Superintendent Spears’ Contract Extended

Lincoln School Board extended the contract for Superintendent Mary Ann Spears another year and hired a new football coach at its Feb. 10 board meeting.

Spears’ three-year contract will run through June 30, 2023.

“She has great leadership skills and it’s very evident by the principals she hires,” said board President Tera Thompson on Friday. “Our leadership skills throughout the district are getting greater and greater and that’s because it’s trickling down to all the staff.”

Thompson said the board is pleased with the district’s financial situation and believes Spears is doing a “great job” managing the finances of the district.

In addition, Thompson noted that

L i n c o l n offers more extracurricular activities than most school districts and is a leader in that area.

“We ’ r e small but we’re a hidden gem,” Thompson said. “We’re really proud of her.”

Board member Kenneth Albright agrees with Thompson about Spears’ leadership in the superintendent’s role.

“She’s very good at what she does and is a good advocate for our district,” Albright said. “She has connections all over the state and is very good at day-to-day operations.”

Spears is a good representative for the district and is well known and well respected in other circles,

Albright said.

Spears has been in education 27 years and has been at Lincoln Consolidated School District since 2006. She’s been assistant principal and principal at Lincoln High.

“I think it’s going well at Lincoln,” Spears said on Friday. “We just need more kids.”

She’s in her seventh year as superintendent and said she has a tremendous team of leaders and teachers.

“I love the district,” Spears said. “I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

The board hired Reed Mendoza as the new high school football coach, effective July 1. Mendoza previously worked for Lincoln as offensive coordinator and head baseball coach before leaving for Dover. He is replacing Don Harrison as head football coach.

In other news at the school board meeting, Spears reported that the prefabricated building for a new agri barn should arrive by the end of March. The facility is scheduled to be ready in early June.

The district has not received its official audit report from Legislative Audit but has been through the exit interview, Spears said.

“This was the easiest and quickest audit, if that’s possible, that we’ve ever had,” Spears said.

In the past, the district has been cited for not segregating duties at the central office. Spears said the district met this requirement.

“We’ve been trying to get off that,” Spears said.

In other action, the board accepted the resignations of Cathy Coates and Debra Swaim, both are retiring, and choir teacher Caleb Uhl.

Spears