##VIDEO ID:6oXgLwLFWdU## at this time we will call to order our um Board of Education work session the first item on our agenda is our swearing in ceremony of our newly elected and reelected members and I will call Miss Cara capy our attorney to the stage okay um let's call you down first yes are you ready to take the oath of office yes okay right repeat after me I Amy Norman I Amy Norman solemnly swear or affirm solemnly affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will um support the Constitution of the United States of America of America the constitution of the state of Indiana the constitution of the state of Indiana and the laws of the United States and the laws of the United States and the state of Indiana and the state of Indiana I will Faithfully execute I will Faithfully execute the duties of my office the duties of my office as a member of this governing body as a member of this governing body so help me God so help me God congratulations thank [Applause] [Music] you saring Crystal next will you raise your right hand okay will you repeat after me I I Crystal Pucket Crystal Pucket solemnly swear or affirm I solemnly swear or affirm that I will support that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America Constitution of the United States of America the constitution of the state of Indiana the constitution of the state of Indiana and the laws of the United States and the laws of the United States the state of Indiana and the state of Indiana I will Faithfully execute I will Faithfully execute the duties of my office the duties of my office as a member of this governing body as a member of this governing body so help me God so help me God congratulations and Shayla M Hollands my newest elected board member okay Shayla would you raise your right hand and repeat after me I I Shayla molland Shayla molland solemnly swear or affirm solemly swear that I will support the United stat the Constitution that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America of the United States of America the constitution of the state of Indiana the constitution of the state of Indiana and the laws of the United States and the laws of the United States and the state of Indiana and the state of Indiana I will Faithfully execute I will Faithfully execute the duties of my office the duties of my office as a member of this governing body as a member of this goding body so help me God so help me God [Applause] [Music] congratulations that's okay Dr Smith congratulations everybody and at this time I will ask each of our newly elected members to to stand and acknowledge your loved ones who are here with us so I will start with h Dr mahand Who did you bring with you today I would love to acknowledge my family here today Chris prises and Raymond Bodie and my parents Dr Keith and L M Holland my brothers Casey and Liam molland uh Casey they actually attended Craig um and my sister-in-law Christina my nieces emo and a and our our friend Rita holor and Emily [Applause] triet very good all right Miss Pucket would you like to acknowledge your loved ones here today yes I have quite a few people here I have my wonderful um uncle and Uncle Mike and Aunt Patrice they are my soft place to land in adulthood I have my lovely spousal unit Rob love you I have a few kiddos I have Robert my wonderful son right there who stayed just to see you get sworn name and hit the road to go back to school and then I have my best friend Alisia we were on the bser basketball team together and we were [Laughter] horrible oh oh and two uh where are the other two kids this is what happens when you have multiple kids you forget sometimes we have Abby and Addie where you at high honor rooll and honor rooll recipients thank you guys and I would like to acknowledge my husband Isaac Norman my children Jonah Norman he's a senior at Lawrence North Elizabeth Norman she's a freshman at Lawrence North and then Elanor or Ellie uh she comes to a lot of our board meetings she's a Castle fourth grade and then also I'm very honored to have my parents my mom and dad rich and Susie wle in the front row with us they came over from Illinois um biggest my biggest cheerleaders usually in sports but now they're here for governance and my mom was a big influence in me serving in this role she was a 33-year educator in the state of Illinois and she also served a term on the board so thank you guys for all coming [Applause] now board at this time we will per our policy 0154 uh we are annually required to reorganize um through our officers and our committees for the Board of Education all right and I I am a yellow belt at this to use martial arts terms I promise I will be a little bit smoother as we go on but I'm going to go ahead now and start the procedures so at this time we will start with the election of our officers I'm going to open up the floor for nomination for the office of board president I nominate anybody can nominate and any member can also self-nominate yes I nominate Amy Norman as president do I hear a second second second no a second yeah thank you okay thank you board are there any other nominations at this time for president of the Board of Education okay no nominations um no second nominations at this time I will move it to a vote board all in favor of myself Amy Norman as board president say I I and those um oppose say nay okay thank you board um and normally if it were someone else I would say do you accept this uh role and so I accept on behalf of the board um the role of president of our school board so thank you board um and now we will close the president role and I will open up election of vice president at this time so I'm opening up the floorboard for nominations for the role of Vice President I nominate Crystal Pucket second second okay so it's moved and sued are there any other nominations for the role of vice president on the school board okay at this time we will move to a vote board all in favor of Crystal Pucket for um vice president of the school board say I I or say I yeah yeah we we all get a vote on ourselves and then any oppos nay okay that has passed five to zero thank you board um Crystal Pucket do you accept the role of Vice President of the school board graciously accept thank you very much okay thank you all right board at this time we will move to the office of Secretary of the Board of Education I will um open up the floor now for nominations for secretary I nominate Jessica Dunn for secretary second I nominate Dr Shayla malland second okay so at this time board we have um a nomination and a second for both Miss Dunn and Dr shayon mahalet um at this time I will go ahead and take a vote so all in favor of Miss Dunn for board secretary say I I I and then all opposed say nay we have to do a vote so then it will be May okay okay may okay and then at this time okay that is a two to three vote two Nays three I's and then at this time um we will do a vote on Miss or Dr Shayla mahed for board secretary um all in favor say I I I all oppose say nay nay okay thank you board um Dr malled do you accept this nomination as board secretary yes okay all right thank you board for this um nomination and just a reminder to the public while we serve fouryear terms on the board of education our annual reorganization is done yearly and so I just wanted to remind the public of that I thank everyone for their input and I look forward to serving with each and every member of this board we all have an equal vote and equal input so thank you for that now oh goad oh yes and now at this time we're going to take a really short pause um Miss blankens ship will reorganize our seats I also wanted to make an announcement to to anybody we're going to start moving into the business portion of our meeting so for our loved ones who came you're welcome to stay for the riveting part of our business or if you'd like to slip out now this would probably be a good trans transition time so thank you all again for your support oh yeah oh yeah thank you while we're doing this too um one thing that U Miss Lawrence had said that we've done before is to do a quick family photo for all the new members or the really really recently reelected members so um while we're doing this Dr Mahal if you want to bring your family up and do a nice picture you can then we'll follow by Miss Pucket and then myself yes we're gonna bring everybody you guys are going to be front center we'll do we're going to have right here this is where be there she is oh come on and then I'll I want send with the logo so can all take two steps to your left little bit more little bit more one more step to your left you guys are good I'm gonna have you three take a just you three little bit more little bit more perfect perfect perfect that's perfect all right nice and high all right one two three I'm gonna take a few congratul thank you it's a big family many kids many wonderful he ready go okay all right take a couple steps to the left couple steps to the left couple steps one more one more big one there we go that's perfect all right one two three I'm take a couple congratulations and regle nor the rle Norman family would like to join me right seems to head this way I'm trying to Center you're at a great spot you're at a great spot people midd want some right here right here there we go PR good good oh was great all right one two three thank you thank you for that um anyone who's been in this role knows that our families are part of this journey with us and we we can't do it without their support and we all are parents so just um this was a good family event so thank you for that now we will move into the next portion of the session yes we got to do our appointment of our financial um officers at this time let me pull up my notes okay our next point of view our next point is the appointment of our financial leadership Dr Smith on your recommendation we will be appointing Mr Matt miles Chief Financial Officer the purchasing agent and treasurer of the district do you accept Mr miles yes I do okay thank you do have I wanted to Beal all right and secondly Renee Hull will be the um we appoint you as Deputy Treasurer is Renee here okay okay all right thank you all right so now we move on to our board appointed committee members these are definitely great community outreach committees that we do as a board with our different Lo organizations so at this time as acting president I appoint Miss Jessica Dunn or to the Lawrence Parks and Recreation board do you accept Miss Dunn yes ma'am thank you okay secondly I going to appoint Dr Shaya Mahal to the Lawrence Township Foundation board do you accept yes I do thank you and then finally the liaison to the Indiana School Board Association Miss Marta Lawrence do you accept yes thank you okay and now I'll move to Dr Smith for the um superintendent appointed uh committee memberships well as you know board each of you responsible for policy but taking the lead on that we're going to ask one of our senior board members and Crystal Pucket to serve this term and we thank Miss Dunn for doing her term it comes around quickly every year and so Crystal Pucket will serve in that capacity Madame President on the legislative side because of the uniqueness in our state the state legislature meets every year we're in a long session next year will be a short session it feels like we're always in session it requires the work of the entire Board of Education to serve in that so the community needs to know that your board of education is strongly connected to to our state legislators in and out of our community as we will work very hard on policies that will benefit our children in particular the finances that we need in order to run our school corporation so uh all of you board will be in meetings with your legislators thank you thank you Dr Smith we accept all right that is that's the end of that portion now and now we will move on to number four our information items Mr Roger Smith Blue Ribbon facility update Madame President Dr Smith members of the board uh okay uh Belzer Middle School uh we did uh demo the band room and that is going back together uh going on ground level for Ada compliancy uh the kitchen we uh completely demolished the kitchen over winter break and that'll be put back together this semester uh the next SL shows the two new serving lines that I've been showing you all along those are put back into use and using those as temporary serving lines with one in the cafeteria Fall Creek Valley hallways we continue on with there uh the main common area is really moving forward the ceiling's completed uh they're working on the walls and next then will be the flooring the auditorium we expect to turn that back over to uh the building the end of next week and the flooring going in Sound and Lighting will then uh finish the auditorium CA wall expansion we added a wall on the outside where the blue is there or purple and then the next slide shows you the inside that we will remove to expand the cafeteria new lecc brick work work uh if you notied a lot of plastic up around the building we're trying to keep it warm to continue on with the brick work exterior walls continue on the south end uh new roof actually they're up there last week and this week shoveling snow off so we can continue that work the second floor uh they're on the second floor building out the walls and me mechanical electrical Plumbing are contining all right thank you Mr Smith Bo do you have any questions or comments Miss done I have one quick question first of all outstanding work especially the LC is certainly coming along very rapidly they're doing a fantastic job just out of curiosity wondering how with the uh beler kitchen renovation how is food being prepared for students is that being um prepared in another site in yeah we satellite that in we always do this during Renovations because the summer months are too short uh so we usually start spring break in this case we have to start winter break to be done for the start of school all the food satellite is in from LC right across the street thank you very much yes go ahead Mr Smith um I've heard from several parents uh that some water fountains in Lawrence North are not operating and since I'm a La North parent now um I'm curious is there a formal mechanism by which parents can make make facilities aware of those sort of things or what's the best way for members of the public to um are experiencing really talk with the building principle in there we have a form in a process for them to submit and most of them are submitted in our work order system thank you so much thank you for the question board any other questions or comments okay I do have one question Mr Smith LCC is coming along great um and again just for the Public's knowledge the goal we're still on schedule for the administration and programs to move into the new lecc in the summer is that correct uh the plan is to first part of June to to move into uh the new La uh SE building and vacate this one for renovation in June as well okay thank you all right board we will move on to 4.2 requests for the bids of Crestville Crest View um Elementary plans and specifications Mr Roger Smith the next four items I have are uh projects that will be requesting the board approv plans and spec specifications that will allow us to go out to bid our first presentation is uh pressview elementary and in this uh classroom Edition we will we got a new addition of four room classro go back up to the previous one there on the left side is a new addition attached to the Western end of the building and it'll be four classrooms uh two office areas and a gang restroom going in that area and also we will be doing as you move on to the next slide it's about a 7,000 uh square foot uh building that we're going to add on and we also have some other areas within the building uh that we will be updating also a new playground hard surface area on the playground and new Ada uh compliant sidewalks to the playground thank you Mr Smith board are there any questions okay we will move on now Mr Smith to the request for for bids on Forest Glenn plans and specifications again it is a room uh addition going on uh Forest Glenn uh we are adding six classrooms you'll notice it on the lower right hand side and also the orange area and the green area is the playground and the soccer area that will be affecting the site uh and also the blue line in the middle is a little bit of Separation in the parking lot that will help us with traffic flow next slide uh again is a top aerial view we have a green space there on that southwest corner of the building which where the uh addition will go in and the next slide is a rendering of what that may look like when we're done thank you for that Mr Smith board any questions regarding Forest glint I do have a question what is uh the intent who will be in these classrooms uh the these here areas have been uh uh dedicated to the preschool and the uh kindergarten uh we can put uh equip it specifically for the uh preschool classes we got them all together they're coming in that side of the building so the logistics made it well uh for the building to kind of establish those being for pre and kindergarten that makes me think Dr Smith given that this face will be for the younger children has there been any conversation about potentially having like the lacc's have their own building leader since it's integrated into Forest Clen has there been any thought of having since it is Will bead's own space their own administrator for that small okay for any other questions I have I do have one other question uh Mr Smith will this eliminate the need for us to to have portables for students yes we'll take the comos away I hear often Dr Smith that's why I'm asking yes we will be able to remove uh the Portables uh upon completion of this addition great news thank you thank you for those questions board anyone else have questions regarding Forest gln um I do have a um a question slash comment Dr Smith Andor Mr Smith Maybe just for the public to give us a historical um lesson again about when we started bringing students in from preschool about how many years ago was that go ahead Miss leant because you are the expert of experts because she oversees that for us yes we are I think four to five years in there was a grant um that we received that allowed us to start immersion preschool and so we started at Forest Blen and at Sky's test it's been wildly popular thank you for that um historical background it's just helpful I know because a lot of people in the community many times know about the elc's and you the district does a great job of advertising but it's just helpful to know the expansion so thank you for that board if there are no more questions we will move on to 4.4 request for bids for the Mary Castle Elementary plans and specifications Mr Smith Mary Castle class four classroom expansion uh onto Mary Castle just a little history there too in 17 we added four classrooms within the four walls when we renovated and the growth has continued to expand and therefore the requests to uh add additional classrooms we just put on two uh Portables out back to help alleviate that for the next year and a half so uh there on the left we be on the southwest corner of the building on the front uh where the new addition will occur again a 5,000 ft addition going on uh with some uh attention within the building as well and also playground uh will be doing the hard surface resurfacing of their uh existing uh playground the other playground was new in 17 see the four classrooms it's similar to way the building was previously designed and set up to make another quad uh for that particular building again that shows you the lower left hand is where the addition goes the top uh gray Square uh gray square area uh is where we'll resurface for their Flor thank you Mr Smith board any questions regarding Mary Castle I do since this is a site where we are just beginning to add the Portables to I know that uh many of the families at Boris Glenn have asked me specifically about security and warmth and access and things to Portables so Mr Smith if you could just explain how we manage our portables for members of the public who may be interested or may have students in them for the first time we do keep them locked all day and they have uh access through their key system to to go in and out we also have our camera systems uh posted on both sides of the cameras so we do have full visibility uh both in the playground around the Portables in the building uh fire and uh uh PA system is also tied into the Portables as well Mr Smith due to the uniqueness of Mary Castle being a neighborhood school will you explain to the Board of Education the location and access to the community to the neighborhood because this is a unique school it is we do have a walking path as you see on the dish go back to that original one down down last one right there you see the new edition there's a walking path currently right there uh that goes into uh that addition and also splits and has an easement that goes off all the way into uh the sidewalks for the addition we do have walkers to this building and uh we may have to alter that for uh a little time through this renovation but then it will be rebuilt and established back for full access from that addition to the school thank you Mr Smith and um to go along you had already said it but I just wanted to re the Portables will be up for around one and a half years correct we're hoping just over a year if we start this summer then the next uh fall they should be ready to to move into so just a little over a year okay thank you board any other questions regarding Mary Castle okay we will move on now to the request for bids for the Craig um Phase 2 Renovations Mr Smith Again full renovation of the Craig internal uh building uh as you recall phase one we did a lot of external roof and site work uh in this building and now that uh Craig Academy is moving forward then renovating this building to put back for student use uh we do we are going to do some site where number one is uh we were going to make that lower level ADA Compliant right now it's just concrete steps going in there and that's a lower level that accesses uh both or actually all three gyms in the cafeteria and we want to make it ada8 accessible floor FL floor P plan you have seen this before but anyway lower level is laa uh we do has some uh special needs area leap area and then also the back half will be Community involvement in those locations we will be keeping the professional development area as well as this current board area this next level is the second level where the classrooms will all be renovated to accommodate student use and we'll also add a stairway in the middle for easier access down to the lower level uh to the cafeteria and then the the bottom level where the gyms and cafeteria we will be putting a brand new kitchen in there to accommodate the needs of the student in this building all right thank you oh sorry ahead I would like to kind of go back and just recognize we do have a team that's helping us do this uh going through each of our Renovations with cresview that is Schmid and Associates and then wish Smitt Associates uh on Crestville we have Davis uh for the CMC Gary Edmund's here and Scott seon that are helping us put that together uh Forest Glenn ratio is the architect again these are the Architects that did the previous uh renovation so bringing them back on uh uh with us as a partner to finish this out Scott Hunt's here and uh uh core and Garcia are the CMC and Remo mazetta is here with uh core and Garcia Mary Castle again Schmid and Associates uh Jen Carroll the architect and then powers and Suns uh M Powers is here with d and thomman uh will be overseeing the the buildout of that project uh Fanny and Hoy um Mike ship and Dennis Bane uh Architects for Fanny and hiy again powers and Suns will be helping us uh with that build out as a CMC with Mayon and Dustin present again so we want to thank them as a true partner working with us on these projects thank you for that acknowledgement and thank you everyone for your work um current and future Bo are there any questions regarding Craig I I do have some questions and Mr miles this may be a better question for you as it relates to Craig but also the other Renovations how is this paid for across fiscal years and where do expenses hit um as we don't plan to have students in in Craig until 2027 I'm curious how the financing works for each of these different renovations yes happy to answer those questions uh as far as the construction financing for Craig um that is part of our already approved pre-approved by the board um $90 million financing project that was approved in Fall of 2023 so as the construction uh moves into the next step uh we will be using uh taking future Bond dollars out uh for for those to finance those projects uh operational costs and things are there with they now um those will obviously change during the course of construction and then once we get going again um we'll have students in the building to support thank you Miss Lawrence on board are there any other questions regarding Craig okay we will move on now to the school resolution um Mr Matt miles thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh our next item up for on the agenda tonight for info and then later for Action uh relates to the financing of several of the projects that Mr Smith was just referring to outside of the Craig project this this is referring to our elementary expansions as well as our guaranteed Energy savings contracts um which were both uh previously heard by the board and passed in our 1028 hearings um this past uh in late 2024 and this is a resolution uh for the Board of Education of the metropolitan school district of Lawrence Township taking actions regarding the proposed First Amendment to lease and approving the issuance of bonds by the school corporation building School building Corporation of Lawrence Township and matters related there to uh with me tonight here is Hannah clendenning and she is from Barnes and thornberg our legal Bond Council Hannah is here to answer any questions that I don't touch on or the board may want to hear additional information but uh the resolution mirrors the language that you saw and approved once again in the 1028 again it's for our 2025 through 27 elementary school expansion renovation and energy conservation projects in short um it is to uh Finance it's the next step in the financing process for Crestview Harrison Hill Indian Creek and Skyles test uh for our hbac um upgrades as well as Roofing projects and this step follows uh the 30-day petition and remonstrance uh waiting period that we did not get any U action taken by the community so we've passed that 30 days now we are ready uh to pass this resolution The Next Step would come in late February uh at a public hearing uh by the Board of Education and action as well by our building corporation uh to basically put approve the uh the bond issuance so we anticipate again that public Hearing in February this project would be tax St neutral um so that's always a key thing to share um as we move forward again with this construction and um hopefully I've touched on everything Hannah so if we if the board does have questions we'd be happy to answer those thank you Mr M board questions I do yes um what energy conservation measures are are being utilized and um how do we see these these Mr Smith would you like to touch on that on the guaranteed Energy savings side as a result of new equipment new controls uh we're going to have less labor and fix and repair costs and also the new parts going in are energy efficient so we will also have uh Energy savings uh savings on top of that thank you for that and then can you also just to remind the public on what it um can you Define tax Regal please I'm looking at Mr Smith and that's a question for me tax rate NE neutral in in short means that this is not going to be an increase to property taxes can you expand then on how that's being paid for just for members of the public please sure and Miss Glen Denning if I I'll take it and you can jump in if need be but um so again we will issue those bonds um this spring um we will go through a bond rating process uh prior to our last bonds that we sold uh occurred last fall um at a we were actually able to get a rate of 3.11% interest and those will be a maximum 20-year uh Bond and at a maximum rate in the uh the language says up to 6% uh we are extremely conservative in that and we expect to get a much better rate than that but since they are 20 years in nature it may be difficult if the tax for example if things were happening in the state legislator with our state legislators where perhaps the district is not getting as much funding there could be a tax increase not we're not anticipating it this year or the next year but there could be over the 20 years of the bonds potentially tax increases would that be safe to say our so our this would tie to our debt service tax rate um and once we pass that it is locked in um at that point and mising can certainly uh jump in if need be but um that should not as as it relates to this project it's kind of like um locking in your rate on your home you're you're locked in and the bond rate associated with it would be would be tied to that um if there future projects fall off our our our debt service rate um could have and flow over the years um you know based on debt either coming on or going off of off of our debt structure I'm not sure if that answer your right but there will never be a time when this when the district would need to go to taxpayers to pay for this is what you're saying correct correct sorry if I didn't answer that easier yeah correct thank you good questions board are there any other questions at this time thank you okay thank you Mr miles at this time we will move to our action items I will go to action item 5.1 approval of school resolation resolution of the board um on the proposed First Amendment to lease and approving the issuance of bonds uh Mr Matt miles thank you once again Madam president at this time I recommend that the board approve the resolution as presented so move second all right it has been moved and properly seconded all right board are we ready to vote all in favor say I I I all opposed the eyes have it are all right thank you Mr miles now we will move on to the approval request for bids for Crest Elementary plans and specifications Mr Roger Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board recommend the board approve the plans and specifications for cresview Elementary uh classroom addition project uh to go out to buit to go out to bid as present so moved second all right properly moved and seconded all right board all in favor say I I I all opposed all right we will move on now again Mr Smith to the approval of bids for Forest Glenn Elementary M president Dr Smith members of the board recommend the board approve the plans of specifications for Force Glenn Elementary classroom addition project as presented so move properly moved and seconded board at this time we'll go ahead and make a vote all in favor say I I I all right all eyes no n all right at this time we will now move to the request for bids for Mary Castle Elementary Mr Smith Madam president Dr Smith members of the board recommend the board approve the plans and specifications for Mary Castle Elementary classroom Edition project as submit second all right properly moved and seconded all in favor say I I I I'll oppos all right the eyes have it now we will move on to action or to our item 5.5 approval of requests for bids for the Craig Phase 2 Renovations Mr Roger Smith mam president Dr Smith members of the board recommend the board approve the plans and specifications for Craig phase two uh renovation project as presented so move we have a second okay properly moved and seconded all in favor say I I I I all opposed say nay all right all eyes thank you board now we will move on to the approval of the Personnel reports Miss Carla Johnson good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board rep we'd like to request approval of the personel report as submitted all right do I have a motion so moved all right Jessica it's done do I have a second second all right properly moved and seconded all in favor I all opposed all right the eyes have it all right board um we have conducted our business and now at this time we will go to our administrator and board comments would anyone like to go first go ahead and go Miss Pucket all right I am presenting for the last time as I will pass the time to this done um from the Arts board we have the young entrepreneurs this is from ages 5 to 17 this is for our young leaders who have a chance to learn and develop their um marketing skills their sales and customer service this takes place they still have two more January 18th and February 15 this is at Lawrence Community Park from 10: to 1 we also have um a few more dates for our Winter Market that's on select Thursdays from 4 to 7: also at the community center you can go to the cityof lawrence.org for the additional days for that and also for our wonderful seniors we have the golden hour game days this is um at on Thursdays again at the Lawrence Community Center from 11: to no on Thursdays so that is from the parks well thank you Miss Pucket um just a point of clarification and I've done this before myself we actually do our committee reports at the at the monthly meeting the second time of the month did I just mess up no it's okay no because now the now the community knows what's going on in the city of excited about no no I I'm excited now I want to go to that stuff no um and I've done that myself no but thank you for that and then um if you have any like our personal you know board comments at this time I'm opening up the floor otherwise I'll call in people so anybody have a comments I have no comments other than thank you everybody um I'm excited for another year um this is going to be an exciting year and I look forward to it I um thank you it's always been an honor and um yeah looking forward to the work it's going to be a interesting all right um Miss Dunn do you have any comments at this time you Miss Lawrence excited to work with all of you in the coming year it's going to be great um one thing I do want to call out and Shout out all of our facilities um people who have been shoveling snow and uh dumping salt and making sure our kids and uh staff and teachers can get inside and outside of building safely it is uh not easy work and it is sometimes worth that does not go recognized so Mr Smith please extend that uh that heartfelt thank you also to our bus drivers who every day open the door in sometimes very frigid temperatures to a child who's been standing at a bus stop um also in very frigid temperatures um so shout out to those bus drivers who get that wind in their face each and every day thank you for that Miss Lawrence uh Dr Mahal J we're grateful for the welcome the um onboarding experience with all of you to uh Orient me to the board and um just the welcome and grateful to have my family and friends out today I'm looking forward to the work ahe thank you Dr Mahal uh I just have a quote uh one of my sorority sisters was recently chosen as the Georgia teacher of the year and um she said to quote as leaders are job isn't to represent One Voice our job is to represent the voice of others the people who aren't always in the room and and when we talk about intersectionality I see this with our board that we are all here to represent those who do not have the privilege to be in this room and I really look forward to serving with each and every one of you I thank you for our staff um our teachers our Administration everybody um and most importantly the kids we another point of intersectionality is we're all parents and that really personalizes the work that we do and um I just wanted to say thank you and we look forward as a governing body to serving our community this year Dr Smith Madam president and board there's often you don't get thank yous but you make decisions and you decisions on the shoulders of other board members we made a decision several years ago Roger Smith to build our swimming pools Grant neith go to the mic and share what happened because of building nice facilities we were able to do something this past weekend we haven't been able to do it many years we've got a brand new swimming pool at Lawrence North High School what happened we do and we hosted Mick championships and one of our teams even won Mick Championship Morris North won that so uh it's pretty exciting to be able to host that and and uh have it here we also hosted some col teams University of Michigan came and practiced at LC and that's a pretty neat thing for high school kids to get to watch a tier one big 10 you know high level swim swim program and I'll just go and keep going you know when the Olympics came the Olympic trials came we were the practice site for several major clubs and universities to come in and that's just we can't take for granted that what a need experience for our 14 to 18 year old to get to watch the highest level watch future Olympians uh as they train and get to see that so um we get a lot of accolades on our our aquatic facilities and our facilities as a whole uh across the board and particularly in the athletic Arena so congratulations and my last statement since we are in the season of snow it's normal parents we're okay and it will be cold and Roger Smith and his team will be out to make sure we shovel out but I want to remind people we still have a long way to go with wnter so we'll be ready for you thank you all right thank you Dr Smith thank you board um happy 2025 again our next uh board meeting our monthly board meeting will be January 27th here at 7 pm at this time I will take a motion to adjourn the meeting so who do I have a second second properly moved and seconded at this time we will gavel out thank you issue she I don't