photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

The Centennial building, 2145 Louisiana St.

Lawrence Public Schools will soon launch its new Choice Campus at Centennial, offering high school students a flexible, come-and-go learning environment designed to personalize education around individual needs.

“It’s a place to go to, but without the constriction of the four walls of a physical classroom and bells ringing,” Superintendent Jeanice Swift told the Journal-World. ” … Flexibility is probably one of the most important words to use to describe this customization and personalizing an educational experience for high school students. By that age, students know what works for them.”

Swift said Choice Campus at Centennial, 2145 Louisiana St. – which will open in August 2026 – will have more of an open concept, where students can come in, grab a laptop and get support from staff. While there will be a few traditional classrooms in the building, the space will primarily be used for a student’s own benefit.

“It really is about connecting students to … personalizing their learning experience,” Swift said. “So it isn’t a school where you would go to biology first period and to social students second period. It’s really more of an integrated approach that’s designed around the uniqueness of that student.”

The students participating in the district’s newest program may have responsibilities during the day that make it difficult to attend a traditional school setting, but no matter the students’ situation, the program is designed to make sure all students are accommodated.

“There are students who may be working during the daytime and they need an evening schedule,” Swift said. “There are students who may be having family responsibilities. They may be remote part of the time. They may be in-person part of the time, it really is a customized educational experience around the needs of the student.”

Swift said the building will be open daily, and staff will further clarify the hours of operation as they begin to work one-on-one with students to see what hours work best for them.

“We know there’ll be non-traditional hours included, evenings and afternoons,” Swift said, adding that it will be a come and go kind of format.

Since it will have this format, Swift said the program will be able to serve a surprising number of students, especially since they won’t have to fit into classrooms. In regards to staffing for Choice Campus at Centennial, Swift said there will be a principal operating the program and the additional staff needed will be evaluated based on the total enrollment for the program next school year.

“We already have students who’ve reached out who want to enroll, so we’ll just begin to build that staffing, frankly, as we do in every building around the enrollment that’s coming through,” Swift said.

Swift said since the district already owns the building, they’re already paying to have the building running. When it comes to the program’s operating costs, those costs will be tied to how many people are hired to work there.

The Centennial building has previously been used for a lot of things over the decades, Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick told the Journal-World via email. It opened as an elementary school in 1955, with its first full academic year spanning 1955-1956, but the school closed in 2003. Following the closure, students were primarily reassigned to Cordley Elementary School and the building was used for storage.

In November 2004, it became the headquarters for the Lawrence Virtual School. The facility has also housed the Lawrence Adult Education Center, providing General Educational Development and Social and Emotional Learning programs. These programs helped individuals who did not finish high school earn a Kansas State High School Diploma and equip adults with skills necessary to be successful in work, school, and life. All of these educational programs moved out of Centennial by 2019, Englebrick said.

Since then, Centennial has been used as office space for construction management services during the delivery of facility improvements, storage, and serving as an athletic practice location for Lawrence High School.

In preparation for Choice Campus at Centennial, the facility has already had interior cleaning, abatement, and plumbing investigations completed. Englebrick said the district is currently identifying the need for possible repairs on the main sewer lines. He said if possible, Lawrence Public Schools Facilities and Operations staff will make these repairs.

The building will also have HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and roofing updated throughout. Bids opened for construction on the building on Thursday, and he said following the award of the bid, the district will agree upon an official start date for construction.

As the Journal-World reported, board members have already approved several contracts for the project, and more will come forward for consideration before more renovations get underway.

Board members approved a contract for planning, architectural, interior design, engineering and cost estimating services from ACI Boland Architects in the amount of $211,200. They also approved $143,875 for Lankford | Fendler & Associates LLC to complete mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineering services.