received a petition at the end of May signed by 84 teachers to address what is believed to be a problematic cellphone policy. The policy states that cellphones should be “put away and out of sight,” but educators say it isn’t enough, because as long as it’s close by, students are tempted to check it.

“We expect to have a more uniformed policy that is inclusive of all the different aspects of considerations for cellphone usage, both in terms of instruction and considerations that might be unique to certain populations of our student body,” Jones said.

* Approved a variety of funds dedicated to continued special education services for the school district.

The school board contracted with Supplemental Health Care Contracted Services, Bright Star Services and Stepping Stones Group Contract Services to ensure the district provides the required special education and related services for these students for the upcoming school year, totaling $2,010,000.

* Ratified modified policies for evacuations, emergencies and crisis planning for the school district, to give staff more autonomy to determine when it is safe to dismiss school or release students in emergency situations.

With these changes, the designated authority within the administration can decide whether it’s safer for the well-being of staff and students to allow students to leave school or to maintain supervision on school premises, depending on the specific circumstances.

Additionally, according to the revised board policy for crisis planning, the district will undergo annual reviews in collaboration with first responders, emergency management officials, and other qualified experts.

* Accepted a contract – approximately $65,000 – to connect and install conduit with fiber throughout the high school athletic facilities to enable the district to connect cameras and internet systems for security and facilitate electronic ticketing and concessions for students and attendees during activities.

The board members also held an executive session “for the purpose of discussing personnel matters of non-elected personnel in order to protect the privacy interests of the individuals to be discussed.” There was no action following the session.