- Call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the
- flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
- Thank you all. Please be seated and let the record reflect that all board members
- are present today for our March 2025 regular meeting of the RBCSC and are
- there any visitors to make visitors comments? Nope. Dr. Sanders, you want to
- introduce the Mustang woman? Yes, this is as you could tell if you walked in and
- look down the hallway you could see some of the projects that are being made and
- have been made in the ILC design and we have Lisa Wilson and some of our amazing
- high school students who are here and going to talk about that so I'll just
- introduce Lisa. Good evening. A few years ago RBB school board and administrators
- had the vision to create an innovative learning center here at Edgewood High
- School. It's a dream come true for us all. In the few years since your students
- have launched amazing initiatives and projects to serve our classrooms, campus
- and community. I hope you saw some of them out there. We've been able to
- combine the resources generously provided by our school and community to
- create, build, innovate, recycle, reuse, repair projects far too many to mention
- here and in addition our Edgewood print shop and retail center have opened to
- serve our staff, teams, clubs and local businesses in incredible and affordable
- ways to further meet our mission to be self-funded to support our interns and
- the ILC staff and learning more about future careers in architecture,
- engineering, interior design, mechanical engineering, design, robotics along with
- retail sales and manufacturing. We brought over just a few things that we had, lots
- of them are gone, but we brought over a few things and I've asked a few of our
- amazing interns to be here today. I've provided a partial list in your
- stakeholders report and the highlights for this year so far include opening our
- retail shop to full-service embroidery, engraving and direct-to-film t-shirts
- and sweatshirts, designing and manufacturing cook metal medical
- international awards as well as our own EIS trophies and color-run trophies. We
- repaired the gym kayak that had a hole in it with melted recycled plastic and
- yes I did make the interns put on swimsuits and try that out and they
- did great and it floated. Blueprint and model designs of several local
- commercial new constructions and remodels. We took collected recycled
- plastic lids that you see here and some donations from a cook polymer and you
- see that we've already are starting to build with those a stick chair that you
- can sit in. We trust you to sit in. I sat in myself. I was a little nervous at
- first but it's amazing and they've done a great job. A from scratch design of an
- Eames style chair that you saw in progress out there. We repair things. We
- repaired things from broken glasses to teacher piano benches to the Journey's
- classroom exercise bike. We do the digital promotions for the Commons TV. We
- are reupholstering the junior high weight room benches. Numerous club and
- team poster designs and t-shirt printing. I can show you all these things but I
- cannot show you the behind the scenes. How much time and energy these students
- have put in to make this program thrive. The hours at home, the plus-time schedule,
- the after-school hours to build, create, laugh at failures, attempts, the wins and
- the try agains. I cannot show you that nothing you see here is from a kit or
- purchase plan. I cannot show you that the results you see here are true innovation.
- I cannot show you how they work to get new machines up and running, unboxed,
- ready to go, repairs and maintenance. I cannot show you how they spend time with
- clients assessing their needs and collaborating on solutions. But I can
- show you the results of this, those kids, and you have helped raise and support
- amazing kids in chasing their dreams. Thank you for this opportunity to serve
- RBB schools and community. Your support, encouragement and your purchases from
- ILC Designs Online have meant the world to us and we are forever grateful. Today
- I have three that are going to be speaking. Ren Millick is our design lead,
- Ellie Lewis is our retail manager lead. Just for, there's just, I asked them to say
- just a few words of what they've been doing and Gabby Buckley our engineering
- lead. Hello everyone, I am Ren Millick as Miss Wilson said. I'm a senior here at
- Edgewood High School and I'm also the head designer of the ILC. So a lot of
- what she just talked about has went through me at one point or another. I've
- worked with tons of clubs around Edgewood. I can name like the unified
- bocce ball team that we designed their shirts for and in the ILC it's really
- helpful because we can design the shirt, get responses back and forth really
- quickly and then deliver the shirt in school to the teacher and get their
- response in person which is really cool. I've also worked with a lot of clubs
- like the environmental club. Last year we worked on a project together and we were
- able to fundraise for the club. It was really cool and they really got all the
- proceeds out of it. We've also worked with lots of outside of school like Cook.
- We've worked with Lemonade Day. Recently we've helped design shirts for the Lemon
- Council and like Miss Wilson said we've helped with the Cook International
- Trophies which was a huge project and I think we stayed after school like like
- two hours or three hours after. It was a very long time of just working on trophies
- not even talking it was very nerve-racking but we got them done by
- the deadline and it was really exciting. Through my time I've also just gotten to
- work on communication with lots of people specifically different companies
- and how to interact professionally and just it's really helped a lot of my
- skills that I know will help me in the future and whatever job I hope to go in
- and I've also helped work on the retail center some but Ellie can tell you a
- little bit more about that. So my name is Ellie Lewis I'm also a senior and I am
- the retail lead so I want to talk a little bit about like past present and
- future of the retail center. So this is my first year as an intern with the ILC
- so I think both of them had the opportunity to intern last year so I
- kind of jumped in in the middle of things and so within my first month Mrs.
- Wilson approached me about helping her get the retail center up and running and
- so I believe it was the old edge space is where we now inhabit and so we took
- all of our equipment from our like workspace in the ILC and transported it
- over to that room and it was a little slow to start we were hoping to get it
- up and running before winter break but there were some complications and things
- that slowed us down and especially with all the construction going on it made
- things a little complicated but we came back from winter break and I'm happy to
- say that our retail center is now up and running we do take orders our website is
- fully functioning and has been now for quite some time but it's it's really
- exciting we do things like embroidery this thing called DTF which I think is
- direct to film we print and press t-shirts sweatshirts hoodies we can
- embroider hats it's been really exciting to have this up and running and to get
- the experience of kind of starting that up and what all needs to go into that
- and what needs to happen in order for things to work we've had a lot of kinks
- that have gotten in our way especially on some of our larger orders that we've
- had I think our largest order was the t-shirts that we did that were the team
- hornet shirts which I think really meant a lot to a lot of people but that order
- was very large and it was great to see but there were a lot of things that had
- to happen in a lot of people that had to work very very hard to make sure that we
- could complete that and make sure that what needed to happen was done and in
- the future we are hoping to open up that retail space to students and staff to be
- able to order from during school day during sporting events other things that
- may be happening at the school or on campus so the goal is to have specific
- items just generic Edgewood apparel stocked in the retail center and then
- people can also see the process of how we make the shirts so that's a little bit
- about that and Gabby I think is going to talk a little bit about the engineering
- side of things. Hi good evening my name is Gabrielle Buckley and I'm head of the
- engineering team over at the ILC and I just want to start by saying we have
- just done so many incredible things this year we've done so many project where
- we've all worked with each other we've had a clutch model that was completely
- designed by 3D print by Audrey Graham and it's her first year she actually
- switched to engineering halfway through the year and then made that which was
- quite incredible we've had Cameron Young who's turned the old digital clocks at
- the school into a scoreboard that's being used for a coffee corral project
- and again it's his first year as well and we've had a dust collector system
- that's being used on the CAD machine created by Jalen Ludeman Cohen Bell and
- Isaiah Cherry and I mean these three boys they barely knew each other and then
- all of a sudden they were thrown into a project together and I mean they're
- creating some pretty incredible things and so I think that's one of the biggest
- goals in the ILC is to really just let students open up to all the their
- possibilities and all the things that they're able to do I completely changed
- my major after going into the ILC and now I'm never been so sure about
- something in my life and I'm so excited to go to college knowing exactly what I
- want to do and I mean our goals are to really promote outreach to the community
- and create things for people across the community but more importantly it's to
- really show what students can do before they're being sent off to college and
- just so all the opportunities that they're able to give the school and I
- mean I've learned so many things that I never thought I'd be able to do and it's
- just incredible having such a good mentor Mrs. Wilson she's one of the greatest
- people I've ever met truly and honestly and it's just really it's a great feeling
- to be thrown into something so new but to be able to thrive in a way you never
- thought possible and I can say that about any other intern in there we are
- all thriving in so many different ways I mean we have run creating furniture and
- we have Ellie being lead of a retail center and I'm sure that they went into
- it not thinking that they could do that and so again that's just one of our
- biggest goals in there is it's not just producing products but it's really
- showing what students are able to do and again just getting them more set up for
- college because I mean it's a completely different thing getting to really do
- things with your own hands and really getting to create things and we have so
- many different types of engineering specifically just in our program I mean
- there's mechanical engineering we've had kind of construction woodworking we had
- it with this chair right here that was created from bottle caps and we've also
- been able to do a lot of outreach with other companies cook has been giving us
- plastic and we've been figuring out ways to utilize that plastic to make more
- products so we're not just using the bottle caps from the school but we're
- also trying to work with another company that's you know they don't need all of
- this extra plastic right now but we're really trying to use it to promote you
- know going green in Edgewood and once again just showing all the things that
- we're really capable of doing and so again I think one of the most important
- things about the ILC is really just outreaching to the community but also
- really promoting the imagination and creativity that students are able to use
- without you know stricting them to super strict guidelines or anything like that
- and so yeah I think that's probably everything I can say.
- And I want to specifically mention Cam has been thrown into, do you want to describe that project
- just a little bit?
- Oh my goodness this poor kid. He has been thrown into I mean I can't he has spent
- so much time working on this he has gone he's brought it home and he's worked on
- it at his house he's worked in it over the weekends he's been
- completely dismantled and figured out how to turn it into a yeah I mean it's I
- mean it's truly an accomplishment if you saw a picture of all the wires that are
- and that's it is it is just crazy he sent a picture earlier to me today and I was
- like this is insane I can never but I mean again that's just one of the
- greatest things you go in there thinking I can never do this and then you walk
- out and you get to look around the school and say hey I did that or hey I
- created that or hey I had a part in that and it's again it's one of the greatest
- feelings I think a kid can have so yeah
- anything that you'd like to ask me and Justin also is here another intern who
- was I introduced to with Tony recently I brought my leg home like every kid
- should do this and they all made their own we had some walnut scraps left over
- from the trophies that we made for cook and they were tiny little and all of them
- made their own bowls there was a little bit of a wrestling match so that's on
- our purchase list of things we hope we can get but Jocelyn made something even
- just in the last two days this happens to be long-chair he's a sophomore what
- you see here when I say we have not we don't use kits this kid created this
- delivery droid completely with Arduino if if we had we're on Wi-Fi he would be
- able to drive that not even present delivery drones and droids are our
- future so I'm happy to show the lot and has completely programmed this is it
- we're still a prototype but this is not a kit as a reminder this is completely all
- kinds of wires inside and I do believe Dr. Sanders you may have a delivery in
- there you might want to open up the top this is from our joint effort from the
- coffee corral so we hope to bring you more ideas more innovations of how we
- can make this campus one we want to serve the campus and again we do believe
- that the future is in delivery and we have lots of kids excited about seeing
- that today it was revealed when Jennifer was busy in an interview and her faces
- couldn't quite believe it and we were super excited all that is from scratch
- there the 3d print the design we all did in AutoCAD he learned all the Arduino
- himself there's a camera hookup that we can remote and communicate
- independently again it's not to say I'm right behind it this was completely
- designed that it can be ran from a completely different office in one
- building to another so we're super excited to for the big reveal today so
- great job long thank you ladies you were amazing
- before they get away I can't wait just to go home tell mrs. DeMoss about your
- presentation tonight because she's going to be thrilled and not surprised in the
- least but she's going to be thrilled to hear about this
- thank you it's just so exciting because you know you don't know what all is
- going on over there and I mean I had no clue of how vast the projects you guys
- are doing are and how advanced in your presentations tonight were like they're
- professionals I wonder where their degrees are
- play practice yes earlier what they what they do with their free time and
- that amazing feeling you have in life when you realize that a dream that you've
- had comes true as these girls were talking that's I mean my goosebumps
- because especially when Gabby said that about changing her major and she never
- felt more sure about what she wants to do in life that's what this is all about
- and and these guys work so hard if you ever walk over to the ILC during the day
- it's a it's a bustling happening place it's you know have you ever seen a
- downtown you know city where just people are working and moving everywhere and
- that's the ILC and this is where the these students are they're creating
- they're they're practicing their what they want to do in life and these are
- all students that are very active obviously being in the in the play and
- show choir ran were you last night up singing at the Pacers game and I don't
- know who else was there I was up in nosebleed seats but and it all comes you
- know comes down to having the right people I tell this story all the time
- 2019 20 that was kind of our planning year for ready schools and so we
- visited a student run businesses from Tennessee to Wisconsin and I remember
- going to when we were in Wisconsin and we've got to sit down at lunch and talk
- to some of the seniors and they had a machining shop where they you know I
- don't know really I don't know why they call it machining but it's working with
- metal and creating products equipment for businesses and the young gentleman
- that I spoke to that that day was going into nursing and so I said okay I don't
- get it how's a student who wants to be in the nursing field someday working in
- a like a metal machining shop and he said well he goes I'm learning skills of
- how to talk to a customer how to problem-solve how to collaborate with
- others and all these skills I'm learning in this student run business I can apply
- to being a nurse and that's what this is all about I don't know what these young
- gentlemen want to do for their career someday but it's these are all skills
- that they can apply to whatever dreams they chase and so that was a vision back
- in 2019 2020 and to hear these students talk about what they're doing and going
- over there and and watching them and it's just it truly is a dream come true
- also an engineering intern going to Purdue really solidified what he wanted
- to do and it's just some amazing design work and it's just it's exciting to see
- these kids I've known them also since they were little and and seeing them find
- paths and things that they love or don't love is just a pathway that we are so
- great before and thank you for making that happen well you're welcome to stay
- for the whole and thanks for the bubble drink there was room for four oh one
- more thing mr. president be sure to check out the stockholders report it's
- very informative and you also get received a gift of a keychain made over
- there too so okay gotta get the business so the first item up is our consent
- agenda and it includes the minutes for February 17th 2025 the regular board
- meeting the treasurer's report for February of 2025 and mr. Darrell the
- claims please
- wages on February the 14th 2025 for two hundred eighty two hundred twenty one
- thousand two hundred sixty one dollars and seventy six cents for gross wages
- on February 28th 2025 for eight hundred and ten thousand six hundred four
- dollars and seventy four cents for a total there of one million six hundred
- and thirty one thousand eight hundred sixty six dollars and fifty cents for
- preclaims between February 1st and February 28th 2025 one million five
- hundred fifty one thousand two hundred twenty eight dollars and ninety cents for
- claims regular vouchers for 325 2025 for five hundred five hundred eight thousand
- five hundred and eight dollars and seventy four cents for a total there of
- two million fifty nine thousand seven hundred thirty seven sixty four cents for
- grand total of three million six hundred ninety one thousand six hundred four
- dollars and fourteen cents I submit for approval we also have resignations
- retirements leaves and terminations see one three twenty one and personnel
- appointments and transfers the one to ten we're excited about having four
- donations Tri Kappa is Tri Kappa epsilon is available is always a big sponsor and
- they are doing hundred dollars to each the student assistant funds the junior
- high spring student art show and the junior high robotics for supplies there's
- also a donation from Boston scientific to robotics of $600 and there are two
- out-of-state and overnight field trips and would you go over those two forests
- dr. Sanders the trips yeah yeah so we have a group of students at the high
- school called it's called e lots Edgewood leaders for tomorrow's students
- and the these students go to Bradford Woods when the fifth graders go and they
- just interact with the fifth graders mentor them provided them some
- leadership and just provide a good example for them and they're a big help
- to the classroom teachers to have them there so that's the e lots and the other
- one is our junior high robotics team going to the nationals and I'm gonna ask
- Kelly Grimes to come up and she has some students here and talk about that a
- little bit and that that field trip request form I emailed to you wasn't in
- the board packet but you have a copy there at your desk there so I'm Kelly
- Grimes I'm the junior high robotics coach have been for the last seven years and
- we are requesting your permission to take five of our students from the
- junior high to council Bluffs Iowa for and they've actually changed the name of
- the tournament it was nationals now it's world championship so they've upgraded
- it this last over the last year we would be leaving it would be a driving day for
- April 2nd and then we'd have the tournament 3rd 4th and 5th and then
- return by that Monday for class I wanted to introduce to you Liam Kirsten and
- garrison all met we are here to answer any questions you have and these I'll
- let them answer the questions first if they need a little help I'll I'll step up
- and help them come on in
- the task that you have this year?
- I know it changes every year.
- So this year it's played with the same field,
- but with four goal walls and a loading zone.
- It's three balls, but only two on the field.
- You have two robots alliancing.
- Your goal is to pass the ball,
- which is getting one robot touching the ball,
- and the next robot touching the ball,
- and then scoring it, clearing switches,
- and the ball can be dropped through the ball loader.
- And you also have an extra person this year
- called loaders on either side,
- passing the ball from the goal to the ball loader,
- which gets it back into the field.
- How long have you been in the robotics?
- I've been in it for three years,
- all of Edgewood, and one year in EIS.
- I believe I've been in robotics for like four years,
- two years in EIS and others in junior high.
- So they are part of that pathway
- that we were discussing earlier.
- We're kind of the middle, in the middle part.
- Well, we won a competition, like,
- of this competing in this task,
- and then we got invited from Iowa
- to compete at this tournament.
- Were you in it this year?
- Well, we only won one, but I believe we were in--
- Three, four maybe?
- Yeah, three, four.
- At least four, I think your team was in five.
- Yeah.
- And you were in four, yeah.
- What's the biggest obstacle
- you had to overcome this year?
- Passing in the game, 'cause it depends on the robot
- that you're with, if, how easy it is to score points.
- So they are teamed up with another team,
- and each time they go up for a match, it's a new team.
- And so they have to communicate and collaborate
- and strategize and all of those things together.
- And then while they're playing this year,
- this is kind of new, while they're playing,
- they had to communicate amongst themselves,
- or else the loader wouldn't know what to do,
- or the drivers wouldn't know what was going on.
- So it was really exciting this year to see the game
- kind of up that communication and collaboration part.
- During the competition, do you have to step away
- and the kids do it, or do you help out as well?
- I'm not even allowed to yell anything to them,
- except, "Yay!"
- (audience laughing)
- Yeah, we're not allowed to say anything.
- And we're not allowed to argue anything either.
- So if something goes wrong, which it did at State,
- and they had to argue something,
- it has to be the students who do it.
- Once they walk away, it's over.
- And the interesting part about robotics is,
- you have to work with the other team.
- Now, the Worlds, is this the same,
- did you say this is the same as Worlds,
- but it's called Nationals?
- They've changed it to say Worlds now.
- It used to be Nationals, and then Worlds was in Dallas.
- Now, evidently, there are two Worlds.
- (laughing)
- Okay, will there be teams from other countries?
- Hong Kong, in this one, the last time we went,
- there were teams from South Korea also,
- but this time, it looks like Hong Kong,
- and then a lot of Western and Midwestern states.
- That's the other cool aspect,
- 'cause you have to, sometimes you have to communicate with,
- but you don't speak the same language.
- (laughing)
- Well, and what I've seen is that the design of robots
- can be so varied.
- Everybody has their own approach,
- and so figuring out how to work with the different designs
- would be-- - 'Cause you've seen this
- many times at our tournaments.
- Yeah. - Yeah, you've seen a lot,
- yeah.
- Each team has a, every team from all these other places
- have the same initial kit, right?
- They have the same access to everything.
- To everything, and then that's where they,
- all right, so here's the harder question.
- What's super mega alliance?
- That sounds like the fun part.
- It will be, it will be fun.
- Where normally it's two teams working together,
- and then they're bringing in a four team challenge also,
- but the super mega is, I don't even remember how many teams,
- and they all have to talk and communicate.
- With others, you're working with other school corporations.
- Yeah, from other states and everything.
- All right. - That's pretty neat.
- That's pretty neat, yeah.
- And it will be online, so we'll send you the web app.
- Okay, cool, cool.
- Yeah, that'll be fun.
- We'll have fun with that.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
- Enjoy Iowa too.
- Yes, hopefully it'll be warmer.
- Yeah. - Yeah, yeah.
- True.
- Thanks for coming.
- Yes, thank you very much.
- Thank you. - Good luck.
- Yeah.
- I'd second this, Jacob's motion to approve the decision.
- All right, moved and seconded.
- Any further discussion?
- Is that, I did, if I read right,
- the school's not providing transportation to the parents?
- Correct.
- Correct, okay.
- Are you talking about parents?
- Yeah, for yours, okay.
- So you're gonna have parents chaperones and all that.
- Okay.
- Good, good, good deal.
- All right, thank you.
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Aye.
- Motion carries.
- Dr. Sanders, would you like to talk about
- a few of these items?
- Yes, I would like to talk about four individuals.
- We have two resignations that I just wanted
- to make special mention of these folks.
- Marcy Jones, who's taught sixth grade social studies
- and has been at the junior high for 17 years
- and her and her husband are going on a,
- she describes a new journey.
- They're moving out of state and appreciate
- all that Marcy's done for our students at junior high.
- And then Becky Myers, who has turned in her resignation.
- She's been a SPED teacher at Edgewood High School
- for 25 years.
- She accepted a position at Bloomfield
- and more for family reasons.
- And so we're gonna miss Becky very much.
- She's just been a key part of the excellent way
- that we provide services to our special education students.
- And then also Gary Sims, who's retiring from,
- he's retired from teaching, but he continued coaching.
- And so Gary is going to retire
- from being our girls basketball coach.
- And I just love to watch Gary on the sidelines
- coaching our girls.
- And he really cares about his players.
- You could tell he does a good job relating to them
- and a good job coaching and we're gonna miss him.
- And then of course, Brenda Whitaker, who has been
- a principal at Edgewood Primary School for 18 years.
- She's been in education for 28
- and she is going to be retiring.
- And she will be just really hard to fill that position.
- When she announced it to her staff,
- it wasn't 10 minutes later that my daughter,
- who's a teacher at Edgewood Primary School,
- called and was really upset about that.
- And so we're gonna do something special
- to recognize Brenda.
- She's actually headed, I think, to St. Louis tonight
- for a family event, so she couldn't be here.
- But we will definitely do something to recognize her
- and make sure she's present when we do that.
- But--
- Interactions with Brenda, though.
- Gary Sims, when he was teaching,
- I guess my daughter didn't think that he was
- seeing her wanting help, so she held up this big sign,
- "I need help."
- And he had it, and he brought it to her graduation party.
- (laughing)
- And so that was, he definitely had a wonderful sense
- of humor and really connected.
- And you know, I always love when I see teachers
- or principals show up at graduation
- and other high school events.
- And I've seen Brenda do that too, that they understand
- that even though they're at the primary level,
- that what they do is so foundational to the success
- of our students all through their grades and in life.
- And I always want to recognize Brenda's work
- at the new EECC building was her dream.
- She passed that on to us.
- And she, one time I met with her in her office early on,
- being a board member and she pointed to that field
- and she said that's what needed to go there.
- Well, it's going there.
- And to me, it's because she had that dream, that vision.
- So I'm just so, so happy for her, her retirement.
- But, you know, we are going to miss her.
- But again, I think she needs to receive the credit
- for that vision because that was hers.
- So, and then the donation, did you want to?
- Oh, yes.
- Well, I was going to mention about the donation
- from Boston Scientific and in my superintendent's report,
- I'm going to talk a little bit about our visit
- to Boston Scientific.
- And they are one of our partners
- in the biomedical training project.
- And they surprised us in presenting a check
- to us upon that visit to our robotics team.
- And so they're a big reason why they're getting to go
- and funding that trip.
- So, thank you.
- We'll move on to the assistant superintendent's report.
- Mr. Irwin.
- Education fund, expenses and payroll
- and with benefits and everything
- came in really close to expected.
- The claims have started out a little higher this year
- and they asked to do with mostly the timing
- of curriculum material costs and renewals.
- Remember we had the 900 fund dissolved,
- moved those costs into the education fund.
- So those have continued to roll in
- and then just getting into the timing
- of some of those things as we continue to make adjustments
- to what it is that we need or don't need
- or the timing of those renewals,
- trying to get them on a cycle
- so that it makes things more productive
- at the start of the school year
- or there's not a loss of services in between.
- There's a lot to manage there
- and Jen Barrett and Rick have done a great job
- with helping to organize that.
- So those things have been rolling in
- and then as well as just more absences
- or filling absences, Kelly services,
- as far as those costs too contributed to a little bit higher
- and they've done a great job with fill rates
- as it relates to this school year.
- Incent income was right about in line with projections.
- It's stayed pretty stable.
- It's not quite as high as what it was last year.
- That was expected, but again,
- it stayed in a very good place for us.
- One of the biggest changes
- was the change in tuition support.
- They finally reconciled our December one count,
- which is our special education student count.
- And so I put that in there in the email to you guys
- with some of this in there, but they reconcile that.
- And so they have to backfund all of that
- to what would have been the beginning of the fiscal year.
- So they backfund that and then it changes
- the formula moving forward.
- We had about 19 more students this year
- than what we had the year before,
- which with the changes
- and what the current funding formula is for this budget year,
- it was a change of about $61,000 in total revenue
- that comes into the fund.
- That was one of the bigger changes.
- Again, we're in great shape.
- There's a lot left up in the air
- for the remainder of the year.
- As you guys know, with legislative changes to see,
- where things land, obviously in a budget year,
- and we'll continue to monitor that,
- I've kept a very stable, small 2% increase,
- which might, quite frankly, end up being too high.
- So I might need to even reduce that down,
- depending on what they end up approving legislatively.
- But believe it or not,
- we're about five weeks away from that concluding.
- So some of that information will start to roll in,
- and we'll start to fine tune
- some of those projections and variables
- as we know what's more concrete.
- All in all, we're in a good place.
- We have great cash balances,
- still showing us eating into cash.
- I don't foresee that to be an issue
- with our level of cash balance at this point.
- We just need to be cognizant of it
- and continue to manage it.
- Moving over to the Debt Service Fund,
- no activity in that fund at all
- during the month of February.
- That's normal, you guys know that.
- There's very little activity in that fund
- throughout the year, except for when it's, you know,
- receiving in funds and then paying out
- bond payments and debt service payments, so.
- Moving over into the Operations Fund,
- again, things continue to flow around nicely.
- Costs continue to come in on track,
- still have a great handle on those things.
- We did make our payment on our yearly premium
- for property liability casualty insurance,
- so that landed in last month's claims.
- The timing of buses and when they come in this year
- will affect what you see as far as the claims numbers
- and operations through the year as they ebb and flow.
- That's, you know, a big predictor when you're talking
- about a bus that's excess of $100,000 is showing up
- and when that hits, we'll most likely end up paying
- for about three buses out of the operations,
- because you remember there was one of the buses
- that we ordered for 2024 that never showed up,
- so that, you know, moves forward into the new budget year,
- so we'll look to do that.
- Right now, one of the buses has shown up.
- We've got word that the two other buses we should expect
- probably this coming month and maybe the next one,
- even the month after that, so, you know,
- that's obviously a lot different than what we've experienced,
- but it doesn't really matter for us at this point
- whether or not they showed up in April
- or they showed up in November from a standpoint of cash.
- It more so helps us operationally.
- The sooner we get them, the better, so that's a good thing.
- That's a good thing overall.
- So again, sitting in a good place there,
- continues to be very consistent,
- and then again, just monitoring what the impact
- of legislative changes are as far as how it affects decisions
- that we make down the road.
- But again, we're in a great place.
- We're in a lot better place
- than a lot of other school corporations
- that will allow us to adapt to some of those things
- as they become material
- and we understand what they're gonna be.
- So with that, I'll take any questions.
- So we've already appropriated from previous years
- for two of the three buses.
- All three buses will fit
- within the appropriation that we have.
- We carried those funds forward.
- We've all been encumbered.
- Yeah, we encumbered funds.
- Okay.
- We encumbered those funds forward.
- I thought it'd been a while when that was buses.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, one of them I think was close to 18 months.
- So then the three buses that are being replaced,
- are we going to sell those?
- One of them was one that was a trade-in,
- but then we'll have a couple of buses
- that we end up surplusing.
- Okay, okay, then just auction them off.
- Yeah.
- So can we get rid of those trailers down there too then?
- So those are surplused, one of them didn't,
- we didn't have anybody sell on those.
- The one trailer,
- we've got someone that's interested in it and it,
- quite frankly, will probably be one of those situations
- where it'd be better off because of the cost it would take
- to salvage it, scrap it, get it moved,
- have someone move it to find someone
- that will do that for themselves for a minimal cost
- for just taking the trailer
- 'cause there's not much value to it at all.
- The other trailer, we're working with Mr. Wells
- to see if there's any bans that he know
- that maybe have interest in it for using it
- for intermediary period.
- So he's reaching out to different people.
- We didn't have any takers on it on the surplus auction site.
- So we're kind of looking into other places
- as far as who might be a good fit
- that would have interest in it.
- But that white one does have value
- that we wanna make sure that we sell it to the right person.
- The last one that we used before the movie.
- That's correct.
- So yeah, he's reaching out to his contacts
- because quite frankly, he's gonna have better connections
- to some of those schools that,
- whether they're close by or not,
- that might have a need for something like that
- that may be interested in making that purchase,
- which if that's the case, then we can run through that
- with you guys as well.
- I'd like to emphasize again that we did grow slightly
- in our number of students.
- And that's big anymore because the birth rate's dropping.
- There's a lot of things going on that are most schools,
- our school corporations are losing students
- and we're growing.
- So you all are doing something very right, so.
- And that's representative of what you see on those two
- is I don't overestimate as far as trying to be aggressive
- with saying, hey, we think we're gonna have
- this many students.
- We have that information, we paid for the demographic study,
- but in sake of being conservative with some of the numbers,
- we flatlined to say, hey, it's gonna be 2675 again,
- where we, you know, we're certified at fall ADM,
- when in reality right now, we're continuing to look like
- we're gonna grow steadily over the next 10 years.
- And again, we're one of the very few school corporations
- in the state that has that type of enrollment projection.
- So again, like you said, I think that speaks to the type
- of school corporation we have and the quality of education
- that we're providing kids, so.
- Very nice.
- Okay, now you're gonna give us an update
- on the construction projects?
- Yeah, and so I'm gonna take part of this.
- What we'll end up having skill men do is they'll come back
- next month and do a more of an update,
- but I had them provide me some brief updates.
- You guys have access to the auto desk that has all like,
- they take like daily pictures almost of like updates
- of some of the stuff that's going on on site.
- And if you guys ever wanted to stop by and take a tour
- or do whatever you wanna do, let us know.
- Always happy to do that.
- We have one of our bi-weekly construction progress meetings
- tomorrow, that's at 9.30, which again is always,
- they're great meetings, great conversations.
- We do walks of the progress of the projects afterwards
- and make sure that we solve up any of the issues
- that are present or that need to be talked through
- with that whole group of people there.
- So a couple of quick things of note across the projects.
- The high school renovations, phase six is nearly complete.
- The auxiliary gym wood floor was removed
- and the concrete demo is underway.
- Remember, that's the area where the new cafeteria is going.
- So that's starting to become more and more real.
- The student activity center, the concrete floors were poured.
- The roof was completed
- and the sprinkler piping is being installed.
- It was pretty interesting to see the equipment
- that was used to float out that entire concrete floor.
- I saw some of the pictures of it.
- It was pretty wild stuff.
- And that continues to be on track.
- The EIS phase five renovation was completed.
- The restroom tile and flooring were completed.
- Toilets and partitions are ongoing.
- If you haven't gotten a chance to see some of the pictures
- of the restroom renovations, they look phenomenal.
- And so very excited about that change as well.
- And then EPS phase four renovations were completed.
- Phase five case work is complete.
- And the drinking fountain tile begins this week.
- And then the preschool project,
- the exterior brick began on 310
- and will be completed this week.
- The windows begin on 331.
- So next week, interior drywall is well underway in area B.
- Framing is complete and the rooftop air handlers
- were set in place.
- The drywall finishing begins tomorrow.
- And so that building is taking shape quick.
- It is changing by the day.
- And so you blink and something looks different.
- And so that one's really exciting as well.
- And just at the different points as you walk through it,
- you're envisioning those spaces.
- You come back the next time and everything is continuing to,
- the layers of the onion keep going on
- and it's pretty amazing.
- So they're really excited to continue to see those
- come to fruition and what that means
- for our kids and our schools.
- So if you have any questions, let me know
- and we'll go from there.
- Sure.
- The one teacher I saw that was looking and said,
- they're not leaving the front of that pink, are they?
- So there, yeah, there was some questions.
- People like, is the building gonna be pink?
- And no.
- And then at one point, you know,
- is the building gonna be purple?
- No.
- As you put some of the different building materials on
- as it relates to moisture control
- and all of those different things like that.
- And yeah, so it's really exciting
- and looking forward to it being finished.
- I'd just like to commend the contractors
- that are working up here.
- I stopped in a couple of weeks going to Saturday
- and just snuck in the door and walked around
- trying to figure out which room is where
- and they were doing all the pipes,
- electrical stuff going.
- And I said, you sure this is gonna be ready
- by the end of May?
- And they said, that's not what we were told.
- They said that's why they were in there on Saturday.
- They were busting it pretty hard,
- so they're pushing it good.
- So it's exciting.
- Yeah, for sure.
- I saw the HVAC units went up this week too.
- They're on the roof.
- I don't know if they're hooked up.
- Yeah, they got set on the roof, yep.
- Yep. - Yep.
- Cool.
- Mr. Outten and I went through this past weekend
- and I'll just say that I was very impressed
- with the quality of work.
- I really was.
- And it, you know, I was looking at the walls
- and seeing if they were straight.
- I mean, it was, you know, checking door frames
- with my phone with a little level on it.
- And it was--
- Dan even got his phone out and double-checked,
- made sure everything was exact.
- So, but I was really impressed
- with the quality of workmanship, so.
- And that was which building though?
- The E&CC building.
- Just continue to be impressed with the contractors
- and with Skillman.
- Skillman has done a great job of being very responsive.
- It's construction and things come up
- and questions come up and issues arise.
- And they are so responsive to solving those issues
- and working through things that contractors
- have been terrific about that as well.
- So far it's been an amazing experience
- and so hopefully it continues that way
- and they've been a great partner so far.
- Lancer as well.
- Lancer has been a great partner as well.
- And so hopefully this continues to be the trend
- through the fruition of the end of these projects, so.
- Remind me afterwards, I do have a question about that.
- Something on that.
- Sure.
- Okay, any more questions for him?
- All right, next will be, let's open that,
- consideration to approve the Lee Company furniture quotes.
- This is for the furniture that we need
- to outfit the new preschool.
- This is a large amount of the loose furniture
- that is budgeted in the bond to pay for those things.
- We worked with the Lee Company as a representative
- as far as sourcing furniture through cooperatives.
- So stuff that's already been competitively bid,
- high quality furniture suppliers
- that have already been competitively bid,
- and to bring that together so that we could work through
- and choose what is gonna work best in that space.
- So, Daris came and met with Heather and myself,
- and at times Vicki and Dr. Sanders,
- and talking about what type of furniture
- was gonna work best in the building.
- Heather was taking that back to her staff,
- getting feedback about what they liked,
- what they didn't like, what needed to be different.
- This doesn't encompass all the different supplies
- and a couple of odds and ends,
- but this is a large piece of the puzzle
- with outfitting offices and classrooms
- and those sorts of things for what we need to be functioning.
- Trying to get ahead of the curve
- to make sure we've already set the install date,
- giving that to say, hey, the install date's
- gonna happen during this week in July.
- It's turnkey, they're coming in, setting stuff up,
- taking away all the trash.
- Everything should be ready to go,
- so that burden's not on maintenance and custodial
- as we transition, 'cause in the summertime,
- they're deep cleaning buildings
- and doing the things that they're across campus,
- so to add that burden to them would not be feasible,
- so that piece is already included in this as well.
- But we're excited about getting all this in the space.
- The total of the furniture selection
- that you guys see are improving is $179,685.35.
- And again, this is something that is gonna be paid from
- and is budgeted through the 2023 bond
- as a part of this project for the new preschool.
- (murmuring)
- Who can second it?
- Any discussion?
- That's what they called it, the soft cost?
- Yeah, this is the soft cost.
- That was a big soft cost number back in the day, so.
- It's already budgeted through.
- That's something that was,
- when we looked at what the cost of the project,
- that is obviously something that gets encompassed in.
- I know, I know.
- Can't build a building and not put anything in it,
- so it's all part of it, it's all in there.
- That was all part of the plan from the get-go,
- and all that's in good order.
- Perfect, all right.
- Yeah, I thought the best analogy was,
- is if you take the building and turn over
- and shake it real hard, everything that falls out,
- it's soft.
- So, okay, any further questions?
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Opposed?
- Motion carries.
- Now the consideration to approve
- the Stanger High School practice field quotes.
- Yeah, so this has another connection
- to some of the construction that's going on.
- So the new student activity center, the field house,
- we had to replace the parking.
- We put that up in the area,
- which was serving as a practice field area.
- That also was where we were doing shot put
- and discus out as well, so we had to move that.
- There's the space that has been something
- that the high school and athletics has been after a while,
- which is trying to get that connected
- to the track and field area,
- so they're not crossing across the Edgewood Drive there
- to get over to the field.
- And so we worked with Bledsoe, Rigert, and James
- to put together the plans for doing the dirt work out there
- to get that done, the drainage that's there,
- all that stuff, and that will become the permanent home
- of the discus shot put and throw,
- and then also a practice area for football,
- for athletics, whether it's baseball or any other group
- that might need an open green space to go out there.
- We had worked through this.
- We were looking to do it within the project.
- As we went through some of the pricing,
- we felt like we needed to continue
- to try to bid it out more.
- So we went through that process.
- Skillman helped us put that together.
- We sourced out specific quotes from reputable companies.
- And Stanger was the low quote at $52,115.
- And they were low quote by a decent margin there.
- So we were excited about that savings
- that we would have realized.
- And so it definitely paid off
- to continue to do that due diligence on that.
- It took a little longer than what we wanted it to.
- I think it's worth it based on what you guys
- were able to see in the board packet
- as far as the savings that that brought.
- So we're excited about them.
- They do great work.
- They met all the requirements
- of what were in the specifications
- and they've done work for us in the past.
- And I think we'll be happy.
- So asking for your approval, again, it's $52,115.
- The plan would be to pay from that, from the 2023 bond.
- Asking for your approval.
- Motion.
- I'll second.
- So is this behind the practice,
- or behind the football field over by the softball diamonds?
- Yeah, it's that open grass area.
- So if you think about that open grass area
- that's back there behind the football field
- and behind softball,
- it's essentially about half of that area out there.
- It's not gonna go all the way out there.
- It's about half.
- And so there's some storm drainage
- that we'll need to go in to make that area a little safer
- as far as kids being out there moving around.
- And so there's some of that work.
- We have to provide site access.
- There's a thorough road that the town has to access things
- back there in the wooded area as well.
- And then the dirt moving everything out,
- seed and straw providing all of those things
- so that it's leveled and it drains correctly.
- So could that be coordinated if down the road,
- I know one of the goals is to have a pathway
- between the June 9 high school and Safe Path.
- If that was the area it came in, has that been thought about?
- We didn't specifically do this with that in mind,
- but I think that's a part of it.
- I think as the board continues to look at
- what are possible options for that,
- looking at the different alternatives
- of what that route could be and what are the pros and cons
- to that route so that we can continue to improve that.
- I just don't wanna spend money after this
- if we're gonna have to redo it later for a Safe Path.
- Yeah, that was not a part of the--
- That's a big, that'd be a safe way
- to get the kids over here.
- Yeah, but we need a replacement of that practice area,
- which will be highly used by athletics
- and probably some of the youth sports teams as well
- in the community that ask to use our facilities.
- The grass area that's been saved,
- where we had to take out for parking lot up.
- They'll still be able to use that.
- That'll be a temporary home for a shop,
- put in discus.
- But that could be parking down the road over there too.
- It could be, I guess, depending on some of the decisions
- that need to be made down the road as well.
- But that'll be a temporary home.
- We have to allow that grass and seed and straw to take
- before there starts to be a bunch of traffic on it.
- Otherwise, we're gonna take a bunch of the money
- that we would spend on that
- and essentially throw it into the wind
- if we let people on it too early.
- Okay, all right.
- No further discussion.
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Opposed?
- It carries, okay, now consideration
- to revise the schedule for the 2025 school board meetings.
- Dr. Sanders?
- Yeah, so basically as a board,
- you have the opportunity to set the schedule
- of school board meetings
- and we usually do that in December for the next year.
- But as we went into 2025,
- we've just discovered that we have many more conflicts
- on a Monday night and a lot of other organizations
- have their meetings on Monday night.
- And so we feel like a Tuesday evening
- will be better, less conflicts for us.
- And so we are moving to the third Tuesday of every month
- and the calendar reflects that
- and everything else should be the same.
- Just move it to the third Tuesday.
- Revising the schedule for the 2025 school board meetings.
- Any discussion?
- That hasn't taken effect on our calendar yet, has it?
- No, after you prove it tonight,
- we will make sure this gets on our website
- and gets communicated to the school community.
- And we definitely appreciate the public
- either showing, coming to the meetings or visiting on CATS.
- And so we definitely wanna get that information out.
- Okay, I think it needs to go to the media too,
- per the annual, thank you.
- Okay, all right, anything further?
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Opposed?
- Motion carries.
- And now consideration to approve
- the 2025 summer school program, Dr. Sanders.
- Sure, and this really is pretty much the same
- as we did last year, except for the dates.
- And so we'll have summer school,
- June 2nd through the 19th at EPS and EIS.
- And then also end of May and through June
- will be summer school at the Edgewood High School.
- And then the junior high,
- they have more of a jumpstart summer school
- and that'll be July 21st through the 31st.
- I included for you the hours for both students and teachers.
- We will be providing transportation again
- for anybody that wants that.
- And also a free breakfast and lunch.
- And then on the backside of that, the next page anyways,
- is the estimated number of staff that we would need.
- And so we are required to submit to the state
- an estimated cost report.
- It's very much estimated because we really don't know
- how many students we're going to have yet.
- But that's just an annual requirement
- that we have to do for summer school.
- So I recommend approval.
- Moved and seconded.
- Any questions, discussion?
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye, opposed?
- Motion carries.
- No consideration to approve the Centerstone agreement.
- Yes, so as the board knows, we had an agreement,
- a partnership with Adult and Child to provide
- mental health services.
- And they were bought out and the new company decided
- to focus more on Marion, I think in Johnson Counties.
- And so we were at a loss, very worried about
- what we were going to do because these mental health
- services are very, very important to our students
- and our families.
- And I honestly believe, and I think back over the last
- several years, before we had such a strong mental health
- team that watching our school corporation grow and improve,
- I think a lot of it has to do with the mental health
- services that we've provided.
- So we were very nervous what we were going to do
- with Adult and Child not working with us anymore.
- Well, Jennifer Anderson did an awesome job contacting
- Centerstone and working out an agreement and basically
- it's the same agreement we had with Adult and Child.
- So they will provide the mental health services,
- they will bill Medicaid and insurance, and I don't think
- we're going to miss a beat, so I recommend your approval.
- I'll move approval.
- I'll second.
- Moved and seconded.
- Any discussion?
- All those in favor say aye.
- Aye.
- Opposed?
- Motion carries.
- And now another agreement with IU Year 3 SMART.
- Yes, so this is something you're familiar with.
- It's a SMART grant, it's a federal grant that we receive
- also for mental health, a $3.4 million grant,
- and this is just an annual requirement that we have
- to approve an amendment every year so we could
- pay our partners, IU, for the services they provide,
- and we're a little nervous about this grant too
- because we've heard that some other organizations
- who have the same federal grant have already been cut,
- and this funds six mental health staff for us,
- and so we're hoping we don't get that note.
- So far, so good, but this is just an annual requirement
- that we approve this amendment.
- I second.
- You seconded?
- Any discussion?
- Were those other school corporations?
- I assume those are the other school corporations
- that got the notice?
- I don't know if they're Indiana.
- Oh, okay, you're making me nervous now.
- Yeah. - Yeah, okay.
- Nothing further, all those in favor say aye.
- Aye. - Aye.
- Opposed?
- Motion carries.
- Dr. Sanders, your superintendent's report.
- Yeah, I don't know if I say this every month,
- I truly am excited about the things I get to report to you.
- First of all, I wanna give congratulations
- to the high school color guard
- who came in state runner-ups.
- Now, we're used to state championships,
- but a state runner-up is pretty good too.
- And then as it was already mentioned,
- I got to go to the Indiana Pacers game last night,
- but it wasn't the game that I was interested in.
- In fact, as I'm getting older,
- I got to about halftime and I was tired.
- So we left, but we had our show choirs,
- both show choir, sophisticated ladies and music warehouse
- to sing the national anthem.
- And combining those two choirs was just amazing
- because they had such a strong voice and great performance.
- And it's so good to hear in Edgewood High School's
- show choir throughout the court and the stadium there.
- And then this Saturday, our winter percussion
- will be performing at the state competition
- in Terre Haute on March 29th, that's this Saturday.
- And they'll be doing a public performance
- Friday night at 6.30, but just a note there,
- it will be held at the junior high.
- And then secondly, at the Edgewood Early Childhood Center,
- we have, our enrollment is open.
- And so far we have 147 students enrolled
- for the 2025-26 school year.
- And that's about 75% capacity.
- So we're getting pretty close to filling the spaces.
- And we will have that facility open.
- Staff childcare enrollment opens on next Monday, March 31st.
- And that has been communicated to the public,
- and well, to our school community,
- and that our school staff will be able to enroll
- their children in the daycare portion of the preschool.
- Kindergarten Welcome Week is next week,
- March 31st through April 4th.
- And there'll be a, so on Welcome Week,
- our next year kindergartners will come with their parents.
- The kindergartners will go
- and they'll do a fun type assessment.
- So the teachers get to know their,
- start to get to know their students.
- And then the parents meet with important people
- throughout the school, school nurse and counselors
- and teachers and fill out papers.
- And so that'll happen next week.
- And then there'll be an open house April 3rd
- from 545 to 745.
- I thought I'd give you an update
- on our biomedical training facility project.
- We are, right now we are working on visiting
- different training facilities
- and getting an idea of how we should design this project,
- this facility for our Edgewood students.
- And so we've already visited Boston Scientific.
- We visited, just this week we visited
- the Sim Center at IU Health.
- And well, if you've never had that opportunity
- to tour that, that's just an amazing place.
- And I was very proud to be a resident of Monroe County,
- realizing that we have such a facility.
- Because it's so, I mean, as you know,
- it's connected to the hospital.
- But we were able to see where our future nurses,
- future doctors, EMTs, where they practice
- and there were mannequins all over the place
- from babies to adults.
- And what they could do with those mannequins
- was just truly amazing because you could do a scan
- and actually see simulated inside the body
- and track an artery.
- And we got to see a simulation in progress
- and when you walk in, you walk into a smaller room
- and there's a glass between you and the hospital room.
- And we had folks who were working on a baby at the time
- and practicing a procedure on that,
- not a real baby, but a mannequin baby.
- And I think, Dirk, didn't we have one of our students
- that was in there?
- 2007 graduate Hannah Holmes was the lead nurse
- in Detroit.
- Yeah, and so the places which looked like,
- basically like a hospital room,
- it was designed just like the hospital.
- So it looks exactly the same.
- And so we're getting some pictures of that
- because when we design our facility,
- now we know what we need to do here.
- And we met a couple of really important contacts.
- One of the gentlemen is a professor with IU
- and also works with IU Health.
- He works nationwide with designing
- and working with organizations on these sim labs.
- And so he offered, he offered, we didn't even have to ask,
- I was gonna ask anyways,
- but he offered to help us out for free
- and definitely asked for his card at that time.
- And so not only were we getting some good ideas
- about the facility,
- but we were making some important contacts.
- When we were at Boston Scientific,
- we were able, they committed to working with us
- and taking their process for training their employees
- and transforming that into a high school setting.
- And their curriculum, their training process
- is built on that they're gonna have an employee there
- all day long, several days, weeks in a row.
- And how do we take that kind of a training process
- and replicate that into a high school setting?
- And so they've already started a meeting on March 14th.
- We had a team to go down there.
- I couldn't go that day, I had to stay here on campus.
- But on March 14th, we had a team to go down there
- and they're starting that exact process
- of taking their training facility or the process
- and working the scope and sequence, the curriculum
- to make it fit here.
- They're committed to sending their trainers here
- to work with our students.
- And we're excited, IU Health is committing the same thing.
- They are organizing themselves and getting key people
- that's involved in their training
- and their professional development.
- They're organizing that so they can start meeting with us
- and doing the same thing.
- And then we're gonna follow that same pattern
- with Cook Medical.
- And we were able to meet a gentleman that works,
- leads a CEMTRA.
- And so we've scheduled a lunch meeting with him
- and one of his colleagues to start the process
- of sharing our vision about what we're trying to do here
- on our campus.
- And at the same time, trying to determine
- what their needs are.
- And so we're continuing to grow those partnerships
- and it's really starting to pick up a lot of momentum.
- It's just really exciting stuff.
- We're going to visit some other training facilities.
- Now not all these are health related,
- but we're gonna go see the Andrus
- and the Hauser training facility.
- And then I think that's in Greenwood.
- And then Toyota 4T Academy and the Barry Link program.
- And these are state of the art training facilities.
- And so we're just going to pick their brains
- on how do they take their training process
- and replicate that in their local high schools.
- So we'll have a group going this Friday
- and then again on April 2nd.
- We have our business leaders advisory luncheon coming up
- April 18th at 1130 and we've talked about this before.
- Twice a year we invite our business leaders
- to come on campus and the key to that
- is not only to show them what we're doing,
- but also to make connections between them and our students.
- And so what we wanna focus on this time
- is our new Indiana diploma requirements
- and our career pathways, but from a student's perspective.
- How does a student see all this?
- Do they see these things as good things?
- How do they think these initiatives will benefit them?
- And so Jennifer Baird is working with
- some of our high school students to prepare for that date.
- If you would like to go, let me know.
- It's April 18th at 1130, and I think we're gonna
- have it right here in this room.
- This morning we had the Ellisville Chamber of Commerce
- has a coffee connection every once in a while
- to promote networking, and so we hosted that
- in our coffee corral this morning.
- So if you were at the high school this morning,
- you would have met a lot of business leaders
- across the community, and I love that
- because the whole time I'm over there,
- they're just bragging about our coffee corral
- and our students, and it's a real showcase
- to what we're trying to do here at Edgewood High School.
- That was today.
- Also today we had the internship fair
- in the high school gymnasium.
- We had 55 students and 25 businesses to participate,
- and Jennifer Barrett was telling me
- how all the businesses just were amazed
- at how well our students handled themselves,
- and some of our students are gonna have some tough decisions
- because they received multiple offers,
- and so that was an exciting day.
- It's just really, you know, as I mentioned earlier
- with the ILC design group that, you know,
- we're seeing these dreams that we as a board
- have had for years turning into reality
- and just continues to grow.
- It also challenges us because we have more and more students
- who wanna participate in the internships,
- and so that means we have to go out and find opportunities
- for them, and then coming up as a career
- and employment fair for our students on April 8th.
- I wanted to make that noted tonight for the board,
- so if you have any questions, let me know.
- Thank you.
- Now we have RBBEA comments,
- and we have Brandy Abel with us tonight.
- Good evening.
- I just wanted to start by saying
- it is just always wonderful to hear what's happening
- in the other buildings.
- You have no idea, and these products are amazing,
- but I think what filled my soul the most
- was just hearing the passion in our students' voices
- and seeing it in their faces.
- I think I can speak for all educators,
- when you see that passion in your students,
- that is just what makes your job.
- There's amazing students like you
- that provided that foundation for them to do all that.
- And there were a few that I remember (laughs)
- whether they remember me, I don't know.
- Mrs. DeMoss was a few years later.
- One thing I wanted to share,
- Doug and I are trying to change a few things
- with the bargaining process.
- We're trying to do a lot more front loading
- before the end of the school year.
- We realized with this last session that people,
- some of our members felt like we weren't as transparent
- and maybe communication wasn't as strong
- as it could have been.
- So we are working along with our building reps
- to start having that communication with our members
- about things that they would like to see.
- At the same time, continuing to educate them
- about what bargaining means, what can be bargained,
- what cannot be bargained.
- We hope to have a survey sent out to everyone
- so that we have a good plan
- before the end of the school year.
- I'm also planning to communicate with Nancy Guy.
- She's our director.
- She's the one that helps us with bargaining
- in the next week or so to get some dates
- so that hopefully I can email you, Mr. Irwin
- and Dr. Sanders so we can get those dates on the calendar
- before the end of the school year.
- So hopefully getting that to be an easier process.
- So that is our plan.
- And then finally, a few months ago, I stood up here
- and sang Vicki Entriken's praises.
- I'm going to get emotional, so sorry.
- I'm glad she's not here.
- I'm sorry, I knew I was gonna do this, but we were,
- there was rumor for years that Vicki and Brenda
- were gonna go out together.
- And I think many of us thought, oh, that's not happening
- 'cause we hadn't heard anything about Brenda.
- And yeah, the Thursday before spring break,
- she made the announcement, and I'm sorry.
- And I honestly have kind of avoided her
- 'cause I knew I was gonna do this.
- But Vicki and I are two of, I think, six people
- that have been there since she started.
- And I'm not gonna lie, Brenda and I have gone
- head-to-head a few times.
- We talk about passion.
- We've had our laughs, our cries, our hugs.
- I call her my work mother, and coincidentally,
- she lives next to my mother.
- And so now they can enjoy retirement together.
- They've known each other for a long time,
- but you know, I can't stand here and tell you
- that Brenda was not what made me the teacher I am today
- because she sure has, she's been my principal
- for 18 years, and she's just been fabulous.
- She's been so good to all of us, and you know,
- again, we all have our strengths and differences,
- but I just, I hope, I'm happy for her, I'm happy for Bob.
- She has a grandbaby now, but we are gonna miss her.
- So yeah, so if there's any kind of interview process,
- then you need teachers, Dr. Sanders.
- I don't know what that process is,
- but anyway, so we will miss her.
- But thanks, that's all I have.
- Then we'll go to board member comments, Mr. Irwin.
- Thank you, sir.
- I don't know if I can explain how impressed I was
- with the ILC kids tonight.
- They were just so mature and so well-articulate,
- so prepared for this, so it's just really,
- it just says a lot for what you do there at the high school
- and then junior high and Jennifer and Olivia,
- you know, it's just great.
- I'm just so proud of this school
- and so honored to serve on the school board.
- Thank you, sir.
- Mrs. Jacobs.
- Yeah, I totally agree.
- I'm in awe of everything that the students are doing.
- Impressive is not even how I can explain.
- Talk about goosebumps.
- It's phenomenal what these students are doing
- and very appreciative that I can be on a board
- that supports them.
- Thank you to everyone that's giving the donations
- for our students, for our robotics team,
- to be able to get to Worlds.
- I was a robotics mom for a lot of years,
- so they are in a special place in my heart.
- I'm just really, really happy to be where I am
- and watching all the phenomenal things
- that our corporation is doing.
- It just, every time you think or you come
- and sit in this chair and get to see
- what our educators are doing for our students
- and what our students are producing, it's just phenomenal.
- It makes me very happy and blessed.
- Yeah, Ditto did everything, I can't say it any better
- about what you did about Ms. Whittaker.
- I know she's made an impact on a lot of kids,
- and congrats to all that have gone on well tonight.
- The ILC was great.
- I do wanna leave one quick story,
- and this is for all the principals
- and teachers in this room.
- I stood in line last night in Odin, Indiana,
- which I don't know if you guys know where that's at,
- Davies County.
- There was a gentleman named Ken Hudson that passed away.
- He was the last principal at Odin Elementary.
- He's 91 years old.
- And this place was packed
- with all the people that he impacted his whole life.
- Students, parents, a multitude of people.
- In my, I was thinking, this is gonna be a long line
- to sit through, to get through.
- But the kid in front of me was 42 years old.
- He had Mr. Hudson.
- The last year, Odin was in elementary,
- and he wanted to make sure he came and paid his respects
- because Mr. Hudson didn't always get along with him.
- He said he got to meet Mr. Hudson's paddle a few times.
- But he was telling me all the things he's done
- as an adult now and the successes he's had.
- And that left an impact on me.
- You guys are all making a huge difference.
- You don't hear it every day.
- You hear the bad stuff sometimes.
- But he was one of the 10 percenters, this kid was.
- He's one of those 10 percent
- that the principal probably remembered him.
- And he wanted to come and let Mr. Hudson's boys know
- how much he appreciated his father.
- So continue your good work,
- and don't forget how much of an impact
- every day you guys are making on people.
- Thanks.
- Well, yeah.
- Mrs. Whitaker, Marcy Jones, Ramiz,
- at the high school, Becky Meyers,
- Becky Murphy, Becky Patterson, she was in my speech class.
- I will always think of her as with her yearbook picture,
- where she's, the look of determination on her face
- is she's at the free throw line as a student,
- and then she came to be one of my colleagues,
- and we're gonna miss her a lot.
- And then I can't, Gary Sims, what a guy,
- and I'm gonna miss him.
- I'm glad that he's finally gonna take advantage
- of retirement, but I still, he hasn't gotten over
- the technical, he got in the sectional last year,
- and that may have been the only one he ever got.
- The, just beyond us, the RDC,
- they continue to assure us of their intent
- to support the schools with going forward from,
- with the TIF, and I have no reason to believe
- that they're anything but genuine in that desire,
- because they're just really supportive,
- and I'm looking forward to that.
- It looks like we're just playing a waiting game
- at the General Assembly at this point,
- until they get some good numbers,
- and until the April forecast comes out,
- I don't think we're gonna know a lot,
- and so that's, I just, I do appreciate all
- who have contacted their representatives
- about various legislation,
- especially the Partisan School Board legislation.
- That's, it definitely is wavering,
- whether that's gonna go through or not.
- It looks very iffy at this point.
- And finally, I got to go to IU Health Sim Lab
- with the group yesterday, and it's exciting.
- I appreciate Jennifer Barrett so much,
- and I think, I was telling her that the vision
- and seeing what has happened in the last couple of years
- so much is moving, and building on that,
- what we saw with the ILC this evening,
- building on that with biomedical careers,
- the goosebumps we got tonight,
- I think that's just the beginning of what we're seeing,
- and it's so exciting, it's so reassuring,
- and so I'm just so proud to be part of this, so thank you.
- Very difficult to go last,
- 'cause I agree with everything everybody said,
- but I'd like to point out how positive the meetings are
- at RBB, where we all just work together
- to do what's best for kids.
- There's a lot of school corporations
- that don't have the family feel that we have here,
- and that's because of all of you,
- every person that steps on this campus,
- it makes a big difference for kids,
- and so I just appreciate all of you,
- and this meeting's adjourned.
- (orchestral music)