WEBVTT 00:00:00.098 --> 00:00:06.713 - Welcome to the March 24th meeting of the MCCSC Board of School Trustees. We ask that you come to order. 00:00:06.713 --> 00:00:13.391 - The first item on our agenda is for the board to hold a public hearing to receive objections and support 00:00:13.391 --> 00:00:19.751 - regarding the potential sale of real property owned by the school corporation located at 1900 South 00:00:19.751 --> 00:00:26.238 - Walnut Street, Bloomington, Indiana. The notices for this hearing were published as legally required. 00:00:26.850 --> 00:00:33.606 - If you are interested in speaking at the hearing, please make sure you have completed a comment card 00:00:33.606 --> 00:00:40.295 - and have given the card to Mrs. Butcher. There will be an opportunity for additional public comment 00:00:40.295 --> 00:00:47.185 - on the regular agenda items after the hearings. Have any comment cards been received, Karen? No? Okay. 00:00:47.185 --> 00:00:54.142 - Hearing no comments, I will close the hearing. The board will have an opportunity to discuss this topic 00:00:54.142 --> 00:00:55.614 - later in the meeting. 00:00:56.066 --> 00:01:04.974 - We will now open the regular meeting. Tonight we will begin with a special presentation from Riley Children's 00:01:04.974 --> 00:01:13.153 - Foundation honoring one of our students. Principal Marshall, would you like to introduce our special 00:01:13.153 --> 00:01:21.494 - guests? I definitely would. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you to Dr. Winston and President Cooper and 00:01:21.494 --> 00:01:23.518 - members of the board for 00:01:23.970 --> 00:01:31.911 - giving us a little bit of time this evening to celebrate and recognize one of our own Childs Jaguars, 00:01:31.911 --> 00:01:39.774 - Bennett Pace. Bennett is a fourth grader at Childs and someone who this evening is being recognized, 00:01:39.774 --> 00:01:47.871 - most importantly, as a Riley champion. So I personally, just in the last week, have learned a good deal 00:01:47.871 --> 00:01:52.542 - of Bennett's story, which was unbeknownst to me previously. 00:01:53.026 --> 00:01:59.695 - have just grown my admiration for him, understanding the struggles and the challenges that he endured 00:01:59.695 --> 00:02:06.234 - very early in life. I've always admired and really loved having Bennett at Childs, but I think when 00:02:06.234 --> 00:02:13.099 - you all get to hear his story, you'll grow an admiration as well. Before we recognize Bennett, I'm going 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:20.030 - to turn it over to a representative from Riley Children's Foundation, and that's Olivia Mosey. Thank you. 00:02:27.234 --> 00:02:33.467 - Thank you so much. It is so good to be with your school community today. We are grateful for your support 00:02:33.467 --> 00:02:39.642 - of Riley kids like Bennett. More than 15 years ago, Riley Children's Foundation started a program called 00:02:39.642 --> 00:02:45.817 - Riley Champions presented by Kroger. The program honors Riley Children's Health patients who demonstrate 00:02:45.817 --> 00:02:51.874 - courage and a commitment to giving back to their community while navigating their own medical journey. 00:02:51.874 --> 00:02:54.814 - Bennett was born with what he calls a fat kidney. 00:02:55.458 --> 00:03:01.957 - He was diagnosed with hydronephrosis, which caused dangerous swelling in one of his kidneys. Three surgeries 00:03:01.957 --> 00:03:07.979 - later, Bennett plays basketball and baseball, as you can see from the photos on the screen, and sees 00:03:07.979 --> 00:03:14.299 - his Riley care team for a checkup every December. Riley Children's Foundation has chosen to honor Bennett 00:03:14.299 --> 00:03:20.261 - as a 2026 Riley champion presented by Kroger. In this role, Bennett shares his personal Riley story 00:03:20.261 --> 00:03:25.150 - to show why Riley Hospital is so important to our state and why it needs support. 00:03:25.826 --> 00:03:32.011 - A few weeks ago, Bennett was interviewed on camera in front of 600 guests at the Red for Our Kids Gala 00:03:32.011 --> 00:03:38.256 - in Indianapolis. Today, we are thrilled to celebrate Bennett and his school community. Congratulations, 00:03:38.256 --> 00:03:44.862 - Bennett. And we have a gift from Riley Children's Foundation in Kroger that will hang proudly in your school. 00:04:03.394 --> 00:04:06.526 - Come on. 00:05:19.394 --> 00:05:27.609 - Congratulations Bennett. Congratulations Bennett. I would say you are not only a Riley champion, but 00:05:27.609 --> 00:05:35.824 - you're also a champion to us at MCCSE too. Next is our excellent spotlight. This is a time set aside 00:05:35.824 --> 00:05:40.542 - to celebrate members of our school community. Ms. Harmon. 00:05:44.066 --> 00:05:49.814 - Thank you, President Cooper and Dr. Winston, the Board of Trustees and community members. It's my pleasure 00:05:49.814 --> 00:05:55.454 - to share this month's Excellence Spotlight. The Excellence Spotlight is a feature of every regular Board 00:05:55.454 --> 00:06:01.094 - of School Trustees meeting, and it is dedicated time to honor the excellence occurring every day through 00:06:01.094 --> 00:06:06.788 - the dedication of MCCSE employees, students, and volunteers who make a difference in our school community 00:06:06.788 --> 00:06:12.481 - and foster environments that reflect the MCCSE mission, vision, and core values. For our March Excellence 00:06:12.481 --> 00:06:13.502 - Spotlight, we have 00:06:13.922 --> 00:06:19.544 - We will begin by honoring Dr. Kirsten Milks from Bloomington High School South. Dr. Milks is an inspiring 00:06:19.544 --> 00:06:24.954 - educator whose passion for science and student empowerment enriches the Bloomington High School South 00:06:24.954 --> 00:06:30.258 - community. She teaches AP Biology and introductory science, mentors students at STEM, and leads the 00:06:30.258 --> 00:06:35.721 - Science Olympiad team, creating inclusive and high access opportunities for all learners. Her guidance 00:06:35.721 --> 00:06:41.502 - has supported nationally recognized student achievements, including the 2025 Samsung Call for Tomorrow team, 00:06:41.698 --> 00:06:48.088 - whose project was featured at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Dr. Milks is also a dedicated Girl Scout volunteer 00:06:48.088 --> 00:06:54.359 - and was named the 2024 Girl Scouts of Central Indiana Leader of the Year. On March 25th, 2026, tomorrow, 00:06:54.359 --> 00:07:00.511 - she will be honored by the Commission on the Status of Women as the Woman of the Year, a well-deserved 00:07:00.511 --> 00:07:04.990 - celebration of her leadership, mentorship, and commitment to young people. 00:07:13.602 --> 00:07:22.687 - Hi, everybody. I just wanted to say, as I've been reflecting these past couple weeks, knowing that this 00:07:22.687 --> 00:07:31.773 - recognition had happened, it happened because I'm here, because I'm working in a place where we believe 00:07:31.773 --> 00:07:39.198 - that kids can do anything. And so that big unshakable belief, that unshakable truth, 00:07:39.298 --> 00:07:49.101 - is why I'm so lucky to work here and has guided my work with the young people in my community. And I'm 00:07:49.101 --> 00:07:57.761 - really thankful to all of them for teaching me. And I'm really excited to see what's next. 00:07:57.761 --> 00:08:07.564 - So thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want me to move on to the next one? Two more. Two more. 00:08:07.564 --> 00:08:09.182 - We actually have 00:08:09.282 --> 00:08:15.255 - We have two more tonight. So Dr. McSlootis, we'll go ahead and do the other two, and then we'll do a 00:08:15.255 --> 00:08:21.405 - picture. OK. Our next honoree is Aliyah Sarabi Naya from Bloomington High School North, who is a senior 00:08:21.405 --> 00:08:27.436 - being recognized by the Commission on Status of Women as the Young Woman of the Year. Her leadership, 00:08:27.436 --> 00:08:33.350 - service, and dedication to uplifting her community exemplifies true excellence. She actively serves 00:08:33.350 --> 00:08:37.726 - as an intern with Amplify Bloomington, co-president of Project Middleway, 00:08:37.858 --> 00:08:45.591 - President of both the BHSN Habitat for Humanity Club and Cougar Care Meals and co-president of her graduating 00:08:45.591 --> 00:08:52.902 - class. Passionate about community service and making a meaningful impact, she is an inspiring recipient 00:08:52.902 --> 00:09:00.213 - of the March Excellence Spotlight. She plans to continue her path of service and leadership by studying 00:09:00.213 --> 00:09:07.102 - informatics at Indiana University in the fall. Would you like to say anything? You're welcome to. 00:09:15.074 --> 00:09:21.850 - I just want to thank everyone here for allowing me to be recognized for my achievements and to MCCSE 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:28.761 - and all the teachers that helped me get to where I am. Thank you. Congratulations. And finally, we are 00:09:28.761 --> 00:09:35.135 - also tonight recognizing Kelton O'Connell, another student from Bloomington High School North. 00:09:35.135 --> 00:09:42.179 - Congratulations to Kelton, who has been named the 2026 Journalist of the Year by the Indiana High School 00:09:42.179 --> 00:09:43.454 - Press Association. 00:09:43.746 --> 00:09:51.789 - He has spent the past year freelancing for the B Square, publishing 40 articles that highlight his insightful 00:09:51.789 --> 00:09:59.394 - questions, strong reporting skills, and fair, unbiased storytelling. We are incredibly proud of Kelton, 00:09:59.394 --> 00:10:06.926 - an exceptional student, talented journalist, and outstanding young person. Thank you for employing the 00:10:06.926 --> 00:10:13.726 - adults who, other than my parents, have been the most impactful people who make me who I am. 00:10:13.826 --> 00:10:30.483 - Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. On behalf of the board, congratulations to all those who've 00:10:30.483 --> 00:10:43.774 - been recognized. And now we'd like to take a picture. Allergies. Hormones. 00:11:08.098 --> 00:11:32.510 - Oh, don't run. 00:11:37.698 --> 00:11:55.249 - Congratulations again to all of our recipients. Of course you're welcome to stay, but if you came for 00:11:55.249 --> 00:12:07.294 - that recognition, you're also welcome to go. Thanks again for coming. 00:12:09.634 --> 00:12:16.795 - We will now proceed to public comments. Karen, do we have any public comments? No, we don't. All right. 00:12:16.795 --> 00:12:23.819 - Moving on past public comments then, we will now move on to the consent agenda. For our consideration 00:12:23.819 --> 00:12:31.049 - is the consent agenda that includes the following. Minutes from the board meeting held on February 24th, 00:12:31.049 --> 00:12:38.003 - 2026, overnight out of state field trips, financial report from February 2026, appropriation balance 00:12:38.003 --> 00:12:39.518 - report February 2026, 00:12:39.746 --> 00:12:48.062 - register of claims March 24th, 2026, payroll register and payroll claims February 2026, request to declare 00:12:48.062 --> 00:12:55.989 - as surplus and authorized disposal of out-of-date items. Do I have a motion regarding the approval of 00:12:55.989 --> 00:13:03.916 - the consent agenda? Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we 00:13:03.916 --> 00:13:07.102 - approve the consent agenda as presented. 00:13:07.330 --> 00:13:16.597 - All those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? 00:13:16.597 --> 00:13:26.040 - Motion carries. Next for our consideration are the donations. We have received donations of over $110,000. 00:13:26.040 --> 00:13:36.190 - Thank you to all our donors. Your generosity is appreciated. Do I have a motion to accept the donations? So moved. 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:45.352 - Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by April that we accept the donations 00:13:45.352 --> 00:13:53.762 - as presented. All those in favor of approving the donations signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? 00:13:53.762 --> 00:14:02.171 - Abstentions? Motion carries. Next on our agenda is old business. The old business we have to discuss 00:14:02.171 --> 00:14:05.918 - tonight is the former Herald Times property. 00:14:06.722 --> 00:14:14.023 - Earlier this evening, we held a required hearing on the potential sale of real property located at 1900 00:14:14.023 --> 00:14:21.535 - South Walnut Street, the former Herald Times building. During the February 24th board meeting, we received 00:14:21.535 --> 00:14:29.047 - and reviewed public input from a community survey and community forum regarding the property. In addition, 00:14:29.047 --> 00:14:30.942 - as of November 18th, 2025, 00:14:31.298 --> 00:14:40.511 - Dr. Henderson presented the board with an informative presentation regarding the property that MCCSE 00:14:40.511 --> 00:14:49.998 - purchased in 2022. I will now open the floor for further board discussion regarding the property. Would 00:14:49.998 --> 00:14:57.022 - anyone like to begin? I can begin if we need someone to get it moving, okay. 00:14:57.378 --> 00:15:05.623 - It's like the first person who has to jump into the food line. I'm never that person, but I'll talk. 00:15:05.623 --> 00:15:14.031 - I'm glad we're really having this conversation finally. It's been a long time coming, and I know we've 00:15:14.031 --> 00:15:22.194 - kind of talked a little bit off and on to get to this point. I think it's been interesting to watch 00:15:22.194 --> 00:15:25.214 - the community response and feedback. 00:15:27.042 --> 00:15:35.992 - I guess notably in some cases and in some spaces the lack of it and in other spaces in a sort of abundance 00:15:35.992 --> 00:15:44.524 - of it. So I'm glad we put out the survey and were able to get all of that feedback from the community 00:15:44.524 --> 00:15:53.307 - via that form. For me, I think when we purchased that building, you know, we were kind of at a different 00:15:53.307 --> 00:15:56.318 - point in our, well, so many things. 00:15:57.250 --> 00:16:05.219 - We were just in a different moment, right? And a lot of that has shifted, including facing some really 00:16:05.219 --> 00:16:12.956 - horrific cuts from the state. And so I think we're in a much different financial position than when 00:16:12.956 --> 00:16:20.847 - we initially acquired that building. Now I will say, you know, I remain sort of steadfast in that the 00:16:20.847 --> 00:16:24.638 - original intent for purchasing that building was 00:16:25.090 --> 00:16:31.728 - a potentially good one and an innovative one. What we know is that our district has services that are 00:16:31.728 --> 00:16:38.431 - dispersed across our entire district. They're everywhere. So if you need to enroll, if you need to get 00:16:38.431 --> 00:16:45.460 - support for certain things, a parent might be charged with driving all over town. The Herald Times building 00:16:45.460 --> 00:16:52.423 - is across from the administration building, across from Bloomington High School South, and it's accessible 00:16:52.423 --> 00:16:53.790 - on a bus line, which 00:16:54.498 --> 00:17:01.243 - is key, it's a huge factor. And so the thought, I know people have kind of scoffed at this notion of 00:17:01.243 --> 00:17:08.056 - like a welcome center, but I think it isn't just a welcome center, it would have been a consolidation 00:17:08.056 --> 00:17:15.269 - of services potentially, right? It could potentially have been an improved health center for our employees. 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:22.014 - It could have been a lot of things, I think. And I remain committed to the fact that at that moment, 00:17:22.274 --> 00:17:29.444 - as we were sort of trying to envision where we wanted to go with our district, it was a point in time 00:17:29.444 --> 00:17:37.035 - since. And I will also say that the price of the sale of that building, right, is, and I know I'll probably 00:17:37.035 --> 00:17:44.275 - get sort of dinged for this or somebody will misquote me or something because it happens all the time, 00:17:44.275 --> 00:17:49.758 - so it's fine, but when you look at that from a position of personal finances, 00:17:50.050 --> 00:17:57.955 - $2.93 million, however much that building initially sold for, it seems like a lot of money. But in the 00:17:57.955 --> 00:18:05.938 - scope of a district budget of this size, it's marginal. What I will say is that fees of that sort, they 00:18:05.938 --> 00:18:13.613 - don't go very far in the operations and working of the district. They just don't. There's no way to 00:18:13.613 --> 00:18:16.990 - cut it. $2.9 million doesn't even cover our 00:18:17.634 --> 00:18:25.813 - our sort of operating budget for a month in this district. It can't go very far, but it could 00:18:25.813 --> 00:18:34.775 - have potentially set us up in a way in a building where we might have had ongoing support services and 00:18:34.775 --> 00:18:43.738 - innovation for our families. That said, at this moment, I'm sort of of the inclination, given that the 00:18:43.738 --> 00:18:46.174 - feedback was sort of 50-50, 00:18:47.042 --> 00:18:55.097 - and also knowing where we're at at this particular moment from a fiscal perspective, probably more on 00:18:55.097 --> 00:19:03.232 - the side of selling at this point. That's kind of where I land. I would very much second a lot of what 00:19:03.232 --> 00:19:11.287 - April just said. The intent of that building was great. In attending some national conferences, state 00:19:11.287 --> 00:19:16.894 - conferences, many, many districts across the country and in our state, 00:19:17.314 --> 00:19:26.481 - have a facility like that with a lot of consolidated services, and they're very public friendly, let's 00:19:26.481 --> 00:19:35.470 - put it that way. However, the same ideas have come up in my mind in that selling this building, what 00:19:35.470 --> 00:19:44.459 - we would get back from it right now, and as you said, it's a marginal percentage of what our overall 00:19:44.459 --> 00:19:45.438 - budget is. 00:19:45.986 --> 00:19:55.766 - Influx of that money to me is not the motivating factor. I'm leaning the same way April is. To me the 00:19:55.766 --> 00:20:05.450 - motivating factor is that the money that we would have to commit to make that building what it needs 00:20:05.450 --> 00:20:15.134 - to become is going to potentially severely limit our ability to do other things within the district. 00:20:15.586 --> 00:20:25.072 - over the next several years. And those buildings are more for the kids. So when you weigh those two, 00:20:25.072 --> 00:20:34.464 - investing that money there to make that building what it would need to be, in my mind, doesn't make 00:20:34.464 --> 00:20:44.702 - sense at this point. And the holding cost of that building, just to hold it for whatever use we're using it, 00:20:45.410 --> 00:20:56.079 - is going to require even some investment just to make it functional. So in the big picture, I think 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:06.962 - the best move, in my opinion, is to move on. I'm with both of you, particularly to your second point, 00:21:06.962 --> 00:21:14.430 - Ross, in that we would have to put so much into it in order to create 00:21:14.626 --> 00:21:22.696 - what was envisioned before. I'm one of the board members that kind of came on after those discussions 00:21:22.696 --> 00:21:30.687 - happened. So I'm kind of on the backend of it. And I started from a place of not wanting to sell it, 00:21:30.687 --> 00:21:39.390 - to go forward and do those things, but understanding what it would take in order to do that and what would be 00:21:40.674 --> 00:21:49.637 - potentially lost from our other facilities as a result is not worth it to me, even though it saddens 00:21:49.637 --> 00:21:58.512 - me because I see a lot of positive in having a space like that because it could be a lot of things. 00:21:58.512 --> 00:22:07.564 - It's a very large space. A lot of things could happen there. So it saddens me to agree and it saddens 00:22:07.564 --> 00:22:09.694 - me to lean towards that 00:22:09.858 --> 00:22:19.436 - that side of feeling that we should probably sell it. Pretty much everything that everyone has already 00:22:19.436 --> 00:22:29.386 - said. I agree with April that while this happened, it was purchased before I was sworn in to this position 00:22:29.386 --> 00:22:37.662 - on the board, hearing about the ideas of its potential uses all sounded like very worthy 00:22:38.786 --> 00:22:45.997 - things, especially a welcome center for somebody who has kids in more than one school. And again, not 00:22:45.997 --> 00:22:53.138 - being just a welcome center, but a centralized location for many services that could be streamlined. 00:22:53.138 --> 00:23:00.208 - But again, like what Ross said, just when you look at the cost of what it will take to rehabilitate 00:23:00.208 --> 00:23:06.430 - it, to restore it to what it would need to be in order to make all those things happen, 00:23:06.914 --> 00:23:13.970 - it's just we're in a different time now than we were in 2022. So again, like Ashley, I initially was 00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:21.235 - leaning towards keeping it because I see the potential and I think it's great to have that real estate, 00:23:21.235 --> 00:23:28.361 - but then on the other hand, it's really hard to reconcile that with what we're facing financially. So 00:23:28.361 --> 00:23:33.950 - I think I will be in agreement with the three of you. Yeah, so yeah, coming in, 00:23:34.338 --> 00:23:40.362 - Well, I wasn't here when you way late when you're talking about it, but torn that building and the potential 00:23:40.362 --> 00:23:46.000 - that building I was all excited of the things that we could possibly do the welcome center sound nice 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:51.693 - But then being in stem and the community saying oh a stem place and we house them in our I'm on campus 00:23:51.693 --> 00:23:57.275 - I was like that would be really nice But I think given the financial constraints of the district. It 00:23:57.275 --> 00:23:59.486 - doesn't make sense to keep the building 00:23:59.970 --> 00:24:11.039 - And I'm not going to repeat everything else you all said, because my daughter told me not to. 00:24:11.039 --> 00:24:23.050 - Where is Ruth? Oh. She listening. Yeah. As the newest member of this body, I do see all the potential 00:24:23.050 --> 00:24:28.702 - and am probably the brightest eye of the bunch. 00:24:30.082 --> 00:24:38.606 - But yes, just to repeat what everyone else is saying, I do understand our current financial situation 00:24:38.606 --> 00:24:46.962 - probably isn't conducive to what it would take to function as anything more than what it is now and 00:24:46.962 --> 00:24:55.486 - even the cost to continue to function as it is currently. So. I mean, if there's a donor out there in 00:24:55.486 --> 00:24:58.494 - the 2.5 people listening who, like, 00:24:58.626 --> 00:25:06.325 - has a lot of money and wants to invest in this building for MCCSE, like I will not say no, but. Yeah, 00:25:06.325 --> 00:25:13.948 - that's similar to what I was gonna say that I don't disagree with anything that anybody said. I just 00:25:13.948 --> 00:25:22.099 - wanna emphasize that I also got excited after we received all of the community feedback. I was particularly 00:25:22.099 --> 00:25:28.062 - interested in the idea of a space for robotics tournaments, for STEM or STEAM. 00:25:28.226 --> 00:25:37.268 - I think it would be incredibly helpful to move our health services over to a more accessible building. 00:25:37.268 --> 00:25:46.310 - I even went so far as to reach out to some possible community partners, and there is a lot of interest 00:25:46.310 --> 00:25:49.822 - in the community in partnering with us. 00:25:50.050 --> 00:25:56.611 - no one unfortunately was able to write a check for the amount of money that it would take to improve 00:25:56.611 --> 00:26:03.108 - the property to make it usable for those purposes. And I think the thing that I don't want us to, I 00:26:03.108 --> 00:26:09.020 - think that process was really valuable and I hope that we won't lose sight of those ideas, 00:26:09.020 --> 00:26:15.646 - those opportunities for partnership, those opportunities for growth, the areas in which our community 00:26:15.646 --> 00:26:17.790 - is interested in seeing us grow, 00:26:17.986 --> 00:26:25.485 - But I think we might have to find other ways to focus on those things, to appreciate those things from 00:26:25.485 --> 00:26:33.421 - my perspective as well. I think for me the factors that weighed heaviest are similar to what Ross mentioned. 00:26:33.421 --> 00:26:40.702 - The fact that spending the money that might be necessary to make the improvements to that building, 00:26:40.930 --> 00:26:49.052 - might make it harder for us to improve our schools when necessary. And that has to be our priority. 00:26:49.052 --> 00:26:57.580 - I think that this is sort of, for me, a sad symbol of how much our financial situation has changed since 00:26:57.580 --> 00:27:06.352 - we decided to buy the property. I agree there. And Mr. Irwin, correct me if I'm wrong, but the improvements 00:27:06.352 --> 00:27:08.382 - that building would need 00:27:09.442 --> 00:27:16.342 - would represent somewhere around 20% of our total bonding capacity with what we put out last year. I 00:27:16.342 --> 00:27:23.379 - think that somewhere, that number was somewhere around 37 to 40 million. So it'd be around the initial 00:27:23.379 --> 00:27:30.347 - estimates that I think we had were around 34, 35 million. So it would eat up a significant portion of 00:27:30.347 --> 00:27:36.222 - the debt capacity we would have over the next few years as we continue to stay within 00:27:36.642 --> 00:27:43.169 - confines of what it is is the ask of the community as it relates to supporting our property tax levy 00:27:43.169 --> 00:27:49.632 - funds and so we're just continuing to be mindful of those things so yeah it would it would it would 00:27:49.632 --> 00:27:56.417 - limit our ability to make other necessary improvements that are wanted and needed yeah some of our other 00:27:56.417 --> 00:28:03.009 - facilities and i just wanted to say to mr erwin i appreciate that you took the time to answer all the 00:28:03.009 --> 00:28:05.982 - questions that we had concerning the finances 00:28:06.082 --> 00:28:12.483 - Because it is a lot and just trying to wrap our heads around what does it actually mean if we hold on 00:28:12.483 --> 00:28:18.885 - to it if we do the things and what we lose as a result. I appreciated that, so I just wanted to thank 00:28:18.885 --> 00:28:25.223 - you. I appreciate the questions and I know that part of being able to make a good decision is having 00:28:25.223 --> 00:28:31.499 - the right information and so I appreciate the opportunity to provide information based on your guys 00:28:31.499 --> 00:28:33.758 - request that that helps you make a. 00:28:33.890 --> 00:28:42.472 - quality decision that you guys i know have to wrestle with at this time i i would like to make a motion 00:28:42.472 --> 00:28:50.724 - that the board proceed with the necessary steps to initiate the sale of the herald times property a 00:28:50.724 --> 00:28:59.059 - motion was made by ross and seconded by april uh to uh to sell the property to begin the process for 00:28:59.059 --> 00:29:03.102 - selling the property take the necessary steps to 00:29:03.586 --> 00:29:15.159 - I'm going to say that again. A motion was made by Ross and seconded by April to take the necessary steps 00:29:15.159 --> 00:29:26.512 - to sell the property at 1900 South Walnut Street, the former Herald Times building. All those in favor 00:29:26.512 --> 00:29:33.566 - of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against, say nay. 00:29:35.010 --> 00:29:42.789 - Abstentions. The motion carries. Given that the board has approved the sale of the former Herald-Times 00:29:42.789 --> 00:29:50.492 - property, we now need to make a motion to begin the process of hiring a broker to facilitate the sale 00:29:50.492 --> 00:29:58.347 - of the property. Do I have a motion to begin the process to hire a broker for the sale of the property? 00:29:58.347 --> 00:30:04.766 - So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana. 00:30:04.866 --> 00:30:11.788 - that we begin the process of hiring a broker to facilitate the sale of the property. Are there any comments 00:30:11.788 --> 00:30:18.453 - from the board? Yes. What does that process look like and how do we select? I'm sure there's some legal 00:30:18.453 --> 00:30:25.054 - parameters of how we select a broker to handle that. Could someone from our team answer that question? 00:30:31.746 --> 00:30:36.606 - know if it had to be put out for a bid yeah i wondered the same do we have it doesn't have to be we don't 00:31:03.426 --> 00:31:15.479 - We have 30 days to hire the broker. To make the decision. To publish. To publish, okay. Thank you for 00:31:15.479 --> 00:31:27.650 - the clarification. Any further discussion on that motion? Will the board officers write the notice for 00:31:27.650 --> 00:31:33.086 - publication? If I could. I'll work with Kate. 00:31:33.218 --> 00:31:43.181 - attorney on getting the notice published and so we'll work in that regard with both her and the firm 00:31:43.181 --> 00:31:53.341 - last call for discussion on that item all in favor of the motion to begin the process to hire a broker 00:31:53.341 --> 00:32:02.910 - facilitate the sale of the property signify by saying aye aye any against say no any abstentions 00:32:04.098 --> 00:32:10.634 - The motion carries. We will now move on to new business, which begins with the personnel report. 00:32:10.634 --> 00:32:17.507 - Good evening, President Cooperman, members of the Board of School Trustees. This evening, I'd like to 00:32:17.507 --> 00:32:24.919 - call your attention to the following retirements. In our certified staff, Cheryl Lewandowski. Ms. Lewandowski 00:32:24.919 --> 00:32:31.725 - has been with MCCSE for the last 24 years, most recently serving as a school psychologist throughout 00:32:31.725 --> 00:32:33.342 - the school corporation. 00:32:34.850 --> 00:32:42.515 - In addition, Marla Ratamaker. Ms. Ratamaker has been with MCCSC for the last 26 years, most recently 00:32:42.515 --> 00:32:50.104 - serving as a social worker at Bachelor Middle School. In our support staff, Beth Butler. Ms. Butler 00:32:50.104 --> 00:32:57.237 - has been with MCCSC for the last 20 years, most recently serving as a corporation bus driver. 00:32:57.237 --> 00:33:02.398 - Barbara Davis. Ms. Davis has been with MCCSC for the last 30 years, 00:33:02.562 --> 00:33:11.569 - most recently serving as a library aide at Jackson Creek Middle School. And Martina Knight. Ms. Knight 00:33:11.569 --> 00:33:20.488 - has been with MCCSE for the last 21 years, most recently serving. Nope, that is incorrect. Serving as 00:33:20.488 --> 00:33:29.407 - a preventionist at Fairview Elementary School. Additionally, I would be remiss if I did not recognize 00:33:29.407 --> 00:33:32.030 - an administrative resignation 00:33:32.130 --> 00:33:38.729 - with Miss Hattie Johnson, who returned to MCCSC from her well-earned retirement and stepped in to fill 00:33:38.729 --> 00:33:45.199 - our director of child nutrition position on an interim basis while we were in the process of filling 00:33:45.199 --> 00:33:51.862 - that position with Gretchen Hanser, who you met. So I want to extend my thanks to Miss Johnson as well. 00:33:51.862 --> 00:33:58.397 - Altogether, the retirees presented this evening represent a combined total of 121 years of service to 00:33:58.397 --> 00:33:59.806 - our school community. 00:34:00.194 --> 00:34:06.418 - So on behalf of MCCSC, I would like to extend a special thank you to all these individuals for their 00:34:06.418 --> 00:34:13.011 - many years of dedicated service and wish them well in their next adventures. At this time, I would request 00:34:13.011 --> 00:34:19.358 - that you please approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the personnel report. 00:34:19.358 --> 00:34:25.582 - Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel report as presented? So moved. 00:34:25.582 --> 00:34:30.142 - Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Asia. 00:34:30.242 --> 00:34:38.567 - that we approve the personnel report as presented. I think I got a little off my script, but all those 00:34:38.567 --> 00:34:46.730 - in favor of approving the personnel report as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Any 00:34:46.730 --> 00:34:54.975 - abstentions? The motion carries. Congratulations to all the retirees, and thank you for your service. 00:34:54.975 --> 00:34:58.046 - We will now move on to the contracts. 00:34:58.210 --> 00:35:05.555 - Do I have a motion to approve the contracts and quotes as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. 00:35:05.555 --> 00:35:12.557 - It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Ross that we approve the contracts and quotes as presented. 00:35:12.557 --> 00:35:19.490 - Mr. Irwin? All the contracts have been reviewed through our processes and are set for your approval. 00:35:19.490 --> 00:35:26.424 - I recommend all contracts and quotes as presented. Ms. Harmon, can you comment on the early learning 00:35:26.424 --> 00:35:27.934 - contracts? Of course. 00:35:28.194 --> 00:35:34.625 - Thank you. Sorry, start over. Thank you, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, members of the board. I would 00:35:34.625 --> 00:35:40.810 - like to present the administration recommendation for renewal of our current early learning partner 00:35:40.810 --> 00:35:47.117 - contracts for the 26-27 school year. These contracts are part of the family friendly 2023 referendum, 00:35:47.117 --> 00:35:53.054 - which supports the expansion of early learning opportunities for families across Monroe County. 00:35:53.570 --> 00:35:59.291 - From the outset, this expansion was designed to strengthen and partner with existing community early 00:35:59.291 --> 00:36:05.126 - learning providers rather than compete with them, ensuring families have access to a broad and diverse 00:36:05.126 --> 00:36:10.847 - range of high quality options. All partnership agreements are structured to comply with Indiana Code 00:36:10.847 --> 00:36:16.965 - 20-20-28-5, which requires that partner programs operate as nonprofit organizations and deliver a federally 00:36:16.965 --> 00:36:18.494 - approved preschool program 00:36:19.074 --> 00:36:25.072 - In addition, partners must maintain a level three or level four rating in the Paths to Quality program 00:36:25.072 --> 00:36:30.895 - for the state of Indiana, and the program must support student development and prepare students for 00:36:30.895 --> 00:36:36.835 - kindergarten learning as directed by MCCSC. I am recommending five current contracts for renewal, all 00:36:36.835 --> 00:36:41.086 - to be supported by the referendum. If I may go through the five, please. 00:36:41.218 --> 00:36:47.696 - First, I recommend the agreement with the Bloomington Center for Global Children to provide services 00:36:47.696 --> 00:36:54.174 - for three-year-old and four-year-old students in the 26-27 school year, the total cost not to exceed 00:36:54.174 --> 00:37:00.717 - $66,000. Can you repeat the name of that organization, please, Ms. Harmon? The Bloomington Center for 00:37:00.717 --> 00:37:07.195 - Global Children. All those in favor of approving the contract with the Bloomington Center for Global 00:37:07.195 --> 00:37:08.670 - Children. Wait, pause. 00:37:09.410 --> 00:37:16.346 - Do we have to have discussion before we take a vote? We do. Thanks, April. Yeah. No, I need a motion 00:37:16.346 --> 00:37:23.351 - and a second and then discussion, if there's discussion on that one. Right? I have the motion. I have 00:37:23.351 --> 00:37:30.767 - an overall motion so we can discuss each one before the vote. OK. Is there any discussion on this contract? 00:37:30.767 --> 00:37:37.566 - Ms. Witcher? It will take me a while. Are we doing these? We're going to do each one individually. 00:37:37.698 --> 00:37:44.667 - It will take me a while just to get the motion set up in four docs. So, okay. Do you want us to go more 00:37:44.667 --> 00:37:51.435 - slowly? Yeah, we're good now. Okay. If you're discussing the contracts first, then I should be good. 00:37:51.435 --> 00:37:58.405 - Okay. Is there any discussion on the Bloomington center for global children contract? I just would like 00:37:58.405 --> 00:38:05.374 - to rise to a point of clarification. Um, are we going to deal with the quotes to be awarded separately? 00:38:06.050 --> 00:38:14.190 - So we're going to go through each of the contracts for the early learning centers, and then there will 00:38:14.190 --> 00:38:21.460 - be a motion for the remaining contracts together. OK. Thank you. I'm going to call the vote 00:38:21.460 --> 00:38:29.600 - on the Bloomington Center for Global Children. All those in favor of the contract with the Bloomington 00:38:29.600 --> 00:38:34.974 - Center for Global Children signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? 00:38:37.058 --> 00:38:53.910 - Any abstentions? Motion. So the overall motion, as I understand it, the motion to approve the contracts, 00:38:53.910 --> 00:39:06.910 - which was made by Ashley and seconded by Ross, is the open motion at the moment. 00:39:07.138 --> 00:39:14.557 - Motion will stay the same and the votes will be taken individually. Ms. Harman, could you present the 00:39:14.557 --> 00:39:21.977 - next contract, please? Next, I recommend the agreement with Penny Lane Child Care to provide services 00:39:21.977 --> 00:39:29.251 - to three-year-old and four-year-old students in the 2026, 26, 27 school year. The total cost not to 00:39:29.251 --> 00:39:36.670 - exceed $130,000. I so recommend. So the motion is a contract with the Bloomington Daycare Corporation 00:39:37.282 --> 00:39:44.814 - Penny Lane East, Penny Lane West? Penny Lane West. Is there any discussion on this contract? I have 00:39:44.814 --> 00:39:52.422 - one quick question. Is the difference in the dollar amounts based on the capacity of the facilities? 00:39:52.422 --> 00:40:00.030 - OK. Karen, could you give me the high sign when you're ready for the vote? OK. So all those in favor 00:40:00.030 --> 00:40:06.206 - of the contract with Bloomington Day Care Corporation, Penny Lanes East and West, 00:40:06.370 --> 00:40:14.713 - Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? That contract is approved. Next contract, Ms. 00:40:14.713 --> 00:40:23.306 - Harmon. I recommend they agree with the Bloomington Developmental Learning Center to service three and 00:40:23.306 --> 00:40:31.983 - four-year-old students in the 26th, 27th school year. It's a total cost not to exceed $50,000. Is there 00:40:31.983 --> 00:40:35.070 - any discussion on the BDLC contract? 00:40:42.914 --> 00:40:51.343 - All those in favor of the contract with the Bloomington Development Learning Center, signify by saying 00:40:51.343 --> 00:40:59.691 - aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? Ms. Harmon? I recommend the agreement with Compass Early Learning 00:40:59.691 --> 00:41:08.202 - Center to provide services to three and four-year-old students for the 26-27 school year, not to exceed 00:41:08.202 --> 00:41:10.494 - the total cost of $250,000. 00:41:11.810 --> 00:41:22.685 - Is there any discussion on the contract with Compass Early Learning Center? All those in favor of the 00:41:22.685 --> 00:41:33.986 - contract with Compass signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? Finally, Ms. Harmon. Finally, 00:41:33.986 --> 00:41:41.662 - I recommend the agreement with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place. 00:41:42.050 --> 00:41:49.592 - provide services to three-year-old and four-year-old students and 26-27 school year total cost not to 00:41:49.592 --> 00:41:57.134 - exceed $75,000. Is there any discussion on the contract with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place? 00:41:57.134 --> 00:42:04.602 - Yes, I just want to let you know that I will be abstaining from this vote even though that I know by 00:42:04.602 --> 00:42:11.774 - law we are required to partner with just about anyone that comes through the door at this point. 00:42:11.970 --> 00:42:22.344 - Morally, I object to partnering with any religious affiliated organization because I feel that is a 00:42:22.344 --> 00:42:33.133 - violation of separation of church and state. And morally, I just do not agree with that. I'm just gonna 00:42:33.133 --> 00:42:38.942 - clarify some phrasing there, I think, Ashley. Go ahead. 00:42:40.898 --> 00:42:47.406 - The change in the law that happened between the time that we started partnering with early learning 00:42:47.406 --> 00:42:54.305 - centers and today, as I understand it, and Kate, please correct me if I'm wrong, is that we can't decline 00:42:54.305 --> 00:43:00.292 - to partner with an organization based on the fact that they are a faith-based organization, 00:43:00.292 --> 00:43:06.801 - a fair characterization. Thank you. Thank you for being so much more succinct. I don't know if that 00:43:06.801 --> 00:43:09.534 - was succinct, but thanks for saying that. 00:43:11.490 --> 00:43:17.628 - I will just say, I agree in large part, Ashley, with your position and your stance. I too would take 00:43:17.628 --> 00:43:23.828 - that position and stance ordinarily. I will choose to vote yes today simply because we didn't pull it 00:43:23.828 --> 00:43:29.966 - out of the last vote and I voted yes. And so in favor of equal treatment, I'm going to just continue 00:43:29.966 --> 00:43:36.104 - to vote yes so that there's no sort of discrepancy there. But I do feel as you do. And I did abstain 00:43:36.104 --> 00:43:38.110 - last time, but I didn't explain. 00:43:38.658 --> 00:43:45.859 - and learn I should have done that before we did that. So I'm doing that now. Yep. Can I ask another 00:43:45.859 --> 00:43:53.564 - question, Ms. Harmon? Yes. Are any of the other early learning centers that we're partnering with tonight, 00:43:53.564 --> 00:44:00.765 - do any of them provide K through 12 education? Provide K through 12 education? No, I do not believe 00:44:00.765 --> 00:44:05.950 - they do. Does Covenant Christian do that, you know? Covenant Christian. 00:44:09.058 --> 00:44:17.406 - It's a separate entity? Well, it's a separate facility. I don't know the overall organizational structure 00:44:17.406 --> 00:44:25.597 - of it, but it's a separate facility. Does that change legal precedent? And I apologize. I wasn't trying 00:44:25.597 --> 00:44:33.709 - to spring this on anybody. This truly just occurred to me. So I don't think that in our guidelines for 00:44:33.709 --> 00:44:38.750 - a partnership, we made a distinction between organizations that 00:44:38.978 --> 00:44:47.337 - don't provide K-12 and those that do. I do also believe that the other organizations we partner with 00:44:47.337 --> 00:44:55.945 - do not provide K-12 education, which does mean that this is unique not only in that it is a faith-based 00:44:55.945 --> 00:45:02.814 - organization, but also that it is in direct competition with us for K-12 students. 00:45:03.746 --> 00:45:10.086 - I'm not going, I'm going to vote in favor of the contract tonight, but I would like us to consider for 00:45:10.086 --> 00:45:16.550 - the future whether we change our criteria for these partnerships. I appreciate that. I hadn't considered 00:45:16.550 --> 00:45:22.397 - the possibility of partnering with organizations that also do K through 12 or K through eight. 00:45:22.397 --> 00:45:28.738 - And that does, that is concerning to me. So I would like to revisit if possible. And I don't know what 00:45:28.738 --> 00:45:32.862 - the parameters or the constraints of the law are in this instance, 00:45:33.218 --> 00:45:42.058 - when it says that we can not not or we can't decline or whatever it is. So I'd like to just do some 00:45:42.058 --> 00:45:51.163 - more investigation and have something on the books potentially before we have to enter into these MOUs 00:45:51.163 --> 00:46:00.798 - again next time. Is there any further discussion on this contract? And so just to clarify, this is a renewal 00:46:00.898 --> 00:46:09.446 - We've already been partnering with this facility for the last year. I think we just approved it for 00:46:09.446 --> 00:46:18.250 - the first time in January. Not for the last year. Oh, OK. Just the second semester of this. Oh, I see. 00:46:18.250 --> 00:46:27.054 - OK. She said renewal. It is a renewal, but it is also a newer partnership than some of the other ones. 00:46:27.054 --> 00:46:30.046 - Any other discussion on this item? 00:46:33.090 --> 00:46:44.344 - All those in favor of the contract with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place signify by saying aye. 00:46:44.344 --> 00:46:56.254 - Aye. Any against? Any abstentions? Abstaining. By a vote of six ayes and one abstention, the motion carries. 00:47:03.938 --> 00:47:10.959 - So I will now ask for, I'm not going to call a vote on the remaining contracts, the rest of those that 00:47:10.959 --> 00:47:17.776 - Mr. Irwin recommended other than the early learning centers. All those in favor of approving? Yeah. 00:47:17.776 --> 00:47:24.661 - Can we have a moment of discussion? Yes, of course. Thank you. I just want to ask for clarification. 00:47:24.661 --> 00:47:31.614 - Mr. Irwin, are you related to Irwin Seeding Company? No relation. OK. Thank you very much. All right. 00:47:32.034 --> 00:47:39.601 - I'm glad you asked that. Yeah, that's a good point of clarification. No conflict of interest there. 00:47:39.601 --> 00:47:47.244 - No conflict of interest. Thank you. I will now ask for all those in favor of the remaining contracts 00:47:47.244 --> 00:47:53.374 - to signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Any abstentions? The motion carries. 00:48:01.762 --> 00:48:08.142 - Now we will move on to district updates. Tonight's first presentation is the CFO financial update. Mr. 00:48:08.142 --> 00:48:14.708 - Erwin. Thank you for the opportunity to give you an update on where we are and how things have progressed 00:48:14.708 --> 00:48:21.027 - as it relates to cash flows. So in the cash flow report that I have up here on the screens, I'll walk 00:48:21.027 --> 00:48:27.283 - through each of the major funds and then I have one related update there at the very end. As relates 00:48:27.283 --> 00:48:30.814 - to the education fund, just some monthly specific items. 00:48:31.106 --> 00:48:36.921 - revenue and expenses for that matter or we're very accurate and and that is something that obviously 00:48:36.921 --> 00:48:43.082 - you want to continue to see like I've talked through many a times what my process looks like as it relates 00:48:43.082 --> 00:48:48.954 - to looking at how my projections compare to actuals and then using that process to analyze whether or 00:48:48.954 --> 00:48:54.654 - not I need to make updates to my projections or if they need to continue to stay where they're at. 00:48:55.170 --> 00:49:01.395 - As it relates to some of the long-term outlook of the fund, that's why I put a little bit more in this 00:49:01.395 --> 00:49:07.861 - slide specifically. One is in the cash flows, you've seen that there's updated tuition support projections 00:49:07.861 --> 00:49:13.965 - as it reflects our February K-12 ADM count. And I talked about that a little bit last month as well. 00:49:13.965 --> 00:49:20.009 - I want to continue to note as you look at cash flows, when you see some of those higher projections 00:49:20.009 --> 00:49:22.366 - as it relates to payroll and benefits, 00:49:22.594 --> 00:49:28.084 - that correlates with when we have three pay months or the timing of when we pay out stipends. So in 00:49:28.084 --> 00:49:34.067 - some months, some of our employee groups might have a three pay month because they're getting paid bi-weekly 00:49:34.067 --> 00:49:39.721 - and that falls at different times through the year. We still have 26 pay cycles as it relates to those 00:49:39.721 --> 00:49:45.375 - individual groupings. But when you see some of those ebbs and flows, it typically correlates with that 00:49:45.375 --> 00:49:49.822 - sort of thing. The other piece that I think is important for you to know is that 00:49:49.986 --> 00:49:57.164 - The DOE asks for our estimated K through 12 ADM count for the fall. They use that estimate to then fund 00:49:57.164 --> 00:50:04.136 - us for July through October. And then once they get our actual ADM count in October of this upcoming 00:50:04.136 --> 00:50:11.245 - school year, then that's when they reconcile you in November and December based on whether or not your 00:50:11.245 --> 00:50:15.870 - count was up or down from what you actually gave them an estimate. 00:50:16.258 --> 00:50:22.972 - So we continue to be very thoughtful as it relates to the estimate that we give and how that will determine 00:50:22.972 --> 00:50:29.188 - our funding for July through October. But nonetheless, they chew it up at the end of that six month 00:50:29.188 --> 00:50:35.404 - period because they're gonna look at what was the actual count and they always reconcile that there 00:50:35.404 --> 00:50:41.683 - at the end of the year. Cash overall, fund cash balance is projected to be up in the education fund. 00:50:41.683 --> 00:50:44.542 - And I'll get into some of the nuances of this 00:50:44.706 --> 00:50:50.429 - as it relates to some topics that we've talked a lot about as it relates to one-time funds and using 00:50:50.429 --> 00:50:56.208 - those one-time funds and the receipt of those one-time funds strategically in order to, one, allow us 00:50:56.208 --> 00:51:01.931 - more time to react to some of the changes that we're experiencing, but two, to position ourselves in 00:51:01.931 --> 00:51:07.653 - a position of strength as it relates to the safety nets and cash balances that we have in our funds. 00:51:07.653 --> 00:51:13.886 - So that, again, Education Fund overall cash balance for this particular calendar year is projecting to be up. 00:51:13.986 --> 00:51:20.262 - We're still below our target cash balance, but we are very much making progress. And I'll talk a little 00:51:20.262 --> 00:51:26.357 - bit more about the ebb and flow of this between education and the operations fund a little bit later 00:51:26.357 --> 00:51:32.452 - on. The referendum fund for referendum 2022, minimal revenue in the fund. During February, there was 00:51:32.452 --> 00:51:38.487 - a reimbursement of some expenses through a grant that we have. That's normal. Again, much like most 00:51:38.487 --> 00:51:43.134 - of our property tax levy funds, we received the vast majority of our funding 00:51:43.330 --> 00:51:49.751 - times a year so I continue to try to help you guide and say what is normal what's not normal point you 00:51:49.751 --> 00:51:55.985 - to some of those outlooks and be aware of those ebbs and flows that I think are important to have a 00:51:55.985 --> 00:52:02.655 - solid understanding on and again just February expenses across line items were very very accurate slightly 00:52:02.655 --> 00:52:08.702 - below projections which is where you want them to be. The 20-26 balance is expected to be stable 00:52:08.898 --> 00:52:15.832 - And again, with the SEA and the outlook of the fund overall, with SEA 1 impacts, we are still projecting 00:52:15.832 --> 00:52:22.569 - to eat into cash over the multi-year look of the fund as it relates to just SEA 1's impact on what we 00:52:22.569 --> 00:52:29.239 - actually generate through the referendums. The 2023 referendum, again, minimal revenue. Same reasons 00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:36.437 - as what I talked about in the 2022 referendum. Again, February expenses, very accurate. The low projections, 00:52:36.437 --> 00:52:37.758 - which is fantastic. 00:52:38.082 --> 00:52:43.817 - I did make special note of our large school supply ordering. We do the bulk ordering of school supplies 00:52:43.817 --> 00:52:49.607 - as it relates to not asking parents to provide those for students because we're afforded the opportunity 00:52:49.607 --> 00:52:55.287 - to do it through the referendum. And so we've got through that process. People in my office and I know 00:52:55.287 --> 00:53:00.801 - people in the school buildings take an extreme amount of care as it relates to making sure that not 00:53:00.801 --> 00:53:02.014 - only are we procuring 00:53:02.562 --> 00:53:08.408 - quality resources for our students to use in the classroom but that we are getting the best price. So 00:53:08.408 --> 00:53:14.196 - we met with a company that looks at procurement and we talked there they give opinions on hey here's 00:53:14.196 --> 00:53:19.927 - some ways that you might be able to save money and da da da da of how you work through processes to 00:53:19.927 --> 00:53:25.773 - procure items. When they were informed about our process as it relates to school supply ordering they 00:53:25.773 --> 00:53:30.014 - were like this is really good can we use this to help other districts and 00:53:30.274 --> 00:53:35.698 - Absolutely. So I just want to give some kudos to some people in my office as it relates to Courtney, 00:53:35.698 --> 00:53:41.176 - Missy, Adam, the people in the school buildings about the extreme care that they're taking and making 00:53:41.176 --> 00:53:46.547 - sure that we are good stewards of community dollars and leveraging that buying power to get that at 00:53:46.547 --> 00:53:51.918 - the best price possible. So that was something that I wanted to point to specifically as it relates 00:53:51.918 --> 00:53:57.289 - to the monthly specifics. And then again, on the outlook, the cash balance of this fund projects to 00:53:57.289 --> 00:53:58.846 - be up for this current year. 00:53:59.106 --> 00:54:05.732 - We're continuing to evaluate the funds that are necessary to continue to expand early learning experiences 00:54:05.732 --> 00:54:12.049 - and continue to provide that expanded early learning experiences despite the state reducing on my way 00:54:12.049 --> 00:54:18.490 - pre-K or the CCDF vouchers. Because we have the referendum, we are still able to sustain early learning 00:54:18.490 --> 00:54:25.116 - in a way that other places simply are not. So just to continue to make you aware of that, that's something 00:54:25.116 --> 00:54:28.894 - that is reflected within those cash flows that you guys see. 00:54:30.178 --> 00:54:36.058 - And then on the operations fund, again, revenue into the fund was below projections. Interest on cash 00:54:36.058 --> 00:54:41.822 - remains lower this year just because we're gaining a lower percentage as it relates to the interest 00:54:41.822 --> 00:54:47.586 - bearing on those accounts. Payroll and benefit expenses are extremely accurate, which is definitely 00:54:47.586 --> 00:54:53.408 - very comforting as we continue to evaluate that. Our payroll and benefit expenses are our number one 00:54:53.408 --> 00:54:59.518 - expenses in the school corporation. And February's other expenses overall were below projections as well. 00:54:59.650 --> 00:55:05.496 - The fund balance projects to be down right now. And one thing that's of note is that we've 00:55:05.496 --> 00:55:12.178 - gotten notification from the IRS. Typically, sometimes you get IRS letters. You don't think that that's 00:55:12.178 --> 00:55:18.602 - great news. In this instance, it was because we got notification that one of our solar rebates from 00:55:18.602 --> 00:55:23.806 - the energy efficiency projects came in. And so March's revenue projection is up. 00:55:24.034 --> 00:55:31.088 - And so that was one of those two one time funds that we've talked about many times during past meetings. 00:55:31.088 --> 00:55:37.940 - And so that is in that is reflected in March's projection and then we'll be actual next month because 00:55:37.940 --> 00:55:44.725 - we know we've received it. And then we continue to look at how we manage the transfer from Ed to ops 00:55:44.725 --> 00:55:47.614 - in order to be able to benefit both funds. 00:55:47.842 --> 00:55:53.349 - And and still stay within the bounds of what it is that funds can be where they can be receded in and 00:55:53.349 --> 00:55:58.910 - how can they can be? Accounted for so that continues to stay true to that use of one-time funds Making 00:55:58.910 --> 00:56:04.363 - sure that one provides us a longer runway to make adjustments structurally to how we operate to make 00:56:04.363 --> 00:56:10.140 - sure that we're within balance but also to provide that boost to the safety nets that are our cash balance 00:56:10.140 --> 00:56:12.030 - and those respective funds so that 00:56:12.354 --> 00:56:17.609 - not only do we need balance, but we need the appropriate safety nets in place as well to make sure that 00:56:17.609 --> 00:56:22.712 - we are in a place of strength to handle other obstacles or curveballs that could come down the road. 00:56:22.712 --> 00:56:27.765 - And so very much true to that word, that is what we're doing. Very excited that that came in. Still 00:56:27.765 --> 00:56:33.020 - unsure of when the other solar rebate would come in. We've done everything that we need to do, and I've 00:56:33.020 --> 00:56:38.123 - continued to check in on that about what we need to do to receive that. It's just kind of right now, 00:56:38.123 --> 00:56:42.014 - it's awaiting. I didn't know that that letter was going to come in the mail. 00:56:42.146 --> 00:56:48.785 - opened it up and I said all right so that's good news so hopefully we'll get that other letter here 00:56:48.785 --> 00:56:55.888 - very soon so debt service fund on this one no activity in the fund that's normal remember the debt service 00:56:55.888 --> 00:57:02.660 - fund you see all that activity essentially in about two months and that's the receipt in the property 00:57:02.660 --> 00:57:09.432 - tax revenue and then the payment on our debt obligations and that's typically mostly just in June and 00:57:09.432 --> 00:57:10.494 - December couple 00:57:11.010 --> 00:57:18.222 - Pieces on outlook that I think are important. The legislature did give us the option for this year only 00:57:18.222 --> 00:57:25.504 - to spread the supplemental homestead deduction across debt and operations. We have the choice this year. 00:57:25.504 --> 00:57:32.508 - Next year we have no choice. It all goes to operations. So we are continuing to evaluate that option 00:57:32.508 --> 00:57:39.582 - as far as what best serves the needs and the interests of MCCSC as it relates to just our position to 00:57:39.582 --> 00:57:40.414 - continue to 00:57:40.610 --> 00:57:47.073 - educate kids and so I put something on there about that and I made sure that you know that there is 00:57:47.073 --> 00:57:53.794 - no choice in 2027 and that's reflected in the cash flows that you see as well. So I wanted to make note 00:57:53.794 --> 00:58:00.385 - of that and we'll update you on that as we move forward. We have a month or two to make that decision 00:58:00.385 --> 00:58:07.042 - but then we have to notify the DOGF about what our intentions are if we choose to take that option for 00:58:07.042 --> 00:58:09.950 - this given year. The last piece on my update 00:58:11.074 --> 00:58:16.849 - is that just along with what we told you, we continue to make updates and improvements to our every 00:58:16.849 --> 00:58:22.623 - dollar, every student website. There's been a lot of work and time and effort that's gone into this 00:58:22.623 --> 00:58:28.686 - by more than just me with Sarah and Adam and different people in our offices. And so we'll have spending 00:58:28.686 --> 00:58:34.634 - for 2024 and 2025 on there. And that update will be live this week as we continue to make improvements 00:58:34.634 --> 00:58:40.062 - and pull all that information together in one place so that people can see it, understand it. 00:58:40.450 --> 00:58:49.018 - And again, continue to do a better job of telling our story and helping them understand the world that 00:58:49.018 --> 00:58:57.336 - is school finance. So that is my update for this month. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Erwin. Do we have 00:58:57.336 --> 00:59:00.830 - any questions or comments from the board? 00:59:08.962 --> 00:59:24.623 - It's been a very thorough presentation. Thank you. Next is a communications report from Ms. DeWees. 00:59:24.623 --> 00:59:35.742 - Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board. 00:59:37.538 --> 00:59:43.562 - for giving me the opportunity to present communications update for you tonight. So the last time I presented 00:59:43.562 --> 00:59:49.309 - a communications update was around this time last year. So the presentation this evening will primarily 00:59:49.309 --> 00:59:54.836 - focus on communications over the last calendar year, but I'll also share some updates that are more 00:59:54.836 --> 01:00:00.362 - recent and some of our future directions. So the two overall topics I want to focus on this evening 01:00:00.362 --> 01:00:04.894 - are one, how we're reaching more people in our community with our communications. 01:00:05.282 --> 01:00:11.998 - Both our current and prospective family communications and then also just how we're keeping our community 01:00:11.998 --> 01:00:18.651 - more informed in our larger public. So first to give you an overall snapshot of our family and community 01:00:18.651 --> 01:00:25.177 - reach for the past calendar year. Parent Square remains to be our number one communication channel for 01:00:25.177 --> 01:00:27.902 - how we're communicating with our families. 01:00:28.514 --> 01:00:36.188 - So about 56% of our families are actively engaged with ParentSquare in communications with their schools. 01:00:36.188 --> 01:00:43.428 - We like to see that number remain over 50%. We typically have about two student or two contacts per 01:00:43.428 --> 01:00:50.813 - student. So anything over 50%, that could mean that all of our families are interacting. And then our 01:00:50.813 --> 01:00:56.894 - corporation e-newsletter is something we continue to send out on a bi-weekly basis. 01:00:57.154 --> 01:01:04.153 - That goes out to all of our families and our community members as well to share updates about important 01:01:04.153 --> 01:01:10.883 - dates coming up, events, corporation news. And we're continuing to see that strong 57% open rate on 01:01:10.883 --> 01:01:17.680 - that, which is a good signifier of our community staying informed. And then overall, we've increased 01:01:17.680 --> 01:01:24.477 - our community audience reach over all of our social media, our news website, and our e-newsletter by 01:01:24.477 --> 01:01:27.102 - about 14% over the last calendar year. 01:01:27.394 --> 01:01:33.551 - through all of our channels. And over the past two complete school years, we've also seen that grow 01:01:33.551 --> 01:01:39.955 - about 23%. So continuing to see us grow our audience numbers and both our wider community public reach, 01:01:39.955 --> 01:01:46.666 - which is really important. So first, I want to talk about our current and prospective family communications. 01:01:46.666 --> 01:01:51.038 - So not only is it important we continue to reach our current families, 01:01:51.330 --> 01:01:58.011 - But we're continuing to make sure that we're becoming a school corporation that's top of mind when our 01:01:58.011 --> 01:02:04.627 - families have many choices for education in our community. So with our current family communications, 01:02:04.627 --> 01:02:11.179 - first I wanna share our top communicators currently continue to be our teachers and our classes. Our 01:02:11.179 --> 01:02:18.249 - families are reached by our teachers first and foremost on ParentSquare, which is how the tool was designed. 01:02:18.249 --> 01:02:19.806 - So we like to see that. 01:02:20.418 --> 01:02:26.437 - And then in terms of our corporation communications, in addition to our bimonthly e-newsletters, we 01:02:26.437 --> 01:02:32.938 - share important updates. We're continuing to share news and announcements about some of the unique programs 01:02:32.938 --> 01:02:39.257 - and opportunities that are available to all of our families, like Parent University, ALPS program, those 01:02:39.257 --> 01:02:45.276 - sorts of opportunities. And then we also continually share those departmental specific messages. So 01:02:45.276 --> 01:02:48.286 - information about our health services department, 01:02:48.482 --> 01:02:54.746 - or communications updates about how people can update their communication preferences or language 01:02:54.746 --> 01:03:01.138 - preferences. And then with our e-newsletter subscribers, this number we like to continue to look at 01:03:01.138 --> 01:03:07.529 - increasing and continue to watch, but our e-newsletter subscribers have increased by about 57% from 01:03:07.529 --> 01:03:14.177 - last year to this year. So that's been through the results of many efforts and something we'll continue 01:03:14.177 --> 01:03:16.094 - to look at more ways to grow. 01:03:17.826 --> 01:03:24.302 - So I wanted to share one example of how we're continuing to outreach to our prospective families to 01:03:24.302 --> 01:03:31.231 - let them know about the many opportunities we have here in MCCSE schools. So one of the larger prospective 01:03:31.231 --> 01:03:37.901 - family promotional campaigns that we do is for our open house. So this is an annual event we host each 01:03:37.901 --> 01:03:42.046 - year for new incoming families for both pre-K and kindergarten. 01:03:42.306 --> 01:03:48.075 - The event gives them an opportunity to visit our schools, talk to teachers, see what it's like in the 01:03:48.075 --> 01:03:54.126 - classrooms. And so this is one of our biggest opportunities to reach individuals. So this year we launched 01:03:54.126 --> 01:04:00.121 - a fully comprehensive campaign over social media, email, print. We engaged some of our community partners 01:04:00.121 --> 01:04:05.777 - in helping us spread the word and promote the event. And through all efforts, including many of our 01:04:05.777 --> 01:04:11.998 - schools efforts and promoting, we have about 376 prospective students who may enroll this coming school year. 01:04:12.258 --> 01:04:18.803 - So I just wanted to give one example of that. And then in addition, our early learning promotion is 01:04:18.803 --> 01:04:25.348 - also ongoing all year long. So during the registration period, when registration opens in February, 01:04:25.348 --> 01:04:32.090 - this is when our promotions are the strongest. And in all of our early learning promotions, you'll see 01:04:32.090 --> 01:04:38.766 - we have a dual message. So one, we're making sure that families are aware of all of the opportunities 01:04:38.766 --> 01:04:39.486 - they have, 01:04:39.618 --> 01:04:45.781 - But then too, we're also making sure that our community is aware of their investment in the referendum 01:04:45.781 --> 01:04:52.183 - and how that's benefiting communities. So I wanted to play a short video today to just give you an example 01:04:52.183 --> 01:04:58.406 - of that dual message. At this age, play is how children learn. And our kids, they're learning something 01:04:58.406 --> 01:05:04.689 - new every single day. Our preschool and pre-K programs are play-based, but they are also research-based. 01:05:04.689 --> 01:05:07.262 - There's a purpose behind everything we do. 01:05:08.450 --> 01:05:15.944 - Thanks to public support for our 2023 referendum, preschool and pre-K are more affordable than ever 01:05:15.944 --> 01:05:23.513 - for MCCSE-districted families. For 4-year-old pre-K, all district families qualify for a discount of 01:05:23.513 --> 01:05:30.782 - at least half the cost of MCCSE pre-K, no matter your income or a stipend for partner providers. 01:05:31.554 --> 01:05:38.798 - For three-year-old preschool, all districted income eligible families qualify for free tuition in MCCSE 01:05:38.798 --> 01:05:45.902 - programs or a stipend for partner providers. We've more than doubled MCCSE family access to preschool 01:05:45.902 --> 01:05:52.867 - and pre-K over the past year, and we still have spots available for more students. Learn more about 01:05:52.867 --> 01:06:00.041 - tuition assistance for preschool and pre-K and enroll today. And thank you to our community for making 01:06:00.041 --> 01:06:01.086 - this possible. 01:06:05.282 --> 01:06:11.689 - to share that as an example of a lot of the video content that we've done recently. We've tried to really 01:06:11.689 --> 01:06:17.975 - show what it looks like in our classrooms and show the engaging programs that we have to offer. So then 01:06:17.975 --> 01:06:24.322 - moving to keeping our community informed. It's important not only to increase our reach, but to continue 01:06:24.322 --> 01:06:28.734 - to find new ways to share our story and tell stories of student success. 01:06:29.826 --> 01:06:35.495 - So this past year, I think we've shared before, we published a couple of community-wide publications 01:06:35.495 --> 01:06:41.277 - that we mailed to all households in our community. So I know we do a lot of digital communications via 01:06:41.277 --> 01:06:46.946 - social media and all the other channels that I shared, but we have heard from many community members 01:06:46.946 --> 01:06:52.560 - that they actually want and prefer some printed mail pieces in their mailboxes, and we know that we 01:06:52.560 --> 01:06:55.198 - can't reach everyone through digital channels. 01:06:55.362 --> 01:07:01.364 - It is important to occasionally make sure that we're reaching our entire community and members of the 01:07:01.364 --> 01:07:07.248 - public who may not be connected to us on social media that we may not be reaching in other ways. So 01:07:07.248 --> 01:07:13.603 - that's why we're doing these occasional mailings to every household. So the first example was our referenda 01:07:13.603 --> 01:07:19.547 - impact report that we mailed this past May that gave a comprehensive overview of how referenda funds 01:07:19.547 --> 01:07:24.254 - were spent and how that was benefiting our students and schools. And then this, 01:07:24.450 --> 01:07:32.517 - this school year we did our first ever MCCSC newspaper that included many stories of student success, 01:07:32.517 --> 01:07:40.821 - also corporation news, but in the newspaper we had many opportunities for people to opt into our ongoing 01:07:40.821 --> 01:07:48.414 - communications through QR codes, so that was one of the methods that increased our subscribers. 01:07:49.922 --> 01:07:55.936 - And then this past year, we also launched a news website. So this has become a really important platform 01:07:55.936 --> 01:08:01.835 - for us to share corporation news. It's how we share all of the news that comes stemming from our board 01:08:01.835 --> 01:08:07.964 - meetings. We share all the important initiative updates that we have. But then we also just share articles 01:08:07.964 --> 01:08:13.233 - about teaching and learning. And you can see that our top viewed stories right now continue 01:08:13.233 --> 01:08:16.670 - to be overwhelmingly focused on teaching and learning to be 01:08:16.866 --> 01:08:23.773 - the most viewed content. And so that really shows us that's what people want to see. That will help 01:08:23.773 --> 01:08:30.888 - inform what we focus on in the future going forward. So our news website is definitely one of the ways 01:08:30.888 --> 01:08:37.864 - that we're growing the most quickly in terms of reaching more people. We've reached 59% more monthly 01:08:37.864 --> 01:08:42.078 - visitors over the past year, about 1,700 on average a month. 01:08:43.650 --> 01:08:50.098 - And then social media, specifically Instagram, has been our second fastest growing, largest growing 01:08:50.098 --> 01:08:56.868 - way that we've been able to reach people. So across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, we reach 01:08:56.868 --> 01:09:03.703 - on average about 47,000 individual accounts through those channels. And so you can see some of the videos 01:09:03.703 --> 01:09:10.667 - and photos that we've used to try to share some of the engaging things that are happening in our classrooms 01:09:10.667 --> 01:09:13.246 - every day. But this continues to become 01:09:13.410 --> 01:09:19.146 - an increasingly used channel that we can not only share student successes, but a way that people are 01:09:19.146 --> 01:09:25.109 - paying attention to corporation news. So it's also really important to keep our community informed about 01:09:25.109 --> 01:09:30.788 - all the initiatives happening in our school corporations. So in addition to our regular newsletter, 01:09:30.788 --> 01:09:36.468 - we also have relevant updates on special topics. So with our two-year strategy to achieve financial 01:09:36.468 --> 01:09:42.147 - balance, we've committed to those quarterly email updates that we also post on social media and our 01:09:42.147 --> 01:09:42.942 - news website. 01:09:43.074 --> 01:09:49.536 - And same with our redistricting study. Every time there's a commission meeting, we send an email recap 01:09:49.536 --> 01:09:55.999 - after or a board meeting. We also post those on social on our news website. And it's important to note 01:09:55.999 --> 01:10:02.524 - that our community can opt into all of these communications. They can opt into our MCCSE communications 01:10:02.524 --> 01:10:08.798 - to get our newsletter. They can also opt into those individual topics. So we have nearly 400 people 01:10:08.962 --> 01:10:15.024 - opted in to receive updates specifically on the two-year strategy or redistricting study. So I wanted 01:10:15.024 --> 01:10:21.086 - to share one example of how we're keeping our community informed on these topics and updates. I think 01:10:21.086 --> 01:10:27.148 - it's important to share that we're not only committed to sharing this information, we're committed to 01:10:27.148 --> 01:10:33.091 - reaching people where they are and they're on social media and they want to see videos. And so when 01:10:33.091 --> 01:10:35.230 - we launched our financial dashboard 01:10:35.458 --> 01:10:42.587 - We made sure to post screenshots on Instagram just to see, to show people what the dashboard might look 01:10:42.587 --> 01:10:49.580 - like in a visual way that's easy to understand and see. And then I wanted to share our short video to 01:10:49.580 --> 01:10:56.777 - show how we launched the financial dashboard. The decision we make in MCCSC schools starts with a simple 01:10:56.777 --> 01:11:03.907 - question. What's best for our students? That includes how we manage our budget and how we invest public 01:11:03.907 --> 01:11:04.798 - tax dollars. 01:11:05.538 --> 01:11:12.922 - We believe our community deserves to see exactly how their investment in education supports our students 01:11:12.922 --> 01:11:20.166 - and our schools. That's why we created Every Dollar, Every Student, a new website designed to show you 01:11:20.166 --> 01:11:27.198 - the care we take with every dollar entrusted to us, to care for every student. On the website right 01:11:27.198 --> 01:11:33.246 - now, you can explore our 2026 budget. You can also see exactly how referendum funding 01:11:33.346 --> 01:11:40.094 - is being spent on voter approved purposes. And if you've ever wondered how some dollars can only be 01:11:40.094 --> 01:11:47.044 - used for certain things, we explain that too. In the coming months, we'll add even more, including our 01:11:47.044 --> 01:11:54.062 - spending from prior budget years and more frequently asked questions. We'll also show how we fund large 01:11:54.062 --> 01:12:00.878 - building and renovation projects through our debt service fund, the investments that improve student 01:12:00.878 --> 01:12:02.430 - learning environments. 01:12:03.010 --> 01:12:10.739 - Our community, our teachers, and our staff deserve to understand how we're spending every dollar to 01:12:10.739 --> 01:12:18.777 - care for every student every day. So I share that because again, it's one of the ways that we're trying 01:12:18.777 --> 01:12:26.892 - to make everything that we share very accessible, very easy to understand with the launch of a financial 01:12:26.892 --> 01:12:27.742 - dashboard. 01:12:29.346 --> 01:12:35.756 - So over the past year, we've also launched several community information webpages. So we have our community 01:12:35.756 --> 01:12:41.988 - information portal, the mccsc.edu slash community page that links to everything. So the financial portal 01:12:41.988 --> 01:12:48.160 - that Matt just spoke about, every dollar, every student is linked from there. We also have the new site 01:12:48.160 --> 01:12:54.214 - that we launched last month, which is the bond funded building and renovation site, where you can see 01:12:54.214 --> 01:12:56.766 - updates on all of our renovation projects. 01:12:59.554 --> 01:13:05.799 - And then another aspect of how we're reaching the community are some of our community engagement events 01:13:05.799 --> 01:13:11.924 - and opportunities. So this year, we held our second annual student excellence awards and state of our 01:13:11.924 --> 01:13:18.049 - schools event. And this is a great opportunity and one way for us to invite the community to see what 01:13:18.049 --> 01:13:24.054 - happens in our schools every day. So at the event, we awarded a student or a group from each school 01:13:24.054 --> 01:13:28.798 - to celebrate some of their achievements and everything from the arts to music. 01:13:28.898 --> 01:13:35.138 - It was a really neat way to see some of the student performances. We had a student art show, but we 01:13:35.138 --> 01:13:41.565 - had many community members there. So we had a good mix of family and community members, but this event 01:13:41.565 --> 01:13:47.929 - represents a continuing way that we're trying to invite the community to learn more about our schools 01:13:47.929 --> 01:13:54.544 - and more deeply engage with us. And then similarly, we just launched our strong schools, strong community 01:13:54.544 --> 01:13:57.726 - advisory board. The application is currently open. 01:13:58.018 --> 01:14:03.906 - This is an opportunity for our community to come together and discuss the future of our schools. We 01:14:03.906 --> 01:14:09.853 - wanna hear ideas, we wanna hear input, and we're inviting our community to engage with us as we plan 01:14:09.853 --> 01:14:16.035 - forward for the future. So the application is currently open. If you go to our community portal webpage, 01:14:16.035 --> 01:14:21.982 - you can apply, but we've been sharing out promotions as well. So definitely invite anyone interested 01:14:21.982 --> 01:14:23.454 - to apply to participate. 01:14:23.586 --> 01:14:30.824 - We also will have a community survey option available if people are not available to serve on the council. 01:14:30.824 --> 01:14:37.657 - So priorities and next steps going forward. I have both priorities for our family communications and 01:14:37.657 --> 01:14:44.151 - then also the ways that we're gonna continue to keep our community informed. So with our family 01:14:44.151 --> 01:14:51.998 - communications, this spring we'll be launching an annual communication preferences survey just to continue to learn 01:14:52.162 --> 01:14:57.934 - You know, are the communications that we're sending corporation wide and from our schools, is it relevant? 01:14:57.934 --> 01:15:03.383 - Is it timely? Are there things families want to see that they're not seeing? Are they satisfied with 01:15:03.383 --> 01:15:09.048 - the communications that they're seeing now? So that will help inform us as we go forward. And then we're 01:15:09.048 --> 01:15:14.497 - going to continue to make sure that we're providing that outreach to our prospective families again, 01:15:14.497 --> 01:15:15.198 - just because 01:15:15.426 --> 01:15:21.667 - Families have so many educational choices in our community, it's very important that we continue to 01:15:21.667 --> 01:15:27.971 - be that top of mind choice. And then in terms of keeping our community informed, you heard about the 01:15:27.971 --> 01:15:34.712 - Strong Schools, Strong Community program, the short term council opportunity. I'm also working on outlining 01:15:34.712 --> 01:15:40.953 - and launching a more longer term opportunity, the community ambassador program that looks like more 01:15:40.953 --> 01:15:42.014 - of a multi-month 01:15:42.210 --> 01:15:48.525 - opportunity for community members to come in and learn about different aspects of the school corporation, 01:15:48.525 --> 01:15:54.780 - see what it's like in our classrooms, see what teaching and learning looks like, and more deeply engaged 01:15:54.780 --> 01:16:00.917 - on a longer term basis to build our community supports and awareness. And then we're going to continue 01:16:00.917 --> 01:16:06.993 - to also make sure that we're providing our community with regular updates on our referenda impact. So 01:16:06.993 --> 01:16:10.270 - in addition to providing that referenda impact report, 01:16:10.434 --> 01:16:17.490 - This looks like an ongoing communication plan for referenda impact communications and testimonials from 01:16:17.490 --> 01:16:24.275 - our families. And then of course, we're going to continue to work on expanding our storytelling and 01:16:24.275 --> 01:16:31.128 - how we're telling some of the student successes that are happening in all of our schools on our news 01:16:31.128 --> 01:16:37.913 - website and social media. So excited particularly about that. So I'm happy to answer any questions. 01:16:37.913 --> 01:16:39.134 - Just a quick one. 01:16:39.682 --> 01:16:45.886 - As we do the pre-K and kindergarten open houses, have we thought about incorporating with that some 01:16:45.886 --> 01:16:52.089 - type of an open house outreach to those families that we've lost to say, come back and check us out 01:16:52.089 --> 01:16:58.417 - now and try to get them back incorporated into that open house? Yeah, I think that's a great idea. We 01:16:58.417 --> 01:17:04.869 - have included them in some of our recent outreach, so definitely for the open house. But to invite them 01:17:04.869 --> 01:17:07.102 - in, I think, would be a great idea. 01:17:11.650 --> 01:17:17.379 - Um, for me, sir, I was sitting here thinking how long you've been in this role one year. Oh, I can tell 01:17:17.379 --> 01:17:22.889 - because I have a kid graduating senior. I've gotten so much communication since you've been in this 01:17:22.889 --> 01:17:28.563 - role and I appreciate it. So you've done a great job. I was sitting here thinking like I've never been 01:17:28.563 --> 01:17:34.237 - so informed until you was in this role. Nothing. I don't know who was in this role before you, but you 01:17:34.237 --> 01:17:37.598 - do a great job. That's all I'm gonna say. Thank you so much. 01:17:39.234 --> 01:17:46.627 - Yeah, I do think that communication is one of the toughest, I'm not saying it's like the hardest job, 01:17:46.627 --> 01:17:53.875 - but it's one of these really tough areas because it's just, it feels sometimes impossible in all of 01:17:53.875 --> 01:18:01.486 - the modes of communication these days to figure out what messaging for which platform and who's actually 01:18:01.486 --> 01:18:08.734 - there and who are we missing and how are we, so it's just a really big task and I really appreciate 01:18:08.962 --> 01:18:15.440 - This body of work it's massive, you know to have done all of this work in a year is huge I think the 01:18:15.440 --> 01:18:22.046 - referenda report that went out was So brilliant in informing our community how their dollars are being 01:18:22.046 --> 01:18:28.588 - spent because those are the people who are likely there are so many people who are likely not getting 01:18:28.588 --> 01:18:35.002 - the communications as a result of having a child in the district, but whose tax dollars still go to 01:18:35.002 --> 01:18:37.054 - this work and so I think that's 01:18:37.282 --> 01:18:43.988 - It was such a nice touch. And then again, sending out the printed newspaper, I think, is really nice. 01:18:43.988 --> 01:18:50.694 - So this is one of these things that I think people, there will always be complaints in some way. Some 01:18:50.694 --> 01:18:57.269 - people are like, it's too much. It's not enough. I don't see it here. I do see it here. But I think 01:18:57.269 --> 01:19:03.647 - the effort here is outstanding. And I just want to say that. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. 01:19:03.647 --> 01:19:04.830 - Thank you, Sarah. 01:19:08.290 --> 01:19:14.524 - We are going to follow that up with a report from the redistricting study commission. Dr. Dowling. 01:19:14.524 --> 01:19:20.822 - Thank you. Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees for 01:19:20.822 --> 01:19:27.623 - this opportunity to provide a redistricting study update. As always, I will start with the project charter. 01:19:27.623 --> 01:19:33.921 - This actually will be embedded throughout the presentation tonight. This defines what's in scope of 01:19:33.921 --> 01:19:38.014 - the work and what's out of scope. Tonight's presentation topics, 01:19:38.434 --> 01:19:44.447 - Our public voice is an opportunity to share some feedback from our commission members now that we've 01:19:44.447 --> 01:19:50.520 - concluded our final ninth meeting. I will also discuss a preview of our findings, including what's in 01:19:50.520 --> 01:19:56.593 - scope and out of scope, and I will talk about our timeline. Just a reminder that the findings will be 01:19:56.593 --> 01:20:02.607 - a summary of what we discovered, and they will not include recommendations. The commission served as 01:20:02.607 --> 01:20:05.822 - a public voice for our redistricting commission work, 01:20:07.170 --> 01:20:13.246 - Included in our work was we had nine meetings. We studied over 50 redistricting scenarios. We were able 01:20:13.246 --> 01:20:19.263 - to incorporate public considerations via our public survey and from our commission members, which gave 01:20:19.263 --> 01:20:25.456 - us our four considerations that helped guide our work along with the two board priorities. We had diverse 01:20:25.456 --> 01:20:32.350 - representation. We had representation from every school within MCCSE, and we used a research-based dialogue approach. 01:20:34.754 --> 01:20:40.728 - The commission allowed us to focus on what matters most to our community. As I mentioned, we were able 01:20:40.728 --> 01:20:46.877 - to incorporate four considerations that came directly from the public input. These were capacity resource 01:20:46.877 --> 01:20:53.083 - allocation and class sizes, minimizing student reassignment, transportation, and neighborhood or community 01:20:53.083 --> 01:20:59.464 - schools. We gathered feedback from our commission members after our ninth meeting. For those who participated 01:20:59.464 --> 01:21:04.510 - in the feedback, they shared that it was a highly engaged overall positive experience. 01:21:05.346 --> 01:21:13.150 - Of those who submitted feedback, 100% attended seven or more of our nine meetings. 62% rated the commission 01:21:13.150 --> 01:21:20.448 - meetings overall as a four or five on a scale of five. And 69% rated MCCSE's community engagement as 01:21:20.448 --> 01:21:28.035 - a four or five, again, on our scale of five. Reviewing our feedback from our commission members, several 01:21:28.035 --> 01:21:33.310 - themes emerged. I will take some time to read quotes from them directly. 01:21:33.730 --> 01:21:39.625 - because it's a good chance to share their voice. On the theme of examining a complex issue, serving 01:21:39.625 --> 01:21:45.108 - in the commission really broadened my understanding and awareness of the multifaceted nature 01:21:45.108 --> 01:21:51.534 - of redistricting, especially the interplay between socioeconomic balance, cost effectiveness, transportation 01:21:51.534 --> 01:21:57.429 - constraints, and the desire to minimize student reassignment. I should have practiced being able to 01:21:57.429 --> 01:22:02.558 - see them all. Sorry, thank you, Ashley. I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Thank you. 01:22:02.946 --> 01:22:08.134 - Another commission member shared on the theme of examining complex issue, my perspective has evolved 01:22:08.134 --> 01:22:13.271 - most significantly around the practical constraints of transportation and capacity. While I entered 01:22:13.271 --> 01:22:18.409 - the process with strong focus on minimizing disruption, I gained a more nuanced understanding about 01:22:18.409 --> 01:22:23.597 - operational reality shape what is feasible. On the theme of on commission member input, a commission 01:22:23.597 --> 01:22:28.734 - member shared that I felt that both my input and that of fellow participants contributed meaningful 01:22:28.898 --> 01:22:34.496 - meaningfully to this study, particularly in moments when diverse perspectives were surfaced and synthesized 01:22:34.496 --> 01:22:39.680 - to illuminate the complexity of redistricting decisions. And another commission member shared that, 01:22:39.680 --> 01:22:45.174 - I felt like there were wonderful questions and articulate concerns shared at the meetings. I don't always 01:22:45.174 --> 01:22:50.669 - feel like it translated into future meetings. On the theme on available data, a commission member shared, 01:22:50.669 --> 01:22:55.904 - I learned a lot about the history of MCCSE and the characteristics of MCCSE that made processes like 01:22:55.904 --> 01:22:57.822 - redistricting complex and difficult. 01:22:58.242 --> 01:23:04.660 - i.e. the size of the district, Indiana legislature, and important equity, academics, and finances. Another 01:23:04.660 --> 01:23:10.838 - quote was, I appreciated the opportunity to expand on the board's initial two considerations. However, 01:23:10.838 --> 01:23:16.837 - information regarding the commission's considerations was not always available, making it difficult 01:23:16.837 --> 01:23:23.135 - to rate those things. And I'll highlight here, there were commission feedback during our meetings about, 01:23:23.135 --> 01:23:26.974 - for example, transportation. We, commission members asked about 01:23:27.266 --> 01:23:32.642 - ride times for students. In order to do that we would have to ask our transportation department to route 01:23:32.642 --> 01:23:37.865 - all of our 50 scenarios which obviously was a large task that we could not ask them to do. So instead 01:23:37.865 --> 01:23:43.139 - of that we used median distance from residence to school as a placeholder and it helped but it was not 01:23:43.139 --> 01:23:48.413 - as much data as we would have liked for the commission. Another one was related to cost effectiveness. 01:23:48.413 --> 01:23:53.636 - We had to use average costs as opposed to determining the cost for all 50 scenarios because obviously 01:23:53.636 --> 01:23:56.862 - that would have been quite a task so we did use average costs. 01:23:58.434 --> 01:24:03.006 - On commission perspectives, it was always beneficial to work with a variety of community members to 01:24:03.006 --> 01:24:07.579 - hear their perspectives and for them to share their knowledge in certain areas of expertise. And it 01:24:07.579 --> 01:24:12.243 - would have been more effective to have individuals apply to be on the commission and then for a group 01:24:12.243 --> 01:24:16.998 - to select a small group of people that represent a whole variety, a wide variety of interests. Instead, 01:24:16.998 --> 01:24:21.982 - we had a large group that made it hard to have effective discussions. And on our final theme on GIS mapping, 01:24:22.946 --> 01:24:28.442 - The GIS mapping changed the process immensely and made it easier to look at the implications of different 01:24:28.442 --> 01:24:34.041 - changes on catchment areas. And I would like to thank Dr. John Baten for his involvement in the commission, 01:24:34.041 --> 01:24:39.382 - the first meeting where he presented his tools and maps when it felt like we were getting traction and 01:24:39.382 --> 01:24:44.566 - making progress. I would like to add my thanks to Dr. John Baten for being both a commission member 01:24:44.566 --> 01:24:49.959 - but adding his GIS expertise that really took our review of redicting scenarios to a much higher level. 01:24:49.959 --> 01:24:52.862 - We were grateful for his support and his participation. 01:24:54.626 --> 01:25:00.463 - Looking at sharing our findings, those are within the charter scope. When we share our findings, we 01:25:00.463 --> 01:25:06.416 - will share the purpose of the study. We will review the research that we included. We will review our 01:25:06.416 --> 01:25:12.312 - methodology, our results, as well as our key findings and summary. The report will present objective 01:25:12.312 --> 01:25:18.557 - information for the board's further consideration. Just to kind of another information about what findings 01:25:18.557 --> 01:25:22.526 - we will share, we will share in the aggregate what we learned about 01:25:22.882 --> 01:25:29.286 - board priority of balancing SES by what we learned from studying all 50 scenarios rather than taking 01:25:29.286 --> 01:25:35.754 - it one scenario at a time. Things are the out of scope of the charter. Our analysis and our study and 01:25:35.754 --> 01:25:42.095 - our findings will not include any discussion of building ages and conditions, staffing allocations, 01:25:42.095 --> 01:25:48.752 - a full or comprehensive cost analysis, and impact of special programming such as ALPS. Again, the report 01:25:48.752 --> 01:25:50.718 - will not make recommendations. 01:25:53.442 --> 01:25:59.299 - Next steps, commission leadership. Right now, we're still drafting, taking what we know from what happened 01:25:59.299 --> 01:26:04.991 - there in commission from our commission members, and we're drafting our findings. We'll have that ready 01:26:04.991 --> 01:26:10.465 - to share soon this spring. And that will allow for the school board to consider and provide further 01:26:10.465 --> 01:26:16.212 - direction to MCTSC. At this time, I'll turn it over to Dr. Winston. Thank you so very much, Dr. Dowling. 01:26:16.212 --> 01:26:22.014 - I really want to just share my immense gratitude and appreciation, respect, and regard for the commission 01:26:22.210 --> 01:26:29.940 - and the work that has been done. I don't think that anyone that did not attend could fully appreciate 01:26:29.940 --> 01:26:37.898 - the magnitude and the breadth and depth of this complicated and complex work. I think that as we prepare 01:26:37.898 --> 01:26:45.477 - to examine and learn from the findings of this particular study, I want to just direct the board on 01:26:45.477 --> 01:26:50.782 - how we are approaching this work from the very beginning and our hope 01:26:51.458 --> 01:26:58.743 - is that as the board receives the information and the findings that we've examined, we recognize and 01:26:58.743 --> 01:27:06.028 - I personally recognize that there are a variety of directions that we could possibly go. There is no 01:27:06.028 --> 01:27:13.313 - one right direction. There's not a singular incorrect direction. I look forward to engaging with the 01:27:13.313 --> 01:27:20.670 - board around the direction that you want us to take. There may well be some future steps that you may 01:27:20.770 --> 01:27:27.811 - think are appropriate for us as the administrative team to look at. There may be some additional pieces 01:27:27.811 --> 01:27:35.122 - of data that as the board that you may want us to consider and to begin to explore. Ultimately the timeline 01:27:35.122 --> 01:27:42.027 - that would be necessary for us to have further dialogue and discussion is really at the determination 01:27:42.027 --> 01:27:49.406 - of the board and so I wanted to kind of share that context so that our audience understands that there is no 01:27:49.986 --> 01:27:57.988 - time sensitivity necessarily until and unless the board provides me with some direction as to what they 01:27:57.988 --> 01:28:05.836 - would like to see some next steps. There are no predetermined outcomes or direction but I am so eager 01:28:05.836 --> 01:28:13.837 - to be able to look at the findings, to discuss those findings in a public form so that we can all learn 01:28:13.837 --> 01:28:19.454 - from that information and that can then be used to inform what direction 01:28:20.066 --> 01:28:26.839 - the board may want me to take as superintendent. And so I just wanted to provide a little bit of clarity 01:28:26.839 --> 01:28:33.418 - for our audience but also to kind of open up that conversation in terms of what may be possible as we 01:28:33.418 --> 01:28:39.869 - move forward. And so with that I will conclude and just say thank you again to Dr. Dowling and that 01:28:39.869 --> 01:28:46.448 - will conclude our report for this evening. Thank you Dr. Dowling and Dr. Winston. Are there questions 01:28:46.448 --> 01:28:48.254 - or comments from the board? 01:28:54.722 --> 01:29:00.306 - Do I understand correctly that the Commission has had its last meeting and now you're just preparing 01:29:00.306 --> 01:29:05.891 - the report? We're working on the findings right now. That is correct. We've had the last meeting and 01:29:05.891 --> 01:29:11.751 - now it's just working on the findings. Okay. And then, so then Dr. Winston, once that report is complete, 01:29:11.751 --> 01:29:17.336 - then what you're saying is you'll sort of pass the baton to the board to decide on what next step we 01:29:17.336 --> 01:29:19.326 - want to take. Yes, that is correct. 01:29:19.586 --> 01:29:26.057 - Can I ask, can you clarify for me the difference between a work session and an executive session if 01:29:26.057 --> 01:29:32.788 - we would ask for one of those to hear this? Yes, a work session functions as a public meeting. It would 01:29:32.788 --> 01:29:39.648 - be available and open to the public to attend if they so choose. And we would just have open conversation 01:29:39.648 --> 01:29:46.249 - and dialogue about whatever the content is. There are no items that the board would vote on at a work 01:29:46.249 --> 01:29:48.190 - session. An executive session 01:29:48.450 --> 01:29:55.126 - The difference therein is there are certain criteria under state legislation as to the types of topics 01:29:55.126 --> 01:30:02.060 - and the types of things that we can engage in during an executive session. And that's because an executive 01:30:02.060 --> 01:30:06.014 - session is closed or correct? Executive session is a closed. 01:30:11.778 --> 01:30:20.387 - Do we know whether, for example, receiving a report from a commission like this would be a proper topic 01:30:20.387 --> 01:30:28.747 - for an executive session? So generally speaking, the simple delivery of a report, if that's the only 01:30:28.747 --> 01:30:37.024 - thing that were to occur, that would be in a public session, either at a public board meeting or in 01:30:37.024 --> 01:30:41.246 - a work session. So then if I understand correctly, 01:30:41.474 --> 01:30:49.665 - Once that report is complete, we might choose between having that presented to us in our regularly scheduled 01:30:49.665 --> 01:30:56.954 - board meeting or to have a work session where we would receive that report. That is correct. OK. 01:30:56.954 --> 01:31:04.468 - Thank you. Other questions or comments from the board? And I did have one question, Dr. Dowling. So 01:31:04.468 --> 01:31:11.006 - I know you said that some of the data points that commissioners might have wanted were 01:31:11.394 --> 01:31:18.400 - too big of an ask for 50 different scenarios, but would it be possible to get those data points if we 01:31:18.400 --> 01:31:25.269 - selected a smaller number of scenarios that we wanted that information for? Yes, I believe we could 01:31:25.269 --> 01:31:32.344 - do that. I guess I do have a question now. Yeah. I know that you're not making a formal recommendation 01:31:32.344 --> 01:31:38.526 - because the commission can't make a recommendation in that way. My question is, are there 01:31:38.690 --> 01:31:46.728 - were there in the study of these maps some maps that rose to the top is more feasible and in that case 01:31:46.728 --> 01:31:55.079 - would you present those as findings to us because I mean ultimately I think when we assign this commission 01:31:55.079 --> 01:32:03.273 - we asked for a review of the maps to sort of see which of these options would produce the most financial 01:32:03.273 --> 01:32:08.190 - balance and or um equity right like in terms of SES balance so 01:32:08.322 --> 01:32:15.402 - I guess I'm hoping that in that there might be some maps that were more likely to do this. And will 01:32:15.402 --> 01:32:22.765 - that be called out in some ways so that we could identify which ones were better than the others? Sure. 01:32:22.765 --> 01:32:30.128 - Our approach was always that we felt like, even though we studied 50 scenarios, which was a great deal, 01:32:30.128 --> 01:32:38.270 - our approach was always what can we learn from these scenarios, recognizing that there were some permutations that 01:32:38.530 --> 01:32:44.310 - we didn't look at. So we didn't want to ever take an approach in saying that selecting which maps would 01:32:44.310 --> 01:32:49.980 - stand out among the others, knowing that we were just looking at a sample of the variety of maps that 01:32:49.980 --> 01:32:55.760 - were possible with the goal of what can we learn from these maps that we're looking at that could apply 01:32:55.760 --> 01:33:01.429 - universally to MCCSE. What can we learn about redistricting by looking at all these maps? What can we 01:33:01.429 --> 01:33:06.987 - learn about cost effectiveness or transportation or student reassignment in an aggregate by looking 01:33:06.987 --> 01:33:07.710 - at the maps? 01:33:08.930 --> 01:33:14.987 - To be honest, we never really viewed it through that lens of which maps would stand out among the others. 01:33:14.987 --> 01:33:20.872 - It was more about trying to just gain as much insight we could about your two board priorities and the 01:33:20.872 --> 01:33:26.757 - four community considerations. And we do have a tool that we developed with Dr. Baten that would allow 01:33:26.757 --> 01:33:32.814 - us to, if we wanted to do any future work, it's a really tool that could be really helpful for any future 01:33:32.814 --> 01:33:36.414 - work. But no, I want to be transparent. There was nothing that 01:33:36.578 --> 01:33:43.557 - in the findings that would make me feel comfortable saying that this map or these other maps stood out 01:33:43.557 --> 01:33:50.604 - among these other ones that we considered just because we didn't take that approach. Okay. I would like 01:33:50.604 --> 01:33:57.448 - to also just add one additional comment I think that's important. One of the things that Dr. Dowling 01:33:57.448 --> 01:34:04.766 - and I have had conversation about is an opportunity for us to have Dr. Baten to do some additional training 01:34:05.026 --> 01:34:12.125 - with board members specifically about the GIS tools that have been created. We think that there are 01:34:12.125 --> 01:34:19.862 - some opportunities therein that would be of benefit as we move forward in looking at the findings ultimately 01:34:19.862 --> 01:34:27.174 - and potentially exploring different types of possibilities. And so that is an additional piece of work 01:34:27.174 --> 01:34:33.918 - that we've had some conversation about and some exploration around making certain that to give 01:34:34.146 --> 01:34:40.781 - the board the full benefit of the entire experience to ask Dr. Baten to come and provide some more targeted 01:34:40.781 --> 01:34:46.924 - and focused training around the utilization of the tool. I think you heard from some of the remarks 01:34:46.924 --> 01:34:53.190 - from our commission members that they saw that as a game changer in our ability to have a much deeper 01:34:53.190 --> 01:34:59.456 - understanding regarding the complexities and so that would be an additional step that I would want to 01:34:59.456 --> 01:35:01.790 - give consideration to with the board. 01:35:04.642 --> 01:35:14.962 - and I think that would also highlight some potential considerations of board member Hennessy that you're 01:35:14.962 --> 01:35:24.988 - potentially raising. Okay, great, thank you. I'm guessing this was probably beyond your scope, but as 01:35:24.988 --> 01:35:33.342 - you considered sort of fiscal efficiency, which I assume includes some discussion of 01:35:33.442 --> 01:35:39.687 - building utilization. Do you think that there might be anything that the board can learn from your report 01:35:39.687 --> 01:35:45.697 - about how redistricting under any of these scenarios might impact class size within our buildings? We 01:35:45.697 --> 01:35:51.589 - didn't get into class sizes but building utilization was a central data piece for all the scenarios 01:35:51.589 --> 01:35:52.414 - we looked at. 01:36:02.722 --> 01:36:09.894 - Thank you, Dr. Dowling. And the last report is on designing and building to sustain, to sustaining excellence 01:36:09.894 --> 01:36:16.675 - projects. Dr. Winston, would you like to begin? Yes, before Dr. Henderson speaks, I just want to remind 01:36:16.675 --> 01:36:23.325 - everyone that last month we rolled out our designing and building to sustain excellence projects. And 01:36:23.325 --> 01:36:28.606 - it's really a great opportunity. What I've learned over the last 18 to 19 months 01:36:28.738 --> 01:36:35.899 - is our community, our educators, our employees want to really have a much better and deeper understanding 01:36:35.899 --> 01:36:42.789 - of how different dollars are being utilized throughout our corporation and how are we able to provide 01:36:42.789 --> 01:36:49.612 - updated facilities in classroom spaces that are necessary for us to be able to retain and to recruit 01:36:49.612 --> 01:36:55.422 - students into our school corporation but also to provide quality learning experiences 01:36:55.586 --> 01:37:01.529 - throughout all of our buildings and throughout all of our experiences for our students. And so it's 01:37:01.529 --> 01:37:07.650 - very exciting for us to be able to share with you just a few highlights. While we just rolled this out 01:37:07.650 --> 01:37:13.593 - last month and we have our new website that kind of is designed to keep all of this in the public's 01:37:13.593 --> 01:37:19.536 - eye, my commitment to the board and to the community is that we will provide quarterly updates in a 01:37:19.536 --> 01:37:23.934 - public session so that everybody can begin to see and feel and experience 01:37:24.098 --> 01:37:30.386 - how those dollars are being utilized and the progress that we're making. So to that end, I've asked 01:37:30.386 --> 01:37:36.674 - Dr. Henderson to provide quarterly updates to our community so that you can begin to appreciate the 01:37:36.674 --> 01:37:43.088 - progress that's being made. And while we just announced the newest and latest project at North, we're 01:37:43.088 --> 01:37:49.438 - very excited to be able to share with you a few highlights of the progress that's been made to date. 01:37:49.438 --> 01:37:51.262 - So Dr. Henderson. Thank you. 01:37:52.130 --> 01:37:58.170 - Good evening again, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees. As Dr. 01:37:58.170 --> 01:38:04.329 - Winston mentioned, tonight is the first in what will be a series of quarterly updates of our designing 01:38:04.329 --> 01:38:10.309 - and building to sustain excellence projects throughout the school corporation. So the first project 01:38:10.309 --> 01:38:16.707 - I'd like to draw your attention to this evening is the Bloomington High School North Athletics and Parking 01:38:16.707 --> 01:38:21.790 - Improvement Project. The project includes a new track and field throwing facilities. 01:38:22.306 --> 01:38:29.747 - and athletic facilities building with visitor locker rooms, a synthetic turf soccer field, batting cages, 01:38:29.747 --> 01:38:36.768 - a concessions area, restrooms, and a new parking lot. And what you're seeing on the screen there is 01:38:36.768 --> 01:38:43.998 - architects rendering of what will become the main entry point into the football complex from what will 01:38:43.998 --> 01:38:48.702 - become the new parking lot that serves that as well as the school. 01:38:49.218 --> 01:38:55.664 - I do want to point out that all of the projects that I'm presenting here to you this evening are 100% 01:38:55.664 --> 01:39:02.046 - bond funded. And we've spoken in board meetings prior to this one about the fact that when there are 01:39:02.046 --> 01:39:08.619 - bond funded projects, there are zero referendum dollars that are used. There are zero education dollars 01:39:08.619 --> 01:39:14.938 - that are used. And there is zero operational dollars that are used. So none of the dollars that are 01:39:14.938 --> 01:39:17.150 - being spent on these projects fund 01:39:17.410 --> 01:39:24.256 - wages for any employee group in the corporation or support the routine operation of our buildings. So 01:39:24.256 --> 01:39:31.437 - this particular project, you'll see the artist rendering there. You'll also see some construction underway 01:39:31.437 --> 01:39:38.216 - here with the removal of some topsoil in preparation for the installation of the new parking lot, as 01:39:38.216 --> 01:39:43.518 - well as the construction of the new athletic facilities building that will sit 01:39:43.810 --> 01:39:52.510 - just to the right of the existing 12th Man Club building that you see in this particular photograph. 01:39:52.510 --> 01:40:01.381 - You'll also see that some old restrooms and concession areas that were located near the bleachers that 01:40:01.381 --> 01:40:10.081 - have been needing repair since I was the principal at Bloomington High School north 20 years ago. So 01:40:10.081 --> 01:40:12.062 - it was exciting to see 01:40:12.258 --> 01:40:19.782 - this photograph of that building coming down in preparation for replacement. In addition, this is the 01:40:19.782 --> 01:40:27.159 - current status as of yesterday of the new throws area, which will be the first part of this project 01:40:27.159 --> 01:40:34.683 - that actually is completed. We anticipate this will be complete and ready for use during the month of 01:40:34.683 --> 01:40:41.470 - April for this particular section. So you're seeing the landing areas there as well as some 01:40:41.666 --> 01:40:51.498 - forming up for the pouring of concrete for discus and shot put throw rings that will be installed. The 01:40:51.498 --> 01:41:01.425 - other project that I want to spend a few minutes talking about, oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention 01:41:01.425 --> 01:41:10.302 - this project is about 10% complete at the current time frame. They're making rapid progress. 01:41:10.466 --> 01:41:18.142 - and have faced some significant weather challenges, as you all know, with lots of rain and some wildly 01:41:18.142 --> 01:41:25.594 - fluctuating temperatures. So I think I talked to Sam today and I think they had 36 or 38 workers on 01:41:25.594 --> 01:41:33.120 - site today working on that project. So that's really exciting. The second project I want to focus on 01:41:33.120 --> 01:41:34.238 - is one that is 01:41:34.370 --> 01:41:41.756 - Nearly complete. It's about 90% complete. This is the new tennis courts that were placed at Bloomington 01:41:41.756 --> 01:41:49.212 - High School North. There are 10 courts that are relocated and fully replaced to better serve our student 01:41:49.212 --> 01:41:56.456 - athletes, coaches and the community in general. The new courts are designed to prevent cracking. They 01:41:56.456 --> 01:42:04.126 - are pre tensioned concrete and so they will not crack and separate the way a traditional concrete poured or 01:42:04.610 --> 01:42:11.459 - Asphalt board court will do. So it reduces long-term maintenance cost for that project. The updated 01:42:11.459 --> 01:42:18.583 - layout gives coaches easier access to all 10 courts for more effective instruction, while new lighting, 01:42:18.583 --> 01:42:25.638 - spectator seating, and perimeter fencing create a better experience for fans who can now view multiple 01:42:25.638 --> 01:42:32.350 - matches all at once. And the entire facility is ADA accessible. So we're very excited about that. 01:42:32.898 --> 01:42:40.244 - Substantial completion has been reached and the courts are available for student athlete use. There 01:42:40.244 --> 01:42:47.591 - are a couple of minor things that remain to be completed. Some handrail and fencing issues that are 01:42:47.591 --> 01:42:55.084 - still yet to be completed. So you can see the new center bleacher area in between the 10 courts, also 01:42:55.084 --> 01:43:01.182 - allowing easy access for coaches through that center area to get to all 10 courts. 01:43:01.986 --> 01:43:08.530 - with access for the athletes. You'll see a new stairwell there and some landscaping that's been put 01:43:08.530 --> 01:43:15.467 - in. Off to the left of that stairwell there's a nice new ADA ramp to be able to get down to the spectator 01:43:15.467 --> 01:43:22.077 - area as well. And finally this evening the last project I'd like to update you on is the Bloomington 01:43:22.077 --> 01:43:28.752 - High School South Soccer Field. You will remember attending a ribbon cutting ceremony back earlier in 01:43:28.752 --> 01:43:30.846 - the school year. This again has 01:43:32.322 --> 01:43:39.902 - reached substantial completion. We are awaiting one final inspection for some minor landscaping issues. 01:43:39.902 --> 01:43:47.410 - That's why it's listed at 98% complete instead of 100%. But we have been utilizing that facility. That 01:43:47.410 --> 01:43:54.844 - included a new synthetic turf field, scoreboard press box, sound system, fencing and staircase access 01:43:54.844 --> 01:43:59.582 - to allow multiple programs to use that same facility year round. 01:43:59.778 --> 01:44:08.005 - without weather delays or deteriorating field conditions. And the site will see approximately four times 01:44:08.005 --> 01:44:16.154 - as much use annually as a grass field would see. Smart long-term investment because that synthetic turf 01:44:16.154 --> 01:44:24.147 - drains quickly, stands up to that constant use, reduces long-term expenses associated with mowing and 01:44:24.147 --> 01:44:26.654 - fertilization and weed control. 01:44:26.946 --> 01:44:34.320 - stretching every dollar further for our students in our community. The last thing that has to be done 01:44:34.320 --> 01:44:41.622 - in that landscaping is we're removing some rocks along the edge of the edge of the field and putting 01:44:41.622 --> 01:44:48.996 - some additional synthetic turf in there. And that work will be happening between now and the month of 01:44:48.996 --> 01:44:53.406 - April. So we should get that finished up relatively quickly. 01:44:53.794 --> 01:45:00.343 - Again just reminding you that we do have a designing and building to sustain excellence website. This 01:45:00.343 --> 01:45:06.763 - QR code will take you there and all of these projects again this evening are bond funded and you'll 01:45:06.763 --> 01:45:13.375 - be able to by visiting the website not only see our current projects and updated photos as we progress 01:45:13.375 --> 01:45:19.860 - but you'll also be able to see completed projects and the benefits that those projects are providing 01:45:19.860 --> 01:45:23.134 - to our students and our families in our community. 01:45:23.426 --> 01:45:29.884 - Feel free to visit that website if you'd like more information and to stay up to date with the latest 01:45:29.884 --> 01:45:36.088 - progress photos. Thank you for the opportunity to present you with this information this evening. 01:45:36.088 --> 01:45:42.546 - Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Are there any questions or comments from the board? The North project looks 01:45:42.546 --> 01:45:49.003 - great. It was great to see that nasty building coming down. It was bad when my 33-year-old son played 01:45:49.003 --> 01:45:50.206 - football at North. 01:45:50.914 --> 01:45:57.448 - second question is north track team able to compete at home or are they using a different all of the 01:45:57.448 --> 01:46:04.305 - matches this year actually going to be held all the meets are going to be held at bloomington high school 01:46:04.305 --> 01:46:10.773 - south this year due to the construction that makes sense yep thank you dr henderson absolutely next 01:46:10.773 --> 01:46:17.372 - on our agenda is legislative updates tonight we will provide our community with a short yet important 01:46:17.372 --> 01:46:20.606 - update on the current indiana legislative session 01:46:21.346 --> 01:46:27.710 - member hennessey would you like to begin yes thank you uh the indiana general assembly is concluded 01:46:27.710 --> 01:46:34.202 - and the governor has signed several bills that we mentioned in our legislative reports uh so they are 01:46:34.202 --> 01:46:40.757 - now law senate bill 78 which is bell to bell cell phone ban this bill has been signed and takes effect 01:46:40.757 --> 01:46:47.630 - july 1 2026 this is a bell to bell school cell phone ban for public and charter schools school corporations 01:46:47.630 --> 01:46:50.494 - must adopt a policy on the implementation of 01:46:51.778 --> 01:46:58.606 - For some reason, I almost couldn't say the word prohibition on student use of cell phones and other 01:46:58.606 --> 01:47:05.639 - wireless communication devices throughout the school day. It also requires the Department of Education 01:47:05.639 --> 01:47:12.466 - to publish model policy language and implementation guidelines. So this is another one that will be 01:47:12.466 --> 01:47:18.270 - required by us to sort of pass in some capacity. House Bill 1242, Education Reports. 01:47:18.466 --> 01:47:23.956 - This bill was signed into law by the governor. It requires the Department of Education to prepare a 01:47:23.956 --> 01:47:29.721 - report compiling certain statewide data on school corporations and charter schools and submit the report 01:47:29.721 --> 01:47:35.485 - to the Legislative Council and the Interim Study Committee on Education. It also requires the Department 01:47:35.485 --> 01:47:41.140 - of Local Government Finance in consultation with the Department of Education to conduct a study of the 01:47:41.140 --> 01:47:46.740 - disparities in per-student operational funding amounts in school corporations and submit the findings 01:47:46.740 --> 01:47:48.222 - to the Legislative Council 01:47:48.450 --> 01:47:57.511 - and the state budget committee. House Bill 1360, which is access to public records. This bill was signed 01:47:57.511 --> 01:48:06.485 - into law by the governor. It allows a public agency to create an electronic portal for receiving public 01:48:06.485 --> 01:48:15.114 - records requests and allows the use of a C-P-A-T-C-G-C-H-A, CAPTCHA. I think this is spelled wrong, 01:48:15.114 --> 01:48:16.926 - maybe, I don't know. 01:48:17.506 --> 01:48:23.624 - It allows the use of this or an equivalent mechanism for ensuring that the requester is a human so you 01:48:23.624 --> 01:48:29.920 - know those annoying things you have to click or Yeah, I'm not a robot things. That's what they're talking 01:48:29.920 --> 01:48:36.394 - about This permits an agency to deny any public records request whether received electronically or otherwise 01:48:36.394 --> 01:48:41.918 - that the agency suspects to be data scraping or phishing like PHI But just for clarification 01:48:43.010 --> 01:48:49.709 - And then House Bill 1408, Education Matters. This bill was signed into law by the governor. Part of 01:48:49.709 --> 01:48:56.608 - this bill establishes requirements and restrictions regarding adolescent use of social media. It makes 01:48:56.608 --> 01:49:03.374 - a violation of the requirements and restrictions a deceptive act. This was originally on SB 199, and 01:49:03.374 --> 01:49:10.206 - I think this clause was amended and included in 1408. That concludes the legislative updates for now. 01:49:13.570 --> 01:49:24.501 - That the second one that you mentioned that Requires a report on disparities in funding between school 01:49:24.501 --> 01:49:35.221 - corporations. Yes Can you shed any light on the motivation behind that? Well there I have conjecture 01:49:35.221 --> 01:49:39.678 - but I think at this point I'm gonna say I 01:49:39.906 --> 01:49:47.788 - no but i would be happy to sort of maybe go do some digging and brings back some things that are more 01:49:47.788 --> 01:49:55.902 - than conjecture next time thank you yeah if you don't mind i would i would not mind sharing what i don't 01:49:55.902 --> 01:50:03.861 - understand to be potentially true please um so the legislature is interested in looking at operational 01:50:03.861 --> 01:50:09.502 - expenses of school corporations to see are there different approaches to 01:50:09.634 --> 01:50:16.139 - how we are funding and financing, what it costs to run a school system, whether that's looking 01:50:16.139 --> 01:50:23.397 - at transportation costs, whether that's looking at facilities costs, whether that's looking at any number 01:50:23.397 --> 01:50:30.519 - of expenditures that are experienced by schools, and to do some comparison and some contrasting between 01:50:30.519 --> 01:50:37.366 - a variety of school types to see if there are similarities, if there are differences, and what is a 01:50:37.366 --> 01:50:38.462 - per pupil cost. 01:50:38.786 --> 01:50:46.967 - Mr. Irwin and myself and members of our operations team are in the process now of completing some inquiries 01:50:46.967 --> 01:50:54.693 - that have come forth that are gonna be directly utilized, we anticipate, by the legislature next year 01:50:54.693 --> 01:51:02.494 - as they look to look at whether or not school systems are efficient in how they spend the dollars that 01:51:02.494 --> 01:51:06.206 - are entrusted to us. Thank you. I will just note 01:51:06.338 --> 01:51:13.670 - One last thing, it's not on here, but SB76 does have some implications for the way that schools will 01:51:13.670 --> 01:51:21.075 - be required to cooperate in some ways. This is the bell to bell ban? No. No. SB76 is a different, was 01:51:21.075 --> 01:51:28.770 - a different. Oh, I'm sorry. It's related to immigration. But it does potentially have impact on K through 01:51:28.770 --> 01:51:36.030 - 12 and higher ed. And just in the sort of legalities and sort of rules that govern who must sort of 01:51:36.386 --> 01:51:43.558 - respond and in what way to requests for information and data and other sorts of things. So it's not 01:51:43.558 --> 01:51:51.303 - officially listed as one of the ISBA tracking bills, but it is one that has been tracked that has potential 01:51:51.303 --> 01:51:58.833 - implications for K-12 as well. Thank you. As I understand it, with the bell-to-bell ban, there are some, 01:51:58.833 --> 01:52:01.630 - there's a variety of options in how we 01:52:01.858 --> 01:52:08.226 - might respond to that and that in other states where they've had this kind of legislation for a while, 01:52:08.226 --> 01:52:14.717 - there have been some different approaches. And I know that April mentioned that there will be some model 01:52:14.717 --> 01:52:20.404 - legislation or some model policies from the Department of Education. Is that something that 01:52:20.404 --> 01:52:26.772 - the administration will help us either that you might make recommendations about or help us understand 01:52:26.772 --> 01:52:30.110 - how those different options would affect our schools? 01:52:31.202 --> 01:52:37.709 - Most definitely so we have been closely monitoring this as you can well imagine and so I've asked Mrs. 01:52:37.709 --> 01:52:44.027 - Harmon to kind of lead and facilitate some conversations that we'll have with some of our educators 01:52:44.027 --> 01:52:50.534 - some of our teachers some of our administrators and quite frankly some of our students so that we will 01:52:50.534 --> 01:52:57.168 - begin to look at the two options that they are putting out for us right now whether we would have option 01:52:57.168 --> 01:53:01.022 - one which might mean that we would not allow cell phones and 01:53:01.346 --> 01:53:07.408 - with students in our buildings at all or that there would be a storage approach. And so ultimately this 01:53:07.408 --> 01:53:13.471 - board will be making a recommendation on what that policy would look like. We however are going to wait 01:53:13.471 --> 01:53:19.358 - for the Department of Education to provide some model policy guidance to us so that we at least have 01:53:19.358 --> 01:53:24.896 - an awareness of what they are seeing that would fulfill this legal requirement. It is our hope 01:53:24.896 --> 01:53:30.142 - and expectation that we would be in compliance as of July 1st when this goes into effect. 01:53:30.946 --> 01:53:40.759 - Thank you. So our anticipation would be to bring something forward in the spring. Thank you so much. 01:53:40.759 --> 01:53:50.475 - Other questions or comments from the board? I'll wait and see. We'll wait and see. Thank you, Board 01:53:50.475 --> 01:53:57.470 - Member Hennessy. For those final updates from this legislative session, 01:53:57.826 --> 01:54:05.533 - Does any other board members have any updates that they would like to provide? Thank you. Thank you, 01:54:05.533 --> 01:54:13.850 - everyone. Next, our superintendent comments. So finally, Dr. Winston, do you have any additional information 01:54:13.850 --> 01:54:21.709 - to share with us tonight? Just a couple. So as you are aware, that we are launching our Strong Schools 01:54:21.709 --> 01:54:26.974 - Strong Community Advisory Council. It's a short-term advisory group. 01:54:27.074 --> 01:54:32.505 - that's going to bring together community members, business and civic leaders, teachers, support staff, 01:54:32.505 --> 01:54:37.884 - families, board members, administrators and students. The council will learn about the challenges and 01:54:37.884 --> 01:54:43.157 - opportunities that are facing MCCSE and we want to be able to hear perspectives. The purpose of the 01:54:43.157 --> 01:54:48.747 - advisory council is to provide community input that will help inform the corporation's long-term planning 01:54:48.747 --> 01:54:54.442 - to sustain academic excellence while also strengthening our schools for the benefit of the entire community 01:54:54.442 --> 01:54:56.446 - for today and for many years to come. 01:54:56.834 --> 01:55:03.838 - There will be conversations around how MCCSE can and should be considered part of the local economic 01:55:03.838 --> 01:55:11.398 - engine of our community and what role as the school system we can certainly play in that regard. Individuals 01:55:11.398 --> 01:55:18.818 - that would participate must reside within the MCCSE boundaries and commit to attending all three sessions. 01:55:18.818 --> 01:55:23.326 - The three session dates are April 15th, April 29th, and May 6th. 01:55:23.778 --> 01:55:30.516 - and we will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. on each of those evenings. To apply, members of our community should 01:55:30.516 --> 01:55:37.124 - consider visiting our website and under the corporation, click on the community information tab. The 01:55:37.124 --> 01:55:44.124 - application deadline is next Tuesday, March 31st. All participants who have been selected will be notified 01:55:44.124 --> 01:55:48.638 - by April 6th. To make sure that we have the broadest amount of input 01:55:48.802 --> 01:55:55.301 - from throughout our community. A community survey option will also be available to allow the public 01:55:55.301 --> 01:56:01.930 - to provide input on the same types of areas and topics that are going to be discussed by the council. 01:56:01.930 --> 01:56:08.559 - That survey will be available from April 15th to May 6th. A summary at the conclusion of this work of 01:56:08.559 --> 01:56:15.512 - the council's discussion topics and perspectives will be posted on our webpage sometime later this summer. 01:56:15.512 --> 01:56:17.982 - Community chat at South Scholarships. 01:56:19.106 --> 01:56:25.410 - That's a lot, South Scholarships. The next community chat event is on April 9th from 4.30 to 6 at Bloomington 01:56:25.410 --> 01:56:31.256 - High School South student run coffee shop, Scholarships. This is a time for those who have registered 01:56:31.256 --> 01:56:37.101 - to have a one-on-one conversation with myself and enjoy a cup of their favorite coffee house beverage 01:56:37.101 --> 01:56:42.832 - brewed specifically by the students at the Scholarships coffee shop. The event information was sent 01:56:42.832 --> 01:56:49.022 - out earlier today through Parent Square, and I am happy to tell you that every slot has been taken already. 01:56:49.218 --> 01:56:56.354 - I've received a few text messages from individuals indicating that they were trying to sign up and were 01:56:56.354 --> 01:57:03.216 - not able to. So Karen has said, now I need to do more. She did not say that. She asked me not to do 01:57:03.216 --> 01:57:10.626 - more. And finally, tonight we would also like to recognize April Hennessy. For her service as the president 01:57:10.626 --> 01:57:18.174 - of the board of the school trustees for the Monroe County Community School Corporation from October 25, 2023, 01:57:18.626 --> 01:57:26.648 - to December 21st, 2025. She always commented on wanting to have a gavel of her own. So tonight, we would 01:57:26.648 --> 01:57:34.518 - like to present her with her very own gavel. April, if you can come forward and accept this gavel with 01:57:34.518 --> 01:57:42.846 - our deepest appreciation for all that you have done for MCCSC as president of the board. President Kugelman. 01:57:46.530 --> 01:57:56.289 - about this gavel. I'm going to use it in my house. My kids are going to be so tired of this gavel. I'm 01:57:56.289 --> 01:58:06.142 - going to text Stacey right now. You don't know what's coming home. Oh, no. She's watching. She watches. 01:58:06.142 --> 01:58:15.806 - You present it together. Oh, yeah. OK. Dual present. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. It's so cute. 01:58:16.130 --> 01:58:30.175 - Thank you. They wouldn't give it to me while I was president. Can't be trusted. We timed that perfectly. 01:58:30.175 --> 01:58:45.022 - That concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Winston. I just want to say again, thank you for your service, April. 01:58:45.186 --> 01:58:52.544 - was just at a conference where there was a session on all that board presidents do and they were recommending 01:58:52.544 --> 01:58:59.233 - that board presidents be more transparent about all of the extra work they do so that when the next 01:58:59.233 --> 01:59:06.257 - person takes over that role, they're not surprised. I have to say, before taking this seat, I definitely 01:59:06.257 --> 01:59:11.742 - knew that you put in a lot of extra work and time and were always very thoughtful 01:59:11.874 --> 01:59:17.960 - about how you approach this role. And I really appreciate that. I'm grateful to have learned this role 01:59:17.960 --> 01:59:23.927 - from you. Thank you. And thank you all. I mean, this is so cute and amazing. But just having been in 01:59:23.927 --> 01:59:29.954 - this role, having done this work, it is truly some of the most meaningful work of my life. And to get 01:59:29.954 --> 01:59:36.099 - to do it with a board and a superintendent and an administration like this has been just really a gift. 01:59:36.099 --> 01:59:36.926 - So thank you. 01:59:41.762 --> 01:59:48.279 - So the next, this feels so anticlimactic after that, but the next regularly scheduled board meeting 01:59:48.279 --> 01:59:52.254 - will be held on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. We are adjourned.