Ranjbar Banner
The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online
The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online
The student-run news site of Lawrence Free State High School

Free Press Online

Top Stories

Leading warm-ups (from left), junior Mika Schrader, senior Hannah Reussner, junior Allie Knapp, senior Lindsey Wethington, sophomore Goosie Zicker, juniors Marcela Ellabracht and Sidney Zavala run laps around the football field during practice.

Young varsity girls soccer team set to defy expectations

Darby Gilliland, Reporter • April 28, 2015

With an assist from freshman Maya Hodison, senior Hannah Reussner scores a goal to win the game, securing an unexpected victory in the season opener. “We want to prove other people wrong,” sophomore...

Students explore college credit opportunities

Students explore college credit opportunities

Trenna Soderling and Sydney Gard, Reporters • April 28, 2015

The 2015-16 school year marks many changes in the USD 497 school district. The new learning programs to be offered include the College and Career Center and classes for college credit offered through KU....

senior Sarah Lieberman

Seniors share plans for post-secondary pursuits

Kyra Haas, Elizabeth Patton and Sydney Gard, Editor in Chief, Reporter and Reporter • March 9, 2015

With two tanks of fish, a crested gecko and a baby ball python to care for, senior Michael Quackenbush appreciates not only the University of Kansas’s top-ranked engineering program, but also its close...

When Kansas Governor Sam Brownback announced his plan to cut the state's education budget, criticisms arose from all across the country. 'The track record that they have had showed that the district weathered pretty good the last round of cuts. To have an education system wholesale turned upside down, I don’t think that would happen.” Principal Ed West said.

Governor Sam Brownback introduces plan to cut school funding

Kenneth Palmer, Copy Editor • March 6, 2015

A MoveOn Petition to “Recall Sam Brownback” with upwards of 30,000 signatures from all over the country, a New York Times article questioning the state’s financial plan and plenty of other national...

The American Civil Liberties Union's logo.

ACLU requests suspension of LEAP Ambassador Program in violation of Title IX

Hala Hamid, Reporter • March 4, 2015

On Jan. 29, USD 497 Superintendent Dr. Rick Doll received a letter from the American Civil Liberties stating that the new LEAP Ambassador Program violates Title IX. Title IX states that the school may...

Junior Donovan Young and sophomore Arlo March, students selected to be in the Ambassador Program, get to know their business partners before the start of the programs's second meeting. The students were selected based on counselor recommendations.

Male students, community leaders partner in pilot program

Kyra Haas and Fiona McAllister • February 7, 2015

As sophomore Diallo Jackson walked down the hall to the office with a pass from assistant principal Keith Jones in his hand, Jackson worried he might be in trouble. Before winter break, Jackson and...

At the beginning of the semester, the administration divided two freshman English classes into three single-gender classes. In January, the ACLU questioned the change, and the classes were promptly rearranged to be coeducational. "It [was] kind of different, I know that, but it [was] fun because it [was] with my friends and everything," freshman Tannner Cobb said.

Single-gender English 9 classes result in ACLU intervention

Kyra Haas and Maddie Birchfield • February 7, 2015

When freshman Aidan Dietz entered their seventh hour English 9 classroom on the first day of second semester, they were met with confused stares from their classmates. “At first people were looking...

Looking out into a sea of smartphone cameras, President Barack Obama addresses a crowd of about 7,150 at Anschutz Sports Pavilion on KU Campus on Jan. 22. Obama’s speech reiterated and expanded on several topics mentioned in his recent State of the Union: child care, community college and middle class economics. “I’m a Kansas guy,” Obama said.

#BarackChalk: President Obama speaks at Anschutz Sports Pavilion

Kyra Haas and Ryan Liston • January 22, 2015
On Jan. 22, President Barack Obama spoke at KU in Anschutz Sports Pavilion, calling on Congress to address the need to provide childcare, free community college and equal pay for women...
The American Civil Liberties Union's logo.

ACLU requests discontinuation of single-gender English classes

Ryan Liston, Online Editor in Chief • January 14, 2015

On Jan. 12, Superintendent Dr. Rick Doll received a letter from the Kansas American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) Legal Director Doug Bonney and Cooperating Attorney Amy Katz regarding the introduction...

Science teacher Brad Simon takes his 8th grade class on a field trip in 1989. Simon died on Dec. 13 due to "heart problems."

Former students mourn physics, chemistry teachers death

Juliana Hill, Reporter • December 19, 2014

Free State High School physics and chemistry teacher Brad Simon died on Dec. 13 at the age of 53. The cause of his death is uncertain, but it is speculated that it was a heart attack. He had taught for...

Later School Start Times Prove Beneficial

Maria Carrasco, Managing Print Editor • November 15, 2014

It’s midnight and I’m writing a Common App essay, reading Hamlet, taking AP Government notes and studying for an AP Statistics test while brewing another cup of coffee. Because school starts at...

November Midterm Elections close on all fronts

November Midterm Elections close on all fronts

Kenneth Palmer and Libby Stanford, Copy Editor and Reporter • October 27, 2014

The Kansas midterm elections are approaching like a storm. This is atypical— considering Kansas is usually a safely Republican state—especially in the Senate contest in which a non-Republican has a...

Load More Stories
Donate to Free Press Online
$510
$1500
Contributed
Our Goal