photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Jeanice Swift is pictured on Monday, February 24, 2025.

After gathering feedback from families and staff last fall, the Lawrence school district has been streamlining and reducing the number of positions within the district.

Superintendent Jeanice Swift said on Monday that as a part of this work, eight positions in the administrator group were eliminated within the last 14 months.

Efforts to reduce the number of administrative positions began after the district held several community conversation events last fall to gather feedback from families and staff. A report released at the end of January summarized what parents wanted the district to prioritize moving forward.

One of the key themes from the public feedback was the desire to increase teacher and staff salaries while reducing administrative overhead, as the Journal-World reported.

This week, Swift presented data to school board members in a memo during their business meeting on the nature and number of team members included in the administrative group as well as the total number of employees for the 2025-2026 school year.

According to the memo in the agenda, the district has 885 certified teachers, 644 education support professionals – including para-educators, custodians, administrative assistants, food service professionals and more – 33 school-based principals and vice principals and 24 district administrators.

photo by: Flourish

The Lawrence school district team in 2025-2026.

These 1,586 Lawrence school district team members work to serve 10,148 students, with 9,337 enrolled in in-person K-12 classes, 260 preschool students and 551 students in the Lawrence Virtual School, as the Journal-World reported.

“Streamlining is critical, in order to prioritize and focus resources to classrooms and schools, to both innovate and enhance opportunities and programming for students, and to align resources to achieve competitive compensation for employees,” the memo said.

Along with reducing positions, the district is also working to streamline operations by reviewing spending, finding organizational efficiencies and better maximizing state and federal funding, the memo said.

Here is an overview of the district’s remaining 24 district administrators:

• Two communications members. The communications office coordinates recognition events, handles open records requests, oversees social media, maintains the district website and school pages, and shares news about what’s going on in the district.

• Four facilities and operations members. This department oversees construction, renovation, maintenance, grounds and upkeep of 17 elementary, middle, and high school campuses and five program and educational support sites.

• Three finance members. These members have the responsibility of an approximate $200 million budget, including a $95 million general fund and $20 million in capital outlay investments. The responsibilities include general ledger accounting, purchasing, accounts payable and vendor management, accounts receivable, student fees and cash receipts and more.

• One food and nutrition services member who manages a department that employs 80 people that operate and oversee the school kitchens, serving an average of 6,000 lunches and 1,600 breakfasts per day.

• Three human resources members. The department recruits, hires and supports staff in the district. In addition, it commits to providing customer service toward the district’s employees, substitutes and contract team members.

• One PreK-12 member provides direct oversight of day-to-day operations across all school campuses and supervises principles and school leadership teams.

• Four special education members. This team ensures that every student with an individual education plan receives the services, supports and instruction they are legally entitled to. The district provides IEPs and related services to approximately 2,200 students ages 3-21.

• Three student support members. The goal of this department is to ensure clear, consistent, and equitable student support practices across the district by empowering and training staff to meet the academic, behavioral, and social/emotional needs of all students in partnership with families and the community.

• Three teaching and learning members. This department ensures curriculum, instruction, and assessment is designed and implemented across the district to challenge all learners and ensure high standards for achievement.