Lawrence Public Schools

Another calendar page turns, our days are filled with the school highlights of May: spring concerts, field days, carnivals, scholarship nights, and soon, continuation and graduation ceremonies. We are all focused on a strong finish to the school year.

I previously shared with you the first five of our planned 'next steps' for moving forward with priorities shared by our community during our conversations in the fall. Please note three additions to this list of opportunities for students and services for staff and families. In each area, our work is to ensure opportunities for students based on what we have heard from you.

Coming Attractions in Lawrence Public Schools for the 2025-26 school year include:

• Enhancing & Expanding Preschool Offerings Into Neighborhood Schools
  Decades of research highlights the profound and positive effect of a quality preschool education experience, and our vision is providing a high-quality early learning experience for every child in Lawrence. We'll start with a phased approach by opening preschool classrooms at Sunflower and Woodlawn Elementary Schools in August. These neighborhood school Pre-K classrooms (enrolling now!) expand on the excellent services already in place for families of young children at Kennedy Early Childhood Center and New York Montessori.

• Growing New York Montessori
  Speaking of New York Montessori -- the first public school of its kind in Kansas, we will continue to grow this innovative program, and for next school year expand to begin to include the upper elementary grades.

• Amplifying Elementary Science
  Adding science to our elementary ‘specials’ rotation will foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity while nurturing curiosity and promoting hands-on learning. All are crucial for a child's development and future success. Fully-certified and highly enthusiastic teachers will bring high-interest, hands-on, and standards-aligned science to all elementary students.

• Advancing STEAM@LMCMS
  Project Lead the Way (PLTW) curricula features access to practical, applied STEM-oriented learning experiences that empower students to gain the skills they need to thrive in college, careers, and beyond. All of our middle schools currently offer PLTW electives. STEAM@LMCMS enables all of its students to spend more of their learning time experiencing PLTW Design & Modeling and a fine arts course of their choosing. LMCMS will add new PLTW courses each year, with Computer Science for Innovators and Makers coming in 2025-26.

• Strengthening our Jayhawk Blueprint College Course Offerings Across High Schools
  Research highlights the importance of students taking college courses during high school. This is an effective strategy leading to increased college access, persistence in college, and college completion rates, as well as potential cost savings for families and a smoother transition to college. We will enhance our existing partnership with the University of Kansas, enabling more students to access college coursework and earn college credit in high school at one-third the cost of tuition.

• Completing Districtwide Implementation of AVID in 2026
  AVID helps close the ‘opportunity gap’ in education by providing academic support and preparing students for college success. Using AVID strategies, our students develop their reading, writing, critical thinking, organizational, time management, and goal-setting skills. You may want to tune into the May 12 Board of Education meeting for an AVID update.

• Unifying School-Based Communications with ParentSquare
  By implementing the ParentSquare tool, school staff will engage every family with secure, unified, and effective communication in real time. This tool will combine principal, teacher, coach, and sponsor communication in one place -- and feature a parent dashboard -- to streamline how schools connect with their communities, eliminate multiple apps, support two-way messaging, and improve the safety and protection of staff and students.

• Equipping High School Students with MacBooks
  In direct response to student feedback, we will replace current high school iPads with a more college-aligned laptop that supports student academics and college and career readiness. We will leverage capital outlay funds to accomplish this change. Note: Capital Funds cannot be used to support teacher and classroom staff salaries.
  
  

We are excited to work collaboratively toward implementing these enhancements to our educational programming and offering our students additional opportunities to learn, grow, and thrive!

Watch my initial report about these enhancements from the March 24 school board meeting, as well as the follow-up report from the April 28 meeting.

In addition, I recently shared a student and staff safety update that you may want to review.

Caring, high-quality public schools are the outgrowth of engaged and supportive communities. Thank you for all you do to support the educational experiences of our more than 10,500 students and the remarkable teachers, staff, and leaders who serve them each day.

Jeanice Kerr Swift

Superintendent

Lawrence Public Schools