Lawrence schools unveil flexible Centennial Choice Campus for 2026-27

Lawrence Public Schools is turning the historic Centennial Campus at 2145 Louisiana St. into a new high school option for students who do not fit neatly into a traditional full-day schedule. The district plans to open Centennial Choice Campus in August for the 2026-27 school year, positioning it as a smaller, more flexible path alongside Lawrence High School, Free State High School and Lawrence Virtual School.

The campus is built around a simple idea: students should be able to shape more of their day around how they learn best. District materials say each student will work with a family member and a facilitator staff member to build a schedule, then move through classes in a mix of virtual, in-person, self-paced and more traditional formats. The program is meant to serve students who want more than a standard high school experience, including those who do not want to spend the whole day on one of the city’s main campuses and those who do not want to learn entirely from home.

At a June 8 Lawrence Board of Education meeting, district materials described the campus as a personalized, nontraditional learning environment with in-person support, online coursework, courses at comprehensive high schools, career-connected learning and community-based experiences. The campus is intended to function as a central hub, with each pathway built around graduation requirements and postsecondary plans. That makes the model different from Lawrence High and Free State, which remain comprehensive schools, and different from Lawrence Virtual School, which serves students in a primarily online format.

The district also expects the new campus to look different in everyday routines. Officials said the building will use an open-concept format, and nontraditional hours, including afternoons and evenings, are expected for some students. Earlier descriptions said students may be able to take some classes part-time at other district schools and still keep access to athletics and extracurricular activities there, a feature that could matter to families looking for a hybrid arrangement rather than a full transfer away from a home school.

Principal Zach Harwood, who already leads Lawrence Virtual School, will also lead Centennial Choice Campus. Superintendent Jeanice Swift said staffing levels will depend on enrollment. The district is pairing the new campus with Lawrence Virtual School administratively, but the two programs are being set up to serve different needs within the same broader high school system.

The move also revives a nontraditional in-person option that Lawrence lost when Lawrence Alternative High School closed in 2005, after Lawrence Virtual School opened in 2004. District strategy work in 2024-25 drew on feedback from hundreds of students, staff, families and community members, and Centennial Choice Campus is part of that push to widen the district’s menu of high school pathways. For families weighing Lawrence’s next school-year options, the difference is practical: this campus is designed to let more students build high school around graduation, jobs, family responsibilities and postsecondary plans, not around a one-size-fits-all day.