- Welcome to the January 27th meeting of the MCCSE Board of School Trustees. We ask that you please come
- to order. We're going to start with a celebration of success. This is a time set aside to celebrate
- members of our school community. Ms. Harmon. Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, the Board
- of Trustees and community members. It's my pleasure to share this month's excellent spotlight
- It's a feature of every regular board of school trustees meeting. It is a dedicated time to honor the
- excellence occurring every day through the dedication of our employees, students, and volunteers who
- make a difference in our school community and foster environments that reflect our mission, vision,
- and core values. For January, we are proud to recognize the following students from Childs Elementary
- School. George Houchin, Jack Riviere, Oliver Staten, Jeffrey Zhang,
- for earning second place in the 2025 statewide computer science competition CS for Good Elementary Division.
- The competition was held on December 3rd at the Indiana State House, challenged the students from across
- the state to design innovative technology solutions that positively impact their school communities.
- These students demonstrated exceptional creativity, problem solving and technical skill through the
- project, a prototype for an AI enabled leaf cleaning robot.
- Their design proposed a solution to help keep storm drains clear by chopping and removing leaves, a
- creative approach aimed at reducing flooding and improving community safety. Congratulations to you
- all. The teacher is here. Can we recognize the teacher?
- And their teacher is Miss Abby Brass. Is that right? Yeah. Good to see you. Congratulations. Thanks.
- We are also honored to recognize Pam Snyder, teacher, assistant, and locker room supervisor from Bloomington
- High School South. Pam is a true Panther whose creativity and dedication have made a lasting impact
- on our school community. Pam is not only an incredible staff member, but also an exceptionally talented
- artist. For years, she has helped bring our school to life decorating hallways, painting windows, creating
- murals, hanging banners at games,
- and ensuring that our space is shining bright for students, staff, and visitors alike. Congratulations,
- Pam, and thank you for all you do to make our school such a vibrant and inspiring place. Is Pam here
- this evening? All right. Thank you. On behalf of the board, thank you, Ms. Harmon, and congratulations
- to all those who have been recognized tonight. We will now proceed to public comments.
- Thank you to all who signed up and acknowledged the guidelines to speak to the board tonight. As a reminder,
- Mrs. Butcher will ring the bell once to signal you have 30 seconds for your comment, and five bells
- to signal your time has concluded. Our first speaker tonight is Alice Kilbride. Good evening, Superintendent
- Winston and MCCSE Board of Trustees. My name is Alice Kilbride.
- and I'm here tonight as a parent and community member. I want the board to ask more questions about
- how schools are dealing with the two-year strategy to sustaining excellence and fiscal transparency.
- The plan primarily revolves around adjusting staffing by not posting positions for new hires when teachers
- retire or resign. As seen in the personnel report this month, many teachers have resigned. If you compare
- that to job postings on the MCCO's website, only five certified teaching positions are listed, and some
- are listed as temporary positions.
- Will these positions be eliminated this summer? What happens to the students who were in the teacher's
- classes for the positions that are not being filled? The students didn't disappear and still need education
- provided by a teacher. Not replacing a teacher who resigns mid-year is not strategic. It's convenient.
- As seen in the physical report in the board documents from January 6th, the demographic trends of our
- school corporation are showing an increase in the number of high-need students. Percentage of special
- education, English language learners, and free and reduced students is increasing.
- For our teachers to successfully teach these students, class sizes should be lowered. The reduction
- in teachers at schools means that class sizes are getting larger. Dr. Henderson reported at a board
- meeting that the average class size went up by one student. This is misleading because the comparison
- is taking the total number of students in the corporation divided by the total number of certified staff.
- I would like to remind the board that not all certified staff are classroom teachers, schools do not
- have the same number of students, and some services require small classes. As a parent, I am disappointed
- when my daughter says,
- Her class sizes are huge and she is worried that her pathway will be cut. Her pathway class is the smallest
- number of students in her course load. If a teacher leaves that position and doesn't get replaced, the
- pathway may disappear without any input from the community or parents. Again, ask questions about what
- creative solutions schools are using to counteract the loss of teachers and how transparent those solutions
- have been to parents in the community. Thank you. Thank you.
- Next is C4th Breeze. Hello, my name is C4th Breeze. I'm a former student at Bloomington South, and I
- hope to keep my comment brief. It was mostly to bring attention to the, is to ask what steps
- MCCSE might be planning to take to prepare for, you know, ICE operations, things of that nature. I have
- a sibling here who's currently going to North and I know y'all aren't going to be responding to my public
- comment, but it is to ask just on a personal level if y'all thinking for yourselves going forward, what
- steps can be taken? How can we provide for students and their families
- any such operations could happen. Just looking at everything that's happened in the Twin Cities,
- in Chicago, in LA, are there lessons learned that those school districts have taken from what is,
- you know, occurring? Thank you all so much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Next, we have
- Jana Perrine. I may have said your name wrong. Please forgive me.
- and a parole. I'm going to reiterate the gentleman's comments. We've seen what's happened in Milwaukee
- and is continuing to happen. It didn't go away just because it got really horrible when two people were
- murdered through this process. But ICE is all over the country. It is operating. It is kidnapping children.
- and parents, and the schools have a responsibility to make sure that there is a plan in place. When
- I shows up and the whistles go off, that you know what to do, that everybody in the building knows what
- to do, that the students and parents know what to do to avoid being kidnapped and dropped off somewhere
- in South Texas with nothing, no transportation or anything.
- This is a horrible situation, and it's really terrible, just like shooter, active shooter drills. It's
- just something we have to acknowledge. It happens. It's happening. And you need to be prepared. We need
- to be prepared as a community to respond to this. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Jenny Noble Kuchera.
- Good evening, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and MCCSE School Board of Trustees. My name is Jenny
- Noble Caccia, and I'm the proud president of the Monroe County Education Association. I speak tonight
- in opposition to the board resolution 2026-04, which if passed would allow $12,500,000 to be moved to
- this year out of the education fund and into the operations fund. Just so that our larger community
- understands
- The Education Fund pays for teachers, teachers who work with students. The Operations Fund pays primarily
- for buildings, transportation, maintenance, technology, and athletic facilities. Those are important
- pieces of our school community. And it also comes from our local property taxes, revenue that,
- as we all know, was significantly reduced under Senate Enrolled Act 1 in the spring of 2025.
- A portion of this property tax revenue is also sent away to charter schools. Since August of 2024, our
- number of full-time teachers has decreased from 834 to 757. We know what the state has not given us,
- but the toll that this takes on the teachers who are left is palpable. Fewer adults in a building means
- more work for everyone. The negative effect that this can have on students
- has larger long-term consequences for their academic well-being as well. In addition, everyone knows
- that smaller teacher-student ratios can positively impact kids' learning outcomes. While you may not
- see an immediate effect, if you pass this resolution, it's just seen as yet another cut to the morale
- of a lot of our teachers. What are we worth? The board's resolution if passed
- would move $12,500,000 from the education fund to the operations fund. In essence, this means more money
- for ball fields and furniture, and less for the hiring and retaining of qualified professionals to work
- with students. Please consider all perspectives before you vote. Thank you. Thank you. And last, we
- have Eric Nolan.
- Again, I may have mispronounced your name. Hello, thank you. Hi, I'm Eric Nolan. And hello, members
- of the board, Dr. Winston, and the administrative team. Just to make sure I'm understanding, yeah, so
- what we're looking at is moving $12.5 million from the education fund to the operations fund. The education
- fund, again, is the one that pays for teacher salaries. At the same time, there's communication to the public
- that we need to right size our teaching positions because there's not enough money to sustain them.
- So we're taking money from that fund that pays teachers while stating that we don't have enough money
- to pay teachers. In case I didn't say this already, I am speaking as a parent and community member.
- I am only representing myself. I think that citizens of Monroe County voted to support MCCSE teachers
- by passing the 2022 referendum.
- That referendum stated aim was to retain and hire the best teachers and support staff possible because
- we know that quality supported teachers make the biggest difference in the lives of our children in
- our community. I know that the 2022 referendum funds were limited thanks to happenings in the state
- house. Regardless, I feel like MCCSE is breaking trust with our community when we continue to eliminate
- teaching positions leading to larger class sizes and increased workload for the teachers remaining.
- Can we not find a way to utilize some of that $12.5 million to retain positions, or should we look forward
- to continued cuts to teachers and support staff with associated consequences of that decision?
- Thank you. Thank you. That concludes our public comments this evening. We'd like to thank everyone who
- provided comment this evening.
- Sorry, my mic's not on. I'd like to raise a brief point of information. You're recognized. Thank you,
- President Coomberman. I want to say in response to a couple of comments about ICE that I do a great
- deal of work in the immigration and policy sort of side of things in another side of my work. So I work
- with Hoosier Asian American Power. We were the first organization in the state to offer a constitutional
- observer training, which is different from a legal observer training.
- And the ACLU Indiana has asked us to offer another one both as an emergent sort of situation and in
- February. So we're doing that. I say this only to sort of make the point that, you know, sort of very
- connected both on the policy side and to rapid response networks across the state regarding ICE. And
- in all of our work with these organizations across the Midwest region, one of our sort of closest partners
- is in Minneapolis right now.
- Their caution to us was that when it comes to your plans, especially safety plans for students and schools,
- you should be quiet about them. So I will say that this administration is very, very thorough in the
- work that they do to keep our students and our families and our staff safe. That was sort of demonstrated
- when we had to lock down 23 schools just this past week
- They executed that safety plan in such expedience with such expedience and sort of resolved that issue
- very quickly. So what I want to say is to assume that the district and the board doesn't have a plan
- I think would be erroneous. This district and this administration has a plan for everything.
- Just as with some other safety plans, we do not broadcast those publicly because they then no longer
- are safe. So I want to thank the community for their care and their response about our students in the
- district because there may be moments when the community is called on to sort of rally. And I also just
- want to reassure you that every single person at this table, and I'm speaking for us right now because
- I know the hearts of these people, cares about our students in this district.
- And so I just want those of you to leave here knowing that. Thank you, President Coberman. I'm sorry,
- ma'am. I'm going to have to stop you. But I would thank you, April, for your comments. And honestly,
- I just echo that I feel fortunate to be part of a community that feels so passionately about this issue.
- Now I'm going to move on to the consent agenda. Feels a bit anticlimactic. So now for our consideration
- is the consent agenda that includes the following. Minutes from the board meeting held on December 16th,
- 2025. Minutes from the board of finance and reorganization meeting held on January 6th, 2026. Memorandum
- for the executive session on January 13th, 2026. ECA expenditures.
- Overnight and out-of-state field trips, financial report December 2025, appropriation balance report
- December 2025, register of claims January 27, 2026, payroll register and payroll claims December 2025.
- Do I have a motion regarding the approval of the consent agenda? So moved. Second.
- It has been moved by Ashley and seconded by April that we approve the consent agenda as presented All
- those in favor of approving the motion signify by saying aye aye Against no Any abstentions Motion carried
- Next for our consideration are the donations. We have received donations of over $3,000 and
- Thank you to all our donors. Your generosity is appreciated. Do I have a motion to accept the donations?
- Do I have a second? It's been moved by Erin Wyatt and seconded by Asia to approve the donations that
- we accept the donations as presented. Excuse me. All those in favor of approving the motion signify
- by saying aye. Aye. Against, say no. Any abstentions?
- motion carries now for our consideration is the repeal of policy 3220.01 teacher appreciation grant
- is there a motion to repeal policy 3220.01 teacher appreciation grant as presented second it's been
- moved by ross and seconded by april
- that we repeal policy 3220.01 teacher appreciation grant as presented. Ms. Harmon, do you have a comment?
- Yes, thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board. It is recommended that the
- board repeal policy 3220.01, the teacher appreciation grant, due to a change in legislation. This policy
- was presented at the December 16th meeting. Policy 3220.01 teacher appreciation
- grant approved prior to January 27, 2026 is now deemed null and void and is no longer a valid policy
- of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. I so recommend. Do we have any comments from the
- board? I just want to be clear because we are repealing a teacher appreciation grant that this is in
- response to
- legislation and we will replace this with a different type of teacher appreciation that's now being
- offered by the state. So this is in response to legislation, not an internal motivation. So any other
- comments from the board?
- All those in favor of approving the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Against, say no. Any abstentions?
- The motion carries. Next for our consideration is the recommendation to adopt Resolution 2026-03 Teacher
- Appreciation Grant. Do I have a motion to adopt Resolution 2026-03 as presented? So moved.
- second it's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we adopt resolution 2026 as presented any
- comments from the board all those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye aye sorry miss
- Cancel that vote. Ms. Harmon, did you have a comment? I do. Thank you, President Huberman, Dr. Winston,
- and members of the board. Resolution 2026-03, the teacher appreciation grant stipend payments follows
- guidance from Indiana Code 20-4316 and the Indiana Department of Education and is a stipend to an individual
- teacher in a particular year who has met the eligibility criteria. I recommend that the board adopt
- this resolution, which approves the following.
- The Superintendent of Schools is specifically authorized to pay supplemental payment stipends to identify
- teachers through TAG. The supplemental payment stipends authorized herein are one-time supplemental
- payments and shall not be added to the base salary of any teacher receiving such stipend. And
- the Superintendent of Schools is instructed to distribute all TAG stipends in accordance with requirements
- established by the IDOE. I so recommend. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. Now do I have any comments from the board?
- I'm new here, so. Okay, so now let's vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against,
- say no. Any abstentions? The motion carries. Next for our consideration is the personnel report. Do
- I have a motion to approve the personnel report as presented? So moved. Do I have a second?
- Thanks for us. The motion has been moved by Ashley and seconded by Ross. So we approve the personnel
- as presented. Dr. Henderson. President Cooper, Dr. Winston and members of the Board of School Trustees.
- This evening I would like to call to your attention the following administrative appointments
- and retirements. Administrative appointment, Gretchen Hunser, Director of Child Nutrition,
- Gretchen joins MCCSC after serving as the assistant director for school nutrition programs for the Indiana
- Department of Education, where she has served in various capacities since 2013. Gretchen holds a bachelor's
- degree in hospitality and food management from Ball State University. Gretchen joins us this evening
- in the audience and would like to invite her up to the podium for just a second to address the board.
- Thank you all so much for this opportunity. I'm very excited to get started and serving our MCCSC students
- and staff. Thank you. In addition, I would like to point out the certified staff retirements before
- you this evening. Joseph Donnelly. Mr. Donnelly has been serving the students of MCCSC for 14 years,
- most recently as a music teacher and director of band, choir, and drama at Jackson Creek Middle School.
- Support staff retirements on the agenda this evening are Terry Mayer. Terry has been serving the students
- of MCCSC over the course of 24 and a half years, most recently serving as a bus monitor for
- MCCSC. Altogether, the retirees presented this evening represent a combined total of 38 and a half years
- of service to our school community. And on behalf of the Monroe County Community School Corporation,
- I would like to extend a special thank you to these individuals
- for their many years of dedicated service and wish them well in their next adventures. At this time,
- I request that you please approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the personnel
- report. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do I have any comments from the board? I'd just like to say welcome
- Gretchen. Child nutrition is kind of one of our gold stars in the corporation, so we're excited to have
- you. And congratulations to everyone retiring.
- All those in favor of approving the motion signify by saying aye aye Any against say no Do I have any
- abstentions? Motion carries Next for our consideration is the collective bargaining agreement with the
- American Federation of State County and municipal employees or AFSCME local 3995
- Do I have a motion to approve the collective bargaining agreement with AFSCME as presented? So moved.
- Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Erin Wyatt that we approve the collective
- bargaining agreement with AFSCME as presented. Dr. Henderson? President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and
- members of the Board of School Trustees, please approve the collective bargaining agreement between
- the Monroe County Community School Corporation and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
- AFSCME Local 3995 for the 2026 and 2027 calendar years for all AFSCME support staff groups effective
- January 1st, 2026. There is no pay increase. Stipends are awarded to AFSCME employees based on a position's
- gross yearly wage without overtime and our medical, vision, and dental insurance contributions and rates
- align with and are equitable with the new MCEA agreement.
- Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do I have any comments from the board? I just want to thank everyone who worked
- on this contract and this sort of bargaining agreement. I want to thank them. But I also just want to
- say that I am grateful that our district continues to sort of value the bargaining process. And for
- some of our community who may not know, we're one of the only districts who has a bargaining
- sort of agreement with their support staff in this way and so I think it is unique and just sort of
- worth calling out. Thank you. Any other comments from the board? Dr. Winston? Yes, I just wanted to
- take this moment to extend my appreciation to Randy Tackett and his bargaining team. They were very
- wonderful to work with and were so appreciative and I would like to also just acknowledge
- Members of my executive team, our CFO, our assistant superintendent for HR, and our assistant superintendent
- for curriculum for the tireless hours that they spent alongside AFSCME in coming to a workable agreement
- in the midst of the challenges that we all know everyone in the state is facing. So thank you to Randy,
- and thank you to my team. Thank you, Dr. Winston. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye.
- Against say no Any abstentions the motion carries Next for our consideration are the non-union support
- staff and administrative salary and benefits schedule Do I have a motion to approve the non-union support
- staff and administrative salary and benefits schedule as presented? Do I have a second second?
- It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by April that we approve the non-union support staff
- and administrative salary and benefits schedule as presented. Dr. Henderson. Thank you, President Cooperman,
- Dr. Winston, and members of the Board of School Trustees. Please approve the non-union support staff
- and administrator salary and benefits schedule as presented in your board packet for the 2026 and 2027
- calendar years. No increase to base pay.
- Stipends awarded to non-union support staff are based on a position's gross yearly wage without overtime.
- Stipends awarded to certified support staff and administrators align with stipends awarded to teachers.
- And medical, vision, and dental insurance contributions and rates align with and are equitable with
- the new MCEA and AFSCME agreements. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do we have any comments from the board?
- All those in favor of approving the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against, say no. Any abstentions?
- The motion carries. We will move to contracts. Do I have a motion to approve the contracts, quotes,
- and bids as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Asia.
- that we approve the contracts, quotes, and bid as presented. Mr. Irwin. Thank you. All the contracts
- have been reviewed through our normal process. There's two contracts that I do want to make note of.
- One is the EMB Paving, and one is the Verigee contract. Both of these projects are part of our Designing
- and Building to Sustain Excellence project, and they're both budgeted through the 2025 lease rental
- bonds that we sold a few months ago. The Verigee project specifically falls in line with our continued efforts
- offset our electricity consumption. The past projects have netted the MCCSC over $500,000 of savings
- to our operations fund in addition to the IRS rebates that we have submitted for and await arrival from
- the federal government. I recommend all contracts. Thank you Mr. Irwin. Do we have any comments from
- the board? All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against say no.
- Any abstentions? I'm going to abstain. Thank you, Ashley. The motion carries with one abstention. Next
- for our consideration is the recommendation to adopt resolution 2026-04, transferring amounts from the
- education fund to the operations fund. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution 2026-04 as presented? So moved.
- Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by April that we adopt resolution 2026-04
- as presented. Mr. Erwin? Yeah, so this is an annual ask of the board. We're required to set an amount
- of transfer from education to the operations fund. We're required to stay below 15%.
- This dates back to 2019 when they changed the fund structures of which we operate underneath. When they
- took expenses that were in the general fund, they moved those to the newly created operations fund and
- they did not move the revenue to go along with it. This is an up to amount. It's not the planned amount
- that we plan to move from the education fund to the operations fund. We transferred 5.8% this past year
- from the education one to the operations fund.
- And that's extremely low in comparison to a lot of school corporations across the state. So we are well
- within the guidelines set forth in the state. That was predetermined by the state based on the movement
- of funds and how they change the allocation of funds. And again, this is an up to amount so that we're
- not going back and re-changing this every time that we need to change something. So it is an up to amount.
- It is not the amount that we plan to transfer from education to operations. Thank you, Mr. Irwin.
- Are there any comments from the board? Yes. Yep. Um, so I went back and I did some looking cause I did
- see this on our agenda. And in the past three to four years, we've set that up to amount of 15 million
- rather than the 12.5 that we set it this year. And again, it isn't up to amount. So it's not as that
- this is something new that we're doing in January of 2026 based on what's been going on.
- This is a standard accounting procedure, basically based on state legislation, if I understand it correctly.
- We're required to have a resolution that allows the transfer of funds from education operations.
- And again, we set that up to amount to protect ourselves so that we're not coming back and continuing
- to make adjustments month in and month out. Thank you. I have two questions. One is, since MCEA did
- speak on this topic, was this topic at all discussed already?
- in discussion. It's not a part of discussion though. Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay, I assume so.
- But I just wanted to check. Um, my other question is, I mean, Mr Erwin, what would you say to Mr Nolan's
- comment earlier that, um, that this is a disingenuous use of our funds and that it lacks transparency
- to our community? So as I stated before, they changed the fund structure from which we operate.
- The property tax levy that we receive is not enough to cover the expenses that come into the operations
- fund. And so when they move those expenses that were already in the general fund and they renamed that
- the education fund, they created an operations fund and move the personnel, but not the funding that
- goes with it, which is why they had to allow us to transfer from education to operations because of
- the way that they change the way that we account for expenditures of personnel. So again, there's a
- lot of, there's a lot of school corporations in the state
- that do transfer 15%. And that's varying in reasons and why, but it is very common that as of 10% and
- above, and we were at 5.8% this past year, which is something I'm pretty proud of. Yeah, I agree. I
- think it's something to be proud of. Thank you for that. Are there other comments from the board? No,
- April stole mine. I had the same question I was going to ask. We'll talk about that. So thank you.
- All right, all those in favor of approving the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Against, they know.
- Any abstentions? The motion carries. Next, we will consider approval of the 2028-2029 school calendar.
- Do I have a motion to approve the 2028-2029 school calendar as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
- It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we approve the 2028-2029 school calendar as presented.
- Dr. Winston? Yes, I'd like to ask that you accept the recommendation of the school calendar for 2029
- school year. The proposal follows previous year's calendar timelines, and it also aligns closely with
- Indiana University and Bloomington dates for winter and spring break. School for the 2029 school year
- will begin on August 7, 2028.
- Fall break has been extended by one extra day. Two built-in snow days are included, as in previous years.
- And efforts were made to ensure that semesters were as equal as possible, as could be in length, with
- the first semester ending prior to winter break. I so recommend. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Are there any
- comments from the board? Just to clarify, did you say August 7? I did.
- It says August 4th. That's the thing in front of me. Yes. Let me look at the actual calendar.
- It is actually, well, I've got both. Which is correct. Just start the 7th. The 4th is early.
- It's a Friday. So it is August 4th. I apologize for my notes being incorrect.
- Got people excited. Move it to the seventh? You wouldn't get the right number of days. Friday is so
- weird. It would mess up our balance of our semester. Any other comments from the board? I'm sorry. Am
- I correct in saying that we only have one snow make-up day built in? Two. Two? OK. And I'm blind.
- I think the first 19th. Oh, OK, President's Day. It was in a different color. May 25th and February
- 19th. Yes, I see that. So we have to start on a Friday? That is the recommendation. And what's the last
- day, the 24th?
- And the 25th. Oh, I see. It would be the danger record day. Yes. It would also be a snow makeup day.
- And then what happens to the 28th? So it says. The 28th is Memorial Day. Oh, duh. OK, yeah. All right.
- Is everybody done verbally processing the 28th, 28th, 29th calendar?
- Any other comments from the board? All right, all those in favor say aye. Aye. Any against? No.
- I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Aye. We're going to take that as an aye. Any reluctant aye? Any nos?
- Any abstentions? The motion carries.
- Tonight's first district update is diverse learners, special education, Ms. Harmon. Good evening, President
- Cooperman, Dr. Winston, Board of Trustees, and community members. As Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum,
- Instruction, and Assessment, the Special Education Department
- and services they provide is an essential component of what we do. For this presentation, I'll be joined
- by our Director of Special Education, Dr. Blaine Garman-McLean. Tonight's presentation is designed to
- give you a clear picture of how special education operates as part of our overall instructional system,
- not as a separate program, but as a core part of how we ensure every student at MCCSE can learn, grow,
- and thrive. We will walk you through who our students are,
- how services are delivered, how we staff and fund this work, and what the student experience looks like
- across different levels of support. Throughout, our focus is on how we build a system that is both legally
- sound and instructionally strong. Here's the overview for tonight. We'll start by grounding ourselves
- in who our students are and the core goals that drive our work. Then we'll walk through the system of
- supports from inclusive classroom practices to intensive programming and how those supports are staffed
- and funded.
- I'll also highlight what this looks like for students and families because special education is not
- abstract. It is something that plays out every day in our classrooms, in therapies, and in partnerships
- with families. The goal is by the end of this presentation, you have a clear understanding of both the
- structure of our special education system and how it connects directly to teaching and learning and
- student outcomes. At our last board presentation, we centered our corporation's work around the three
- outcomes for all students, literacy, numeracy,
- and college career and life readiness. Special education exists to ensure that all students with disabilities
- are not excluded from those goals, but instead have full access to them. The purpose of this department
- is to make sure every student, regardless of learning need, disability, or circumstance, has the supports
- necessary to make progress towards those outcomes of literacy, numeracy, college, career, and life ready.
- That means some students need accommodations.
- Some need specialized instruction, some need intensive services for a period of time, but the end goal
- is always the same. Access, growth, and meaningful participation and learning that prepares them for
- life and beyond school. What you will see throughout tonight's presentation is how this system of support
- is intentionally designed to meet students where they are while still keeping them connected to the
- same high expectations and opportunities as their peers.
- With that foundation in place, I'd like to turn it over to our Director of Special Education, Dr. Blaine
- Garment-McClain. Good evening, President Cooper and Dr. Winston, members of the board and the community.
- Thanks for allowing me to present on special education in MCCSE tonight. So first of all, special education
- is grounded in state and federal statutes. So laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education
- Act and Article VII in Indiana establish clear non-negotiables that public school corporations
- across the state have to comply with. For example, we have to provide free appropriate public education
- to all students ages 3 to 22. We have to conduct and identify individual students who are suspected
- of having a disability who live within MCCSE catchment zones. We have to develop individualized education
- programs that are aligned with students' needs, support students in the least restrictive environment,
- and provide meaningful participation from parents and students that are rooted in procedural safeguards.
- These requirements form the foundation of our work. They ensure consistency, equity, and access for
- all students and families. At the same time, our approach in MCCSC is not driven by compliance alone.
- Instead, these legal obligations directly align with our mission and vision to serve all learners. We
- view the law as the starting point for how we design supports and services for students.
- Now a little bit about our students. The students we serve represent a wide range of strengths, ages,
- and educational settings. MCCSE currently provides special education services to more than 2,100 students.
- Most of these students are enrolled in our PK through 12 schools, while others are enrolled in private
- schools, non-public schools in our catchment zones, and early learning settings.
- Federal law requires public school corporations to identify and support all students living in our catchment
- zone, even if they are not enrolled in MCCSE schools. So our services extend well beyond our classrooms.
- To support this range of learners, we align services, staffing, and funding to meet their needs.
- And first, I'll begin by explaining how services are delivered across different levels of student need.
- But first, I'd like to take a moment
- to explain the continuum of services in MCCSE. We provide a full continuum of service ranging from general
- education with accommodations to highly specialized programs. Importantly, this continuum reflects the
- levels of support that students need at any given time in their educational journey. Students move along
- this continuum based on individualized needs and placements are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain
- appropriate.
- And so now I'll speak a little bit about inclusive practices. These are instructional approaches, not
- placements for students. Most of our students, in fact, receiving special education services spend the
- majority of their day in general education classrooms alongside their peers. Most specifically noted
- by the yellow box there representing 82% of students receiving special education services spend 80%
- or more of their day alongside students in the general education setting.
- Specially designed instruction is not something that happens apart from the classroom. It happens within
- it. Through co-teaching, targeted small group instruction, and differentiated materials and strategies,
- supports are embedded directly into daily instruction. General and special education teachers alike
- share responsibility for student outcomes, combining content expertise with instructional staff holding
- and differentiation. When done well, this approach produces meaningful results. For example, in 2024-25
- school year,
- we saw the percentage of second grade students with disabilities passing iREAD double. Or approximately
- 93% of MCCSE ninth graders who received special education services were on track to graduate in four
- years, a metric we closely monitor for all ninth grade students at the secondary level. These statistics
- provide a clear indicator that inclusive intentional instruction can significantly improve outcomes.
- But some students require more intensive, highly structured supports.
- For intensive programming, it's not a place, but rather a level of individualized instruction aligned
- to students' IEP goals. These environments feature small group sizes, increased adult support, evidence-based
- instructional approaches, and strong family partnerships. An example of this work, we have a high level
- of adult support to students receiving intensive programming. More specifically, there is one adult
- for every two students receiving intensive programs in MCCSE.
- These programs are essential to ensure students with the most significant needs receive appropriate
- and meaningful instruction. Another example of sustaining excellence can be seen in outcomes for students
- who participate in Indiana's alternate assessment, IAM. Among the 20 school corporations in the state
- with the highest number of alternate test takers, MCCSE ranks eighth in the percentage of students
- demonstrating proficiency in both English language arts and mathematics. This reflects the strength
- of our intensive programming and the intentional focus
- on high quality instruction. In addition to instruction, we provide a range of related services directly
- related to students' IEP goals by licensed professionals. These services, such as speech or occupational
- therapy, counseling, behavioral support, and transportation are integrated into students' school days
- based on individual needs. They are designed to support access, independence, and progress towards IEP goals.
- Delivering these services though, as you can imagine, in a highly specialized way, requires a collaborative
- workforce. So now, I'll briefly review our staffing structure. MCCSE employs over 300 special education
- faculty and staff. This includes supporting both mild and intensive needs, instructional assistants,
- also known as paraprofessionals, behavior specialists, school psychologists, mental health therapists,
- and special education coordinators.
- Each role contributes expertise, allowing us to design and respond to students' need across all settings.
- This investment ensures safety, instructional quality, and consistency. Special education services and
- supports in MCCSC are supported through a combination of local and state and federal funding. While
- federal funding plays an important role, the majority of costs are borne locally and through state tuition
- support. This underscores the district's commitment
- to meeting student needs beyond minimal requirements, yet demonstrates that federal funding at the time
- is insufficient. To bring this system to life, I'd like to share two brief examples of how special education
- supports look for individual students. Student A. Student A represents a learner whose needs are best
- met primarily within the general education environment, with targeted intentional supports layered in.
- In the elementary years,
- Student A learns alongside peers in the general education classroom with specially designed instruction
- embedded into daily routines. A special education teacher collaborates closely with classroom teacher
- to provide targeted small group reading and language support while accommodations ensure access to grade
- level content. Speech and language services are integrated into instruction focusing not only on skill
- development but also on classroom communication and academic vocabulary. Progress is monitored regularly
- and supports are adjusted as needed. Student A transitions into middle and high school, the nature of
- support becomes more strategic and increasingly student standard. Instruction shifts from foundational
- skill development toward helping students access more complex tasks, assignments, and assessments across
- multiple content areas. Co-taught courses provide structure and scaffolding within rigorous coursework
- while accommodations are consistently applied.
- A special education teacher coordinates these services, monitors progress, and closely works closely
- with content area teachers to ensure alignment between IEP goals and coursework standards and expectations.
- Over time, IEP goals evolve for foundational academic skills that support success beyond high school.
- This progression reflects how special education supports are designed to be and change over time.
- maintaining access and belonging while building independence and readiness for life after graduation.
- And for student B, student B represents a learner whose needs are more requiring of intensive, highly
- structured supports delivered through specialized programming. In the elementary years, student B learns
- primarily within a specialized classroom designed to provide predictive routines, explicit instruction,
- and high level of adult support.
- Instruction is individualized and delivered in small group or one-on-one throughout the day with a strong
- focus on communication, social interaction, self-regulation, and foundational academic skills. Sensory
- or behavioral supports are embedded into daily routines, creating an environment that supports engagement
- and learning. Related services are integrated seamlessly into instruction and daily activities rather
- than provided in isolation. As student B transitions into middle school and high school,
- Programming remains highly structured but becomes increasingly focused on functional application and
- independence. Instruction expands to include functional academics, executive functioning, life skills,
- vocational exploration. Transition planning becomes a central driver of instructional decisions with
- IEP goals aligned to post-secondary outcomes such as employment, independent living, and community participation.
- Over time, intensive programming shifts from primary skill acquisition toward preparing the student
- for life after high school. This example provides how intensive special education programming
- is intentionally designed to evolve with the student, ensuring supports remain responsive, individualized,
- and outcome focused. In closing, special education in MCCSE is a comprehensive system designed to ensure
- access, growth, and opportunity for every student.
- Thank you for your continued support of our students, staff, and their families. Thank you,
- Dr. Garman-McClain and Ms. Harmon. Are there any comments from the board? Just generally, thank you
- so much. This is, I think, one of the most important things we do as a school corporation. I really
- appreciate the presentation. Thank you.
- Next, we will have the initial CFO financial update. Dr. Winston, would you like to begin? Yes, I would.
- Thank you very much, President Cooper. One vital indicator regarding the fiscal health of an organization
- is the cash flow balances of the various funding sources within our school corporation. Our board of
- school trustees has prioritized their number one goal, which is achieving financial balance.
- To that end, tonight, we will begin to provide regular updates on our cash balances. Approximately 11
- months ago, we began providing quarterly financial transparency updates, and this is just a continuation
- and possibly an extension of that level of transparency. We believe it's very important that our community
- understand the inflows and the outflows of our dollars and that they understand the importance of this
- particular
- financial indicator. I've asked our CFO Matt Irwin to provide an update on a regular basis so that our
- entire community can gain in their understanding of school finances. So I'll turn it now over to Mr.
- Irwin. Thank you. I'm really excited about this process. Obviously you guys are getting the snapshots,
- but just the opportunity to talk through some of the things that continue to change or that we continue to see
- throughout the school year. And also for people to continue to understand that we're tracking these
- things and monitoring these things throughout the year and making adjustments of how we operate or what
- it is that we're seeing, especially as it relates to the projections that I do with cash flow. So the
- purpose is we're going to go through the five major funds, the five major funds being education fund,
- both referendum funds, the operations fund and the debt service fund. That encompasses about 90 plus percent
- of the expenditures and revenue that come into the school corporation. So obviously, for those obvious
- reasons, that's the focus of what it is that we'll talk about. And as we get into the slides, I want
- to just point you to some of the things that continue to change, that things are of note, the pieces
- that are important as you guys continue to monitor and track this as we send these things to you. And
- then as people are able to view them as we talk about the monthly financials that are in the board report,
- or the items that Dr. Winston will talk a little bit later about the financial transparency portal as
- well. So we're trying to, we're making a lot of efforts on this in a lot of different ways, but I'm
- excited about this education piece at its heart. So that's why I started as a teacher. So, you know,
- getting to come back to this piece, I think it's important because I think it helps people understand
- the nuances and just some of the different things that occur throughout the year to kind of know what's
- normal and what's not normal. So we'll start with the education fund.
- One of the things that happened during the month of December, and I'm speaking specifically as far as
- how the year ended in this, and that's why I have monthly specifics and year end specifics. But in the
- monthly specifics for December, in tuition support, our tuition support payment was updated. Tuition
- support is the payment that we receive for the state based on our student enrollment. That student tuition
- support is made up of five different categories. One of those categories is the academic performance grant.
- So once a year, they update and reconcile the numbers of which we have the performance of our graduating
- classes, and they update our funding based on that. Now, in that categorical grant, the funding was
- reduced in this legislative session by about half a percent. But overall, with the academic outcomes
- of our graduating class from 2025 and the graduating class from 2024, the funding remains about as level
- as level gets.
- What's different is that from the beginning of this fiscal year, they had not been giving us money for
- the dual credits earned for our graduating class of 2024. They wait till reconciled to add that. And
- so that will increase our tuition support payment because now they'll start to add in the funding that's
- associated with the dual credit attainment of some of our students from the 2024 graduating cohort.
- So that's makeup of two pieces. That's something that happens. They'll update the tuition support payment.
- but that that occurred during the month of December and then looking forward the special education grant
- as was stated in the previous presentation that also they they take a census on that number
- for us corporation why that's the December one count and then that is the funding from which we receive
- for an entire year until they update that count they'll reconcile and update that funding in February
- so that is upcoming so just putting that on your radar as well
- And the big thing is in the monthly is we're looking at projections and how actuals come in. And so
- I'm evaluating whether or not my projections, I use the term finger on the pulse as far as knowing what
- it is that's going on in the school corporation and what we expect to expend and what we expect to receive
- in these five major funds on a month in and month out basis. And so the goal is for those to be very
- accurate, obviously, and slightly conservative. I try not to be
- uber-aggressive in how I project those numbers because I don't want to sell something that isn't as
- realistic. I want it to be realistic, accurate, and conservative. And so that is where the numbers came
- in in December. And so that's a great thing. A couple of year-end specifics as it relates to the education
- fund is that important piece is that we stayed within the budget guardrails that were approved by the
- Department of Local Government Finance. Remember that our budget sets appropriation
- appropriation is simply the authority to spend so when they give us our certified budget and they certify
- what our budget is that's the appropriation that they've given us permission that they've said you have
- the revenue and the cash on hand to fund those expenditures so we stayed within those guardrails so
- it's important to note that and then again just wanted to note that our cash balance ended
- um, above the November quarterly update, which is obviously a good thing as well. Again, accurate and
- conservative. We ended above that number and that's a great thing. We'll move to the 2022 referendum
- fund and some of these tax levied funds will some of the information will be a little bit redundant.
- But again, it helps you kind of grasp what it is that's normal and reoccurring and how these funds operate.
- So we received property tax distributions
- times a year and so we received our December disbursement of property tax dollars in the 2022 referendum
- fund. The DLGF or the Department of Local Government Finance puts out a circuit breaker report in about
- usually about April May that gives us an estimation as to what it is that we expect to receive in our
- levies after they've done some updating with assessed value. Our number when I look at that report I'm
- usually using that as a gauge to say
- from our projection standpoint, what can we expect to receive based on this updated information? And
- then I usually try to take something that's a little bit more conservative of that number. It was slightly
- lower than that, but our collection was good. We collected 98% of levy in the 2022 referendum. One of
- the other things that changed the revenue being a little bit lower in the 2022 referendum and some of
- our other tax levy funds was that the legislature
- made a move where all commercial vehicle excise tax and financial institution tax is only deposited
- into the operations fund now going forward. So that started with our December settlement and moving
- forward will be that way and prior to that it was spread across all of our property tax levied funds.
- So that was something that changed but again expenses across line items were very accurate slightly
- below projections and that's
- what we want to see again we were within our approved budget and again cash balance as it relates to
- the 2022 referendum was about spot on as it relates to the November quarterly projection and so from
- that standpoint it's again it's reassuring when those projections remain accurate. The 2023 referendum I
- There's some of that redundant information, and so I won't continue to reiterate those pieces. But again,
- for those same reasons in the 2023 referendum, as related to the 2022 referendum, there's some little
- bit of difference as far as revenue received. And again, that see that NFIT go into the operations fund
- reduces that as well. But again, expense is very accurate, slightly below projections. What we want
- to see, we were within budget.
- And our cash balance is down from January 1 to the end of December, but that's as we continue to manage
- early learning and this new referendum. We're not very far into this referendum, but we are headed in
- a positive direction. We're continuing to figure that out as we manage the growth of early learning.
- Quite frankly, when a lot of other school corporations have not been able to expand early learning or
- are wondering how they're going to continue to be able to provide it,
- We are fortunate enough to have this referendum that allows us to not only fund it, but we were able
- to expand it this year and continue to provide access to students with quality programming. So very
- proud of that, but making note of those cash balances. The operations fund, it was the benefactor of
- revenue bolstered through CVET and FIT, which is commercial vehicle excise tax and financial institution tax.
- Our levy collection was essentially about 100% just below it, which is fantastic. We don't experience
- a whole lot of circuit breaker loss, which is less revenue that you receive than what the DLGF has said
- that you would be able to levy for. So we didn't experience a whole lot of that, and we don't typically.
- And so that's a good thing for us. Again, projections of expenses, very accurate.
- We did pay back the tax anticipation warrant that we received back earlier in the first half of this
- year. That is that was money received in order for cash flow purposes and our tax levy funds. We go
- about six months without revenue coming in. So you have to bridge that gap. And so as we've navigated
- being in a place where we talked about our cash balances, not having the appropriate safety nets in
- place right now, that tax anticipation warrant
- was very much needed in order to help us manage that cash flow until the next property tax disbursement
- came in. We sent back that principal and as well as the interest that we paid for holding those funds
- back to the Indiana bond bank. We did stay with an appropriation as far as budget goes within this fund.
- Cash balance ended up ahead of where we projected with the quarterly report in November.
- So that is obviously a great thing as we talk about all the challenges that the operations fund experiences
- due to SEA-1 and some of the other factors that we're working through. We will do a little bit smaller
- tax anticipation warrant this year. Back in November, you guys approved our ability to go back
- and participate in that program again. We are not going to need 10.3 like we did this past year. We
- are only gonna do 3 million in T.A.W.
- that for this year, the goal is that as we continue to position ourselves and get the appropriate safety
- nets and cash balances in place that we won't need to do this moving forward. So that is where we're
- headed. That is the job that you tasked us with, with achieving financial balance. And so that is the
- goal that we're working towards. Last but not least, just talking about the debt service fund. Again,
- property tax levy fund, we received that property tax disbursement.
- We were made whole, we received 100% of that levy. All debt payments were made by the required deadlines.
- Again, this fund essentially functions as a purpose of us repaying our bond obligations, the payment
- schedule on those. It's pretty close to money in, money out as it relates to that property tax disbursement
- coming in and the timing of when those bonds are payable. So all debt payments were made by that required deadline.
- and that's why I said fund activity aligned to expectations again within budget and then the cash balance
- ended essentially where we expected it to go. So as we go through this and in a month by month basis
- I'm excited to do this with you and just continue to talk about some of the things that we see or that
- we're looking at or that that happened throughout the year
- I think it'll be a great opportunity for the board and the public to just to learn a little bit more
- about some of the things that go on inside MCCSE. And as we try to do our best to educate about what
- it is that we're doing and how we're approaching what it is that we have going on in MCCSE. So I appreciate
- your time and I will take any questions that you have. Thank you so very much, Mr. Irwin. I just want
- to take a moment to say this is one of the most important tasks
- that Mr. Irwin and I engage in on a very regular and consistent basis. It is the best indicator for
- understanding and managing, quite frankly, the financial health of the organization. And so he and I
- have hours upon hours of discussion about all the minutiae that goes into the cash flow reports. It's
- the number one thing that I ask of him, and it's the number one thing that we talk about. And so it's
- important to me
- that as an audience, while it may be somewhat boring to you, I think if you really want to understand
- and be actively engaged in the financial health of our organization, it really is important that all
- of us listen intently to heighten our understanding because that's part of our goal is to make sure
- that you have questions, that we answer those questions,
- and that we continue to be as transparent as possible. So I just want to say thank you so very much
- for your leadership in this area, Mr. Irwin. I think that it's going to benefit everyone in our community
- and our board equally. So that concludes our presentation. Thank you. I have a question. Yeah, of course.
- So I really appreciate this new effort to demonstrate cash flow and just talk the community and the
- board through that. And I appreciate the ongoing move towards
- fiscal, like just transparency. Mr. Irwin, can you remind me, do all of our employees' salaries get
- paid out of the education fund? No, they don't. So some of them are out of the education fund. Some
- are out of the operations fund. Some are out of the referendum funds, debt service. There are none,
- because we're not allowed to spend salary, wages, and benefits out of the debt service fund. But all
- those other funds have
- staff wages and benefits in them, SBOA or State Board of Accounts dictates to us what places you're
- going to account for certain expenditures, right? So it kind of gets back in a little bit of
- that conversation as it relates back to the transfer. We are prescribed to account for certain expenditures
- and certain funds. And so that's the way that we do it because that's the way that it's prescribed to
- us. That's right, yeah. I thought that I remembered that we pay for employee
- salaries both out of education and operation and referendum funds. I think that's important for the
- community to know and to hear at this point. I think that that was my only question on this. Are there
- other questions from the board? Yeah. So, and again, Ms. Sherwin, as a clarifying point again, for us
- and for the community, projects that we approved tonight, for instance,
- project of Bloomington North, the solar project by Verigee, those are paid, and it's specified that
- they're paid through our lease bonds. Just to be clear, the debt service fund is what pays that back,
- and that's its own property tax levy source of funding, correct? That is correct. They can't be commingled
- with other funds. That is correct. Okay. I wanted to be sure. Yes. That I was clear on that. Thank you.
- I appreciate the updates. Hope the board does as well. I know it's a lot of work and I know that numbers
- can be really tedious and boring for those of us that don't work in them every day, but I really appreciate
- that you always make it digestible and easy to understand.
- Yeah, I would echo that because I mean, I don't work in numbers and I find numbers sometimes boring,
- but you don't make it boring. You make it interesting. I appreciate that. I'll take that pat on the
- back. Yeah. I mean, I'm telling you, since you've started explaining this, it makes sense to me.
- So thank you.
- My students tell me I don't pause long enough for questions, so I'm trying to do better here. Use your
- wait time, right? Yeah, exactly. I'm not comfortable with silence. Are there any other comments from
- the board? Thank you, Mr. Irwin. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Are we doing another? No. Nope. Nope. Tonight,
- we will provide our community with a short yet important update on the current Indiana legislative session.
- Dr. Winston, would you like to begin? Sure. The 124th General Assembly is in a short session right now,
- and the deadline for the completion of this work is February 27th. So there's a lot of activity going
- on. There have been, to date, approximately 700 bills that have been filed, and of those 700, approximately
- 73 address K-12 education matters. Board member Hennessy is going to highlight a couple of them just
- for your awareness.
- Thank you, Dr. Winston. So a few bills that we're watching are SB 78. And so this is a cell phone use
- in school bill. This bill would prohibit the use of cell phones in schools for the entire school day.
- School corporations, school boards will be required to pass a policy to either prohibit them from being
- in schools or for storing them for the entire day. So we are obviously keeping a close eye on that.
- The other one that we're watching right now is SB 199. So this is with regard to social media.
- This bill prohibits the use of social media accounts by children 13 and younger. Dr. Winston, do you
- have the last comments on this or do I? You do. Okay. As this year's legislative session winds down
- over the next month or so, please continue to make your voices heard by calling, texting, or emailing
- your legislators. On our website, under the Board of School Trustees tab, there is a link to our area
- legislators and these monthly updates.
- Let's all do our part to speak up and stand united in support of our students in K-12 public education.
- Thank you very much. Thank you, Board Member Hennessy. This doesn't say to pause for board comments,
- but are there any comments from the board? I'm doing it. I'm going around. We look forward to receiving
- these monthly updates during the legislative sessions.
- Are there any other reports or comments from the boards or the committees that they sit on? Thank you,
- everyone. And finally, Dr. Winston, do you have any additional information you would like to share tonight?
- I do have a couple things. Thank you.
- Last Thursday, we and several other schools were in the unfortunate position of being informed by the
- Bloomington Police Department that there was a non-specific threat to student safety in Bloomington
- area schools. We immediately enacted all safety protocols and placed all 23 of our schools on lockdown.
- During our lockdown, our teachers continued to provide instruction in their classrooms while our school
- resource officers, security staff, and administrators conducted full school-wide sweeps.
- We received assistance from local authorities as they patrolled our schools to secure the perimeter
- of our buildings and to provide additional support as necessary. It is important for everyone to know
- that our top priority is always to ensure the health, safety and well-being of our students and our
- staff. Our teams did exactly that. At no time were any members of our 10,000 plus students or 2,000
- employees at risk or in harm's way.
- Once we were able to confirm that the threat was not real, and that it was a swatting call, and that
- everyone was safe and not at risk, we pivoted to our next priority, which was to inform our families.
- We understand that families may have questions while our safety teams are actively investigating a situation,
- and we are committed to sharing information as soon as we can do so without compromising the safety
- efforts of our students or our staff.
- As part of our normal protocol, my team and I conducted an after action review whereby we discussed
- what happened while focusing on identifying opportunities for making improvements. We learned one or
- two things as a result of our after action review. This incident has prompted us to continue to study
- all of our systems and processes very carefully. We do that on a regular basis already.
- We learned that there is a balance between the urgency with making sure that students and staff are
- safe, our very first and ultimately our most important priority, investigating the situation to assess
- if there is an actual threat, and informing our parents. Understandably, our parents want to know the
- moment we know something. In the best case scenario, we would secure the safety of thousands of students and staff
- we would coordinate with the local authorities, we would investigate the threat, all while communicating
- simultaneously with our families. The reality is that we will always ensure the safety of our students
- and staff first and foremost. Once their safety is confirmed, and quite frankly not a moment before,
- then we will notify our families. The second thing that we learned
- is that while the majority of our family and staff notifications went out on schedule, we learned that
- some of our families experienced delays in receiving our message, and we are addressing that. It was
- absolutely unacceptable that the system did not work as intended. In closing, we remain committed to
- providing a safe and secure environment in every one of our schools and every one of our offices. Our
- schools regularly practice our school safety plans
- that were created in partnership with local law enforcement, and our employees are trained in school
- safety response protocols. We take every report regarding student and staff safety seriously, and we
- remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment. I want to extend my deepest appreciation
- to our staff, our chief of police, the Bloomington Police Department, and our school resource officers
- and administrators for their efforts in ensuring the safety of everyone in our schools. If you want
- to know more about how our schools handle safety I encourage you to go to our school safety website at mccsc.edu
- backslash safety. As always if you see something say something. I am thankful and grateful that
- Every one of our 10,000 plus students and 2,000 plus employees were able to go home to their family's
- safety. And that is the ultimate measure of success. I'd also like to take a moment to provide an inclement
- weather update. I probably don't really need to give you an update. We're all experiencing it. But due
- to the unprecedented weather event over the last several days and the corresponding snow and wind chill
- and unpassable roads throughout our
- County in particular, but even within the city, we did have to cancel school yesterday, and we were
- thankful to be able to have a snow day. We were not quite certain whether or not there would be power
- outages yesterday, but we were in close communication with Duke and other authorities. In order to make
- up yesterday's day, we will have school on Monday, February 16th, President's Day. January is School
- Board Appreciation Month,
- And I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our trustees for the very many hours away from their
- families that you take each and every month in support of our schools. I'd like to extend a special
- thank you to our own community partners, Mark Slayton, who provided the crumble cookies. I cannot take
- credit for it as much as I would like to. And so we're very appreciative of that partnership as well.
- And my final update.
- is one that continues with the work that we've been engaged in for many, many months. Who has the clicker?
- Will you click for me? Just realize I can't click. So tonight, I'm pleased to share another important
- step forward in our commitment to transparency, accountability, and strong financial stewardship.
- MCCSE is launching a new financial transparency portal. Every dollar, every student. It is a clear,
- user-friendly online hub where families, employees, and community members can easily see how our corporation
- is funded and how we invest every dollar to support student success. The portal brings together annual
- budgets, revenue and expenditure reports, explanations of state funding categories, referendum spending,
- and updates on bond funded capital projects. You know all those things that are very confusing and it's
- all in one accessible location. Our goal is really simple to make school finance understandable for
- every member of our community. It's that important. This portal aligns directly with our board's priority
- of achieving fiscal balance through clarity strong internal controls and responsible long term planning.
- We want our community to have confidence that MCCSE is managing resources wisely and communicating openly.
- We are proud to offer this new tool and we believe that it will strengthen trust, improve understanding,
- and deepen our partnership with the community that we serve. The Financial Transparency Portal will
- launch this week on our website. So I'd like to take a moment to walk you through a few slides that
- highlight our goals for this new portal.
- This new resource, every dollar, every student, is designed to help everyone understand the basics of
- school finance. And as you see here, this just kind of highlights the fact that we recognize it's not
- an easy thing to understand. And there are hundreds of misunderstandings relative to school finance.
- And we want to focus on trying to demystify some of that so that when we engage in conversation and dialogue,
- that we have some common background. At the heart of this portal is financial transparency. Our board
- of school trustees has made a commitment to achieving fiscal balance. We believe that part of fiscal
- stewardship is about accountability and about transparency. And we want to make sure that you have access
- to information about our operating funds
- capital, referendum, and our bond funds as well. Next slide. This will become a central hub for all
- of MCCSE finances. The strategy for doing that is for us to have sound financial decision making. If
- you go to this website, it will be publicly available as early as tomorrow. It is designed for parents,
- staff, employees, and our community partners
- that you can understand exactly where we are with our finances. Our intention is to update it regularly
- with current as well as historical data. We want this portal to serve as your one-stop-shop location
- for all things school finances in MCCSC. Right now there are a number of key features. We have the 2026
- budget already loaded that's been approved by the DLGF. We are thinking about this in terms of
- School Finance 101, what are the five main buckets? And you heard Mr. Irwin talk about some of those
- key buckets this evening. We think it's important to have an FAQ section so that the questions that
- we commonly receive are also here on the website to help and assist folks in expanding their understanding.
- We've done a lot of work around communicating the referenda dollars that we've received and how we're
- spending those dollars.
- But most importantly, the impact that those dollars are having. And then you'll see information about
- our two-year strategy. We will continue to expand our portal by providing additional information over
- time. In the next couple of months, we will be uploading our 2025 revenue and expenditures. We're in
- the process of finalizing those reports, and they'll be submitted to the DLGF within the next several
- days, quite honestly.
- We want to be able to provide information about our bond and capital projects. And so next month, we
- anticipate sharing that information with you and highlighting how is it that we are able to pay for
- renovations and construction projects. And as you heard from Mr. Irwin, there's not a single dollar
- from any referenda that goes towards those projects. We believe that this portal will be helpful to
- our community
- as well as to our students. Families will better understand how dollars are spent. We will better understand
- the impact that they have on the children that we are serving. And importantly, our taxpayers will see
- how public funds are being used responsibly. In our portal, you will find a few things. You'll find
- the FAQs about our finances and how the dollars support our students.
- you will see our budget and exactly what our budget dollars look like and the allocation of those dollars.
- You will also see the FAQ information where we begin to ask and answer specific questions. A common
- question is how can we afford construction projects if we're receiving fewer dollars in these other
- areas? And we are able to do that because of our debt service fund and because of the bonds that we've
- been able to sell based upon the approval of this board.
- I think it's important to know that the work that we're doing is protecting our property tax dollars
- that must be used for voter approved purposes. The referendum dollars that we have, there are certain
- provisions that are community approved and we want to make sure that we are continuing to align with
- that. Additional FAQs continue to talk about what does that look like. And so these are the examples
- of the kinds of questions that you will see so that we can help you to understand.
- how and why we are being strategic, how we are spending those dollars, and what kind of impact at the
- end of the day they're having on our children. In terms of what's next, we will have this published
- shortly in the next couple of days. Phase two of this portal will roll out in February, the building
- and renovation and our bond work. And in March, we'll have more information about
- the last couple of years spending reports that will by that point in time have been finalized by the
- state. We anticipate that this is going to continue to evolve and to grow and we will make additional
- enhancements. I think it's important for you to know that our promise is to continue to keep our students
- at the center, to maintain transparency by sharing this level of accountability,
- We want to make sure that we hear from our community. We don't want this to just service our needs.
- We want to make sure that we are listening intently to what additional information would be beneficial
- for our community to see here. And I think at the end of the day, it's important to know that we believe
- that every dollar, every student, every day matters. And so we're very excited to roll this out. I'd
- like to just take a quick moment to thank
- Matt Irwin, our Chief Financial Officer, Adam Terwilliger, our Assistant Director of the Budget Office,
- and Sarah DeWeese for their tireless hours and efforts in putting this together to be able to showcase
- and to share this level of information with our schools. I wanted to give Mr. Irwin a moment to see
- if there's anything else that you would like to highlight as we prepare to conclude.
- Well, I think just the one point is just kind of touching on what Tiana had said before about trying
- to make it digestible, trying to make it something that is easy to understand and follow along. I think
- a lot of this information, you find it in different places, whether that's with the DOE or the DOE link
- portal and Gateway and the DOGF website, all these different places. We're trying to bring this information
- together in one place, like Dr. Winston said, to make it more accessible,
- digestible and easy to find. So we just appreciate getting feedback from people once they get the chance
- to look at it. And hopefully it's something that people find useful, whether they're a staff member,
- a community member, or quite frankly, the board. So thank you. We encourage you to go to this link and
- just play around and see what you see and find out what's not there. But know it's a work in progress.
- I anticipate that we will constantly be updating this. But if you have suggestions,
- know that we are welcome. We are receptive to hearing this. So thank you very much for the opportunity
- to share this exciting update with all of you. Thank you, Dr. Winston. And thanks again, Mr. Irwin.
- Mr. Weiss, I don't think, I don't think Mr. Twilliger is here. But thank you. I know that this was a
- lot of work. So thank you so much.
- for the work on this. Can I add a thank you to your list of thank yous? I think the members of our facilities
- team who have been digging us out of the snow for the past couple of days, I know that hasn't been an
- easy job, so I just wanted to add a thank you to them. The next regularly scheduled board meeting will
- be held on Tuesday, February 24th, 2026. We are adjourned.