Lawrence Journal-World 11-13-13

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A walk in the Park

State math, reading scores slip ———

Drop attributed to shift to new school standards By Peter Hancock phancock@ljworld.com

Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo

THE LAWRENCE PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY BOARD TOURS the 181,000-square-foot the Rock Chalk Park sports complex in northwest Lawrence on Tuesday. The running surface of the track and field stadium has been installed. BELOW: Richard Maberry, of Lithko Contracting Inc., works on a wall Tuesday at Rock Chalk Park. When completed, the center will house eight full-court gyms, an indoor turf area, an indoor track, a fitness and weight room, a gymnastics area, outdoor lighted tennis courts and other features.

Tour shows progress at sports complex By Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

By Christmas, workers are expected to be raising walls at the city’s new 181,000-square-foot recreation center at the Rock Chalk Park sports complex in northwest Lawrence, parks and recreation leaders said Tuesday as they gave a tour of the construction site. “We feel like we have been playing in the mud for quite a while, and then all of a sudden it really will start looking like a building,” said Craig Penzler, an architect with CP Sports, which the city hired as a construction monitor. Penzler said the wet fall has challenged construction crews. Officials have set July 17 as a construction completion date, but Penzler said construction executives will determine in December whether the deadline needs to be pushed back. “Sometime in the sum-

We feel like we have been playing in the mud for quite a while, and then all of a sudden it really will start looking like a building.” — Craig Penzler, an architect with CP Sports mer of 2014 is what we’re planning for,” said Mark Hecker, the city’s assistant director of parks and recreation. When completed, the center will house eight full-court gyms that can be converted into 16 volleyball courts, an indoor

turf area, an eighth-mile indoor track, a fitness and weight room, a gymnastics area, outdoor lighted tennis courts and other features. The cityowned facility will be adjacent to a track and field stadium, soccer field and softball stadium being

built primarily for Kansas University. Those facilities will be owned by a private firm run by Lawrence businessman Thomas Fritzel and will be leased back to Kansas Athletics. On Tuesday, members of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board got their first look at the site, just north and east of the Sixth and South Lawrence Trafficway interchange, since construction began in September. Among the sights:

The running surface of the track and field stadium is installed and the concrete platforms for the stadium seats have been poured. KU officials have said they hope to have the stadium ready to host the Kansas Relays in April.

Concrete for the soccer field seating also has been poured, and the field is awaiting installation of Bermuda turf grass. Please see PARK, page 5A

For the first time since Kansas began testing all students in reading and math, overall scores fell sharply in both subjects in 2013, according to the State Report Card released T u e s d a y , SCHOOLS and those declines showed up across all ethnic and economic groups and across all grade levels. State officials said they could not say definitively what caused the decline, but they speculated much of it was due to the tests

themselves, which have not changed in recent years even as classroom teachers have shifted their lessons to the new Common Core standards, known in Kansas as the “College and Career Ready Standards.” “The one thing I know is that the State Board (of Education) retired the old standards in 2010 and adopted the new standards,” Deputy Education Commissioner Brad Neuenswander said. Others, however, are sure to argue that the lower scores are due at least in part to state budget cuts in education spending since 2009. That was a Please see SCORES, page 5A

Gov. calls for end to Kansas-Missouri business ‘war’ By Bill Draper Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, MO. — Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon called Tuesday for a moratorium on his state’s ongoing tug-of-war with neighboring Kansas over efforts to lure companies across the border, arguing the Kansas City metro area would attract more jobs if the states work as partners rather than rivals. In a speech to the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, Nixon said economic incentives

should be used to attract new businesses to the area rather than s i m p l y relocating ones Nixon already there. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has suggested a similar pact, though no formal agreement has been reached. “This problem — unique to this region — of taking jobs that already Please see BORDER, page 2A

Big Brothers Big Sisters match flourishes beyond program By Nikki Wentling nwentling@ljworld.com

When Shai Jackson was just a little girl, she would ask her “big sister,” Mary Seyk, one question over and over: “Will we still be friends next year?” “The answer was always, ‘I’ll be in your life for as long as you want me to be,’” Seyk said. “For pretty much the whole time I’ve known her, she’s asked me that for reassurance.” After 13 years of being paired with Seyk, the lon-

LEARN MORE To learn about volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County, call 785-8437359. gest match in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County’s history, Jackson knows she doesn’t have to ask. Now 18, Jackson is confident that though they won’t be known as “big” and “little” to each other anymore, she and

they spoke to Kansas University students involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters, and this week they are traveling to Wichita to meet with the Kansas board of directors for the organization. People want to know how they have made it last. “We’ve been asked a lot about what has kept us together,” Jackson said. “We’ve talked about it, Richard Gwin/Journal-World Photo and, honestly, it’s just a MARY SEYK, LEFT, AND SHAI JACKSON were paired though true friendship.” Big Brothers Big Sisters for 13 years, the longest match in the Please see SISTERS, page 2A history of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Douglas County.

INSIDE

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Seyk will be friends for life. “I don’t see why our friendship would ever stop,” Jackson said. “She plays a big role in my life.” Seyk and Jackson were paired through Big Brothers Big Sisters in 2000, when Jackson was 5 and Seyk was 46. The two celebrated their 13th anniversary and the end of their official match in September. Now that Jackson has aged out of the program, the pair have been called upon to talk about their friendship. In October,

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Construction begins on SLT 7C 1B-7B 10A, 2B, 7C

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Today’s forecast, page 10A

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After nearly two decades of litigation and protests, construction work on the South Lawrence Trafficway officially began Tuesday, a spokeswoman with the Kansas Department of Transportation said. Page 3A

Vol.155/No.317 36 pages


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