LAWRENCE, Kan. (KCTV) - Lawrence Public Schools wants to join the inaugural season of state-sanctioned esports this fall.

Esports, a term used for competitive video gaming, has become hot enough that colleges offer scholarships to play on varsity teams, but that’s not the piece of a presentation to the school board Monday night that was most compelling for several school board members. It was the sense of school belonging.

“When we look at districts across the nation whose activities associations have opened up eSports, 47% of the students who participated in those other states in esports, it was the first time those students had ever participated in a school activity,” said Deputy Superintendent Larry Englebrick, “the first time they truly began to make that positive connection with

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