Our monthly board of education meeting. At this time, I would like to call up mister Kemper and student leaders from Indian Creek Elementary to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Alright. Thank you for having us this evening. We'll get things started. I have three representatives this evening. I have Mina Sloan, sixth grader, basketball rebounding machine, and front office assistant right here. And then I have Isabella. Isabella is in second grade in our dual language program. And then I have Benjamin Lopez.
Benjamin was one of our first students to be able to run and and operate both the three d printer and the laser cutter all by himself. So I wanted them to represent Indian Creek tonight. So I'm gonna hand it over to them for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you, Indian Creek. Well done. At this time, we'll move on to our recognitions, 2.1, superintendent and above and beyond awards, miss Johnson. Good evening, madam president, doctor Smith, and members of the board. We are so proud to recognize two above and beyond staff members from Lawrence Township Schools. Tonight, we have with miss Shanta miss Shontay Honeycutt.
If she could come forward. Congratulations to Shontay Honeycutt, CIS family liaison at Merry Castle, for being selected to receive the Above and Beyond Award. Shontay is the heart of Merry Castle. Beyond her CIS family liaison role, she builds community, supports families, and brings doctor Blythe's vision to life, most notably through our annual school family community Thanksgiving luncheon. She partners closely with PFO, serves as our cheer coach, and helped launch our recreational
volleyball club. Shanta shows up for students and staff both in and out of school, always going the extra mile. She is truly MEC through and through and exemplifies what it means to serve with Congratulations. Next, we have Mavel Ramos. Mavel Ramos is a retired teacher. She's been serving at Merry Castle, and we are glad that you are receiving the above and beyond award.
Ma Belle Ramos, who has gone above and beyond to support Merry Castle twice, stepping in to stabilize one of our bilingual high ability classrooms when teachers departed in both first and second grade. She has been steady, trusted presence, ensuring high quality instruction and a warm and structured classroom culture where students continue to thrive. Students adore missus Ramos, and our staff does too. Her deep expertise in dual language education has also strengthened our teachers, especially those still
growing in this area. If she weren't retired, we would hire her full time again without having it. We're honored to present you with the above and beyond award. The best of all stars have their class. Your name, Manuel Ramos, will you have your family stand up and Shante Honeycook, your family? Thank you for supporting her. I'll call to introduce it. Yeah. I can. And next, we have doctor Emily Hasbron as she introduces our star elementary students. Good evening, president Norman, doctor Smith, members of the board. I'm so pleased to bring to you tonight the winners of our district elementary robotics
competition. Yes. Now we have several two categories we're gonna be, honoring tonight. The first award is the excellence award. And I'm gonna invite mister Kevin Kemper from Indian Creek to introduce his team of award winning students. Alright. Once again, thank you for having us. Tonight with us, winning the excellence award at this year's league championships is Quinn Kemper. Quinn, head on up. Nadia Barnes, head on up. And unable to be with us tonight is Lanaya Goodman and our coach, mister Senor, Islas. Now if you've been to a robotics competition, you understand that there will actually be
two teamwork award winners. The way robotics works, two teams work together to get the highest score of the competition. And so to start with one of our two teamwork awards, I'm gonna ask miss Franklin from Scouse Test Elementary to introduce her team. Good evening. We have Sebastian Kendall, Nicholas Goudreau. Harrison Miller. Hi, Brooke.
Hi, Brooke. Hi, Brooke. Austin Morris, and our amazing coach, Dave Schafer. Alright. Now stand. And to introduce the counterpart to their teamwork on the other side of the teamwork award, I bring mister Yearwood from Forest Glen Elementary to introduce his team. Good evening, everyone. I'm very proud to introduce to you these robo pumas. Their team name is the Dunkin' Ducks. Mister Kyle Kyler Whaley, Daniel Menendez Medina, Xander Price, Connor Christ.
Our fabulous coach and STEM teacher, miss Anne Close. And to continue with student recognitions tonight, our chief of secondary education, doctor Crystal Thorpe. Good evening, board president, missus Amy Norman, superintendent doctor Smith, and members of the board. MSD of Lawrence Township has a long standing excellence a long standing tradition and excellence in the arts. Tonight, we celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our secondary schools in the performing arts. The criterion for individual recognition includes excelling in competitions such as Allstate ensembles, all regional ensembles, the Indianapolis Symphonic Orchestra side by side, just to name a few.
So we are gonna take pictures after the names are read. So tonight, we do, have Belzer Middle School will be represented by miss Lascano, orchestra's teacher. So come stand by me, please. Then we'll have Fall Creek Valley Middle School, read by mister, Maguero, principal. Lawrence North will be presented by miss Metzger, orchestra teacher going after Lawrence Central, which will be presented by miss Kayla Smith. So I have miss Lozcano. K. Good evening. Our first, recognized student from Belzer is Emma Herrera for participating in the Indiana ASTA Central All Region Orchestra playing the bass.
Our next student is, Leydonna John Lewis, who also participated in the Anasta Central All Region Orchestra playing the cello. Next is Amari Kimble for participating in the in Indiana ASTA Central All Region Orchestra playing the cello. Our next student is Natalie Mori for participating in the Anasta Central All Region Orchestra, playing the viola. And our next student is Jackie Ochoa for participating in the Indiana Asta Central All Region Orchestra playing the violin. And then we have, Genesis Perdomo Ellis for also participating in Central All Region Orchestra
playing the violin. And our final student who participated was Nevaeh Wilson in the Indiana Indiana ASTA Central All Region Orchestra playing the bass. So those are our students from Belzer. Good evening. Thank you again for recognizing our outstanding musicians from Fall Creek Valley. We will start with the students that participated in the all region honor band. First is Morgan Ellefsen playing the French horn. Next, we have Sergei Coon playing the tenor sax. Yes. I have Griffin Schweitzer who's played the bass clarinet. Let's do it. Noah Short playing the alto sax.
Elise Taylor playing the trombone. Our next group of students will be recognizing who participated in the all region honor orchestra. First is Jennifer Bartlett playing the violin. Next is Emily Bullock playing Next, we have Bronwyn Haidt playing the violin.
Penelope Holtz also playing the violin. Ashley Linares Pinto, playing the double bass. Maxwell Murphy, playing the viola. Jacqueline Till playing the cello. And representing our outstanding performing arts staff is miss Amanda Camacho, our orchestra director. Hello. Hello. Thank you so much again for recognizing our performing arts students and for all of your support of our programs. Today, we are recognizing, from Lawrence Central, Oliver Hyman. He was in the All State Orchestra playing the French horn. Samuel Cover, also All State Orchestra, alternate in French horn. Dominic Morgan, a junior All State in the trumpet.
We have Alex Avia Hernandez, was in the All Region Orchestra playing violin. And Hang Yi Liu, in All State Orchestra oh, sorry, All Region Orchestra in the violin. Congratulations. Alright. Six. That's right. Congratulations. I'll get that off doing whatever. It's okay. Hello. I'm Laurie Metzger. I'm the orchestra teacher at Lawrence North High School, and I have three students to recognize for participating in the Indiana High School All Region Orchestra.
Unfortunately, none of them are here, so it's just me. The first is Christine Fox, who played violin, Ruth Barber Benitez, who also played violin, and Annabel Keith, who played bass. Congratulations again to all of our award winners, and thank you coaches, teachers, and parents for all you do. Moving into our information items, 3.1, blue ribbon updates with doctor Nesbitt. Thank you, madam president, members of the board, doctor Smith. Let's jump into blue ribbon phase two. Similar slide you've seen here in recent meetings.
Mackenzie, our design work continues there, honing in on that. Craig Academy continues to move along. We'll look at some pictures of that and then our classroom additions, of course, at Crestview, Forest Glen, and Mary Castle. As we talked about before, the chillers are going in at, Winding Ridge and Winding Ridge LC and ELC Mary Castle, and then we're gearing up for our other work here this summer. In fact, we have a meeting later this week with the principals to go over the summer work and for our guaranteed energy savings. Let's take a look at some pictures. Crestview, there's a look from the outside, and then as you walk into the building, and that's a bathroom there on the right. And believe it or not, you can see the plumbing down there.
And then here's a look down the main corridor, and that's one of the four classrooms. Pretty similar looking. Most of them, one of them is a little larger. That's a music room. It's gonna be a little bit bigger than the others. And then Forest Glen, we have the sheathing there at the outside. If you drove by here in the last week, you've seen the roofing going on. I don't think I got a picture of that on this day, but we do have roofing going on. And I think I have a few more pictures from inside there. Yeah. You can see the structure coming along, you can really make out the six rooms in there now. Merry Castle, we could we could have class in there this week if we wanted to. Just about. We actually have inspection going on, Wednesday, for occupancy, but we're we're pretty well just
about wrapped up. That's last week. You can see the there is a kitchen sink still sitting there. But you're just about done, with Merrick Castle. So well ahead of schedule. Very excited for that, and that's gonna be nice to have that one done, as we go in. Craig Academy. There's the PD Room. So that's where the old stage was, and that's where that's gonna be a big stairwell there now. So that's the on the picture on the left, that is on the main level of the PD Room. And then the picture on the right is looking down, from the Top Floor, and that's the the hole that's currently in the PD room ceiling.
Then so they cut the deck out, and that's where the large stairwell will go out, and that will look out into the gymnasium as you go down. You can see there at the bottom picture, they see that hard hat. Boy, did that guy, and we each gave ourselves a scare. Because here I am leaning out to get a picture, and here he is 20 feet up in the air painting the window well. So, that was funny. But, anyway, that's that's the, gymnasiums wrapping up painting there. And, that's the blue ribbon phase two. Thank you, doctor Nesbitt. Board, any questions gratitude to Dana for ensuring that the families I saw because of
the renovations that are being done at Craig Academy, that the sharing place has moved locations. And, just really feel like you guys have done an extraordinary job of making sure that the community is aware of that move. So just wanna make sure, again, on this form that we're able to share that that's moving to a church. Is that correct? Yes. Temporarily. Temporarily. Until May 25 is what is that what I saw or sometime in May? Yes. I think I think it was two years. Yep. So just thank you so much for that communication and for making sure that that we can still serve, the students and families of Lawrence Township.
Much appreciated. Thank you. Miss Lawrence? And not just Lawrence's passion. This has been, not just the our panelists. I I just wanted to commend all of the work that's going on because I know we've had lots of snow, we've had lots of ice, we've had lots of setbacks, and yet we are still ahead in some of our elementary schools according to what we heard in our last work session. I just wanted to clarify, doctor Nessa, for anybody who's wondering why we're not moving folks into classrooms. We had talked about this in our work session, but just for the record, could
you explain? Sure. Mary Cass will be the one that we would be able to, but during any construction project, we really try our best not to move a teacher more than one time. And the teachers that are currently in the portables are not bound for those new rooms. They're actually going elsewhere, then people elsewhere are going into those rooms. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, George? I did get a question from a constituent. They were ask inquiring, what grade levels will be moving into the addition at Forest
Glen or if it has been decided. The the the rooms are designed with bathrooms in them so that we could handle kindergartners or the lower level grades in there. And then I I have the luxury of usually let letting other people, assign them. I I sometimes joke, I I'll I'll get it built for you and then you can decide what you do with it. Okay. So turn them to the building principal for clarifying questions. Yeah. Alright. Thank you for that. You're welcome. Alright. If there are no other questions, we will move on to 03/2026 budget tax rate
update with mister Miles. Thank you, madam president. Good evening, doctor Smith, members of the board. At this time of the year, we bring back the final budget order, once that is ironed out from the state. We typically receive that right around the first of the year, and then there's a few weeks that it takes to, process and and confirm that. Once we get clearance back from the state to release that, then we do so, and that's what we're doing here tonight. We'll share that in three different slides. The first one is, revolves around the actual budget.
This is the amount that we, or legally have authority to spend in each of the funds. Would highlight at the bottom of the slide our assessed valuation. That's the the cumulative value of the real estate in our township. And it's always good to see that increasing. Not every, location in the state, school district in the state has that. And we have a great strong, total assessed valuation. Over $7,000,000,000 in total assessed valuation. It increased, by 6.8%
this year. And then there's a second, AV rate, and that is for our referendum As that's exempt from our property tax caps, that that number is a little higher and, is just over 8,000,000,000, at this time and increased by 7.7% this year. Those are great things that that helps to keep our tax rate down. Again, back here on this first slide, you can see the actual budget from 2025, the advertised budget that was approved by the board back in the fall, for '26.
And then to the far right, you'll see where the actual budget came in, across our education fund, debt service, retirements, slash pension bond funds, our referendum, and our operations funds. So this first slide has to do, again, with the, authority to spend. That is our budget. The next slide goes to the, rate, the actual tax rate. You can see last year's rate, over on the far left at a dollar $12.59. And then if you go to the far right, this year's rate actually, decreased a
little bit. We're down to a a dollar $8.77. That is driven, primarily by that increase in AV. And then on the last slide, we will look at the levy. You will see that there is no levy for the education fund. That's driven by ADM, as you know. But there is a levy. That's the actual money we expect to receive from the state across those funds. And we did see an increase, a slight increase this year in levy, and that amount was page.
$2,639,455 is the increased levy from 25 to 26. So we love to see that going up. That's about 3.25%. So that's a that's a good thing to report as well. Alright. Thank you, Mr. Miles. Board, any questions or comments? Yeah. Miss Lawrence? First, Ms. Miles, we do should all be very proud of these numbers and not just not just not especially you, and your team for keeping us as consistently strong as we
are as a district. I think some people don't really recognize the difference between the operating and capital referendums. I wonder if you might quickly explain and then also explain how many other school districts around compare to us when it comes to referendum? I'm actually glad you brought that up. I the operating referendum versus a capital referendum is is a is a good question. Capital Capital referendums are in place, when we want to go out and borrow money
for a specific construction project, typically. And we did so, to finance our high school renovations as well as touching every building across project. So we do have that. That that dollar amount is fixed when it goes out to the the to the voters for approval. The voters approve that. And then over time, as that referendum gets paid down, typically, the, the rate falls, with with AV increasing. Operating referendums are a little different.
We are unique in Marion County. We're one of only two districts in the in the county, that do not have an operating referendum, and so we're proud of that. The, the operating referendum is more in terms of used more, for paying your bills, whether it be Operations. Salaries, operation operating dollars, so day to day operations. A district may have to go to its taxpayers and ask for additional funds if they don't have enough money coming through their budget. Mr. Myers, just a quick follow-up question as a point of clarification. Blue Ribbon Phase one was paid for with operating part of it was paid for
with operating with the capital referendum that we levied, as well as the two high schools. Could you very quickly and you might know not know the answer, but I know you may know about this. I can hear you. How old were our high schools when we renovated that? So just as a point of clarification, the high schools were not a part of Blue Ribbon part one because we pulled those out and did those two and half of the referendum. Both high schools, the last time Lawrence Central was renovated was in the early 2000s.
LN officially really had never been renovated. When was it built? It was built in 1978, to be exact, I believe, is when we moved in the building or 'seventy seven grand. Yes. 'seventy six is when it opened. 'seventy eight is first graduating class. Okay. That is correct. That is correct. And, we we did the field house edition in '96. That was the only edition we did to it. Or that hadn't rubbed and touched. It was all originally. So as somebody whose birthday age is 70 I feel aches and pains. I'm sure the foundations, all the things that happened at LN also felt aches and
pains and probably was to a beautiful little face lift that we provided through the generosity of our taxpayers. We we were almost fifty years when that building was renovated. I do remind the taxpayers, you got your money's worth. You certainly did. One other quick question because this is the time of year. What is our what is our, bond rating? So our bond rating, you may recall from last fall, it was increased. We've always had a strong double a plus, bond rating. And the we will have the next time we issue bonds again, we will get
an update on that. And doctor Smith, correct me if I'm wrong, we went from we're now double a plus and the second rating I'm sorry. You were you were a plus. A plus would be fine too. So the last thank you. So very strong, very few school districts in the state of Indiana, or any municipalities for that for that matter have have that rating or certainly any higher. So So you couldn't translate that to what that means when we are are are
going out and and cashing in our bonds. What does that mean for our taxpayers? We pay less interest. That's right. Which means it's cheaper for them. Correct. Yeah. Correct. And board members will be back with you. Obviously, we are bringing forward to you the McKinsey project, and we will have the BOG rating this year. So we cross our fingers. Mr. Miles and his team polishes up everything, but we won a very good BOG rating as we go back out for renovations for that important building. Okay. Thank you you for those questions.
Board, any other questions or comments? Okay. We'll stick with mister Miles and move on to 3.3, financial update. Thank you, madam president. At this time, I share the January 26 month end financials, for both our general fund and our transportation funds as we do each month. And, both are in a favorable position right now. Again, we're just just out of the starting blocks here for with one month under our belt for '26. And you can see in front of you, that revenues, both for we'll just start
with the general fund here. Total revenues, just slightly ahead of expectations and expenditures just slightly below, putting our ending balance just a little ahead of where we thought we might be at this time of the year. Expenditures in January, were up a little this month. That's primarily because it's a three pay month for us. Two times a month or two times a year, we will have a month that has three three pays. So those in those months, we adjust for that in our projections for our salaries and benefits.
The next slide will have our transportation fund. Similarly, happy with where we're at one month in, in transportation. You can see the, ex the revenue comes in twice a year. We won't get that until June. And then again at the end of the year in in December, our expenditures just a little under, about a little over a 100,000, under. So glad to see that and ending balance in a good place, out of the gates at Transportation. Thank you, mister Miles. Board, any questions or comments on the financial update?
Yes, sir. Doctor Smith. Mister Miles, we forgot to remind the board. They already know, but the public needs to know what our tax rate. We have one of the lowest tax rates in Marion County. Is that correct? We certainly are. Our total tax rate is now just over a dollar 8, and I'm gonna get it exactly here. Dollar $8.77 is our total tax rate, down from a dollar 12. One of the lowest in Marion County. Absolutely. The Lord and us, and we'll change as their revenues.
That That that that lack of operating a referendum, really helps us tremendously to keep our tax rate down. So what will be the lowest tax rate until we decide to do a referendum? Lowest tax rate until we decide to do a referendum. That's done. And I just I think it's important to know too, and I know as I look around and I see the buildings that we have in Lawrence Township, it's we are competitive in the facilities that we have, in the salaries that we're able to
pay. And so that lower tax rate, I think, is really important for everybody to understand that that is not by accident, that that is by the, judicious, budgeting that occurs by, obviously, you, mister Miles, and our superintendent. And so just I think it's very important that, we celebrate that, but we also know that that's not something that happens by accident, especially when we look around and we have such I look at where we are right now. We have beautiful facilities. We have wonderful teachers, and we're able to pay staff, a salary that is, competitive
in nature. So kudos to the district. I may add one other thing just just for the public's knowledge, and and I I wholeheartedly agree with all the comments, that we've shared here tonight. One thing we will watch as we move forward, with with the new, SEA one that went into place, that will go into place this year, those rates, they're the AV is going to be reduced going forward, and those rates will, they may move around certainly from district to district. So a lot of districts, and we would probably in this category as well, we
will wanna watch our levy, which is the amount of dollars that we receive, just equally to what we're looking at that rate. So that's something we'll watch. And and I didn't point out earlier, our levy went up this year about 3%. So, right in line with where we would want it. Miss Lawrence. Apologies. I apparently have lots and lots of questions tonight, but I know all the answers. I'm just asking to prompt you. I think members of the public, as we've been talking about assessed values, we've been talking about tax rates.
I think it's very easy for members of the public to to think that we're spending from one giant pot of money, which, you know, I I think if you're thinking about a budget, right, the operating versus, capital referendum might seem like just kind of mincing words. You're giving money. But can could Yes Yes.
I I would be happy to do so. Those line items that we saw, in the budget that we looked at earlier this evening, education fund, debt service fund, the retirement bond fund, capital referendum fund operations, those are, in essence, their own unique buckets, that are funded through different functions, within our tax rate, different functions within our ADM and enrollment. And the we are statutorily limited as to how we can spend those dollars.
So that is we wanna see all of them grow. And in in some essences, we do look at it as as one big pot, but they do have unique places that they come from, and they do have unique places where they can be spent. Thank you. Any other questions or comments, board? I just had one one comment from my deep thoughts on the treadmill. They come to me. But, I was thinking about, the reports that you shared and the the money, and it does require a lot of money to to do what we can for our
students and staff. Next year will be the '27 budget session. So it just was a reminder to me of our impact as board members and community members to get out in front of it because there are entities and powers that be that are slowly trying to chip away at the pot of money. So just staying ahead of it, engaging with our state legislators, writing letters, starting early. So that was my my comment for the night on that. But thank you again. Thank you. We'll move to 3.4, board committee chair reports, starting this time with policy.
Miss Pudget? Well, the law is nearing our short our short session. The policy committee is eagerly awaiting the end of the twenty twenty six General Assembly short session. As of now, we are in the back third of the session with one more week to go. The upcoming week should be busy, decisive, and a last chance for lawmakers to either pass or let die significant bills before the session formally ends on February 27, February or Friday. Looking forward, we anticipate the next revision packet, volume 38, number two, in mid to
late March. It is a short it is a short session because this is not a budget year. So people are wondering what is a short session. We do not have budgets this this year, and it's reviewing amendments and so forth that are needed to be made. So I want to clarify that as well. Thank you for that. Hopefully, it'll be a less busy policy year for you guys. I wanna know. Yes. Very good. Moving to Lawrence Parks and Recreation, Well, we had a very successful Black History Month right here at the Fort on February 11.
We also, continue to have the Forever Young Clubs. Game days are Thursdays at 5301 North Franklin Road. That is from eleven to one. And then Fridays rotate. So, this Friday, we have yoga from eleven to twelve, Friday the thirteenth. March, we have fitness. We also have something new, crafts. That's in the evenings on Fridays, from six to seven. So, lots of great things happening with our parks. And don't forget too that our parks, we have Oakland and Youth Organization baseball.
We have FC pride. We also, have Circle City Athletics for our adults. So there's lots of opportunities for people of all ages to get involved here in the city of Lawrence. Miss Dunn, do they still have the bingo on Tuesdays? No. They do not. Oh. No. But I will say that there has been, a proposal to perhaps bring bingo back. I I agree. I'm a bingo proponent, but we'll see. Thank you for that. And I think pickleball will be opening again soon this spring.
Yes. Pickleball definitely is happening at, Belgrade. Oh, wow. Okay. Alrighty. Great. Thank you for that report. Moving finally to foundation, doctor Mulholland. Thank you, madam president. Well, I'm happy to share. We briefly talked about it, but the Lawrence Township School Foundation celebration gala will be this March and the theme is once upon a time. And this is LTSF's largest fundraiser of the year, and it really brings the community together to support, my favorite three e's, enriching educational experiences, for students and staff.
And, it will take place at the BuildWell Event Center. So that's a little bit different, but there is free parking, which is nice. And be ready for a royal feast, delightful treats, and whimsical entertainment. Now I took that from their website. It'll be, again, Friday, March 20 at 06:30 at the Biltwell, and I encourage everyone here to consider attending or helping proceeds from this event will directly fuel the foundation's work and mission, empowering student success. Thank you for that update. Less than a month away.
Alright. Thank you for the updates, board, on the committees. Now we will move to our action items. 4.1, approval of board minutes. Doctor Mulholland. Okay. So I present to the board for approval, the board minutes for 01/30/2026, board minutes, also for 01/30/2026 for finance, and then the board minutes for eight, 02/09/2026. Do we have a motion? Okay. Properly moved, miss Dunn. Do we have a second? Second. Properly moved, miss Dunn.
Seconded, miss Puckett. Any other comments about the board minutes? Alright. We will move to vote. All in favor of the approval of the board minutes, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The board minutes for January 30 and February 9 have been approved. Alright. Do we have a second? Second. Properly moved to miss Puckett and seconded doctor Mulholland, to treat action items 4.2 to 4.8 as consent agenda. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The ayes have it to treat 4.2
to 4.8 as consent agenda. Alright. Out of approval of the consent agenda. So moved. Alright. Or second. That's fine. No. That's fine. Properly moved, miss Puckett and seconded, miss Dunn, for the approval of the consent agenda. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Alright. The ayes have it. At this time, we already approved 4.2, which is our personnel reports. I'm going to ask miss Carla Johnson to come up to the microphone to introduce, a personnel matter. Madam president, doctor Smith, and members of the board, we are proud to present our
new head football coach for Lawrence Central. Coach Mann, Russell Mann, is here with us tonight. This evening, the board of education of Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township has approved the appointment of mister Russell Mann as the new head football coach for Lawrence Central High School. A leader in the Central Indiana football community, Mann has held several Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference MC head coaching positions in his twenty three year career and holds four six a
state titles. Mann is committed to success and is confident in his ability to lead the Bears to sustain championship level success while setting a standard of excellence that positively impacts the entire school. My leadership style brings everyone together in the pursuit of excellence, says Mann. I know what winning looks like, and I'm confident that with leadership, hard work, and tactical analysis, Lawrence Central will quickly become one of the Indiana's most dominant football programs.
According to superintendent doctor Sean a Smith, our community is ready to get Lawrence Central back to state champion status, and I have every confidence in coach Mann to take the Bears to the next level. I know firsthand that high quality football program develops young men, creates school unity, and positively impacts the morale of the larger school community. Coach Mann is a 2003 graduate of Butler University and holds a BS in secondary
education in mathematics. He is a career educator who uses football as a platform to teach students athletes life lessons, including the value of hard work, integrity, and striving to be the best version of themselves in everything they do. Please welcome coach Coach Mann to the Lawrence Township and Lawrence Central. Okay. Thank you. Welcome, Brett.
He's great to be a teammate again. Congratulations to coach Mann. He is already wearing the Bears collars on his top. He knows the drill. And coach, could your family yes. Congratulations again. Moving into our Administrator and Board comments, 5.1. Would anyone like to go first? Okay. Ms. Lawrence. Yeah. So first, I just want to wish everyone a happy Black History Month. Thank you to Dana for posting all of the things that she's been posting all month long. It's been really inspiring to see, to see all of the, information that is out
there and available for our community to, to absorb. I I pulled this up on my phone because I I wanted to make sure that I set it right because, also within this last history month, we lost, reverend Jackson. And I was reminded of, by a friend of mine who was both an activist and leader in the unions in Chicago, just how active he was for the totality of his life fighting for change and injustice. And, what my favorite quote from Reverend Jackson is both tears and sweat are salty,
but they render a different result. Tears will give you sympathy. Sweat will give you change. And in a year, where we have been at odds sometimes with our state house in a month where our, kids at both Lawrence North and Lawrence Central walked out of our schools in protest, I just say to this community, tears get you sympathy. Sweat gets you changed. That means voting. That means advocating.
That means making your voices heard because sometimes one voice for a long and for a long period of time, like reverend Jackson, can actually make incredible change in this world. Thank you, miss Lawrence. Well said. Board, any other who would like to go next? Doctor Mulholland? I'm I'm surprised that nobody mentioned yet that it is publicly. No. But so I've already but we've already been celebrating on social media again. Thanks to to doctor Altenmeier for that. And I just wanted to share a few thoughts, and and also, again, recognize that
it is is public school week and how deserving it is that we celebrate it. Because our our public schools are are where our our students build relationships. They build their dreams and aspirations. They really develop the skills that will carry them into adulthood. And so the work happening in our public schools is truly transformative. And, my background is actually, you know, teaching in post secondary ed, and my my research was around the community colleges. So it hit the history of community colleges. So I also wanna say that public education does not stop at high school.
It continues, with community colleges, places like Ivy Tech, public, state public community college system. And that extends the education and training and opportunities and career development beyond, you know, so we have a a wonderful system of public institutions and how important they are, for economic mobility for our communities. So I I wanted to celebrate again that we have a public education, that is an ecosystem working together.
We're we're so lucky to be in the Lawrence Township public school system. And, it reminds us that we need to invest in strong public k through 12 schools and post secondary education pathways because we can strengthen the long term vitality of our entire community and the futures of every student we serve. Thank you. Well said. As parents, we appreciate the partnership with Ivy Tech too and the dual credits earned. So thank you. Miss Puckett? I have nothing to say. Alright. Miss Dunton. Just I know we, have our consent agenda, but I would be remiss if we
did not give gratitude to Castleton Christian Church for their donation for staff appreciation at Crestview Elementary. Much appreciated. Comfili anos, amiga. Go without saying, Sheila, that you truly are the backbone of this board and the township. So thank you for all that you do for all of us. Yes. Well said. I just wanted to second the comments about Black History Month. I was able to attend my daughter's school's roots and wings celebration, and it was packed, and it was truly a heartwarming community event. As board, we look at the whole Lawrence community, but then kind of selfishly, it's
nice to come back to our own kids' individual communities and and see just the involvement, the happiness, the celebration of culture and community. So and I know several of the schools were doing similar events. So well well done. And then also, it's I believe you served on the board before. It's American Heart Month, doctor Smith. So just a reminder to get your checkups, take care of your heart. And thank you to our community health partners who support our staff and students.
I'll turn it over to you, doctor Smith. It's that time of the year. Grant Nesmith, we had a busy weekend. Update the board and tell them them what to expect in the upcoming week. Yeah. We had a busy weekend. I was there. Our LC girls fell a little short. They did make the final four, but fell short to an undefeated team and presumably the next state champion. But we did have a state champion over the weekend. Our wrestler at Lawrence North captured a state title, capping off an undefeated season, so that was exciting. And next up, we have some basketball going on. Sixth grade basketball championship, that's coming up on the March 13.
That'd be Friday at Lawrence Central. So about a week little over week little over a week and a half from now. And then the boys basketball sectional draw came out last night. And so that all those games will be at Tech, and those are about a week away from so week from tomorrow, they'll start up. So, look for that coming up here, and we'll have more information as they as they get the brackets finalized and and in a clean form. And I believe the boys on opposite side of the bracket, which is good. Yes, sir. Instead of playing each other the first game. Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully hope we'll have an all Lawrence final there at Tech. Yep. Okay.
Alright. The next monthly board of education meeting will be here Monday, 03/16/2026. It'll be our combined work session and board meeting for the month, and we'll begin promptly at 05:30. At this point, I will take a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Properly moved, miss Lawrence, and seconded, doctor Mulholland. Thank you, everyone.