Lawrence High School - Red and Black Yearbook (Lawrence, KS)

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Board of Education-John H. Spearman, Sr.. vice-president; Mrs. Alan Hack, Larry Hatfield, Dr. W.F. Bradley. President; Helen Gilles, Kenneth E. Anderson. Dick Hol2meister. ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENTS Dr. David Kendall Kenneth Fisher SCHOOL BOARD CURRICULUM COORDINATORS R. Wayne Nelson SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS DR. CARL KNOX H.C. Stuart 14

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Bill Medley stepped into an enormous shadow when he assumed command of Lawrence High School. That was in 1966, and the presence of Mr. Neal Wherry was still very much apparent. By the final year of his administration, 1973, Medley had quietly created a shadow of his own. Residues of the Medley years will remain for a long time. Many of the ideas he nurtured are yet in their infancy. Evidence of Medley's mastery in the art of administration is scattered liberally throughout the LHS environment. It is most visible in the staff of over 100 teachers and administrators which achieved under his guidance a rare unity while providing ample diversity to serve the needs of 1700 students. When Max Rife assumed command at LHS, he observed that no principal in the world had a more loyal faculty than Bill. Bill Medley served LHS by assuring its successful adjustment to a highly fluid society. During his term, numerous intense and varied pressures were brought to bear upon LHS. His role was to decide when to flex and when to stand. Lawrence High is stronger today for the decisions he made. Medley was a great planter of ideas. An educator, like other professionals, must keep up with the developments in many fields. As educators across the nation sought to create the ideal school, he watched. And, slowly, he transformed an institution. Such diverse innovations as the Principal's Advisory Council and student self-enrollment were drafted under Medley's leadership. He did not work alone, as he would quickly indicate, but much credit probably escaped him because he was so deftly delegated authority and responsibility. Medley kept himself busy insuring that Lawrence would benefit from the expanse of educational insight that began to emerge during his tenure. Changes in every area of school life sifted into LHS-curriculum, student activities, administrative technique-all bases were touched. But the high school was touched by other forces too. The currents of social change in the community, the state, and the nation all swept through the educational estuaries. When the currents became waves. Medley was there. He rode out the storms, but further, he refused to permit Lawrence High to drift out of the mainstream of American Life. Bill Medley allowed the school to become a microcosm of society. His policies created an environment in which students could get not a mind full of memory, but an apprenticeship in living. Under Medley, academic freedom became not merely a matter of what can we teach, what can we learn, but more nearly the most desirable means to the ultimate goal -serving simultaneously the needs of students and the demands of society. By example. Medley demonstrated that freedom to learn and freedom to teach are defensible only with responsibility. Only by delivering quality could Medley demand it. Testimony to his success is the high regard given to LHS in educational circles through the midwest. When he was tapped for the Principalship of a new, well-funded high school in suburban Delaware, he earned a tremendous compliment for himself, and for the people with whom he worked in Lawrence. The people in Delaware can be assured that shortly. Concord High School will possess the best education can offer. It will become, as LHS has become, a nice place to work, a good place to learn, a great place to be.