Welcome to the September 22nd, 2026 meeting of the MCCSE Board of School Trustees. We ask that you please
come to order. We will begin tonight with hearing the 2027 budget hearing. I now declare the hearing
open. Have we received any comment cards for this meeting? No, okay. No cards. Mr. Irwin, you may proceed.
Thank you. We'll talk through the 2027 budget and I'll look at the agenda that we have here tonight.
We're going to start with the timeline. Look at the timeline of events as we move through the budgeting
process. We'll get into the process of budget building and what that looks like for us. We'll go through
the examples of the DOGF forms. We'll give some comparisons of 2026 and 2027 and then we'll take some
big picture takeaways.
So this is the same slide that you saw last month. Just move forward to where we are now. So we have
our authorization to advertise the budget back in August's board meeting. We advertise the budget, capital
projects plan, bus replacement plan on September 8th. And then here we are tonight. This is our budget
hearing. As we move forward in the timeline, next month is actual budget adoption for 2027. And then
what you see there at the end is the 1782 notice arrives.
in December, that is simply just our budget. Notice that we get from the DOGF. So in that time period
between October and December, our DOGF rep is going to work our budget. She's going to give that back
to us and then say, here's what we've come up with. Do you agree? We have 10 days to respond to that
information or to make any adjustments that we want to make to the budget. And then it becomes final.
So that's just an update on the timeline. Where we're going to spend a lot of our time tonight is talking
through some of this
And it's just the processes that are involved in us building out the budget. There's a lot of different
lines that are built into it. But overall, the three key points are there. The first one is
it's a data-driven approach. So our past expenditures and our expenditures currently through this year
are that starting point of what it is that we're looking at. And that makes a lot of sense for a lot
of different reasons. We're also looking at our current revenue and our past revenue. Again, looking
at that data from the last few years
to see how it matches up with what it is that we're seeing currently in 2026 and what it is that we
expect to happen moving forward. We're identifying trends, things that the trends that we think will
continue and the trends that we don't think will continue. And some of those trends might not continue
because guidance has changed. And so that's something that we very much think about. An example of that
would be the distribution of license excise tax or commercial vehicle excise tax or financial institution tax.
those different revenues that we received into the school corporation, there's guidance that tells us
where those funds or where that revenue has to be placed. And over periods of time for the last couple
of years, that guidance has continued to change. No different this year, that guidance continues to
change. And so that impacts how we budget and what revenue that we expect to receive in any given fun
demographics. Student
enrollment as our number one source of funding as a public school corporation and we continue to monitor
what our student enrollment counts are as well as the demographics of our area and we've talked a lot
about that at different board meetings so I won't go too far into depth on that. But it's a big piece
of what it is that we're looking at as far as data goes that impacts what we expect as it relates to
revenue especially into our education fund. Facility needs we complete building walks we're getting
ready to talk more about our facilities master planning process tonight.
that really impacts what it is that we think that we'll need to continue to upkeep in the ongoing day-to-day
of the operations fund, but that long-term big-picture view of our debt service fund and our bonding
capacity to upkeep with our facilities. The tax-based studies, policy analytics. You guys know that
we partner with them in order to not only continue to be on top of knowing what's happening within the
tax base that we exist within,
but how the legislation that's passed interacts with our tax base and how that impacts us as a school
corporation. That very much is a huge piece of data that is really important to us determining what
is the appropriate budget in any given line, especially in our referendum funds and our debt service
fund and our operations fund. Flexibility is the second key point. We're building out a budget just
because we expect revenue to happen or just because we expect
expenditures to happen, that doesn't mean that they will actually happen for sure, right? We're not
being able to fortune tell that piece. And so it's important that we create flexibility in the budget
lines that yes, we're pretty certain as that this is a very accurate and conservative estimate, but
we need flexibility based on the variety of outcomes that can happen over, I'm running out of time already.
She's like, shut them down. We need flexibility as that 18-month looks. The budget is really an 18-month
look for us because not only are we trying to predict what it is that will happen over the course of
the next six months dating back from the first six, but it's all of next year as well. And so we need
to have that flexibility when we look at the overall budget for an individual fund.
We want to make sure that we have the flexibility that as things continue to change, whether it's due
to demographics or legislation or expenditures or different things that happen, that we have the ability
to navigate that. That's a big point. The last bullet point that is on there is important is
just anticipating variables. And I've alluded to this a little bit. The legislation, this upcoming
legislative session in 2027 is the long session. It's the budget session. So they're going to be determining
the funding formula for the next two years. So it's really important, and I can't predict exactly what's
gonna happen, but I have to make estimations of that over this process. Student counts, I have to not
only try to understand what's gonna happen in October count of this year, but spring count next year,
fall count next year, and so we're making assumptions based on those things, and again, those are things
that we aren't in complete control of.
Assessed value that goes back to the policy analytics piece. Continuing to try to measure what SEA-1
is doing to net assessed value and how that interacts with our fund structure is something that we're
trying to anticipate that variable. That's something that everyone across the state and quite frankly
I think the legislators as well are trying to determine what that looks like. Cost of goods and services.
We know that the cost of things continue to go up whether that's fuel, that's insurance, services that
different people provide to the school corporation,
Over time, the costs of those things continue to climb. Yes, we try to find operational efficiencies,
but we have to continue to plan that the cost of us operating the school corporation will continue to
move forward. And so we plan for those things. And then staffing. It's the number one expenditure of
the school corporation. It's the people that we employ that serve children every day and trying to make
sure that we account for what it is that we think are the possibilities of staffing as it relates to
all the other pieces that I just talked about.
And so it's the interaction of those of all of that data really that helps us to identify what is the
appropriate budget in any given fund as well as making sure that we built out flexibility for ourselves.
There's a big reason that I like to think about the budget as the plan. And I think about our cash flows
that we continue to talk about as the pulse, the pulse of what's happening and how things are actually
happening on a day in and day out basis or month in and month out basis, the budget.
is that plan that we think is going to happen. It sets those rates, those levies, and those guardrails,
a budget of which we have to operate within as a school corporation. So let's move forward and look
at some of the budget forms that we work within. There's a lot going on here on this slide, but I've
color-coded it to help direct some of your attention to some of the different pieces on here. This first
part is that next six months look. It's an 18-month look. This is the first six months, so July through December.
They have us input what revenue that we expect to collect, what our cash balances were as of June 30
of this year. Non-property tax revenues that we expect to receive, they total that out. They look at
our expenses. One of the ways that the system works, we don't have a say in this, is that they assume
that you're going to spend every dollar of your budget. We know that we're not going to do that.
But through this process, they always assume that you're going to. And so when you look at remaining
appropriation on line five, that's the remaining appropriation that exists within the operations fund.
That's the example we're using here tonight. And so they assume all of it is spent. And then they're
looking at the bottom, you see transfers and outstanding temporary loans in the operations fund. That's
where we took a tax anticipation warrant to help us for cashflow needs at the beginning of this year
as we continue to work towards a position of financial strength.
we have to pay back that tax anticipation warrant at the end of the year. And so I'm showing that $3
million going back to the Indiana bond bank. So then what you get at the end is what is the expected
cash balance at the end of December of this year? And then that flows forward into what you see on this
next slide, which is calendar year 2027 set up the exact same way only in property tax levy.
That's the 30,333,111 dollars. That is the max
Operating levy that we can have for operations fund that's determined by the state through what's called
the MLG queue or the max levy growth quotient. The next number that you see, that's property tax cap
loss. When we levy dollars, that doesn't always mean that we receive all of them. What you're looking
at mostly is the estimation of SEA one as it relates to revenue that's levy, but not actually received.
And so you see that negative there on the screen.
And then non-property tax revenues that would be receded into the school corporation. That's some of
those other things I mentioned earlier, license excise tax, commercial vehicle excise tax, financial
institution tax, interest earned on cash in the bank. Some of those other things that are revenue that
flows into that fund. It gives you what the expectation is for those totals for calendar year 27. 15,
that's the budget guardrails that we set for the operations fund. And then you move down
then again, it assumes that you spend every dollar of that budget. And it says at the end, is it a fundable
budget? Meaning, is there dollars left? Is the cash that you have on hand and the budget that you presented
leave you dollars at the end? That's how they determine whether or not it's a fundable plan. The last
part that you see at the end, that's the tax rate calculation. So the number that's listed there, that's
85% of last year's net assessed value.
That's the DOGF best practice that they ask us to use and what was default into the new system that
they created this year. Off to the left, I put the calculation as to how they come up with the rate.
If you take the levy, which is line 11, you times it by 100 and divide it by the AV. That's how they're
coming up with that rate. When they work the budget, they put the actual numbers in there. These things
change. Remember, when we advertise the budget, we set the ceilings on our budgets.
levies, and rates. And so they will come in and input the actuals when we send off our budget after
adoption. So that gives you a view of what it is that we're filling out that our DLGF rep is working
through and the big picture view of how the system works. Those are the sample forms. They call it the
Form 4B. And so the next slide is Form 4. So these are just the terms that they use, which is essentially
what I'm showing you. That is the budget resolution.
that will be presented to you next month for adoption. It's the same looking resolution for every school
corporation in the state. You just plug in your school corporation's information as you see bolded there.
And then it also has your date of adoption and all those things that allows people to know when, where.
The bottom portion looks a lot like what you saw last month where I showed you form three. But you're
seeing the budgets,
You're seeing the different funds that we have, the fund structures that we have that are appropriated.
And then you have your adopted budget. Again, the guardrails from which we work within. The adopted
tax levy, that is the ceiling levy that we've adopted. And then the rate that would result if AV was
85%. But again, they have to push that back in. So let's use a quick example here. The operating referendum 2022.
It says the adopted tax rate is a little over 22 cents. Obviously, that is above the voter approved
rate. That is not how it is going to be worked by the DOGF. The reason we put it in that way is because
it goes back to when we said 85% is best practice for AV. If I put in what I think is actually going
to happen and something changes with certified net assessed value between now and the DOGF working our
budget, it could result in us receiving less revenue
into the fund. So if that AV interaction would show a lesser levy, we would get the lesser. And so as
a protection to the school corporation's budgets, we put a number a little bit above the expectations
so that it protects the school corporation against any of those changes. That's that backfill back to
the 85% number. So we know that that levy will be lower. In our referendum funds, we know that that
rate, the max can be 18 and a half cents.
And so that's an example of how that process works as they go through our different fund structures
as it relates to the levy and the corresponding rate. This looks very identical to what it is that you
guys saw last year. Going back to those individual comparisons, so every one of those budgets except
for the operations fund is a little lower this year. You see school pension debt, there's nothing there.
That fund will not exist after this year because we will pay off
pension debt and so there will no longer be necessary so that's why you see a zero there that fund will
close out after this year the other funds are slightly lower and again that makes sense based on the
things that we continue to talk about as we navigate some of the changes we've made in staffing the
changes that we that we know that we're experiencing in demographics and student enrollment and so those
things are coming down a little bit overall budget submission decreases a little bit over three million dollars
Couple of those high points that we wanna look at in each of those individual funds is again, education
fund. I'm looking at those revenues with student counts. I'm looking at those enrollment projections,
right? Staffing, our current staffing set up all of those things and the variability of possibilities
that could exist to create something that I think is conservative and flexible. The operations fund,
again, like I said earlier, we're going with that state set max levy.
And the budget is increased to account for. That's the fund where we're seeing fuel and insurance and
a lot of our goods and supplies that experience the most volatility in pricing. So knowing that those
escalation of expenses happen. And then in previous board meetings, we talked about we don't have the
21st century grant anymore. And so extended day, adventure camp, some of those other things, their home
fund would be the operations fund. So it's coming back in there, which is part of the reason why you're
seeing that fund budget
escalate referendum funds again planning for like I said that continuation of the voter approved rate
and then in debt service we've advertised for what is our max operating balance so the debt service
fund has a max operating balance that's what it is that we've advertised that we know that we will work
under that levy we do not plan to be able we do not plan to take all of our max operating balance we
don't feel like that's necessary in this moment
We have no debt sold here in 2026. That's just a reminder that's there. The last thing that I have on
this slide is just the bus replacement and capital project plans. Those are posted to Gateway, which
is linked on our website. Those plans have to be submitted through the budgeting process in order to
expend operations fund dollars on those types of expenses. They are plans. They're not set in stone,
but they're meant to, one is a three-year plan. The other is a five-year plan.
But it's looking forward to say, what is it that we plan to expect or reasonably could occur? Big picture
takeaways, and I'm almost done. I know I've got a lot of information here, so I apologize. The budget
is guardrails, right? Again, we're setting tax levies, rates, and spending authority. Budget development
is built on past actuals, trends, recent legislation, and regulatory changes that change the outcomes
of how revenue or expenses would occur.
We're advertising the ceiling. So we publish high and then we work under those ceilings as we finish
out the budgeting process. The levy management, so the overall dollars that are generated through our
property taxes, it's continuing to move through that with community support and managing the ask of
the community while meeting the needs for our students and our school corporation. The adoption timeline,
adoption is next month. Expect the budget to be done in December
And again, that's that 1782 notice. It's just the term that they use that relates to that's when the
budget comes back to us. And we expect that to be in December. So with that, that is my budget hearing
presentation. Thank you, Mr. Irwin. You don't have to apologize for giving us too much information.
We appreciate it. Are there any comments or questions from the board? Thanks, Matt. I wasn't laughing
that I wanted you to hurry up.
Um, but no a question I had though Is it in one area when you talk about the after school program in
a venture camp? Is it in the budget because we're not sure we're gonna get that grant for that That's
right. Okay, so I have to account for it somewhere and the the procedurally through state board of accounts
The home fund of that expenditure would be the operations fund. Okay, I just really want to let you
know I do pay attention to you in your meetings it goes back to right we have rules that we have to
abide by state board of accounts tells us where
Expenditures have to be coded to where revenue has to be coded to and those are the things that we continue
to follow and that's why it goes back to that Thanks Matt Last call for questions All right,
thanks again, mr. Erwin this concludes the budget hearing and I Hereby declare the hearing closed. We
will now move on to the regular board meeting
If you were just here for the budget hearing, that's it. You can go. All right. Tonight, we're going
to begin with the Excellence Spotlight in celebration of excellence in our schools. Ms. Harmon.
Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees, and community
members. It's my privilege to present the September Excellence Spotlight. This monthly recognition is
a standing feature of each regular board meeting and serves as a dedicated moment to honor individuals
whose daily contributions exemplify
mission, vision, and core values of the Monroe County Community School Corporation. Tonight we're recognizing
two people from the same school which is exciting as well. Mary Hartman from Arlington Elementary School.
Miss Hartman is an outstanding front office lead whose daily leadership sets the tone for Arlington
Heights Elementary. She is warm, efficient, and continually seeks innovative ways to support families
and staff. Her commitment to service and her ability to create a welcoming solutions oriented environment
embody the spirit of true
Soaring Eagle. And we're also recognizing Jamie Tremblay from Arlington Elementary School. Ms. Tremblay
is a dedicated educator who builds strong relationships with her students and maintains high expectations
that inspire academic and personal growth. She encourages students to make positive choices and celebrates
their achievements with intention and care. Her leadership, creativity, and consistent focus on student
success makes her an invaluable contributor to the Arlington community.
And just earlier this week, she was recognized as one of the educator of years from the Bloomington
chamber. MCCSE is proud to recognize Mary Hartman and Jamie Tremblay as the September, 2026 excellent
spotlight honorees, their exemplary service and commitment elevate our schools and enrich the experiences
of the students and families we serve. Thank you. On behalf of the board, thank you, Ms. Harmon.
And congratulations to all those who were recognized tonight. We'd like to invite you to come to the
front to take a picture. Ms. Dewees, if you could join us. Front and center. OK. Love it. Like towering
in the air here.
Again, thank you for coming. And I understand if you have other obligations, our feelings won't be hurt
if you don't stay for the rest of the board meeting. But of course, you're welcome to if you want to.
Next, we will move on to public comment. I have two cards for public comment this evening. And first
is Marsali Andrews.
Hi, my name is Marceline Andrews. I live at 6250 West Eisen Road. My topic is AP exam access. Could
the families here with me please stand today? Between us, our students learn through six different schools
and programs. MCCSE schools, the Open Ed program, the Braintree program, homeschooling, Cedars Christian
School, and the Indiana Education Scholarship Account program. Thank you, everyone.
Together we are asking MCCSC to allow students who live in Monroe County but who are not enrolled at
Bloomington North or Bloomington South to register for AP and PSAT exams at those schools. These students
are currently being denied access. To start with the most important things cost and safety. This can
cost the district nothing. The College Board expressly allows schools to charge outside students a higher
fee to cover the cost of any added rooms proctors or staff time.
If the number of possible outside students registering is a concern, then we are open to a capped trial
for a year. The safety procedures for this also already exist. MCCSC already admits non-enrolled students
into these buildings for the SCT and ACT exams. I've confirmed with the Indiana Department of Education
that there is no state law preventing the district from saying yes to this request. The decision rests
with each school. We're asking you, our district, for this because we've already tried four different routes.
We have directly asked North and South to allow our students to test, and they have been refused. I've
contacted 26 different testing sites within an hour of Bloomington. Only one accepts certain outside
students, and it offers only five AP exams. Number three, I completed the college board's application
to become an authorized testing administrator myself using the public library as the site. That application
was denied.
And for I convinced a professional testing company here in Bloomington to also apply to become an official
AP testing site that would accept all students. The College Board also denied that application telling
us to ask our local school district instead. So we are here today. The College Board sends these students
back to you our local school district.
Being denied access to both AP exams and the PSAT exam comes at a real cost to Bloomington families.
A passing AP score is worth three to six college credits, which is hundreds to thousands of dollars
for families in tuition. The PSAT is a qualifying test for the National Merit Scholarship. That means
that a student who cannot take that exam can't qualify for that scholarship at all. So our group is
asking you for two things.
One, we're asking Dr. Winston to make an administrative decision for this year specifically to allow
outside students to register for the AP exams and the PSAT exams. The deadline to order the AP exams
is mid-November, so we ask for that decision to be made soon. And then two, we ask for a written policy
for future school years, and that part could come on whatever timeline the board needs. We would welcome
the chance to work out the details for both of these things with you.
These students are ready to test. They just need a seat. Thank you. Our next commenter is Jenny Noble
Kuchera. Hi, good evening, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, School Board of Trustees, and audience
members. My name is Jenny Noble Kuchera. I'm the proud president of the Monroe County Education Association.
otherwise known as the Local Teachers Union. I thought it was perfect timing, Matt, that you talked
about revenue levied but not received because I am here to make sure that we get out the vote. We live
in a democracy. We still do. And I'm going to make sure that every one of you tonight knows your dates
and how to make sure you're registered to vote. So here we go. Are you election ready?
October 5th is the voter registration deadline. If you aren't sure, you can go to indianavotors.com.
On October 6th, in-person early voting begins. October 22nd is the absentee ballot request deadline.
So if you wanted to request one of those, do it prior to one month from today. And finally, the last
day to vote
early in person is November 2nd because November 3rd is election day. This is important because everything
that we discuss in these meetings, everything that's presented to us, the working conditions of our
teachers, the learning conditions of our students are all contingent upon all of us exercising our democratic
right and voting for legislators at all levels who will represent us
and be public servants to make sure that public education continues. So I thank you for exercising your
democratic rights, doing your research ahead of time to make sure that you are voting for someone who
is going to best represent our community, our students, our teachers. And have a great evening.
Thank you, Ms. Nobuo-Kuchera. And thanks to everyone who commented tonight.
We are now going to move on to the MCCSE Facilities Master Plan. Dr. Winston. Thank you, President Cooperman.
Last month, you heard me introduce the concept of our desire to move forward with having a 10-year Facilities
Master Plan. The Facilities Master Plan provides a long-term roadmap for maintaining, improving, and
planning school facilities across the corporation. It is intended to help MCCSE make thoughtful,
They inform decisions that support safe, functional, and welcoming learning environments for the students
that we serve, for the staff that provide services, and for our community. To support this work, MCCSE
has engaged Brent Height of CSO, they did the Try North building a few years ago, and Victor Landfair
of the Skillman Corporation. Both of these individuals, along with their respective teams, bring relevant
expertise in facility assessment, planning,
designing, construction, and public school project delivery. These two firms were selected out of a
very tough group of individual companies based upon their specific demonstrated qualifications, their
experience with comparable educational facilities, their ability to collaborate with district and community
stakeholders, and their capacity to provide the technical guidance that's necessary for a comprehensive
master planning process. We are very thrilled
to have these two companies representing our school corporation. I'd like to bring Brent Height and
Victor Landfair to the podium to share information about how we will proceed with our facilities master
planning process. Thank you Dr. Winston. Appreciate the introduction and it's a pleasure to be with
you and the board this evening. I'm hoping we can do just kind of a quick brief introduction of who
we are and what we do
And I've also got one of my counterparts, another member of our team, Dr. Stephanie Lone with me this
evening, who you'll hear a little bit about in this presentation. So from a team perspective, we have
our top team there with CSO is, there's several people there, Dr. Stephanie Lone, Jim Funk, and Emily
Newton, all part of our architectural and interior design team will help lead this effort. From CSO's
perspective, we also have several design consultants
who will also be participating and helping us with their various areas of expertise. That includes Context
Design, RE Diamond and Associates, and BRCJ. All of these firms have done work with CSO as well as work
with MCCSC over their historical periods of different projects and different avenues. So we're excited
to have all of them partner with us in this endeavor. There's a lot of ground and data to cover, so
it's going to take a village to really get us there.
A little bit about who we are. CSO, as a firm, we do architecture and interior design in-house. We are
located in Indianapolis, near Keystone at the crossing, the Fashion Mall, if you've ever been up that
way. We were established in 1961, so we've been around a while. We got into the K-12 market in the mid-'80s,
really with a customer service mindset of trying to take, of where we saw an opening, where the type
of client service that
public schools were receiving wasn't what we were providing in the private sector. So taking that private
sector know-how and bringing it to the public school market has really served as well. We have grown
exponentially since. We now have over 40 people in just our education studio that focus on K-12 and
higher education projects.
have become one of the largest K-12 firms in the state of Indiana. So a deep bench of expertise. We
especially like to get involved when we talk about kind of innovative educational practices, thinking
about learning environments differently. And so hopefully you have seen some of that and some of the
work we've done with you guys.
We do work all over the state of Indiana. And so this is just a quick kind of map. All of those blue
counties are areas we work. So a lot of that work is central, since we are located in Indianapolis.
But we travel from as far north as South Bend to as far south as Clarksville, which is about as close
to the Ohio River? Lincoln, sorry. That's about as close to the river as you can get.
Districts that range the spectrum from large districts with multiple high schools similar to yourselves
to smaller districts similar to Clarksville who are three buildings and that's their whole entire school
district. So we kind of run the gamut. We were very heavily built on relationships rather than necessarily
districts. So that's really served us well. And we do a little bit of everything from, you know, small
renovations of facilities. You know, we've got this restroom renovation that needs to happen because
it's, you know, 50 years old to brand new state of the art facilities.
Kind of all across the board. Some of you probably hopefully recognize my face. I think there's a few
board members that I've presented to you before. I think our most recent endeavor with you guys, and
we were talking about the Templeton child's merger and acquisition piece there. But in addition to that,
Dr Winston mentioned try north is probably our largest project. We have completed with you guys and
that opened just a few years ago.
But we've also done several smaller projects around the district, including renovations at
Benford Elementary. I think that was our first project with you guys following the 2017 facility assessment.
We added classrooms on at Summit Elementary, the Unionville Outdoor Learning Pavilion, the playground
at Templeton, the Bloomington High School South Pool renovation.
the South Stocker fields, as well as the new tennis facility at North. So we have done a lot with you.
We know your administration. I've worked with Sam and Brad a long time. And so I think that really helps
us kind of know how you guys operate internally and gives us a really unique perspective on some of
the things we're going to do with you guys. Good evening. I appreciate the opportunity. I'm Victor Lanford
with the Skilman Corporation.
I first want to repeat what Dr. Winston said, which is even though we're presenting our two companies,
we really see ourselves as a single entity. And from your perspective, you should think of it as being
very transparent. Fortunately, we've worked with the CSO team on a number of projects to introduce our
team. Myself and Tim Funsta will be sort of the lead communicators for our team.
We're thankful for Caroline who makes the things that we communicate look pretty. And she's an important
part of that. And especially when you're presenting to your community information, you want it to be
easy to understand and clearly to see and understand. We've got a strong bench of estimators. You're
going to hear us. We're sort of the data guys on the team. And we're going to give you a lot of cost
information, going to support the team from a quantitative standpoint. And cost is going to be a big
part of this.
this facility study, but also our expertise in constructing and renovating school buildings is going
to be a big part of this master plan. Um, we're also an Indiana based company been around since 1972
or employee owned. Um, about 85% of our business is K 12. Most of that is, um, updating and re-envisioning
occupied school facilities.
We've done a number of facilities. You know, you see the hard hat, you might think we're the construction
team. But in fact, a big part of what we do is helping communities like yourself set a project up and
vision a project and quantify and budget for projects and really get the most out of your project through
setting it up for success. So we're looking forward to being part of the team.
in developing this master plan and envisioning the next 10 years for your facilities. This is not our
first facility study. We've done a number of them. In fact, in many of those, this is just a handful
of facility studies that we've done around the state. Not just nearby, worked with Mr. Irwin in Edgewood
schools over the last few years. But what we are really proud of, we developed a format and an organizational structure
So this isn't a study that sits and grows dust on the shelf, but in fact has a usable tool. We've done
other studies where we've come back after seven years and updated the data. So we really want to give
you good information that becomes a tool to help you make decisions, both in the short term and the
long term, and then become a tool that you can use every year to develop your projects, whatever those
projects end up being.
This is an image that we put together in our presentation, but I think it helps to sort of understand
there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle, right? This master plan is going to have a lot of data. That
data is going to be quantifiable. It's going to be subjective, but there's a lot of components to go
together. We did this to sort of start to describe how the architects are working and we're working
together to create that puzzle, but I think
I think it also helps you to understand that there are pieces and parts that will be, whether it's community
engagement, to estimating, to life cycles of buildings, to space utilization, and this sort of educational
programming piece comes in. So there's a lot of components to the study. And we're going to try to work
together successfully with your team to give you that vision, to put all those puzzles together,
for the picture. We talked a little bit about how this project, even in our kickoff meeting internally,
there's almost sort of two tracks, if you will. There's this track of what is the condition of your
facilities and what is it going to take to maintain an excellence and performance of those facilities.
I'm a facility geek, so I look at it as the components.
You're probably not surprised when I show you an image like this. You have things like technology that
has a fairly short life, and then you have things like structural systems that have a long life and
everything in between that. And our facility study, this master plan will hopefully sort of dissect
all your facilities and pull out, if you will, the kind of investment you're going to have to make.
And that quantification of those investments will help.
be some of that data-driven decision-making that we move ahead. But not just that sort of nuts and bolts,
there's also the programming piece, which I think Dr. Long is going to talk about. That's right.
Thank you. I'm the educator on the team. So 30 years ago, I left Bloomington, and I've had the opportunity
to serve in public education for the last four years at CSO as a program person.
And what I wanted to make sure that you knew is how important the people are in this process. And so
we'll discuss with educators, administrators, and especially students to learn more about how their
space is helping them to be successful.
And perhaps programming that folks have really wanted to get off the ground that they just haven't been
able to do because the facility is really limiting to them. So these are some tangible examples here
in the 1st picture off to the left here. We had a visioning session with a middle school team. They
had been teaming at their grade levels and.
they felt like they had such ownership over this team, but they really couldn't see each other and they
couldn't operate as a functioning team. And so when we talked about their FLIR plan and what we could
do to modify a piece here and there, they felt like this would really help them function as a true team
and really incorporate what they considered a PLC model with their professional learning communities.
In the middle here, we have an intermediate school principal
who wanted to pursue some alternative programming with related arts. And students were showing a high
interest in eSports. And so we did some site visits. Butler University has a lovely new eSports program.
And so we wanted to check that out to see if that was something that they could bring in a small sense,
not a university sense, but in a small sense to their intermediate learning model. And so site visits
are a really important opportunity for us.
to take those educators out and to learn more about what they're telling us they might want to see in
their facilities. And then, of course, our favorite here are student input sessions. These were also
middle schoolers. This was another school district. And they were really envious of the culture pieces
that were going on at the high school. And these students had sort of student unions at the high school
and collaborative spaces and just neat spaces to show their pride and hang out a little bit.
And they wanted to see more colorful spaces like that, some flexible seating, and some common spaces
in their middle school. And so they helped us look at floor plans where we could incorporate that. They
always like to talk about the cafeteria, too, so that's something that we'll hear about, I'm sure. So
looking forward to this process and all the recommendations, the very important educators will bring
to it. I guess one other quick addition there is just
As far as Stephanie's work is, our hope is to come alongside your leadership team here and help you
guys define what does education look like in that educational visioning process five years, 10 years
down the road so that whatever physical facility improvements may come from this facility assessment,
we're pointing everything in that direction, if that makes sense. So she's a huge asset to us, and we
love having her part of our team.
In terms of what you guys can kind of expect from a timeline perspective, so what shows up here, shows
up better on these screens back here, I guess it's a little dark, my apologies, but it's about an eight
month timeline. So our first few months here, we're gonna really spend in trying to understand, seeking
information, looking through facility information, going through enrollment data, talking to principals
about efficiencies in their building or programming in their building, how many students are where,
and diving into that educational visioning piece so that it can inform kind of the future steps.
From there, we're gonna gather a lot of that information into kind of an evaluation process. So as we
evaluate that and looking at it through several different lenses, we know you guys have been doing some
heavy lifting on some of the other district kind of administration components. So those are gonna have
to start layering into some of this conversation as we evaluate the data pieces from the facilities
as they come in.
And so we'll start to evaluate scenarios, look at trade-offs and hopefully refine those to a direction
or maybe multiple directions that come to the board for final adoption and implementation. You can see
that over that board of trustees comment there in the center, like there's gonna be multiple points
where we're gonna come to the board with information and ask for some validation or ask for some direction
or recommendations or input. So we're hoping to be very transparent and very collaborative with you
as well as the community
and the leadership team here. So with that, the last thing I'll mention is Dr. Winston did say that
she went through a rigor, or the leadership team with a rigorous process selection. I would second that
as one of the most rigorous processes I think I've ever been through. So kudos to her team for really
making sure that they're bringing the right partners for you guys. So we're really excited to get this
work moving and happy to take any questions you might have right here off the bat. Thank you, Mr. Hart.
Hi, Mr. Landfair. Is it Dr. Lohan?
Lone. OK, I tried to make it fancy for some reason. Dr. La. Thank you so much. Are there questions or
comments from the board? They're ready. They've been grilled. So will you all work with our teachers
as well in thinking through spaces in their buildings?
Yeah, 100%. So the educational visioning piece is specific to every client. So we know every community
and even every school is a little bit different. So usually we try to build some consensus at the top
level and then start to kind of widen out the cone as we put up some guardrails, as we like to call
them. And then we find it's very important and we often repeat the process once the vision is established.
If in theory we're going through a series of buildings over time, this is very
similar to a process we're going through with Bartholomew County schools today where they're renovating
every all of their elementaries over a five year period or so. And so the district kind of set a vision
and then each building we go into, we're still meeting with teachers aligning that vision and even doing
a little bit of professional development to help those teachers and administrators kind of understand
this is where the district is wanting us to go. But certainly that grassroots input is really, really
important. Thank you.
Can you say more about how you might convene those community groups or teacher groups or student groups
to get that feedback? We're still kind of in the infancy of figuring exactly what that looks like. It's
a little bit different for every district. And so we'll likely have those discussions with the leadership
team of how best to engage your community. I know since we have done work here for a long time that
that community engagement piece is critical, but also sometimes a little tricky.
based off of when people are available versus not available. Sometimes anonymous feedback is easier,
but sometimes maybe it's not as good. So trying to work through multiple scenarios where we can kind
of use different medias and different ways to do that. And so that's something we'll work through. I
don't know that I can tell you these are the exact plans yet, but we'll certainly have those.
Thank you. Thank you again for the presentation.
I just want to say thank you to Victor, to Brent, and to Stephanie. We are so excited about partnering
with you and the opportunities that we're going to be able to provide for the learning experiences of
our children. So thank you. Now for our consideration is the consent agenda that includes the following.
Minutes from the board meeting held on August 28, 2026, overnight out of state field trips, ECA expenditures,
financial report from August 2026,
Appropriation balance August 2026. Register of claims September 22, 2026. Payroll register and payroll
claims August 2026. Request to declare as surplus and authorized disposal of out of date items. Do I
have a motion regarding approval of the consent agenda? So moved. 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 $7,000.
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 Asia that we accept
the donations as presented. All those in favor of approving the donations signify by saying aye. Aye.
Against? Abstentions?
Motion carries. Tonight, we have three policies for our consideration, policy 5341, emergency health
card, policy 5330, use of medication, and policy 2340, field and other corporation-sponsored trips.
We will take them collectively. Do I have a motion to adopt policy 5341, emergency health card,
policy 5330, use of medication,
and policy 2340, field and other corporation sponsored trips. So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Tiana that we adopt the aforementioned policies. Ms. Harmon.
Thank you. It is recommended that the board adopt the following policies, policy 5341, emergency health
card, policy 5330, use of medication,
Policy 2340 field and other corporation sponsored trips. Changes to these policies were presented for
a first reading at the August 25th, 2026 meeting of the board. The policies are presented to the board
for a second and final reading. Any prior policies relating to the aforementioned policies are rescinded
deemed null and void and replaced by the policies presented tonight for adoption on this 22nd day of
September, 2026. I so recommend.
Thank you, Ms. Harmon. Are there questions or comments from the board? All those in favor of adopting
Policy 5341, Emergency Health Card, Policy 5330, Use of Medication, and Policy 2340, Field and Other
Corporation Sponsored Trips, signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Abstentions? Motion carries.
Next for our consideration is the personnel report. Do I have a motion to approve the personnel report
as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Erin Wyatt
that we approve. Oh, sorry, April. April Hennessy. OK, let me try that again. It's been moved by Ashley
and seconded by April that we approve the personnel as reported. Dr. Henderson?
President Cooperman, Dr. Winston and members of the Board of School Trustees, this evening I would like
to call your attention to the following administrative changes of status, appointments and retirements.
First up, an administrator change of status. Benjamin Jones, changing from assistant principal at University
Elementary School to principal at Marlin Elementary School. Mr. Jones continues with MCCSC after serving
the corporation as an elementary teacher.
elementary school assistant principal and middle school assistant principal. Mr. Jones holds a bachelor's
degree in elementary education from the University of Southern Indiana and a master's degree in business
administration from Indiana University. He will serve as the principal at Marlin Elementary School.
An administrator appointment this evening, call your attention to Marty Koglazier.
Marty will return in service to MCCSC once again to serve as the interim assistant principal at University
Elementary School. Marty returns to MCCSC after previously serving as the principal at Fairview Elementary
School for five years. She also, if you recall, recently filled in at the Academy of Science
and Entrepreneurship. Ms. Colt Glazier holds a master's degree in education from the University of Indianapolis.
and she will again serve as the interim assistant principal for MCCSE at University Elementary School.
Finally, I'd like to call your attention to a certified staff retirement. This is Martha Bowman. Martha
retired after 21 years of dedicated service to MCCSE, having served as a science teacher at Tri-North
Middle School.
And on behalf of MCCSE, I would like to extend a special thank you to Ms. Bowman for her many years
of dedicated service and wish her well in her next adventures. At this time, I request that you please
approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the personnel report. Thank you, Dr.
Henderson. Are there any comments from the board?
I guess I'm grateful people keep coming out of retirement. Yes, absolutely. Particularly Ms. Colglazer,
yeah. Particularly, yeah. And congratulations to those who have retired and who are taking new positions.
All those in favor of any other comments before we take a vote? Well, congratulations to Benjamin Jones.
Yes, absolutely.
I think we usually wait to invite people until we've taken the votes. Correct. Thank you. So all those
in favor of approving the personnel report signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Abstentions? I abstain.
Motion carries. Dr. Henderson, do you want to invite anyone to the podium? Yes. So before we move on
to the next agenda item, I'd like to invite Mr. Ben Jones up to the podium this evening to address the
board. Mr. Jones?
Good evening, President Kuperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board of school trustees. I want to
begin by thanking you for placing your trust in me and giving me the opportunity to serve as an ex-principal
of Marlin Elementary. I also want to thank my wife, Alyssa. She's back here with my child trying to
keep it together. Her constant encouragement, patience, support have allowed me to pursue this opportunity.
And truly, I could not have reached this moment without her by my side. I'm extremely grateful for my
time at University Elementary. The experiences give me valuable opportunities to grow as a leader, work
alongside dedicated educators, and serve an incredible group of students. While I'm excited about this
next step, I will always value my time at University and the positive experiences that have prepared
me for this opportunity. I especially want to thank Sam Lannis,
for her excellent leadership, mentorship, and the many ways she has supported my growth as an administrator.
I would also like to recognize my parents, Paul and Kendra Jones. They are both educators, both over
30 years, and their examples first inspired me to pursue a career in education and dedicate my life
to serving students. I could not be more excited for this opportunity to serve the Marlin community,
and I'm looking forward to getting into the building, getting to know the community,
I'm looking forward to connecting with families and learning what it takes to make, sorry, excuse me,
connecting with families and learning what makes Marlin a special place. I know there's already a tremendous
amount of great work happening at Marlin, and I'm excited to be a part of that work and continue and
help build upon the strong foundation that is already in place. It is truly an honor to have this opportunity
to lead Marlin Elementary. I'm excited, incredibly grateful, and I look forward to everything we will
accomplish together.
Thank you. Congratulations again, Mr. Jones and to your family. Thank you for being here. Also, our
feelings won't be hurt if you do take this opportunity to take the baby home. We will now move on to
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 Ross and seconded by Tiana that we approve the contracts and quotes as presented.
Mr Irwin. Yeah, I do want to highlight something for you tonight. It's just the various agreements before
you that are of no cost to the corporation and provide support to our student in our schools. We appreciate
the opportunity and desire of the community to partner with us. And that is something that will always
be grateful for.
As with that, I'm recommending your approval of the contracts as presented. Thank you, Mr. Erwin. Are
there any comments from the board? Hearing none, all those in favor of approving the contracts and quotes
signify by saying aye. Aye. Any against? Abstentions?
Motion carries. Tonight we have several informative presentations. We will begin with a health and safety
report. Ms. Harmon? Thank you. I'm trying to make sure I get the notes for the right one. So good evening,
President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the board. Tonight we're bringing you our annual update
on health and safety across the corporation.
I'll be presenting alongside Eric Gilpin, our Director of Secondary Education and School Safety. I'll
walk you through student health and wellness, and then I'll hand it over to Mr. Gilpin to cover school
safety. Thank you, Ms. Albright. Before we get into the details, I want to start with the philosophy
behind this work. We envision schools where every student feels safe, healthy, and supported in mind
and body. Physical safety, emotional health, and mental health aren't
Separate, they're deeply connected, and when we nurture all three, we build the real foundation kids
need to learn, belong, and thrive. Everything you'll see tonight is organized around a model you may
be familiar with, the whole school, whole child, whole community from the CDC. It recognizes that a
student's health is shaped by many overlapping systems, health and physical education, nutrition, health
services, counseling, social, emotional support, the physical environment,
wellness and engagement with families in the community and our programs are designed to work across
all of these areas. So for the first half of tonight's update we'll talk about student physical, mental,
and behavioral health and wellness. On the physical health side we start with robust physical education
and health curriculum that spans pre-k through 12th grade including injury prevention, healthy choices,
relationships, and alcohol and drug awareness education.
We're also invested in family-focused extracurricular activities like Walk to School Day or our family
fun run and Health a Palooza, which get the whole family moving together. We're fortunate to have a
partnership with IU Health Coordinator of School Health, who's embedded with us providing strategic
support on curricular programs, policies, professional development and grant writing to help us build
healthier school environments. When we think about nutrition,
It's our next piece. Our Child Nutrition Department, as we talked about last month, runs all six USDA
child nutrition programs. Additionally, we have our farm to school and fresh fruit and vegetable programs.
On the education side, students take field trips to local farms through farm to school, and we've integrated
school gardens and classroom hydroproduct systems directly into the curriculum, so students are learning
about where their food comes from. We also are
grateful for our partnership with the community kitchen for our backpack buddies program that sends
home bags of food over the weekend. Every one of our buildings has a well-staffed health office focused
on whole child care through a coordinated system of preventative emergency and therapeutic services.
This year we also moved to school care our new student health record management system that's improving
health workflows for our health staff
gives families direct notification when their students visit the health office, and is fully FERPA and
HIPAA compliant. On equipment, we're proud to be 100% Project Adam Heart Safe Schools Corporation. Every
building has AED machines that are checked regularly, along with cabinets stocked with Stotha bleed
kits, Narcan. And in terms of direct care this year, or last year, our health services offices administered
661 vaccinations,
coordinated dental care for 709 students, and ran vision screening for 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th, and hearing
screening for 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th. Moving on to social, emotional, and behavioral health, we have
21 full-time school-based social workers that provide individual small group mental health counseling,
classroom instruction on social skills and bullying prevention, and crisis intervention when it's needed.
Our secondary counselors additionally support students with academic guidance, supportive counseling,
and college and career readiness. This year, we're excited about our expanded partnership with community
and schools. And we have five family and community engagement coordinators serving seven of our schools,
bringing outside resources directly into the building and building relationships with students and families.
We've reached 100% implementation of positive behavior intervention and supports.
as we refer to it PBIS across the corporation. This is a school-wide approach that establishes a positive
student culture with clear expectations and individualized behavior supports. Alongside that, we use
restorative practices, which is a structured approach to conflict that focuses on respect, responsibility,
and repairing harm rather than punishment. We also
Teach these skills directly, second step for pre-K through sixth grade, and school connect for grades
ninth through 12th. Help student manage emotions, solve problems, and prevent bullying. Zones of regulation
helps younger kids recognize their feeling and use simple strategies to stay calm and ready to learn.
And common sense media brings digital citizenship lessons to every grade level, teaching safe and responsible
technology use with resources family can use to continue the conversations at home. We'd like to recognize
that none of what we have
done or do happens in isolation. We rely on strong community partnerships. And here is a listing of
some of those. So Centerstone provides school-based mental health counseling and life skills training.
Our IU Health and IU School of Public Health serve on our health council, provide internships and guest
speakers. The Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers and Big Sisters provide mentorship. The Monroe County
Youth Services Bureau supports attendance and offers counseling.
counseling and parenting workshops. Middle height way house promotes healthy relationships among adolescents
and the IU school of social workplaces, pre-service social workers in our buildings under the supervision
of our own staff. That covers our health and wellness portion of this. And I'm now would like to turn
it over to Mr. Gilpin to walk you through school safety. Thank you. So as we look at school safety,
we begin looking at national guidelines and practices. What is best practice?
And one of the areas that we use is the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools, also known as PASS. This
visual representation here gives you an idea of looking from inside the classroom out to make sure all
areas are safe. And what happens is we eternally use an audit that they've developed to help us make
sure that all these areas meet national guidelines for school safety. We also continue to have school
monitoring.
If you look here, we have school-based safety committees. These safety committees meet on a regular
basis. They're made up of teachers, administrators, SROs, and a safety school specialist. We also have
an anonymous incident report, Stop It App, which allows 24-7 access and is monitored 24-7. We have local
partnerships. Many of them already mentioned with Alexa's presentation, but also
Specifically, we have the Monroe County School Safety Commission. This commission meets on a semi-annual
basis to incorporate all agencies within Monroe County, including other school corporations. A key access,
a key point in making sure that we are safe is preparation and training. We have school safety personnel,
which are SROs, security guards, and a training safety specialist.
Our safety specialists at each building go through a training. It's called basic training at the beginning
and then have 10 hours of training every year after that. They are part of the team getting this national,
bringing back this national state and best practices. And then what they do is they help with emergency
operation plans, formerly known as school safety plans and safety drills.
They will review the plans with the principal, which have to be reviewed every year by September 1st.
And then they also review them with the staff, any new implementations. They also are key to making
sure that all schools run safety drills. Those safety drills are the same ones that we've run for years,
including evacuation, shelter in place, and a lockdown drill. One of the things that we recognize and
have been told over and over by national and state
agencies is restricting school access. Who know who is in your building and the only way you can do
that is to lock your doors. So all of our doors are locked. If you visited one of our schools you know
that you cannot get in without pressing a buzzer and being let in. School personnel they have a badge
to be able to get in and then when everybody is in all the interior doors are locked as well. These
badges that the teachers use to get in and administrators use to get in
also shows as a sign that they are employees. So if somebody's in the building, they can tell when adults
walking around with a badge know that they are part of MCCSE. People who visit will come meet somebody
at the front desk and have their picture taken with their ID through what we call Navigate 360. It's
our system which then produces a badge that they will wear as they're walking around the building.
If a student or adult sees somebody who doesn't have one of those two badges, they're supposed to escort
that person to the front office so that we can make sure that they have one and that's where they're
supposed to be. Another way to know who our students are at is through our smart pass. This comes into
play really well when we have emergencies so that we know that when they're not in the classroom where
they should be because they have filled out a pass telling us where they're located.
Some of the other things that we have worked on this year specifically are communications and our standard
response protocol. This right here you see throughout all of our buildings and all of our classrooms
and all of our rooms, also known as our SRP. This tells us what to do in case of emergency and we have
five areas that you can take a look at on our school safety website. We have a monthly newsletter that
we send out to safety specialists.
We have semi-annual meetings with our school safety specialists. We have created communication templates
for quick response, as well as ensuring that we have groups that are getting the information that they
need, and then protocols on how to send out the messages and who sends out the messages. Finally, on
our website, there is a place where you can get more information about school safety. There's some links
on there that will tell you the communication that's available and how to make sure you're receiving
communication.
In fact, we have a test twice a year. This is the first year we did this. You probably received a test
in August, and then you'll receive one in January and January 8th to make sure that you are getting
the communication you should be getting from us in case of an emergency. We have our health and our
safety websites we encourage you to take a look at. Any questions or comments? Thank you for
the comprehensive information.
Mr. Gilpin, I do have one question. Do the lockdown drills look different for our students depending
on what grade they're in? No. We will call lockdown usually over the intercom and everybody does the
same thing. They go to a place that's in their building that they will, in their classroom or wherever
they're at, where they are and that cannot be seen from the outside. So everybody does the exact same
thing. We don't do anything different with that.
We just make sure that everybody's where they're supposed to be. So K through 12, you're hiding someplace
in your classroom. Thank you. I have a question as well. Mr. Gopen, one of the things that we often
hear criticism about is parents not, they feel like they don't receive enough information sometimes
during those drills. But can you maybe just tell us a little bit about why the protocols are the way
they are and what happens in that moment? So we really encourage
able to take a look at this website to get more deeper information. And I know that some information
was sent out to all the parents at the beginning of the year. When you're in a situation like that,
student safety is the priority, not communication to parents. So we want to make sure all these students
are safe, and we want to make sure we're aware of all this. And we will get out communication as it
comes in that we can share. But again, our first
So we want to make sure they're all where they need to be and as safe as possible before we actually
start putting out communication. Does that answer your question? Yeah, I think so. Thanks. Thank you.
I feel like I don't want to leave out the health side of it. I'm really grateful. I love Healthapalooza.
I think we've said this before, but our own board member Wyatt, I think, was responsible for starting
that. And I'm so grateful to those who have continued it and grown it. It's a really great event. And
I know you mentioned our partnership with the IU Healthy Schools Coordinator. Lisa Grayhouse and I worked
together many years ago on an AmeriCorps program, and she's really great. She's a huge asset to our
corporation. So we're grateful for their support.
I heartily agree about both of those things. Love Health of Palooza, love Lisa Gray House. I supervise
students doing the goal program in the after school program and it's really quite something to watch
the kids learn about healthy eating and exercise and they're so enthusiastic. Other shout outs, comments?
Thank you Mr. Gilpin and Ms. Harman. We will move on to our technology update when we're back to Ms.
Harman. Good evening again President Coomberman, Dr. Ronson, members of the board. Tonight we're here
to talk about technology in MCCSE and this time Andy Cope, Director of Technology, and I are presenting
together and that's very intentional.
If you take a look at this slide, you'll see the two departments, Information Services and Curriculum
and Instruction, and they meet in the middle at the enhancement of teaching and learning. And that's
why we're presenting together. Information Services is responsible for the foundation, security, data,
the tools, and the support. And then Curriculum and Instruction is responsible for what happens with
those tools once they're in the hands of teachers and students. And those two pieces can't be separated.
A secure, reliable network
doesn't matter if it isn't serving instruction, and instruction can't rely on tools that aren't safe,
dependable, and supported. The most important thing I want you to take from this slide is the direction
of that relationship. Technology is in service of the classroom and of student learning, and curriculum
drives decisions and technology follows. So Mr. Cope will begin by walking you through the
work of information services, how we keep students and data safe, the tools and devices we provide,
and how we support them. And then I'll return to talk about what that looks like in the classroom.
On to you. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. We're President Cooperman
and members of the board. As Ms. Harmon mentioned, I will go through how the IS department serves the
corporation and a couple updates for you this year as well.
So starting off with security and data. The IS department takes network and device safety very seriously.
We have endpoint protection on all of our student and staff devices. You can also think of that as antivirus
of sorts. That is to protect every single device in the corporation from threats out.
outside our walls and inside our walls when it comes to devices. We also have a security operations
center, which allows us to do remote monitoring of security events. So, you know, we may get calls in
the middle of the night, you know, about a specific account or something going on on the network, and
they work to keep us safe 24 hours a day. We have email filtering to safeguard against phishing and
impersonation attacks.
and we work to secure the wired and wireless network on a daily basis. Additionally, we have battery
backups in all of our buildings to minimize the impact of a single outage at a particular building.
We also do a lot to safeguard student digital activity. There's a fair amount that we are obligated
to do legally. So we do follow federal and state laws.
the first of which is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, the Children's Online Privacy
Protection Act, COPPA, Children's Internet Protection Act, SEPA, and the Protection of Pupils' Rights,
which is PPRA. The way that we do that most principally is we have a content filter sitting on our network,
and this allows us to block certain categories of traffic, such as gambling sites,
or adult content, you know, that we don't want our students visiting, whether they're at school or whether
they're at home with their device. So we have a content filter for that. We have different rule sets
for different ages of students. So we have one rule set for kindergarten through eighth grade, another
rule set for ninth through 12th. And we also have a rule set for staff, which allows you to go to a
couple more sites than everyone else.
What's new in this space is that we have House Bill 1004 that just came out. And House Bill 1004 stipulates
that no later than January 1st, 2027, each Indiana school corporation and charter school must adopt
and implement a policy enabling a parent to do three separate things. Increase the strength of the internet
filter on the school-owned device. Block access to websites or content accessible on the school-owned device.
and limit the amount of time that is spent on the device by the student. We already do a great deal
of this, of course, with our current content filter, in particular, the strength of the filter and limiting
the amount of screen time through Apple Classroom. However, we are searching for a new content filter
at this time to allow us to enable parents to block access to websites or content accessible
on a school-owned device. That is not currently possible with our current filter.
So to that end, we are testing out new options that prioritize the following. Streamlined management,
powerful and customizable filtering, parental oversight, reporting and analytics, and classroom and
instructional flexibility. We do a ton to, of course, manage and protect student data in the information
services department.
Most principally with our student information system Skyward, and this is how we ensure accurate student
and family information. Timely family and communication enables us to do state reporting, maintain accurate
academic records, allows for real-time role-based access to student and teacher data, and we only share
essential data points to applications.
You can think of the number of different applications that we have in the corporation. You can feel
assured that we only send absolutely what's necessary to those corporations that house our student data.
I'd like to talk about technology tools managed by the Information Services Department. We do ensure
access and connectivity for teachers and students via a one-to-one device program.
So for kindergarten through 12th grade, you know, all the way through high school, we are one to one.
Kindergarten through sixth grade students use iPads and utilize touchscreen typing. Seventh and eighth
graders use iPads with a keyboard case. And nine through 12th grade students use Windows laptops, the
exception to that being the academy where they have iPads. We do have a robust wireless network.
with content filtering, as I mentioned. We have screen sharing technology to allow for innovative teaching
practices. And we also have assistive technology for student supports to allow us to follow 504s and
IEPs. We have assistive technologies for that. Various technology tools are used across the district,
and we work to make that possible.
We do identify and review learning apps in partnership with curriculum and instruction, so Ms. Harmon's
department. So when a request comes in for an application, we make sure that it's safe for students
and staff to use first and foremost, and that it fits into the goals of the corporation. We provide
grade-level content from a variety of textbook platforms and learning apps, rostered with student information.
We manage essential communication tools such as Parent Square and then we handle enrollment registration
and report cards in our student information system, Skyward. We are able to coordinate technology support
throughout the district utilizing a combination of in-building support and remote support and our remote
support is done through Zendesk.
And this is our help desk ticketing system, which allows us to centralize support requests. And we can
route support requests to the appropriate IS staff. For example, if there was an issue with the content
filter, if there was a website that was blocked that shouldn't be blocked, a teacher can put in a ticket.
And that ticket goes straight to someone who's managing the content filter, for example. Our building
technicians and computer coordinators do provide on-site support.
you know, in our schools. And support can be quickly escalated to the corporation level information
technology office as needed, you know, as it becomes necessary. On screen here, you can see how you
can put in a help desk ticket, and you can do that as a student, staff member, or a parent guardian
in our organization. So out there on any page on the website, if you click help, you get
a link to our guide and you can put in the ticket there. Some ticket support numbers here. You can see
that we've had 40,212 support articles out on our guide viewed so far in the past year. And we've solved
27,354 tickets over the past year. And those two numbers really do serve one another because our support
articles actually
We do our best to keep those as up to date as possible. And we use those support articles when we are
replying to the tickets. And we get tickets in that make us realize that we need another article. So
it's a whole cycle. Yeah, those are some updated numbers for you. And I will pass it off to Ms. Harmon
to talk about enhancing teaching and learning. Thank you so much. Again, what Andy described is the
foundation. So I'd like to show you how that
we build on top of that, how those tools show up in classrooms, and just as importantly, how we make
decisions about how we use them. So the way we think about technology is captured in the first sentence
here. Teachers actively guiding students to use technology as a tool, and the teachers at the center,
and that technology is a tool that lets students explore, collaborate, problem solve, create, and reflect.
We organize this work around
three ideas, building future ready skills, enhancing access to learning, and increasing engagement.
And I'm going to take them one at a time across all three. And the question we ask is whether the technology
is changing what students are able to learn and do. So first, building future ready skills. Our youngest
learners are already building skills that will serve them for a long time.
The photo on the right shows students using coding blocks to sequence steps and debug simple programs.
And that's problem solving and logical thinking, not screen time for its own sake. As students grow,
this becomes critical thinking and digital literacy. Sorry, I went ahead and shouldn't have. Analyzing
online information and navigating digital tools responsibly. It also becomes designing and prototyping
and testing, which prepares them for the collaborative workplace they'll enter.
And we also want students to communicate across modalities, whether that's visual, written, or digital.
And I want to come back to digital literacy in a few minutes because it's essential to the conversation
that will be on my last slide. Technology also reduces barriers in education. Every student has standardized
access to textbooks, resources, and tools, and that matters for equity. It also gives students multiple
pathways to show what they know. A student might demonstrate learning through writing,
audio, art, coding, or design, like the student on this slide who created an app. And it supports
differentiation and inclusion. Andy mentioned this too. Speech to text, translation, text magnification,
and screen readers. For many students, these tools are what makes learning possible. And that's a place
where technology isn't a nice to have. It's essential. Here, when we talk about increasing engagement,
the key word is active. Virtual labs.
AR and VR experiences and gamified quizzes get students participating rather than receiving information.
Here you see students programming robots for competition. What we're most excited about is that students
move from being consumers of information to producers of knowledge and solutions. They see the relevance
of what they're learning and that builds motivation. The last slide is really the heart of what I want
to say this evening and to leave you with, and I want to speak to it directly.
We hear a concern from some families and community members that there's too much technology in our schools.
And I want to say plainly that we take that seriously. Whether or not it matches what's happening in
every classroom, it's a fair question and it deserves a real answer. Some context first. Since COVID,
technology use has grown everywhere, in homes and workplaces and across society, not just in schools.
Schools were part of that shift.
What matters is what we do about it now. And we are making a conscious and concerted effort to pull
back technology use where it does not have a direct impact on student learning and outcomes. Here's
the principle that guides us. Knowing when not to use technology is just as important as knowing when
to. You can see that reflected in the top of the slide. Technology in the classroom should always be
balanced with technology free instruction, used in clear and intentional way,
and directly connected to the stated learning goals. And we provide schools and teachers with device
usage guidelines that outline what that looks like in the classroom. If it doesn't meet that bar, it
doesn't belong in the lesson. So let me tell you a little bit about what that looks like in practice.
First, we've eliminated some instructional applications. When we looked at the outcomes, we weren't
seeing a significant impact on student learning, so we stopped using them. Second, we focused on active
use rather than passive use.
A student creating, problem solving, or collaborating is a very different experience from a student
scrolling or watching. We want the first, not the second. Third, we have central oversight of digital
tool review. Andy mentioned this as well. When a teacher wants to use a new tool in the classroom, it
goes through a review to make sure it meets our safety requirements and will achieve the learning outcomes
we're after. That's the partnership between our departments that you saw at the beginning. Fourth,
We're adopting curriculum that is less reliant on technology. When we select instructional materials,
we're intentionally choosing resources that don't depend on a screen. And fifth, we don't use technology
for downtime. That's why, as you can see at the bottom of the slide, K-6 iPads are not used during lunch,
during recess, or at any other time that isn't under direct staff supervision. Devices are for learning.
The guardrails in the yellow box support all of this. Apple Classroom gives teachers visibility into
what students are doing in the devices. We have clear procedures and expectations, and we're thoughtful
about physical classroom design and how that supports positive device usage. And the new content filter
that Andy talked about described earlier will give us more flexibility and gives parents more control
in line with the new state requirements. I also want to be honest about the other side of this.
Our students are growing up in a world full of technology and it's not going away. If we simply pulled
it all out, we wouldn't be protecting them. We'd be leaving them to figure it out on their own. Students
need to build digital literacy. They need to understand the impact of technology has on them and learn
how to use it well. Schools are one of the best places to learn that in a supervised setting with adults
guiding them. So our goal is balance and intention, technology when it makes learning better and not
when it doesn't.
And that's a conversation between curriculum instruction and information services. And it's one we're
committed to continue. I thank you for your time and your continued support. And if you have any questions
for either of us, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Harmon and Mr. Cope. Are there any questions or comments
from the board? First, thank you all for both of your. This was a great presentation. I do have a question.
So why does the Academy use iPads and not laptops like the other high schools? Is it by preference or?
Come to a mic, please, Andy. You can use Matt's mic. It was really a joint decision made by curriculum
instruction and technology and with the leadership of the school.
their MacBooks were actually aged out. So we had to make a decision. And it was a financial decision
as well as a curricular decision to make sure that we had a device that would adequately meet their
needs. And we found that the iPad was a really good spot, a really good place to be in, in that it provided
the same functionality as the MacBook,
but then also with the familiarity of the operating system from iOS moving from middle school to high
school. So those are the basic reasons why. Can I add to that too? Historically, for a while they...
Andy mentioned it. They had MacBooks previously as well, and the other high schools did not. And a lot
of that had to do with the things that they were doing around the pathways that they had committed to
in their projects-based learning. That tool was identified as having more, you know, some of the things
that they were doing around art and design and engineering and things like that. And so then when the
MacBooks phased out,
decision was to go to iPads. I think they're particularly excited right now since cell phones are no
longer. And so some of the projects they were doing in terms of photography and things like that, it's
given them a lot of agility. Thanks. And the teachers that I've spoken to have been happy about it as
well. They all have an iPad to help support their instruction, similar to the students. Thanks. Can
I ask a question about the policy that's
going to be required by 20 or 2027, like the ability for parents to reduce or block that has to be on
the device itself? Yes, it does. It has to be provided by the district. And the way the districts comply
with that is by having a content filter that does that, that has that feature. Our current content filter does not.
we're evaluating different options, content filters that do. And so how that is done looks a little
bit different from company to company. And so we are prioritizing that piece to make sure that it's
the most easy to use and feature-rich implementation of that. I guess my question, this is one of those
moments where I have to wonder about the policy and who's asking for this policy, because it's
feels like it is somewhat of a barrier. So say a parent, OK, for instance, at our house, when we have
teenagers with devices and we are not sure if they can monitor their own or regulate their own time,
we simply connect it to our own Wi-Fi system. And at a certain time every night, it turns off for them,
and they can no longer use that device to do those things, right? Sure, it's more problematic if, like,
YouTube is permitted on a school device and we don't want them just surfing YouTube for hours to do
X, Y or Z. But the question is if a parent wants to block an app, and this is not necessarily, you don't
have to answer this I don't think, but if a parent wants to block an app and then they go to school
and they need to use that app because for instance they do use YouTube in school.
Does it have to get turned on and off every day, or would it just like entering a Wi-Fi system, would
it automatically reset? It does vary a bit by company to company, but what we've seen is that the leading
companies that we're looking at, they do a time-based restriction. So they would be able to enable it
while the student is at home, and then that restriction would expire.
I will say our teachers are accustomed to a version of this because we do have, you know, internet groups
that have enhanced filtering if upon family request already. And so it's a bit similar to that, but
this is like a more formalized process. And I assume there's cost associated with? There is cost, yes.
And it does vary by vendor. Do you see that as being a potential issue? So we'll just use
YouTube because that's what was thrown out. It's easy. Can a parent or guardian indefinitely block the
access to the site so they couldn't use it at all? They could block that resource at home. Just at home?
Yeah. OK. But this is a state requirement, right? It is, yeah. Yeah. Of a thing that will cost more money.
And have you received any feedback on the use of parent square for student to parent communication during
the day? Personally, I have not, but I have used it to communicate with my own son and I think he enjoys
it. Yeah, I've also used it. I found it to be really helpful, actually, you know, just in terms of pick
up my kids plan.
changed and he said can you pick me up at five instead of right after school and he was able to message
me through parent square and i was able to respond and say yes that's fine and so it worked great yeah
so andy did you say parents can submit a help ticket they can okay i will be submitting one tonight
i need help i mean just so you know i was trying to use it with my middle schooler so
that was an out, but I'm going to try with my high schooler. Ms. Harmon, I appreciated the device usage
guidance that you showed. Have you already or do you anticipate taking any of that guidance and turning
it into hard rules or asking us to pass policies related to those things?
We do have it in terms of guidance that is given directly to teachers in a formal part of all of the
kind of materials and kind of administrative guidelines that we give them in terms of expectations.
So that seems sufficient for us in terms of how they have it. And it seems to work well. And then I
thought April would ask about AI, but since she hasn't, I will. Because it's coming up in our committee
report section,
It's not fair enough to talk about it there, but it's fine. Have you considered guidance? I mean, I'm
sure you have considered guidance around AI. Is there anything that you can share about that? We do
similarly have AI guidance that we give to teachers as the current resources and things that we have
around what AI literacy looks like, what the kinds of considerations and thoughts that they should have.
because we know it's changing all the time. So we're just trying to do that as well. And then along
with IS department, we manage access to that. So students don't have access to AI on their devices.
You can't control what they do on their personal devices. They're school-issued ones. They have access
to only one AI tool. It's called Magic School. And it's actually designed specifically for
school environments. And it's a way for teachers to create kind of an AI environment
instructional purposes. Is that a fair explanation? Yeah, we'll call it AI with guardrails. Yeah. Yeah.
AI with guardrails. Thank you. Other questions or comments from the board? Well, thank you for your
work. And I like how you showed the collaboration between curriculum and instruction technology, because
they have to work together. Can I ask a quick question about, OK, so the statement that just sort of
brought the question up is that students don't have access to AI on their school devices. But does that
mean that like, for instance, they don't have access to chat to open AI or chat GBT, Claude and things
like that. But what about like Google, which produces an AI? Google itself has AI embedded and could
be used in some ways, like the AI summary that pops up.
based on what you ask it and how you ask it? We do block Gemini, but there are other features that end
up getting introduced in the browser that we have to kind of play catch up on. But we make every attempt
to block anything that isn't Magic School at this time. OK, great. Thank you. And then so presumably
also teachers can't use it for their lessons. Like at IU, for example, I do a
an emergency simulation where my students have to create messages if there were some kind of public
health emergency, and then the AI reacts to those messages. But our teachers couldn't use that kind
of technology. They could do that lesson in magic school. Is that what you're saying? Like, could they
do something similar? I think they could. They could have their students be in magic school and have
a scenario. That's correct. They do also have access to other AI tools. We don't block it for staff,
actually. OK. Thank you.
Other questions or comments? Thank you both so much for your presentation. And the last presentation
is the CFO financial update, Mr. Irwin. You got to start with me tonight, and then you get to end with
me. I appreciate the opportunity to give you the update on the cash flow report, so we'll move through
it as we normally do. Education fund.
Actual revenue, slightly above projections, incredibly accurate. That's a great thing. Expenses were
below projection. Again, that's in the world where we want to see things, where we want it to be. Part
of that reason was that we did have some expenditures that we were able to move into a grant. And that
was as we closed out a grant. So that's a one-time relief of expenditures in the education fund, which
obviously helps the fund in the short term. But that is a big reason why expenses were below projection.
As well as claims, claims were lower and that has a lot to do with just timing. So a lot of times I'm
talking about some of this stuff. I'm like, it's the timing of invoices as they come in. And in this
particular case, it has a lot to do with curricular adoption invoices that we're expecting in the near
term that haven't yet been received. And so essentially what I'm doing as that happens, I'm moving that
projection forward into four months to make sure that I continue to account for it in the numbers that you see.
One of the things that is common in the outlook portion of each one of these slides is that I'm tracking
payrolls every single week as they happen. We have a payroll that happens every week, whether it's on
the certified side or the non-certified side. And that's essentially how it's lined up. But I'm tracking
those payrolls every week to look at, to help me gauge what's normal, what's not normal, whether I need
to ask some more questions as relates to what it is that I'm seeing aside from the information I already
get within my own department.
But then that helps me with projections because now that we're into this current contract year, it allows
us to gauge how those things should continue to incur as we move forward into future months. So it allows
me to continue to sharpen my numbers when I look into the forward months of projections. And so that's
something that you'll see that bullet point consistent across the fund structures that have staffing
in them because that's something that I do on a regular basis.
and I pay attention to the timing and the overlap. But when we start that new year, when people are
either returning to work from summer months, when not as many people are at work here at the school
corporation, or when we start new contract years and that adjustment as well. Overall, our fund cash
balance for the year in 2026 is higher than last month's projection. We're still below that target cash
balance goal that we talked about in the quarterly report, but we're making great progress. So that's
definitely a good thing.
2022 referendum. So no revenue in this fund for August. Again, I do these things I know sometimes are
repetitive, but it continues to show that some of our funds, especially these tax levy funds, go long
periods of time without revenue and there's the regular expenses that occur and you see those in the
cash flows that you receive. Actual expenses are below projections across all categories, so that's
helpful in relation to what it is that we want to see.
You see that same bullet point that you saw on the previous slide, because I did that across all of
those fund structures of looking at payrolls as they come in. And right now, the balance for
2026 individually projects to be about even about where we started. Referendum 2023. Again, no revenue
in the fund for August. Expenses were below projections in payroll and benefits.
Claims were a bit higher due to, again, timing of invoices received on curriculum purchases. So as those
things come in, that adjustment is made and then that affects future projections as I look at those
individual line items. 2026 cash balance projections, again, look to be up this year and they look a
little bit better than last month based on the variance between what was the below expenses on payroll
and benefits and the difference in claims for being a little bit higher than expectations.
The operations fund. Revenue is above projection and a lot of this has to do with interest earned on
cash in the bank. So we get interest that we, payment that we get from our bank every single month based
on the rate that we have and the amount of cash that's in our bank account. As we continue to put ourselves
in a better position, as we talk about that position of financial strength, this is one of those side
benefits that we continue to get because that then in turn helps us
as it relates to revenue that we receive that supports the expenses that happen within the operations
fund. That's the fund we're replacing that interest in. Payroll and benefits in our other category
projections were very accurate. Expenses and services and supplies categories were well below projections.
And some of that, again, I'm looking at and I'm going back into previous years, months to see what were
some of the big expenses that might have happened in those categories. How does that compare to what
I saw this month?
Does that mean that I need to take some of that projection of cash and move that into a future month
based on what I'm seeing or not seeing from last year at that particular month or those surrounding
months? So it's really digging into the weeds to help me identify how do I need to move my numbers or
do I need to not move them at all? And then again, the 2026 fund balance projection from last year is
trending towards our goal. We're moving into that position of financial strength within this fund. We're
making progress.
And that's definitely a good thing as well. The last fund that we talk about is the debt service fund.
There was no activity in the fund during the month of August. That's normal. And so we see the majority
of our revenue in two months of the year. That's June and December when we receive property
tax disbursements. And there was no expenses and that's normal. Most of our activity has to do with
the timing of bond payments. Remember the purpose of the fund is to make the payments on our long-term
debt obligations.
and loans that we have and then some of the other side things that you might see are like the regular
occurring trustee fees that they have for processing those debt payments and those sorts of things that
we have so essentially the projection looks identical to last month i made some adjustments based on
some me knowing when some trustee fees were going to come in but it looks pretty identical that last
bullet point as a placeholder as a reminder of this year is the only year that we're able to spread
the loss of the supplemental homestead deduction across
service and operations in future years that will all go to the operations fund so I just leave that
last bullet point as a reminder to that fact we'll make that second transfer and you see that in your
cash flows in December so with that I'm done thank you mr. Erwin are there questions or comments from
the board I got a question so in both referendums you said no revenue
for August, is that the way you were talking about the invoices coming in, is that why? No, that doesn't
have anything to do with invoices. It's just the timing of when revenue is received. So the 99.9% of
the revenue that comes essentially into our two referendum funds are local property tax dollars. And
so that's the main source of revenue that flows into that fund. Those disbursements happen in June and December.
So if we see anything in between that, it might be like a reimbursement of something. So say someone
was like our literacy cadre through the IDOE. If that person was originally funded from the referendum
fund and we get a reimbursement from the state on that particular grant, that's when that is reimbursable
back into the original fund of expenditure. So you might see some things like that that happen every
once in a while, but that's not something that commonly occurs because
The vast majority of all revenue is lined up with the timing of when we receive property tax disbursements.
The invoices are just on the expenditure side. And it's me trying to time up what might have happened
in August of last year, might end up happening in June of this year or July of this year, or it could
happen in September of this year. It just depends on the timing of when an invoice might be received
and then how that correlates with maybe the register of claims that you guys see in the board packet
as far as timing of payout.
I'm learning. I appreciate it. I appreciate the question. I'm sure some people listen and are happy
to learn that, too. Yeah, hopefully it's helpful. Thank you again, Mr. Irwin. Our committee update tonight
is a report from the MCCSE Foundation. Board member Jester serves on this committee. Ms. Jester? Hi.
Thank you, President Cooperman. The MCCSE
Foundation Committee meets monthly throughout the year. This month, the focuses have been on the teacher
grant program closed on September 8th. And so now we are beginning to move into reviewing those grants.
There was an event hosted for the facilities department this month, a luncheon and show of appreciation
for all of their work and dedication to the corporation. We're also preparing for October. Real men
read program will begin and there will be a kickoff event for volunteers soon. I believe that.
And fundraising, of course, is always happening. We started requesting items for the online auction,
reading, writing, and bidding. This is the 15th year of the auction and encourage local businesses and
our families to support the event this year. I'd like to thank the executive director, Cirilla Helm,
for her dedication and leadership.
Any of you all know that her time with the foundation has seen tremendous growth in their ability to
help us all out. And then just lastly, there's always ways that you can find to donate at the
mccscfoundation.org. And that concludes my report. Thank you, Ms. Chester.
Are there any questions for Asia? I have a question, Asia. If we have something that we want to donate
for the auction, how do we go about doing that? I do believe that you could find that information at
mccscfoundation.org. Perfect.
We have a Lego set that my husband is convinced someone will bid on. So I have to figure out how to
donate that. So I will go to the website. Thank you. Or you could just call Cirilla. Or I could do that.
Yeah. I think you also serve on the foundation. Isn't that right, Mr. Bunger? Thank you. All right.
So I have sources. Any other questions for Ms. Chester?
Then next we have a update on the policy task force. Board member Hennessy. Yes, thank you. We have
concluded our review of the initial portion that we had set out to review. So this is the bylaw section,
the 0000s. And we have a number of items that we have kind of marked as needing revision either because
they are out of date, something's been replaced, there is potential question about
if we wanna revise something. And so I'll kind of give you a brief rundown, but then the policy and
I, the policy and I will not do this, but the committee and I will work with a little bit with maybe
Mr. Bunger, but also with ISBA on a couple of the questions that we have regarding some of these policies.
Most of these things are minor. And so one of our questions that we have is like, what constitutes a
friendly amendment versus like a full amendment of a policy?
and then also whether a section of policies can be bundled and adopted sort of whole as like a section
rather than having to enumerate like every single policy. So we'll kind of work through those issues
and write up revisions and then hopefully present these and put them on the agenda for the board for
the October meeting for the first reading. But just a brief overview question of
the CEO comes up here, and this is one of those minor issues, but the president of the board is described
as the chief executive officer as the board of school trustees. Later, the superintendent is also referred
to as the chief executive officer, but of the school corporation. I think it is a little bit strange
to have two CEOs within a system. And so that's just one of the things we flagged as like odd. Does
it need to really be revised? Does it impact anything? No, but it is,
and oddity, so does it matter? I don't know. In policy 10120, there's this question of what the board
actually manages that seemed to strike us as interesting given what we understand our role to be. And
so we wanted to just check on this with ISBA to make sure that the language here was correct. It says,
the school board shall have the management and control of all facilities and programs in the corporation and
the employees, students, and other persons entering its premises. We kind of said like control makes
sense in a particular way. Management, the use of that term seems to maybe not make sense in the scope
of our role. So that's something we'll pose as, is that something we should amend? Board travel compensation
comes up in this. And I know President Cooper-Menu in particular had some questions about board travel
compensation
what our policies are, how we might think about amending that. So it does come up here and then later
again in another set of policies. So we'll take a look at that. One of the sections here in 0140, it's
basically in the section regarding the board, the board's role. We found what we consider to be a somewhat
excessive use of quotation marks.
in a way that is somewhat condescending at times, right? So I think we should say explicitly what those
quotation marks imply rather than putting them in quotation marks and leaving some other kind of implication
there as to what they mean. We should just say what we do or do not want board members to do. So we'll
probably revise that section. And then one of the biggest inconsistencies is simply
Since COVID in 2021, when we passed electronic board voting, there's a section still that exists that
says that a board may not vote electronically in our policies that needs to be stricken and then fully
replaced with the section that was added later. So those are the major things that we'll sort of tackle
and consider for revision in this first set. But there were two other things that we wanted to just bring up
And I do fear that one of them may be a can of worms. So I didn't mean to do this here, but I forgot
to ask the question earlier. So I'll just ask it quickly. One question was just in terms of modernizing
our meetings to some extent. On the section that includes public participation, there was some question
as to whether as a board,
we would want to at any point consider participation in public comment or listening by Zoom as the city
and the county do in their board meetings. So that there was just the question that came up that I think
we could take up at some point if people were interested. The other question that came up in this set
of policies was actually it does not belong in the set of policies, but it is something that came up which is
does the district need to begin thinking about an AI policy? I know that many districts have, university
has, most organizations have. It sounds like there's not a lot within our district to sort of manage
at this point, but that is one question that we just wanted to bring forward as a part of this work is,
Do we think we should begin work on an official AI policy for the district? That's it. Are you asking
us to respond to those things now? April, are you just putting it out there? I would say the latter
we could take up now. The former, I would ask that people just think about and we could also have the
board officers might want to discuss with the superintendent in a board officer meeting before opening
up to full board discussion here.
initial thoughts on an AI policy, I guess on the idea of creating one. I think when you talk about the
AI policy, it'd have to be multi-pronged. One is there going to be an AI policy for employees and how
they use it within their roles versus how students use it. It seems like on
Corporation devices we have a pretty strong lockdown on how that's applied but obviously It may fall
more under the academic integrity world Yeah, I think it sounds like it in some sense there is a de
facto policy being used in practice and
It makes sense to me that we might even just have a policy to say who decides. It doesn't have to be
that the board has a policy that is very specific. In fact, do we have one? I don't think we have a
university-wide one. Maybe we do, and I'm not in compliance. I feel like they're shoving it down all
our throats, though. I think that schools at the university
Some schools have policies. I think that there may be a committee at this moment that is having this
discussion about blanket policy, but I don't know. But I do say to Ross's point, I do think there is
something about like academic integrity and that when we talked about it, we didn't just talk about
student usage, but we did talk also about
employee staff, like whatever, anybody using AI within the district that there would be certain parameters
of like what is on the table or not on the table. But I don't know. I think it's smart to be thinking
about it. Yeah. Other thoughts on that? Were questions about the policy committee's work in general?
else to add? All right finally Dr. Winston do you have any additional information you'd like to share
with us tonight? I do have a couple of items. National merit semi-finalists we are pleased to announce
that MCCSE has 18 yes 18 national merit semi-finalists out of a pool of 1.2 million students across
the country
More than 16,000 students nationwide are semifinalists, and we have 18 of them. From Bloomington North,
they are Daniel Cartledge, Gabriel Cohen, Penelope Eads, Aidan Kim, Ryan Lee, Simone Mazra,
Manaras Pickard, I apologize, and Albie Singleton. From Bloomington South, Eve Arnold,
Nikki Beshkar, Emeline Chen, Ethan Dodes, Bach Hu, William Lau, Jiping Liu, Margaret Robinson,
Odin Schreuer, and Yuvin Zhou. Congratulations.
To these exceptional students, national merit winners will be announced in the spring of 2027. Parent
University. Our next Parent University will be on Tuesday, September 29th, one week from this evening.
The topic is on assessments and will be held in the CoLab beginning at 6 p.m. College and Career Pathway
Fair. On September 28th, Hoosier Hills Career Center will host the College and Career Pathway Fair from
530 to 7 p.m.
We invite you to bring your family and friends to tour the Career Center, visit classrooms and learning
spaces. There will also be representatives from industry, colleges and the military. Our culinary arts
students will also host a bake sale at the event. And I have to tell you from past experience, they
do an excellent job. Bloomington High School North. Bloomington High School North will have their first
concert of the season, the fall choral concert tomorrow evening.
Wednesday, September 23rd. The concert will take place in Norris Auditorium beginning at 7 p.m. We invite
you to attend this performance and see our students performing and showcasing all of their talents.
There are so many events that are happening throughout our corporation from choir and band concerts
to fall athletic events. I encourage everyone to check out the events calendars on our school's websites
to choose an event then come enjoy our students in action. You will not be disappointed. And in case
you forgot,
As a reminder, our fall break is October 15th and 16th. Schools will be closed on both of those days.
That concludes my report. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Are there questions or comments from the board for
Dr. Winston? Nope. All right, I just quickly, I should have probably put this on the agenda, but I just
really quickly want to again thank you all for the work that you did at the work session on setting
parameters
for redistricting, redistricting, restructuring, and reorganizing. It was a long meeting. I realized
later I forgot to give us a break, so I think we were hard at work for about three hours. And Dr. Winston,
I think a notice did go out today that the parameters we set have been posted. That includes the things
that we prioritized, the targets that we set for those, the constraints and the weights that we gave them.
Again, thank you for that work. And I just wanted to note to the public that that is now available for
anyone to view. Any other last comments from the board? Can I make a shameless plug for Sounds of South
is going to have Guys and Dolls on October 10, 17, and 24. So get your tickets. And it's a good show
you don't want to miss. And my own son will be in it. Perfect.
Other shameless plugs or otherwise. All right. The next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held
on Tuesday, October 27th, 2026. We are adjourned.