Open this meeting. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for
all. Thank you all. Please be seated. And welcome to the March 2026 regular school board meeting.
And we let the record reflect that Mr. Jacobs, Mr. Durnall, and Mr. Kerr are present this evening. As
my understanding, there are no visitor comments. OK. Seeing none, we'll go into our Mustang moments.
And we have two tonight. That's the fact room. So Dr. Sanders, would you like to do the introductions?
We'll, you know, two for the price of one. All right. You get that?
All right, we're going to turn it over to Mr. Woody at EPS. All right. Well, some of you may know that
relatively recently, over the last couple of years, we adopted a new reading curriculum. And when we
adopted Amplify as the knowledge strand of our reading program during our last curriculum adoption,
we were all curious about student engagement. While we spoke with everybody, we spoke to lots of experts
about that curriculum, and they all assured us
that seven-year-olds could really be compelled by units like early Asian civilizations and the War of
1812 and westward expansion, we were all still a little bit skeptical. But what we found is that not
only were our students enthusiastic about those subjects once they got into them, their teachers were
eager to learn about them and to help students make deeper connections to that new content. And starting
toward the end of last year, our special area teachers
started considering how they could help students make connections to those units as well. So we know
that engaged students of course are learning students and in music, PE, art, library, at EPS our students
have had opportunities to live out their learning and extend their comprehension of those subjects that
they're studying thanks to the creative efforts of these amazing teachers over here and these kids.
So they're gonna take it away. Okay, we're gonna start first with our first grade
reading unit and how we connected it to music. And this is Eleanor and she's going to tell you what
we did in music class and a little bit about art. In our first grade unit, we learned about fairy tales
and folk tales. Mrs. Hudson taught us two dances that we performed for our royal ball in our classroom.
In our class, we made castles and we also made crowns to wear at our royal ball.
So they learned two dances and then in their classrooms, they all got to dress up and wear their crowns
that they made and got to perform in their classroom. So I have a little video of kind of the end of
the unit. Maybe, there you go. So just a little snippet of their end of unit celebration. Okay, and
then in art,
to go along with that. In art they ended up doing texture crowns to wear to the Royal Ball and then
I connected it with they were learning castles in their fairy tales so we did texture castles and they
learned about the different castles around the world and then they got to design their own castle in
art. All right and then in
arts for second grade they were learning about the Pony Express and I'm going to let MJ take it away
from here. In our reading unit we learned about the westward expansion and how they used the Pony Express
where is this is where the riders delivered mail by horses over long distances it was a
hard and dangerous job because they traveled from Missouri to California. In art we learned how to make
a convincing advertisement. A successful ad has a big picture, a big title, and important details to
grab your attention. We created our own ads to get people to join the Pony Express. You want to show
your examples? Here, you guys can come over here. Come over here.
You want to show everyone? So they took paper, because back in the day, the paper, it wasn't white,
right? It wasn't bleached how it is today. And they had to rip the edges. And what did we paint with?
Coffee. We painted with coffee and art. And then they got to design their own advertisement and add
their own details and make it as realistic as possible to convince people to join their Pony Express.
And then the second grade teachers hung them throughout the hallway. So that was kind of cool to see
everybody's take on it. They did a great job. All right. In art, or not art, I'm library. Bookworm shirt.
Second grade teachers came to me late September and asked if I would be able to help supplement
their books titles in each domain that were recommended readings. And I said, well, I happen to have
pretty successful book fairs and take some of that money and it goes in my ECA account. So I was able
to, what goes next?
to purchase, these are some of the books that I purchased. I purchased, I think, like 15 titles, two
books each, so that each PLC could use them throughout the week, not have to go through nine teachers
to see where to find where the book is. And typically I kind of follow along with their curriculums
anyway, but it was fun this year, the things that I read and their,
Sometimes I'd hear this, they're like, we learned about that already. And I'm like, I know. So just
hearing their little voices, some of them that you don't ever hear them talk at all, just making those
connections was really kind of neat this year. So I'm looking forward to adding to that every year.
So I think we're off to the Olympics. All right, I'm going to have Amos talk first and then I'll talk
a little when he's done.
In reading, we learned about ancient Greek, Grecian Greek mythology. We learned that the Olympics were
first started to honor the gods and goddesses. The first Olympic games included chariot races, javelin,
discus, and long jump. In PE class, we had our own Olympics to celebrate the end of our Greek unit.
Our second grade Olympic games included events such as shot put, javelin, foot races, and long jump.
This was a fun way to wrap up our reading unit.
In the long jump, it was my favorite. I was in first place, and I got a gold medal. You did awesome.
So yeah, we got all our second grade students into the gym, and we had five different events going on.
And some of these events they'd never heard of, so it was really fun. We did the shot put instead of
discus for some safety reasons. And javelin, we did. But you did it, second grade style.
We're gonna have Amos and Archie are gonna show you how. They did it, so be aware down there. There's
a way to do it. Remember how you stand? Yep. Ooh, that was a good one. All right, go ahead, Archie.
Yeah, nice. All right, and there we go.
So they did not introduce themselves, but I want to introduce these teachers before they walk away.
Jenna Hudson, Maria Koos, Whitney Goodwin, Brittany Padroni, and Sarah Fig are marvelous special area
teachers at EPS. And I want to go back to something that Maria said. Sometimes a moment just doesn't
click in the typical classroom setting.
and you get into library or you get into PE and you get into music and you get into art and you just
hear something or get to experience something in a different way and that's when it clicks. And this
has just been so marvelous to see our special area teachers take off with our Amplified curriculum.
So thank you guys and thank you kids.
great presentation. Anytime you can make connections like that for students, it just enhances the learning.
My wife's a second grade teacher, and she just loves the curriculum and just finds it so interesting.
And she says that the students really, really enjoy it.
It's actually a three for one night. Junior high is bringing two things this evening. I'm gonna turn
it over to this dynamic duo of Mrs. Callie Schlemmer and Mrs. Brittany Straw to talk about transitions
from our elementary schools into the junior high. It's a big change for a lot of our students. And then
once that's over, Mr. Siglin's out in the hallway and I'll turn it over to him. So up next. Awesome.
So if you think about your life,
when you were in elementary school, and then all of a sudden, you had seven classes a day, a locker,
different teachers. Your parents were not contacted every week or even every day. You had to start asking
teachers your own questions or advocating for yourself. You can see that this alone is a huge transition
in our students' lives. Couple that with, sorry, junior high students,
High emotions, brain transformations, puberty. These transitions from especially fifth grade to sixth
grade are hugely important. They help our students build their confidence and keep their confidence,
build their self-efficacy so that they know they're a part of the school. They know that what they have
to do every day
and they can then focus on their learning. So we're going to talk about the different things that we
do for this transition, and then you'll hear from a few of our sixth graders about what this was like
this year. So the first thing that we do is in March, and we invite our fifth grade students to come
tour the school. So they hear from the junior high band, the junior high choir, they take a tour of
the building with current junior high students,
they get to practice opening a locker. And it's pretty hard these first few times. And then you can
also see in one of these photos, they stand against the wall to watch a passing period. Because up to
this point, they're walking through the hallways in lines with a teacher guiding them, whereas here
they're on their own to make that time whatever it is they need.
We also host something for parents because it's a big transition for parents as well. Our fifth grade
parent and guardian night is actually tomorrow night. And so we are welcoming fifth grade parents as
well as new to the corporation next year families to come learn about what we're like at the junior
high. They're going to learn about expectations, schedules, different supports, and all of the activities
that we have at the school.
In May, we take a group of junior high students to each individual fifth grade classroom. So the fifth
graders get a chance to ask these eighth graders typically whatever they're still thinking about. They've
seen the school in March. What are they still wondering about in May? So that's a day where they really
just get to make it their own. From there, Mrs. Straw.
So from there, we transition from the idea that these students are leaving elementary and really welcome
them into just, hey, we are now part of the junior high crew. And so we start off in August with our
Colts Roundup. This is a pretty high energy event. Our students come over. They are engaged in a scavenger
hunt to help figure out where different things are around the building.
They get their schedules. They again get some time for their locker. And they leave there with a Colts
t-shirt so that they can really feel a part of the team, like they belong. And from there, we transition
into an open building. So we will welcome the students only for this event, two to four-ish, a few hours.
And then after that, we welcome
students and their families into the building for a more self paced introduction into the building.
So it's a little bit less chaotic, a little bit less overwhelming. They can find a route to their locker,
to their first period class. And really the hope is that when they come on that very first day, they
know exactly where they're reporting to really minimize that first day stress.
Once the school year gets started, we then welcome our families back for open house.
And this is a time where our teachers are present. They talk about their goals for the year,
their curriculum, the great things that the students have to look forward to. And they get to walk their
students' schedule themselves and see what passing periods feel like. And is four minutes really long
or is it too short? And I think they end up agreeing that this is a good amount of time for our junior
high students to be in the hallways.
Then to end my portion of this presentation, our counselors, so Ms. Schlimmer and I, we make sure that
we meet every sixth grade students for what we call a minute meeting.
And we do this for a lot of intentional purposes. But one of the things that it allows us to do is to
slow down, to really build a relationship with these kids, be face to face with them, make sure they
know how to get in contact with us as safe adults if they have questions about anything from their schedule
or friends, whatever the case may be. We generally try to find out something fun or unique about them
that we can use then as we're getting to know them, see them in the hallway, make sure that we reference
whatever that
dialogue was just again to let them know that they matter and they had our full attention for a full
minute. So then by the time that this happens, our now sixth grade students have had five different
touch points by EJHS faculty, staff, and student leaders. And this is in an attempt to really make sure
that their junior high transition is based on just like that emotional security and also just like a
physical comfort
that will then just hopefully set up their next three years really well at the junior high. I'm gonna
turn it over to Mishlimmer, who's going to introduce our students to talk with you. Yes, so I'd like
to welcome up Zach Dabbart, Will Ryder, and Briella Gardner. And I know we talked about what order you
were gonna talk outside, and I'm sorry, I don't remember what that is. So, take your spot.
You guys go. Yeah, feel free. First, I wanna talk about my experience with Colts Roundup.
It was a great time to come, get your schedule, check things out. And the scavenger hunt was great,
being able to check out the school, learn your way around a bit, and figure things out. And the sixth
grade minute meetings, it was great to be able to ask your counselor questions, any more thoughts you
had about stuff you hadn't already been told.
know that you can come to them if you ever need something, so yeah. Thank you. Thank you. During the
fifth grade visits, the students could have a time to try to open the lockers and look around the building.
I think the passing period part of it was really helpful because fifth grade students are walking around
with their teachers around the building, and they can see what it's like to not have to do that.
And then the first week of school is usually really stressful for incoming sixth graders because they're
trying to figure out where all their classes are still. But the teachers are really nice and they usually
allow a couple tardies the first week before they actually start getting serious and they are able to
help kids with their locker combos and getting around the building. The open house was really helpful
because of
like it was a reenactment of what you really would do during the school day. So it allowed you to open
your locker, walk around, just find where your classes are before school really started. Yeah, four
minutes is a good amount of time to walk around.
They have extra time. Okay, extra time left over. Dang, all of us in the room that had five, six, and
seven-minute passing periods are looking at you guys like you guys are rock stars to figure that one
out. Awesome. Well, thank you. That is what we have for you. Thank you.
One of my boys at an orientation like that went up to open his locker and he couldn't get it. All his
friends were helping him. They couldn't get it. I went over. I couldn't get it open. The assistant principal
finally came over. He couldn't get it open. Here they changed the lock on paper but not on the actual lock.
He was getting really frustrated. That was not a good start. You guys are doing an awesome job getting
our students ready for junior high. That can be a scary event. And I really like how they stand in the
hallway and watch how a passing period works. I never thought of that before. It is very well thought
out process. Hi.
What do you got there, Mr. Singh? We got some trophies over here. Just we're flexing a little bit. We
want to recognize our eighth grade girls basketball team. As sixth graders, they came in and you kind
of knew that they were a little bit of a special group. I think they went seven and one. The one loss
was at Bloomfield.
But that was obviously officiating. That wasn't anything to do with the way we did things. And then
as seventh graders, they won their first 24 games of the season. And then that last game of the season,
they didn't go the way that we had planned it. But this year was a pretty special season. They started
the year with a mission, and they completed that mission. They ended the year 24-0 this year.
So if you calculate that up over the course of three years in junior high, they ended up 55 and 2, which
I don't know of a group that's ever finished that well. At least I know from the time I've been here,
I know that the senior class that just graduated had a pretty special middle school group, but I think
maybe 19 and 3, 20 and 2 maybe was the best season that they had.
But they've accomplished something that very few people have accomplished. We even increased the difficulty
of our schedule this year by picking up some different teams. And they rose to the challenge. So at
the end of the year, it says a House District Declaration from House District 46. Robert Heaton,
it says, a declaration in recognition of Edgewood Junior High School eighth grade girls basketball team
from Ellisville, Indiana for exemplifying excellence, teamwork, and determination
as one of the most accomplished middle school athletic teams in Indiana, bringing pride to their school,
their families, and their entire Ellesville community. So I'd just like to recognize those girls. We
had Carmen Fry, Maggie Johnson, Audrina Truax, Bailey Clark, Timley Jablonski, Kaitlyn Ripley,
Kirsten Walker, Averyonna Richardson, Story Heckman, Chloe Wyckoff. And then we had two managers, Sophia
Corbin and Emma Caudel.
And then Jason Sims coached this group all the way through from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. And
unfortunately, it's been an honor for him to coach for us. But after 17 years in middle school, which
doesn't happen very often, this is Jason's last year. So we just greatly appreciate all the work that
he's done for Edgewood Junior High School and the athletic community, and just the community in general,
just being an outstanding coach and even a better person.
working with our girls. So you can see we won back-to-back WIC conference championships. We won eighth
grade county this year. We won, we went over to Owen Valley and took their trophies twice. We went down
to Bedford and took their trophy. So this group just deserves the recognition and everything that comes
with it. So our eighth grade girls passed.
At one of our principal meetings, he was so excited. He just really implored us to come to the next
game. And so I did. And I was impressed. I can't wait for the next four years. You guys, I think you're
going to accomplish some even bigger things at the high school level. And you're such great sportsmen.
throughout the game and very proud of all of you. And don't our students, speaking of all the students
who spoke tonight, they just speak so well at these meetings. I get excited every meeting when I hear
our students. They do a better job speaking in public than I do, and I'm impressed with them,
so very good. Thanks, Tori. So nobody's going to go to the quarter already.
Nobody's going to the portal. We can't even give them a coffee or a bubble drink in high school or otherwise
they are exempt from anything. So we are very careful about that, right, Mr. Ackerman? We don't cross
that boundary at all. Thank you very much. Great job. And you're all welcome to stay for the superintendent's
report at the end.
Thank you. Great job. Good job. Good job. They are a fun group to watch on the court. They are so athletic
and spirited. I mean, and they're all in. I mean, they're all utilizing the court in some way, and it's
a fun team to watch.
I don't understand what happened. I guess when you go into a classroom, if you want to know who's going
to be the administrators, just look in the back row. That's where they'll be. That's just a sign they
must go to church.
Okay, wow. What a great evening. So we now have to get down to business. And so we have the consent
agenda. We have the approval of minutes from the February 17th, 2026 regular board meeting, the February
24th, 2026 special board meeting. We have the financial report.
which is the Treasurer's Report for February of 2026. And Mr. Doolittle, the claims, please. Thank you,
Mr. President. For gross wages on February the 13th, 2026, is $813,791.45. For gross wages on
February 27th, 2026, $861,677.79 for total there $1,675,469.24. For vouchers pre-pay from February 1st
to February 28th is $1,267,457.44.
for claims regular vouchers on March 24th, 2026 is $504,229.32 for a total in that area, $1,771,686.76
for a grand total of $3,447,156. And that's it, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Next we have personnel,
resignations, retirements, non-renewals, leaves and terminations.
C1 through 20 and number 22 excluding number 21. And D, personnel appointments transfers, D1 through
15. And donations, we're happy that there is a donation of $500 for the Angel Fund from the Reeves Club.
And there are also two out of state and overnight
field trips. One would be the high school baseball team to Jasper, Indiana for the Hall of Fame Classic,
and one for the high school ELOTS, E-L-O-T-S, to Bradford Woods, May 4th to the 9th of 2026. Dr. Sanders,
would you like to comment on those two? Sure. The baseball trip is just an annual trip to the baseball
Hall of Fame Classic. That'll be
May 8th and 9th, and then the ELOT students or high school students who join the fifth graders at Bradford
Woods and provide services
such as mentoring the students, helping supervise the students. And it just is a great, a lot of times
a great memory for them to go back to Bradford Wood because oftentimes they were there when they were
in fifth grade. And so it's just a great opportunity for our students and that'll be the week of May
4th, May 4th through 6th and then 6th through 8th. Do we have a motion?
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Dr. Sanders, would you like to recognize
a few? Yeah, there's two retirees that I would like to recognize. Allie McLaughlin, who has taught for
32 years, is retiring. And she's just a sweet person. And I know she's probably going to be very busy
in retirement.
but we will definitely miss Ali. And then of course our awesome Dirk Ackerman after 39 years in education
is retiring and really I could go on for a long time tonight just talking about what Mr. Ackerman has
meant to thousands of students over the years. You walk over to the high school
and he's very, he's one of those principals that's very student-centered. Especially to get a good picture
of that would come to the overnighter where that's where you build relationships and those relationships
lead to students enjoying being in school and leads to academic success and it all begins with teachers
and principals who
know the students' names and make every decision with the best interests of the students in mind. And
so we're going to miss having Dirk around with all the history and knowledge that he has and just appreciate
all that he's done for us over the years. Having three kids has gone through the system. I've always
been impressed how many of the students
Dirk remembers. I mean, you know, I'm impressed when teachers remember lots of students, but when principals
can remember that many students, it's just, I mean, it's something special to be able to have that kind
of relationship with a student. So we appreciate you so much. He's remembered them when they came back
as parents and many generations. So it's one of those things that if he finds out that he had a parent
or even not grandparents, right? Have we gotten to that point?
Have we gotten to a point that there's a grandparent that was a former student? I don't think so. Okay.
I would hope that we haven't gotten there yet. But it's so interesting because he always says, I know
your uncle, or I know your mom and dad, or I know, and he always puts those connections together and
he makes those kids feel so special in that moment. I'll say this, there were a few kids in here,
I was just making sure. I mean, we do have really young parents sometimes, so I was just making sure.
Not everybody has children in their late 30s, so. Okay. Next, we do have a supplemental personnel report.
Dr. Sanders? Yes. As with any employee who comes into the
school system, we do background checks and by state law, if there is something that we want to bring
to the board's attention that we do that and that has been sent to the school board. But we would like
to approve David Jobito who will be the second shift custodian at the junior high and we recommend your approval.
Moved, seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now we'll move to our construction
progress update. And we have Martin with us tonight. Martin Truesdell from Skillman. Thank you.
Come on up. I don't know nearly the crowd here. Construction progress.
I guess I'll call it the previous project, the project we've just finished. We've got a few loose ends
we're doing there. For instance, at the field house, we have to do a display case. We have to deal with
the overhead door, a little bit of water coming in. But at this point, everything's done and functional,
with the exception of we do have a asphalt project to do some speed humps around the building.
And the weather's just about right that we'll be starting that pretty quickly. Future projects, I guess
are now current projects. We have the playground project at the elementary school. We have started that.
The first thing they did was get their fencing up and get the topsoil stripped off. They've done that.
We're moving fairly quickly now with that.
We'll do the hardscape stuff like the curbs, pavement and concrete flat work will be the next. We feel
like we will probably be mid end of May finishing that project up. So we'll kind of work through the
rest of the school, excuse me, school year on that. We've got the, all right.
Okay, we got railings, turf. I'll wait until we get to those. So the next thing I think I'll talk about
is we have the, I'll talk about the railing project. No, let me back up. We have the roof projects going
on. We have had our pre-construction meeting on that. We met with the roofing contractor.
There's a collaboration they have to do with the Mason, so we've gotten those two guys involved. We're
getting shop drawings on that now, and we've gotten the submittals for the roof material, so we're real
close. As soon as the architect approves the submittal, then we can go ahead and get that material ordered.
And it's a fairly short lead time material, so we should be able
move forward on that. Along with the roof project, we bid the mechanical project, which is the boilers
at the junior high school and the high school. The boilers were seeing the submittals come in on that.
They just submitted the pumps, which is the long lead time thing. So we're kind of pushing the designers
to get that approved. We won't see any of that happen until after the
end of the school year. We do wanna get in on the roof projects, the high bays, the taller part of the
building, which would be the gym and over the cafeteria and over the ancillary spaces to that. We're
gonna try to get those going during the school year because we feel like we can work up there with minimal
disruption by not being over the classrooms. So we're pushing the,
roofing contractor to get that going. As soon as school's out, then we're gonna hit the classroom areas.
And the goal is to get the classroom areas at least significantly complete before school starts. We'd
get all the tear off done. The goal is to get the tear off done, the membrane in. And then once school
starts, we might be doing copings
or detailing or flashings or that type of thing. And if it all works out that way, we should be able
to get any noisy work over the classrooms down over the summer. So then I'm looking here, the next thing
is the gym railings. We assisted you all with getting quotes on the gym railings as opposed to bids.
Because of the dollar scope of the project, we didn't have to go through
We picked three contractors that we knew could do the work. They worked with City Glass, which is a
glass company, obviously, and Geiger-Peters, which will do the steel railing, and they incorporated
that into their bid. So, Dr. Sanders, it's a complete package. They'll do the demo. They'll tear out
what's there.
they'll pour the floor, they'll put the railing in, paint the railing, and put the glass inserts into
the railing, and that's all in one package. The low quote on that was Ripburger, and they were at 124.6,
which was, Dr. Sanders, I think I had guessed 125, so we were,
It's about what we anticipate. When we get to that item, I'll have the exact price. Okay. Move on to
the turf project. Yeah. Baseball and softball turf project. We are asking for permission to take that
to bid. We've gotten the contract documents from Lancer
And we've actually already posted those with Eastern Engineering, who does a distribution. There are
really only five contractors in this area that can do that work. It's pretty special work. And at this
time, four of the five contractors have picked up drawings, so we're seeing significant interest. There's
a little challenge getting more than one or two bidders on that,
It's such a small community, they all know what their prices are and if they think they're high, they'll
go do something else. But we're hoping to get a couple, three bids on that. And that's a full bid process
on that. We did go through a design development estimate and then we did a final design estimate and
we're right in the ballpark where we thought we would be
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
ago, two Fridays ago, we came in and Arnold and. Jerry Bland. Yeah, Jerry, I'm trying to think who all
was there. Anyway, we went through with the interested parties, went page to page and actually the,
designers made a few tweaks to it at that time, and they've incorporated that in their drawings and
gotten them out. So we feel like there's been a good opportunity for the RBB group to take a look at
it and be sure about what we're putting on the street. And with that, we need to advertise. We need
to advertise two times, seven days apart. If we get approval now, Dr. Sanders, I think we agreed
That would be April 1st and April 8th, and then we would take the bids on April 15th. Keep moving along.
No, you're good. Because I'm not going to talk about wellness policy. Yeah, we can move on. So if there
are any questions on that, that's good.
We have action items for each of those, Martin. Okay. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. We're a busy
place this summer yet again. Okay. And speaking of the EHS gymnasium railings, that is the next action item.
to approve the quote for those. And so Dr. Sanders. So we started on these projects for the new bleachers
at the junior high and high school back in October. The bleachers at junior high are installed. They
look really awesome. You ought to go up and check them out. The high school bleachers are in progress.
So in the upper level on the side where the bleachers are mobile,
Those new bleachers have been installed. On the opposite end where the bleachers are permanent, we've
basically taken the old covers off, painted the bleachers, painted the floors, and the new bleachers
are presently being installed in the upper level. So as we began into this, got into this project,
We knew we were gonna have to do some adjustments to the railings because the current entrance from
the lower level to the upper level is different from the new bleach, what the new bleachers will be
like. But when we went to look into getting new railings, we found out that the code had changed.
And that the railings now had to be, I think it's 42, 43 inches. And so that involves a lot more work
than we anticipated. But it's still within the budget that I had set for the whole bleacher project.
So the cost of putting new railings and new glass up is $124,600.
You have a motion? I'll second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? There's a picture. They're kind
of what the railings will look like. Only ours will be black metal, but that's how the glass will look.
But you said they'd be painted black. They'll be bright. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion carries. And now we will look into the advertisement to bid the baseball and softball turf projects.
So as Martin already shared with you, we need to advertise for this project. The advertisement will
be in the paper April 1st and April 8th, and we'll have the bid opening on April 15th. The advertisement
was in the board packet for your review.
Oh, second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion carries. Now consideration to approve revisions to the wellness policy number 8510. Yes. So this
is a second reading. So you already had the first reading. So tonight we're asking you to approve revising
the wellness policy 8510.
And what it does, it's important that we do this because it's going to bring our policy up to a line
with current national health standards. And so we asked the board to approve the revisions of wellness
policy 8510. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
Now we have revisions to the food service program policy number 8,500. Right. So this policy is also
you had last month had the first reading. Tonight we're asking for your approval. And really it makes
our practice and our policy aligned, which you always want to do that. So that's we don't basically
Our old policy said that we allowed students to charge, and basically we always feed students, whether
they have the funds there or not. They get a choice of peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a grilled cheese,
or a delicious sub sandwich, and those include all the five components of the MyPlate guidelines, and
so we recommend your approval.
Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now we have consideration
to approve a quote for the boardroom sound system and also we're looking at the approval of installation
of a boardroom wall display. Right.
asking if we could do these two items together. And really I want to thank Susan Shockney, Robin May
and Rick Routon for helping on these projects. The cost of the sound system in here will be $40,485.72
and that quote was awarded to Howard Technology Solutions.
I don't know about you. I wear hearing aids, but I still cannot always hear clear out the other end
of the table, especially if we have a student up there speaking. And it's just very important for people
to be heard. And not only will this sound system help with being able to hear better, but it'll help
with the cats and being able to live stream our board meetings on cats.
and make that process a lot better. And then this room is used an awful lot for events that brings the
public in here. First of all, through CATS once again, the public gets to see what our boardroom looks
like. We bring the business leaders advisory team in here twice a year.
We have the champs meeting that is in here. So we want to be able to put our best foot forward. And
so we have a logo that will go up here and pictures of each school over on the other side. We'll be
using Green Sign Company for that. And the cost of that project will be $11,909.
I don't know if Susan or Rick have anything they want to add to that. Or if you have any questions,
ask them. Do we have a motion? I'm really glad that you, I know you really wanted to put the board member's
faces across the bat, so I'm glad you steered away from that idea. I just really didn't want that, so
I'm glad you
you decided not to do that. And the sound system, I personally really need that. It's very hard to hear
the people at the podium. They all think that these are sound projecting. So they talk into them really
well. But it's very difficult to hear, especially the students. So I just smile and nod my head like
I am hearing them, because I want them to think I am.
Really not. But anyway, so I'm glad to get both of these. Did we indicate the vendor for each of those?
Yes. Yeah. Howard Technology Solutions for the sound system and Green Sign Company for the display.
Okay. We have a first and a second. Any further discussion?
All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay. Next we have approved the SMART Grant
Amendment Number 4 with Indiana University. And we'll turn to Jennifer Barrett. This is the fourth amendment.
You'll see another one at the end of the year. Basically at the start of every grant we sign an agreement
with IU or whoever our partner is
entering into the grant and the research services and things like that that they'll provide to us. As
each year goes along, they send us an amendment for that year with the amount that we're looking at
basically paying to them on a reimbursement basis. So this is year four of the SMART grant. We're looking
at approximately $194,741 that we would be paying to IU for their services with the SMART grant.
Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. The next two we have Vicki
Coffey for and these are quotes for equipment purchase. One is for the junior high kitchen and the other,
we'll take them separately, the other is for the Edgewood intermediate kitchen. So first the junior
high kitchen.
So for the junior high school are milk cases there are over 13 years old and they've been through all
kinds of good stuff with summer feeding going in and out and that and we just need to replace them.
We're seeing a few more repairs than what we should. So that's the first item. And of course you have
the three quotes there.
Total it's about $13,000. So we just wanted to bring that to you for approval for the junior high milk
pieces That's that one first in the vendor Vendor for that one a shirt Lancaster shirt. They won both
of the bids. Okay Pricing of course, it's the exact same equipment that went out for the three the three
quotes and
Oh, so it's the same equipment at both places? Actually, no. I'm sorry. The milk cases are at the junior
high. And then the next thing on the agenda are two sets of reach-in coolers for the intermediate and
the primary schools. So those two are the same. That's also Lancaster Shirt is who came in, the lowest
bidder with them. Those two schools, those units there, the reach-in refrigerators are 24 years old.
So they've done a pretty good job. But we're also seeing quite a few more repairs there at the intermediate
and the primary school. So we'd just like to replace them, both of those sets, both schools 24 years
old, both are seeing quite a few repairs. So when we're looking at refrigeration, we wanna make sure
that we get those taken care of, quit putting more refrigerant,
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
ready to replace those. And of course, this money of $43,000 will be coming out of the lunch fund for
those replacements. OK. So there are $43,000 apiece? Total. So $13,000 is the milk cases, and $40,000
is the total for both refrigerators.
So we're looking at $53,000, sorry. And that'll come out of the lunch fund, which we're at $435,000
right now in the bank. OK. I guess we can take them all together. So we'll move and second. Moved and
seconded. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thanks for your time. Next is consideration.
to add the voice software module. And we have Susan Shockney for that. Hi. Hi. So CompuTrol might be
a word that you're familiar with. We've been with CompuTrol since 1996 or 1997. I'm not sure exactly.
And in 2018, they switched over to a company called Voice. And we've continued on with that system.
That's a system that Debbie knows inside and out.
as the treasurer since 2015 and a system that I've worked in for a long time. And Boyce just keeps looking
to improve their system. For the last few years, we've been looking around to add some efficiency to
our onboarding, add some efficiency to all of our processes with payroll and with HR and some things
like that. And as we're looking,
didn't look like adding this system out here. This system out here was going to bring efficiency. It
was just going to be another system to have to enter things into and then combine it all together. So
voice in 2024 in the fall of 2024 introduced something called the employee hub. And right now we are
asking to bring that on as a module to our added voice software system. It's going to help us with
Employees are going to be able to log in and see things in real time. They're going to be able to submit
forms that we've always done by paper, tax forms, changes of address, things like that. And they're
going to be able to log in and just submit that electronically. Some of the other paper processes that
we have are going to be able to eventually go away also. Right now, they have it in front of you. They
have three tiers. We're looking to add the pro tier. They haven't finalized the enterprise
tier yet, but we're looking to add the pro tier initially and then eventually adding the enterprise
as soon as it's ready to go. The cost of the pro tier is $15,066, also $1,500 for document storage and
an additional $1,500 for the initial training. So I'm asking for your consideration to add that. Moved
and seconded. Any discussion?
Modernization, okay. Thank you. Sounds great. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
Okay, next is consideration to approve an agreement with Crider and Crider for the EECC playground.
This is really a technicality. The board approved awarding the bid to Crider and Crider for the playground.
But our policy says that we need to approve contracts. So that's what we're asking the board to do tonight
is approve the contract for Crider and Crider. I'll second. $610,325. Read your mind. All right. So
we have the amount. First and second. Do we have any discussion? All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Next is consideration to approve Navigate 360 contract. Jennifer? I'm
actually going to pass off to Rick and Alec. They have been working on the program for us and know a
lot more about it than I do.
So this has kind of been my baby that I have done a lot of research on since the start of the school
year. We currently already contract with Navigate 360 for our ALICE program throughout the school. And
we're missing a bunch of missing pieces for our safety across the campus. And Navigate has a solution
for all of those.
I tried to include as much as information in the memo that you guys received, but if you have any specific
questions, I'm happy to answer them. One of the biggest cool, I'm gonna say coolest things that Rick
and I are excited about is they're going to come in and digitally map all the schools. So we'll have
all of our buildings digitally
All of our AEDs, our fire extinguishers, everything will be marked throughout the buildings. And the
cost of that? So it's two separate quotes. There's obviously an initial startup fee. So for the Campus
360, which includes visitor management, volunteer management, all the equipment needed minus the laptops, but
Rick is going to provide those. The emergency management, which includes a panic button for staff, the
fee to implement it, and the visitor manager, I already said that, sorry. So total fee for startup is
$31,880.75 with the recurring cost of
$15,975 a year. So then on the second quote, there is a tip line. So we will have a tip line system
where students, anybody will be able to submit tips and those will be routed to the appropriate
administrators slash SROs across campus. And those can be submitted anonymously
Also, last year Indiana passed a law where we have to perform behavioral threat assessments and part
of that is we have to store those documents somewhere and currently we're just storing them on Google
Drive and so this system will house, it digitizes it and then it follows the student from elementary
school all the way to high school.
And the benefit of this is it's all one system that's complete. Is there a separate cost for that?
I'm sorry, yes there is. The initial startup cost for the second quote is $11,147 with a recurring cost
of $9,955.63.
I think the first year subscription is included in that initial investment total. Yes. Is that right?
Yes. OK. And how many years on the contract? It's a three-year contract. Three years. OK. OK. Anything
you want to add? Perfect. Do we have a motion? And I'll second. Moved and seconded. Any discussion?
I just want to thank Alec for all he does for the school. He devils for me a lot of things at the station,
too, with vehicles and things like that. So I really appreciate what he does for us. In fact, he looks
pretty good at night and he knew you. Yes, he does. Thank you. Well, and I also wanted to thank Alec
because with our adjustments in leadership roles last year, Alec has taken on leading our school safety
team that meets once a month.
And just so tonight, if you could give Alec a pat on the back and a hug. His team didn't do so well.
We got the corn huskers now. No, but I really am looking, Rick and I are really looking forward to this.
It's going to be a great addition to the campus. Thank you.
Next Looks like we'll bring mr. Routon back up. We have for the next couple first is a traffic circulation
alternative study Mr. Routon, this is a combination with dr. Sanders and myself and we have brought
in Andy and
Matt to talk about the traffic flow issues at the elementary schools. Has anybody been around at early
in the morning or trying to get to school in the afternoon? It's near impossible. I have actually sat
in line for a good while to get down to EECC when it was under construction and it's like, oh, I forgot
I should have left about a half hour earlier to get through this. So we're looking at hiring an engineering
company to come in and help us do a study and
give us some preliminary information to move forward with a better solution in traffic flow, parking,
and pickup. Something that we need to do down there because we're growing and we need to get the people
off of Reeves Road as much as we can to keep that open, not only for ourselves, but for public safety.
That road gets blocked and it's really tight.
And I'm sure Andy and Matt can contest to some other information about that section along with Alec.
So the company we went with is a company that does a lot of civil engineering work. They've done other
big projects and someone I've known for over the years. And he understands our problems and has seen
other schools.
is excited to work with us. This is just a small piece. We have talked about a bigger piece for the
whole entire campus, but we're only concentrating on just the elementary schools, because we really
need to improve that traffic flow down there. And he'll look at utilities, he'll look at the easements,
and anything we can do to shape our traffic pattern. And this will inform us as we move forward with
future construction bonds. And Rick said,
We are growing, but also the area around us is growing with Harman Farms and the Barbary Homes area.
It's just gonna get more and more traffic, so very timely. And who's the vendor and the amount? I wish
I had my piece of paper up here, but it's G9, G and A. Let's see here.
Okay. Wow, Rick. Christine, do you have a copy of the email? 36,900.
What's that? 36,900 in the vendor. Oh, sorry. Sorry. What was that? Okay. All right. So do we have a
motion? Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
Now there's the E rate network infrastructure upgrade.
So every year we are part of the e-rate system that the federal government puts on. It's a great savings
to the school corporation because we usually do 40% they paid the 60%. Last year we did part of the
network upgrade. This year we're finishing off the network upgrade. This time it will be all the lower-end
network switches that will go in all the individual closets that will then connect to all the
what few PCs we have left in phones, but they're still needed to have that communication along with
they'll make our connected to the access points consistent with everything. Our current switches are
from what I can tell from past e-rates have gone from anywhere from 2015 to 2016. So they are a little
beyond their end of life expectancy and they're getting harder to find parts to replace when they have failed.
We wanted to stick with a company called Extreme, which was our first initial purchase last year. Extreme
did not win the bid this year. They came in extremely high. So we went with the second lowest, because
the first lowest did not have the matching equipment that was even equivalent. So we worked with our
consultant and removed them. The second one was very compatible to the Extreme product line, and they were
about $200,000 less than what we wanted. So we sat down as a group in our office, talked about them,
really looked over all the equipment, and we felt that that equipment was still going to be very adequate
and compatible with what we have. So we have went with Network Solutions as who the winning bidder is.
Again, we will only pay 40%. E-rate will pay 60%. And they're waiting timeline
We're hoping that, well, we don't get the e-rate money until July, so we can't really order anything
until the USAC releases it. So we'll be ordering sometime in the fall. Thank you. So the exact amount
for the corporation will be $79,301. The overall project, total project cost is $198,252.56.
minus the 60% for e-rate, that's 118,951. For the district portion is, like I said, is 79,301. And we
had that set aside in our 2023 bond that Mr. Irwin and I did. So that's where the money was already
here marked for. I'll second. Moved, second.
Yeah, and I looked at all the equipment list, and it all made sense to me. OK. I got your approval then.
I approve. Come in and help them install it. Yeah, I could do that. Any discussion? All those in favor
say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Thanks, guys.
Okay, our last action item of the evening is consideration to approve the contract with Indiana University
for the SEEDS project. And Jennifer? This is the first one. So I mentioned earlier, anytime we start
a grant, we'll sign an agreement with the partner for research services. In this case, for the SEEDS
project, it's Indiana University again. And in this project, it's a long one.
You will see about 3.1 down, Article 3 on payment. We are looking at paying them for this first year,
January 1st to December 31st, 2026, approximately $285,526. Over the life of this grant, we will be
looking at anticipated funding to IU.
in an amount of about $1,191,959. This is reimbursement, so they invoice us, we pay them, and of course
this comes out of the SEEDS grant, which is a federal grant, almost $3 million. So about a third of
it is spent for the work that IU does on this grant, and they are tremendous partners when it comes
to our mental health grants.
and the work that they do on these. So I'm hoping that you guys will approve the SEEDS grant, the agreement
with IU for this. Move and second. Any discussion? We just appreciate the ongoing partnership with IU
in several different levels. So all those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
We'll move into the business manager's reports. And Debbie Tate. Hi. I'm solo now. So I gave you guys
the cash flows for the education fund and the operations fund. You'll notice there were some changes
we made if you compare last month's with this month's. Paul, we were trying to work on just kind of
condensing it and simplifying things.
Sometimes it can be a little too complicated, and we just need to keep it simple. So you'll
see we consolidated on the payroll and benefits. Instead of splitting it up certified, non-cert, we're
putting all of those totals together. So that'll be kind of a difference, but if you ever need that
information, we can always provide it. You'll see on the interest, the interest rates have gone down.
just based on where everything is right now. And a lot of that is, you know, I try to pull as much money
over to trust in Ian as I can when it's just sitting in the account so we can earn a higher interest
rate, but we've actually been spending a lot of that bond money, so we don't have as much interest coming
in now because of that. So you'll start to see that go down solely because of the rates and the fact
that we're spending that bond money.
You'll see in January, it was a higher amount on payroll than February, and that's just because we had
a three-pay month in January. February, we actually were projecting $1.2 million, and we ended up spending
$1.1. So we ended up saving about $30,000 there based on our projections. Overall, on our appropriations
with the education fund, we projected
22 million and at this moment we're looking at 21.7 million. So we're hoping to have some savings there.
And then another area is the operations with all the changes ahead of us with the funding and everything.
I have to give a shout out to our team. I have been coming into this role in the last year. I have felt
so blessed because we have such an incredible team.
that we work together, we sit down, we are looking at individuals, we are looking at every situation,
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
because it just, I feel good because we all care about everybody here.
So when I was sitting here, I was like, I have to give a shout out to these people, like Jen and Susan
and just Jenny Johnson and Robin, like all these people just in NOAA, just in our group that we are
together and we're making these decisions together and not individually, because we want the best for
everybody. So anyhow, that's all I have for our stuff. Thank you so much. That's wonderful to hear.
And now the assistant superintendent's report. Good. Today she and I were talking because we feel like
we don't spend a dollar in this district without talking about it. And I'm sure that we're driving everybody
crazy. Now I'm getting paper reports from Rick every single month. And I'm looking at the same, why
are we printing so much?
It's gotten a little bit out of hand and we probably need to pull it back just a little bit. But just
to give you an idea of why we're seeing this come into alignment and coming in under budget is truly
because we are looking at every single thing that we're spending through a critical eye to make sure
that we can bring this back into where it needs to be. And Debbie's doing a fantastic job with all of that.
Some updates for you guys on my front. We held a joint meeting with ROI, Boston Scientific Cook Medical,
and Ivy Tech on March 5th. It's the first time we got every single one of our partners together.
for the Life Sciences Training Center and we made a lot of progress in that meeting that day. We were
able to identify a smart manufacturing pathway. We discussed the option of the instructor actually being
an Ivy Tech employee, which is a big win for us. It's going to be great for our students because we
will have somebody who is
well-versed in that area. John Kerr can only teach, I say this all the time, he can only teach so many
pathways and we cannot ask him to add one more onto his plate.
So this would be an Ivy Tech employee and they would actually come over to EHS to teach those classes.
And we're looking at some adjustments in how we would schedule those and be able to actually open those
classes up to our surrounding districts sooner than what we anticipated, which is awesome for our partners.
In addition to that, we're looking at partnering with Ivy Tech to provide healthcare certifications.
These will really be in conjunction with IU Health because IU Health is going to tell us what they need
and based on those needs then we'll be working on funneling kids into those Ivy Tech certifications.
Ivy Tech will provide those trainers so that we have students who are graduating with CNAs, graduating
with certifications in phlebotomy or pharmacy tech. So we're working with IU Health.
a little bit further down, you can see there that IU Health actually just hired a K-12 talent program
lead for our area. This has started out of a program out of Lafayette, and through the push that we've
had here with our Life Sciences Training Center, we were the first area to get this new hire through
IU Health, excuse me.
I'm so excited about it, I'm stumbling over my words. I think that Angie can attest, anybody that works
at IU Health or in the healthcare field can attest that this has been a red tape area for high school
students forever.
And what's happening here is the red tape is coming down. January 2027 is when we anticipate getting
our first high school students into the IU Health Network. There'll be job shadowing. If they are 18
and they already have some of these certifications in hand, they will be able to work on the floors.
They'll be able to work hand in hand with our nurses. And the cool thing is they can also not only do
that during the school day, but they can actually have part-time employment through IU Health.
This is a win-win for our students and for IU Health at the same time and just the healthcare field
in general.
We're excited about this. In conjunction with that, we're exploring Ivy Tech as our Indiana College
core partner. Again, exploring that, there's a lot of pieces and components to that, but there are also
some bonuses that come along with that. Our current partner is Indiana University, and they're a fantastic
partner for us. We're just looking at, you know, should we upset that balance there a little bit, and
if we did, and we had more Ivy Tech classes, then we have
Indiana University dual credit classes, what benefits would that give to our students and to our high
schools? So we're exploring that. We'll kind of see where we go from there. Just some information. June
13th of last year, 2025, the DOE sent a memo to schools highlighting changes to curricular materials for
fiscal year 26. We've talked a lot about the amount that curriculum is costing our district. In fiscal
year 2025, we spent just slightly over $600,000 in curriculum for our students. There is nobody that's
going to say that those kids don't need that, that they don't deserve that, that our teachers aren't
better teachers because of it.
But it is a hefty pill to swallow when we're looking at $600,000 that used to be reimbursed by the state
that we get not a dime for anymore. And now we swallow that into the education fund. The state realized
mistakes were made with this. And what was happening is basically it was drowning some of our school
districts across the state, many of our school districts.
And so they came back and they made an amendment to HEA 1002, Section 94, and what they talked about
here is they are now
allowing school corporations to assess and collect a reasonable fee for supplies and materials that
are not curricular and that supplement the instruction in a particular course of study. Some examples
of this would be workbooks that we don't necessarily purchase through a curricular contract.
In other words, the things that we purchase through Reveal Math or CKLA would not fall under this. It
would be things like a German workbook
where we don't have a contract with a vendor, and she's supplementing her curriculum with those workbooks.
Other examples of that would be science supplies. We spend a lot in STEM supplies, art supplies, band
supplies. With the things that the state changed, we pay for every read that goes into those clarinets
and saxophones.
And so it becomes really expensive for our district. We are not wanting to go back to the times when
high school students would come in and they would get a charge of $200, $250 for their classes. What
we're looking at and what we're exploring is keeping those fees incredibly reasonable, affordable for
our families, but also being able to pull some of that back in and allow us to be able to compensate
for this tremendous
piece that we've been absorbing in the education fund for the last couple of years. We've been able
to make some good strides. Debbie and I have been able to work through curriculum, and this year, fiscal
year 26, we took that from a $600,000 expenditure in 25 down to $450,000. We've really been able to
cut some of those allocations down, and we're confident that we can stay close within that range.
It never hurts to also have a little extra cushion in there. So just to give you an idea, 2,600 students,
if we were looking at an average of $40 a student, we would be looking at roughly $100,000. And when
we think about $40 a student and being able to recoup that, we don't feel like that's an amount that
is extreme for families.
Course-free and reduced students would not fall under those same requirements, but at the same time
would be a reasonable cost. And when you look at $100,000 in the education fund right now, $100,000
is a couple of teachers, and that makes a big difference to us. Or four or five assistants, that makes
a big difference to us. So when we think about these things, we truly do get down to the nitty-gritty of $40.
but we look at that in the grand scheme of what does that mean and how does that impact our students.
And when we start talking about teachers and assistants in that huge education fund, it does make a
difference. So this is just information for you. Next board meeting, I'm gonna bring you some
more information, some numbers to take a look at before we do anything with that. So just some information there.
And then upcoming items, April 3rd is now going to be a makeup flex day for our teachers. Our kids will
not come to school that day. And just to give you an idea of what we'll be working on, K5 is going to
be working together. Mr. Scholl, I'm hoping that you'll allow us to use your cafeteria that day in the
comfortable seating. But we're looking at bringing all of those teams together into one space. We're
gonna be working on our literacy block.
collectively, K-5 as well as vertical alignment, and so we know how important that is in those younger grades.
And then we'll also be pulling together a K-5 special education teachers that day. And six through 12,
we'll be working on some vertical alignment across departments. So some really good work that we're
doing that day and it's perfect timing. We don't ever get these days in April where we still can make
some changes that will impact the end of the year, but we're not at the end of the year and making the
changes for the following school year. So we're excited to have this day built in and be able to utilize
it in this way.
Thank you. Okay, now we have the superintendents report. Yeah, it looks like I have 34 minutes, so.
Four minutes, yeah, four minutes. Hey, exciting news. You know, last month we recognized our three Lilly
Scholarship finalists and we knew that Haley Patel was,
student who received the scholarship. Between last month and today, we found out that what they do is
they award two
the scholarship to two students, and then those students have the opportunity to accept them or not.
And so Haley accepted hers, but the other student did not, and so that went to Bella Carson. And she's
an awesome young lady, and we're very excited for her. Tomorrow at 10 o'clock is going to be the ribbon
cutting at the Mustang Market.
In case you don't know where the Mustang Market is, it's the new kitchen at the high school. And it
looks fabulous. I wish Vicki was still here because I'd be bragging the food looks great. But tomorrow
at 10, if you have an opportunity, come over to the high school and we'll do the ribbon cutting. That'll
be at 10 a.m.
The preschool enrollment is open and right now we have 159 students enrolled in the preschool and that's
up 12 from this point last year so we'll certainly be getting more students. Next week is also an important
week at EPS with the kindergarten welcome week and
very important time for the future kindergartners to come in and their parents to check out the school.
And there'll be an open house on April 2nd from 545 to 645. And really, it's the open houses that parents
will pick a specific time to come in and tour the building. And I just wanted to let you know that
The spring sports season kicks in next week. And I just wanted to share with you some of the opening
competitions. Looks like they're all away, unless I missed something. But to me, when I looked at the
counter, all these were away. But we'll have some home games and some exciting competitions and be able
to watch our students perform on the field.
on the court and it'll be a great spring for our students. We've done this once before, but the Ellipsville
Chamber of Commerce will host a coffee connection, a networking opportunity
for local businesses. And so all these businesses will come in. Representatives of the businesses will
come in for their usual networking opportunity. But they'll do so right in the coffee corral. And that'll
be April 7 from 8 to 9. And then many of those employers will stick around for the career and employment
fair from 9 to noon. And then we will be having our spring Edgewood
business leaders advisory lunch in and it'll be Thursday April 16th at 1130 and so you're always welcome
board to come to any of those activities and I just put a little advertisement about the Mustang market
on the back so thank you. Next is our PBEA comments.
We have Randy Gable. Well, it was great to hear the Mustang moments in the standing room only out here.
But I wanted to start with, I was the last class to go to Try North when it was still housed in North
High School. And I remember for weeks just feeling that anxiety of not being able to open a locker.
And so I want to just thank
junior high for all that they do for families. You know, my three children went through there and just,
you know, having that transition from elementary to junior high. And, of course, the second Mustang
moment was close to my heart, near and dear. And, you know, it's just been wonderful. I've been there
for a long time. And one thing that
I just love about EPS is the way we collaborate with each other. And it's been wonderful to have that
collaboration with special area finally having a purpose connecting that curriculum because we know
those are the memories that they're going to take away. And I just want to thank Matt and Elisa for
fostering that. You know, Mr. Ackerman, thank you for serving the students well. You had my three children
as well, and I've just watched
you, the high school, evolve over so many years. It continues to grow. And last year, I was standing
here welcoming Matt. And I know soon there's going to be a process to replace you. But a year later,
I just want to say it's been great to have Matt and Alisa in their roles. After Brenda leaving, after
so many years,
just to me has been a seamless transition and they've just, you know, been very transparent. They've,
you know, I can't imagine what that
that learning curve has been like, but I just thank them for everything they've done for us. And as
far as association news, not a whole lot going on. Great to hear about those updates, but I know our
Uniserve director, again, a lot of us are very new to these roles. She's new as well, and she is hoping
to bring us all together, building reps and those on our committees, just to do some training so we
can better serve and advocate for our teachers.
Hopefully that will be coming in the next few weeks before the end of the school year. Thank you very
much. Now we're to board member comments from Mrs. Jacobs. Well, of course, every time we have our musty
moment, that's just the highlight of our meeting. And this was such a filled moment for us to see so
many different students. It's amazing. They're just remarkable. We always appreciate donations that
are coming in.
that helps our students so much. And I'm very excited. The more and more I hear and learn about the
Life Science Training Center, of course, that's my field. So of course, that lights me up. So I'm very,
very excited to see how this will push our students out into our community in this field, because that's
what we need. That's where we need to grow. So it's very exciting.
very exciting time for us. Is that it? Well, thank you all for the wonderful corporation that you lead.
It's amazing. I wanted to just say a couple things about Dirk. Dirk was one of the first admin people
I met here when I moved back home in 83. Dirk, is that the time you started? Yeah. But anyway, do what?
Watched her move through the system and it was just always nice to me when I rarely had a concern But
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
nice that that relationship we had over the years really made things run a lot easier Thank you for
your service for us. I appreciate you so much My favorite story was when he was playing the cowardly
line and at the tis and
He was a little late for his cue. And Rebecca was playing Dorothy. And so she had to do some ad libbing.
And the scarecrow said something. She told him just to suck it up. But it was cute. We were good on
a stage together. What's that? We were good on a stage together. Yes. Yeah. So it was fun. It was a
lot of fun. So a lot of great times.
I so enjoyed the Mustang moments. The EPS kids, I do love the curriculum with Amplify. I think it's
great. Again, my wife's a teacher and she loves it. She says it's kind of nice to go back and learn
some of that stuff again for herself and just really enjoys it. And the transition,
That is so tough from fifth grade to sixth grade and the whole tremendous change and so I love the transition
there. I'm so proud of those girls at the junior high basketball. To only have two losses in three years
is tremendous. I'm so happy for them.
I think we embarrassed him a little bit with the standing ovation. So I was hoping we would.
So that was good. I just think we're doing great things with the life sciences and doing things with
the chamber and getting the fair here. And I just am so happy with the direction this school corporation is going.
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
place. And what a wonderful people. And I thank you all for being here tonight. And this meeting is
adjourned.