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.
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 cannot 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.
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.