WEBVTT

00:00:00.514 --> 00:00:09.853
- Open this meeting. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and

00:00:09.853 --> 00:00:19.192
- to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

00:00:19.192 --> 00:00:28.254
- all. Thank you all. Please be seated. And welcome to the March 2026 regular school board meeting.

00:00:28.386 --> 00:00:36.501
- And we let the record reflect that Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Durnall, and Mr. Kerr are present this evening. As

00:00:36.501 --> 00:00:44.537
- my understanding, there are no visitor comments. OK. Seeing none, we'll go into our Mustang moments.

00:00:44.537 --> 00:00:52.732
- And we have two tonight. That's the fact room. So Dr. Sanders, would you like to do the introductions?

00:00:52.732 --> 00:00:58.142
- We'll, you know, two for the price of one. All right. You get that?

00:00:58.402 --> 00:01:04.986
- All right, we're going to turn it over to Mr. Woody at EPS. All right. Well, some of you may know that

00:01:04.986 --> 00:01:11.442
- relatively recently, over the last couple of years, we adopted a new reading curriculum. And when we

00:01:11.442 --> 00:01:17.834
- adopted Amplify as the knowledge strand of our reading program during our last curriculum adoption,

00:01:17.834 --> 00:01:24.546
- we were all curious about student engagement. While we spoke with everybody, we spoke to lots of experts

00:01:24.546 --> 00:01:27.550
- about that curriculum, and they all assured us

00:01:27.906 --> 00:01:33.619
- that seven-year-olds could really be compelled by units like early Asian civilizations and the War of

00:01:33.619 --> 00:01:39.276
- 1812 and westward expansion, we were all still a little bit skeptical. But what we found is that not

00:01:39.276 --> 00:01:44.989
- only were our students enthusiastic about those subjects once they got into them, their teachers were

00:01:44.989 --> 00:01:50.870
- eager to learn about them and to help students make deeper connections to that new content. And starting

00:01:50.870 --> 00:01:53.950
- toward the end of last year, our special area teachers

00:01:54.146 --> 00:01:59.534
- started considering how they could help students make connections to those units as well. So we know

00:01:59.534 --> 00:02:05.189
- that engaged students of course are learning students and in music, PE, art, library, at EPS our students

00:02:05.189 --> 00:02:10.737
- have had opportunities to live out their learning and extend their comprehension of those subjects that

00:02:10.737 --> 00:02:16.072
- they're studying thanks to the creative efforts of these amazing teachers over here and these kids.

00:02:16.072 --> 00:02:20.446
- So they're gonna take it away. Okay, we're gonna start first with our first grade

00:02:20.802 --> 00:02:28.139
- reading unit and how we connected it to music. And this is Eleanor and she's going to tell you what

00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:35.769
- we did in music class and a little bit about art. In our first grade unit, we learned about fairy tales

00:02:35.769 --> 00:02:43.399
- and folk tales. Mrs. Hudson taught us two dances that we performed for our royal ball in our classroom.

00:02:43.399 --> 00:02:49.342
- In our class, we made castles and we also made crowns to wear at our royal ball.

00:02:50.114 --> 00:02:59.490
- So they learned two dances and then in their classrooms, they all got to dress up and wear their crowns

00:02:59.490 --> 00:03:08.595
- that they made and got to perform in their classroom. So I have a little video of kind of the end of

00:03:08.595 --> 00:03:17.610
- the unit. Maybe, there you go. So just a little snippet of their end of unit celebration. Okay, and

00:03:17.610 --> 00:03:18.782
- then in art,

00:03:19.426 --> 00:03:26.966
- to go along with that. In art they ended up doing texture crowns to wear to the Royal Ball and then

00:03:26.966 --> 00:03:34.731
- I connected it with they were learning castles in their fairy tales so we did texture castles and they

00:03:34.731 --> 00:03:42.346
- learned about the different castles around the world and then they got to design their own castle in

00:03:42.346 --> 00:03:44.382
- art. All right and then in

00:03:44.770 --> 00:03:52.317
- arts for second grade they were learning about the Pony Express and I'm going to let MJ take it away

00:03:52.317 --> 00:04:00.238
- from here. In our reading unit we learned about the westward expansion and how they used the Pony Express

00:04:00.238 --> 00:04:06.814
- where is this is where the riders delivered mail by horses over long distances it was a

00:04:07.746 --> 00:04:16.029
- hard and dangerous job because they traveled from Missouri to California. In art we learned how to make

00:04:16.029 --> 00:04:24.073
- a convincing advertisement. A successful ad has a big picture, a big title, and important details to

00:04:24.073 --> 00:04:32.117
- grab your attention. We created our own ads to get people to join the Pony Express. You want to show

00:04:32.117 --> 00:04:37.374
- your examples? Here, you guys can come over here. Come over here.

00:04:37.890 --> 00:04:44.986
- You want to show everyone? So they took paper, because back in the day, the paper, it wasn't white,

00:04:44.986 --> 00:04:52.224
- right? It wasn't bleached how it is today. And they had to rip the edges. And what did we paint with?

00:04:52.224 --> 00:04:59.320
- Coffee. We painted with coffee and art. And then they got to design their own advertisement and add

00:04:59.320 --> 00:05:06.558
- their own details and make it as realistic as possible to convince people to join their Pony Express.

00:05:07.138 --> 00:05:16.790
- And then the second grade teachers hung them throughout the hallway. So that was kind of cool to see

00:05:16.790 --> 00:05:26.920
- everybody's take on it. They did a great job. All right. In art, or not art, I'm library. Bookworm shirt.

00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:36.094
- Second grade teachers came to me late September and asked if I would be able to help supplement

00:05:36.578 --> 00:05:46.910
- their books titles in each domain that were recommended readings. And I said, well, I happen to have

00:05:46.910 --> 00:05:57.344
- pretty successful book fairs and take some of that money and it goes in my ECA account. So I was able

00:05:57.344 --> 00:05:59.390
- to, what goes next?

00:06:01.410 --> 00:06:09.249
- to purchase, these are some of the books that I purchased. I purchased, I think, like 15 titles, two

00:06:09.249 --> 00:06:17.166
- books each, so that each PLC could use them throughout the week, not have to go through nine teachers

00:06:17.166 --> 00:06:24.928
- to see where to find where the book is. And typically I kind of follow along with their curriculums

00:06:24.928 --> 00:06:30.206
- anyway, but it was fun this year, the things that I read and their,

00:06:30.338 --> 00:06:35.665
- Sometimes I'd hear this, they're like, we learned about that already. And I'm like, I know. So just

00:06:35.665 --> 00:06:41.153
- hearing their little voices, some of them that you don't ever hear them talk at all, just making those

00:06:41.153 --> 00:06:46.480
- connections was really kind of neat this year. So I'm looking forward to adding to that every year.

00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:51.914
- So I think we're off to the Olympics. All right, I'm going to have Amos talk first and then I'll talk

00:06:51.914 --> 00:06:53.246
- a little when he's done.

00:06:53.986 --> 00:07:00.310
- In reading, we learned about ancient Greek, Grecian Greek mythology. We learned that the Olympics were

00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:06.695
- first started to honor the gods and goddesses. The first Olympic games included chariot races, javelin,

00:07:06.695 --> 00:07:12.834
- discus, and long jump. In PE class, we had our own Olympics to celebrate the end of our Greek unit.

00:07:12.834 --> 00:07:19.035
- Our second grade Olympic games included events such as shot put, javelin, foot races, and long jump.

00:07:19.035 --> 00:07:21.982
- This was a fun way to wrap up our reading unit.

00:07:22.306 --> 00:07:29.491
- In the long jump, it was my favorite. I was in first place, and I got a gold medal. You did awesome.

00:07:29.491 --> 00:07:36.818
- So yeah, we got all our second grade students into the gym, and we had five different events going on.

00:07:36.818 --> 00:07:44.003
- And some of these events they'd never heard of, so it was really fun. We did the shot put instead of

00:07:44.003 --> 00:07:50.334
- discus for some safety reasons. And javelin, we did. But you did it, second grade style.

00:07:50.658 --> 00:08:02.296
- We're gonna have Amos and Archie are gonna show you how. They did it, so be aware down there. There's

00:08:02.296 --> 00:08:13.706
- a way to do it. Remember how you stand? Yep. Ooh, that was a good one. All right, go ahead, Archie.

00:08:13.706 --> 00:08:18.270
- Yeah, nice. All right, and there we go.

00:08:21.346 --> 00:08:29.256
- So they did not introduce themselves, but I want to introduce these teachers before they walk away.

00:08:29.256 --> 00:08:37.325
- Jenna Hudson, Maria Koos, Whitney Goodwin, Brittany Padroni, and Sarah Fig are marvelous special area

00:08:37.325 --> 00:08:45.314
- teachers at EPS. And I want to go back to something that Maria said. Sometimes a moment just doesn't

00:08:45.314 --> 00:08:48.478
- click in the typical classroom setting.

00:08:49.442 --> 00:08:54.384
- and you get into library or you get into PE and you get into music and you get into art and you just

00:08:54.384 --> 00:08:59.326
- hear something or get to experience something in a different way and that's when it clicks. And this

00:08:59.326 --> 00:09:04.219
- has just been so marvelous to see our special area teachers take off with our Amplified curriculum.

00:09:04.219 --> 00:09:06.078
- So thank you guys and thank you kids.

00:09:24.866 --> 00:09:33.946
- great presentation. Anytime you can make connections like that for students, it just enhances the learning.

00:09:33.946 --> 00:09:42.522
- My wife's a second grade teacher, and she just loves the curriculum and just finds it so interesting.

00:09:42.522 --> 00:09:47.230
- And she says that the students really, really enjoy it.

00:09:51.906 --> 00:09:58.515
- It's actually a three for one night. Junior high is bringing two things this evening. I'm gonna turn

00:09:58.515 --> 00:10:05.256
- it over to this dynamic duo of Mrs. Callie Schlemmer and Mrs. Brittany Straw to talk about transitions

00:10:05.256 --> 00:10:12.061
- from our elementary schools into the junior high. It's a big change for a lot of our students. And then

00:10:12.061 --> 00:10:18.671
- once that's over, Mr. Siglin's out in the hallway and I'll turn it over to him. So up next. Awesome.

00:10:18.671 --> 00:10:20.830
- So if you think about your life,

00:10:21.090 --> 00:10:28.869
- when you were in elementary school, and then all of a sudden, you had seven classes a day, a locker,

00:10:28.869 --> 00:10:37.034
- different teachers. Your parents were not contacted every week or even every day. You had to start asking

00:10:37.034 --> 00:10:45.121
- teachers your own questions or advocating for yourself. You can see that this alone is a huge transition

00:10:45.121 --> 00:10:50.590
- in our students' lives. Couple that with, sorry, junior high students,

00:10:51.458 --> 00:11:00.673
- High emotions, brain transformations, puberty. These transitions from especially fifth grade to sixth

00:11:00.673 --> 00:11:09.797
- grade are hugely important. They help our students build their confidence and keep their confidence,

00:11:09.797 --> 00:11:19.193
- build their self-efficacy so that they know they're a part of the school. They know that what they have

00:11:19.193 --> 00:11:20.638
- to do every day

00:11:20.770 --> 00:11:27.283
- and they can then focus on their learning. So we're going to talk about the different things that we

00:11:27.283 --> 00:11:33.861
- do for this transition, and then you'll hear from a few of our sixth graders about what this was like

00:11:33.861 --> 00:11:40.374
- this year. So the first thing that we do is in March, and we invite our fifth grade students to come

00:11:40.374 --> 00:11:46.823
- tour the school. So they hear from the junior high band, the junior high choir, they take a tour of

00:11:46.823 --> 00:11:49.918
- the building with current junior high students,

00:11:50.146 --> 00:11:56.632
- they get to practice opening a locker. And it's pretty hard these first few times. And then you can

00:11:56.632 --> 00:12:03.248
- also see in one of these photos, they stand against the wall to watch a passing period. Because up to

00:12:03.248 --> 00:12:09.734
- this point, they're walking through the hallways in lines with a teacher guiding them, whereas here

00:12:09.734 --> 00:12:13.950
- they're on their own to make that time whatever it is they need.

00:12:15.586 --> 00:12:21.904
- We also host something for parents because it's a big transition for parents as well. Our fifth grade

00:12:21.904 --> 00:12:28.160
- parent and guardian night is actually tomorrow night. And so we are welcoming fifth grade parents as

00:12:28.160 --> 00:12:34.354
- well as new to the corporation next year families to come learn about what we're like at the junior

00:12:34.354 --> 00:12:40.920
- high. They're going to learn about expectations, schedules, different supports, and all of the activities

00:12:40.920 --> 00:12:42.654
- that we have at the school.

00:12:44.802 --> 00:12:52.468
- In May, we take a group of junior high students to each individual fifth grade classroom. So the fifth

00:12:52.468 --> 00:13:00.357
- graders get a chance to ask these eighth graders typically whatever they're still thinking about. They've

00:13:00.357 --> 00:13:08.097
- seen the school in March. What are they still wondering about in May? So that's a day where they really

00:13:08.097 --> 00:13:12.190
- just get to make it their own. From there, Mrs. Straw.

00:13:13.090 --> 00:13:20.926
- So from there, we transition from the idea that these students are leaving elementary and really welcome

00:13:20.926 --> 00:13:28.463
- them into just, hey, we are now part of the junior high crew. And so we start off in August with our

00:13:28.463 --> 00:13:36.449
- Colts Roundup. This is a pretty high energy event. Our students come over. They are engaged in a scavenger

00:13:36.449 --> 00:13:41.822
- hunt to help figure out where different things are around the building.

00:13:41.922 --> 00:13:49.856
- They get their schedules. They again get some time for their locker. And they leave there with a Colts

00:13:49.856 --> 00:13:57.944
- t-shirt so that they can really feel a part of the team, like they belong. And from there, we transition

00:13:57.944 --> 00:14:06.109
- into an open building. So we will welcome the students only for this event, two to four-ish, a few hours.

00:14:06.109 --> 00:14:08.574
- And then after that, we welcome

00:14:08.834 --> 00:14:14.918
- students and their families into the building for a more self paced introduction into the building.

00:14:14.918 --> 00:14:21.367
- So it's a little bit less chaotic, a little bit less overwhelming. They can find a route to their locker,

00:14:21.367 --> 00:14:27.512
- to their first period class. And really the hope is that when they come on that very first day, they

00:14:27.512 --> 00:14:32.318
- know exactly where they're reporting to really minimize that first day stress.

00:14:33.858 --> 00:14:40.670
- Once the school year gets started, we then welcome our families back for open house.

00:14:41.090 --> 00:14:46.324
- And this is a time where our teachers are present. They talk about their goals for the year,

00:14:46.324 --> 00:14:52.234
- their curriculum, the great things that the students have to look forward to. And they get to walk their

00:14:52.234 --> 00:14:57.975
- students' schedule themselves and see what passing periods feel like. And is four minutes really long

00:14:57.975 --> 00:15:03.772
- or is it too short? And I think they end up agreeing that this is a good amount of time for our junior

00:15:03.772 --> 00:15:05.854
- high students to be in the hallways.

00:15:08.418 --> 00:15:15.884
- Then to end my portion of this presentation, our counselors, so Ms. Schlimmer and I, we make sure that

00:15:15.884 --> 00:15:20.958
- we meet every sixth grade students for what we call a minute meeting.

00:15:21.314 --> 00:15:26.682
- And we do this for a lot of intentional purposes. But one of the things that it allows us to do is to

00:15:26.682 --> 00:15:31.997
- slow down, to really build a relationship with these kids, be face to face with them, make sure they

00:15:31.997 --> 00:15:37.680
- know how to get in contact with us as safe adults if they have questions about anything from their schedule

00:15:37.680 --> 00:15:43.048
- or friends, whatever the case may be. We generally try to find out something fun or unique about them

00:15:43.048 --> 00:15:48.573
- that we can use then as we're getting to know them, see them in the hallway, make sure that we reference

00:15:48.573 --> 00:15:49.310
- whatever that

00:15:49.410 --> 00:15:56.316
- dialogue was just again to let them know that they matter and they had our full attention for a full

00:15:56.316 --> 00:16:03.154
- minute. So then by the time that this happens, our now sixth grade students have had five different

00:16:03.154 --> 00:16:10.265
- touch points by EJHS faculty, staff, and student leaders. And this is in an attempt to really make sure

00:16:10.265 --> 00:16:17.172
- that their junior high transition is based on just like that emotional security and also just like a

00:16:17.172 --> 00:16:18.334
- physical comfort

00:16:18.498 --> 00:16:24.657
- that will then just hopefully set up their next three years really well at the junior high. I'm gonna

00:16:24.657 --> 00:16:30.755
- turn it over to Mishlimmer, who's going to introduce our students to talk with you. Yes, so I'd like

00:16:30.755 --> 00:16:36.974
- to welcome up Zach Dabbart, Will Ryder, and Briella Gardner. And I know we talked about what order you

00:16:36.974 --> 00:16:42.468
- were gonna talk outside, and I'm sorry, I don't remember what that is. So, take your spot.

00:16:42.468 --> 00:16:47.902
- You guys go. Yeah, feel free. First, I wanna talk about my experience with Colts Roundup.

00:16:48.514 --> 00:16:56.833
- It was a great time to come, get your schedule, check things out. And the scavenger hunt was great,

00:16:56.833 --> 00:17:05.318
- being able to check out the school, learn your way around a bit, and figure things out. And the sixth

00:17:05.318 --> 00:17:13.803
- grade minute meetings, it was great to be able to ask your counselor questions, any more thoughts you

00:17:13.803 --> 00:17:17.630
- had about stuff you hadn't already been told.

00:17:18.114 --> 00:17:25.214
- know that you can come to them if you ever need something, so yeah. Thank you. Thank you. During the

00:17:25.214 --> 00:17:32.806
- fifth grade visits, the students could have a time to try to open the lockers and look around the building.

00:17:32.806 --> 00:17:40.187
- I think the passing period part of it was really helpful because fifth grade students are walking around

00:17:40.187 --> 00:17:47.006
- with their teachers around the building, and they can see what it's like to not have to do that.

00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:54.856
- And then the first week of school is usually really stressful for incoming sixth graders because they're

00:17:54.856 --> 00:18:02.292
- trying to figure out where all their classes are still. But the teachers are really nice and they usually

00:18:02.292 --> 00:18:09.447
- allow a couple tardies the first week before they actually start getting serious and they are able to

00:18:09.447 --> 00:18:16.602
- help kids with their locker combos and getting around the building. The open house was really helpful

00:18:16.602 --> 00:18:17.374
- because of

00:18:17.954 --> 00:18:28.612
- like it was a reenactment of what you really would do during the school day. So it allowed you to open

00:18:28.612 --> 00:18:38.960
- your locker, walk around, just find where your classes are before school really started. Yeah, four

00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:44.030
- minutes is a good amount of time to walk around.

00:18:53.474 --> 00:19:00.903
- They have extra time. Okay, extra time left over. Dang, all of us in the room that had five, six, and

00:19:00.903 --> 00:19:08.258
- seven-minute passing periods are looking at you guys like you guys are rock stars to figure that one

00:19:08.258 --> 00:19:13.502
- out. Awesome. Well, thank you. That is what we have for you. Thank you.

00:19:28.162 --> 00:19:37.523
- One of my boys at an orientation like that went up to open his locker and he couldn't get it. All his

00:19:37.523 --> 00:19:47.526
- friends were helping him. They couldn't get it. I went over. I couldn't get it open. The assistant principal

00:19:47.526 --> 00:19:57.438
- finally came over. He couldn't get it open. Here they changed the lock on paper but not on the actual lock.

00:19:58.274 --> 00:20:07.319
- He was getting really frustrated. That was not a good start. You guys are doing an awesome job getting

00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:16.364
- our students ready for junior high. That can be a scary event. And I really like how they stand in the

00:20:16.364 --> 00:20:25.321
- hallway and watch how a passing period works. I never thought of that before. It is very well thought

00:20:25.321 --> 00:20:26.814
- out process. Hi.

00:20:29.890 --> 00:20:37.843
- What do you got there, Mr. Singh? We got some trophies over here. Just we're flexing a little bit. We

00:20:37.843 --> 00:20:45.796
- want to recognize our eighth grade girls basketball team. As sixth graders, they came in and you kind

00:20:45.796 --> 00:20:53.749
- of knew that they were a little bit of a special group. I think they went seven and one. The one loss

00:20:53.749 --> 00:20:55.230
- was at Bloomfield.

00:20:55.586 --> 00:21:03.006
- But that was obviously officiating. That wasn't anything to do with the way we did things. And then

00:21:03.006 --> 00:21:10.724
- as seventh graders, they won their first 24 games of the season. And then that last game of the season,

00:21:10.724 --> 00:21:18.367
- they didn't go the way that we had planned it. But this year was a pretty special season. They started

00:21:18.367 --> 00:21:25.342
- the year with a mission, and they completed that mission. They ended the year 24-0 this year.

00:21:25.474 --> 00:21:32.398
- So if you calculate that up over the course of three years in junior high, they ended up 55 and 2, which

00:21:32.398 --> 00:21:39.125
- I don't know of a group that's ever finished that well. At least I know from the time I've been here,

00:21:39.125 --> 00:21:45.918
- I know that the senior class that just graduated had a pretty special middle school group, but I think

00:21:45.918 --> 00:21:50.270
- maybe 19 and 3, 20 and 2 maybe was the best season that they had.

00:21:51.138 --> 00:21:57.416
- But they've accomplished something that very few people have accomplished. We even increased the difficulty

00:21:57.416 --> 00:22:03.228
- of our schedule this year by picking up some different teams. And they rose to the challenge. So at

00:22:03.228 --> 00:22:08.867
- the end of the year, it says a House District Declaration from House District 46. Robert Heaton,

00:22:08.867 --> 00:22:14.912
- it says, a declaration in recognition of Edgewood Junior High School eighth grade girls basketball team

00:22:14.912 --> 00:22:19.678
- from Ellisville, Indiana for exemplifying excellence, teamwork, and determination

00:22:19.938 --> 00:22:27.048
- as one of the most accomplished middle school athletic teams in Indiana, bringing pride to their school,

00:22:27.048 --> 00:22:33.887
- their families, and their entire Ellesville community. So I'd just like to recognize those girls. We

00:22:33.887 --> 00:22:40.319
- had Carmen Fry, Maggie Johnson, Audrina Truax, Bailey Clark, Timley Jablonski, Kaitlyn Ripley,

00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:47.429
- Kirsten Walker, Averyonna Richardson, Story Heckman, Chloe Wyckoff. And then we had two managers, Sophia

00:22:47.429 --> 00:22:49.054
- Corbin and Emma Caudel.

00:22:49.666 --> 00:22:55.817
- And then Jason Sims coached this group all the way through from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And

00:22:55.817 --> 00:23:01.969
- unfortunately, it's been an honor for him to coach for us. But after 17 years in middle school, which

00:23:01.969 --> 00:23:08.120
- doesn't happen very often, this is Jason's last year. So we just greatly appreciate all the work that

00:23:08.120 --> 00:23:14.452
- he's done for Edgewood Junior High School and the athletic community, and just the community in general,

00:23:14.452 --> 00:23:17.950
- just being an outstanding coach and even a better person.

00:23:18.306 --> 00:23:26.973
- working with our girls. So you can see we won back-to-back WIC conference championships. We won eighth

00:23:26.973 --> 00:23:35.724
- grade county this year. We won, we went over to Owen Valley and took their trophies twice. We went down

00:23:35.724 --> 00:23:44.476
- to Bedford and took their trophy. So this group just deserves the recognition and everything that comes

00:23:44.476 --> 00:23:48.094
- with it. So our eighth grade girls passed.

00:24:04.482 --> 00:24:14.216
- At one of our principal meetings, he was so excited. He just really implored us to come to the next

00:24:14.216 --> 00:24:24.340
- game. And so I did. And I was impressed. I can't wait for the next four years. You guys, I think you're

00:24:24.340 --> 00:24:34.366
- going to accomplish some even bigger things at the high school level. And you're such great sportsmen.

00:24:35.074 --> 00:24:43.142
- throughout the game and very proud of all of you. And don't our students, speaking of all the students

00:24:43.142 --> 00:24:51.131
- who spoke tonight, they just speak so well at these meetings. I get excited every meeting when I hear

00:24:51.131 --> 00:24:58.493
- our students. They do a better job speaking in public than I do, and I'm impressed with them,

00:24:58.493 --> 00:25:04.446
- so very good. Thanks, Tori. So nobody's going to go to the quarter already.

00:25:05.218 --> 00:25:13.290
- Nobody's going to the portal. We can't even give them a coffee or a bubble drink in high school or otherwise

00:25:13.290 --> 00:25:20.844
- they are exempt from anything. So we are very careful about that, right, Mr. Ackerman? We don't cross

00:25:20.844 --> 00:25:28.991
- that boundary at all. Thank you very much. Great job. And you're all welcome to stay for the superintendent's

00:25:28.991 --> 00:25:30.398
- report at the end.

00:25:34.978 --> 00:25:48.215
- Thank you. Great job. Good job. Good job. They are a fun group to watch on the court. They are so athletic

00:25:48.215 --> 00:26:01.080
- and spirited. I mean, and they're all in. I mean, they're all utilizing the court in some way, and it's

00:26:01.080 --> 00:26:03.678
- a fun team to watch.

00:26:07.042 --> 00:26:20.648
- I don't understand what happened. I guess when you go into a classroom, if you want to know who's going

00:26:20.648 --> 00:26:33.992
- to be the administrators, just look in the back row. That's where they'll be. That's just a sign they

00:26:33.992 --> 00:26:36.478
- must go to church.

00:26:37.858 --> 00:26:49.003
- Okay, wow. What a great evening. So we now have to get down to business. And so we have the consent

00:26:49.003 --> 00:27:00.705
- agenda. We have the approval of minutes from the February 17th, 2026 regular board meeting, the February

00:27:00.705 --> 00:27:07.838
- 24th, 2026 special board meeting. We have the financial report.

00:27:08.098 --> 00:27:17.945
- which is the Treasurer's Report for February of 2026. And Mr. Doolittle, the claims, please. Thank you,

00:27:17.945 --> 00:27:26.846
- Mr. President. For gross wages on February the 13th, 2026, is $813,791.45. For gross wages on

00:27:27.586 --> 00:27:43.729
- February 27th, 2026, $861,677.79 for total there $1,675,469.24. For vouchers pre-pay from February 1st

00:27:43.729 --> 00:27:49.214
- to February 28th is $1,267,457.44.

00:27:49.314 --> 00:28:00.440
- for claims regular vouchers on March 24th, 2026 is $504,229.32 for a total in that area, $1,771,686.76

00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:11.781
- for a grand total of $3,447,156. And that's it, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Next we have personnel,

00:28:11.781 --> 00:28:18.910
- resignations, retirements, non-renewals, leaves and terminations.

00:28:19.042 --> 00:28:30.251
- C1 through 20 and number 22 excluding number 21. And D, personnel appointments transfers, D1 through

00:28:30.251 --> 00:28:41.905
- 15. And donations, we're happy that there is a donation of $500 for the Angel Fund from the Reeves Club.

00:28:41.905 --> 00:28:47.454
- And there are also two out of state and overnight

00:28:47.618 --> 00:28:56.564
- field trips. One would be the high school baseball team to Jasper, Indiana for the Hall of Fame Classic,

00:28:56.564 --> 00:29:05.595
- and one for the high school ELOTS, E-L-O-T-S, to Bradford Woods, May 4th to the 9th of 2026. Dr. Sanders,

00:29:05.595 --> 00:29:14.370
- would you like to comment on those two? Sure. The baseball trip is just an annual trip to the baseball

00:29:14.370 --> 00:29:17.182
- Hall of Fame Classic. That'll be

00:29:17.282 --> 00:29:28.701
- May 8th and 9th, and then the ELOT students or high school students who join the fifth graders at Bradford

00:29:28.701 --> 00:29:31.582
- Woods and provide services

00:29:31.682 --> 00:29:39.450
- such as mentoring the students, helping supervise the students. And it just is a great, a lot of times

00:29:39.450 --> 00:29:47.143
- a great memory for them to go back to Bradford Wood because oftentimes they were there when they were

00:29:47.143 --> 00:29:54.760
- in fifth grade. And so it's just a great opportunity for our students and that'll be the week of May

00:29:54.760 --> 00:30:00.190
- 4th, May 4th through 6th and then 6th through 8th. Do we have a motion?

00:30:01.442 --> 00:30:10.582
- All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Dr. Sanders, would you like to recognize

00:30:10.582 --> 00:30:19.635
- a few? Yeah, there's two retirees that I would like to recognize. Allie McLaughlin, who has taught for

00:30:19.635 --> 00:30:28.600
- 32 years, is retiring. And she's just a sweet person. And I know she's probably going to be very busy

00:30:28.600 --> 00:30:29.918
- in retirement.

00:30:30.018 --> 00:30:40.852
- but we will definitely miss Ali. And then of course our awesome Dirk Ackerman after 39 years in education

00:30:40.852 --> 00:30:51.277
- is retiring and really I could go on for a long time tonight just talking about what Mr. Ackerman has

00:30:51.277 --> 00:30:59.454
- meant to thousands of students over the years. You walk over to the high school

00:30:59.618 --> 00:31:09.173
- and he's very, he's one of those principals that's very student-centered. Especially to get a good picture

00:31:09.173 --> 00:31:18.550
- of that would come to the overnighter where that's where you build relationships and those relationships

00:31:18.550 --> 00:31:27.837
- lead to students enjoying being in school and leads to academic success and it all begins with teachers

00:31:27.837 --> 00:31:29.534
- and principals who

00:31:29.634 --> 00:31:37.932
- know the students' names and make every decision with the best interests of the students in mind. And

00:31:37.932 --> 00:31:46.799
- so we're going to miss having Dirk around with all the history and knowledge that he has and just appreciate

00:31:46.799 --> 00:31:55.016
- all that he's done for us over the years. Having three kids has gone through the system. I've always

00:31:55.016 --> 00:31:58.270
- been impressed how many of the students

00:31:59.394 --> 00:32:06.058
- Dirk remembers. I mean, you know, I'm impressed when teachers remember lots of students, but when principals

00:32:06.058 --> 00:32:12.416
- can remember that many students, it's just, I mean, it's something special to be able to have that kind

00:32:12.416 --> 00:32:18.713
- of relationship with a student. So we appreciate you so much. He's remembered them when they came back

00:32:18.713 --> 00:32:25.010
- as parents and many generations. So it's one of those things that if he finds out that he had a parent

00:32:25.010 --> 00:32:28.862
- or even not grandparents, right? Have we gotten to that point?

00:32:29.186 --> 00:32:35.249
- Have we gotten to a point that there's a grandparent that was a former student? I don't think so. Okay.

00:32:35.249 --> 00:32:41.196
- I would hope that we haven't gotten there yet. But it's so interesting because he always says, I know

00:32:41.196 --> 00:32:47.084
- your uncle, or I know your mom and dad, or I know, and he always puts those connections together and

00:32:47.084 --> 00:32:52.798
- he makes those kids feel so special in that moment. I'll say this, there were a few kids in here,

00:32:57.474 --> 00:33:08.504
- I was just making sure. I mean, we do have really young parents sometimes, so I was just making sure.

00:33:08.504 --> 00:33:19.966
- Not everybody has children in their late 30s, so. Okay. Next, we do have a supplemental personnel report.

00:33:19.966 --> 00:33:26.238
- Dr. Sanders? Yes. As with any employee who comes into the

00:33:26.338 --> 00:33:35.860
- school system, we do background checks and by state law, if there is something that we want to bring

00:33:35.860 --> 00:33:45.570
- to the board's attention that we do that and that has been sent to the school board. But we would like

00:33:45.570 --> 00:33:56.318
- to approve David Jobito who will be the second shift custodian at the junior high and we recommend your approval.

00:33:56.642 --> 00:34:08.065
- Moved, seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now we'll move to our construction

00:34:08.065 --> 00:34:18.033
- progress update. And we have Martin with us tonight. Martin Truesdell from Skillman. Thank you.

00:34:18.033 --> 00:34:25.406
- Come on up. I don't know nearly the crowd here. Construction progress.

00:34:25.634 --> 00:34:33.092
- I guess I'll call it the previous project, the project we've just finished. We've got a few loose ends

00:34:33.092 --> 00:34:40.621
- we're doing there. For instance, at the field house, we have to do a display case. We have to deal with

00:34:40.621 --> 00:34:48.224
- the overhead door, a little bit of water coming in. But at this point, everything's done and functional,

00:34:48.224 --> 00:34:55.102
- with the exception of we do have a asphalt project to do some speed humps around the building.

00:34:55.202 --> 00:35:03.207
- And the weather's just about right that we'll be starting that pretty quickly. Future projects, I guess

00:35:03.207 --> 00:35:11.289
- are now current projects. We have the playground project at the elementary school. We have started that.

00:35:11.289 --> 00:35:19.216
- The first thing they did was get their fencing up and get the topsoil stripped off. They've done that.

00:35:19.216 --> 00:35:22.526
- We're moving fairly quickly now with that.

00:35:22.786 --> 00:35:33.117
- We'll do the hardscape stuff like the curbs, pavement and concrete flat work will be the next. We feel

00:35:33.117 --> 00:35:43.247
- like we will probably be mid end of May finishing that project up. So we'll kind of work through the

00:35:43.247 --> 00:35:51.070
- rest of the school, excuse me, school year on that. We've got the, all right.

00:35:51.330 --> 00:36:01.535
- Okay, we got railings, turf. I'll wait until we get to those. So the next thing I think I'll talk about

00:36:01.535 --> 00:36:11.839
- is we have the, I'll talk about the railing project. No, let me back up. We have the roof projects going

00:36:11.839 --> 00:36:20.670
- on. We have had our pre-construction meeting on that. We met with the roofing contractor.

00:36:21.186 --> 00:36:29.121
- There's a collaboration they have to do with the Mason, so we've gotten those two guys involved. We're

00:36:29.121 --> 00:36:37.134
- getting shop drawings on that now, and we've gotten the submittals for the roof material, so we're real

00:36:37.134 --> 00:36:45.454
- close. As soon as the architect approves the submittal, then we can go ahead and get that material ordered.

00:36:45.454 --> 00:36:50.462
- And it's a fairly short lead time material, so we should be able

00:36:50.594 --> 00:36:58.474
- move forward on that. Along with the roof project, we bid the mechanical project, which is the boilers

00:36:58.474 --> 00:37:06.354
- at the junior high school and the high school. The boilers were seeing the submittals come in on that.

00:37:06.354 --> 00:37:14.387
- They just submitted the pumps, which is the long lead time thing. So we're kind of pushing the designers

00:37:14.387 --> 00:37:19.742
- to get that approved. We won't see any of that happen until after the

00:37:19.874 --> 00:37:27.546
- end of the school year. We do wanna get in on the roof projects, the high bays, the taller part of the

00:37:27.546 --> 00:37:35.069
- building, which would be the gym and over the cafeteria and over the ancillary spaces to that. We're

00:37:35.069 --> 00:37:43.039
- gonna try to get those going during the school year because we feel like we can work up there with minimal

00:37:43.039 --> 00:37:48.030
- disruption by not being over the classrooms. So we're pushing the,

00:37:48.258 --> 00:37:56.168
- roofing contractor to get that going. As soon as school's out, then we're gonna hit the classroom areas.

00:37:56.168 --> 00:38:03.853
- And the goal is to get the classroom areas at least significantly complete before school starts. We'd

00:38:03.853 --> 00:38:11.613
- get all the tear off done. The goal is to get the tear off done, the membrane in. And then once school

00:38:11.613 --> 00:38:14.174
- starts, we might be doing copings

00:38:14.338 --> 00:38:22.051
- or detailing or flashings or that type of thing. And if it all works out that way, we should be able

00:38:22.051 --> 00:38:30.070
- to get any noisy work over the classrooms down over the summer. So then I'm looking here, the next thing

00:38:30.070 --> 00:38:37.783
- is the gym railings. We assisted you all with getting quotes on the gym railings as opposed to bids.

00:38:37.783 --> 00:38:43.358
- Because of the dollar scope of the project, we didn't have to go through

00:38:43.490 --> 00:38:52.428
- We picked three contractors that we knew could do the work. They worked with City Glass, which is a

00:38:52.428 --> 00:39:01.367
- glass company, obviously, and Geiger-Peters, which will do the steel railing, and they incorporated

00:39:01.367 --> 00:39:10.395
- that into their bid. So, Dr. Sanders, it's a complete package. They'll do the demo. They'll tear out

00:39:10.395 --> 00:39:11.646
- what's there.

00:39:12.098 --> 00:39:22.009
- they'll pour the floor, they'll put the railing in, paint the railing, and put the glass inserts into

00:39:22.009 --> 00:39:32.212
- the railing, and that's all in one package. The low quote on that was Ripburger, and they were at 124.6,

00:39:32.212 --> 00:39:38.334
- which was, Dr. Sanders, I think I had guessed 125, so we were,

00:39:39.234 --> 00:39:49.977
- It's about what we anticipate. When we get to that item, I'll have the exact price. Okay. Move on to

00:39:49.977 --> 00:40:00.826
- the turf project. Yeah. Baseball and softball turf project. We are asking for permission to take that

00:40:00.826 --> 00:40:06.782
- to bid. We've gotten the contract documents from Lancer

00:40:07.330 --> 00:40:14.526
- And we've actually already posted those with Eastern Engineering, who does a distribution. There are

00:40:14.526 --> 00:40:21.864
- really only five contractors in this area that can do that work. It's pretty special work. And at this

00:40:21.864 --> 00:40:29.415
- time, four of the five contractors have picked up drawings, so we're seeing significant interest. There's

00:40:29.415 --> 00:40:34.046
- a little challenge getting more than one or two bidders on that,

00:40:34.786 --> 00:40:42.151
- It's such a small community, they all know what their prices are and if they think they're high, they'll

00:40:42.151 --> 00:40:49.587
- go do something else. But we're hoping to get a couple, three bids on that. And that's a full bid process

00:40:49.587 --> 00:40:56.672
- on that. We did go through a design development estimate and then we did a final design estimate and

00:40:56.672 --> 00:41:00.670
- we're right in the ballpark where we thought we would be

00:41:04.226 --> 00:41:14.209
- So any questions on that? Oh, and I do want to point out we did have a, what we call a page turn a week

00:41:14.209 --> 00:41:24.095
- ago, two Fridays ago, we came in and Arnold and. Jerry Bland. Yeah, Jerry, I'm trying to think who all

00:41:24.095 --> 00:41:33.694
- was there. Anyway, we went through with the interested parties, went page to page and actually the,

00:41:34.594 --> 00:41:41.934
- designers made a few tweaks to it at that time, and they've incorporated that in their drawings and

00:41:41.934 --> 00:41:49.347
- gotten them out. So we feel like there's been a good opportunity for the RBB group to take a look at

00:41:49.347 --> 00:41:56.686
- it and be sure about what we're putting on the street. And with that, we need to advertise. We need

00:41:56.686 --> 00:42:03.806
- to advertise two times, seven days apart. If we get approval now, Dr. Sanders, I think we agreed

00:42:04.098 --> 00:42:14.959
- That would be April 1st and April 8th, and then we would take the bids on April 15th. Keep moving along.

00:42:14.959 --> 00:42:25.716
- No, you're good. Because I'm not going to talk about wellness policy. Yeah, we can move on. So if there

00:42:25.716 --> 00:42:29.854
- are any questions on that, that's good.

00:42:32.802 --> 00:42:46.097
- We have action items for each of those, Martin. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. We're a busy

00:42:46.097 --> 00:43:00.446
- place this summer yet again. Okay. And speaking of the EHS gymnasium railings, that is the next action item.

00:43:00.546 --> 00:43:08.466
- to approve the quote for those. And so Dr. Sanders. So we started on these projects for the new bleachers

00:43:08.466 --> 00:43:16.012
- at the junior high and high school back in October. The bleachers at junior high are installed. They

00:43:16.012 --> 00:43:23.707
- look really awesome. You ought to go up and check them out. The high school bleachers are in progress.

00:43:23.707 --> 00:43:28.638
- So in the upper level on the side where the bleachers are mobile,

00:43:29.058 --> 00:43:39.097
- Those new bleachers have been installed. On the opposite end where the bleachers are permanent, we've

00:43:39.097 --> 00:43:49.038
- basically taken the old covers off, painted the bleachers, painted the floors, and the new bleachers

00:43:49.038 --> 00:43:58.782
- are presently being installed in the upper level. So as we began into this, got into this project,

00:43:59.010 --> 00:44:07.986
- We knew we were gonna have to do some adjustments to the railings because the current entrance from

00:44:07.986 --> 00:44:16.962
- the lower level to the upper level is different from the new bleach, what the new bleachers will be

00:44:16.962 --> 00:44:25.758
- like. But when we went to look into getting new railings, we found out that the code had changed.

00:44:26.242 --> 00:44:37.549
- And that the railings now had to be, I think it's 42, 43 inches. And so that involves a lot more work

00:44:37.549 --> 00:44:48.746
- than we anticipated. But it's still within the budget that I had set for the whole bleacher project.

00:44:48.746 --> 00:44:56.062
- So the cost of putting new railings and new glass up is $124,600.

00:45:01.154 --> 00:45:10.647
- You have a motion? I'll second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? There's a picture. They're kind

00:45:10.647 --> 00:45:20.520
- of what the railings will look like. Only ours will be black metal, but that's how the glass will look.

00:45:20.520 --> 00:45:29.918
- But you said they'd be painted black. They'll be bright. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?

00:45:30.754 --> 00:45:39.803
- Motion carries. And now we will look into the advertisement to bid the baseball and softball turf projects.

00:45:39.803 --> 00:45:48.181
- So as Martin already shared with you, we need to advertise for this project. The advertisement will

00:45:48.181 --> 00:45:56.979
- be in the paper April 1st and April 8th, and we'll have the bid opening on April 15th. The advertisement

00:45:56.979 --> 00:46:00.414
- was in the board packet for your review.

00:46:02.562 --> 00:46:10.784
- Oh, second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed?

00:46:10.784 --> 00:46:19.784
- Motion carries. Now consideration to approve revisions to the wellness policy number 8510. Yes. So this

00:46:19.784 --> 00:46:29.044
- is a second reading. So you already had the first reading. So tonight we're asking you to approve revising

00:46:29.044 --> 00:46:31.294
- the wellness policy 8510.

00:46:31.394 --> 00:46:40.827
- And what it does, it's important that we do this because it's going to bring our policy up to a line

00:46:40.827 --> 00:46:50.446
- with current national health standards. And so we asked the board to approve the revisions of wellness

00:46:50.446 --> 00:46:59.038
- policy 8510. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

00:46:59.170 --> 00:47:08.054
- Now we have revisions to the food service program policy number 8,500. Right. So this policy is also

00:47:08.054 --> 00:47:17.026
- you had last month had the first reading. Tonight we're asking for your approval. And really it makes

00:47:17.026 --> 00:47:25.822
- our practice and our policy aligned, which you always want to do that. So that's we don't basically

00:47:25.922 --> 00:47:34.627
- Our old policy said that we allowed students to charge, and basically we always feed students, whether

00:47:34.627 --> 00:47:43.670
- they have the funds there or not. They get a choice of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a grilled cheese,

00:47:43.670 --> 00:47:52.290
- or a delicious sub sandwich, and those include all the five components of the MyPlate guidelines, and

00:47:52.290 --> 00:47:54.910
- so we recommend your approval.

00:47:56.578 --> 00:48:06.933
- Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now we have consideration

00:48:06.933 --> 00:48:17.806
- to approve a quote for the boardroom sound system and also we're looking at the approval of installation

00:48:17.806 --> 00:48:21.534
- of a boardroom wall display. Right.

00:48:21.826 --> 00:48:32.958
- asking if we could do these two items together. And really I want to thank Susan Shockney, Robin May

00:48:32.958 --> 00:48:44.311
- and Rick Routon for helping on these projects. The cost of the sound system in here will be $40,485.72

00:48:44.311 --> 00:48:50.814
- and that quote was awarded to Howard Technology Solutions.

00:48:51.650 --> 00:48:59.403
- I don't know about you. I wear hearing aids, but I still cannot always hear clear out the other end

00:48:59.403 --> 00:49:07.545
- of the table, especially if we have a student up there speaking. And it's just very important for people

00:49:07.545 --> 00:49:15.376
- to be heard. And not only will this sound system help with being able to hear better, but it'll help

00:49:15.376 --> 00:49:20.958
- with the cats and being able to live stream our board meetings on cats.

00:49:21.282 --> 00:49:30.493
- and make that process a lot better. And then this room is used an awful lot for events that brings the

00:49:30.493 --> 00:49:39.703
- public in here. First of all, through CATS once again, the public gets to see what our boardroom looks

00:49:39.703 --> 00:49:46.142
- like. We bring the business leaders advisory team in here twice a year.

00:49:46.242 --> 00:49:55.932
- We have the champs meeting that is in here. So we want to be able to put our best foot forward. And

00:49:55.932 --> 00:50:05.621
- so we have a logo that will go up here and pictures of each school over on the other side. We'll be

00:50:05.621 --> 00:50:13.470
- using Green Sign Company for that. And the cost of that project will be $11,909.

00:50:13.570 --> 00:50:22.822
- I don't know if Susan or Rick have anything they want to add to that. Or if you have any questions,

00:50:22.822 --> 00:50:32.814
- ask them. Do we have a motion? I'm really glad that you, I know you really wanted to put the board member's

00:50:32.814 --> 00:50:42.251
- faces across the bat, so I'm glad you steered away from that idea. I just really didn't want that, so

00:50:42.251 --> 00:50:43.454
- I'm glad you

00:50:43.746 --> 00:50:52.262
- you decided not to do that. And the sound system, I personally really need that. It's very hard to hear

00:50:52.262 --> 00:51:00.778
- the people at the podium. They all think that these are sound projecting. So they talk into them really

00:51:00.778 --> 00:51:09.048
- well. But it's very difficult to hear, especially the students. So I just smile and nod my head like

00:51:09.048 --> 00:51:13.470
- I am hearing them, because I want them to think I am.

00:51:13.794 --> 00:51:24.684
- Really not. But anyway, so I'm glad to get both of these. Did we indicate the vendor for each of those?

00:51:24.684 --> 00:51:35.155
- Yes. Yeah. Howard Technology Solutions for the sound system and Green Sign Company for the display.

00:51:35.155 --> 00:51:41.438
- Okay. We have a first and a second. Any further discussion?

00:51:42.082 --> 00:51:50.120
- All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next we have approved the SMART Grant

00:51:50.120 --> 00:51:58.789
- Amendment Number 4 with Indiana University. And we'll turn to Jennifer Barrett. This is the fourth amendment.

00:51:58.789 --> 00:52:07.143
- You'll see another one at the end of the year. Basically at the start of every grant we sign an agreement

00:52:07.143 --> 00:52:09.822
- with IU or whoever our partner is

00:52:10.018 --> 00:52:16.811
- entering into the grant and the research services and things like that that they'll provide to us. As

00:52:16.811 --> 00:52:23.471
- each year goes along, they send us an amendment for that year with the amount that we're looking at

00:52:23.471 --> 00:52:30.530
- basically paying to them on a reimbursement basis. So this is year four of the SMART grant. We're looking

00:52:30.530 --> 00:52:36.990
- at approximately $194,741 that we would be paying to IU for their services with the SMART grant.

00:52:41.186 --> 00:52:49.008
- Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. The next two we have Vicki

00:52:49.008 --> 00:52:57.217
- Coffey for and these are quotes for equipment purchase. One is for the junior high kitchen and the other,

00:52:57.217 --> 00:53:04.962
- we'll take them separately, the other is for the Edgewood intermediate kitchen. So first the junior

00:53:04.962 --> 00:53:06.046
- high kitchen.

00:53:13.794 --> 00:53:22.629
- So for the junior high school are milk cases there are over 13 years old and they've been through all

00:53:22.629 --> 00:53:31.292
- kinds of good stuff with summer feeding going in and out and that and we just need to replace them.

00:53:31.292 --> 00:53:40.127
- We're seeing a few more repairs than what we should. So that's the first item. And of course you have

00:53:40.127 --> 00:53:42.206
- the three quotes there.

00:53:42.562 --> 00:53:51.104
- Total it's about $13,000. So we just wanted to bring that to you for approval for the junior high milk

00:53:51.104 --> 00:53:59.562
- pieces That's that one first in the vendor Vendor for that one a shirt Lancaster shirt. They won both

00:53:59.562 --> 00:54:08.270
- of the bids. Okay Pricing of course, it's the exact same equipment that went out for the three the three

00:54:08.270 --> 00:54:09.182
- quotes and

00:54:09.474 --> 00:54:17.035
- Oh, so it's the same equipment at both places? Actually, no. I'm sorry. The milk cases are at the junior

00:54:17.035 --> 00:54:24.380
- high. And then the next thing on the agenda are two sets of reach-in coolers for the intermediate and

00:54:24.380 --> 00:54:31.797
- the primary schools. So those two are the same. That's also Lancaster Shirt is who came in, the lowest

00:54:31.797 --> 00:54:39.070
- bidder with them. Those two schools, those units there, the reach-in refrigerators are 24 years old.

00:54:39.650 --> 00:54:47.420
- So they've done a pretty good job. But we're also seeing quite a few more repairs there at the intermediate

00:54:47.420 --> 00:54:54.687
- and the primary school. So we'd just like to replace them, both of those sets, both schools 24 years

00:54:54.687 --> 00:55:01.953
- old, both are seeing quite a few repairs. So when we're looking at refrigeration, we wanna make sure

00:55:01.953 --> 00:55:06.558
- that we get those taken care of, quit putting more refrigerant,

00:55:07.170 --> 00:55:14.939
- That's what the word used to be. I don't know what it is anymore. But in those and that, so we're just

00:55:14.939 --> 00:55:22.633
- ready to replace those. And of course, this money of $43,000 will be coming out of the lunch fund for

00:55:22.633 --> 00:55:30.327
- those replacements. OK. So there are $43,000 apiece? Total. So $13,000 is the milk cases, and $40,000

00:55:30.327 --> 00:55:33.118
- is the total for both refrigerators.

00:55:33.474 --> 00:55:41.773
- So we're looking at $53,000, sorry. And that'll come out of the lunch fund, which we're at $435,000

00:55:41.773 --> 00:55:50.237
- right now in the bank. OK. I guess we can take them all together. So we'll move and second. Moved and

00:55:50.237 --> 00:55:58.536
- seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you.

00:55:58.536 --> 00:56:02.270
- Thanks for your time. Next is consideration.

00:56:02.434 --> 00:56:10.408
- to add the voice software module. And we have Susan Shockney for that. Hi. Hi. So CompuTrol might be

00:56:10.408 --> 00:56:18.460
- a word that you're familiar with. We've been with CompuTrol since 1996 or 1997. I'm not sure exactly.

00:56:18.460 --> 00:56:26.355
- And in 2018, they switched over to a company called Voice. And we've continued on with that system.

00:56:26.355 --> 00:56:30.302
- That's a system that Debbie knows inside and out.

00:56:30.530 --> 00:56:38.548
- as the treasurer since 2015 and a system that I've worked in for a long time. And Boyce just keeps looking

00:56:38.548 --> 00:56:46.117
- to improve their system. For the last few years, we've been looking around to add some efficiency to

00:56:46.117 --> 00:56:53.685
- our onboarding, add some efficiency to all of our processes with payroll and with HR and some things

00:56:53.685 --> 00:56:56.158
- like that. And as we're looking,

00:56:56.386 --> 00:57:02.769
- didn't look like adding this system out here. This system out here was going to bring efficiency. It

00:57:02.769 --> 00:57:09.215
- was just going to be another system to have to enter things into and then combine it all together. So

00:57:09.215 --> 00:57:15.598
- voice in 2024 in the fall of 2024 introduced something called the employee hub. And right now we are

00:57:15.598 --> 00:57:21.854
- asking to bring that on as a module to our added voice software system. It's going to help us with

00:57:22.050 --> 00:57:27.792
- Employees are going to be able to log in and see things in real time. They're going to be able to submit

00:57:27.792 --> 00:57:33.260
- forms that we've always done by paper, tax forms, changes of address, things like that. And they're

00:57:33.260 --> 00:57:38.893
- going to be able to log in and just submit that electronically. Some of the other paper processes that

00:57:38.893 --> 00:57:44.526
- we have are going to be able to eventually go away also. Right now, they have it in front of you. They

00:57:44.526 --> 00:57:49.502
- have three tiers. We're looking to add the pro tier. They haven't finalized the enterprise

00:57:49.634 --> 00:57:57.661
- tier yet, but we're looking to add the pro tier initially and then eventually adding the enterprise

00:57:57.661 --> 00:58:05.930
- as soon as it's ready to go. The cost of the pro tier is $15,066, also $1,500 for document storage and

00:58:05.930 --> 00:58:14.198
- an additional $1,500 for the initial training. So I'm asking for your consideration to add that. Moved

00:58:14.198 --> 00:58:16.606
- and seconded. Any discussion?

00:58:19.522 --> 00:58:28.737
- Modernization, okay. Thank you. Sounds great. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

00:58:28.737 --> 00:58:37.597
- Okay, next is consideration to approve an agreement with Crider and Crider for the EECC playground.

00:58:37.597 --> 00:58:47.166
- This is really a technicality. The board approved awarding the bid to Crider and Crider for the playground.

00:58:47.298 --> 00:58:57.728
- But our policy says that we need to approve contracts. So that's what we're asking the board to do tonight

00:58:57.728 --> 00:59:07.476
- is approve the contract for Crider and Crider. I'll second. $610,325. Read your mind. All right. So

00:59:07.476 --> 00:59:16.542
- we have the amount. First and second. Do we have any discussion? All those in favor say aye.

00:59:16.674 --> 00:59:25.354
- Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next is consideration to approve Navigate 360 contract. Jennifer? I'm

00:59:25.354 --> 00:59:34.121
- actually going to pass off to Rick and Alec. They have been working on the program for us and know a

00:59:34.121 --> 00:59:36.638
- lot more about it than I do.

00:59:46.050 --> 00:59:55.116
- So this has kind of been my baby that I have done a lot of research on since the start of the school

00:59:55.116 --> 01:00:04.362
- year. We currently already contract with Navigate 360 for our ALICE program throughout the school. And

01:00:04.362 --> 01:00:13.518
- we're missing a bunch of missing pieces for our safety across the campus. And Navigate has a solution

01:00:13.518 --> 01:00:15.134
- for all of those.

01:00:15.298 --> 01:00:23.645
- I tried to include as much as information in the memo that you guys received, but if you have any specific

01:00:23.645 --> 01:00:31.524
- questions, I'm happy to answer them. One of the biggest cool, I'm gonna say coolest things that Rick

01:00:31.524 --> 01:00:39.404
- and I are excited about is they're going to come in and digitally map all the schools. So we'll have

01:00:39.404 --> 01:00:41.822
- all of our buildings digitally

01:00:42.370 --> 01:00:51.879
- All of our AEDs, our fire extinguishers, everything will be marked throughout the buildings. And the

01:00:51.879 --> 01:01:01.577
- cost of that? So it's two separate quotes. There's obviously an initial startup fee. So for the Campus

01:01:01.577 --> 01:01:11.934
- 360, which includes visitor management, volunteer management, all the equipment needed minus the laptops, but

01:01:12.418 --> 01:01:24.936
- Rick is going to provide those. The emergency management, which includes a panic button for staff, the

01:01:24.936 --> 01:01:37.332
- fee to implement it, and the visitor manager, I already said that, sorry. So total fee for startup is

01:01:37.332 --> 01:01:41.950
- $31,880.75 with the recurring cost of

01:01:43.362 --> 01:01:53.563
- $15,975 a year. So then on the second quote, there is a tip line. So we will have a tip line system

01:01:53.563 --> 01:02:03.357
- where students, anybody will be able to submit tips and those will be routed to the appropriate

01:02:03.357 --> 01:02:11.518
- administrators slash SROs across campus. And those can be submitted anonymously

01:02:12.450 --> 01:02:21.315
- Also, last year Indiana passed a law where we have to perform behavioral threat assessments and part

01:02:21.315 --> 01:02:30.268
- of that is we have to store those documents somewhere and currently we're just storing them on Google

01:02:30.268 --> 01:02:39.134
- Drive and so this system will house, it digitizes it and then it follows the student from elementary

01:02:39.134 --> 01:02:42.206
- school all the way to high school.

01:02:43.938 --> 01:02:55.703
- And the benefit of this is it's all one system that's complete. Is there a separate cost for that?

01:02:55.703 --> 01:03:08.062
- I'm sorry, yes there is. The initial startup cost for the second quote is $11,147 with a recurring cost

01:03:08.062 --> 01:03:09.726
- of $9,955.63.

01:03:12.418 --> 01:03:22.037
- I think the first year subscription is included in that initial investment total. Yes. Is that right?

01:03:22.037 --> 01:03:31.751
- Yes. OK. And how many years on the contract? It's a three-year contract. Three years. OK. OK. Anything

01:03:31.751 --> 01:03:41.182
- you want to add? Perfect. Do we have a motion? And I'll second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion?

01:03:41.506 --> 01:03:48.461
- I just want to thank Alec for all he does for the school. He devils for me a lot of things at the station,

01:03:48.461 --> 01:03:55.156
- too, with vehicles and things like that. So I really appreciate what he does for us. In fact, he looks

01:03:55.156 --> 01:04:01.720
- pretty good at night and he knew you. Yes, he does. Thank you. Well, and I also wanted to thank Alec

01:04:01.720 --> 01:04:08.480
- because with our adjustments in leadership roles last year, Alec has taken on leading our school safety

01:04:08.480 --> 01:04:10.430
- team that meets once a month.

01:04:10.626 --> 01:04:21.936
- And just so tonight, if you could give Alec a pat on the back and a hug. His team didn't do so well.

01:04:21.936 --> 01:04:33.695
- We got the corn huskers now. No, but I really am looking, Rick and I are really looking forward to this.

01:04:33.695 --> 01:04:40.414
- It's going to be a great addition to the campus. Thank you.

01:04:41.378 --> 01:04:55.682
- Next Looks like we'll bring mr. Routon back up. We have for the next couple first is a traffic circulation

01:04:55.682 --> 01:05:09.050
- alternative study Mr. Routon, this is a combination with dr. Sanders and myself and we have brought

01:05:09.050 --> 01:05:10.654
- in Andy and

01:05:10.914 --> 01:05:17.519
- Matt to talk about the traffic flow issues at the elementary schools. Has anybody been around at early

01:05:17.519 --> 01:05:24.061
- in the morning or trying to get to school in the afternoon? It's near impossible. I have actually sat

01:05:24.061 --> 01:05:30.730
- in line for a good while to get down to EECC when it was under construction and it's like, oh, I forgot

01:05:30.730 --> 01:05:37.656
- I should have left about a half hour earlier to get through this. So we're looking at hiring an engineering

01:05:37.656 --> 01:05:40.606
- company to come in and help us do a study and

01:05:40.706 --> 01:05:47.720
- give us some preliminary information to move forward with a better solution in traffic flow, parking,

01:05:47.720 --> 01:05:54.872
- and pickup. Something that we need to do down there because we're growing and we need to get the people

01:05:54.872 --> 01:06:01.955
- off of Reeves Road as much as we can to keep that open, not only for ourselves, but for public safety.

01:06:01.955 --> 01:06:05.118
- That road gets blocked and it's really tight.

01:06:05.250 --> 01:06:13.854
- And I'm sure Andy and Matt can contest to some other information about that section along with Alec.

01:06:13.854 --> 01:06:22.628
- So the company we went with is a company that does a lot of civil engineering work. They've done other

01:06:22.628 --> 01:06:31.232
- big projects and someone I've known for over the years. And he understands our problems and has seen

01:06:31.232 --> 01:06:32.510
- other schools.

01:06:32.610 --> 01:06:39.174
- is excited to work with us. This is just a small piece. We have talked about a bigger piece for the

01:06:39.174 --> 01:06:45.738
- whole entire campus, but we're only concentrating on just the elementary schools, because we really

01:06:45.738 --> 01:06:52.564
- need to improve that traffic flow down there. And he'll look at utilities, he'll look at the easements,

01:06:52.564 --> 01:06:59.193
- and anything we can do to shape our traffic pattern. And this will inform us as we move forward with

01:06:59.193 --> 01:07:01.950
- future construction bonds. And Rick said,

01:07:02.114 --> 01:07:10.622
- We are growing, but also the area around us is growing with Harman Farms and the Barbary Homes area.

01:07:10.622 --> 01:07:19.297
- It's just gonna get more and more traffic, so very timely. And who's the vendor and the amount? I wish

01:07:19.297 --> 01:07:25.278
- I had my piece of paper up here, but it's G9, G and A. Let's see here.

01:07:35.842 --> 01:08:04.862
- Okay. Wow, Rick. Christine, do you have a copy of the email? 36,900.

01:08:07.266 --> 01:08:18.727
- What's that? 36,900 in the vendor. Oh, sorry. Sorry. What was that? Okay. All right. So do we have a

01:08:18.727 --> 01:08:30.301
- motion? Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

01:08:30.301 --> 01:08:36.542
- Now there's the E rate network infrastructure upgrade.

01:08:37.538 --> 01:08:44.919
- So every year we are part of the e-rate system that the federal government puts on. It's a great savings

01:08:44.919 --> 01:08:51.949
- to the school corporation because we usually do 40% they paid the 60%. Last year we did part of the

01:08:51.949 --> 01:08:59.470
- network upgrade. This year we're finishing off the network upgrade. This time it will be all the lower-end

01:08:59.470 --> 01:09:06.078
- network switches that will go in all the individual closets that will then connect to all the

01:09:06.210 --> 01:09:12.779
- what few PCs we have left in phones, but they're still needed to have that communication along with

01:09:12.779 --> 01:09:19.413
- they'll make our connected to the access points consistent with everything. Our current switches are

01:09:19.413 --> 01:09:26.179
- from what I can tell from past e-rates have gone from anywhere from 2015 to 2016. So they are a little

01:09:26.179 --> 01:09:33.470
- beyond their end of life expectancy and they're getting harder to find parts to replace when they have failed.

01:09:33.570 --> 01:09:40.963
- We wanted to stick with a company called Extreme, which was our first initial purchase last year. Extreme

01:09:40.963 --> 01:09:48.147
- did not win the bid this year. They came in extremely high. So we went with the second lowest, because

01:09:48.147 --> 01:09:55.191
- the first lowest did not have the matching equipment that was even equivalent. So we worked with our

01:09:55.191 --> 01:10:02.654
- consultant and removed them. The second one was very compatible to the Extreme product line, and they were

01:10:04.354 --> 01:10:12.005
- about $200,000 less than what we wanted. So we sat down as a group in our office, talked about them,

01:10:12.005 --> 01:10:20.035
- really looked over all the equipment, and we felt that that equipment was still going to be very adequate

01:10:20.035 --> 01:10:27.837
- and compatible with what we have. So we have went with Network Solutions as who the winning bidder is.

01:10:27.837 --> 01:10:33.822
- Again, we will only pay 40%. E-rate will pay 60%. And they're waiting timeline

01:10:33.922 --> 01:10:42.219
- We're hoping that, well, we don't get the e-rate money until July, so we can't really order anything

01:10:42.219 --> 01:10:50.598
- until the USAC releases it. So we'll be ordering sometime in the fall. Thank you. So the exact amount

01:10:50.598 --> 01:10:58.238
- for the corporation will be $79,301. The overall project, total project cost is $198,252.56.

01:10:58.754 --> 01:11:09.760
- minus the 60% for e-rate, that's 118,951. For the district portion is, like I said, is 79,301. And we

01:11:09.760 --> 01:11:20.550
- had that set aside in our 2023 bond that Mr. Irwin and I did. So that's where the money was already

01:11:20.550 --> 01:11:25.406
- here marked for. I'll second. Moved, second.

01:11:25.570 --> 01:11:34.433
- Yeah, and I looked at all the equipment list, and it all made sense to me. OK. I got your approval then.

01:11:34.433 --> 01:11:43.128
- I approve. Come in and help them install it. Yeah, I could do that. Any discussion? All those in favor

01:11:43.128 --> 01:11:49.374
- say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

01:11:49.922 --> 01:11:57.990
- Okay, our last action item of the evening is consideration to approve the contract with Indiana University

01:11:57.990 --> 01:12:05.605
- for the SEEDS project. And Jennifer? This is the first one. So I mentioned earlier, anytime we start

01:12:05.605 --> 01:12:13.221
- a grant, we'll sign an agreement with the partner for research services. In this case, for the SEEDS

01:12:13.221 --> 01:12:19.102
- project, it's Indiana University again. And in this project, it's a long one.

01:12:19.394 --> 01:12:29.198
- You will see about 3.1 down, Article 3 on payment. We are looking at paying them for this first year,

01:12:29.198 --> 01:12:38.810
- January 1st to December 31st, 2026, approximately $285,526. Over the life of this grant, we will be

01:12:38.810 --> 01:12:42.462
- looking at anticipated funding to IU.

01:12:42.562 --> 01:12:51.056
- in an amount of about $1,191,959. This is reimbursement, so they invoice us, we pay them, and of course

01:12:51.056 --> 01:12:59.223
- this comes out of the SEEDS grant, which is a federal grant, almost $3 million. So about a third of

01:12:59.223 --> 01:13:07.390
- it is spent for the work that IU does on this grant, and they are tremendous partners when it comes

01:13:07.390 --> 01:13:09.758
- to our mental health grants.

01:13:09.858 --> 01:13:20.271
- and the work that they do on these. So I'm hoping that you guys will approve the SEEDS grant, the agreement

01:13:20.271 --> 01:13:30.105
- with IU for this. Move and second. Any discussion? We just appreciate the ongoing partnership with IU

01:13:30.105 --> 01:13:38.782
- in several different levels. So all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.

01:13:39.650 --> 01:13:48.541
- We'll move into the business manager's reports. And Debbie Tate. Hi. I'm solo now. So I gave you guys

01:13:48.541 --> 01:13:57.345
- the cash flows for the education fund and the operations fund. You'll notice there were some changes

01:13:57.345 --> 01:14:06.062
- we made if you compare last month's with this month's. Paul, we were trying to work on just kind of

01:14:06.062 --> 01:14:09.374
- condensing it and simplifying things.

01:14:10.146 --> 01:14:15.395
- Sometimes it can be a little too complicated, and we just need to keep it simple. So you'll

01:14:15.395 --> 01:14:21.272
- see we consolidated on the payroll and benefits. Instead of splitting it up certified, non-cert, we're

01:14:21.272 --> 01:14:26.978
- putting all of those totals together. So that'll be kind of a difference, but if you ever need that

01:14:26.978 --> 01:14:32.798
- information, we can always provide it. You'll see on the interest, the interest rates have gone down.

01:14:33.058 --> 01:14:39.411
- just based on where everything is right now. And a lot of that is, you know, I try to pull as much money

01:14:39.411 --> 01:14:45.522
- over to trust in Ian as I can when it's just sitting in the account so we can earn a higher interest

01:14:45.522 --> 01:14:51.936
- rate, but we've actually been spending a lot of that bond money, so we don't have as much interest coming

01:14:51.936 --> 01:14:58.047
- in now because of that. So you'll start to see that go down solely because of the rates and the fact

01:14:58.047 --> 01:15:00.286
- that we're spending that bond money.

01:15:00.514 --> 01:15:08.870
- You'll see in January, it was a higher amount on payroll than February, and that's just because we had

01:15:08.870 --> 01:15:17.550
- a three-pay month in January. February, we actually were projecting $1.2 million, and we ended up spending

01:15:17.550 --> 01:15:26.067
- $1.1. So we ended up saving about $30,000 there based on our projections. Overall, on our appropriations

01:15:26.067 --> 01:15:29.150
- with the education fund, we projected

01:15:29.474 --> 01:15:38.006
- 22 million and at this moment we're looking at 21.7 million. So we're hoping to have some savings there.

01:15:38.006 --> 01:15:46.618
- And then another area is the operations with all the changes ahead of us with the funding and everything.

01:15:46.618 --> 01:15:55.069
- I have to give a shout out to our team. I have been coming into this role in the last year. I have felt

01:15:55.069 --> 01:15:59.294
- so blessed because we have such an incredible team.

01:15:59.426 --> 01:16:06.692
- that we work together, we sit down, we are looking at individuals, we are looking at every situation,

01:16:06.692 --> 01:16:14.172
- I mean in such detail and it just, it makes me love what I'm doing and I love the people that I'm around

01:16:14.172 --> 01:16:19.230
- because it just, I feel good because we all care about everybody here.

01:16:19.330 --> 01:16:26.206
- So when I was sitting here, I was like, I have to give a shout out to these people, like Jen and Susan

01:16:26.206 --> 01:16:32.881
- and just Jenny Johnson and Robin, like all these people just in NOAA, just in our group that we are

01:16:32.881 --> 01:16:39.690
- together and we're making these decisions together and not individually, because we want the best for

01:16:39.690 --> 01:16:46.366
- everybody. So anyhow, that's all I have for our stuff. Thank you so much. That's wonderful to hear.

01:16:48.994 --> 01:16:56.954
- And now the assistant superintendent's report. Good. Today she and I were talking because we feel like

01:16:56.954 --> 01:17:05.378
- we don't spend a dollar in this district without talking about it. And I'm sure that we're driving everybody

01:17:05.378 --> 01:17:13.106
- crazy. Now I'm getting paper reports from Rick every single month. And I'm looking at the same, why

01:17:13.106 --> 01:17:15.038
- are we printing so much?

01:17:15.234 --> 01:17:20.486
- It's gotten a little bit out of hand and we probably need to pull it back just a little bit. But just

01:17:20.486 --> 01:17:25.686
- to give you an idea of why we're seeing this come into alignment and coming in under budget is truly

01:17:25.686 --> 01:17:30.886
- because we are looking at every single thing that we're spending through a critical eye to make sure

01:17:30.886 --> 01:17:36.446
- that we can bring this back into where it needs to be. And Debbie's doing a fantastic job with all of that.

01:17:36.802 --> 01:17:43.087
- Some updates for you guys on my front. We held a joint meeting with ROI, Boston Scientific Cook Medical,

01:17:43.087 --> 01:17:48.894
- and Ivy Tech on March 5th. It's the first time we got every single one of our partners together.

01:17:48.962 --> 01:17:55.048
- for the Life Sciences Training Center and we made a lot of progress in that meeting that day. We were

01:17:55.048 --> 01:18:01.312
- able to identify a smart manufacturing pathway. We discussed the option of the instructor actually being

01:18:01.312 --> 01:18:07.279
- an Ivy Tech employee, which is a big win for us. It's going to be great for our students because we

01:18:07.279 --> 01:18:08.830
- will have somebody who is

01:18:08.898 --> 01:18:16.083
- well-versed in that area. John Kerr can only teach, I say this all the time, he can only teach so many

01:18:16.083 --> 01:18:20.478
- pathways and we cannot ask him to add one more onto his plate.

01:18:20.546 --> 01:18:27.113
- So this would be an Ivy Tech employee and they would actually come over to EHS to teach those classes.

01:18:27.113 --> 01:18:33.744
- And we're looking at some adjustments in how we would schedule those and be able to actually open those

01:18:33.744 --> 01:18:40.630
- classes up to our surrounding districts sooner than what we anticipated, which is awesome for our partners.

01:18:40.630 --> 01:18:47.070
- In addition to that, we're looking at partnering with Ivy Tech to provide healthcare certifications.

01:18:47.138 --> 01:18:53.895
- These will really be in conjunction with IU Health because IU Health is going to tell us what they need

01:18:53.895 --> 01:19:00.456
- and based on those needs then we'll be working on funneling kids into those Ivy Tech certifications.

01:19:00.456 --> 01:19:07.148
- Ivy Tech will provide those trainers so that we have students who are graduating with CNAs, graduating

01:19:07.148 --> 01:19:12.670
- with certifications in phlebotomy or pharmacy tech. So we're working with IU Health.

01:19:12.770 --> 01:19:21.536
- a little bit further down, you can see there that IU Health actually just hired a K-12 talent program

01:19:21.536 --> 01:19:30.387
- lead for our area. This has started out of a program out of Lafayette, and through the push that we've

01:19:30.387 --> 01:19:39.067
- had here with our Life Sciences Training Center, we were the first area to get this new hire through

01:19:39.067 --> 01:19:40.958
- IU Health, excuse me.

01:19:41.058 --> 01:19:48.589
- I'm so excited about it, I'm stumbling over my words. I think that Angie can attest, anybody that works

01:19:48.589 --> 01:19:55.975
- at IU Health or in the healthcare field can attest that this has been a red tape area for high school

01:19:55.975 --> 01:19:57.278
- students forever.

01:19:57.378 --> 01:20:03.221
- And what's happening here is the red tape is coming down. January 2027 is when we anticipate getting

01:20:03.221 --> 01:20:09.063
- our first high school students into the IU Health Network. There'll be job shadowing. If they are 18

01:20:09.063 --> 01:20:14.906
- and they already have some of these certifications in hand, they will be able to work on the floors.

01:20:14.906 --> 01:20:20.806
- They'll be able to work hand in hand with our nurses. And the cool thing is they can also not only do

01:20:20.806 --> 01:20:26.302
- that during the school day, but they can actually have part-time employment through IU Health.

01:20:26.370 --> 01:20:32.709
- This is a win-win for our students and for IU Health at the same time and just the healthcare field

01:20:32.709 --> 01:20:33.470
- in general.

01:20:33.730 --> 01:20:39.001
- We're excited about this. In conjunction with that, we're exploring Ivy Tech as our Indiana College

01:20:39.001 --> 01:20:44.484
- core partner. Again, exploring that, there's a lot of pieces and components to that, but there are also

01:20:44.484 --> 01:20:50.124
- some bonuses that come along with that. Our current partner is Indiana University, and they're a fantastic

01:20:50.124 --> 01:20:55.501
- partner for us. We're just looking at, you know, should we upset that balance there a little bit, and

01:20:55.501 --> 01:20:58.558
- if we did, and we had more Ivy Tech classes, then we have

01:20:58.658 --> 01:21:05.751
- Indiana University dual credit classes, what benefits would that give to our students and to our high

01:21:05.751 --> 01:21:12.984
- schools? So we're exploring that. We'll kind of see where we go from there. Just some information. June

01:21:12.984 --> 01:21:20.286
- 13th of last year, 2025, the DOE sent a memo to schools highlighting changes to curricular materials for

01:21:20.482 --> 01:21:27.404
- fiscal year 26. We've talked a lot about the amount that curriculum is costing our district. In fiscal

01:21:27.404 --> 01:21:34.327
- year 2025, we spent just slightly over $600,000 in curriculum for our students. There is nobody that's

01:21:34.327 --> 01:21:41.115
- going to say that those kids don't need that, that they don't deserve that, that our teachers aren't

01:21:41.115 --> 01:21:43.198
- better teachers because of it.

01:21:43.618 --> 01:21:49.670
- But it is a hefty pill to swallow when we're looking at $600,000 that used to be reimbursed by the state

01:21:49.670 --> 01:21:55.665
- that we get not a dime for anymore. And now we swallow that into the education fund. The state realized

01:21:55.665 --> 01:22:01.487
- mistakes were made with this. And what was happening is basically it was drowning some of our school

01:22:01.487 --> 01:22:04.830
- districts across the state, many of our school districts.

01:22:04.994 --> 01:22:12.806
- And so they came back and they made an amendment to HEA 1002, Section 94, and what they talked about

01:22:12.806 --> 01:22:14.430
- here is they are now

01:22:14.786 --> 01:22:20.532
- allowing school corporations to assess and collect a reasonable fee for supplies and materials that

01:22:20.532 --> 01:22:26.393
- are not curricular and that supplement the instruction in a particular course of study. Some examples

01:22:26.393 --> 01:22:31.736
- of this would be workbooks that we don't necessarily purchase through a curricular contract.

01:22:31.736 --> 01:22:37.597
- In other words, the things that we purchase through Reveal Math or CKLA would not fall under this. It

01:22:37.597 --> 01:22:39.838
- would be things like a German workbook

01:22:39.938 --> 01:22:46.983
- where we don't have a contract with a vendor, and she's supplementing her curriculum with those workbooks.

01:22:46.983 --> 01:22:53.699
- Other examples of that would be science supplies. We spend a lot in STEM supplies, art supplies, band

01:22:53.699 --> 01:23:00.481
- supplies. With the things that the state changed, we pay for every read that goes into those clarinets

01:23:00.481 --> 01:23:01.534
- and saxophones.

01:23:01.634 --> 01:23:08.584
- And so it becomes really expensive for our district. We are not wanting to go back to the times when

01:23:08.584 --> 01:23:15.534
- high school students would come in and they would get a charge of $200, $250 for their classes. What

01:23:15.534 --> 01:23:22.552
- we're looking at and what we're exploring is keeping those fees incredibly reasonable, affordable for

01:23:22.552 --> 01:23:29.502
- our families, but also being able to pull some of that back in and allow us to be able to compensate

01:23:29.502 --> 01:23:30.878
- for this tremendous

01:23:31.042 --> 01:23:37.727
- piece that we've been absorbing in the education fund for the last couple of years. We've been able

01:23:37.727 --> 01:23:44.746
- to make some good strides. Debbie and I have been able to work through curriculum, and this year, fiscal

01:23:44.746 --> 01:23:51.431
- year 26, we took that from a $600,000 expenditure in 25 down to $450,000. We've really been able to

01:23:51.431 --> 01:23:57.982
- cut some of those allocations down, and we're confident that we can stay close within that range.

01:23:58.178 --> 01:24:06.010
- It never hurts to also have a little extra cushion in there. So just to give you an idea, 2,600 students,

01:24:06.010 --> 01:24:13.472
- if we were looking at an average of $40 a student, we would be looking at roughly $100,000. And when

01:24:13.472 --> 01:24:20.935
- we think about $40 a student and being able to recoup that, we don't feel like that's an amount that

01:24:20.935 --> 01:24:22.782
- is extreme for families.

01:24:22.946 --> 01:24:29.306
- Course-free and reduced students would not fall under those same requirements, but at the same time

01:24:29.306 --> 01:24:35.667
- would be a reasonable cost. And when you look at $100,000 in the education fund right now, $100,000

01:24:35.667 --> 01:24:42.218
- is a couple of teachers, and that makes a big difference to us. Or four or five assistants, that makes

01:24:42.218 --> 01:24:49.214
- a big difference to us. So when we think about these things, we truly do get down to the nitty-gritty of $40.

01:24:49.442 --> 01:24:55.030
- but we look at that in the grand scheme of what does that mean and how does that impact our students.

01:24:55.030 --> 01:25:00.508
- And when we start talking about teachers and assistants in that huge education fund, it does make a

01:25:00.508 --> 01:25:05.657
- difference. So this is just information for you. Next board meeting, I'm gonna bring you some

01:25:05.657 --> 01:25:11.902
- more information, some numbers to take a look at before we do anything with that. So just some information there.

01:25:12.642 --> 01:25:18.920
- And then upcoming items, April 3rd is now going to be a makeup flex day for our teachers. Our kids will

01:25:18.920 --> 01:25:25.077
- not come to school that day. And just to give you an idea of what we'll be working on, K5 is going to

01:25:25.077 --> 01:25:31.295
- be working together. Mr. Scholl, I'm hoping that you'll allow us to use your cafeteria that day in the

01:25:31.295 --> 01:25:37.391
- comfortable seating. But we're looking at bringing all of those teams together into one space. We're

01:25:37.391 --> 01:25:39.806
- gonna be working on our literacy block.

01:25:39.938 --> 01:25:47.614
- collectively, K-5 as well as vertical alignment, and so we know how important that is in those younger grades.

01:25:47.714 --> 01:25:53.377
- And then we'll also be pulling together a K-5 special education teachers that day. And six through 12,

01:25:53.377 --> 01:25:58.875
- we'll be working on some vertical alignment across departments. So some really good work that we're

01:25:58.875 --> 01:26:04.483
- doing that day and it's perfect timing. We don't ever get these days in April where we still can make

01:26:04.483 --> 01:26:10.146
- some changes that will impact the end of the year, but we're not at the end of the year and making the

01:26:10.146 --> 01:26:15.918
- changes for the following school year. So we're excited to have this day built in and be able to utilize

01:26:15.918 --> 01:26:16.798
- it in this way.

01:26:20.194 --> 01:26:31.472
- Thank you. Okay, now we have the superintendents report. Yeah, it looks like I have 34 minutes, so.

01:26:31.472 --> 01:26:43.314
- Four minutes, yeah, four minutes. Hey, exciting news. You know, last month we recognized our three Lilly

01:26:43.314 --> 01:26:49.630
- Scholarship finalists and we knew that Haley Patel was,

01:26:50.082 --> 01:27:01.014
- student who received the scholarship. Between last month and today, we found out that what they do is

01:27:01.014 --> 01:27:02.622
- they award two

01:27:02.786 --> 01:27:10.994
- the scholarship to two students, and then those students have the opportunity to accept them or not.

01:27:10.994 --> 01:27:19.364
- And so Haley accepted hers, but the other student did not, and so that went to Bella Carson. And she's

01:27:19.364 --> 01:27:27.815
- an awesome young lady, and we're very excited for her. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock is going to be the ribbon

01:27:27.815 --> 01:27:30.334
- cutting at the Mustang Market.

01:27:30.850 --> 01:27:37.895
- In case you don't know where the Mustang Market is, it's the new kitchen at the high school. And it

01:27:37.895 --> 01:27:45.151
- looks fabulous. I wish Vicki was still here because I'd be bragging the food looks great. But tomorrow

01:27:45.151 --> 01:27:52.548
- at 10, if you have an opportunity, come over to the high school and we'll do the ribbon cutting. That'll

01:27:52.548 --> 01:27:53.534
- be at 10 a.m.

01:27:54.114 --> 01:28:04.498
- The preschool enrollment is open and right now we have 159 students enrolled in the preschool and that's

01:28:04.498 --> 01:28:15.178
- up 12 from this point last year so we'll certainly be getting more students. Next week is also an important

01:28:15.178 --> 01:28:20.222
- week at EPS with the kindergarten welcome week and

01:28:20.354 --> 01:28:29.604
- very important time for the future kindergartners to come in and their parents to check out the school.

01:28:29.604 --> 01:28:39.032
- And there'll be an open house on April 2nd from 545 to 645. And really, it's the open houses that parents

01:28:39.032 --> 01:28:47.838
- will pick a specific time to come in and tour the building. And I just wanted to let you know that

01:28:47.938 --> 01:28:55.432
- The spring sports season kicks in next week. And I just wanted to share with you some of the opening

01:28:55.432 --> 01:29:03.000
- competitions. Looks like they're all away, unless I missed something. But to me, when I looked at the

01:29:03.000 --> 01:29:10.717
- counter, all these were away. But we'll have some home games and some exciting competitions and be able

01:29:10.717 --> 01:29:13.982
- to watch our students perform on the field.

01:29:14.082 --> 01:29:22.832
- on the court and it'll be a great spring for our students. We've done this once before, but the Ellipsville

01:29:22.832 --> 01:29:28.990
- Chamber of Commerce will host a coffee connection, a networking opportunity

01:29:29.090 --> 01:29:37.170
- for local businesses. And so all these businesses will come in. Representatives of the businesses will

01:29:37.170 --> 01:29:45.485
- come in for their usual networking opportunity. But they'll do so right in the coffee corral. And that'll

01:29:45.485 --> 01:29:53.722
- be April 7 from 8 to 9. And then many of those employers will stick around for the career and employment

01:29:53.722 --> 01:29:59.056
- fair from 9 to noon. And then we will be having our spring Edgewood

01:29:59.056 --> 01:30:10.501
- business leaders advisory lunch in and it'll be Thursday April 16th at 1130 and so you're always welcome

01:30:10.501 --> 01:30:21.837
- board to come to any of those activities and I just put a little advertisement about the Mustang market

01:30:21.837 --> 01:30:27.614
- on the back so thank you. Next is our PBEA comments.

01:30:28.194 --> 01:30:37.250
- We have Randy Gable. Well, it was great to hear the Mustang moments in the standing room only out here.

01:30:37.250 --> 01:30:46.132
- But I wanted to start with, I was the last class to go to Try North when it was still housed in North

01:30:46.132 --> 01:30:54.840
- High School. And I remember for weeks just feeling that anxiety of not being able to open a locker.

01:30:54.840 --> 01:30:57.278
- And so I want to just thank

01:30:57.442 --> 01:31:03.007
- junior high for all that they do for families. You know, my three children went through there and just,

01:31:03.007 --> 01:31:08.358
- you know, having that transition from elementary to junior high. And, of course, the second Mustang

01:31:08.358 --> 01:31:13.816
- moment was close to my heart, near and dear. And, you know, it's just been wonderful. I've been there

01:31:13.816 --> 01:31:15.742
- for a long time. And one thing that

01:31:15.842 --> 01:31:22.198
- I just love about EPS is the way we collaborate with each other. And it's been wonderful to have that

01:31:22.198 --> 01:31:28.430
- collaboration with special area finally having a purpose connecting that curriculum because we know

01:31:28.430 --> 01:31:34.662
- those are the memories that they're going to take away. And I just want to thank Matt and Elisa for

01:31:34.662 --> 01:31:41.330
- fostering that. You know, Mr. Ackerman, thank you for serving the students well. You had my three children

01:31:41.330 --> 01:31:43.262
- as well, and I've just watched

01:31:43.362 --> 01:31:51.426
- you, the high school, evolve over so many years. It continues to grow. And last year, I was standing

01:31:51.426 --> 01:31:59.489
- here welcoming Matt. And I know soon there's going to be a process to replace you. But a year later,

01:31:59.489 --> 01:32:07.632
- I just want to say it's been great to have Matt and Alisa in their roles. After Brenda leaving, after

01:32:07.632 --> 01:32:08.830
- so many years,

01:32:08.930 --> 01:32:15.739
- just to me has been a seamless transition and they've just, you know, been very transparent. They've,

01:32:15.739 --> 01:32:18.142
- you know, I can't imagine what that

01:32:18.338 --> 01:32:24.603
- that learning curve has been like, but I just thank them for everything they've done for us. And as

01:32:24.603 --> 01:32:30.930
- far as association news, not a whole lot going on. Great to hear about those updates, but I know our

01:32:30.930 --> 01:32:37.446
- Uniserve director, again, a lot of us are very new to these roles. She's new as well, and she is hoping

01:32:37.446 --> 01:32:43.711
- to bring us all together, building reps and those on our committees, just to do some training so we

01:32:43.711 --> 01:32:46.718
- can better serve and advocate for our teachers.

01:32:46.850 --> 01:32:53.925
- Hopefully that will be coming in the next few weeks before the end of the school year. Thank you very

01:32:53.925 --> 01:33:01.208
- much. Now we're to board member comments from Mrs. Jacobs. Well, of course, every time we have our musty

01:33:01.208 --> 01:33:08.213
- moment, that's just the highlight of our meeting. And this was such a filled moment for us to see so

01:33:08.213 --> 01:33:15.150
- many different students. It's amazing. They're just remarkable. We always appreciate donations that

01:33:15.150 --> 01:33:16.190
- are coming in.

01:33:16.578 --> 01:33:24.305
- that helps our students so much. And I'm very excited. The more and more I hear and learn about the

01:33:24.305 --> 01:33:32.340
- Life Science Training Center, of course, that's my field. So of course, that lights me up. So I'm very,

01:33:32.340 --> 01:33:40.453
- very excited to see how this will push our students out into our community in this field, because that's

01:33:40.453 --> 01:33:45.630
- what we need. That's where we need to grow. So it's very exciting.

01:33:45.922 --> 01:33:55.175
- very exciting time for us. Is that it? Well, thank you all for the wonderful corporation that you lead.

01:33:55.175 --> 01:34:04.249
- It's amazing. I wanted to just say a couple things about Dirk. Dirk was one of the first admin people

01:34:04.249 --> 01:34:13.502
- I met here when I moved back home in 83. Dirk, is that the time you started? Yeah. But anyway, do what?

01:34:14.178 --> 01:34:21.229
- Watched her move through the system and it was just always nice to me when I rarely had a concern But

01:34:21.229 --> 01:34:28.349
- when I did I could call Dirk and he'd call me in or we'd sit down to explain it to me So that's that's

01:34:28.349 --> 01:34:35.261
- nice that that relationship we had over the years really made things run a lot easier Thank you for

01:34:35.261 --> 01:34:42.243
- your service for us. I appreciate you so much My favorite story was when he was playing the cowardly

01:34:42.243 --> 01:34:43.902
- line and at the tis and

01:34:44.098 --> 01:34:53.096
- He was a little late for his cue. And Rebecca was playing Dorothy. And so she had to do some ad libbing.

01:34:53.096 --> 01:35:01.666
- And the scarecrow said something. She told him just to suck it up. But it was cute. We were good on

01:35:01.666 --> 01:35:10.235
- a stage together. What's that? We were good on a stage together. Yes. Yeah. So it was fun. It was a

01:35:10.235 --> 01:35:13.406
- lot of fun. So a lot of great times.

01:35:13.506 --> 01:35:23.691
- I so enjoyed the Mustang moments. The EPS kids, I do love the curriculum with Amplify. I think it's

01:35:23.691 --> 01:35:33.875
- great. Again, my wife's a teacher and she loves it. She says it's kind of nice to go back and learn

01:35:33.875 --> 01:35:42.430
- some of that stuff again for herself and just really enjoys it. And the transition,

01:35:42.562 --> 01:35:54.275
- That is so tough from fifth grade to sixth grade and the whole tremendous change and so I love the transition

01:35:54.275 --> 01:36:05.456
- there. I'm so proud of those girls at the junior high basketball. To only have two losses in three years

01:36:05.456 --> 01:36:09.502
- is tremendous. I'm so happy for them.

01:36:09.602 --> 01:36:18.596
- I think we embarrassed him a little bit with the standing ovation. So I was hoping we would.

01:36:18.596 --> 01:36:28.364
- So that was good. I just think we're doing great things with the life sciences and doing things with

01:36:28.364 --> 01:36:39.486
- the chamber and getting the fair here. And I just am so happy with the direction this school corporation is going.

01:36:39.586 --> 01:36:46.615
- And it's due to all of you guys in this room and the rest of the corporation. And I think we got a great

01:36:46.615 --> 01:36:53.310
- place. And what a wonderful people. And I thank you all for being here tonight. And this meeting is

01:36:53.310 --> 01:36:54.046
- adjourned.