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.