The Lawrence Police Department, working with the Department of Justice, will hold two half-day workshops “where DOJ facilitators hope to improve trust and develop partnerships between police and community members.” The program’s goals are to improve trust and develop partnerships between law enforcement and the community, engage in dialogue to identify issues and solve problems collaboratively and address longstanding community distrust and historical barriers, according to a flyer about the workshops. “I’ve always said I want our officers to police our community the way the people want to be policed,” Chief Rich Lockhart said in the release. “When I heard the Department of Justice facilitates a program to help strengthen our partnerships and continue the dialogue moving us in that direction, I knew they were the experts to bring on board.”
Source: The Lawrence Times

A districtwide cell phone ban was included in a draft of an updated student handbook, but Lawrence school district administrators and board members made some clarifications on Monday. Students aren’t to have their cell phones out while they’re in class across the district. Elementary and middle school policies don’t allow students to use their phones at all during school hours unless granted permission. High school students, however, are still permitted to use their phones outside of class time. The handbook draft originally included in the school board meeting agenda for Monday said that “students found using their phone during school hours without permission will be required to check their phone in and out of the office each day,” and phones “must be turned off before entering the building and remain in their backpacks until dismissal.” Between Monday morning and the evening meeting, that original draft was replaced with a redlined copy. The handbook was also reclassified from a consent agenda item — which would typically be approved in one motion with no discussion — to a new business item. Previously, the district used separate handbooks for elementary, middle and high schools. Jayci Roberson and Waymond Ervin, who are the district’s new director of elementary schools and director of secondary schools, respectively, said they noticed all were very similar. Consolidating them into one would hopefully create better alignment across the district, they told the board. “That increases our consistency, as far as communication with our community, our students and our staff,” Ervin said.
Source: The Lawrence Times