LAWRENCE CO. – Tuesday, November 7, at 5:30 p.m., the North Lawrence Community Schools held a public work session of the Oolitic Facilities Repurpose Committee.
During the meeting, the committee discussed how to make North Lawrence Community Schools more attractive to draw in more students and families, and how to keep currently enrolled students.
The School is looking into beginning a High Ability Academy, but it’s an expensive venture to get started. The work session suggested a slow-start method instead of immediately starting the program. The idea consisted of incorporating high-ability courses in ALL of the NLCS schools instead of having one expressly dedicated to it.
“We need to emphasize high ability as a corporation,” said Secretary Scott King.
One of the committee’s concerns stemmed from the quality of instructors needed for the High Ability Academy. Teachers for high-ability classes require certain additional training. High Ability differs from AP courses. Currently, none of the teachers have that qualification. One would have to be chosen from the current staff for the training.
There was also the possibility of having the performing arts offered at either Bedford Middle School or Oolitic Middle School, and vocational classes offered at the other school.
Additionally, the pros and cons related to multiple school sports team was a leading topic. Committee members agreed that having more than one sports team (ei. one for Oolitic, one for BMS) could also help student enrollment. With single consolidated teams, the number of students who can be involved in sports is limited. Those students who are not athletically skilled enough to make one of the limited spots on a single team and merely wish to play for fun and the sport itself are put at a disadvantage. Giving each school its own team again would foster a sense of pride in a student’s school, as well as encourage students to do better in academics.
Students are required to keep certain grades to participate in sports, so having more students involved in sports would help overall academic standing.
Debbie Lewis, a retired Oolitic teacher and part of the committee, said they needed to keep in mind that options were key to keeping students at NLCS schools. “When you look at what the parents want – it’s choice.”
Textbooks were another topic touched on – namely, reinstating the use of textbooks as an option or alternative for Chromebooks both as a student preference and to reduce the negative effects of excess screen time.
The idea was connected to the two junior high school options. One Junior High could use Chromebooks, the other physical textbooks, and by choosing a school you could choose which you wanted/your child wanted to use.
At the same meeting, Scott King presented a preliminary draft of the executive summary for 2023 for the committee’s input on functionality.
Further discussions:
To continue these and other conversations about the Oolitic Facilities, The North Lawrence Community Schools Oolitic Facilities Repurposing Advisory Committee will meet again next Monday, November 13 for a public work session. The meeting will be at 5 p.m. at the North Lawrence Administration Building at 460 W Street in Bedford. The public is invited to attend.
