001All right. We'd like to um call to order the November 17th, 2025 board meeting. Can I get approval of the agenda, please? >> Move we approve the agenda. >> I second. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. Jones. >> Yes. >> Kimell, >> yes. >> Motion passes 40. All >> right. With that, we'll move on to report to the superintendent of schools, Dr. Swift. >> Thank you, President Gordon Ross and members of the board, all those who are joining us in person and remotely. It is uh past just past the middle of November. We continue to embrace two themes in guiding our work this month and that is about the practice of gratitude and a celebration of our community partnership. Our schools are engaging uh to ensure the habits of gratitude with our
002students. choosing to appreciate people, experiences, and community while demonstrating the powerful impact that gratitude has on well-being, connection, and resilience. At the same time, our district-wide Let's Lift Lawrence initiative continues to showcase the extraordinary ways our community partners come [clears throat] together to support one another to ensure that no family goes without essential support. >> Let me There we go. >> I'm going to stop this for you. >> Thank you. There we go. Uh, our buildings continue to model what it means to lift Lawrence. This week, principles and team members have coordinated pantry replenishment across sites as shelves continue to need daily restock. Schools have swapped ingredients, assembled meal kits together, and communicated emerging needs to ensure families receive consistent support. Last week, uh, members, I think you're aware, but we got requests for additional
003meal kits and pantry items from four specific school sites. And through the coordinated efforts of our communications team and the Lawrence School Foundation, business partners quickly responded and stepped forward to adopt and stock those locations of additional need. Uh, in addition, with the help of our ESC team members, we were able to move dozens of mill kids from one elementary Deerfield over to uh, New York Monaster, illustrating just one of the many ways our schools are collaborating to ensure each site has exactly what it needs. We're really grateful for the Lawrence Schools Foundation, their continued leadership on the adopt a school pantry initiative, which connects local businesses and organizations with school pantries across the district. We saw their recent message to foundation partners this week that expressed appreciation for the community's outpouring of support and
004they outline continued donation pickups and deliveries that will take place Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. Uh so we're ensuring that all pantries are fully stocked uh before our students uh so by the time so that our students and families will have that Thursday and Friday to check in and make sure they have adequate supplies. We're just so grateful for the partnership and responsiveness of our schools, our families, our businesses as we work together to meet the needs of our students. Uh you heard about this members, but we just wanted to show off some photos tonight. Uh last week, schools across Lawrence honored the legacy of Ruby Bridges, marking 65 years since her courageous walk into William France Elementary. Students participated in reflective activities, classroom learning, and schoolwide events centered on bravery, justice, and
005the ongoing work of equity in education. At Quail Run Elementary School, students learned about Ruby Bridges and the profound impact of her actions. Students also decorated their own Ruby Bridges shoe. You can see one of them there in that lower right hand photo. Um, and students wrote messages on their shoes sharing what Ruby's story means to them and the steps they will now take thanks to her uh example, including kindness, bravery, and hope. One student wrote, "Because of Ruby's footsteps, I will take a step toward courage." Uh we've shared the link uh in the written report uh so that members you can see that great coverage by the communications team. We're excited to hear this week uh that our culinary arts students at Lawrence High School recently participated in a district flavor challenge partnering with
006Kansas State University dietetic interns Madison Lullen and Kate Rston. Under the leadership of culinary teacher Rose Berry, students explored the nutritional standards governing school meals before competing to create original sauces that were flavorful, compliant with federal guidelines, and appealing to student taste. The schoolwide tasting event drew enthusiastic participation at Lawrence High. And the winning sauce, Chusty's chicken sauce, developed by Jory Keer and Sailor, will be added to the spring lunch menu. According to Miss Workman on our team, it tastes really great. We're delighted about this hands-on learning experience that strengthen culinary skills, nutrition, collaboration, and real real world problem solving for students. It's an exceptional example of applied learning. Just a quick communications update. We wanted to share um uh that the communications team has been busy supporting our district initiatives. They've uh kept up
007with our Lyft uh effort uh facilitated school pantry support requests and promoted the AI and evolving technologies advisory as the application window closed on Friday. The team also advanced the layout and production of their quarterly newsletter that's scheduled for delivery uh through the Lawrence Journal world in the coming weeks. In addition, uh the team participated this past week in the monthly Douglas County public information officer meeting receiving professional development from KU professor Matt Tidwell uh PhD on effective crisis communications. They coordinated district participation in a countywide emergency management exercise that is planned uh for next spring. The team is gathering nominations also for the Rick Doul Teamwork Award, preparing for the Friends of Education event that's coming up on Wednesday and finalizing plans to coordinate our community conversations through the winter and we're starting on
008Saturday out at the farmers market. We'll share more about that shortly. Uh since the beginning of this school year, we've seen sustained and meaningful engagement on the district Facebook page. Uh you can see generally there uh the trend line. Uh for uh this past month alone, our team has worked intentionally to share content that is both engaging and informative for the community. In October, Pulse reached more than 4.4 4 million people and generated 5.7 views. 5.7 million views, marking significant increases in audience interaction. We also added 4700 new followers in the last 90 days, bringing us closer to that milestone of 16,000 total followers. These metrics reflect our community's strong interest and investment in staying connected to the work happening across our schools. I was very proud at the end of last week to have
009a team of our leaders who are continuing their participation in a national AASA early learning cohort. Uh members, I shared this back with you uh in the summer, but I just wanted to follow up to share that they've continued meeting monthly with this learning cohort. And uh this November, just last week, they were in Kansas City, Kansas public schools for a site visit. [snorts] I really want to give a shout out to Woodlon Elementary principal Brandon Daly, Sunflower Elementary Principal Amanda Green, and Director of Elementary Schools JC Robersonson for their work uh on this entire endeavor. It's a year-long uh engagement, but particularly last week they were out touring early childhood sites, observing uh district demonstration and engaging in collaborative learning alongside early learning leaders from across the country. The visit reinforced what is possible
010when early childhood quality early childhood K12 and community support function as one system. lots of folks out uh and in that group. I'm grateful to have had President Gordon Ross members Kadu Blackwood, Frankwood, Franklin, and Kimell uh participate in Days of Professional Learning hosted by the Kansas Association of School Boards over this past weekend in Witchah. The conference theme was add ASTRA aim beyond and board members were the key audience. board members from across the state regardless of the years of experience within their key roles uh to the respective districts. Uh board members from all over the state came together to explore topics such as school finance, legal and regulatory issues in education, boardsmanship, AI and communication. Member Kembbo led several sessions respective to her important advocacy role and work for KASB. I can confidently
011share that we all learned uh new uh important things and gained perspective and made new connections with our counterparts throughout the state of Kansas. Uh we also heard keynotes from Commissioner of Education Dr. Randy Watson and former NASA astronaut and Air Force fighter pilot Ron Garin. Both provided impassion speeches in support of public education and honoring the commitment and perseverance required to overcome challenges and exceed expectations in support of our students and staff. As we look ahead uh this week, we have a lot going. Uh as we mentioned on Wednesday, we will host the friends of education event here at the education support center right here in this room. Uh where we will honor many exceptional volunteers whose partnership strengthens our schools and makes a deep impact in the lives of our students and staff
012members. We are grateful for their dedication and look forward to recognizing their contributions all together. right here. As a reminder, our uh schools will be closed next week for fall break and our district buildings uh including this location will be closed to the public during this time. I really hope that this break, it has been such a busy fall uh since the very opening days of school. I want to thank our LPS team and all in our community for such a strong start to the school year and wish everyone rest and renewal. Uh we look forward to welcoming everyone back the following week. It will be December 1st when we uh come back to school after this fall break. We know that the strength of our public schools is rooted in a community who cares
013deeply for its children and for their learning. And it's partnership that continues to make the difference for our students, for our staff, and for our schools. Thank you members for the opportunity to share this report and for the honor of serving Lawrence Public Schools. [snorts] >> Thank you, Dr. Swift. Moving on to the reporter, the president of the board. I just wanted to talk a little bit about um the weekend at the KSB convention. I enjoyed um personally collaborating with uh colleagues from across the state. I enjoyed that the convention and and seeing um friends that I made along the way and and um meeting new people from all across the state who serve in various roles and and um serve in in various size districts. we have a lot in common in in the
014in the the problems and the issues that we address, but it's also good to get different perspectives. Um, I'm excited to use what I've learned um as I go forward uh here serving the the Lawrence public schools. Uh also wanted to say thanks to Shannon, Yolanda, Carol, Dr. Swift, and Jake for for taking the time out uh of of of their lives to come and and join us. And then for me, some of my highlights were um some sessions on incorporating AI into education and onboarding of new board members were some of the key takeaways for me. Uh and so with that, we'll move on to board committee reports. Um Shannon, we'll start with you and just come down the line. >> Uh policy committee meets tomorrow, so we don't have a report yet. uh
015facilities committee met on the 12th and uh just went over a lot of routine things, talked about uh where we are at with our facilities usage for the year. Uh we continue to be very busy with events outside of the school day. Uh having about 1336 events that were held just in the month of October um in our school facilities. Um and that uh that is a pretty consistent um trend. The um the good news we heard about our maintenance and work orders, we have been able to hire an in-house plumber for the district which is saving us significant uh funds in terms of um having them do need needed work in our facilities. Um and we heard updates on um the solar installation at uh Sunflower Elementary. It is uh it was completed uh
016the installation work was completed November 7th. We believe there's still some uh connection work that Everg needs to do and we will be having a ribbon cutting for that project, but we have not determined the time or the date for that yet. Um otherwise um that really that really were that was the biggest um topics of conversation just updates on a lot of other things uh that um will be we'll have a couple things coming to the board tonight. You'll see on the agenda the disposal of excess athletic equipment and uniforms and then um one thing we did talk about that will be coming to the board in December. So, we lease a very, very small piece of property at Free State High School to AT&T for use for their cellular tower. It's that Finston
017area right next to the entrance to the football field. Uh, that lease is up for renewal, so that will be coming to the board next month. That's all I have. Thank you, >> um, since last week, I attended the Langston Hughes Site Council and we had opportunity to review their uh data. um they're they have a lot to be proud of and and have identified um areas in which they're going to continue to do work. Um we also had a report from heard a bit about how they are introducing AVID at Langston Hughes and was reminded about what that looks like across the district at the elementary level. So that was exciting to hear. And then finally, we had a conversation about getting ready um or they they were sharing uh their experiences um having
018conversations and getting ready for the um enhancements to the building that are forthcoming. Uh and I had an opportunity to connect um Dr. Engleber and Dr. Swift to the community so that um they can continue to be informed on the changes. So I appreciated that. >> I have none. Okay. You want to Do you have any board commentary? >> No. >> Okay. Kelly, you have any board commentary? Shannon? >> Uh, just one or two things. Let me flip back to my notes. I didn't get them printed out this evening. Um, uh, just really appreciate, uh, my board colleagues and district staff and leadership who took the time to come to the convention this weekend. Um it's really important um professional development for all of us. Um and even though I I led four sessions, I
019also got to attend a handful of sessions myself. So um I got some professional development in while I was there. And um I feel like that helps helps me be a better board member. So I really appreciate that opportunity. Um the state board met this last week and uh I don't have a full rundown and everything they did uh as I was in full convention preparation mode. Uh but Dr. Watson did uh share uh the really um awesome [clears throat] news that we all should celebrate that statewide in the state of Kansas um this is the first year in the history of modern history of public schools in Kansas that we have graduated over 90% of students in the state. um while at the same time uh significantly increasing the number of students who are
020taking and passing taking a taking AP classes and taking the exam and getting credit for them. Um significant increases in the number of college credit classes that students are taking in high school um and the num uh the number of credit hours they are earning. Um and then uh the data point that I had not yet seen before but was very impressive is that uh due to an increased focus on making sure that all students have a pathway to success statewide enrollment in vocational technical programs has gone up 68% over the last 10 years. uh which is which is really significant and just goes to show that that high school graduation rate is very meaningful uh because our kids are succeeding in many ways um once they once they leave our um leave our public
021schools. So um anyway, that's uh that's really all I had to share. Thanks. >> One of the things that I'll that I'll piggyback on that. One of the things Dr. Watson shared with us was 10 years ago there was a gap in the number of weld was it welding that he talked about? >> Yes, it was. It was there was a gap in welding openings across the state and the number of w of welders and in the last 10 years based on programs that have been instituted CT programs across the state and different things um this year we have closed that gap and so across the state we now produced the number of um graduates with welding certificates to meet the demand across the state over the last 10 years. we have we have closed
022that gap and so now we can move on to the next gap and the next gap but he was that that was one specific thing that he pointed out. >> Yeah. The in the statewide graduation data the other thing that he showed that was very meaningful is that not only have we increased overall graduation rates to above 90%. But we have closed the gap for um students with disabilities, English language learners. Um and there was one other category uh students in poverty um have all increased at a rate faster than uh the increase in the overall graduation rate. So um lots [clears throat] of good work happening in lots of school districts including ours. >> With that [clears throat] we'll move on to uh the consent agenda. Consention items are those that are considered routine
023and are adopted by one motion unless any board member or the superintendent requested an item be removed. The item or items removed are voted on separately. Can I get a motion for the consent agenda, please? >> Move the board of education adopt the items listed on the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Gordon Ross, >> yes. >> Kimble, >> yes. >> Buyers, >> yes. >> Jones, >> yes. >> Motion passes 4. >> Thank you. So now we'll move on to the 2025 2026 annual student enrollment data. Dr. Swift. >> Thank you, President Gordon Ross, members of the board. We are delighted to share this evening uh the annual enrollment and we will just preview elementary class size and that will get the get us all primed and ready uh on December 8th to bring the secondary
024class size report. So this is part one of two parts. I want to uh offer some opening remarks that will hopefully frame up the data that we're about uh to share and to have a conversation about. I appreciate uh Mr. James Pulk and um Boone and all the members of the team that have helped to prepare this data this evening. Um, we'll start with the takeaways and then that way when uh James shares with you, you'll be able to unpack all of this uh throughout uh the next few minutes. As uh has been projected, Lawrence Public Schools 2526 enrollment is 2% lower than last school year. And although that decrease represents a small year-to-year change, we all know those of us who monitor these things that it does continue a trend extending uh back to
0252015 16. There was one exception in those 11 years and that was a brief uptick in 20189. So at 10,148 students, Lawrence public schools enrollment is comparable to the size of the school district during the period to 2005. So all of those 13 years, we were in the same range in which we are now. Now inside the data that you're about to see, you'll see some highlights. One of those is preschool enrollment which has increased by almost 20% year-over-year this year. Uh this continues a positive trend. We know that the expansion of preschool is meeting a Lawrence and frankly a national child care need. Um, and it is also leveraging classroom space uh to better serve our students and their families, our student growth and development. We will also turn to shine a spotlight on
026some of the specialized programs that the board has supported over recent recent years. And you will notice uh positive trending with Liberty Memorial Central Middle School steam programming and with New York Monastery. We'll look at all the ins and outs of that here over the next few minutes. We want to frame up this Lawrence public schools data in the context of both Kansas state enrollment data and national enrollment data. uh we are special and unique in Lawrence. We all believe that and we are also a part of a wider whole. So you will see that Kansas state enrollment um has uh decreased also uh about a 3% decrease between 2019 and 202425. Um and then if we zoom out to the national picture about a 2.5% decrease uh around that same time frame from the
027fall of 2019 to 2023. Uh what we know nationally and statewide and locally is that that that these enrollment trends mirror a declining birth rate and over a long period of time also are impacted by a wider breath of school choice options. Just a little bit more about that birth rate pattern that reflect really this national and Kansas reality in the 2425 academic Kansas public school enrollment uh decreased by about 2,000 students just on right at a half a percent decline. Um, data from our Kansas Department of Health and Environment indicates that we currently or as of have the lowest recorded birth rate since 1912. A 15% drop in the number of children under five years over recent years. and then also the pattern of out migration have compounded the effect of this falling birth
028rate. Uh so our trend is consistent across districts of all sizes and communities across Kansas. Further declines are expected unless there is some shift in either birth rates or migration patterns or other uh details. I want to talk just a little bit about uh next steps for us as we are considering uh this data. Certainly we recognize the wider patterns and impacts of birth rate over time. We also are focused on our own continuous improvement. But I want to draw the lens wider than just a specific focus on student enrollment. We're going to expand that lens a little bit wider to talk a little bit tonight about how we will meet this moment of declining birth rate. And one of the priorities we have is to use this time to do a better job to
029meet greater levels of student need. You will see in the enrollment data tonight evidence of our greater levels of need across uh students impacted by poverty, students who are served on an IEP, students with disabilities and in a number of areas you will see and what's not measured that we all know uh is really that social, emotional and mental health uh challenge that also is factored in. So, we want to use this moment to do a better job of meeting student needs, of enhancing program offerings and opportunities from the earliest days of preschool all the way to postsecary. examples like using elementary classrooms for science labs and enrichment, middle school enhancements, and wrapping in those post secondary assets that we discussed just last week with program programs such as the KU blueprint and the CTE
030possibilities, not only at college and career, but also at our comprehensive high schools. We want to meet the moment to leverage the additional space that we have to do more for students and to lean harder into our critical mission of students and their growth and development. We want to ensure greater intentionality and focused work. And members, you've been talking about this with me for months and I appreciate your support. But this data will inform our streamlining our continued streamlining of the organization. You will see that the 2% change is not in any one place. That would be a different picture. This 2% is really spread across every grade level um in in most every school location. So we want to ensure that we are analyzing that data to prioritize resources directly to classrooms to meet
031student needs and to enhance programming opportunities and to continue to streamline so that we're supporting competitive compensation for staff. Now I want to pause just for a moment before we give this to Mr. poke to unpack all the details, but I want to pause just to say right up front two things. One, there are no recommended school reconfigurations, repurposes, or closures. Uh we're thankful that unlike uh some other districts, uh as we heard this weekend through the state, uh our elementary schools are well-enrolled for their physical size. our middle and high schools have space for students to be welcomed. Uh there are no pressure points uh at this time for any uh changes, dramatic changes in schools. Secondly, I also want to give a shout out to our teachers, our school teams, and our school
032leaders who work so hard every day. And I just want to give a flag raise too when we talk about school size or class size. We're in no way commenting with that analysis on the level of student need. I think everyone of us involved in this work understands uh that particular student needs can make a number seem really big or maybe not so big and we live in a time of higher levels of need. So we are proud to have uh vigilantly watched over our elementary class sizes. uh but when we celebrate that fact we don't disregard uh that that students come with a variety of needs and they require a lot of focus and support. So those staffing ratios, those building ratios are different in this day than they were 10 years ago. And
033we'll talk more about that as we move through this evening. So uh the number uh in that enrollment number I want to be clear are uh the number of students who come to our schools to receive their primary education each day. So uh you may see a little bit different number on uh for example the budget report that counts FTE full-time equivalent uh where services are factored in special education services out to private and parochial and all those nuances. uh this number, our enrollment number is the number of students who cross our doors for service in our buildings for their primary education. Very good. >> Um so I just have a quick question. So the Lawrence Virtual School when we pull that number out, it can and there's a there's a functional reason for that
034if you could explain because it can sometimes make that community feel like other. So can you share why we separate that number out? I appreciate it. Very good. I appreciate that question and it might be to our advantage on this slide in the future to just say grades K12. Um because I believe the function of that is really a state directed function, not ours. So I really appreciate you raising that flag and this is a great time to hand it to Mr. Pulk who can answer that question so much better than I. >> Yeah, thanks Dr. Swift. Thanks members of the board for having me tonight. Yeah. uh Lawrence virtual school does get uh kind of counted differently in the eyes of the state and so we do in this slide in particular kind of
035pull it out just to to highlight that but uh we can consider that in the future for how we represent it. Absolutely. GR. Um, so I I appreciate what Kelly said because I I don't want them to feel kind of as if they're set apart, but um I do wonder if there is a um important perspective from having it presented this way, which is that a large number of those students don't physically live in Douglas County or within the boundaries of USD497. Um so understanding trends with virtual enrollment um like there are different I would imagine that there are different pressures on that given um the reasons why families choose virtual enrollment. >> Exactly. >> For example, it's my understanding that you know when we started LVS we were the fourth virtual school in the
036state that was founded. Um before the pandemic there were only maybe eight or 10 virtual schools in the state and now there's something like 68 virtual schools. So in a you know 5year period the number of virtual schools increased by exponents. Um >> and and as we talk about um program enhancements to um better meet the needs of our students, the virtual school is a great example of how we can meet the needs of of different learners. >> Thank you. Okay. So, um, thanks for having me. As you can see, 10,148. Um, Dr. Swift gave a lot of the summary of what we're going to go over tonight. So, I'll just dive in, um, to the graphs and be open for questions afterwards. And hopefully, there we go. Um, so you can see uh over
037time our enrollment uh is on this uh steady anticipated uh decrease of uh 2% from the last school year from 10,358 to 10,148 where we currently stand. We wanted to provide some context for this um to put this against the RSP projections. RSP put these uh predictions together based on the work of the boundary advisory council in December of 2024. And while the number of uh students is slightly different for a couple of different reasons, you can see that the uh percentage of declining enrollment is very similar. And you can see that that slight decrease and trend continues until the 2930 school year where we see a slight uptick in enrollment. >> J have a clarifying question. Um so if I'm looking at that right, it appears that their so their projections are based on
038students who live within our boundaries. Is that correct? >> Correct. So, this does not include LVS students, correct? >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> And if we we did that math problem uh earlier and it's just so close. >> Okay. >> Um very good projections. I'm impressed. >> So, as we look at overall enrollment, we also want to zoom in to look at uh enrollment by different levels because as we look at the levels, we can see trends within them. So, um I jumped ahead. I'm sorry. Uh so uh as I go backwards uh the historical context that Dr. Swift mentioned uh is that uh in 2015 2016 we sat around 12,000 students and since that time we've seen this gradual decrease with the exception occurring in 2018 and 19 we saw about 250 students
039increase. Um so we're sitting around 10,000 students which is the same range of a 13-year period between 1992 and 2005. Um, now we're going to zoom in to look at those different levels because we can see trends within that. And so when you look at our levels, we have our preschool, elementary, middle, and high school represented here. And you can see that there are different trend lines for the different levels. Uh, we see that elementary and high school had declining enrollment from last year, whereas preschool and middle school showed a increase in enrollment between the two. Um on the next few slides, we'll zoom into each level so you can get a clearer picture of each of them. Um we also want to note that the preschool enrollment includes uh not just Kennedy and uh
040New York Monastery, but we also added preschool programs at Woodlon Elementary and Sunflower Elementary this past school year. As we look at elementary enrollment over this time frame, we can see that in 2018-19, we saw 5,149 students come through our door. And this year we're looking at 4,189, which is about a thousand student decrease. When we look at middle school enrollment, we can see um it's a little more level. We go from 2,659 students to 2,299. In high school, we do also see that decline 4,24 students to exactly 3,400 this fall. Just to clarify, these are inclusive of LBS. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. And just then also to put a fine point on it, then Shannon's Shannon's um acknowledgement that we had an increase in the number of virtual schools available in the state
041might account for a declining enrollment at LVS because in people's immediate communities, their their USD might be now offering a virtual opportunity that would allow them to be closer to >> correct. there's a more robust uh selection of virtual schools available to students in kids. >> So that is not a reflection of a decline in virtual school enrollment overall in the state. It's a decline it has a reflection to do with the expansion of virtual school in the state. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I think just to further go into that, Kelly, I saw some data recently that um over the and I think it might have been in that KASB projections report over a period of years, kind of the same time period, virtual school enrollment across the state only went up, you
042know, a few thousand students, but the number of virtual schools went from like 10 to 70 in one period. So, so that's um so then if you looking at our numbers on the overtime slide, we've had a larger drop in LV in the LVS enrollment than um probably at any other particular um [clears throat] location or >> Yes, that's that's worth noting. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. And then to to be clear, it is the primary driver for the lower number of high school students that we see here. Or is it not? >> I believe that is exactly right, but I'm going to do some math while James does the next slide. >> Um, well, we saw the uh gradual decline in these three levels. We see the inverse of that with our preschool
043enrollment. Uh, from last year, we saw about a 20% increase in student enrollment. And from 2020 to 2021 to now, we saw a 96% increase in preschool enrollment. As we continued to expand our preschool programming by opening up Sunflower and Woodlon Elementary, you can see on the chart below that our preschool enrollment is the highest it's ever been with 260 students. >> Mr. Pulk, how many preschool classrooms do we have at Kennedy? >> I don't know that off the top of my head. I'm sorry. I will take that note and write back to you on that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um something that we noticed as uh a trend in our data that uh we've seen in the past few years and are looking uh ahead towards is um our incoming kindergarten classes are
044significantly smaller than our outgoing senior class. Uh the example of this is our seniors that graduated uh last spring. There were 939 of them in that cohort. our kindergarteners that walked through the doors this fall, there were 635 of them. That's a 304 student difference. And that is something that we've seen over time and leading to some of our gradual decline and alludes to the birth rate um uh statistics that Dr. Swift provided in the opening slides. As we look at our overall enrollment, we also want to look at some of our student groups. And so this slide represents students who are English language learners in our district. And as you can see, between 2018 2019, and this school year, we saw less than a 1% increase in our English language learners receiving services, um,
045we do have a total of 7.8% of students who qualify as English language learners, but 1.8% of those students are, uh, on monitoring status or are not receiving English language services. And we do want to note that we have 20 different languages represented across the district, Spanish being the largest among those groups. Another student group we want to look at are students who are economically disadvantaged. Uh this number post pandemic has held really strong around 40% and these are students that are qualifying for either free or reduced lunches. Um we'll note that during the pandemic uh lunches were free for all students. So we saw a decrease in families filling out our free and reduced lunch forms uh since there wasn't the same need tied to that. So that's why we saw that decline those
046two years. But we are holding strong at 40% post pandemic. >> I am full of questions tonight. So, do you think that the the most uh reasonable comparators up there between our current year looking at past years would be to go all the way back to the 1819 year because of those disruptions in 2021 and 22? >> Yes. Um we also talked about some other things that are contributing to a better collection of the statistics. Number one, the state has allowed us to collect this information electronically now where in the past it was only a paper form that we were able to fill out. So it's more accessible for our families in multiple languages as well. >> Okay. Um just because I'm you know in thinking about what the what is the the reality in
047the community um even 32% to 40 41% as a as a very meaningful increase. >> Yes. um in students in living in poverty. Um [clears throat] if you were to split out that data of free lunch versus reduced lunch, um is it the case that the majority of students in that column or free lunch? >> I don't want to speak to that without looking at the hard numbers. I do have that though that I can check on. >> Okay. Thank you. Mhm. Another student group that we want to uh look at tonight are students uh with disabilities. Um since uh the 2021 2022 school year, we have seen a gradual increase in students with uh disabilities. This graph does not reflect students that are only categorized as gifted. Um so this is a 6% increase
048in that time frame. Uh we do want to note that in the state of Kansas, KASB is reporting that from 2005 to 2022, they also saw an increase in students uh identified with disabilities, 2.3%. And the National Center for Educational Statistics um also noted a uh a 2% increase in a 10-year period from 2012 to 2022 in that same trending data uh nationally. >> Member Kimble. >> Yes. Um, do you recall which year it was out of because I'm pretty sure it was in that last five that the state added dyslexia as a diagnosis that makes students eligible for IEP student IEPs. >> Excellent question. We're taking it down. Um, and I'll phone a friend on >> and and the reason I I note that is just that one, you know, one of the conversations
049that I've heard people have is, you know, the question of why is it going up? And the answer I've heard given often is that there is an increase in need but also the state has expanded the categories of students who qualify to receive services and that has impacted the numbers. Um so I I'm curious >> the correlation. >> Yeah. Yeah. What that looks like in USD497. Okay. >> We will take that note. Lots of good information. >> Thank you. Um we also want to look at race ethnicity on this slide. There there's a lot here so we're going to focus on the next slide but um this slide is indicating over time uh we haven't seen a huge change in our race and ethnicity population. Uh we have seen a slight increase in our multi-racial
050uh population as well as a small increase in our students identifying as Hispanic. Um, when you look at what our current reality is of race, you can see on this slide, this is 2526, you'll notice that Hispanic is not represented as it is defined as an ethnicity instead and not a race. But you can see 71% of our population white, 17% multi-racial, 6% black, 3% Asian, and 3% American Indian or Alaskan Native. So, how then do um our uh Latino families get counted in in this data? They just do. They just don't. >> So, um our race ethnicity slide here, you'll actually notice this graph goes up to 120%. Because um race goes up to 100 and then on top of that, you'll notice the Hispanic data. So you can see that our Hispanic data
051in 2018 and 19 was 10% and our Hispanic data for this year is 13.7%. >> I will check in with enrollment, but I believe the order that it goes uh according to federal um guidelines is the first question is Hispanic, yes or no. >> Okay. >> And then the next category is for others to choose. Um so it ends up with a percentage uh constellation that just doesn't look right but is >> okay >> the way >> and just to note um race and ethnicity are only captured at time of initial enrollment. That's not a question that we ask upon annual enrollment. So these are numbers that reflect uh what parents are selecting at the time of enrollment. >> Okay. Um, as we uh zoomed in on our levels and some of our student groups,
052we also want to spotlight some of our programming. As Dr. Swift stated, um, beginning in the 2425 school year, Liberty Memorial Central Middle School launched their Steam initiative. Um, since that launch date, they've seen a 9% uh, increase in enrollment. That's about 36 students, and that is following um, several years of declining enrollment. So, uh, a highlight that we see that, uh, increased enrollment. Another program that we're spotlighting tonight is the, uh, college and career center. In the 2020 2021 school year, the academy at college and career center was launched. At that time, 42 full-time students and a total of 83 students uh, were receiving uh, classes at the college and career center. Uh this year we have 59 full-time students with 123 taking classes at the college and career center. Um and just to
053note because there are several numbers on here. A full-time student is part of the academy at college and career center. They take all of their classes on that campus. Uh part and and they uh oftentimes those are CTE courses as well. Uh part-time students take one or more co courses at the uh at the college and career center but take the majority of their classes at their home high school Lawrence High or Free State. A third program spotlight is New York Montasauri. Starting in 2223 uh they opened their Monasuri classrooms and those classrooms continue to expand up into Upper Elementary this year. Um, we can see that from that opening in 2223, we've seen a 26% increase in enrollment totaling 234 this year, which is an increase in 49 students. And that's following several years
054trending of declining enrollment. And the last thing on the enrollment slides, uh, the work of the building advisory council last year was looking at uh, high school boundaries. We just wanted to bring some of that data to light this year where we're seeing the difference in enrollment between Lawrence High and Free State decrease and that difference is only 161 students this year. So for enrollment data this year um that's the information uh we are sharing. What we wanted to preview for you before we get to questions was just uh the annual class size report that is coming in the first week of December. Um that annual class size report will highlight all levels. Member Jones. >> Yeah. Okay. Uh I wasn't going to, but since you thought I was, I I'll go ahead. Um the
055the New York elementary slide back a few. >> Yes. >> I just want to point something out. So I I appreciate the context of the contribution that there's possibly a correlation between Monasuri and the increase in enrollment. We did close schools around that time. So can is there is that the contributing? We will place a note on the bottom of the slide and thank you for that. We should have had that on there. uh that they did receive enrollment from closure and I will research exactly how many >> I would while you're doing that I would be interested in knowing and I think it comes up I can't remember in upcoming slides but I I would be interested in knowing about um uh weight lists if there are any for Monasuri or how we are
056recruiting um and supporting that school in recruiting families that might be interested in that program if one of the initiatives for both Liberty and Monasuri is to increase the number of students attending there. It might not be pertinent to tonight, but I would like to hear future conversation about what we're doing to support those schools and um parents in our communities in increasing the you know, we had this choice is a is a complicated word right now in public education. But to talk about how we are supporting that um those schools and increasing enrollment should they want to or have the capacity to Absolutely. Thank you. >> Again, the last thing I just want to share is uh a preview of what's to come. Uh the annual class size report will come uh in early
057December. Uh the report uh we did this uh I think for the first time last year. Um so we're just going to share elementary tonight uh knowing that more is to come. Um as you look at this slide, each one of the cells that has color in it represents an elementary classroom in our district. So you can see that uh we have uh all of our classrooms represented here with our overall averages on the right side of the chart. Uh just to note these are numbers as of October 28th. Multi-grade and monastery classes are not included in this. Um and uh as you can see on our next slide we have our minimums, we have our maximums and we also have our class averages here. So, kindergarten averaging 20 students as well as first grade
058and then uh 21 in second grade, 22 in third and fourth and 23 students on average in our fifth grade classrooms. So, uh more to come in our next meeting to highlight all of the levels uh so that you can see this data um in each one that is represented. And then our last slide tonight is simply um additional reading based on uh some of the research we were doing around birth rate and declining enrollment not just in Lawrence public schools but also in our state as well as the nation and the rest of the world. So >> James if you or Mr. Pulk if you would back up just to slide 26. I do want to note and board members, I know you've been briefed on this, but those yellow and orange and red
059classrooms that are located um in one of our overcrowding situations, we do have additional teaching support in there so that students are able to receive their math and reading um in smaller group arrangements. But at this time, we do not have a classroom available uh for that additional teacher to be able to have a full-time class. So, in the spirit of transparency, we put the classroom number here. >> And the um when you say additional support, you also said teacher. So, it is a teacher that is is >> there is a teacher and there are other supports also. uh so that students are receiving uh part of their day uh in smaller groups. >> Okay. >> And I'm not suggesting that solves it at all, >> but it is a case that there really wasn't
060another classroom in >> it is the case there was not another classroom. Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions? Um just a couple of uh observations or additional things I want to kind of put out there for consideration as we're talking about this. So I first of all I really appreciate the detail in this report and I know I had a lot of questions um >> so I appreciate your patience with me um because this this is an area that I have done a lot of deep diving in um u over the last several years as a board member. Um uh I really want to observe first of all about the class size. While as you noted Dr. Swift that we still have some what we would call hotspots, um it is my recollection
061that that is the best that that chart has looked for our district in a number of years. um we have fewer cla fewer over you know classrooms that are over what we would consider to be our um maximum class size than I and then I can remember anytime recently. So thank you for that work >> and thanks to the board for supporting it. I was very clear with you all a year ago that we wanted to see that change. you were very supportive and I'm very grateful >> and so I I hope that the community hears that message that we have taken some action on this with the resources that we have been able to rearrange to put toward that. So that's excellent. >> Yeah. >> So and those resources specifically so that future boards
062when they're making considerations about how to allocate dollars include the contingency teachers. I'm assuming that the um the and this is the part that I'm assuming that I want to get clarification on the introduction of the science teachers which accounted for the plan time did they have any impact on the class sizes or not? >> They didn't. Um but they um the streamlining steps including reduction of positions out of this building and uh streamlining of classroom sizes across all levels to ensure that elementary lower L and upper L were the priority for small class sizes in the district. >> So it didn't just there the realignment didn't just happen at the elementary level with contingency teachers. It happened across the district. Correct. And mostly not at the elementary level. >> Um so uh so a
063couple of things. So early on um you shared the research around declining birth rates. Um and I just wanted to add some additional context to this because I think it's really important to uh this conversation. It's not just the the calculated rate. Um if you go out and you look at KDH's actual birth actual number of life birth data for Douglas County um that number has gone down from slightly over 6,200 in 2017 to below um in 2023. So that's not a rate that's calculated based on population. That's the just the actual number of babies born in Douglas County. Um, or I'm sorry, those are the I'm looking at the wrong chart. I just gave you the wrong numbers. Let me It went down, but let me get to the right uh chart. Okay, it
064Okay, actual live births in actually in 2013, we had a spike, but since 2010, it was at about 12 50 or 1260 and it's down below a thousand actually. So huge decline in actual numbers over time. Um that's important because you can't that's not a that's not a statistical calculation that's just counting. [laughter] Um the other thing I wanted to share with my board colleagues um that a couple things that we heard this weekend um Dr. Watson in his presentation was talking about the impact of declining enrollment in Kansas and he shared that there are fewer than 10 districts out of the 284 districts in Kansas that are increasing enrollment. Everybody else is either flat or de most mostly declining very few flat mostly declining. So that is significant. Um, and then I attended a
065a school finance session on Sunday, um, that was taught uh, by a couple of uh, superintendents who specialize in school finance. And, uh, one of them said something that I think is is something for us to think about. Um he said he is seeing predictions um that based on demographic trends Kansas may be as a state a declining enrollment state for a period of up to the next 20 years. So uh and that was shared with the students in his class in the context of um as you think about how you plan as a board member, you have to have that context in mind um in terms of managing your finances in your district. Um so I just, you know, it certainly caught my attention um when he said that. So I wanted to share
066that with all of you. Thank you. Bob, do you have anything? >> Yeah, [clears throat] as I think about it and and I know birth rate is is important. However, I think there are other considerations here in Lawrence that we also have to keep in mind. Uh that our community um I when I think about it, I think about uh like in my my neighborhood which is basically uh town homes uh two to three bedrooms. Uh in my section there's like 50 something homes. Um and I think there are families with children in them about I think two. >> Uh so so when I look at it birth rate is is important. However, we also have to consider our growth in the growth in our community that our community is kind seems to be kind
067of landlocked that we don't have a lot of new development. We're not doing single family homes that much anymore. I think so. So, when I look at part of our problem is obviously birth rate. That's a part of it. But I think we have another problem in that we're not drawing more people to the community. that it has to be more than just self-grown kids who grew up here all the time staying here. It has to be new people coming in, integrating into our system. And right now, I think that's one of our major issues in this community is we need more growth. >> And there's some great data in the that RSP slide that you showed, Mr. Pulk um with the uh projections in that same report that they did um there's some really
068good um data on uh what they call yield rate from like how many how many students are you getting from >> an area of single family homes? How many students are you getting from an apartment complex and how has that >> it's gone down over time? >> Right. And when you look at a lot of the growth here is in is in apartments. Yeah. not really into single family homes >> homes. And to me, uh, the cost of housing, the cost of taxes in our community, uh, makes it difficult for new families to move in and stay. >> Um, to that to to build a bit on what Bob is saying, you had talked about um, hearing uh, Randy Wson talk about a few districts that are growing. Did they have any conversation about any
069commonalities with those districts? So, are they, for example, >> Spring Hill, Gardener, Edertton? >> Yeah. So, they're on the edge of >> um I I can't remember if Derby or Andover. So, uh suburban districts around large metropolitan areas. So to to Bob's point, they're mo their families are going to more affordable housing or where communities have development um friendly >> uh code that allows I think might be one of them. >> Okay. Uh one of the things I wanted to ask about if it's can I jump in? Okay. I wanted to talk a bit about um private school enrollment in Douglas County as part of the conversation since we've mentioned choice and uh that's a movement that we've seen since co it's my understanding that private enrollment private school enrollment has not grown in um
070Douglas County but I don't know for sure whether we have that information. >> [snorts] >> It's really impossible to confirm all of that information, but I did see some really impressive uh work done. Uh you have to just really track things down. And it's clear to me from what I've seen informally that private school enrollment has not increased. And the area that we can't really track, and this is true for every district, is micro schools or homeschool enrollment. And so it would be helpful if the state um required additional recording so that we could understand what families are looking for and what they need in their education. >> Yes. >> Um what they're what they're opting to select into. If there is an increase there, it's impossible for us to track that. And when you
071look at dis at states in which they've had an increase of choice um or vouchers more specifically like places like Arizona um I do think it's it's interesting to know that they are challenged to provide that data because they are also not tracking homeschooling very well. So it might be something that we didn't include in our legislative um >> platform for the year. Is there any value in that given your your um and it might not be at the legislative level, but where does the advocacy for tracking that go? >> I think legislatively or the state board, you know, the um right now the only statutory requirements for homeschool is that you file uh a document with the state >> department of education that you are homeschooling >> and then that's it. There's no tracking,
072you know, once that that is done that if that student was in a public school, there's no more tracking of what happens to that student after they leave the public school unless they reenter >> um the public school system. So yeah, it's it's kind of I mean there there are a lot of estimates out there that you can look at um but um no real tracking and I think it I think it might if I'm remembering the statutes correctly it might need to be a statutory >> okay >> directive um right now we have we have almost no regulation um in Kansas in that area. I mean, it's obviously the primary driver is birth rate, but it it would be helpful to know more comprehensively what's happening in our community so that we can adjust
073our practices in a way that might say to families, you're welcome here. We're making accommodations to meet your needs. Um, and we understand that this is what you're looking for in an educational experience. It could provide us an opportunity to do that for them. >> Exactly. and to meet special potential special education or other support needs that are so important for students in those early years. >> Yeah. In the at the in in our society this time anyway um with school of choice. what are we doing around uh recruitment or at least uh letting our communities know what we offer? Mhm. So, I really appreciate that question and it's a perfect segue to some work that we'll be bringing forward in December, January really to spotlight and highlight our programming and to post those opportunities
074uh according to the required schools of choice timeline in the state of Kansas. All districts must participate its statute. Um, but we want to share more about what families can look for, particularly in Lawrence, where so many families are driving uh into Lawrence every day to work here or to attend higher education here. We want them to know what we have to offer. >> In that vein, Dr. Swift. Um, one thing I noted when we approved our capacity projections back in um was that in April or May? >> Yes. >> For for that period of enrollment um that's that for open enrollment in June. Um we offered more spots for this school year than we had in the previous year. Um and I um I would be interested to know in the future um what
075we what we are seeing from that and as we prepare to do that work again in the spring for next summer um you know uh if we saw an increase in students coming into our district. It's my understanding that we have had more you know anecdotally that we have had more students coming in from out of district but it would be um helpful to understand that data a little better. >> I really appreciate that question and we will get that data for the members. It's a perfect time now with this report to bring that and also uh just making a note that we are required to offer uh the true number of openings at each campus. We're required by statute if we have openings to offer them. Uh so we are working to be accurate
076in that posting. That's that's what is expected of all districts. So, >> and I'm hopeful with [clears throat] that open enrollment window staying consistent moving forward that we'll be able to better track that because the first year it was just that one month window and now it's a six-month window. So, hopefully we can bring those numbers to you more accurately moving forward. >> Yeah, because to me it would be ideal for it to be a part of this. >> Absolutely. So that that it it gives us a picture of actually what's going on around enrollment. >> Yeah, this only year two. >> Pardon me. >> Oh, this is only year two of us of the of us having that uh open although we always took out of district students. Previously we had open enrollment in
077our district before the statutory requirement. It's just that the the specifics about how you do it are slightly different now because of that um uh the the capacity projection piece of it is something that we weren't um required to do before and that we have to do now. >> We will work to bring that data uh at our next meeting. >> Yep. >> Anybody else? >> Thanks, sir. >> May I answer a couple of >> Yeah. questions. Mr. Poke, stay stay put, please, just for one second. Um, I do want to note on the high school question with virtual, um, my teammates offer that virtual uh, does begin to dip in 22 23 has been stable the last couple of years. I did the math um and it looks like from that 18/19 time frame
078that there the reduction in virtual enrollment is about 505 students. Our overall decline at high school in that same period is about students. This bubble that is larger in going through high school now it's really fascinating at both high schools. uh 11th and 12th grade are bigger than 9th and 10th grade. So that's right where the bubble is uh on the that's one of the reasons I asked the team to bring that grade level um grade level by grade level enrollment. You can actually see it. Um the other question about preschool at Kennedy, there are five prek classrooms there. Uh three of them are uh prek classrooms. I'm sorry. Uh three of them are early childhood special education classrooms and then the other two are prek classrooms. Um both all of them are prek but
079particularly three are special education. >> Thank you. And that's the the program with as you recall members with peer models alongside >> and the the evening out at the um I swear I won't ask another question. GR is going to come out of his seat. Um the [laughter] the evening out of enrollment at the at Lawrence High School and Free State not I mean Free State still re remains higher. Is there any um we were going to have some flexibility around transfers. Has that >> contributed to the impact? [snorts] >> It has contributed to the impact and also that fall off at 10th and 11th was bigger at Free State than it was at Lawrence, interestingly enough. Uh so between those two impacts it just narrowed their difference. >> Okay, that is a reminder because
080I was board president when we had this conversation about whether we needed to change boundaries >> and um I rather dramatically called upon the committee to investigate that and now this is a really good reminder of how populations can change at that level. Uh, and it reminds me of several times you have cautioned us around changing boundaries as a way to resolve um enrollment issues. So that's that's one of my takeaways from tonight. So I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. All right, we will move on to public comment. Can I get someone to read the public comment statement for me, please? I'd be glad to do that. The USD497 Board of Education welcomes public comments and thanks you for taking time to talk to us about our policies and procedures. We set
081aside this time during our regular meetings to hear from the public. Patrons who wish to participate in public comment must email public comment.org by noon on the day of the board meeting to participate in person. Information provided will make it possible for district staff or the board to follow up with you as necessary. This is your time to share your opinions. However, public comment is not the appropriate form for making complaints about specific staff or students. If your comments relate to complaints concerning students or staff, such complaints must be addressed to district staff as provided under board policies KN general complaints and GAE personal personnel complaints. The board president or presiding officer of the meeting may direct that a public comment request be redirected to staff to comply with board policy, including to protect the
082priv privacy of individual staff or students. If you need assistance in sharing a complaint or concern with district staff, please let the board clerk or other district staff know. Topics discussed in public comment shall be gerine to the business of the board. Furthermore, comments must comply with standards laid out in board policy GAE, anti-bullying, and board policy JGECA, hazing of staff and students. Comments or acts that are threatening to staff, the board, or others in attendance, including the use of language or behavior that is disruptive of the board meeting, will not be permitted during public comment. In addition, because students may be in attendance or watching online, members of the public public will refrain from using foul or obscene language. The district assumes no responsibility or liability for the information shared during public comment. The
083views expressed are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lawrence public schools. The board president or presiding officer will invite comment on topics not included on the meeting agenda at the beginning or end of each meeting. Comments relating to agenda items are welcomed after the board has had the opportunity to discuss the topic. Limit your comments to three minutes. Patrons who are unable to comply with the above procedures may email their comments and viewpoints to the board at schoolboard97.org. >> Thank you. All right, we'll start with Justin. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. My name is Dr. Justin Spece. Superintendent Swift, earlier in the meeting during your report on school enrollment numbers being down, you said this was due to declining birth rates in Kansas being
084the lowest recorded since 1912, along with a 15% drop in the number of children under age 5 in recent years, which results in a smaller pool of school-aged children. Well, what about abortion? But you mention abortion as an obvious cause of the low birth rates. Killing children in the womb will most definitely result in less children being born and then subsequently less school-aged children. In 2023, there were 19,467 abortions in Kansas, a 58% increase from 2022. And there were 22,720 abortions in 2024, an 18% increase from 2023. You all are supposedly educated and are supposedly educators. So, let me ask you this. Would killing 22,720 children in the womb in one year lead to a decrease in birth rates? It's not rocket science. It seems that feminism, which you all ascribe to, with its full
085support of abortion, is contributing more to decreased enrollment rates than anything else. So, Dr. Swift, why didn't you mention abortion and feminism in your report as reasons for low birth rates? killing kids in the womb is wrong. And then of course also clearly the district's authoritarian COVID policies during CO made parents remove their kids from your schools. They were tired of your insane and entirely unnecessary mass mandates and and entirely ineffective online learning during CO. And I tried to tell you morons this all throughout CO, but you wouldn't listen to me. Instead, you and this entire community in the media labeled me as a crazy person not worth listening to. Well, I told you so, you idiots. At last meeting here, Gordon and the board and a public commenter as well spoke about the recent
086city commission election results. And then during public comment, I also tried to speak about the city commission election results. And you, Gordon, stopped me and removed me from the meeting because you said that that topic was not gerine to the school district's business. Well, after you removed me, I thought to myself, "What the fuck?" >> So, I'd like to spend a little time saying that uh I want to congratulate the the winners of the city commission. >> Please keep your main to the business of the board. Justin, >> well, I'd ask you to do the same, Gordon. I mean, you all spoke about it. I mean, you said that exact same thing. I I congratulate the the winners on the city commission election results >> tonight. >> So, we'll move on to Carrie. [sighs] >>
087Okay. I wanted to him. I closed my eyes and waited. A moment later, I could feel ordered carefully to gingerely place his body over me. Well, he said I'm He glanced down his body instead of finishing the sentence. I felt his erection against me. >> Thank you, Carrie, for joining us. >> The tops of my feet jaw. >> All right, we have one public commenter in person. Lori. >> Good evening. Uh, Dr. Swift, board members. Uh, my name is Lori Greenfield. She her pronouns. I'm an educator at Prairie Park Elementary. Uh, I'm a citizen of Lawrence, a lifelong uh, canen um or a Jay-Hawker if you're born in Kansas. and um have uh a going to be sixth generation Lawrence public schools uh grandson. So um our word of the month is gratitude as uh
088Dr. Swift said and I would like to extend my gratitude uh to um being able to teach in Lawrence um to be able to have my kids go through Lawrence public schools um for the life that we live here. Um, [clears throat] we have a board that is supportive of our community, is supportive of our families, is supportive to all students. And you've stayed student centered. That is important to me as an educator, as a mom, as a grandma. Staying student centered has always been my roots. I appreciate that we have a staff that stays student centered. I appreciate that I h work with a team of students at Prairie a team of teachers at Prairie Park, educators that stay student centered. I appreciate the uh the leadership of Miss Johnson coming in and stepping
089in um to fill the role of our principal. As we begin American Education Week, I have complete gratitude for all the things that we have in our community that supports one another. I appreciate the Lawrence me uh LEA members who collectively support one another through the highs and lows of working in our schools to again support students. If we are student focused, student centered, we are also educator centered. And I appreciate that. Every day we should think about how we reach everyone, everywhere, every day. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lori. That concludes public comment. Dr. Swift, any announcements? >> I do. Forgive my I misspoke. We have eight preschool classrooms at Kennedy. Five are uh preschool classrooms and three are early childhood special education classrooms. Forgive me, I'm going to memorize that data now. So,
090>> thank you. >> All right. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? I move we adjourn. >> All those in favor? >> You need a second. >> Need a second. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Thanks, guys.