Good evening, and welcome to our first meeting of 2026. At this time, we will move to our board reorganization per statute and, MSDLT board policy. The Board of Education is required to reorganize by electing officers for the coming year. It is recommended that officers time, I will open up the floor for nomination for
board president. I nominate Amy Norman. Okay. Seconded. Okay. Thank you. Are there any other nominations for board president? Okay. We will move to a vote. All in favor of nominating myself, Amy Norman for board president, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, board. I accept the nomination for board president. Moving on to vice president. I'm opening up the floor for nomination for vice president. I nominate Crystal Puckett. Second. Okay. Nominated by Doctor. Mahalad, seconded by Ms.
Marta Lawrence. Are there any other nominations for vice president? Okay. We will move to vote. All in favor of Crystal Puckett as vice president for the school school board, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. The ayes have it. Congratulations, Ms. Puckett. Do you accept the nomination? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. I accept the nomination. Very good. Moving on to our final role, Secretary. Opening up the floor now for nominations for Secretary. I'll nominate, Doctor. Shayla Mulholland. I second. All right. Properly, nominated myself, Amy Norman. Seconded, Crystal Puckett.
Any other nominations for secretary? All right. I'll close the nomination floor for nominations at this time. All in favor of voting for Doctor. Mulholland for secretary. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. The ayes have it. Congratulations, Doctor. Mulholland. Do you accept the nomination? Yes, I do. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you, board. Moving on to our appointment for the financial leadership. This is the appointment for the Corporation Treasurer and Deputy Treasurer. I'll entertain a motion to appoint Matt Miles, CFO, as Treasurer and Renee Hall as
Deputy Treasurer. So moved. Okay. Don't worry, Matt. We're good. Sorry. It's okay. It's okay. All right. Do we have a second? Second. All right. Properly moved, Ms. Lawrence, and seconded, Ms. Dunn. All right. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Congratulations, Mr. Mile and Ms. Hull. You're now officially appointed as the CFO, treasurer, and deputy treasurer for MSDLT for 2026. Thank you, board. Our third item is the board appointed committee members.
The Lawrence Township Foundation Board, I hereby nominate Doctor. Shayla Mulholland to serve on this year. Do you accept this nomination? Yes. Okay. Thank you. We don't have to vote on this item. Liaison to the Indiana School Board Association, I hereby nominate miss Marta Lawrence. Do you accept the nomination? Yes. Thank you. And then finally, Lawrence Parks and Recreation Board, I hereby nominate miss Jessica Dunn. Do you accept the nomination? I sure do. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Jessica Dunn. Do you accept the nomination? I sure do. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. Moving on finally to doctor Smith for his appointments.
Thank you, madam president and board members. As you know, we have to have our work with policy, which is near and dear to your heart. It is the work of the entire board, but we ask that we continue to have missus Puckett serve in that role to work closely with my cabinet members and myself on board policy. Missus Puckett? Yes. You do. Very closely with our lobbyists and our local legislators. We accept. Thank you, doctor Smith. Looking forward to it. Thank you, board. We are now moving on to our information items.
Three point one Blue Ribbon Facility Updates with Doctor. Nesbitt. Oh, I'm sorry. Let me pause. I got ahead of myself. Oh, yeah. Sorry. We only do this once a year, so I'm a little rusty. Thank you, miss Blankenship. And congratulations, board. Looking forward to another year. Alright. Doctor Nesbitt, we are ready to hear about the Blue Ribbon updates. Thank you, president Norman, members of the board, and doctor Smith. Let's jump into the Blue Ribbon facilities update. We'll start off to our overview. Tonight, we will ask for approval for, our construction manager for the McKinsey project.
Craig Academy, we moved downstairs over winter break, so LA is now downstairs as we continue our renovation upstairs. And then we have the continuing work at the, three elementary expansions. And then on our next slide, happy to see some green in there now, a little earlier than expected. We had some chillers come in, that we won't expect until spring break, and so we're gonna target MLK Day to start that work and get three new chillers put in that will be very welcome before the spring weather hits us. And then, let's look at the buildings right now, the elementary expansion at Crestview. You can see the outside is getting close to finish, and then inside there, we're
getting good. That's a picture one of the four classrooms. Forest Glen, we're close to sealing the envelope there, looking to get some, get heat in there soon. And then Merry Castle, that one, we're we're targeting about seven, eight weeks to be complete with that project. Thank you, Dustin and the powers team on on that project running well ahead of schedule. That's permanent grid work and permanent lighting in there, and and heat is going. So, moving along very well at Merry Castle. Craig Excuse me. Craig Academy. That's a view downstairs. That's looking from, o, inside Door 3 up towards, the old door 1.
And then there you see inside one of the new classrooms that's now occupied with LA students. And then also look at that gymnasium. Doesn't that look nice? That was, last week we took that picture, so it's wrapping up. We'll be using those gyms starting January 24 with LTVL games. Both gyms have been repainted and refinished. So that's your blue ribbon update for this tonight's board meeting. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments regarding the updates, miss Stunt? I had the the opportunity to visit, Craig Academy, and it just looks absolutely fabulous with, the renovations.
I did have a question pertaining to furniture. Mhmm. Will there be new furniture for all the programs in when you expect that to be delivered? August 27, when we open up Craig Academy is when we'll have the whole building outfitted. So, yeah, right now, we're still using existing existing material furniture, but, yeah, that's that's the plan. And that includes all the programs there? Yes. Outstanding. Thank you. Thank you, miss Dunn. Any other questions or comments on Craig or any of the Blue Ribbon updates? Okay. Sounds like it's coming along great. Thank you. 3.2,
request for approval of the CMC for the McKinsey Center of Innovation and Technology Renovations. Doctor Nesbitt. Thank you again. Yeah. Back in November, you approved us to put an RFP for construction manager as constructor for the McKinsey Center, transformation. And I'm happy to say that we did interviews back on December 9 with a very qualified group, had plenty of interest in that project, very big project. And tonight, we'll be recommending Powers and Sons to be our construction manager as constructor for the McKinsey project. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions or comments regarding the approval of the CMC for McKinsey?
Just that, Ms. Norman, you and I both sat on the selection committee for the construction managers, so impressed with the presentations that we received. But, it's really great to see Flowers and Sons back working with us again. I also just having, had the opportunity to go to the legislative breakfast on Friday and to see the renderings, and to see those shared with the community, is such a proud moment because when you look at that, it really you know, Doctor. Smith, you were saying that this could potentially be the largest in not just Indiana,
but the state. And so to see that Lawrence Township is leading the way, as it pertains to, the Pathways work is, is incredible. And I also just wanna give credit to you, doctor Smith, because we see what is happening with the graduation requirements and the shift that we're seeing. And you have certainly positioned Lawrence Township in a way that we are ready to accept the challenge. So kudos. Thank you. Thank you, miss Dunn. Board, any other questions or comments? Okay. So just, one quick question again.
After we approve this, then the next step will be in the process will be what? We'll have a preliminary determination hearing soon. But we're right in the planning stages and developing some scope and budget and trying to get everything that we need to get in there. So we're already planning we meet weekly with Director Shante Smith, the Schmidt and Powers teams. We've done that a couple of times and we're meeting each week. So every other week, we're meeting at McKinsey with departments. So the different departments they have there, we're meeting just to make sure we understand
their needs. And then the off weeks, we meet here in the Operations Conference Room and go over everything at the project. It's eating an elephant with a project this size, no doubt. Oh, but but well worth it. Yep. Definitely a big ROI with bipartisan support. I mean, this is an investment in our future workforce. So Let me remind the board of education, Matthew, that the board will have to go through steps to approve all of the finances so that the final presentation from doctor Nesbitt and his team will come, but there also will be some additional steps
for the Board of Education to approve. So those steps will come later after we actually have the ready reason to go through all of those steps things. Coming very soon to the board meeting. Thank you very much. Alright. 3.3, Neola policy updates. First reading, doctor Harshbarger. Madam president, doctor Smith, members of the board, I bring to you this evening the Ola revision packet, volume 38 number one. The packet encompasses 31 revised policies and is a response, as it always is, to
recent legislation and subsequent updates to local and state and federal law. This is a first reading. Very good. Board, any questions or comments regarding this first reading on the Neola updates? I do have a question, regarding policy 3220, the staff evaluation. So am I to understand that we are removing and repealing the category that the way that reads?
I'm gonna have Carla respond to that. Sorry. And if we need to come back to that, this is fine. I just I was and I apologize that I didn't share this earlier. I mean, there's so many. And kudos to you all for the outstanding work. So I just was wondering if that was happening, if we were getting rid of that language or if we were still going to be having those four categories. And we can come back to that. Okay. But we're just this board policy is just in the event that it's not required. That's the way that I read it, and I just wanna make sure that I understood that. Okay. That's that's the way the deal is, states it.
Yeah. So that we have the opportunity if we want to go and make it a, b, c, d, we could or whatever. Not that we would, but I mean, that's what that option line is there for. Gotcha. If you're going to write in other types of, you know, situations for salary. And that was on 3220, miss Dunn? Yes. Okay. Okay. I guess you're up. Okay. Thank you. That was my assumption is that we were keeping it, but I just and I know that we have to do this having served with you for two wonderful years, that we have to make sure that our policies are updated.
So my assumption was that we are keeping it, but But I just I wanted just clarification. So thank you. Yeah. I think that's the transitional period and that's why they did that. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. Yes, Doctor. Mulholland. I just have a comment that I appreciate, both of you the work that was done, the extensive work. Quite a few PDFs, to review there, but, it would just the amount of detail and, keeping our work up to date and, with current standards And, I just see and and then also in our notes for today, I appreciate the how you've highlighted
what those, main changes are so that we can follow along carefully. So thank you for the for the good work. Yeah. We always try to be transparent in this first phase and make sure everything's in there. So good partner. Makes the makes the job easy. We appreciate the board reading the policies. As you said, it's the detail that matters. Appreciate it. Yes. Miss Lawrence. Yes. And echo the thanks. I know that this is not, not easy and, I I can't say thankless as a thank you, but but we appreciate all the work that goes into this.
Doctor Smith, I wonder if you might just, for a matter of public record, explain how these policies come down because these are not things that we are making up. No. They're not board members. And you do your due diligence very well as a reaction to both state and federal law. So many of these policy changes are directly related, doctor Harshbarger, to Indiana statute changes and or federal changes. So the Board of Education is on top of their work to make sure our board policies, as they always have to do, they have to align with state and
federal laws. These guys take an oath to say that they will follow state and federal guidelines federal laws, and they are. And that's why we have the committee. That's why we have the attorneys and my cabinet and all cabinet members that look these over to make sure that we're well in line with state law. So all of them. Everybody in this room is responsible. Yep. Yes. Thank you. Any other Oh, yeah. So for labor appoint. But yeah. Thank you to everyone. That's one thing that, with being on the policy committee on how things are combed
through with a fine tooth comb, on how it goes to each committee, how it goes to each group. And so I thank you that I've learned a lot, from you all on serving on this committee. So thank you for that. It's a lot of time and a lot of diligence that goes into it. So thank you. That's it. Alright. If there are no other questions or comments, we'll look forward to second reading in two weeks. Thank you, doctor Harshbarger and miss Puckett. Okay. Moving on to action items. 4.1, approval of the CMC for the McKenzie renovations.
Doctor Nesbitt. Thank you, president Norman, members of the board and doctor Smith. As early presented, we are recommending the approval of Powers and Sons to be our construction manager as constructor for the McKinsey Center renovation. So Second. Who wants to? Go ahead. Okay. Properly moved, Ms. Lawrence, and seconded, Ms. Dunn. Any final questions or comments? All right. All in favor of, Powers and Sons for the CMC, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The ayes have it. Congratulations. And did you want to Sure. And and I know that, walking in right now is Meehan Powers the third.
I knew, he he did know if Feisis could be running a little bit behind, but But he's just here. He that he just timed that entrance so he could, you know, have it right as we were talking about him. So Manpower's a third. The president of the company and the director of construction, Dustin Thalman, are both here with us. Welcome. Mr. Powers, I think you had that planned. Well, just seeing right on time. He was standing right outside the door. Exactly. Right on time. Congratulations. Thank you. Alright. 4.2, approval of the personnel reports. Miss Carla Johnson. Madam President, Doctor. Smith and members of the board, HR is seeking approval of a personnel report as
submitted. So moved. Second. Properly moved, miss Dunn, and seconded. All in favor of the approval of the personnel report, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? The personnel reports are approved. Administrator and board comments. Who would like to go first? Anybody? Ms. Dunn, I'll call on you. Well, thank you. I, just wanna say that it is very exciting to start another year here as a board member working with Lawrence Township. I, am super, super, super excited about the work that we continue to do.
When we were in this room for the first time hosting our legislative breakfast, I was reminded of how grateful I am to live and work in a community, as fabulous as ours and to have people that are coming together. We may not always agree, but it was so lovely to see Republicans and Democrats and, Independents, people from our, you know, senators, common counsel, and board members all coming together for one purpose and one purpose alone. And that is to talk about the purpose alone. And that is to talk about the great work that is going on in this school district and how we can continue to maintain it.
And how we continue to maintain it is really exceptional. And it was a very, I was very proud to to sit here on this dais and to work amongst all of you and with you, doctor Smith. So, thank you for that opportunity. Thank you. Well said. Miss Lawrence? I don't have any comments tonight except just to say happy New Year to everyone because this is our first, our first meeting of this New Year. I hope everybody had a relaxing break and now it's time to get back to work. Thank you. Miss Puckett?
I actually have no comment. Enjoy your evening and outlook for I am expectant to this year with all of you. Like, you guys are amazing and I'm expected. And I'll just leave that better. Thank you. Doctor Mulholland. I just wanna wish everyone a happy new year as well. I do wanna mention quickly that the Lawrence Township School Foundation has their scholarship opportunities open for both high schools, and that will close on 01/26/2026. And, so just wanna just share that last, reminder again.
Thank you. That's time sensitive, sensitive, so I appreciate you sharing. Yeah. I don't have a lot to say. I just, my word for the year is reset. And I hope that everyone had a chance over the holiday break to get some time to just un plug and and ready for 2026. So thank you everyone for the work you're doing. And I'll turn it over to doctor Smith. Madam president, we're ready to work. Remind the board, we do have, the Indiana General Assembly is meeting downtown, so they're at work, and you're right behind them. So we had our legislative, breakfast, but now we will do the work of meeting
one on one with our local legislators and others responsibility of the Board of Education, is to meet with our state legislators because as all of us know in the room, they fund the majority of our budget. And so we will meet with our state legislators because as all of us know in the room, they fund the majority of our budget. And so we will meet with them to advocate for our students and our families in in this community. And that's what this board is responsible for. So we'll get the work done. Thank you. No go Hoosiers? Sorry. We I didn't wanna start anything. We love Purdue, Carla.
But today is IU. And next Monday will be IU for a while. So we're Yeah. I'm tying it into what we're doing because we have Lawrence grads on on the teams. You got the Lawrence grads. Yes. Yes. I and along those lines, I saw that there was a petition to the governor to have a two hour delay on Tuesday. So I, I don't know how many kids are gonna be a little tardy on Tuesday, doctor Smith. I know. We gotta win the game first. We'll let the governor do that. Make it easy for us, board. The governor will make that decision, but Yep. Go IU. Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright. Thanks, everyone. Our a reminder for the public, our next, monthly board meeting will be here January
26 at 06:30PM. We will start off with recognitions and then move to our Board of Finance meeting followed by our board meeting. At this time, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Properly moved, Ms. Puckett and seconded, Doctor. Mulholland. Thank you, everyone.