001Gordon Ross to read the opening. For the safety of those in attendance, a display of signs and banners will not be permitted. If you have a sign or banner, you will be asked to leave it outside the boardroom for the duration of the meeting. Tonight's meeting is a meeting of the board held in public, not a public hearing or discussion with the board. Please be respectful of the presenters, the board, and your fellow audience members. As we discuss and deliberate the items on tonight's agenda, comments or actions that are threatening to or disrespectful of presenters, the board, or others in attendance, including use of foul language, or other behaviors that is disruptive of the board meeting, will result in immediate removal from the meeting. Patrons will be invited to share comments as part of the
002public comment portion of the meeting as outlined in board policy, BCBI. That time is set aside on the board's agenda for members of the public to share their thoughts. It is not a time for dialogue with or a question and answer session with the board. If your comments require follow-up from the board or staff, that will occur after tonight's meeting. Patrons who wish to participate in public comment must fill out the public comment form so that the board or staff can follow up with you regarding your public comment as needed. The district assumes no responsibility or liability for the information shared during public comment. The views expressed are solely those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Lawrence public schools. In addition, USD497 provides access to our board meetings through
003live streaming. The platform used for this live streaming has acceptable use rules for content on its site. USD497 does not delete or hide board meeting videos. However, the streaming platform may elect to do so if the content of public comment or any other portion of the meeting is found to violate the platform's acceptable use rules. Thank you for your cooperation in these areas. Okay, we'll move on to the approval of agenda. I move I move the board of education approve the agenda for the April 28th, 2025 meeting. Second Blackwood. Could Blackwood? Yes. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Costello. Hi. Yes. Franklin. Yes. Gordon Ross. Yes. Jones. Yes. Kimble. Yes. Buyers. Yes. The motion passes 70. Okay. We'll move to item 1.3, report of the superintendent of schools. Thank you, Madame President, and members of
004the board. Those who are joining us in person and remote. We're really excited uh to make sure that everyone is aware that we're now uh having enrollment open to three and four year olds. I'll wait just a second while they pull up the superintendence report so we're all together. There we go. Really excited to open that enrollment to families of three and four year olds for all of our preschool programs. This includes our new neighborhood preschool programs at Sunflower and Woodlon elementary schools. And these folks are building on the amazing work in our established programs at Kennedy Early Childhood Center as well as um at uh New York Monastery. Our prek programs are free uh to families who meet state eligibility guidelines. We welcome all children. So families who do not meet those eligibility guidelines
005may enroll for a fee that we have researched and is low for preschool and even daycare in our community. That fee is $660 a month. So we invite everyone to register your preschooler on our website just as you do for any of our other K12 student programs. I will uh share an email and a place in our update this week with all of our families so that folks may email with questions. We want to remind all of our returning families that we sincerely appreciate uh folks going on to complete the annual registration. I know everyone's really busy with lots of items to attend to. This is uh helpful for all of us in terms of uh getting our staffing and our enrollment and our proper planning in place for a successful 2526 and being ready
006on that first day of school come August. Our elementary schools proudly welcomed 523 incoming uh kindergarteners at their kinder orientation events. uh during uh April and some of March. Uh members uh director Rob Roersonson put place some materials on your desk so you have some of that to share uh as you move forward. Each school created a welcoming, engaging, and informative experience that really celebrated the transition into kindergarten and be and were beginning right away to build strong connections with families. I just want to give a shout out to our students, our staff, our families for the strong show up last Monday on our inclement weather makeup day. I know we're moving fast and that's old news by now, but I'm not sure that folks realize that we were right at 91% daily attendance at
007elementary, 85% at middle, and 77% at high schools. All three of those percentages, and and by the way, I should have had it on there, uh, at 80 between 85 and 86% overall in the district. So, all attendance percentages were within 3% up or down of attendance rates both for the prior Monday this year, April 14th, and also for the third Monday in April a year ago. Um, and that uh we were right in line with all of those comparison attendance rates. Um, I take it very seriously uh that our community, our staff, our students, our parents really take school seriously and show up even on those inclement weather makeup days. We're going to share as we have on recent superintendent reports. In fact, throughout this year, we're going to share a student safety update.
008And members, I'll do that more in depth at the end of this superintendent report, but I just wanted to show the link to our safety uh portion of our website. Uh I appreciate uh that folks can give us safe safety tips on our safety tip line. We use those tips to inform our work at school each day. And just a reminder that that report can be anonymous, which is important sometimes for folks. Uh safety will always be our top priority uh when concerns arise. I just wanted to highlight some of our students recent achievements. Can you help me with that? Thank you. Um, and these students uh uh recently achieved perfect uh ACT scores. That's a rare uh thing to achieve. Just want to give a shout out to Katherine Stansel at Free State, Emma
009Ryan at Lawrence Virtual, and Eli Klet and James Gasman at Lawrence High School. They did not miss the response on even a single question on the ACT. So, congratulations uh to these guys. Uh moving on, uh Lawrence High came back this week from the National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle with the absolute highest honor, the Pacemaker Award for its Red and Black yearbook. Editors of the year were alumni Maya Smith and Maybel Hamlin, members of the class of 2024. Just an amazing recognition. Additionally, the budget student newspaper received fifth place and the yearbook eighth place in best of show recognition. Lawrence High also celebrated getting to watch Zana Kennedy receive her Kansas Student Journalist of the Year award. So, just a great day and congratulations to these Lawrence High School students and their advisor,
010Barbara Tholan. We also want to congratulate these eight students who've been so successful during the speech and debate season that they've qualified for the National Speech and Debate Association tournament. They have our best wishes for continued success. Um, and really special thanks and congrats to their coaches Jeff Plinsky at Lawrence High and Parker Hopkins at Free State. Our middle school students from West and Southwest placed second at Kansas History Day in their respective categories and have earned the chance to compete at National History Day competition. This is an amazing competition. I've uh seen uh this work before. Their teachers are Jessica Meer Learner and Denny Lton Barker. Congratulations, N National History Day qualifiers. Uh Andrew Benson, here's a photo of him. Uh one of our talented Free State journalist has earned the Kansas Scholastic Press
011Association Student Photographer of the Year Award. Uh congrats to Anders. Additionally, the Free State Free Press and Free Press Online earned all Kansas award rec awards recognizing the best in student journalism. Their teachers, Mr. Jared Schuff, won KSPA Sunflower Award given to the best new journalism advisor. We're so proud of both of our excellent student uh journalism programs. I just want to give uh Free State a shout out. I was just over there a week ago to do an interview uh with that team and they shared with me several copies of their publication this year. They're just an extraordinary team. Also, uh I want to thank the director of nutrition and wellness, Julie Henry, for engaging LHS students in a competition to create a new menu item for school lunches. Chef Rose Berry's culinary classes
012learned about the federal meal requirements. They wrote the recipes and made dishes. A panel of judges and the student chefs rank the items. The top dish from each class will face off to win the prize of a spot on the menu for lunch at Lawrence High School. I'm excited to hear which dish wins, and I'll be back to advise you all to try it. Um, students from our career tech. Here they are. And I'm sorry I missed this event. Um, but I know several members were there. Uh, students from our career and teched classes demonstrated their work for the community during Lawrence High's annual CTE Innovation Expo. It featured a little bit of everything from art, medical research to engineering prototypes, culinary, and robotics. Uh just a really exciting evening in the district. Speaking of
013showcases, we just had a great turnout of guests, including several uh school district teams from around the state that visited Southwest Middle and Sunflower Elementary last week to hear about our AVID journey. I really appreciated uh Bob Buyers and Ann Castello for joining us there to learn on that day. We were delighted to welcome everyone and to hear from AVID director Dr. Sherah Hoffetler and principles Dr. Carissa Miles and Amanda Green about their successes teaching college readiness skills, including writing, inquiry, collaboration, uh, organization, and reading. After those opening presentations, the students took over and they really shared their Avid experiences and the uh, day ended with the middle school student panel. Just want to share a few things that our students shared about their AVID experiences. One of them said, "Avid is very studentled. Your
014teacher is going to be there for you and you're going to have tutors there for you. But it is really studentled. As a student, if you want to get the most out of it, you have to listen to your peers. You have to interact with them. You have to take their advice. And you also have to collaborate with them." Another student shared, "I never really felt out of place in Avid. I felt like I always had a place where I belonged. I felt like everyone was really welcoming. Everyone has to put themselves out there and everyone is really good about making everyone else feel comfortable in the AVID space. The panel discussion ended with this student comment. AVID is very diverse. There's not going to be just one group of kids. You get students who
015are interested in the arts. You get the athletes. You get the people who are really focused on school. You all bond as a family. And then by the end of the year, you are all interacting with each other, listening, and everybody becomes good friends. We'll share more about AVID in Lawrence public schools at our next meeting when we have an AVID update planned uh for the board. Um Sunflower families oops I'm supposed to turn this. Sunflower families enjoyed learning about one another's cultures uh last week at their international night. This included a sampling from dish of dishes from a variety of nations uh during the evening. There are so many school activities this weekend. It was just impossible to get them all into the schedule, but I just want to shout out on a couple
016of them that I was lucky to get to attend. Uh we had just a tremendous crowd, traffic jam, the city of Lawrence downtown and it was all stemming from the Lawrence Arts Center and how many families were headed down there to see our student art. I just want to share with you a few of the highlights. Those three photos on the left are kinder and first grade emergent artist. And I have to say they were among my favorite pieces of art in the entire show uh from kinder and first grade. And then on the right, it's a large a photo that has a large number of pieces of artwork, but you can see how impressive. And that was just one wall of the high school art. And there's a lot more. I don't want to
017say the exact date because I'll get it wrong, but that artwork will be hung for a few more days. And in our newsletter, I'll note the date. Um, it's it's up for a few more days. I plan to go back uh when there aren't so many hundred people running around and enjoy it again. It's worth a second look. Um, also out at Lawrence High School, I had to put this photo in. Uh, Showtime was a variety show at Lawrence High this weekend. Just a wide spectrum of talent. Uh, hard work and so much fun all the way around. I I really appreciated the opportunity uh Dr. Ingle and I to join in at Prairie Park on Saturday afternoon. You can see here Lori Greenfield in the back. They're helping students to plant uh seeds in
018their own little planter that they took home with them. So, they will have corn or peas or beans sprouting at home soon uh on the windowsill or wherever they stuck it. So, really it was a delight to see so many parents uh students and the staff showed up to make it all happen. There were activities in every corner of the school. Uh just a great event. I understand that there were several other carnivals and school events that we were unable to get out to. Um and then also Hillrest held their first pow-wow, which I'm sorry I didn't get to. I hope some of the members did. So I hope uh everyone is watching their calendar. every day now for uh now through Memorial Day will be a sprint with so many activities uh throughout our
019Lawrence Public Schools community. Uh going back just a week or 10 days or so, Lawrence Schools Foundation celebrated their 40th anniversary. 40 years of success with Lawrence Schools Foundation in our Lawrence community. They celebrated nearly 200 school champions. And we are so fortunate students, staff, parents, and community to benefit from the donation of funds, in kind goods, volunteer services, all of it coordinated through our amazing foundation. Several individuals and organizations were honored specifically, and they've got all that up on their website. I'll link it in to my message tomorrow. in case folks want to join and congratulate uh members of our community who have truly supported our schools. Uh we wanted to end by just sharing uh that the Boys and Girls Club is now enrolling for their fall program. One of the parents I
020got to visit with at Prairie Park was sharing with me on Saturday what a gift and what a blessing uh Boys and Girls Club has meant for their family. Um, so, uh, two public information sessions coming up on May 13th and 14th, and we invite our families to check that out. Um, members, if it's okay, I'm just going to segue into our uh, student safety update. Um and uh we have shared a student safety update uh repeatedly throughout previous months and as we near the end of the school year, it's just an excellent time uh to share an update on the work that we continue to do. Uh it's 247 really our top priority to keep students safe. uh the document that I'm sharing from now, I would appreciate it if you could get that
021up, but it will be a part of our newsletter going out tomorrow. So, just want to reassure everyone in the community that you will have all of this in your email box uh very soon. Um, part of the update that we're wanted to share out this evening is really the work that's gone on ensuring visibility and line of sight expectations into every area of our buildings where students are being served. So, I really want to uh express my gratitude for Dr. Inglebrook and the facilities and operations team. They've been working right alongside Lorie Stithithm who's led a team of special service providers and we've worked with building principles, both of the directors really walking every single school, every single area to ensure uh clear line of sight and visibility into any area where students are
022served and to at all costs avoid any situations where a single staff member is alone in an enclosed space. A comprehensive review of each area of service has been conducted and we're very grateful to all who participated. Um, in order to support this directive, we've e even reached out to work with our Alys trainers in Kansas. Kevin Herell and some of his team were at and the Alice training with many members of our team and we were able in a public session, a training session to really clarify uh any confusion around the active shooter protocol of lowering the coverings on windows which applies only during that active threat time. whatever if that ever happens. We hope it doesn't, but if it happens, that is a time where uh individual students would be joining a classroom
023and folks would be taking shelter with the uh coverings down, but that at all other times, our coverings are raised and there's clear line of sight into every area. I just really appreciate I had the opportunity to check in with uh Chief Lockheart this morning and just want to encourage the members and everyone in our community that we are directly in partnership with our SRO's with our police chief with the Lawrence Police Department in ensuring that we have all of the safety mechanisms covered both our regular protocol for every day at school and then what happens if we ever needed to go into an active um an active uh situation. So uh just to reiterate to maintain safe, open, observable and well supervised environments, clear visibility and line of sight uh for staff and students
024must be maintained at all times. The windows into classrooms, offices, and all other learning spaces must remain uncovered except during an active security lockdown. And we are uh conducting frequent walkthroughs with members of our team, uh with our principles, um with support staff to ensure that we just continue to check that work. I do want to give a shout out uh to our Lawrence Police Department and the presence of our SRO's and we appreciate that as we wrap up this year, our SRO's will actually also be adding their expertise and their experience. They know how our buildings operate and they certainly have expertise around uh student and staff and community safety. So they'll be weighing in as well on this work because we're constantly confirming and reconfirming the work that we do to ensure student
025safety. There are many other areas that we've covered throughout the year. I'm just going to mention a few uh prompt response when concerns arise. We would invite anyone in the community if you feel you have concerns or you've seen something at school, reach out to us directly. As Chief Lockheart said in our video from last fall, um uh give us a call and report rather than posting. Uh because if you report it directly, we can take it and address it. If it's out on social media, we may or may not uh get to see that as quickly. Um, again, we require fingerprinting and background checks. That is all done through the Kansas Bureau of Investigations. The part Department of Children and Family Services will include all of that detail. Um also we are all in
026this environment mandatory reporters and that training occurs regularly for all of us to be reminded of what it means the actual steps of being a mandatory reporter. Uh we have included information and I think you're going to pull that up um on uh our uh website for parents who may have questions. Uh we know that uh folks have asked, well, what do I say to my child if I just want to check in on how they're doing? We have guidance here. We also have our counselors. We have Kylie Luckett uh who oversees our mental health endeavor for the district. We have counselors in every building. We have our building principles. Please reach out if you'd like additional guidance on how to speak with your student or how to check in on their safety or if
027you've seen something that causes your concern. Um, I wanted uh to just take the opportunity as we approach these last four weeks of school to reiterate the work that is ongoing all the time. It's ongoing behind the scenes because it is our commitment uh that 24/7 365 student safety comes first and that's the commitment of every single member of this organization on our team and I know it is the desire of our parents our students and our staff. So with that, uh, members, it is always, um, my great honor to share the superintendent's report and I appreciate the opportunity this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, prior to moving on to the report of board of education, um, President, is it okay if we ask I'm going to ask the board if there's any questions?
028Absolutely. Are there any questions pertaining to Dr. Swift's, um, updates? Carol? No. Thank you. All right, we'll move on to the report of the president of the board. Um, I wanted to extend that next week, May 5 through May 19 or May 9th is teacher appreciation week and I am going to share some appreciations. With that in mind, um I attended the career and tech education um classes event at LHS and I am now planting or will soon be planting um uh plants that they uh raised and took care of and was able to see um that my blood pressure is in normal range which I appreciated from that staff. uh the steam approaches and um including art and um journalism and engineering was just really phenomenal. Um and I just want to extend my
029appreciation to those teachers there. I attended the Hillrest Powow and um to Shelby Tossy, I want to say thank you for your work on the intertribal club and your work as an a second grade education teacher. her enthusiasm and commitment to her community, but just to our schools in general, was really clear, and I um thoroughly enjoyed um the opportunity to attend that. Uh the art show at the Lawrence um art center was sort of it was it was extraordinary and there are many pieces in there. Um if you know me, you'll know that I want to decorate my office with. So to the art teachers in this district, I extend my gratitude for your work with our students from early childhood to high school and to of course um our our students transitioning into
030adulthood. Uh the LHS showtime the Elvis that is just right in the world like that made my whole weekend. I really appreciated it. And there are the it was really extraordinary start to finish, but it is an exceptional um group of young women at the junior and senior year there. Um so I wanted to say to the to the um music teachers just you made my whole weekend with your students um who I know you coached and I appreciate that. Um and then to the schools foundation which supports our students. Congratulations on 40 years of uh supporting this district and the students in our building and our teachers so that they can apply for the grants um that you offer and help us augment our classrooms where there are gaps. I am extremely grateful um
031for the opportunity to be reminded of all the good work that you do and look forward to continuing to partner for another 40 years. Okay, we will now move on to board member um committee reports. Uh and um I know we have a couple committees that met with with pretty significant updates. Is there or at least the meeting seemed like that as I was watching. Um anyone want to start? I'll start. Mhm. Um see see last week we had negotiations part of which we should be voting on as a part of today's agenda which was basically we received a report on budget budget and district budget as well as we approved the fringe that the board will be voting on today. All right. Other committee updates an okay I have a few um so policy
032committee there are three policies up tonight for first read uh board policy CC related to organizational charts um there were wording updates so that board approvals will be um as needed rather than necessarily annually and making it required that the chart be available on the district website or upon request from the board clerk board policy E fraud prevention and and investigation. This is a new policy um which outlines um the policies around reporting fraud including whistleblower protections against retaliation. And then board policy DFAC uh federal fiscal compliance. Uh this is something um that we had approved earlier but have some tweaks. Um so it removes uh executive director of finance um and changes the words to superintendent designate and clarifies the responsibilities and ensuring fiscal management standards and procedures are executed. Uh the next policy
033meeting will be on May 27th which is not our typical day but just wanted to call that out. Um BPC met on Tuesday, April 22nd. Uh Cindy walked the committee through a similar presentation to what she had given the board at our March 24th meeting. Um she spoke of budget challenges such as uh bed underfunding, healthcare cost increase and declining enrollment along with budget goals such as growing the contingency, streamlining streamlining efficiencies and growing enrollment. Um and she mentioned that the budget requests are still pending um decisions for anyone who had put in anything. Um and then a reminder that the KSDE budget information is posted on our website for anyone who's interested. Um then for the schools foundation, so on the 15th um we had the board retreat where we toured Kennedy early childhood
034center. Um we heard from panels on elementary and early education uh or early childhood education including Monastery uh panel on secondary including CRAN and then a panel on special programming which included LVS and the steam schools. So a lot of great information shared there and then we split into groups uh to devise three or more ideas on ways to provide support at each of the levels based off of what we had heard from the panels that day. And then the 40th anniversary celebration was on the 17th. Um it was a wonderful event. The food was delicious. Uh so many awards were handed out. Um and it was really interesting to hear about the people who made such a difference in the foundations of the last 40 years. A lot of them you know there at
035the beginning that wasn't quite as familiar with. But it was exciting to kind of um see all the work that had come before and then um see those people get that recognition. Um and then today earlier um I was at the Southwest Middle School site council meeting. Um we reviewed the years looked at wins and opportunities. Um and one of the great things is you know we're really able to see like feedback in action. So um one of the comments last year had been around um that middle school transition and just kind of like um lack of information for parents or especially who are new to the middle school process. And so they've added different events for both students and um parents. This is their second night that they're having tonight. They're throwing a glow
036neon party for the students in the gym. So it'll be kind of like a dance so they can get familiar with that activity without the older kids around and kind of get a feel for what that is. And they're offering a bunch of different educational sessions for parents that they can pick and choose from. And then they'll have tours at the end of the night. So that was really cool to see how they took that feedback and really took it to heart and made um improvements. Uh they talked about the improvement in the culture that they've seen this year um in part with the return to the two plans for the teachers, but also um with the students as well with their win clubs that they've started. Um they've seen decreases in externalizing behaviors um
037including decreases in afternoon issues with uh no phones at lunch. O know dealing with the things that happened on Snapchat and stuff like that at lunch. Um so a lot of really positive things going on there. So that's great to hear. Thank you. Other committees. Okay. Okay. Uh I don't think any other committee reports. Carol, do you have anything to add? I'm just checking. But um I just wanted to remind folks out there that s um ele primary elections are around the corner. So if you are not registered to vote or if you're contemplating running for office or local office, you can find all that information and more on the Douglas County elections Douglas County, Kansas elections website. Thank you. And we would any of us board members would be happy to help anybody who
038has any questions if they're contemplating running for running for school board. Thank you. And I think the last day to um file is June 2nd. Is that right, Carol? Yeah, that's correct. June 2nd. Yeah. And it's it's quite easy to file. So, um thanks for raising that, Carol. Uh any other committee updates? Okay. Um All right. board commentary. We'll move on to um I'll start at the end of the table. Um you'll land up. Um I don't have much of a commentary. Uh later on in tonight's uh agenda, we will be uh hearing from Dr. Swift again about the enrollment sizes, the classroom sizes. So I just want to let the community or keep the community in mind that we do have several uh teacher positions to open in the district. Some of them have
039been open and available since February of last year. So, um I know how we are really wanting to get our class sizes down, but we are it we're kind of hard to do when we don't have teachers to fulfill those positions. So, if we can get our community to get out and apply for some of the positions, um I meant to write it down, but there is another program that they're offering as far as the uh the district I think is helping people um get teacher certification. So that is another program that's is listed on our website as well. Um so just throwing it out there. We have 138 positions open. 58 of them are for teachers. So um let's um we are one community, one team, and we're all for the students. So let's
040get out and get some of these positions filled. Thank you, Yoland. Uh and okay, so um on the 16th I also attended the um LHS Career and Tech Expo um where I got to listen to Zana Kennedy talk about all of the hard work that she put into creating her website um and want to offer her congratulations on her win for Kansas Student Journalist of the Year award. The website was incredible. I mean there was so much to it not only of the work but then the analysis and explanation of the work that she has done um and the things that you know that she really stretched out on that maybe weren't her strong points but you know went out and and did the work to to do those things and become better at them
041even though they weren't necessarily her comfort zone. Um I loved seeing all of the beautiful paintings and photographs. I love the art fair. I didn't get to go on Friday, but I look forward to going down there, um, and seeing all that work. It's so amazing the talent that we have in our schools. Um, and then on the 21st, um, I attended the AVID showcase. Um, I really enjoyed getting to learn more about AVID and really see it in action. Um, uh, I especially enjoyed watching the middle students, um, in their AVID class where they were taking turns kind of writing up an issue on the board that they were having in one of their classes and then using like peers to, um, help understand the process and think about things in a different way.
042It wasn't them giving that person the answer, but brainstorming ideas on how they could better understand things. And I just thought that was a really cool thing to see. Um, and then obviously the best part was hearing from the students themselves. So the elementary school students had a little showcase in the library. That was great listening to them talk. Um, and then the middle school panel um was great listening to the impact that AVID had had on them as well. Um, and I heard today from um, Dr. Miles that they've gotten some great feedback. They've gotten questions back, but also from people there wanting to partner on different things and stuff like that. So it was a really great event for everyone who came. Um and then last week on the 24th and 25th I
043attended the KASB leadership for tomorrow's second session in Troy and Pleasant Ridge. Um so Troy is a district of less than 300 students. The 20% have an IEP. They're 25% free and reduced and they're also a declining enrollment. They have 25 full-time and part-time teachers. And they talked about how it was hard for them to recruit. Um and so they try to grow their own teachers there. um at the elementary they talked about some of the fun events that they hold um for students, families, and the community such as a back to school block party where they have um food trucks and all kinds of different things um that they invite everybody in for. They have a family fun night and then they also do a community service day and this year um they actually
044extended that to up to the high school. So all of the students will be out in the community performing community service. Um and then um at the high school some of the different events they do is reality u which is a simulation of being an adult. So they get assigned a job a salary and then they have to understand how to like budget for rent and utilities and then they may draw a card of something that makes it um gives them a task that they have to do that may disrupt the budget or something like that. So that's a really interesting thing. Um they had a self-defense class that was taught by one of the parents who happens to work for the highway patrol. And then they did a life skills day which was taught
045by a staff and community members. Things like how to change a tire, how to iron, sewing, filling out an application. So kind of all that stuff that um we forget that we don't teach the kids or maybe not everyone's parents teach them. Um, and then the other thing I thought that was interesting is that they have an esports class or program and there are about $28 million in unused scholarship dollars that um for that program across the nation. So it was something that's definitely out there and trending and I'd heard from um some of the other people in different districts that they have that as well. Um so that was um very interesting. And then Pleasant Ridge uh is 642 students. Onethird of their students are from out of the district. This is has been
046consistent. and it's not due to the new um transfer policy, but I thought that was really interesting. Um they said it makes it difficult to do bond issues because they're asking them to pay for um you know a third of the students who don't necessarily live there and are contributing. Um so they do try to manage that fairly um tightly. They're about 25% free and reduced but 0% ELLL. Um and they have a 96% graduation rate. They have six CTE pathways at the high school. Um, they offer geometry and construction, which I know we have this year at Free State. Um, it just looked like an amazing program. Uh, their district nurse teaches uh the class, the CNA class for certification, which I thought was really interesting. Um, and uh, they have the most amazing
047school store I've ever seen. It's run by their business pathway. Um, but it is gorgeous and the variety of products that are available. They open up for all of the different athletic events in the school or different school events and then they carry it out to the football field. Um, I'll share photos with it, but it was like everybody from every district was just like jaw on the floor. It was amazingly awesome. Um, and then at their elementary, they do have um four sections of prek that they have there. Um, but it's only a half day versus a full day. And, um, they have a a community and parent and family engagement plan that they set up before the year begins and kind of lay everything out so you can kind of see, um, all
048the different things that people can attend and they can know kind of ahead of time at the beginning of the year when everything's set. So, those were just some of the highlights of the stuff that I saw. So, really neat. With the with the prek, did they do two in the morning and two in the afternoon? Okay. Yeah. Just curious. So, and they um thought that that might be an issue because the midday they can't really do the midday transportation, but parents have been able to find a way and stuff like that. So, um okay, couple brief updates and then um if it's all right, Kelly, I do have a couple of legislative things. Okay. Um, I also was pleased to be able to attend the CTE Expo at Lawrence High on the 16th. Uh,
049thank you to Mr. Saltz for the invitation. It was fantastic to see the student projects and I um particularly enjoyed catching a screening of a student film on the band Weezer. It was very um entertaining and well done. And I also purchased a plant at the plant sale. We'll see if that keeps it alive. Yes. Um to replace one my cats had eaten. So, uh, we'll see how that goes. Um, uh, April 18th and 19th, I was able to attend the Kansas Relays out at Rockchock Park to cheer on the USD497 high school athletes from both of our high schools who are participating in the relays. Uh, that was a lot of fun and congratulations to all of the student athletes and their performances. Um, I have a couple of uh, legislative updates to share
050with the board. The educ Kansas education funding task force uh meeting schedule has been released. Their next meeting is May 6th from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. and May 7th from 9 to5 p.m. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Um room 112 North at the Kansas State House. I've shared uh the text of this with Janice and she can share it with the board um if uh if you would like. Um, Madam President, um, the agenda includes an overview of special ed funding the first day and then some additional discussion of, uh, 50 state overview of funding formulas on day two, plus some discussion. Uh, the remaining meetings for this year are June 3rd and 4th. uh two days in July to be determined August 5th and 6th. September, two days to be determined, October 7th and
0518th, November 4th and 5th and December 2nd and 3rd. In my notes, I've included a link to the YouTube video feed of the task force meetings if you're if you want to watch them and are not able to attend in person in Topeka. Um also wanted to give the board an update on something we touched on when we were um here for our last meeting on federal executive orders. Uh so last Thursday the Kansas Department of Education issued a letter uh to the US DOE in response to their request for uh certification or of insurance or assurance around compliance with uh anti-discrimination laws. Um and in the news release on that the quote was KSD's letter is an assurance to the US Department of Education that the agency and all Kansas local education agencies are
052in compliance with all federal anti-discrimination statutes and regulations. Um that same day, a federal judge in New Hampshire granted a preliminary injunction blocking implementation or enforcement of anything in that February 14th dear colleague letter from USDOE. Um including uh there's a there was a reporting portal um the certification requirement and the threat of withdrawing funding. The injunction issued in New Hampshire applies to all entities that employ, contract with or work with NEA or NEA affiliate members. So that does include USD497. The injunction was granted for all the grounds that were requested by the plaintiffs, including that the dear colleague letter was unconstitutionally vague, violated the first amendment, and violated the federal administrative procedures act. A second federal judge in Maryland and then a third uh federal judge in uh the District of Columbia on Friday
053reached a similar ruling um in joining enforcement of the provisions that were in that dear colleague letter. So that is uh where that stands at the moment. A lot happened at the end of last week. Thank you. Thank you for the update. Good. Um for me, I attended the AVID showcase at Southwest Middle School and um pardon middle school and Sunflower Elementary. Uh what was striking to me was the young people who led us from classroom to classroom. Uh how they took charge. Uh they were wonderful. Uh also how the how they structured learning for their kindergarteners even and requiring the notebooks and and what what was amazing they were teaching them how to take notes. Yeah. and as a as a master student at one point didn't really learn how to take notes. Uh
054so I thought that was very impressive. Um I also attended the CTE Innovation Expo. Didn't buy a plant though. Did eat some of the cookies and things though and those were wonderful. Uh also, uh see attended show time at Lawrence High. Um it was extraordinary. It was well done. Uh I'll just leave it there. Chair Gordon Ross. Uh just a just a couple things. Uh also went to the CTE expo. I did not buy a plant. My wife also did not buy a plant, but she wanted to. um went to the foundation's 40th anniversary. Also went to Showtime. It was uh Dr. Dunn's last showtime as he is retiring. I've seen many showtimes under his direction. Always phenomenal. Always a great time. Um couple things on consent from facilities. Uh real quick, there's a change
055order for the construction at Community Connections at Pinkney for the two um apartments that that we're doing. Um the change order is um related to the two showers that we're putting in uh don't actually fit in through the door. So we have to bring them in through the window. So the change order is to remove the window, bring the showers in, and put the window back. And then uh there's purchase order for a couple utility vehicles at the two high schools. And then um lastly, some playground equipment specifically for pre kindergarten programs at Woodlon and Sunflower. Thank you. Okay. So, three retirements and then uh we'll move on to special recognition. Um we would like to acknowledge with sincere appre appreciation for service and devotion to the school district its community and schools. Jaclyn Miller
056for 14 years of service. Jeffrey Morrison for 12 years of service. And Michael Wallace for 14 years of service. Thank you. Okay. So, we'll move on to the approval of consent agenda. Is there a motion? I move board of education approve the items listed on the consent agenda. I second. Costello, yes. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones, yes. Kimble, yes. Buyers, yes. Kadoo Blackwood, yes. The motion passes 70. Okay, we're going to move on to reports. Item 5.1, a preview for the 2025 2026 enhancements. This is part two, Dr. Swift. Um, and I will turn the floor over to you. Wonderful. Thank you, Madam President. We're delighted to uh continue our conversation that we've had this spring around uh program enhancements. We've really been working uh through the fall to listen to our community. Um
057and then around the winter, we really uh moved into actual planning for implementation of what we heard from our community. So, you will see throughout uh what we're sharing this evening um a a direct line to what our students, our staff, our parents, and our families told us that they wanted to have in Lawrence public schools. And we know that no one knows that better than those who bring their children and live and work and serve right alongside us every day. Uh so it is so important to align uh all of this work together and that's what's exciting. Just real quickly uh from last month uh just as a review for folks that maybe didn't see it. Um very good. Let me just see where is it. There it is. expanding uh preschool offerings into
058our neighborhood schools. Really are looking at a phased approach and I have an email or two that I still need to respond to. Uh just making sure that folks understand we are doing this uh with our capital outlay funds that are designed uh to help our buildings. So the couple of classroom uh redesigns that will be necessary will be covered with those funds and uh students who come from families where there are uh qualifying factors at play will be fully covered with their preschool and uh students who come from families without that qualification will uh have a tuition. uh that tuition is a fraction of what the going rate for daycare is. Uh but we are required uh to really just charge what it costs us. The two locations are Sunflower and Woodlon. We already
059have emails coming in from parents excited to enroll uh their students in our preschool programming. continuing to do great work at Kennedy Early Childhood Center, that magic location, and also at New York uh Montasauri. The research is clear about the benefits of preschool education. Uh that is a 50-year case that's been made uh by the research. Secondly, really serving our support our our staff, our teachers and support staff as well as offering more programs for students. So the uh flip side of that second planning time for elementary teachers will be a highinterest hands-on standards align elementary science experience. Um, Miss Robersonson uh has been working uh with a team of elementary teachers. We'll be bringing an update here during May if the board is willing uh really around the content of that course. It is
060uh fullcourt press, exciting, relevant, uh critical thinking and all of the pieces and parts of great science instruction. uh strengthening that Jay-Hawk blueprint partnership. Uh board members, I shared with you a couple of Fridays ago, just really a list a listing of the work that our high school principles are doing. They come in and sit with us every Thursday. I just appreciate their commitment and we are opening the door to more opportunities to obtain college credit while still in high school. And we want that door to be open wide to students who may not have ever even contemplated that they might be able to get college credit during high school. So, lots more to come on that uh initiative. Then our steam focus at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School that is really based around project
061lead the way. We've got a lot more work to do with that implementation as we get ready for 2526 and they are intim implementing an additional course next year for all of our students. Um it's very exciting the steam learning that's going on and our data in student enrollment shows that students and our community are interested in this programming. We can already see it in our enrollment patterns. Um, and then finally, New York Monastery, as was planned uh a few years ago, will continue uh to move up and now we're moving into um into uh um into upper L is what we call it fondly, but those upper elementary grades of third, fourth, and fifth. So our monastery classrooms will move from what I call little kids, little students to moving into to bigger kids.
062It's an exciting time at New York Monastery. And now for uh this month, we have a few more things to share. We'll also be sharing a few more announcements during the month of May. We want to keep uh as uh member buyers says to me often, we want to keep it moving. So there there's more good stuff coming. First of all, uh really noting that that AVID implementation that our team has been working on for a few years now will be full across the district in 2026. I think we've been on that path for a while and it's easy to forget that next year is the year when every school is implemented. have heard really exciting developments not only at the showcase but just out in the district. Lawrence High is really excited with an
063an instructor who's coming in uh who's really passionate about this work. So, we're really excited about what's going on there. Two additional elementary schools and really moving toward that full district implementation. Um and if the board is willing, we'd like to bring a brief update um at our next board meeting. Um one of the most exciting steps we're taking is around the fifth bucket in the five buckets of feedback from our community. And you remember members, that was the area of thought that just was about getting our house in order with communication and frequent uh connections with our community with parent engagement. And the tool uh that we're rolling out next is called Parent Square. in the communication tomorrow that goes out to everyone in the district. I'll put the link to their website so
064folks can jump over there and take a look if they'd like. But in short, what this does is it allows us to communicate real time um along all of our student and school club sponsor, classroom teacher, special education, case manager, all of those areas at the school level. It will allow us to communicate in real time twoway messaging if the parent would like that. And then also a single dashboard. Um I should pause for a drum roll. So not 14 apps that parents are expected to get. One for band, another one for art, another one for the sports team, another one for the three clubs. not all of those various apps, but all communication in one location from the school. So when you pull that page up, it lists for the parent each of their
065students and all of the alerts, school messages, etc. that have come in for each of their students all on one page. So we're really excited. We know that implementation will be a process. Um, and we're committed to that process because we're bringing lots of folks who've been accustomed to surviving out on an app uh into one deliverable. So, I'm not painting the picture that will flip the switch and it all instantly be different. Um, but it will be different and we will get all of our team into this. Now, for right now in May, the sandbox is open for play uh for our administrators, our building principles, and our athletic directors. And so, you may be getting, for example, Quail Run got a fifth grade um orientation email last week that looked a little different
066and it came from parent squares. So you will begin to see some little hints that uh things are changing with regard to unifying and streamlining our schooltoome communication. I just want to thank the board members that have led this since before I showed up and what an honor it is to get this out on the street for our parents. It was the number among the top requests, the number one, two or three uh in all of our data was streamlining that communication. Um last uh and this is also very exciting, more exciting than maybe it should be. Uh but I just want to thank some students out in the in our high schools and in the community who got my attention around uh the need to get back to the MacBooks for their academic delivery
067and they shared with me in great detail. I appreciate that they know how to build an argument, to make convincing points, to illustrate examples, which they've showed me, and they've uh demonstrated for me in a variety of ways. Uh but they were clear that to have a better college aligned experience, they needed to have a MacBook and not the iPads anymore. So, uh, there will be a few iPads that will stay out there for specific classrooms where those apps need to occur, but all of our students 9 through 12 for next year will move to the MacBook. So, I appreciate Dr. Inglebrick and Miss Frick who followed through on how to leverage our capital outlay funds. So, no funds will be used for this implementation that can be used for classroom salaries. We can't uh
068we can't mix those buckets of money, but we're delighted when we can support our classrooms by leveraging capital outlay to an area of need. Uh while we're achieving that, we look forward and Miss Roersonson and our elementary principles will be bringing forward more information during May if the board is willing. uh we'll have an update on the alignment of less tech exposure uh for all of our students at particularly at the preschool through 2 grade and in fact members that's moving to essentially none at school. We'll be uh not interrupting their brain synapses with tech exposure in those early levels. uh we will phase that in in grades three through five uh as would be appropriate. So that's the other side of that. So you can see right here uh preschool offerings, elementary science, Jay-Hawk
069blueprint programming strengthen, our steam and monosuri, our district-wide AVID, our schoolbased communications unified with the tool of parent square and equipping our high school students with MacBooks. It is a tremendous time and I want to thank every member of our community who took their time to speak up, speak out, answer the survey or respond in any way to us because the data has clearly informed this path in our next steps for moving forward. Thank you members and we're willing and happy to take questions. I have members of the team here or we'll be happy to help. Okay. Um Carol from home. I'm just going to start and I'm going to ask for questions, but I just wanted to start with you and see if there's anything you wanted to jump in with since I can't
070see you. Don't have any questions at this moment, but I again I thank you for this robust report, Dr. Swift. Thank you again. Thank you. Okay, I'll turn to the table. I think we'll start here since we started that way. Go ahead. Um Dr. Swift, I just want to thank you for that outline and for the direction. Um, those are some fairly significant updates and um, you know, I I particularly like the the the changes with communication and the the changes with uh lower L tech exposure and with bringing the MacBooks back. Um, that was a that was a difficult decision when we made it, but it's the right decision to go back to the MacBooks. Um, with Power School with with P school with parent square. I do have a one particular question. Um,
071when doing communication out and the two-way communication, can parent square do translation? Yes, it Thank you for asking that. It automatically translates into the parent chosen first language that they prefer to receive communication in. Um, and then when the parent responds, the teacher staff member will receive it back in the communication language that they've chosen. Um, so it'll be two-way and it and it takes care of the translation in the process. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to ask board members, is there a question, another question pertaining to um parent square just to keep the conversation moving and flow? Mine when is implementation? The same box is open now and then you will see a gradual release occurring May and June. Um and then when we come back to school, everyone uh will be expected uh
072to use this tool. So yes, so it would be the next full imprintmentation next fall, August. Yes. Mhm. Okay. Okay. Um how can you talk a little bit about how you'll support that implementation? You whenever you're rolling out Yes. significant new tech to parents and educators. It requires a lot of um support. Yes. Can you talk about the how that will be happening? Yes. I really appreciate um members of our tech team and data team have led this in the back of the house. I just want to give a shout out uh to that team. They did an extraordinary job with our principles on last Thursday morning getting them through the uh introduction. And then what we've asked them to do is to designate uh we're calling them a champion at each school who wants
073to lead the parade. Somebody who's really excited, who likes doing it, um who can't wait to lead this off. And we've asked for that from every school. So that group uh we will be meeting with regularly and then we will roll out through them and the building principle the parent development uh right away in August around how to get on to parent square. We already have some parents signing on and signing in and signing up uh which is very fun uh because we haven't even rolled it out yet. Um, but we will do that officially early fall. Uh, with the back- toschool events, they can sign up at one of those or we'll do some special things for uh, parents as well. Thank you. Other questions about um, parent square? Um, not a question, just
074a comment. Um, I am particularly excited about this u change in approach to communications. Um I I have been someone who's been very outspoken about the need to get a handle on these issues for a while and um the idea of having one place to go for all the information I think it will make um it will make students and parents uh lives easier. Certainly speaking as a parent and having the experience of multiple kids in multiple buildings uh and coaches and teachers um and staff using multiple different apps um it's no wonder that parents feel overwhelmed yeah by communication at times and so I am very hopeful that this tool will help us unify the message um give people a single place to go um and really um strengthen those um those relationships. So,
075thank you for taking this on. I know as um Kelly said, anytime we roll out a new platform, uh there's always growing pains and we have had some rollouts in the past that did not go super smoothly like P school. Um, so I um I acknowledge that, but I'm I'm I'm hopeful and I hope that our families can see the benefit of this as we get through those growing pains um to get us to a place where people really feel like they have a handle on the things that they need to know in and receiving that information in a way um that is most comfortable for them. So, thank you, P school. Ann, yeah, I just wanted to kind of highlight too that um families do not have to download the app in order to
076benefit and use the the program. Um, every time a message is sent, you'll get an email to your email box, the same one that you would use, or you can access it through their online website. Um, so for there are some people who don't want to use the app or have things like that on their phone and that that will not prevent them from being able to benefit from from this. So that's great great point. Thank you. Okay. Do you have other questions? Something to something else. Yeah. Yeah. More of a a a thought. Um I see this as a possible school safety support. Yes. um in that a lot of um uh uh victimization of children uh start over the over the internet or net. Um and I was wondering is there a plan
077to restrict uh communication from school personnel only between parents parents and children through this application. Thank you for that question and there absolutely is that plan and we will be moving uh in that direction very rapidly. Uh you asked me that ahead of my staff update. So um this will make things even more fun. Um that um that is where we're going. Okay. Is that all communication will be within this app. Uh, of course, folks may still make a phone call occasionally um and uh meet in person occasionally, but this will take the place of those maybe personal cell phone um texting. Um, our goal is to have a record and to support every student, every parent, every staff member to protect and support them within this safe and protected environment. So, I really appreciate
078your perceptiveness in raising that great question. It's a really good question. Thank you, Bob. Bob, do you have other things that you wanted to talk about that are not pertaining to Parent Square? I kind of jumped in before we Yeah. No. Okay. All right. Thanks. Sorry about that. Um Okay. Uh other board members, other items. Go ahead, Shannon. Okay. Um again, uh compliments to staff on um the number of items that we are looking at um enhancing and improving for our students and our families. It's very exciting. Um, I too am excited about I'm really excited about the AVID expansion to be honest. That that has is a program that um that has been really great for um the students I know who have gone through it and I just I'm excited we're able to
079do that work. The question I have pertains to the MacBooks. I'm very supportive of going back to MacBooks um if we feel it is within our budget, but I am concerned about the issue that led us to make the decision in the first place, which is the cost of repair and upkeep for those devices. And do we have um information that we can assure the board and our community that um things are different now than they were with the round that we purchased a few years ago that caused us to have to move away from that device because of the repair costs. I really appreciate that excellent question and I'd like to uh thoroughly prepare a response because that's an important question of how is the cost and the management different now than at the
080time when we separated from them. So I we will take that's fine. I don't need an answer tonight but I that is a a question I would like further information about. Very good. Thank you. Um, I just want to to pertaining to the MacBooks, I just want to reiterate my strong support that we figure out any budgetary issues we might have um so that we can continue to ensure that our students have the tech they need to move forward um in their education. Um, other uh items that people wanted to cover from this report? Um, no specific questions, but just to reiterate um, kind of what the other board members have said, like this is an amazing list of um, big plans that the district is tackling and I think it's really impressive. There's a
081lot of work that's gone into all of these and so I just want to thank everyone who's been involved. Um, I think this shows that the district is, you know, trying to listen to what um, we're being told by the the community, our parents, our our staff, our students. um and and taking action, you know, is in whatever way that we can. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um I'm gonna uh jump in here. Um and Yolanda to just interrupt me if you have if something pops in your mind, I want to take the floor. Um the I wanted to speaking about budgetary issues. The Liberty Memorial Central Middle School project lead the way and uh New York Elementary similar to Shannon's question pertaining to MacBooks also have budgetary implications and the board committed to
082ensuring for example that the Monasuri school had the materials they needed to be able to deliver that curriculum. Similarly, the board needs to I think commit that Liberty Memorial Central Middle School has the um equipment they need to do project lead the way. So, you may not be prepared to answer this tonight, but that is um something I do think the board needs to see reports on. Do you have any initial comments you want to make on that or do is that something you'd like to come back to the um board with this summer? Thank you. I really appreciate you raising uh this excellent question. We're going to be thoughtful um and we are absolutely deeply committed to fully supporting these initiatives. Nothing is worse in a district than uh declaring an initiative and then
083failing to support. And uh so this is a priority. I'd like to thoughtfully bring back the details on this as well. Thank you. Thank you. Um and then to Bob's question, I just I um it was such a good point that I'm wondering if that needs to be in policy. I is that would that be your recommendation based on your my recommendation that it should be a board policy? You had you had seen something at KS KSB. I had attended a NASCB at the national convention. and I attended a workshop uh basically on child mild treatment at schools and the prevention of and one of their strong recommendations was that boards across the nation should implement such a policy that all communications go through the district district uh processes and not allow the use of
084Snapchat or any other internet communication advice uh for uh communications between teachers or school personnel and students. I love it. Okay. I really appreciate that. I think that's um important policy work and I'm just going to ask my colleagues on the policy committee, that would be Shannon and an if we can add that to our agenda. I think it would be very um doable to have a model policy before the board before the August start date. I think Yes, I think so. And there are a lot of examples out there. Um I think an important piece of being able to do that is having a tool available for for us to direct. Okay, not this but this. Um so um we will work with Dr. Swift to um line out a process with our agenda
085um that makes sense with implementation. That's great. And I think Bob given your expertise in this area just professionally but also um I'm thinking about your work on the um equity council as well that may and just to make sure your eyes have seen it and that we are being compliant with um our open meetings acts. I think the the process makes sense to me to have it start at the policy committee and then send it back to the equity um committee to look at give us feedback and then we can push it to the full board. That way we get some community input, but also we don't um we would get your expertise at the board table at any rate, but it gives you time to think about it before it's finalized. Does that
086make sense? Makes sense to me. Okay. Uh Madame President, just for the board's um information on this topic, we do have a policy currently in our book that uh discusses um some of these issues. It's I I BGC. I would just um recommend to board members that you go and read that one um to get an idea of what our policy currently says. So um Janice, can we could you possibly send out to the board just for convenience and a reminder that policy specifically and it's IBC I IGC staff online activities and that's a policy that uh we've had um in place in the district since 2013. Okay. and then we'll build from that. Yeah. Okay. All right. Uh are there any other questions before we move on? All right. Um the next report is
087um is uh 6.1 enrollment of non-resident students and I would like to take just a five minute break uh and we'll come back at 7:26 or it just recommendations All right, we're going to move on to item um I'm going to make Let me check to make sure Carol's here. Is Carol in? Yes, just double check. Okay. Yep, I can see her. Okay. Uh we'll move on to item um 6.1 one enrollment of non-resident students. Uh and I believe Dr. Slick, are you going to lead us? Are you here? Thank you, Madame President, members of the board, and everyone who's joining us in person and remote. Uh by May 1st of each year, as you all are aware, the superintendent must present the recommendations uh concerning capacity and uh studenttoteer ratios to the board for
088adoption or modification. And the board shall determine uh with the superintendent uh the uh uh the capacity and the number of students that we would open the number of seats that we would open for enrollment to students from beyond the Lawrence public schools boundaries. So I want to begin uh with a set of guiding principles. I've asked our uh team to put that up on uh the the screen. You also have access uh through board docs. Um just to help folks because always at this time of year, it's easy to get confused about transfer request versus out of district enrollment versus in district enrollment. So, I always think of April and May and June and July like those minutes before a concert begins where folks are trying to find their seat. They may decide they
089want a different seat. Uh they may get up and leave the room alto together and then come back in. We're in that time of year, but it's an important time to clarify a few guidelines. First of all, I want to assure everyone in our community that the priority for enrollment will always be reserved for students who live within the attendance zone or the school neighborhood. That will always be the case. And at this time and and not in any foreseeable future would we ever say that there's not room for folks who live in the attendance zone of the school. So sometimes when we talk about transfers or we talk about out of district enrollment, folks may become concerned that that might take their seat. I just want to clarify that right at the outset. Everyone
090who lives in the area gets their seat. They have a ticket. uh to the concert and a seat reserved. Uh secondly, while working to maintain our class sizes within that desired range, and we'll talk about desired ranges in just a minute, the second priority will be given to transfer students from within the district. So students who are Lawrence public schools students but they may choose to apply to attend a different school. We hear all the stories and I just want to remind folks that there is many scenarios as there are families out there. It may be that grandma is doing the before and after school daycare and uh grandma's house is in a little different neighborhood uh from where the child lives. It may be that a parent wants the child closer to their workplace.
091There are any number of reasons why a family may choose to transfer, but that is the second priority. And then what we're charged to bring to you each year by the 1 of May is that third tier of enrollment which is reserved for those students and families who are non residents of the school district. Now, what we know about Lawrence, um, being a university town and a town surrounded by bedroom communities, is that many, many individuals drive into Lawrence each day to work at the university or at another location in town. Uh, we have business owners who drive in any number of reasons. Uh, but they drive in and and hence the term bedroom community. they'd like to have their child nearer their daytime activities. So, uh we are working now with folks who fit
092that category. Uh we also believe that our students are best served in the Lawrence public schools. If I were a parent somewhere in the vicinity of Lawrence, I promise you I would do everything I could to get my child into Lawrence public schools because we believe that's where they're best served. And we believe that as long as we have room available uh that uh we want to open those seats for students uh from outside the district. What I think of often, and I know you do, members, is that from an equity and an opportunity perspective, there are families who've always had school choice because they were able, they had the means to buy a home in the neighborhood of the school where they wanted their child to attend. What the change in state law and
093what our board policy does is it levels that playing field so that every parent has the opportunity to make that application. Um, Lawrence Public Schools currently serves, I want to put this in perspective, out of more than 10,000 students. We currently serve 97 students, K12, who have been through the transfer process to transfer into our schools from outside our district areas. So, about 97 students. Uh, you can do the math. I see uh member Gordon Ross doing that for us. I hope you will. Um but it uh I want to make sure that when folks think about this, we realize it is a very small percentage. Um but our families are accustomed to having choice in every part of their life and having that choice with school enrollment when there is room. uh is a
094concept that is not only protected in state law but it is a guideline that we follow. Uh these students are non-resident students choosing to attend schools within our school district. I should also mention that a fair number of that 97 are children of employees who do not live in our area. They bring their many times choose to bring their students with them. Now, before we talk about desired class sizes and ranges of class sizes, I've asked our team to bring up the February 24th report. And I just want to show we began to get some email over the weekend as a result of a story that ran. Um, and I want to just remind folks that recently, uh, we looked at actual class sizes. Thank you members for doing that. thought it was a great
095preparation for tonight. And so we're going to look at slide 19 from uh February 24th uh school enrollment and class size report. Uh you can see here at elementary schools that well over 90% of our classrooms are currently enrolled at 25 or fewer students. So this is a range that we're very proud of. Uh we'll just move forward one there. These class sizes were accurate as of February 5th. They ch change every day. One more. Oh, it's mine. I see. There we go. Sorry. Uh so the summary of class size at elementary, you can see ranges between uh 16 and 30. Uh our average class sizes run at elementary between 18 and 23. Um as you could see in the prior slide, you can see exactly where those 29s and 30. Uh there's only one
096at 30 where those fall. Um and as you know members, we put in extra supports. uh children don't batch in neat little batches of 18 or 22 or 25 and so we will occasionally see uh some of that but we've made great progress. You remember from this that middle school uh there's the picture of middle school current class sizes as of February 5th and uh there is science and social studies. Um, and here are the minimums, maximums, and averages at middle school. Between 15 and 30 are the wide range and the averages between 23 and 26. That is across all four middle schools. Um, so just being real about our current class sizes. Here we are at high school in English language arts and math and then at high school science and social studies. And
097you recall members uh that the averages at high school uh occurring uh now between 20 and 22. And you can see from the maximums that certainly there are classes at 29 to 31. We know that occurs. But I do want to base our conversation this evening around uh district enrollment and opening non-resident students to saying that we are going to protect our class size. But there are openings just like before a concert. There are some seats open that can be filled in. And the filling in of those seats really strengthens the district uh with diversity, strengthens the district with resources that are represented by building enrollment. Enrollment is a rising tide that lifts everyone. And so, uh, I wanted to show you that this evening. If you'll go back to the document to the uh
098class size guideline, uh we've populated just to help folks. I don't know if there's a way to make that larger. Uh James, we populated just some general class size ranges out of the February 5th report so that our class size range doesn't represent a big departure or change from our current reality. And you can see there it kinder all the way through 9 through 12. Uh this is an informal range. Uh I'm not saying that it's uh written in stone anywhere, but it is based on where we try to keep our class sizes. Um the most important uh declaration that we'll make this evening is that staffing will follow student enrollment in order to maintain desirable class sizes. So I just want everyone to know uh first of all we won't open any additional classes
099for outside the district enrollment. We are just filling in some spots here and there. Secondly, wherever the students land ahead of the concert opening, we will staff accordingly. Now, if a location loses enrollment over the summer, that may mean that we have to make some adjustments because some other areas may gain enrollment over the summer. Now, we will be monitoring that members every month through the summer because we want to be prepared and have no big surprises when we come back to school. Um, so our ca capacity is based on those overall uh district numbers at elementary, at middle, and at high school. You can see them there. And so what we are obligated to bring to you this evening is the actual declaration. It will be on our website of the number of uh
100seats that are open and members. I'm sorry I meant for there to be a page number reference, but it's on page uh four of the chart um that is in the other document. if you can help me. Uh we won't review them school by school, but I want uh James to get them up so that we can show them. Uh we will be posting this on the website, so no secrets. I just want to assure you that elementary director Robersonson has sat with principles to actually look at the number of seats uh at each one of our elementary schools. um filling up a class helps us reserve that staffing and that classroom. So, uh really is good if we're able to do that. You can see generally at middle schools, we uh chose the number
10115 seats at each grade level across all of our middle schools. Our middle schools have plenty uh of room for this. even one of our middle schools that has been uh rather large, we notice the projection showed a little um downturn. So even at our larger middle schools, there is room for that number of 15 at each grade level. And then you can see at high school uh target targeting the number 25. Um and then at the senior year really keeping that to a smaller number. Typically in my past I've worked superintendent to superintendent when there are special circumstances, a family move or an emancipation or whatever might occur for a child that would cause them to need to move for the senior year. we uh handle those with great care to support the student
102and the family and getting them into the place that will be best for them. So uh these are numbers we will post these along with the uh transfer application. Now um these numbers don't represent what we think we will accept or we will have applications for because typically those numbers have been small. Again, 97 students at this time are here from outside the district. So, we don't anticipate large numbers, but we wanted to open the seats that are open and available and we're ready for questions. The I'll note that the enrollment window last year was June 1 through June 30. So, in defense of journals that reported over the weekend, that number five was a correct number, but it was only the number that came in in the June 1 through June 30. We had
103a whole lot more time to receive student applications. So, uh that bigger number of 97 is our current number. Now, this year, I'm looking over at Ron May uh and JC Robersonson. It's January 1 through June 1. June 1. Uh or June 30 maybe or Okay, we'll have it up tomorrow. So, that window is wider this year. It's a change that was made at the state level. Um we have typically received students if there's room when they apply during that window. Again, that does not mean they necessarily get in. If there are more applications than seats, then we use a variety of ways uh to uh without favor to anyone to see who would get that seat. We're ready for any questions. I'll do my best. And then I have a couple of experts back
104there in the corner who will help us if needed. Okay. Um board members questions. Okay. I just want to reiterate one particular point. So have to pull up my This is a clarifying question. I think you said it. I just I'm not sure that I understood it entirely. the number of um 97 uh inter um or outside of district boundary transfers that we take is that that has been about the number that we've taken across um several years like before the law was put into place. Is that correct? I believe that's correct. But I want to really consult with our experts tomorrow because sometimes what we hear reported is the number of applications. What I had reported today from the enrollment folks was this is how many are actively enrolled right now who came in
105through that door of outside the district enrollment. Okay. I'm I'm mentioning it because the law itself doesn't appear to have had a significant impact on enrollment for not just our district but for many most districts across the state. Is that that is absolutely the case and really quite unusual when I look at states across the country that Lawrence and other districts were already uh opening their doors and so this isn't a big shift in the way that we do business. Is that correct? Yeah. Okay. And then I do want to just clarify because the board has received um communication about it and you you mentioned it as well, but I'm wondering um JC perhaps if you could talk to us a little bit about what supports look like for classrooms that are on the larger
106side. Um, do you I know you've reported that to the board already, but could you just give some general examples of ways that we provide support for teachers if they have a larger than typical class side, for example, the 30 that we saw as a hot spot? We don't know exactly if that's what it's going to be come um fall but can you talk participatory support that's given from different staff in the building? And and I would begin uh and then Mr. Robersonson, it's all yours. But I would begin by saying that 30 that occurs occasionally on that chart is not a result of out of district enrollment because if we have a class that is even in the range, we will we will not be adding to that. So those 30s that occur here
107and there are our own students in in the neighborhood. Go ahead. Yes, of course. Um so we monitor the uh elementary class sizes very closely and very often and our team um works um together to identify uh our hot spots is what I that's what I call them. And so we have a ch I have a chart that is uh classroom by classroom just kind of like the one that you've seen and we um are monitoring that as we go. Um this year we placed um some contingency teachers to already offset that to um offset the multi-grading as well. And um then what we will do and what we have done um depending on the building and the needs of the students if there is a situation where um it is over 30 for example
108we might offer a classified aid in that case. Um we've also hired certified teachers to come in and provide intervention um and teach core e math and reading. And so depending on uh the timeliness of the the additional uh FTE um sometimes it doesn't make sense to split the class into a whole another section or a whole another grade level if it's midyear for example. What we might do in that case is take that teacher, have them teach core math, core reading. Um, so those those class size during that time the the classes are much smaller and then that certified staff member supports those same kiddos um for intervention or throughout the day. Um, and you know, there's lots of different ways we can look at it. We usually just sit down and there's an
109answer in the room and we figure it out. But um we are monitoring it closely. It is again another uh blessing of having Dr. Irvin and I in these positions to kind of monitor and be on the ground talking to principles um every day about where their needs are and how we can accommodate that. Um you know and depending on the the class in the the building sometimes the class sizes um really vary you know even year to year. So does that answer your question? It does answer my question. Thank you. I just wanted to reiterate the ways in which we provide support. It's imperfect, but it's something that we try to mitigate when we can, of course. And it is the case that even within a school year, you could see a classroom go
110up and down depending on how transient the population is within that building. Yes. And that actually happened last year in one of our buildings. Um they got I every new student was a first grader and so that first grade class just kept increasing and increasing and we watched it and so sometimes that happens. Um, but we're all over it and our team, you know, is ready to to tackle it when when we see it. So, yeah. Any questions? Question. Um, so I think, uh, a comment, a question. So, one of the other really important things I heard you say, Dr. Swift, is that we will have staff following enrollment. And I think that is something that, um, has sometimes been questioned. Yes. And um my question related to that is will that allow us to
111have um more flexibility in granting internal not out of district but internal requests? It will for families. It will absolutely and thank you for that question. Um, it's just really important that our staff is streamlined to where the students are. When we think about being an efficient and a well-run and a disciplined organization, we have to be very disciplined about saying if wherever the children are is where the staff will need to be to support them. And I know um that that may be a little different for some folks, but it is hugely important to the overall health, first of all to serving students, to supporting staff, and thirdly to the overall fiscal health of the organization. Thank you. Right. Any additional comments or questions? Madame President, I have uh from my corner of experts
112the timeline which I will add to this document. Um and so it is January 1st to June 15th where trans where non-resident applications will be accepted by the school district May 1st. We publish our enrollment. So we'll do that by May 1, publish our seats. And then June 16th through June 30th, districts review the applications. And then by July 30th, we uh advise and notify the applications. Now, we'll do everything we can to notify them ahead of July 30th because families have plans to make. Um but we will follow that general timeline and I'll add that to the stock. Thank you to my team. Okay, closing announcements. Dr. Swift motion. Oh, sorry. Um, we have a a rec recommended action that we need to uh take. Is there a motion? I'll make it. All right.
113All right. I move the board of education approve the recommendations on ratios, capacity, and enrollment projections for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. Franklin, yes. Gordon Ross, yes. Jones, yes. Kimble, yes. Buyers, yes. Kadoo Blackwood, yes. Costello, yes. The motion passes 70. Thank you. Um, announcements. Dr. Swift. Yes. And my apologies. We are less than three weeks from our first commencement ceremony. So, I would be remiss not to uh provide the drum roll as our last announcement. And here it is. Happy graduation. We'll be posting this so everyone can see. Uh but they begin on May 15th over at Catran and Project Search and they continue uh through May 29th at adult uh education college and career. And then right in the middle there you see Lawrence High, Free State High, and Lawrence Virtual School.
114So what a tremendous season and just less than three weeks into the future. So, congrats to the class of 2025. I have conversations coming up with members of each of those classes to really uh hear their reflections on their time in Lawrence public schools and I look forward to sharing back with you what I hear from them. Thank you. Uh I have one announcement for my board colleagues. We are um still aiming to identify a date for a retreat. Um so that um coordinating email will come from me soon. We're hoping to do something in June. And then the other announcement I wanted to make um was a reminder that we will uh elect new officers in um in our final June meeting. No, what first meeting? Oh, right. But we'll have um conversations around
115who might be interested in running in our final uh June meeting and then the election itself will will occur um in July. So I um uh am I'm happy to talk to anyone that wants to discuss the amount of time or um responsibilities for uh serving as board president. So uh let me know if that is something you would like to hear from me about. Okay. So now we'll move on to adjournment. Is there a motion? Move that we adjourn. Second. All those in favor? I. Anyone opposed? Have a good evening. [Music] There was a statement read at the beginning the meeting that said if I had a sign I'