photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Lawrence school board members meet on Monday, June 22, 2026.

Most Lawrence school district families and staff have positive experiences with their schools, but concerns remain about lack of academic challenge and staff retention, according to findings from the district’s recent community engagement efforts.

At Monday’s Lawrence school board meeting, Superintendent Jeanice Swift presented the results of feedback-gathering efforts that were done between January and March. As part of the process, the district hosted multiple community conversation events to gather public input on its strengths, areas for improvement, and priorities for the future. Community members also had the opportunity to provide feedback through online surveys.

According to Monday’s presentation, the district received 1,394 total responses – 546 from families, 454 from staff and 299 from students. These responses include the feedback from a traditional survey, open-ended responses submitted online and in-person community conversations.

Overall, respondents reported generally positive experiences with the district; 76.7% of families and staff respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their overall school experience. Families also had positive perceptions of school culture, with 72% satisfied with the way staff showed dignity and kindness toward students.

Seventy-eight percent of families said they were satisfied with how well teachers supported and cared for students. Teacher responsiveness also received some of the strongest marks; 80% of families said that when they raised concerns to a teacher, the teacher was responsive to their concerns.

At the same time, the report identified several areas where respondents believed improvement was needed. Only 61% rated the overall quality of education favorably, and just 56% of families said they were satisfied with the level of academic challenge students experienced in their schoolwork. Staff rated the quality of education slightly higher at 67%.

School safety also emerged as an area with room for growth. About 67% of families said they were satisfied with safety at their school, while 69% of staff said they were satisfied with how effectively bullying and safety concerns were addressed.

In open-ended feedback responses, families and staff highlighted some areas of improvement for the school district, such as communicating more about academic programs and postsecondary opportunities, improving compensation for staff, and more consistent behavior and policy enforcement.

In the future, board members expressed an interest in gathering more data on the individuals who took the survey.

“I would like to know more about the individuals who took the survey and what we can glean from any characteristics people might share, both who are satisfied and those that are not, to understand if there is specific outreach we should be doing,” board member Kelly Jones said.

Looking ahead, the district will be using the feedback to help inform a draft strategic plan scheduled to be released in 2026.