photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Lawrence school board members met on Monday, May 11, 2026.

Lawrence school district leaders identified staffing shortages, absenteeism and early childhood gaps as major barriers to student success in a needs assessment that will help shape the district’s future priorities.

On Monday, school board members received a summary report on feedback from leaders across the district about challenges affecting student success. Kansas law requires districts to complete this type of assessment each year so school leaders can report on barriers to student achievement, share them with the board and make the information available to the public.

The survey received 20 total responses from the district’s leadership teams, with 18 buildings from the district represented. There were three questions in the survey — what must be overcome for students to achieve proficiency in state assessments, what budget actions should be taken to address these barriers and how long it will take for students to reach proficiency on the assessments.

James Polk, executive director of data and assessment, said there were different barriers at each level of schooling that the district could control. Among the things he mentioned:

• Early childhood education had concerns that students weren’t making enough progress on social and emotional development before kindergarten and worried about inconsistent access to affordable preschool.

• Elementary schools report challenges in staffing and class sizes and chronic absenteeism.

• At the middle school level, there are problems with students being ready to transition from fifth grade to sixth grade and staffing shortages.

• High schools report challenges in student buy-in and motivation to complete state assessments, as well as compensation to recruit and retain staff.

To address the barriers, leaders primarily recommended improving staffing and compensation, investing in mental health and support services, reducing class sizes and applying a coherent curriculum across the district to boost performance.

Polk also said there are some challenges that can potentially be addressed more quickly than others. Reducing class sizes, for example, could happen within one to two years, while improving early childcare access could take five to 10 years. Overall, there is no set timeline to address any of these challenges, but some could be addressed in upcoming budget talks.

The next step is for the school board to draft a response to the feedback, which will be discussed and voted on at a future meeting.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, BOARD MEMBERS:

• Approved changes to the district’s employee medical, dental and vision insurance plans for the 2026-2027 school year. As the Journal-World reported, medical premiums were projected to increase by 32%, and now the district will shift from a fully insured plan to a self-funded plan. The district’s combined medical, dental and vision insurance cost will only increase slightly from $832.81 per month in 2025-2026 to $834.03 per month in 2026-2027. This is an increase of $1.22 per month, or $14.64 per year, per covered employee.

• Accepted bids from Meridian Roofing Solutions LLC for $294,920 and Danker Roofing and Siding Inc. for $75,096 for roof replacement and repairs at West and Billy Mills middle schools, respectively. A 10% contingency or $37,000 is anticipated when performing repairs, along with an estimated engineering fee of $20,350. The total estimated cost is $427,366.

• Approved a proposal from RD Johnson Excavating LLC for emergency repairs to the fire suppression waterline at Southwest Middle School in the amount of $36,208. On April 17, a leak in the waterline was identified, and the contractor reported that the exterior of the pipe had significantly deteriorated. A temporary stainless steel repair band was installed to stop the leak until the permanent replacement can be completed.

• Held two executive sessions to discuss personnel matters of non-elected personnel. No action followed the first session. After the second session, board members approved a resolution not to renew one employee’s contract for the 2026-2027 school year. The employee was a teacher at Lawrence High School, and the reason for not renewing the contract was stated as “unprofessional conduct”; no further details were shared about what said conduct entailed.