A long-awaited makeover for Lincoln Middle/High School’s indoor athletic facilities should be under contract in about two weeks.
Western Wayne Schools board is scheduled to award a contract on Jan. 28 for Phase 1 of a renovation project that a $12.2 million bond offering is financing. Construction starts in mid-March.
Athletic facilities are being addressed now in order to bring them to current standards, Superintendent Andy Stover said. Later work covered by the same bond will include upgrades to the middle school and technology.
Construction is scheduled to create the least disruption to school and sports schedules, Stover said. Football locker room renovation should start on March 13, with completion by Aug. 1, in time for the 2025 football season. Attention will then turn to the gym and training rooms. That work will be done by Oct. 1 so basketball teams can play under new lighting as fans watch from new bleachers. The basketball floor, resurfaced four years ago, will remain. Fieldhouse expansion, including a new concession area and space for athletic and academic recognitions, should be completed by year’s end.
“We are very fortunate to be able to update our facilities in a debt-neutral way,” Stover said. Because an earlier bond issue has been repaid, the school corporation can finance this project without adding to the property tax rate.
In other business on Jan. 8, the board elected 2025 officers: Dave Sturgis, president; Kris Bex, vice president; and Brent Fortman, secretary. Bex and Jenni Risch attended their first meetings as board members, replacing Alan Austin and Sarah Pennington. Returning board members are Sturgis, Fortman and Phil Pflum. Board members are paid $2,000 per year.
Meeting as a Board of Finance, the board heard Stover’s annual financial reports. The district’s property tax rate is declining by 6 cents per $100 valuation.
“Fund balances are pretty healthy,” Stover said. Year-end cash balances were $1.4 million in education, $686,475 in operations, $209,959.54 in debt service and $1.64 million in the rainy day fund.
Student enrollment numbers, used as the basis for state aid, are stabilizing after several years of decline. From 2008-2021, enrollment shrank from 1,147 to 745, an average of nearly 31 students fewer each year. Official enrollment figures for 2024 show 665 students, down from 671 in 2023 and 21 fewer than two years earlier.
Personnel actions:
- Certified employment: Aadra Norrod, LMHS guidance counselor.
- Noncertified employment: Alisha Hood, Western Wayne Elementary School instructional aide.
- Departures: Dylan Miller, LMHS PE/health teacher; Ross Ferguson, LMHS science teacher.
The board will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 28, to open construction bids and award a contract. The next regular board meeting starts at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 13. Both meetings are in Room 80 at LMHS, 205 Parkway Drive. The public may attend.
A version of this article appeared in the January 15 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.