Lincoln Public Schools’ district office will soon be the Steve Joel District Leadership Center.
That’s the name the Lincoln Board of Education landed on after it announced earlier this month it would rename the central office in honor of the retiring superintendent, whose last day is Thursday.
The board is expected to formally approve the name at its meeting Tuesday.
Steve Joel helped LPS rebuild its district office. Now, it will bear his name
Joel, who is wrapping up his 12th year in Lincoln, helped lead the initiative to build the $ 15.9 million district office at 59th and O streets after a fire destroyed the previous building in 2011.
Board members surprised Joel by announcing they would name the building after him at their meeting June 14.
“I can not think of a more fitting name for this district office or a more fitting display of Dr. Joel’s work in the district and leaving it better than he found it, so I am very pleased to support this recommendation,” board president Don Mayhew said at the time.
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The board praised Joel’s response in the aftermath of the May 30, 2011, fire that gutted LPS ‘old central office, which came at the end of Joel’s first year in the district.
“I remember you saying that not only would we build back, we would build back better than before,” board member Lanny Boswell said.
Before coming to Lincoln, Joel, a New York native, served as a superintendent in Kansas, Grand Island and Beatrice, part of a nearly 40-year career in education.
His successor, Sioux City, Iowa, Superintendent Paul Gausman, starts July 1.
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Photos: Steve Joel’s career in Lincoln
Lincoln Public Schools superintendent candidate Steve Joel meets with a student committee at the LPS administration building in February 2010.
Journal Star file photo
Firefighters watch as an excavator removes large portions of debris from the remnants of the Lincoln Public Schools administration building after a fire in May 2011. Steve Joel was just in his first year as superintendent.
FRANCIS GARDLER, Journal Star file photo
LPS Superintendent Steve Joel speaks at a press conference in August 2011 to announce that an LPS employee has been arrested in connection with a fire that destroyed the district office building on May 30, 2011.
Journal Star file photo
(From left) Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel, operations officials Bill McCoy, Rod Densmore and John Salisbury regroup after a tour of the Experian building at 949 West Bond Street in June 2011 after a fire gutted LPS ‘district office.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel works on his laptop in the conference room at the Facilities and Management Building on South 24th Street on June 3, 2011.
FRANCIS GARDLER, Journal Star file photo
Community members and Lincoln Public Schools officials, including Steve Joel (fourth from left), shovel dirt at a ceremony for the new LPS district office building at 59th and O streets on May 29, 2012.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel speaks to fans at Seacrest Field on Sept. 21, 2012, to mark the 50th anniversary of the naming of the field.
Journal Star file photo
Steve Joel welcomes Lincoln Public Schools employees to their new offices in 2013.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel speaks at Friday’s groundbreaking ceremony for The Career Academy, a collaboration between LPS and Southeast Community College.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel addresses the media during a news conference at Lincoln Public Schools in May 19, 2015 concerning Jackson Hedrick, a teacher at Irving Middle School who was charged with first-degree sexual assault of a minor and enticing by an electronic device .
Journal Star file photo
US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos shakes hands with Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel during a visit to Zoo School in September 2017.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel (from left), Lincoln Children’s Zoo CEO John Chapo, LPS director of operations Scott Wieskamp, LPS Science Focus Program principal Kurt Glathar and LPS board vice president Kathy Danke hold a press conference in one of three new science labs in the new building that would house the Science Focus Program in January 2019 at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln School Board member Barbara Baier (from left), Superintendent Steve Joel, board member Annie Mumgaard and board member Connie Duncan embrace each other at a school board meeting Feb. 11, 2020, after voters passed a $ 290 million bond issue.
Journal Star file photo
Steve Joel, Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent, speaks during a news conference on the coronavirus at the County-City Building in March 2020.
Journal Star file photo
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony at the future site of Lincoln Northwest on Oct. 11, 2020.
Journal Star file photo
Nuernberger Education Center graduate Zaiden Hofmann (left) bumps elbows with Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Steve Joel at a graduation ceremony on May 18.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star file photo
Superintendent Steve Joel discusses the proposed reopening plan for Lincoln Public Schools in July.
JUSTIN WAN, Journal Star file photo
Contact the writer at zhammack@journalstar.com or 402-473-7225. On Twitter @HammackLJS
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