photo by: Josie Heimsoth/Journal-World

Students were evacuated from Lawrence High School on Monday, Sept. 29, 2025 after a small fire occurred in the girls' locker room.

A fire that occured in the girls locker room at Lawrence High School in September is anticipated to cost the district over $142,000 in remediation and repair costs.

On Monday, the Lawrence school board will consider approving an estimated $142,392 payment to Zipco Contracting Inc. for remediation and repair work at Lawrence High, including $56,662 for fire remediation and $85,730 for repairs. The district’s property insurance policy is expected to reimburse these costs, minus the $50,000 deductible for the incident, according to the agenda.

The agenda said Zipco Contracting Inc. responded immediately after the incident took place on Sept. 29 to begin restoration work. “The remediation work has been completed and repairs are currently underway,” the agenda said.

The repair estimate for the girls’ locker room said the work covers several areas. The sub varsity bathroom will receive drywall repairs, fixture resets, painting, lighting replacement, epoxy floor repair, plumbing, and more. The sub varsity locker area includes installation of new double lockers, content protection, masking, and comprehensive wall and ceiling painting. The women’s locker entry and women’s lockers hall will both receive ceiling preparation and painting along with necessary masking and floor protection.

This item is listed on the school board’s consent agenda, where all items are typically approved in one motion.

As the Journal-World reported, no students or staff were harmed during the September incident at Lawrence High, which caused the school to evacuate.

The district shared in a message to the community that the fire originated at a paper towel dispenser that extended into a combustible trash receptacle below. Limited details were shared on how the fire started and how much damage was done. Two Lawrence High students were arrested for aggravated arson following the incident.

In other business, school board members will:

• Hear a second presentation on the school district’s classroom sizes as a part of the district’s annual enrollment report. As the Journal-World reported, at the previous board meeting, district staff shared that enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is 2% lower than the previous year. The district’s enrollment was 10,148 students, with 9,337 enrolled in in-person K-12 classes, 260 preschool students and 551 students in the Lawrence Virtual School.

The elementary school class sizes were also discussed – with an average of 20 kindergarten students in each classroom, 20 in first grade, 21 in second grade, 22 in third and fourth grades and 23 in fifth grade. Swift said this would be the first of two presentations discussing class sizes in the district and the second presentation would outline secondary class sizes.

• Consider accepting the audit for the 2024-2025 school year, ending in June 30, 2025. According to a letter to board members from auditing consultant Gordon CPA LLC, the district’s financial statements were prepared in accordance with accepted accounting principles. The district started the school year with $62,104,630 in its unencumbered cash balances and ended with $72,978,694. The total amount the district received for the year was $256,304,242, with expenditures of $245,430,178.

The letter said management used consistent accounting policies and no new policies were adopted during the year. All significant transactions were properly recorded in the correct period, and the auditors encountered no significant difficulties during the audit, and all identified misstatements were corrected, none of which were material.

• Consider updating a lease with SumnerONE Inc., for printers and walk-up devices for the period of Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2031 at an annual cost not to exceed $297,806. In May 2024, the school board extended leases on the district’s high-production printers and 112 walk-up devices, delaying replacement because walk-up usage had dropped during the pandemic and the machines had not reached their replacement thresholds.

Those leases end December 31, 2025, and the district wants to replace the remaining printers and walk-up devices, along with their supporting software with the newest version of its current printer line. The new lease will cost $24,817 per month — 2.1% less than the current $25,339 — and includes lower per-click and maintenance costs.

• Consider entering into a multiyear service contract with Logicalis Inc. at a cost of $5,000 per month to help support the district’s technology department in maintaining reliable, secure, and efficient IT services. This contract would provide continuity while the district continues its search for a replacement for the department’s network engineer.

• Consider approving a contract with Tech Electronics for the purchase and installation of a new fire alarm system for Cordley Elementary School in the amount of $48,000. According to the agenda, the current system is outdated and making repairs increasingly difficult.

• Consider purchasing football uniforms for Lawrence High School in an amount up to $47,000 from BSN Sports LLC. LHS football is due for new home and away uniforms under the school’s rotation cycle. The home set is quoted at $21,312 and the away set at $21,194. An 11% contingency of $4,492 is also included in the cost for future growth, replacements and wear.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at the district offices, 110 McDonald Drive. Residents who want to share comments with the board may sign up in advance by emailing PublicComment@usd497.org by noon Monday and may participate in person or via Webex video/phone conferencing. The meeting will also be available via the school district’s YouTube channel.