photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Lawrence school board members heard a presentation from Sunflower Elementary AVID students on Monday, May 12, 2025.

Lawrence school board members heard an update on the district’s growing AVID program, which equips students — especially those from underrepresented backgrounds — with real-world skills and academic support.

On Monday, school board members heard a presentation on AVID, which stands for “Advancement Via Individual Determination.” It is designed to support students who aren’t struggling but aren’t high achievers either. The system is currently in place at a handful of schools, such as Southwest Middle School and Sunflower Elementary School, but AVID leaders within the district are working to expand districtwide by 2026.

“AVID philosophy is really looking at what are the skills that students need to be successful no matter what their trajectory is and looking at what are educators doing to ensure that those needs are being met,” Carissa Miles, principal at Southwest, said.

Miles said the school hosts a successful Career Day each December, where students’ interests are explored and professionals are invited to share insights about their careers. Southwest also offers clubs that align with various career paths and opportunities.

First grade students in Jessica Brown’s class at Sunflower told board members on Monday about a project they did as part of their AVID Economics and Service Learning, which teaches students a deeper understanding of economic concepts and how to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world problems through community service. The students have designed handmade jewelry to auction and give back to “help farm animals who would not live a happy life on other farms,” the students said. As a whole class, the students voted to raise money for Shy 38 Inc. Kansas Farm Sanctuary, which is a home for rescued farm animals in Lawrence.

All of the proceeds will go toward the sanctuary, the students said. So far, the students have raised $267 of their goal of $1,000. The auction will run through Friday, May 16, and community members can bid on their jewelry online.

Amanda Green, principal at Sunflower, said a driver for success at Sunflower has been that students can do the hard work.

“A lot of times you might hear, well, kindergarteners can’t learn to take notes or first graders can’t organize with a binder or fill out an agenda,” Green said. “That seems like things for bigger kids, but at Sunflower and many of our buildings across the district, we believe absolutely (they) can do that rigorous work that will help them be college and career ready.”

Southwest, the presentation says, has more than half of the staff fully trained on the model and is looking to add more collaborative study groups, strengthen the transition from eighth to ninth grade and hire a new AVID coordinator. Sunflower, meanwhile, hopes to create a program to introduce AVID to new staff members.

Sarah Hochstetler, the AVID district co-director, said that in the process of getting AVID implemented districtwide, she has been in conversation with several principals and staff members who are excited about the transition.

Hochstetler said there will be several training opportunities in July, with a group of teachers going to Chicago to do intensive learning about AVID implementation at a variety of different levels, “and so we’re positioned really well to start strong in August,” she said.

In other business, school board members:

* Approved a three-year lease agreement with Apple Financial Service for 3,800 MacBook Air laptops to be used at the district’s high schools. The lease will cost $4,248,400 and will include support services from Apple.

The district previously outlined equipping the schools with iPads as a priority for the 2025-2026 school year, as the Journal-World reported. Superintendent Jeanice Swift said the laptop lease agreement was a direct response to student feedback and will replace iPads with a more “college aligned laptop.” The costs will be covered with capital outlay funds.

* Approved the installation of an additional 150 beacons from the CENTEGIX crisis alert system at an estimated cost of $6,900.

The district installed the system at six schools during the 2023-2024 school year and later expanded it to the remaining 16 buildings. The meeting agenda said coverage gaps were identified in less populated areas of buildings, and the district wants to install more beacons to ensure complete and reliable coverage across all buildings.

* Accepted bids for roofing projects across the district, totaling about $1 million.

* Renewed a five-year subscription to the FastBridge Assessment System, which provides state-required K-12 dyslexia screening and monitors students who may be at risk of falling behind in math and reason. The program will cost a total of $243,696 over five years.

* Authorized the disposal of old athletic equipment and the sale of uniforms from Lawrence High School to members of the community. The proceeds from the sales will go towards the school’s athletic account and be used for the purchase of new uniforms or other athletic equipment.

* Held an executive session to discuss matters related to non-elected personnel, with no action to follow.