LAWRENCE, Ind. — Walking through the new corridors of Lawrence Central High School, it’s easy to see that Principal Franklyn Bush views his renovated campus as the pride of 56th Street.
“Our classrooms, our athletic and performing arts facilities, they are all top-of-the-line,” said Bush as he proudly showed off the school’s cafeteria. Larger corridors, natural light and open spaces permeate the building that is part of the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township’s massive, $500 million facilities upgrade — a facelift that touches each of its 24 schools.
“We have a beautiful new school, and it’s very exciting,” said Brett Crousore, principal at Lawrence North High School. Both high schools are getting new, state-of-the-art aquatic centers with 665,000-gallon pools.
Crousore said security upgrades were a focal point of the project. They include newly-designed entrances with multiple security checks. Crousore said his high school also has four separate zones which can be locked down in an emergency, depending on the location of the threat.
“And so in an extreme emergency, you can lock down certain zones protecting students within that zone, obviously then having first responders deal with other situations within the other zones,” Crousore said.
Crousore said he never imagined early in his career that these security measures would need to be in place.
“I didn’t, but it was needed, and we continue to learn and evolve, and I think it allows that student to walk into the classroom, that teacher to walk in, support staff to walk in and know that this right here is a safe spot,” Crousore said.
District Operations Chief Rodger Smith said it’s all part of a 10-year renovation project. So far, improvements to 20 schools are finished or nearly finished, and two more will start and finish in the 2024-25 school year. He said some of the buildings hadn’t been touched in decades.
Part of the work came from a referendum passed in 2019.
“Good facilities produce good results,” Smith said. “Teachers working in a nice facility, students learning in a nice facility, it makes a huge difference.”