Noah SmithFWCS Board of School Trustees
2021 – 2026

The
Record

Fort Wayne Community Schools · Board of School Trustees

Five years of votes, budgets, and buildings. Here is what got done for FWCS students, teachers, and families.

Every item on this page happened during Noah’s service on the board and carries his vote. He served as a member and officer for most of it and as President from 2026 — this is work he helped oversee and approve alongside his fellow trustees, the superintendent, and district staff.
Lasting impact

The work that reaches every student

School safety & mental health

Passed the Safer FWCS referendum

November 2023, 53%–47%: up to $12 million a year for eight years — roughly 90 new positions including school resource officers, mental-health therapists, and student advocates, plus weapons detection at every school and the Peacemaker program in all five high schools.

Career readiness

Ford Next Generation Learning designation

A 16-month process involving more than 200 community members that produced the district's Portrait of a Graduate and its Master Plan.

Schools of Success

Restructured all five high schools into career pathways

Health Sciences & Human Services; Manufacturing, Engineering, Tech & Trades; and Business & the Arts — so every FWCS student graduates pointed somewhere.

College credit

3DE by Junior Achievement in every high school

Launched at North Side and Snider in 2022 and rolled out district-wide. Students earn up to 12 college credits toward Indiana Tech — about $16,000 in savings per student.

Teacher pay

Off the bottom of the county, on the path to $50,000

The 2023 contract moved the starting teacher salary off the lowest in the county to $46,627, with a path to a $50,000 starting wage set in 2025.

REPAIR FWCS

Delivered building work across 37 schools

HVAC, roofs, masonry, windows, and safety upgrades — the REPAIR FWCS program executed school by school across the district.

Protecting the classroom

Absorbed state funding cuts without touching classrooms

Opposed SB 1 and SB 518 in 2025, then cut roughly $18 million over six years out of the central office — not the classroom — to absorb the hit.

Programs & partnerships

Opening doors outside the classroom walls

  • Amp Lab @ Electric Works — launched the district's flagship innovation and maker campus.
  • Surack Family Foundation Create Studio — a $625,000, five-year naming and sponsorship partnership (2022).
  • Pearl Arts Innovation Institute — a music-industry entrepreneurship half-day program with Pearl Street Arts Center (2025).
  • Fort Wayne Philharmonic partnership — Club-O and Kid-O music programming in every elementary school.
  • STEM expansion — Arlington named a Project Lead The Way STEM school; new STEM labs at Jefferson and Arlington (2025).
  • GEAR UP — the federal college-access program, brought to FWCS students.
  • Naviance college and career readiness platform — three-year renewal, $187,000 (2025).
  • Defined Learning — district-wide project-based learning platform, $401,000.
  • Robots4Autism / RoboKind — a $74,300 IDOE grant for autism and behavior-support classrooms.
  • Fort Wayne Museum of Art — appointed FWCS representatives to its board.
Facilities & capital projects

Buildings our kids deserve

Delivered on time and on budget while the tax rate came down.

  • Northrop High School renovation — $38.6 million.
  • Blackhawk Middle School renovation — approximately $17 million.
  • Forest Park Elementary accessibility and security program — an approximately $52 million construction-manager-as-constructor program.
  • Arlington and Lincoln Elementary renovations — $14.1 million.
  • Scott Academy expansion and Abbett Elementary addition.
  • District-wide HVAC and energy improvements — $15.5 million in guaranteed energy savings.
  • Whitney Young Early Childhood Center upgrades — $1.34 million.
  • Adams Elementary office addition and renovation — $1.79 million.
  • Multi-year roof replacement program — Northrop, Wayne, Lane Middle School, Fairfield and more.
  • Snider and South Side High School HVAC — $1.86 million.
  • Nutrition Processing Center warehouse expansion — $1.79 million, expanding student-meal capacity.
  • District-wide safety, security and ADA accessibility project — security equipment and elevator lifts across multiple schools.
  • District radio and communications tower upgrade — $399,000 for school safety.
  • South Side Athletic Annex parking expansion — $683,000.
  • Ongoing bus-fleet replacement — new buses added every year.
  • Snider High School stadium — the $22.5 million, 4,500-seat home field, 54 years in the making, as part of a $55 million athletics and facilities bond issuance.
Fiscal stewardship

Public dollars, handled like they are borrowed

  • Responsibly grew and managed the budget of Indiana's largest district — $327 million in 2022 to $391 million in 2025.
  • Consistently spent above the state average on direct classroom instruction.
  • Funded major capital work while holding and then lowering the tax rate — from $1.30 to $1.02.
  • Raises for the people who keep schools running — a minimum of 4% for two years, including bus drivers, nurses, and classified staff.
  • Adopted disciplined three-year Capital Projects Plans and five-year Bus Replacement Plans every year.
  • Secured major outside funding: Special Education Part B $9.7 million; Title II $1.67 million; Title IV $917,000; McKinney-Vento homeless-student support $193,000; Secured School Safety $92,500; Common School Fund technology loans $2 million; plus EARN, Refugee Impact and Robots4Autism grants.
Recognition & student milestones

What FWCS students earned

  • The board adopted a 95% graduation goal for the district.
  • South Side High School — Purple Star School award for military-family support.
  • Memorial Park Middle School — ISSMA All-Music and Total Department Award two years running, one of only nine middle schools in Indiana.
  • Wayne High School JROTC — SAR Distinguished Unit, its first since 1997, unlocking direct Air Force Academy nominations.
  • Wayne High School 3DE team — top eight nationwide in the Home Depot Case Challenge, out of 6,300 students from 80 schools.
  • 35 FWCS scholarship recipients honored in 2026 — $500 to $40,000 from 16 community donors.
  • National CTSO first-place winners across roughly 19 career and technical areas.
  • New Tech Academy — ASA Data Challenge honorable mention; North Side band — top ten at ISSMA State Finals.
Governance & community

Steady hands through hard calls

  • Leadership stability — no superintendent turnover, and steady governance through a turbulent post-COVID period.
  • Stood with teachers — passed a resolution to keep the FWEA curriculum partnership after the state removed the mandate (2023).

There is more to do

Keep experience, fiscal discipline, and deep community roots working for every FWCS family.

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