photo by: Min/Max Photography

A scene from the Lawrence Schools Foundation's gala earlier this year. The foundation is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

As it celebrates 40 years of supporting public schools, the Lawrence Schools Foundation continues to work behind the scenes to help students with classroom resources, emergency aid and even a new scholarship to mark the milestone anniversary.

Since its establishment in 1985, LSF has invested millions of dollars to support a variety of programs in the district, but Dena Johnston, executive director of the foundation, said much of its work goes on in the background. LSF works closely with counselors and social workers to identify what the district’s students need and what barriers they face. And it collaborates with donors, community partners and alumni of the Lawrence school district to make programs and initiatives happen.

Over the past few decades, the foundation has helped with scholarships and college-readiness programs; sponsored student leadership, arts, STEM and extracurricular programs; and recognized teachers and staff through annual educator excellence awards, among other things. The Journal-World spoke with Johnston about some of the foundation’s biggest achievements in recent years.

Classroom angels

One example of the foundation’s partnerships in action is the I.C.A.N. fund, which, according to the foundation’s website, helps ensure that students’ basic needs are met “so they can come to school clean, confident, and ready to learn.”

The website says the fund provides school social workers, counselors and psychologists with funding to help students who have immediate emergency needs that would interfere with their ability to come to school and learn. It lists a few examples of the types of situations the fund is intended for: “Children without running water. Children without a mattress to sleep on. Children without shoes to wear. Children who need socks, underwear, and health and hygiene products …”

Johnston said this program got its start when the Leadership Lawrence class of 2018, a professional development program of the Lawrence chamber of commerce, came to LSF looking for a way to help families in the school district who had urgent needs.

“Not just classroom supplies and some of those tangible things, but more of what’s stopping kids from coming to school,” she said. “(Which can include) our homeless population or kids transferring from foster care, whatever those barriers are.”

The “C.A.N.” in the program’s name stands for Classroom Angel Network, and in its first year, LSF ended up raising $10,000 to have on hand for these situations within the district. Within just three years, according to a 2021 Facebook post by LSF, I.C.A.N. had helped the foundation provide more than $450,000 in direct support for students.

Meals for families during COVID

Johnston said one of the biggest challenges LSF faced in recent memory was during the COVID pandemic shutdowns, when providing meals for students became a top priority.

“Schools were shut down, and (the district wasn’t) able to provide meals for kids, and there’s a lot of families that rely on that, coming to school and having a meal or access to food, and so that was a huge barrier,” Johnston said.

To address the demand, LSF partnered with the Lawrence chamber of commerce, the Lawrence Restaurant Association and other local businesses to help provide meals to these families.

In the first few months of the pandemic, LSF was able to serve almost 80,000 breakfast and lunch meals with the help of the local business partners and restaurants, Johnston said. She added that over 215 volunteers had stepped up to help, too.

Montessori training

Before the district could start its public Montessori school program at New York Elementary — which gives kids more freedom to choose their own activities and learn at their own pace — it needed teachers trained in Montessori methods, and that training isn’t free.

As the Journal-World reported, the district needed to pay for training for teachers who would work with the 6-year-olds in the program’s first year, which would cost around $34,000 in total. The foundation helped the district cover those costs.

“There was a lot of additional professional development that our educators were wanting to do and interested in doing, and so we were able to step in and provide the district with kind of that starter funding … to get those particular teachers Montessori-certified and trained,” Johnston said.

Johnston said LSF is still identifying other ways to support that program. It’s also discussing with the district about how to help expand early childhood education, especially now that the district is offering preschool enrollment at Woodlawn and Sunflower Elementary Schools in the upcoming school year.

A new scholarship

The nonprofit organization has been marking its 40th anniversary in many ways, including with a gala celebration earlier this year, and it plans to continue celebrating with its new Founders Scholarship.

This scholarship will be awarded during the 2025-2026 school year and will recognize high school seniors who are continuing their education and demonstrating a commitment to leadership, service and making a meaningful impact in their schools and communities, much like the founders of the LSF did 40 years ago.

“The Lawrence community has been so supportive of the Lawrence Schools Foundation’s mission for the past 40 years to help enrich education in the Lawrence Public Schools,” Annie Myers, president of Lawrence Schools Foundation, said in a news release. “The Foundation has been so successful thanks to the community support from local businesses and individuals who care about our students in USD497.”

Over the years that the foundation has helped students continue their education, Johnston said, former students who received a scholarship themselves have sometimes given back to help provide scholarships for others.

“Now you’re seeing students giving back and honoring the teachers you know help (others) throughout their time,” she said. “It’s just neat to see that full cycle.”