KCK school board votes to fire its special education director — again
Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools’ executive director of special education will not receive a contract renewal allowing her to continue with the district next year, school board members voted Friday.
The vote marked the third time in the past month that school board members considered executive director JaKyta Lawrie’s employment during a public meeting. The longtime leader of the Wyandotte Comprehensive Special Education Cooperative’s contract is due to expire June 30.
During an April 14 school board meeting, board members by approval of the consent agenda voted not to extend Lawrie’s contract past that date. KCKPS at the time declined to share what would happen next, or why Lawrie was not recommended for an extension, citing it being a personnel matter
Lawrie’s contract appeared on another board agenda two weeks later. Six hours into that meeting, board members by a 5-2 vote decided to table discussing Lawrie’s departure until May 1.
Meeting minutes from that third meeting indicate that board members ultimately approved the recommendation not to extend Lawrie’s contract, again, by a 5-2 vote. Board members Yolanda Clark, Randy Lopez, Robert Milan Jr., Joycelyn Strickland Egans and Pamela Penn Picks voted in favor of the item and members Wanda Brownlee Paige and Valendia Winn dissented, according to those minutes.
Lawrie’s planned departure from her position comes as KCKPS’ special education program has struggled to retain staff amid declining morale. Numerous teachers and family members have spoken out during meetings, in audits conducted by the University of Kansas, on social media and in the press about their concerns linked to department coordinators and Lawrie’s leadership.
Among those concerns were fears of falling out of federally mandated compliance to offer a Free and Appropriate Education to all students (a right under the U.S. Individuals with Disabilities Act) and becoming subjects to retaliation for speaking out on directives they deemed inappropriate.
Families in KCK recently organized a Special Needs Family Alliance, through which parents of students that receive special education services have been able to express those concerns, share information on district policies and describe what they want new leadership to look like in KCK.
“We did it!” the alliance celebrated in a Facebook post following Friday’s meeting. “Our voices were heard, but this is just the beginning we have more work to do so stay tuned!”
