photo by: Journal-World

Lawrence school district headquarters at 110 McDonald Drive.

Lawrence school board members will be reviewing enrollment and class sizes for the 2024-2025 school year to guide ongoing equity efforts and district planning.

At Monday’s board meeting, Lawrence school district staff will share a comprehensive review of district enrollment and class sizes for the current school year and over time. The report will assess enrollment and staffing at individual schools, by levels and across the district.

This is part of the district’s ongoing efforts to promote equity by creating a system for reporting key performance metrics and achievement outcomes. It incorporates both “leading and lagging indicators” and is designed to monitor progress across all grade levels, including pre-K, and within the organization as a whole.

According to the meeting agenda, reporting on this data will provide an opportunity for the district to understand the quality and progress of the work “to ensure staffing and support to serve students and schools, to improve the alignment of staffing to student needs, and to achieve an efficient and effective operation of the district.”

When the school district’s Boundary Advisory Committee was considering changes to the boundaries for Lawrence and Free State high schools, they reported that the district will have a total enrollment of 9,491 students in the 2025-2026 school year, down 137 students from current enrollment totals. By the 2029-2030 school year, overall enrollment is expected to fall to about 9,400 students. The committee has decided to not change current boundaries for the high schools.

In other business, school board members will:

* Consider approving a three-year lease agreement with Apple Financial Services for 2,300 MacBook Air laptops. This includes AppleCare OS Support, three professional learning academy seats, and AppleCare+ from Apple Inc. for a total of $2,611,288, to be paid from the capital outlay funds. The laptops will be used for staff, high school innovation classrooms and professional development.

* Consider approving an agreement with ABcreative for the purchase and installation of additional playground equipment at Sunflower Elementary School in the amount of $52,287. According to the agenda, the equipment was selected based on a variety of factors, including ADA requirements, student enrollment, building capacity and student-to-playground equipment ratios.

* Consider the purchase of seven vehicles from Laird Noller Automotive Inc., at a total cost of $368,192. The purchase includes two student vans for each high school; four trucks for facilities and operations staff, which are equipped with snow removal equipment for maintaining safe and accessible school grounds during winter months; and one food service truck with a lift to replace an aging vehicle.

* Consider accepting the bids as recommended for contractors to complete heating, ventilation and air conditioning system repairs at the Education Support Center, Facilities and Operations, Liberty Memorial Central Middle School and Sunset Hill Elementary School.

* Consider a resolution to terminate the employment contract of Mark Elliot Gridley, a speech language pathologist at Prairie Park Elementary. As the Journal-World reported, Gridley has been charged with sex crimes against a student.

* Consider adopting modifications to the existing procedures for streaming meetings and receiving public comments after a second reading. The changes would be for the purpose of ensuring the district complies “with the streaming platform’s acceptable use policies” and to clarify the enforcement of anti-bullying policies during public comment at board meetings. Public comment has also been moved to the end of the agenda. This decision comes after a pair of public commenters have begun routinely disrupting the school board meetings, as the Journal-World reported.

* Hear an update on the status of instructional hours and “review the current status on the 2024-2025 school year calendar.” Additionally, they will preview the next steps in confirming a calendar for 2025-2026.

* Hold an executive session for the purpose of discussing personnel matters with possible action to follow.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. The meeting will also be available via the school district’s YouTube channel. Residents who want to share comments with the board may sign up in advance by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org by 6 p.m. Monday and may participate in person or via Webex video/phone conferencing.