photo by: Lawrence school district

Larry Englebrick

The Lawrence public school district’s current deputy superintendent is the first candidate under consideration to become the district’s interim superintendent, the district has announced.

School board members interviewed Larry Englebrick at a special Monday evening board meeting. Englebrick is the first of several candidates expected to interview to lead the district on an interim basis while the board conducts a full national search to replace Superintendent Anthony Lewis, who has taken a job in North Carolina.

Englebrick was interviewed in executive session, meaning the interview wasn’t open for the public to observe. Board members did not take any final action on Monday related to the interim superintendent position.

Rather, the board is expected to announce additional finalists for the interim position this week.

“We are excited to have highly qualified finalists for this one-year role,” said Kelly Jones, board president. “A July resignation is challenging. The board is determined to make sure the important work of serving our students, staff, school families, and community doesn’t slow down. We are working diligently to appoint an interim superintendent who has strong relationship skills, proven experience as a talented district leader, and is ready to lead on day one.”

The school district has contracted with the Kansas Association of School Boards for assistance in conducting a search for an interim superintendent. The board expects to fill the position by Aug. 12. Lewis’ last day with the district is Aug. 9. The interim superintendent is expected to serve for the entire upcoming school year.

“We are genuinely excited about our finalists,” Jones said. “They each offer an impressive track record of service to students, families, and their local communities. Our district will be in good hands in the coming year, no matter who fills this position.”

Englebrick has been with the Lawrence school district since 2021, first serving as the district’s director of facilities and operations. Since joining the district he has been promoted to chief operations officer, and earlier this month, added the title of deputy superintendent.

Prior to coming to Lawrence, Englebrick was the director of facilities and operations for the Kansas City, Mo. school system for 11 years. He also previously has worked as a high school principal and a teacher in Kansas City, Kansas, schools, and also had a one year stint as a deputy director tasked with school innovation projects for the Kansas State Department of Education.

Englebrick has his undergraduate degree from William Jewell College, and has a master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Kansas.

The school district expects to begin its search for its next long-term superintendent this fall. The board has said will be a national search, and the next superintendent would begin work for the district on July 1, 2025.

In other business, the school board at Monday’s special meeting:

• Approved a labor contract between the district and union that represents classified staff members. As the Journal-World reported, the tentative agreement includes a 99-cent per hour raise for classified employees, which includes a large number of positions such as administrative professionals, food service employees, custodians, paraprofessionals and other such positions.

The board approved the contract on an 6-0 vote, and board member Kelly Jones said that she has invited a representative from PAL to attend the board’s August 12 meeting to give an update on the state of the union and to describe some of its inner workings.

“I’m happy that we have the relationship we do with PAL and they’re able to be honest and have difficult conversations and we can try to make inroads toward their goals,” Jones said.

In addition to the hourly wage increase, the contract includes a provision that allows employees to use sick leave as soon as they are employed by the district, rather than being subject to a waiting period.

The agreement between the district and PAL-CWA union is for the 2024-2025 school year.

• Gave final approval to the district’s Student Handbook for the upcoming school year. That handbook is largely unchanged from last year’s version. The district has received requests to tighten its policy related to when students are allowed to have cell phones at school, but the new handbook is not proposing any changes. Rather, the district plans to seek “input from students, staff, and school families after the new school year begins,” district spokeswoman Julie Boyle said via email.