- Welcome to the March 24th meeting of the MCCSC Board of School Trustees. We ask that you come to order.
- The first item on our agenda is for the board to hold a public hearing to receive objections and support
- regarding the potential sale of real property owned by the school corporation located at 1900 South
- Walnut Street, Bloomington, Indiana. The notices for this hearing were published as legally required.
- If you are interested in speaking at the hearing, please make sure you have completed a comment card
- and have given the card to Mrs. Butcher. There will be an opportunity for additional public comment
- on the regular agenda items after the hearings. Have any comment cards been received, Karen? No? Okay.
- Hearing no comments, I will close the hearing. The board will have an opportunity to discuss this topic
- later in the meeting.
- We will now open the regular meeting. Tonight we will begin with a special presentation from Riley Children's
- Foundation honoring one of our students. Principal Marshall, would you like to introduce our special
- guests? I definitely would. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you to Dr. Winston and President Cooper and
- members of the board for
- giving us a little bit of time this evening to celebrate and recognize one of our own Childs Jaguars,
- Bennett Pace. Bennett is a fourth grader at Childs and someone who this evening is being recognized,
- most importantly, as a Riley champion. So I personally, just in the last week, have learned a good deal
- of Bennett's story, which was unbeknownst to me previously.
- have just grown my admiration for him, understanding the struggles and the challenges that he endured
- very early in life. I've always admired and really loved having Bennett at Childs, but I think when
- you all get to hear his story, you'll grow an admiration as well. Before we recognize Bennett, I'm going
- to turn it over to a representative from Riley Children's Foundation, and that's Olivia Mosey. Thank you.
- Thank you so much. It is so good to be with your school community today. We are grateful for your support
- of Riley kids like Bennett. More than 15 years ago, Riley Children's Foundation started a program called
- Riley Champions presented by Kroger. The program honors Riley Children's Health patients who demonstrate
- courage and a commitment to giving back to their community while navigating their own medical journey.
- Bennett was born with what he calls a fat kidney.
- He was diagnosed with hydronephrosis, which caused dangerous swelling in one of his kidneys. Three surgeries
- later, Bennett plays basketball and baseball, as you can see from the photos on the screen, and sees
- his Riley care team for a checkup every December. Riley Children's Foundation has chosen to honor Bennett
- as a 2026 Riley champion presented by Kroger. In this role, Bennett shares his personal Riley story
- to show why Riley Hospital is so important to our state and why it needs support.
- A few weeks ago, Bennett was interviewed on camera in front of 600 guests at the Red for Our Kids Gala
- in Indianapolis. Today, we are thrilled to celebrate Bennett and his school community. Congratulations,
- Bennett. And we have a gift from Riley Children's Foundation in Kroger that will hang proudly in your school.
- Come on.
- Congratulations Bennett. Congratulations Bennett. I would say you are not only a Riley champion, but
- you're also a champion to us at MCCSE too. Next is our excellent spotlight. This is a time set aside
- to celebrate members of our school community. Ms. Harmon.
- Thank you, President Cooper and Dr. Winston, the Board of Trustees and community members. It's my pleasure
- to share this month's Excellence Spotlight. The Excellence Spotlight is a feature of every regular Board
- of School Trustees meeting, and it is dedicated time to honor the excellence occurring every day through
- the dedication of MCCSE employees, students, and volunteers who make a difference in our school community
- and foster environments that reflect the MCCSE mission, vision, and core values. For our March Excellence
- Spotlight, we have
- We will begin by honoring Dr. Kirsten Milks from Bloomington High School South. Dr. Milks is an inspiring
- educator whose passion for science and student empowerment enriches the Bloomington High School South
- community. She teaches AP Biology and introductory science, mentors students at STEM, and leads the
- Science Olympiad team, creating inclusive and high access opportunities for all learners. Her guidance
- has supported nationally recognized student achievements, including the 2025 Samsung Call for Tomorrow team,
- whose project was featured at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Dr. Milks is also a dedicated Girl Scout volunteer
- and was named the 2024 Girl Scouts of Central Indiana Leader of the Year. On March 25th, 2026, tomorrow,
- she will be honored by the Commission on the Status of Women as the Woman of the Year, a well-deserved
- celebration of her leadership, mentorship, and commitment to young people.
- Hi, everybody. I just wanted to say, as I've been reflecting these past couple weeks, knowing that this
- recognition had happened, it happened because I'm here, because I'm working in a place where we believe
- that kids can do anything. And so that big unshakable belief, that unshakable truth,
- is why I'm so lucky to work here and has guided my work with the young people in my community. And I'm
- really thankful to all of them for teaching me. And I'm really excited to see what's next.
- So thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Do you want me to move on to the next one? Two more. Two more.
- We actually have
- We have two more tonight. So Dr. McSlootis, we'll go ahead and do the other two, and then we'll do a
- picture. OK. Our next honoree is Aliyah Sarabi Naya from Bloomington High School North, who is a senior
- being recognized by the Commission on Status of Women as the Young Woman of the Year. Her leadership,
- service, and dedication to uplifting her community exemplifies true excellence. She actively serves
- as an intern with Amplify Bloomington, co-president of Project Middleway,
- President of both the BHSN Habitat for Humanity Club and Cougar Care Meals and co-president of her graduating
- class. Passionate about community service and making a meaningful impact, she is an inspiring recipient
- of the March Excellence Spotlight. She plans to continue her path of service and leadership by studying
- informatics at Indiana University in the fall. Would you like to say anything? You're welcome to.
- I just want to thank everyone here for allowing me to be recognized for my achievements and to MCCSE
- and all the teachers that helped me get to where I am. Thank you. Congratulations. And finally, we are
- also tonight recognizing Kelton O'Connell, another student from Bloomington High School North.
- Congratulations to Kelton, who has been named the 2026 Journalist of the Year by the Indiana High School
- Press Association.
- He has spent the past year freelancing for the B Square, publishing 40 articles that highlight his insightful
- questions, strong reporting skills, and fair, unbiased storytelling. We are incredibly proud of Kelton,
- an exceptional student, talented journalist, and outstanding young person. Thank you for employing the
- adults who, other than my parents, have been the most impactful people who make me who I am.
- Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. On behalf of the board, congratulations to all those who've
- been recognized. And now we'd like to take a picture. Allergies. Hormones.
- Oh, don't run.
- Congratulations again to all of our recipients. Of course you're welcome to stay, but if you came for
- that recognition, you're also welcome to go. Thanks again for coming.
- We will now proceed to public comments. Karen, do we have any public comments? No, we don't. All right.
- Moving on past public comments then, we will now move on to the consent agenda. For our consideration
- is the consent agenda that includes the following. Minutes from the board meeting held on February 24th,
- 2026, overnight out of state field trips, financial report from February 2026, appropriation balance
- report February 2026,
- register of claims March 24th, 2026, payroll register and payroll claims February 2026, request to declare
- as surplus and authorized disposal of out-of-date items. Do I have a motion regarding the approval of
- the consent agenda? Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we
- approve the consent agenda as presented.
- All those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions?
- Motion carries. Next for our consideration are the donations. We have received donations of over $110,000.
- Thank you to all our donors. Your generosity is appreciated. Do I have a motion to accept the donations? So moved.
- Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by April that we accept the donations
- as presented. All those in favor of approving the donations signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against?
- Abstentions? Motion carries. Next on our agenda is old business. The old business we have to discuss
- tonight is the former Herald Times property.
- Earlier this evening, we held a required hearing on the potential sale of real property located at 1900
- South Walnut Street, the former Herald Times building. During the February 24th board meeting, we received
- and reviewed public input from a community survey and community forum regarding the property. In addition,
- as of November 18th, 2025,
- Dr. Henderson presented the board with an informative presentation regarding the property that MCCSE
- purchased in 2022. I will now open the floor for further board discussion regarding the property. Would
- anyone like to begin? I can begin if we need someone to get it moving, okay.
- It's like the first person who has to jump into the food line. I'm never that person, but I'll talk.
- I'm glad we're really having this conversation finally. It's been a long time coming, and I know we've
- kind of talked a little bit off and on to get to this point. I think it's been interesting to watch
- the community response and feedback.
- I guess notably in some cases and in some spaces the lack of it and in other spaces in a sort of abundance
- of it. So I'm glad we put out the survey and were able to get all of that feedback from the community
- via that form. For me, I think when we purchased that building, you know, we were kind of at a different
- point in our, well, so many things.
- We were just in a different moment, right? And a lot of that has shifted, including facing some really
- horrific cuts from the state. And so I think we're in a much different financial position than when
- we initially acquired that building. Now I will say, you know, I remain sort of steadfast in that the
- original intent for purchasing that building was
- a potentially good one and an innovative one. What we know is that our district has services that are
- dispersed across our entire district. They're everywhere. So if you need to enroll, if you need to get
- support for certain things, a parent might be charged with driving all over town. The Herald Times building
- is across from the administration building, across from Bloomington High School South, and it's accessible
- on a bus line, which
- is key, it's a huge factor. And so the thought, I know people have kind of scoffed at this notion of
- like a welcome center, but I think it isn't just a welcome center, it would have been a consolidation
- of services potentially, right? It could potentially have been an improved health center for our employees.
- It could have been a lot of things, I think. And I remain committed to the fact that at that moment,
- as we were sort of trying to envision where we wanted to go with our district, it was a point in time
- since. And I will also say that the price of the sale of that building, right, is, and I know I'll probably
- get sort of dinged for this or somebody will misquote me or something because it happens all the time,
- so it's fine, but when you look at that from a position of personal finances,
- $2.93 million, however much that building initially sold for, it seems like a lot of money. But in the
- scope of a district budget of this size, it's marginal. What I will say is that fees of that sort, they
- don't go very far in the operations and working of the district. They just don't. There's no way to
- cut it. $2.9 million doesn't even cover our
- our sort of operating budget for a month in this district. It can't go very far, but it could
- have potentially set us up in a way in a building where we might have had ongoing support services and
- innovation for our families. That said, at this moment, I'm sort of of the inclination, given that the
- feedback was sort of 50-50,
- and also knowing where we're at at this particular moment from a fiscal perspective, probably more on
- the side of selling at this point. That's kind of where I land. I would very much second a lot of what
- April just said. The intent of that building was great. In attending some national conferences, state
- conferences, many, many districts across the country and in our state,
- have a facility like that with a lot of consolidated services, and they're very public friendly, let's
- put it that way. However, the same ideas have come up in my mind in that selling this building, what
- we would get back from it right now, and as you said, it's a marginal percentage of what our overall
- budget is.
- Influx of that money to me is not the motivating factor. I'm leaning the same way April is. To me the
- motivating factor is that the money that we would have to commit to make that building what it needs
- to become is going to potentially severely limit our ability to do other things within the district.
- over the next several years. And those buildings are more for the kids. So when you weigh those two,
- investing that money there to make that building what it would need to be, in my mind, doesn't make
- sense at this point. And the holding cost of that building, just to hold it for whatever use we're using it,
- is going to require even some investment just to make it functional. So in the big picture, I think
- the best move, in my opinion, is to move on. I'm with both of you, particularly to your second point,
- Ross, in that we would have to put so much into it in order to create
- what was envisioned before. I'm one of the board members that kind of came on after those discussions
- happened. So I'm kind of on the backend of it. And I started from a place of not wanting to sell it,
- to go forward and do those things, but understanding what it would take in order to do that and what would be
- potentially lost from our other facilities as a result is not worth it to me, even though it saddens
- me because I see a lot of positive in having a space like that because it could be a lot of things.
- It's a very large space. A lot of things could happen there. So it saddens me to agree and it saddens
- me to lean towards that
- that side of feeling that we should probably sell it. Pretty much everything that everyone has already
- said. I agree with April that while this happened, it was purchased before I was sworn in to this position
- on the board, hearing about the ideas of its potential uses all sounded like very worthy
- things, especially a welcome center for somebody who has kids in more than one school. And again, not
- being just a welcome center, but a centralized location for many services that could be streamlined.
- But again, like what Ross said, just when you look at the cost of what it will take to rehabilitate
- it, to restore it to what it would need to be in order to make all those things happen,
- it's just we're in a different time now than we were in 2022. So again, like Ashley, I initially was
- leaning towards keeping it because I see the potential and I think it's great to have that real estate,
- but then on the other hand, it's really hard to reconcile that with what we're facing financially. So
- I think I will be in agreement with the three of you. Yeah, so yeah, coming in,
- Well, I wasn't here when you way late when you're talking about it, but torn that building and the potential
- that building I was all excited of the things that we could possibly do the welcome center sound nice
- But then being in stem and the community saying oh a stem place and we house them in our I'm on campus
- I was like that would be really nice But I think given the financial constraints of the district. It
- doesn't make sense to keep the building
- And I'm not going to repeat everything else you all said, because my daughter told me not to.
- Where is Ruth? Oh. She listening. Yeah. As the newest member of this body, I do see all the potential
- and am probably the brightest eye of the bunch.
- But yes, just to repeat what everyone else is saying, I do understand our current financial situation
- probably isn't conducive to what it would take to function as anything more than what it is now and
- even the cost to continue to function as it is currently. So. I mean, if there's a donor out there in
- the 2.5 people listening who, like,
- has a lot of money and wants to invest in this building for MCCSE, like I will not say no, but. Yeah,
- that's similar to what I was gonna say that I don't disagree with anything that anybody said. I just
- wanna emphasize that I also got excited after we received all of the community feedback. I was particularly
- interested in the idea of a space for robotics tournaments, for STEM or STEAM.
- I think it would be incredibly helpful to move our health services over to a more accessible building.
- I even went so far as to reach out to some possible community partners, and there is a lot of interest
- in the community in partnering with us.
- no one unfortunately was able to write a check for the amount of money that it would take to improve
- the property to make it usable for those purposes. And I think the thing that I don't want us to, I
- think that process was really valuable and I hope that we won't lose sight of those ideas,
- those opportunities for partnership, those opportunities for growth, the areas in which our community
- is interested in seeing us grow,
- But I think we might have to find other ways to focus on those things, to appreciate those things from
- my perspective as well. I think for me the factors that weighed heaviest are similar to what Ross mentioned.
- The fact that spending the money that might be necessary to make the improvements to that building,
- might make it harder for us to improve our schools when necessary. And that has to be our priority.
- I think that this is sort of, for me, a sad symbol of how much our financial situation has changed since
- we decided to buy the property. I agree there. And Mr. Irwin, correct me if I'm wrong, but the improvements
- that building would need
- would represent somewhere around 20% of our total bonding capacity with what we put out last year. I
- think that somewhere, that number was somewhere around 37 to 40 million. So it'd be around the initial
- estimates that I think we had were around 34, 35 million. So it would eat up a significant portion of
- the debt capacity we would have over the next few years as we continue to stay within
- confines of what it is is the ask of the community as it relates to supporting our property tax levy
- funds and so we're just continuing to be mindful of those things so yeah it would it would it would
- limit our ability to make other necessary improvements that are wanted and needed yeah some of our other
- facilities and i just wanted to say to mr erwin i appreciate that you took the time to answer all the
- questions that we had concerning the finances
- Because it is a lot and just trying to wrap our heads around what does it actually mean if we hold on
- to it if we do the things and what we lose as a result. I appreciated that, so I just wanted to thank
- you. I appreciate the questions and I know that part of being able to make a good decision is having
- the right information and so I appreciate the opportunity to provide information based on your guys
- request that that helps you make a.
- quality decision that you guys i know have to wrestle with at this time i i would like to make a motion
- that the board proceed with the necessary steps to initiate the sale of the herald times property a
- motion was made by ross and seconded by april uh to uh to sell the property to begin the process for
- selling the property take the necessary steps to
- I'm going to say that again. A motion was made by Ross and seconded by April to take the necessary steps
- to sell the property at 1900 South Walnut Street, the former Herald Times building. All those in favor
- of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against, say nay.
- Abstentions. The motion carries. Given that the board has approved the sale of the former Herald-Times
- property, we now need to make a motion to begin the process of hiring a broker to facilitate the sale
- of the property. Do I have a motion to begin the process to hire a broker for the sale of the property?
- So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana.
- that we begin the process of hiring a broker to facilitate the sale of the property. Are there any comments
- from the board? Yes. What does that process look like and how do we select? I'm sure there's some legal
- parameters of how we select a broker to handle that. Could someone from our team answer that question?
- 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
- We have 30 days to hire the broker. To make the decision. To publish. To publish, okay. Thank you for
- the clarification. Any further discussion on that motion? Will the board officers write the notice for
- publication? If I could. I'll work with Kate.
- attorney on getting the notice published and so we'll work in that regard with both her and the firm
- last call for discussion on that item all in favor of the motion to begin the process to hire a broker
- facilitate the sale of the property signify by saying aye aye any against say no any abstentions
- The motion carries. We will now move on to new business, which begins with the personnel report.
- Good evening, President Cooperman, members of the Board of School Trustees. This evening, I'd like to
- call your attention to the following retirements. In our certified staff, Cheryl Lewandowski. Ms. Lewandowski
- has been with MCCSE for the last 24 years, most recently serving as a school psychologist throughout
- the school corporation.
- In addition, Marla Ratamaker. Ms. Ratamaker has been with MCCSC for the last 26 years, most recently
- serving as a social worker at Bachelor Middle School. In our support staff, Beth Butler. Ms. Butler
- has been with MCCSC for the last 20 years, most recently serving as a corporation bus driver.
- Barbara Davis. Ms. Davis has been with MCCSC for the last 30 years,
- most recently serving as a library aide at Jackson Creek Middle School. And Martina Knight. Ms. Knight
- has been with MCCSE for the last 21 years, most recently serving. Nope, that is incorrect. Serving as
- a preventionist at Fairview Elementary School. Additionally, I would be remiss if I did not recognize
- an administrative resignation
- with Miss Hattie Johnson, who returned to MCCSC from her well-earned retirement and stepped in to fill
- our director of child nutrition position on an interim basis while we were in the process of filling
- that position with Gretchen Hanser, who you met. So I want to extend my thanks to Miss Johnson as well.
- Altogether, the retirees presented this evening represent a combined total of 121 years of service to
- our school community.
- So on behalf of MCCSC, I would like to extend a special thank you to all these individuals for their
- many years of dedicated service and wish them well in their next adventures. At this time, I would request
- that you please approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the personnel report.
- Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel report as presented? So moved.
- Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Asia.
- that we approve the personnel report as presented. I think I got a little off my script, but all those
- in favor of approving the personnel report as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Any
- abstentions? The motion carries. Congratulations to all the retirees, and thank you for your service.
- We will now move on to the contracts.
- Do I have a motion to approve the contracts and quotes as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
- It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Ross that we approve the contracts and quotes as presented.
- Mr. Irwin? All the contracts have been reviewed through our processes and are set for your approval.
- I recommend all contracts and quotes as presented. Ms. Harmon, can you comment on the early learning
- contracts? Of course.
- Thank you. Sorry, start over. Thank you, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, members of the board. I would
- like to present the administration recommendation for renewal of our current early learning partner
- contracts for the 26-27 school year. These contracts are part of the family friendly 2023 referendum,
- which supports the expansion of early learning opportunities for families across Monroe County.
- From the outset, this expansion was designed to strengthen and partner with existing community early
- learning providers rather than compete with them, ensuring families have access to a broad and diverse
- range of high quality options. All partnership agreements are structured to comply with Indiana Code
- 20-20-28-5, which requires that partner programs operate as nonprofit organizations and deliver a federally
- approved preschool program
- In addition, partners must maintain a level three or level four rating in the Paths to Quality program
- for the state of Indiana, and the program must support student development and prepare students for
- kindergarten learning as directed by MCCSC. I am recommending five current contracts for renewal, all
- to be supported by the referendum. If I may go through the five, please.
- First, I recommend the agreement with the Bloomington Center for Global Children to provide services
- for three-year-old and four-year-old students in the 26-27 school year, the total cost not to exceed
- $66,000. Can you repeat the name of that organization, please, Ms. Harmon? The Bloomington Center for
- Global Children. All those in favor of approving the contract with the Bloomington Center for Global
- Children. Wait, pause.
- Do we have to have discussion before we take a vote? We do. Thanks, April. Yeah. No, I need a motion
- and a second and then discussion, if there's discussion on that one. Right? I have the motion. I have
- an overall motion so we can discuss each one before the vote. OK. Is there any discussion on this contract?
- Ms. Witcher? It will take me a while. Are we doing these? We're going to do each one individually.
- 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
- slowly? Yeah, we're good now. Okay. If you're discussing the contracts first, then I should be good.
- Okay. Is there any discussion on the Bloomington center for global children contract? I just would like
- to rise to a point of clarification. Um, are we going to deal with the quotes to be awarded separately?
- So we're going to go through each of the contracts for the early learning centers, and then there will
- be a motion for the remaining contracts together. OK. Thank you. I'm going to call the vote
- on the Bloomington Center for Global Children. All those in favor of the contract with the Bloomington
- Center for Global Children signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against?
- Any abstentions? Motion. So the overall motion, as I understand it, the motion to approve the contracts,
- which was made by Ashley and seconded by Ross, is the open motion at the moment.
- Motion will stay the same and the votes will be taken individually. Ms. Harman, could you present the
- next contract, please? Next, I recommend the agreement with Penny Lane Child Care to provide services
- to three-year-old and four-year-old students in the 2026, 26, 27 school year. The total cost not to
- exceed $130,000. I so recommend. So the motion is a contract with the Bloomington Daycare Corporation
- Penny Lane East, Penny Lane West? Penny Lane West. Is there any discussion on this contract? I have
- one quick question. Is the difference in the dollar amounts based on the capacity of the facilities?
- OK. Karen, could you give me the high sign when you're ready for the vote? OK. So all those in favor
- of the contract with Bloomington Day Care Corporation, Penny Lanes East and West,
- Signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? That contract is approved. Next contract, Ms.
- Harmon. I recommend they agree with the Bloomington Developmental Learning Center to service three and
- four-year-old students in the 26th, 27th school year. It's a total cost not to exceed $50,000. Is there
- any discussion on the BDLC contract?
- All those in favor of the contract with the Bloomington Development Learning Center, signify by saying
- aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? Ms. Harmon? I recommend the agreement with Compass Early Learning
- Center to provide services to three and four-year-old students for the 26-27 school year, not to exceed
- the total cost of $250,000.
- Is there any discussion on the contract with Compass Early Learning Center? All those in favor of the
- contract with Compass signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions? Finally, Ms. Harmon. Finally,
- I recommend the agreement with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place.
- provide services to three-year-old and four-year-old students and 26-27 school year total cost not to
- exceed $75,000. Is there any discussion on the contract with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place?
- Yes, I just want to let you know that I will be abstaining from this vote even though that I know by
- law we are required to partner with just about anyone that comes through the door at this point.
- Morally, I object to partnering with any religious affiliated organization because I feel that is a
- violation of separation of church and state. And morally, I just do not agree with that. I'm just gonna
- clarify some phrasing there, I think, Ashley. Go ahead.
- The change in the law that happened between the time that we started partnering with early learning
- centers and today, as I understand it, and Kate, please correct me if I'm wrong, is that we can't decline
- to partner with an organization based on the fact that they are a faith-based organization,
- a fair characterization. Thank you. Thank you for being so much more succinct. I don't know if that
- was succinct, but thanks for saying that.
- I will just say, I agree in large part, Ashley, with your position and your stance. I too would take
- that position and stance ordinarily. I will choose to vote yes today simply because we didn't pull it
- out of the last vote and I voted yes. And so in favor of equal treatment, I'm going to just continue
- to vote yes so that there's no sort of discrepancy there. But I do feel as you do. And I did abstain
- last time, but I didn't explain.
- and learn I should have done that before we did that. So I'm doing that now. Yep. Can I ask another
- question, Ms. Harmon? Yes. Are any of the other early learning centers that we're partnering with tonight,
- do any of them provide K through 12 education? Provide K through 12 education? No, I do not believe
- they do. Does Covenant Christian do that, you know? Covenant Christian.
- It's a separate entity? Well, it's a separate facility. I don't know the overall organizational structure
- of it, but it's a separate facility. Does that change legal precedent? And I apologize. I wasn't trying
- to spring this on anybody. This truly just occurred to me. So I don't think that in our guidelines for
- a partnership, we made a distinction between organizations that
- don't provide K-12 and those that do. I do also believe that the other organizations we partner with
- do not provide K-12 education, which does mean that this is unique not only in that it is a faith-based
- organization, but also that it is in direct competition with us for K-12 students.
- I'm not going, I'm going to vote in favor of the contract tonight, but I would like us to consider for
- the future whether we change our criteria for these partnerships. I appreciate that. I hadn't considered
- the possibility of partnering with organizations that also do K through 12 or K through eight.
- And that does, that is concerning to me. So I would like to revisit if possible. And I don't know what
- the parameters or the constraints of the law are in this instance,
- 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
- more investigation and have something on the books potentially before we have to enter into these MOUs
- again next time. Is there any further discussion on this contract? And so just to clarify, this is a renewal
- We've already been partnering with this facility for the last year. I think we just approved it for
- the first time in January. Not for the last year. Oh, OK. Just the second semester of this. Oh, I see.
- OK. She said renewal. It is a renewal, but it is also a newer partnership than some of the other ones.
- Any other discussion on this item?
- All those in favor of the contract with Covenant Christian Early Learning Place signify by saying aye.
- Aye. Any against? Any abstentions? Abstaining. By a vote of six ayes and one abstention, the motion carries.
- So I will now ask for, I'm not going to call a vote on the remaining contracts, the rest of those that
- Mr. Irwin recommended other than the early learning centers. All those in favor of approving? Yeah.
- Can we have a moment of discussion? Yes, of course. Thank you. I just want to ask for clarification.
- Mr. Irwin, are you related to Irwin Seeding Company? No relation. OK. Thank you very much. All right.
- I'm glad you asked that. Yeah, that's a good point of clarification. No conflict of interest there.
- No conflict of interest. Thank you. I will now ask for all those in favor of the remaining contracts
- to signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Any abstentions? The motion carries.
- Now we will move on to district updates. Tonight's first presentation is the CFO financial update. Mr.
- Erwin. Thank you for the opportunity to give you an update on where we are and how things have progressed
- as it relates to cash flows. So in the cash flow report that I have up here on the screens, I'll walk
- through each of the major funds and then I have one related update there at the very end. As relates
- to the education fund, just some monthly specific items.
- revenue and expenses for that matter or we're very accurate and and that is something that obviously
- you want to continue to see like I've talked through many a times what my process looks like as it relates
- to looking at how my projections compare to actuals and then using that process to analyze whether or
- not I need to make updates to my projections or if they need to continue to stay where they're at.
- As it relates to some of the long-term outlook of the fund, that's why I put a little bit more in this
- slide specifically. One is in the cash flows, you've seen that there's updated tuition support projections
- as it reflects our February K-12 ADM count. And I talked about that a little bit last month as well.
- I want to continue to note as you look at cash flows, when you see some of those higher projections
- as it relates to payroll and benefits,
- that correlates with when we have three pay months or the timing of when we pay out stipends. So in
- some months, some of our employee groups might have a three pay month because they're getting paid bi-weekly
- and that falls at different times through the year. We still have 26 pay cycles as it relates to those
- individual groupings. But when you see some of those ebbs and flows, it typically correlates with that
- sort of thing. The other piece that I think is important for you to know is that
- The DOE asks for our estimated K through 12 ADM count for the fall. They use that estimate to then fund
- us for July through October. And then once they get our actual ADM count in October of this upcoming
- school year, then that's when they reconcile you in November and December based on whether or not your
- count was up or down from what you actually gave them an estimate.
- So we continue to be very thoughtful as it relates to the estimate that we give and how that will determine
- our funding for July through October. But nonetheless, they chew it up at the end of that six month
- period because they're gonna look at what was the actual count and they always reconcile that there
- at the end of the year. Cash overall, fund cash balance is projected to be up in the education fund.
- And I'll get into some of the nuances of this
- as it relates to some topics that we've talked a lot about as it relates to one-time funds and using
- those one-time funds and the receipt of those one-time funds strategically in order to, one, allow us
- more time to react to some of the changes that we're experiencing, but two, to position ourselves in
- a position of strength as it relates to the safety nets and cash balances that we have in our funds.
- So that, again, Education Fund overall cash balance for this particular calendar year is projecting to be up.
- We're still below our target cash balance, but we are very much making progress. And I'll talk a little
- bit more about the ebb and flow of this between education and the operations fund a little bit later
- on. The referendum fund for referendum 2022, minimal revenue in the fund. During February, there was
- a reimbursement of some expenses through a grant that we have. That's normal. Again, much like most
- of our property tax levy funds, we received the vast majority of our funding
- times a year so I continue to try to help you guide and say what is normal what's not normal point you
- to some of those outlooks and be aware of those ebbs and flows that I think are important to have a
- solid understanding on and again just February expenses across line items were very very accurate slightly
- below projections which is where you want them to be. The 20-26 balance is expected to be stable
- And again, with the SEA and the outlook of the fund overall, with SEA 1 impacts, we are still projecting
- to eat into cash over the multi-year look of the fund as it relates to just SEA 1's impact on what we
- actually generate through the referendums. The 2023 referendum, again, minimal revenue. Same reasons
- as what I talked about in the 2022 referendum. Again, February expenses, very accurate. The low projections,
- which is fantastic.
- I did make special note of our large school supply ordering. We do the bulk ordering of school supplies
- as it relates to not asking parents to provide those for students because we're afforded the opportunity
- to do it through the referendum. And so we've got through that process. People in my office and I know
- people in the school buildings take an extreme amount of care as it relates to making sure that not
- only are we procuring
- quality resources for our students to use in the classroom but that we are getting the best price. So
- we met with a company that looks at procurement and we talked there they give opinions on hey here's
- some ways that you might be able to save money and da da da da of how you work through processes to
- procure items. When they were informed about our process as it relates to school supply ordering they
- were like this is really good can we use this to help other districts and
- Absolutely. So I just want to give some kudos to some people in my office as it relates to Courtney,
- Missy, Adam, the people in the school buildings about the extreme care that they're taking and making
- sure that we are good stewards of community dollars and leveraging that buying power to get that at
- the best price possible. So that was something that I wanted to point to specifically as it relates
- to the monthly specifics. And then again, on the outlook, the cash balance of this fund projects to
- be up for this current year.
- We're continuing to evaluate the funds that are necessary to continue to expand early learning experiences
- and continue to provide that expanded early learning experiences despite the state reducing on my way
- pre-K or the CCDF vouchers. Because we have the referendum, we are still able to sustain early learning
- in a way that other places simply are not. So just to continue to make you aware of that, that's something
- that is reflected within those cash flows that you guys see.
- And then on the operations fund, again, revenue into the fund was below projections. Interest on cash
- remains lower this year just because we're gaining a lower percentage as it relates to the interest
- bearing on those accounts. Payroll and benefit expenses are extremely accurate, which is definitely
- very comforting as we continue to evaluate that. Our payroll and benefit expenses are our number one
- expenses in the school corporation. And February's other expenses overall were below projections as well.
- The fund balance projects to be down right now. And one thing that's of note is that we've
- gotten notification from the IRS. Typically, sometimes you get IRS letters. You don't think that that's
- great news. In this instance, it was because we got notification that one of our solar rebates from
- the energy efficiency projects came in. And so March's revenue projection is up.
- And so that was one of those two one time funds that we've talked about many times during past meetings.
- And so that is in that is reflected in March's projection and then we'll be actual next month because
- we know we've received it. And then we continue to look at how we manage the transfer from Ed to ops
- in order to be able to benefit both funds.
- And and still stay within the bounds of what it is that funds can be where they can be receded in and
- how can they can be? Accounted for so that continues to stay true to that use of one-time funds Making
- sure that one provides us a longer runway to make adjustments structurally to how we operate to make
- sure that we're within balance but also to provide that boost to the safety nets that are our cash balance
- and those respective funds so that
- not only do we need balance, but we need the appropriate safety nets in place as well to make sure that
- we are in a place of strength to handle other obstacles or curveballs that could come down the road.
- And so very much true to that word, that is what we're doing. Very excited that that came in. Still
- unsure of when the other solar rebate would come in. We've done everything that we need to do, and I've
- continued to check in on that about what we need to do to receive that. It's just kind of right now,
- it's awaiting. I didn't know that that letter was going to come in the mail.
- opened it up and I said all right so that's good news so hopefully we'll get that other letter here
- very soon so debt service fund on this one no activity in the fund that's normal remember the debt service
- fund you see all that activity essentially in about two months and that's the receipt in the property
- tax revenue and then the payment on our debt obligations and that's typically mostly just in June and
- December couple
- Pieces on outlook that I think are important. The legislature did give us the option for this year only
- to spread the supplemental homestead deduction across debt and operations. We have the choice this year.
- Next year we have no choice. It all goes to operations. So we are continuing to evaluate that option
- as far as what best serves the needs and the interests of MCCSC as it relates to just our position to
- continue to
- educate kids and so I put something on there about that and I made sure that you know that there is
- no choice in 2027 and that's reflected in the cash flows that you see as well. So I wanted to make note
- of that and we'll update you on that as we move forward. We have a month or two to make that decision
- but then we have to notify the DOGF about what our intentions are if we choose to take that option for
- this given year. The last piece on my update
- is that just along with what we told you, we continue to make updates and improvements to our every
- dollar, every student website. There's been a lot of work and time and effort that's gone into this
- by more than just me with Sarah and Adam and different people in our offices. And so we'll have spending
- for 2024 and 2025 on there. And that update will be live this week as we continue to make improvements
- and pull all that information together in one place so that people can see it, understand it.
- And again, continue to do a better job of telling our story and helping them understand the world that
- is school finance. So that is my update for this month. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Erwin. Do we have
- any questions or comments from the board?
- It's been a very thorough presentation. Thank you. Next is a communications report from Ms. DeWees.
- Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board.
- for giving me the opportunity to present communications update for you tonight. So the last time I presented
- a communications update was around this time last year. So the presentation this evening will primarily
- focus on communications over the last calendar year, but I'll also share some updates that are more
- recent and some of our future directions. So the two overall topics I want to focus on this evening
- are one, how we're reaching more people in our community with our communications.
- Both our current and prospective family communications and then also just how we're keeping our community
- more informed in our larger public. So first to give you an overall snapshot of our family and community
- reach for the past calendar year. Parent Square remains to be our number one communication channel for
- how we're communicating with our families.
- So about 56% of our families are actively engaged with ParentSquare in communications with their schools.
- We like to see that number remain over 50%. We typically have about two student or two contacts per
- student. So anything over 50%, that could mean that all of our families are interacting. And then our
- corporation e-newsletter is something we continue to send out on a bi-weekly basis.
- That goes out to all of our families and our community members as well to share updates about important
- dates coming up, events, corporation news. And we're continuing to see that strong 57% open rate on
- that, which is a good signifier of our community staying informed. And then overall, we've increased
- our community audience reach over all of our social media, our news website, and our e-newsletter by
- about 14% over the last calendar year.
- through all of our channels. And over the past two complete school years, we've also seen that grow
- about 23%. So continuing to see us grow our audience numbers and both our wider community public reach,
- which is really important. So first, I want to talk about our current and prospective family communications.
- So not only is it important we continue to reach our current families,
- But we're continuing to make sure that we're becoming a school corporation that's top of mind when our
- families have many choices for education in our community. So with our current family communications,
- first I wanna share our top communicators currently continue to be our teachers and our classes. Our
- families are reached by our teachers first and foremost on ParentSquare, which is how the tool was designed.
- So we like to see that.
- And then in terms of our corporation communications, in addition to our bimonthly e-newsletters, we
- share important updates. We're continuing to share news and announcements about some of the unique programs
- and opportunities that are available to all of our families, like Parent University, ALPS program, those
- sorts of opportunities. And then we also continually share those departmental specific messages. So
- information about our health services department,
- or communications updates about how people can update their communication preferences or language
- preferences. And then with our e-newsletter subscribers, this number we like to continue to look at
- increasing and continue to watch, but our e-newsletter subscribers have increased by about 57% from
- last year to this year. So that's been through the results of many efforts and something we'll continue
- to look at more ways to grow.
- So I wanted to share one example of how we're continuing to outreach to our prospective families to
- let them know about the many opportunities we have here in MCCSE schools. So one of the larger prospective
- family promotional campaigns that we do is for our open house. So this is an annual event we host each
- year for new incoming families for both pre-K and kindergarten.
- The event gives them an opportunity to visit our schools, talk to teachers, see what it's like in the
- classrooms. And so this is one of our biggest opportunities to reach individuals. So this year we launched
- a fully comprehensive campaign over social media, email, print. We engaged some of our community partners
- in helping us spread the word and promote the event. And through all efforts, including many of our
- schools efforts and promoting, we have about 376 prospective students who may enroll this coming school year.
- So I just wanted to give one example of that. And then in addition, our early learning promotion is
- also ongoing all year long. So during the registration period, when registration opens in February,
- this is when our promotions are the strongest. And in all of our early learning promotions, you'll see
- we have a dual message. So one, we're making sure that families are aware of all of the opportunities
- they have,
- But then too, we're also making sure that our community is aware of their investment in the referendum
- and how that's benefiting communities. So I wanted to play a short video today to just give you an example
- of that dual message. At this age, play is how children learn. And our kids, they're learning something
- new every single day. Our preschool and pre-K programs are play-based, but they are also research-based.
- There's a purpose behind everything we do.
- Thanks to public support for our 2023 referendum, preschool and pre-K are more affordable than ever
- for MCCSE-districted families. For 4-year-old pre-K, all district families qualify for a discount of
- at least half the cost of MCCSE pre-K, no matter your income or a stipend for partner providers.
- For three-year-old preschool, all districted income eligible families qualify for free tuition in MCCSE
- programs or a stipend for partner providers. We've more than doubled MCCSE family access to preschool
- and pre-K over the past year, and we still have spots available for more students. Learn more about
- tuition assistance for preschool and pre-K and enroll today. And thank you to our community for making
- this possible.
- to share that as an example of a lot of the video content that we've done recently. We've tried to really
- show what it looks like in our classrooms and show the engaging programs that we have to offer. So then
- moving to keeping our community informed. It's important not only to increase our reach, but to continue
- to find new ways to share our story and tell stories of student success.
- So this past year, I think we've shared before, we published a couple of community-wide publications
- that we mailed to all households in our community. So I know we do a lot of digital communications via
- social media and all the other channels that I shared, but we have heard from many community members
- that they actually want and prefer some printed mail pieces in their mailboxes, and we know that we
- can't reach everyone through digital channels.
- It is important to occasionally make sure that we're reaching our entire community and members of the
- public who may not be connected to us on social media that we may not be reaching in other ways. So
- that's why we're doing these occasional mailings to every household. So the first example was our referenda
- impact report that we mailed this past May that gave a comprehensive overview of how referenda funds
- were spent and how that was benefiting our students and schools. And then this,
- this school year we did our first ever MCCSC newspaper that included many stories of student success,
- also corporation news, but in the newspaper we had many opportunities for people to opt into our ongoing
- communications through QR codes, so that was one of the methods that increased our subscribers.
- And then this past year, we also launched a news website. So this has become a really important platform
- for us to share corporation news. It's how we share all of the news that comes stemming from our board
- meetings. We share all the important initiative updates that we have. But then we also just share articles
- about teaching and learning. And you can see that our top viewed stories right now continue
- to be overwhelmingly focused on teaching and learning to be
- the most viewed content. And so that really shows us that's what people want to see. That will help
- inform what we focus on in the future going forward. So our news website is definitely one of the ways
- that we're growing the most quickly in terms of reaching more people. We've reached 59% more monthly
- visitors over the past year, about 1,700 on average a month.
- And then social media, specifically Instagram, has been our second fastest growing, largest growing
- way that we've been able to reach people. So across Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube, we reach
- on average about 47,000 individual accounts through those channels. And so you can see some of the videos
- and photos that we've used to try to share some of the engaging things that are happening in our classrooms
- every day. But this continues to become
- an increasingly used channel that we can not only share student successes, but a way that people are
- paying attention to corporation news. So it's also really important to keep our community informed about
- all the initiatives happening in our school corporations. So in addition to our regular newsletter,
- we also have relevant updates on special topics. So with our two-year strategy to achieve financial
- balance, we've committed to those quarterly email updates that we also post on social media and our
- news website.
- And same with our redistricting study. Every time there's a commission meeting, we send an email recap
- after or a board meeting. We also post those on social on our news website. And it's important to note
- that our community can opt into all of these communications. They can opt into our MCCSE communications
- to get our newsletter. They can also opt into those individual topics. So we have nearly 400 people
- opted in to receive updates specifically on the two-year strategy or redistricting study. So I wanted
- to share one example of how we're keeping our community informed on these topics and updates. I think
- it's important to share that we're not only committed to sharing this information, we're committed to
- reaching people where they are and they're on social media and they want to see videos. And so when
- we launched our financial dashboard
- We made sure to post screenshots on Instagram just to see, to show people what the dashboard might look
- like in a visual way that's easy to understand and see. And then I wanted to share our short video to
- show how we launched the financial dashboard. The decision we make in MCCSC schools starts with a simple
- question. What's best for our students? That includes how we manage our budget and how we invest public
- tax dollars.
- We believe our community deserves to see exactly how their investment in education supports our students
- and our schools. That's why we created Every Dollar, Every Student, a new website designed to show you
- the care we take with every dollar entrusted to us, to care for every student. On the website right
- now, you can explore our 2026 budget. You can also see exactly how referendum funding
- is being spent on voter approved purposes. And if you've ever wondered how some dollars can only be
- used for certain things, we explain that too. In the coming months, we'll add even more, including our
- spending from prior budget years and more frequently asked questions. We'll also show how we fund large
- building and renovation projects through our debt service fund, the investments that improve student
- learning environments.
- Our community, our teachers, and our staff deserve to understand how we're spending every dollar to
- care for every student every day. So I share that because again, it's one of the ways that we're trying
- to make everything that we share very accessible, very easy to understand with the launch of a financial
- dashboard.
- So over the past year, we've also launched several community information webpages. So we have our community
- information portal, the mccsc.edu slash community page that links to everything. So the financial portal
- that Matt just spoke about, every dollar, every student is linked from there. We also have the new site
- that we launched last month, which is the bond funded building and renovation site, where you can see
- updates on all of our renovation projects.
- And then another aspect of how we're reaching the community are some of our community engagement events
- and opportunities. So this year, we held our second annual student excellence awards and state of our
- schools event. And this is a great opportunity and one way for us to invite the community to see what
- happens in our schools every day. So at the event, we awarded a student or a group from each school
- to celebrate some of their achievements and everything from the arts to music.
- It was a really neat way to see some of the student performances. We had a student art show, but we
- had many community members there. So we had a good mix of family and community members, but this event
- represents a continuing way that we're trying to invite the community to learn more about our schools
- and more deeply engage with us. And then similarly, we just launched our strong schools, strong community
- advisory board. The application is currently open.
- This is an opportunity for our community to come together and discuss the future of our schools. We
- wanna hear ideas, we wanna hear input, and we're inviting our community to engage with us as we plan
- forward for the future. So the application is currently open. If you go to our community portal webpage,
- you can apply, but we've been sharing out promotions as well. So definitely invite anyone interested
- to apply to participate.
- We also will have a community survey option available if people are not available to serve on the council.
- So priorities and next steps going forward. I have both priorities for our family communications and
- then also the ways that we're gonna continue to keep our community informed. So with our family
- communications, this spring we'll be launching an annual communication preferences survey just to continue to learn
- You know, are the communications that we're sending corporation wide and from our schools, is it relevant?
- Is it timely? Are there things families want to see that they're not seeing? Are they satisfied with
- the communications that they're seeing now? So that will help inform us as we go forward. And then we're
- going to continue to make sure that we're providing that outreach to our prospective families again,
- just because
- Families have so many educational choices in our community, it's very important that we continue to
- be that top of mind choice. And then in terms of keeping our community informed, you heard about the
- Strong Schools, Strong Community program, the short term council opportunity. I'm also working on outlining
- and launching a more longer term opportunity, the community ambassador program that looks like more
- of a multi-month
- opportunity for community members to come in and learn about different aspects of the school corporation,
- see what it's like in our classrooms, see what teaching and learning looks like, and more deeply engaged
- on a longer term basis to build our community supports and awareness. And then we're going to continue
- to also make sure that we're providing our community with regular updates on our referenda impact. So
- in addition to providing that referenda impact report,
- This looks like an ongoing communication plan for referenda impact communications and testimonials from
- our families. And then of course, we're going to continue to work on expanding our storytelling and
- how we're telling some of the student successes that are happening in all of our schools on our news
- website and social media. So excited particularly about that. So I'm happy to answer any questions.
- Just a quick one.
- As we do the pre-K and kindergarten open houses, have we thought about incorporating with that some
- type of an open house outreach to those families that we've lost to say, come back and check us out
- now and try to get them back incorporated into that open house? Yeah, I think that's a great idea. We
- have included them in some of our recent outreach, so definitely for the open house. But to invite them
- in, I think, would be a great idea.
- Um, for me, sir, I was sitting here thinking how long you've been in this role one year. Oh, I can tell
- because I have a kid graduating senior. I've gotten so much communication since you've been in this
- role and I appreciate it. So you've done a great job. I was sitting here thinking like I've never been
- so informed until you was in this role. Nothing. I don't know who was in this role before you, but you
- do a great job. That's all I'm gonna say. Thank you so much.
- Yeah, I do think that communication is one of the toughest, I'm not saying it's like the hardest job,
- but it's one of these really tough areas because it's just, it feels sometimes impossible in all of
- the modes of communication these days to figure out what messaging for which platform and who's actually
- there and who are we missing and how are we, so it's just a really big task and I really appreciate
- This body of work it's massive, you know to have done all of this work in a year is huge I think the
- referenda report that went out was So brilliant in informing our community how their dollars are being
- spent because those are the people who are likely there are so many people who are likely not getting
- the communications as a result of having a child in the district, but whose tax dollars still go to
- this work and so I think that's
- It was such a nice touch. And then again, sending out the printed newspaper, I think, is really nice.
- So this is one of these things that I think people, there will always be complaints in some way. Some
- 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
- the effort here is outstanding. And I just want to say that. I appreciate it. Thank you so much.
- Thank you, Sarah.
- We are going to follow that up with a report from the redistricting study commission. Dr. Dowling.
- Thank you. Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees for
- this opportunity to provide a redistricting study update. As always, I will start with the project charter.
- This actually will be embedded throughout the presentation tonight. This defines what's in scope of
- the work and what's out of scope. Tonight's presentation topics,
- Our public voice is an opportunity to share some feedback from our commission members now that we've
- concluded our final ninth meeting. I will also discuss a preview of our findings, including what's in
- scope and out of scope, and I will talk about our timeline. Just a reminder that the findings will be
- a summary of what we discovered, and they will not include recommendations. The commission served as
- a public voice for our redistricting commission work,
- Included in our work was we had nine meetings. We studied over 50 redistricting scenarios. We were able
- to incorporate public considerations via our public survey and from our commission members, which gave
- us our four considerations that helped guide our work along with the two board priorities. We had diverse
- representation. We had representation from every school within MCCSE, and we used a research-based dialogue approach.
- The commission allowed us to focus on what matters most to our community. As I mentioned, we were able
- to incorporate four considerations that came directly from the public input. These were capacity resource
- allocation and class sizes, minimizing student reassignment, transportation, and neighborhood or community
- schools. We gathered feedback from our commission members after our ninth meeting. For those who participated
- in the feedback, they shared that it was a highly engaged overall positive experience.
- Of those who submitted feedback, 100% attended seven or more of our nine meetings. 62% rated the commission
- meetings overall as a four or five on a scale of five. And 69% rated MCCSE's community engagement as
- a four or five, again, on our scale of five. Reviewing our feedback from our commission members, several
- themes emerged. I will take some time to read quotes from them directly.
- because it's a good chance to share their voice. On the theme of examining a complex issue, serving
- in the commission really broadened my understanding and awareness of the multifaceted nature
- of redistricting, especially the interplay between socioeconomic balance, cost effectiveness, transportation
- constraints, and the desire to minimize student reassignment. I should have practiced being able to
- see them all. Sorry, thank you, Ashley. I appreciate it. I appreciate that. Thank you.
- Another commission member shared on the theme of examining complex issue, my perspective has evolved
- most significantly around the practical constraints of transportation and capacity. While I entered
- the process with strong focus on minimizing disruption, I gained a more nuanced understanding about
- operational reality shape what is feasible. On the theme of on commission member input, a commission
- member shared that I felt that both my input and that of fellow participants contributed meaningful
- meaningfully to this study, particularly in moments when diverse perspectives were surfaced and synthesized
- to illuminate the complexity of redistricting decisions. And another commission member shared that,
- I felt like there were wonderful questions and articulate concerns shared at the meetings. I don't always
- feel like it translated into future meetings. On the theme on available data, a commission member shared,
- I learned a lot about the history of MCCSE and the characteristics of MCCSE that made processes like
- redistricting complex and difficult.
- i.e. the size of the district, Indiana legislature, and important equity, academics, and finances. Another
- quote was, I appreciated the opportunity to expand on the board's initial two considerations. However,
- information regarding the commission's considerations was not always available, making it difficult
- to rate those things. And I'll highlight here, there were commission feedback during our meetings about,
- for example, transportation. We, commission members asked about
- ride times for students. In order to do that we would have to ask our transportation department to route
- all of our 50 scenarios which obviously was a large task that we could not ask them to do. So instead
- of that we used median distance from residence to school as a placeholder and it helped but it was not
- as much data as we would have liked for the commission. Another one was related to cost effectiveness.
- We had to use average costs as opposed to determining the cost for all 50 scenarios because obviously
- that would have been quite a task so we did use average costs.
- On commission perspectives, it was always beneficial to work with a variety of community members to
- hear their perspectives and for them to share their knowledge in certain areas of expertise. And it
- would have been more effective to have individuals apply to be on the commission and then for a group
- to select a small group of people that represent a whole variety, a wide variety of interests. Instead,
- we had a large group that made it hard to have effective discussions. And on our final theme on GIS mapping,
- The GIS mapping changed the process immensely and made it easier to look at the implications of different
- changes on catchment areas. And I would like to thank Dr. John Baten for his involvement in the commission,
- the first meeting where he presented his tools and maps when it felt like we were getting traction and
- making progress. I would like to add my thanks to Dr. John Baten for being both a commission member
- but adding his GIS expertise that really took our review of redicting scenarios to a much higher level.
- We were grateful for his support and his participation.
- Looking at sharing our findings, those are within the charter scope. When we share our findings, we
- will share the purpose of the study. We will review the research that we included. We will review our
- methodology, our results, as well as our key findings and summary. The report will present objective
- information for the board's further consideration. Just to kind of another information about what findings
- we will share, we will share in the aggregate what we learned about
- board priority of balancing SES by what we learned from studying all 50 scenarios rather than taking
- it one scenario at a time. Things are the out of scope of the charter. Our analysis and our study and
- our findings will not include any discussion of building ages and conditions, staffing allocations,
- a full or comprehensive cost analysis, and impact of special programming such as ALPS. Again, the report
- will not make recommendations.
- Next steps, commission leadership. Right now, we're still drafting, taking what we know from what happened
- there in commission from our commission members, and we're drafting our findings. We'll have that ready
- to share soon this spring. And that will allow for the school board to consider and provide further
- direction to MCTSC. At this time, I'll turn it over to Dr. Winston. Thank you so very much, Dr. Dowling.
- I really want to just share my immense gratitude and appreciation, respect, and regard for the commission
- and the work that has been done. I don't think that anyone that did not attend could fully appreciate
- the magnitude and the breadth and depth of this complicated and complex work. I think that as we prepare
- to examine and learn from the findings of this particular study, I want to just direct the board on
- how we are approaching this work from the very beginning and our hope
- is that as the board receives the information and the findings that we've examined, we recognize and
- I personally recognize that there are a variety of directions that we could possibly go. There is no
- one right direction. There's not a singular incorrect direction. I look forward to engaging with the
- board around the direction that you want us to take. There may well be some future steps that you may
- think are appropriate for us as the administrative team to look at. There may be some additional pieces
- of data that as the board that you may want us to consider and to begin to explore. Ultimately the timeline
- that would be necessary for us to have further dialogue and discussion is really at the determination
- of the board and so I wanted to kind of share that context so that our audience understands that there is no
- time sensitivity necessarily until and unless the board provides me with some direction as to what they
- would like to see some next steps. There are no predetermined outcomes or direction but I am so eager
- to be able to look at the findings, to discuss those findings in a public form so that we can all learn
- from that information and that can then be used to inform what direction
- the board may want me to take as superintendent. And so I just wanted to provide a little bit of clarity
- for our audience but also to kind of open up that conversation in terms of what may be possible as we
- move forward. And so with that I will conclude and just say thank you again to Dr. Dowling and that
- will conclude our report for this evening. Thank you Dr. Dowling and Dr. Winston. Are there questions
- or comments from the board?
- Do I understand correctly that the Commission has had its last meeting and now you're just preparing
- the report? We're working on the findings right now. That is correct. We've had the last meeting and
- now it's just working on the findings. Okay. And then, so then Dr. Winston, once that report is complete,
- then what you're saying is you'll sort of pass the baton to the board to decide on what next step we
- want to take. Yes, that is correct.
- Can I ask, can you clarify for me the difference between a work session and an executive session if
- we would ask for one of those to hear this? Yes, a work session functions as a public meeting. It would
- be available and open to the public to attend if they so choose. And we would just have open conversation
- and dialogue about whatever the content is. There are no items that the board would vote on at a work
- session. An executive session
- The difference therein is there are certain criteria under state legislation as to the types of topics
- and the types of things that we can engage in during an executive session. And that's because an executive
- session is closed or correct? Executive session is a closed.
- Do we know whether, for example, receiving a report from a commission like this would be a proper topic
- for an executive session? So generally speaking, the simple delivery of a report, if that's the only
- thing that were to occur, that would be in a public session, either at a public board meeting or in
- a work session. So then if I understand correctly,
- Once that report is complete, we might choose between having that presented to us in our regularly scheduled
- board meeting or to have a work session where we would receive that report. That is correct. OK.
- Thank you. Other questions or comments from the board? And I did have one question, Dr. Dowling. So
- I know you said that some of the data points that commissioners might have wanted were
- too big of an ask for 50 different scenarios, but would it be possible to get those data points if we
- selected a smaller number of scenarios that we wanted that information for? Yes, I believe we could
- do that. I guess I do have a question now. Yeah. I know that you're not making a formal recommendation
- because the commission can't make a recommendation in that way. My question is, are there
- were there in the study of these maps some maps that rose to the top is more feasible and in that case
- would you present those as findings to us because I mean ultimately I think when we assign this commission
- we asked for a review of the maps to sort of see which of these options would produce the most financial
- balance and or um equity right like in terms of SES balance so
- I guess I'm hoping that in that there might be some maps that were more likely to do this. And will
- that be called out in some ways so that we could identify which ones were better than the others? Sure.
- Our approach was always that we felt like, even though we studied 50 scenarios, which was a great deal,
- our approach was always what can we learn from these scenarios, recognizing that there were some permutations that
- we didn't look at. So we didn't want to ever take an approach in saying that selecting which maps would
- stand out among the others, knowing that we were just looking at a sample of the variety of maps that
- were possible with the goal of what can we learn from these maps that we're looking at that could apply
- universally to MCCSE. What can we learn about redistricting by looking at all these maps? What can we
- learn about cost effectiveness or transportation or student reassignment in an aggregate by looking
- at the maps?
- To be honest, we never really viewed it through that lens of which maps would stand out among the others.
- It was more about trying to just gain as much insight we could about your two board priorities and the
- four community considerations. And we do have a tool that we developed with Dr. Baten that would allow
- us to, if we wanted to do any future work, it's a really tool that could be really helpful for any future
- work. But no, I want to be transparent. There was nothing that
- in the findings that would make me feel comfortable saying that this map or these other maps stood out
- among these other ones that we considered just because we didn't take that approach. Okay. I would like
- to also just add one additional comment I think that's important. One of the things that Dr. Dowling
- and I have had conversation about is an opportunity for us to have Dr. Baten to do some additional training
- with board members specifically about the GIS tools that have been created. We think that there are
- some opportunities therein that would be of benefit as we move forward in looking at the findings ultimately
- and potentially exploring different types of possibilities. And so that is an additional piece of work
- that we've had some conversation about and some exploration around making certain that to give
- the board the full benefit of the entire experience to ask Dr. Baten to come and provide some more targeted
- and focused training around the utilization of the tool. I think you heard from some of the remarks
- from our commission members that they saw that as a game changer in our ability to have a much deeper
- understanding regarding the complexities and so that would be an additional step that I would want to
- give consideration to with the board.
- and I think that would also highlight some potential considerations of board member Hennessy that you're
- potentially raising. Okay, great, thank you. I'm guessing this was probably beyond your scope, but as
- you considered sort of fiscal efficiency, which I assume includes some discussion of
- building utilization. Do you think that there might be anything that the board can learn from your report
- about how redistricting under any of these scenarios might impact class size within our buildings? We
- didn't get into class sizes but building utilization was a central data piece for all the scenarios
- we looked at.
- Thank you, Dr. Dowling. And the last report is on designing and building to sustain, to sustaining excellence
- projects. Dr. Winston, would you like to begin? Yes, before Dr. Henderson speaks, I just want to remind
- everyone that last month we rolled out our designing and building to sustain excellence projects. And
- it's really a great opportunity. What I've learned over the last 18 to 19 months
- is our community, our educators, our employees want to really have a much better and deeper understanding
- of how different dollars are being utilized throughout our corporation and how are we able to provide
- updated facilities in classroom spaces that are necessary for us to be able to retain and to recruit
- students into our school corporation but also to provide quality learning experiences
- throughout all of our buildings and throughout all of our experiences for our students. And so it's
- very exciting for us to be able to share with you just a few highlights. While we just rolled this out
- last month and we have our new website that kind of is designed to keep all of this in the public's
- eye, my commitment to the board and to the community is that we will provide quarterly updates in a
- public session so that everybody can begin to see and feel and experience
- how those dollars are being utilized and the progress that we're making. So to that end, I've asked
- Dr. Henderson to provide quarterly updates to our community so that you can begin to appreciate the
- progress that's being made. And while we just announced the newest and latest project at North, we're
- very excited to be able to share with you a few highlights of the progress that's been made to date.
- So Dr. Henderson. Thank you.
- Good evening again, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees. As Dr.
- Winston mentioned, tonight is the first in what will be a series of quarterly updates of our designing
- and building to sustain excellence projects throughout the school corporation. So the first project
- I'd like to draw your attention to this evening is the Bloomington High School North Athletics and Parking
- Improvement Project. The project includes a new track and field throwing facilities.
- and athletic facilities building with visitor locker rooms, a synthetic turf soccer field, batting cages,
- a concessions area, restrooms, and a new parking lot. And what you're seeing on the screen there is
- architects rendering of what will become the main entry point into the football complex from what will
- become the new parking lot that serves that as well as the school.
- I do want to point out that all of the projects that I'm presenting here to you this evening are 100%
- bond funded. And we've spoken in board meetings prior to this one about the fact that when there are
- bond funded projects, there are zero referendum dollars that are used. There are zero education dollars
- that are used. And there is zero operational dollars that are used. So none of the dollars that are
- being spent on these projects fund
- wages for any employee group in the corporation or support the routine operation of our buildings. So
- this particular project, you'll see the artist rendering there. You'll also see some construction underway
- here with the removal of some topsoil in preparation for the installation of the new parking lot, as
- well as the construction of the new athletic facilities building that will sit
- just to the right of the existing 12th Man Club building that you see in this particular photograph.
- You'll also see that some old restrooms and concession areas that were located near the bleachers that
- have been needing repair since I was the principal at Bloomington High School north 20 years ago. So
- it was exciting to see
- this photograph of that building coming down in preparation for replacement. In addition, this is the
- current status as of yesterday of the new throws area, which will be the first part of this project
- that actually is completed. We anticipate this will be complete and ready for use during the month of
- April for this particular section. So you're seeing the landing areas there as well as some
- forming up for the pouring of concrete for discus and shot put throw rings that will be installed. The
- other project that I want to spend a few minutes talking about, oh, and by the way, I forgot to mention
- this project is about 10% complete at the current time frame. They're making rapid progress.
- and have faced some significant weather challenges, as you all know, with lots of rain and some wildly
- fluctuating temperatures. So I think I talked to Sam today and I think they had 36 or 38 workers on
- site today working on that project. So that's really exciting. The second project I want to focus on
- is one that is
- Nearly complete. It's about 90% complete. This is the new tennis courts that were placed at Bloomington
- High School North. There are 10 courts that are relocated and fully replaced to better serve our student
- athletes, coaches and the community in general. The new courts are designed to prevent cracking. They
- are pre tensioned concrete and so they will not crack and separate the way a traditional concrete poured or
- Asphalt board court will do. So it reduces long-term maintenance cost for that project. The updated
- layout gives coaches easier access to all 10 courts for more effective instruction, while new lighting,
- spectator seating, and perimeter fencing create a better experience for fans who can now view multiple
- matches all at once. And the entire facility is ADA accessible. So we're very excited about that.
- Substantial completion has been reached and the courts are available for student athlete use. There
- are a couple of minor things that remain to be completed. Some handrail and fencing issues that are
- still yet to be completed. So you can see the new center bleacher area in between the 10 courts, also
- allowing easy access for coaches through that center area to get to all 10 courts.
- with access for the athletes. You'll see a new stairwell there and some landscaping that's been put
- in. Off to the left of that stairwell there's a nice new ADA ramp to be able to get down to the spectator
- area as well. And finally this evening the last project I'd like to update you on is the Bloomington
- High School South Soccer Field. You will remember attending a ribbon cutting ceremony back earlier in
- the school year. This again has
- reached substantial completion. We are awaiting one final inspection for some minor landscaping issues.
- That's why it's listed at 98% complete instead of 100%. But we have been utilizing that facility. That
- included a new synthetic turf field, scoreboard press box, sound system, fencing and staircase access
- to allow multiple programs to use that same facility year round.
- without weather delays or deteriorating field conditions. And the site will see approximately four times
- as much use annually as a grass field would see. Smart long-term investment because that synthetic turf
- drains quickly, stands up to that constant use, reduces long-term expenses associated with mowing and
- fertilization and weed control.
- stretching every dollar further for our students in our community. The last thing that has to be done
- in that landscaping is we're removing some rocks along the edge of the edge of the field and putting
- some additional synthetic turf in there. And that work will be happening between now and the month of
- April. So we should get that finished up relatively quickly.
- Again just reminding you that we do have a designing and building to sustain excellence website. This
- QR code will take you there and all of these projects again this evening are bond funded and you'll
- be able to by visiting the website not only see our current projects and updated photos as we progress
- but you'll also be able to see completed projects and the benefits that those projects are providing
- to our students and our families in our community.
- Feel free to visit that website if you'd like more information and to stay up to date with the latest
- progress photos. Thank you for the opportunity to present you with this information this evening.
- Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Are there any questions or comments from the board? The North project looks
- great. It was great to see that nasty building coming down. It was bad when my 33-year-old son played
- football at North.
- second question is north track team able to compete at home or are they using a different all of the
- matches this year actually going to be held all the meets are going to be held at bloomington high school
- south this year due to the construction that makes sense yep thank you dr henderson absolutely next
- on our agenda is legislative updates tonight we will provide our community with a short yet important
- update on the current indiana legislative session
- member hennessey would you like to begin yes thank you uh the indiana general assembly is concluded
- and the governor has signed several bills that we mentioned in our legislative reports uh so they are
- now law senate bill 78 which is bell to bell cell phone ban this bill has been signed and takes effect
- july 1 2026 this is a bell to bell school cell phone ban for public and charter schools school corporations
- must adopt a policy on the implementation of
- For some reason, I almost couldn't say the word prohibition on student use of cell phones and other
- wireless communication devices throughout the school day. It also requires the Department of Education
- to publish model policy language and implementation guidelines. So this is another one that will be
- required by us to sort of pass in some capacity. House Bill 1242, Education Reports.
- This bill was signed into law by the governor. It requires the Department of Education to prepare a
- report compiling certain statewide data on school corporations and charter schools and submit the report
- to the Legislative Council and the Interim Study Committee on Education. It also requires the Department
- of Local Government Finance in consultation with the Department of Education to conduct a study of the
- disparities in per-student operational funding amounts in school corporations and submit the findings
- to the Legislative Council
- and the state budget committee. House Bill 1360, which is access to public records. This bill was signed
- into law by the governor. It allows a public agency to create an electronic portal for receiving public
- records requests and allows the use of a C-P-A-T-C-G-C-H-A, CAPTCHA. I think this is spelled wrong,
- maybe, I don't know.
- It allows the use of this or an equivalent mechanism for ensuring that the requester is a human so you
- know those annoying things you have to click or Yeah, I'm not a robot things. That's what they're talking
- about This permits an agency to deny any public records request whether received electronically or otherwise
- that the agency suspects to be data scraping or phishing like PHI But just for clarification
- And then House Bill 1408, Education Matters. This bill was signed into law by the governor. Part of
- this bill establishes requirements and restrictions regarding adolescent use of social media. It makes
- a violation of the requirements and restrictions a deceptive act. This was originally on SB 199, and
- I think this clause was amended and included in 1408. That concludes the legislative updates for now.
- That the second one that you mentioned that Requires a report on disparities in funding between school
- corporations. Yes Can you shed any light on the motivation behind that? Well there I have conjecture
- but I think at this point I'm gonna say I
- no but i would be happy to sort of maybe go do some digging and brings back some things that are more
- than conjecture next time thank you yeah if you don't mind i would i would not mind sharing what i don't
- understand to be potentially true please um so the legislature is interested in looking at operational
- expenses of school corporations to see are there different approaches to
- how we are funding and financing, what it costs to run a school system, whether that's looking
- at transportation costs, whether that's looking at facilities costs, whether that's looking at any number
- of expenditures that are experienced by schools, and to do some comparison and some contrasting between
- a variety of school types to see if there are similarities, if there are differences, and what is a
- per pupil cost.
- Mr. Irwin and myself and members of our operations team are in the process now of completing some inquiries
- that have come forth that are gonna be directly utilized, we anticipate, by the legislature next year
- as they look to look at whether or not school systems are efficient in how they spend the dollars that
- are entrusted to us. Thank you. I will just note
- One last thing, it's not on here, but SB76 does have some implications for the way that schools will
- be required to cooperate in some ways. This is the bell to bell ban? No. No. SB76 is a different, was
- a different. Oh, I'm sorry. It's related to immigration. But it does potentially have impact on K through
- 12 and higher ed. And just in the sort of legalities and sort of rules that govern who must sort of
- respond and in what way to requests for information and data and other sorts of things. So it's not
- officially listed as one of the ISBA tracking bills, but it is one that has been tracked that has potential
- implications for K-12 as well. Thank you. As I understand it, with the bell-to-bell ban, there are some,
- there's a variety of options in how we
- might respond to that and that in other states where they've had this kind of legislation for a while,
- there have been some different approaches. And I know that April mentioned that there will be some model
- legislation or some model policies from the Department of Education. Is that something that
- the administration will help us either that you might make recommendations about or help us understand
- how those different options would affect our schools?
- Most definitely so we have been closely monitoring this as you can well imagine and so I've asked Mrs.
- Harmon to kind of lead and facilitate some conversations that we'll have with some of our educators
- some of our teachers some of our administrators and quite frankly some of our students so that we will
- begin to look at the two options that they are putting out for us right now whether we would have option
- one which might mean that we would not allow cell phones and
- with students in our buildings at all or that there would be a storage approach. And so ultimately this
- board will be making a recommendation on what that policy would look like. We however are going to wait
- for the Department of Education to provide some model policy guidance to us so that we at least have
- an awareness of what they are seeing that would fulfill this legal requirement. It is our hope
- and expectation that we would be in compliance as of July 1st when this goes into effect.
- Thank you. So our anticipation would be to bring something forward in the spring. Thank you so much.
- Other questions or comments from the board? I'll wait and see. We'll wait and see. Thank you, Board
- Member Hennessy. For those final updates from this legislative session,
- Does any other board members have any updates that they would like to provide? Thank you. Thank you,
- everyone. Next, our superintendent comments. So finally, Dr. Winston, do you have any additional information
- to share with us tonight? Just a couple. So as you are aware, that we are launching our Strong Schools
- Strong Community Advisory Council. It's a short-term advisory group.
- that's going to bring together community members, business and civic leaders, teachers, support staff,
- families, board members, administrators and students. The council will learn about the challenges and
- opportunities that are facing MCCSE and we want to be able to hear perspectives. The purpose of the
- advisory council is to provide community input that will help inform the corporation's long-term planning
- to sustain academic excellence while also strengthening our schools for the benefit of the entire community
- for today and for many years to come.
- There will be conversations around how MCCSE can and should be considered part of the local economic
- engine of our community and what role as the school system we can certainly play in that regard. Individuals
- that would participate must reside within the MCCSE boundaries and commit to attending all three sessions.
- The three session dates are April 15th, April 29th, and May 6th.
- and we will meet from 6 to 8 p.m. on each of those evenings. To apply, members of our community should
- consider visiting our website and under the corporation, click on the community information tab. The
- application deadline is next Tuesday, March 31st. All participants who have been selected will be notified
- by April 6th. To make sure that we have the broadest amount of input
- from throughout our community. A community survey option will also be available to allow the public
- to provide input on the same types of areas and topics that are going to be discussed by the council.
- That survey will be available from April 15th to May 6th. A summary at the conclusion of this work of
- the council's discussion topics and perspectives will be posted on our webpage sometime later this summer.
- Community chat at South Scholarships.
- That's a lot, South Scholarships. The next community chat event is on April 9th from 4.30 to 6 at Bloomington
- High School South student run coffee shop, Scholarships. This is a time for those who have registered
- to have a one-on-one conversation with myself and enjoy a cup of their favorite coffee house beverage
- brewed specifically by the students at the Scholarships coffee shop. The event information was sent
- out earlier today through Parent Square, and I am happy to tell you that every slot has been taken already.
- I've received a few text messages from individuals indicating that they were trying to sign up and were
- not able to. So Karen has said, now I need to do more. She did not say that. She asked me not to do
- more. And finally, tonight we would also like to recognize April Hennessy. For her service as the president
- of the board of the school trustees for the Monroe County Community School Corporation from October 25, 2023,
- to December 21st, 2025. She always commented on wanting to have a gavel of her own. So tonight, we would
- like to present her with her very own gavel. April, if you can come forward and accept this gavel with
- our deepest appreciation for all that you have done for MCCSC as president of the board. President Kugelman.
- 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
- going to text Stacey right now. You don't know what's coming home. Oh, no. She's watching. She watches.
- You present it together. Oh, yeah. OK. Dual present. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. It's so cute.
- Thank you. They wouldn't give it to me while I was president. Can't be trusted. We timed that perfectly.
- That concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Winston. I just want to say again, thank you for your service, April.
- was just at a conference where there was a session on all that board presidents do and they were recommending
- that board presidents be more transparent about all of the extra work they do so that when the next
- person takes over that role, they're not surprised. I have to say, before taking this seat, I definitely
- knew that you put in a lot of extra work and time and were always very thoughtful
- about how you approach this role. And I really appreciate that. I'm grateful to have learned this role
- from you. Thank you. And thank you all. I mean, this is so cute and amazing. But just having been in
- this role, having done this work, it is truly some of the most meaningful work of my life. And to get
- to do it with a board and a superintendent and an administration like this has been just really a gift.
- So thank you.
- So the next, this feels so anticlimactic after that, but the next regularly scheduled board meeting
- will be held on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. We are adjourned.