It’s a great day in Lawrence Public Schools as we ‘spring forward,’ looking ahead to a strong final quarter of the 2025-26 school year. Many thanks to our students and teachers, support staff and leaders, parents and community for all your impressive work to connect and work together to serve our students, schools and community.
Thank you for your robust engagement in Parent/Teacher Spring Conferences; we are delighted to share that together we achieved 94.14% participation among elementary families, a slight increase over last year and a strong indicator of meaningful partnership in support of our students.
Enhancements 2026-27
We are delighted to preview district enhancements for the 2026-27 school year. These 2026 enhancements emerge from the direct input of our students, staff and community, continuing work which begun in 2025, and are focused on improving the educational experience for students.
Family Engagement Welcome Center
In Fall 2026, Lawrence Public Schools will open a Family Engagement Welcome Center that will serve as the front door to the district, allowing for a warm, welcoming district access and connection, a place to come together to support families, schools and community.
Early Childhood Learning Vision: A Preschool Seat for Every Child in Lawrence
Work continues to add preschool classrooms across USD 497 neighborhood schools; enhancing established quality preschool programming at Kennedy Early Childhood Center.
Currently, within the initial early enrollment window, we have received 230 applications for 120 slots. In 2026-27, additional preschool classrooms will open at Deerfield and Prairie Park. We will continue the work to open opportunities for as many young students and families as possible to meet this need for quality early childhood learning.
KU Blueprint Expansion Continues and will include Lawrence Virtual School
Lawrence Public Schools KU Blueprint partnership with the University of Kansas will continue, offering concurrent enrollment, and the opportunity for students to earn college credit while still in high school. USD 497 is the only district to offer college enrollment at KU to high school students.
Beginning in the spring semester of the 2026-27 school year, Jayhawk Blueprint will expand to Lawrence Virtual School (LVS), with one course offered in the spring and continuing to expand virtual KU Blueprint programming over time. We will also continue to support financial tuition support for students who qualify for free/reduced lunch through the Lawrence Schools Foundation.
CTE Alignment + College & Career Center Enhancement
Lawrence Public Schools will work to refine and align the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Pathways of instruction across all schools, with a priority on re-envisioning the Lawrence College & Career Center (LCCC), including enhanced coordination of programming across all secondary campuses, and in partnership with the technical training center Peaslee Tech.
This work reflects an expanding vision of post-secondary success by ensuring students have access to rigorous, real-world learning experiences connected to industry credentials, college credit, and in-demand careers.
Opening of the Choice Campus at Centennial
In 2026-27, Lawrence Public Schools will open the Choice Campus at Centennial to meet needs of students who choose nontraditional, personalized high school programming featuring flexible scheduling to include evenings, including credit advancement and recovery opportunities.
With the work to implement these 2026-27 enhancements, USD 497 continues as a district on the move, designing the organization directly in response to the input and feedback received from community and staff.
Streamline 2026
This spring, we will continue work, begun last year, to streamline the organization; we will innovate to work differently, remain effective, and operate more efficiently.
We will achieve our critical mission for students, and through streamlining a number of positions across the organization. This year, we will achieve competitive staff compensation among school districts across the region.
Of note, in this streamlining effort, we will not directly impact classrooms or class sizes. We will work to leverage attrition and absorb the streamlined positions. We will notify individuals impacted in a timely manner, and work to model dignity as we continue to ensure that we direct resources to achieving our shared goals of classroom support, quality educational experiences, and competitive compensation.
In implementing the 2026 Enhancements, and in our continued work to streamline to achieve competitive compensation, together we will learn and lead our way forward. We continue the excellence in education for which the Lawrence Public Schools has long been known across the state and around the world.
You may read/view the full March 9, 2026 preview, part I 2026-27 enhancements here.
Community Conversations: Join the Conversation
We have been delighted to participate in Winter 2026 Community Conversations; thank you for your robust participation as we gather feedback to inform planning and areas for growth.
If you haven’t yet, we invite you to share your input online through one of our survey options, available to you now at www.usd497.org/future. Your voice matters, and your partnership strengthens our work. Following spring break, we will wrap up this round of community conversations in preparation for spring reporting with our Board and community.
You may read/view recent Superintendent Reports to the Board and community here.
Thank you for your continued partnership in support of our 10,000 students, their families and the talented staff who work hard to serve and support them.
As you head into Spring Break next week, I offer this beautiful musical moment of joy from the recent Encore show at Free State High School.
Wishing everyone a safe and peaceful spring break,
Jeanice Kerr Swift
Superintendent of Schools
Lawrence Public Schools
