- Meeting the order, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
- United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty
- and justice for all. Thank you very much. Please be seated. And welcome to the special board meeting
- that we're having today, July 8, 2026.
- for the Richland Bean Blossom Community School Corporation. Please let the record reflect that Mr. Tucker,
- Mr. Durnall, Mr. DeMoss and Mr. Kerr are present. And are there any visitors who would like to address
- the board? Seeing none, we will get right into it. And so first action item we have is consideration
- to approve the appointment
- of Lucy Fishman as principal of Edgewood Primary School. Dr. Sanders. You know, when you go through
- the interview process, several of you in this room have been in one way or the other have been part
- of that process. But I always love it when, you know, you're about halfway through the interview and you know,
- This is our person. And that's how we thought about Lucy Fishman, Dr. Lucy Fishman. And I recommend
- her to be the next principal at Edgewood Primary School. She has a bachelor of science degree in social
- studies education, a master of science degree in teacher leadership, a master of science degree in strategic
- management, and a doctor of educational leadership.
- and policy, all from Indiana University. Lucy has 22 years of experience in education. She has served
- as principal at Highland Park and Binford Elementary Schools before going to the Center on Education
- and Lifelong Learning in Indiana University. Lucy is a dedicated and knowledgeable educator. She's very
- collaborative and she's already inspiring her staff and that's when I
- as we're going through the interview. And I'll probably say the same thing about James because as you
- go through the interview, you can just see the lights going on in the eyes of the teachers and they
- start connecting with them. And so we're very excited to have Lucy. She's going to be
- Really great, not only for EPS, but the school corporation as a whole. So we'll be giving her a two-year
- contract, $92,500. Her husband, Rob, is here. And son, Aiden, is here. And another one, Sam, could not
- be here tonight. Unfortunately, he's at Purdue. You won't hear that joke again. All right.
- And I'll happily second that. We'll get some Mustang sportswear now. Yeah, here we go. Yeah. I was happy
- to sit in on the interviews. And it was definitely a great experience and wonderful conversations that
- we had there. So all those in favor, say aye. Aye.
- and say a few words. And just to let everybody know, the microphones are for cats. They don't
- Oh, got it. Project. OK, great. So you gotta use your teacher voice. I have a teacher voice. OK,
- I'll use it. Thanks so much for the opportunity. I just am so grateful. And Dr. Sanders and Jen Barrett
- have been so helpful this whole time that I've been getting to know the corporation and getting to know
- EPS. And I can't wait to start. And I really appreciate seeing teachers and staff here today. It's really,
- it means a lot to me. So thanks so much.
- And I'm just looking forward to this opportunity. I can't wait to get in there at EPS. We toured the
- building this afternoon. I'm blown away. So congratulations to the whole corporation for having such
- an incredible facility and taking such great care of it. And that says a lot about how you take care
- of each other. So I'm just thrilled to be part of the team and can't wait to meet everybody else. I
- also want to point out that Mrs. Peggy Chambers is here and she's my mentor. She hired me as a substitute
- teacher at Bachelor Middle School years ago. And she's been at all of my board meetings. So thanks for
- coming Peggy. So thanks everybody.
- our staff are here tonight to support Lucy and James. So glad to have you. All right, and next
- is consideration to approve the appointment of James Robinson as assistant principal of Edgewood Primary
- School. Dr. Sanders. Yeah, James has a bachelor of science degree in special education from IU, master
- of science degree in educational leadership,
- and Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership, all from IU. He has worked the last several
- years as Assistant Research Scientist at IU. Now, research scientist sounds very official, but James'
- personality, that doesn't reflect. He's a very personable guy.
- very encouraging, and he'll be great to work with our teachers. James has spent the last several years,
- how many years has it been, over 10? No, in a cell. 19. But what that means is 19 years of going out
- into schools and working with teachers and encouraging teachers and supporting teachers.
- learning new strategies and so he's gonna be very welcomed and like Lucy's interview, as the interview
- went on, you know, we didn't know James except for his resume, but as the interview went on, he just
- started thinking, man, this is a guy I could work with and so,
- We're excited to have him and all his knowledge and experience that he brings to the school corporation.
- James will also have a two-year contract at $83,000. And his wife Jennifer is here tonight. She works
- at MCC. Special education transition in the north and south, basically.
- And they have a son, Nash, who could not be here tonight. He's has a, James says he has his first job
- and we didn't want to risk that. And they have a family dog named Topper. Now, do you guys have a pet?
- Because I didn't want to leave out anybody. So we recommend James as assistant principal at EPS.
- I should probably add for EPS teachers, he is more than willing to wear the cone costume. It was asked
- in the interview. And so he has formally committed to that and any other K2 silly costumes that we do
- for the sake of kids, willingly. He's ready to go. So just know that James is your guy for that.
- He's like, did I sign something that says that?
- I'm James Robinson, Assistant Principal of Edgewood Primary School. I'll second. Moved and seconded.
- Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye.
- I can't tell you how excited. Again, as Lucy said, for you all to be here, that says a lot on a summer
- when there's other things you could be taking your time for. Like Dr. Sender said, I've spent so many
- years in so many classrooms with so many great educators. And when this opportunity came to be able
- to turn my attention back into the day-to-day lives of schools, you know when something's right.
- And every step along this process has been right. Sitting in here last week with some of you and having
- that interview just felt comfortable and conversational. And I really do like, I love the dialogue with
- teachers and that felt like it started that day. And so I'm really excited to move the conversation
- forward in the ways that Lucy and I know from the years we've spent together, but also
- with the reality that you guys have been building and the good things that you've been doing over there.
- So I'm just so glad to be part of your district and your community. The costumes I did not know about,
- except. However, two things. One is that as soon as this was a thing, my wife sent us a picture of an
- inflatable pony costume. She's like, we need one.
- I have a sister who's been a long time principal up in Westfield, and I've got plenty of pictures of
- her in costume, so I knew it was coming. So I can get fitted outside. But again, thank you all very
- much. I promise to do everything I can to earn your trust and do my best job. Thank you. We're just
- so excited to have both of you and look
- So much look forward to this school year and the excitement that you guys are gonna bring to EPS. And
- I think EPS is starting a wonderful journey with you guys. So glad you're both here, both here. We do
- have a few more appointments here. We have consideration to approve the appointment of Sarah Fig as
- the Student Success Coordinator of Edgewood Primary School.
- seven and eight sit in the same position. Yes, I would very much be open for that. Also, at the same
- time, we'll consider to approve the appointment of Jordan Truax as the student success coordinator at
- Edgewood Intermediate School, and consider to approve the appointment of Brittany Shaw, Straw, sorry,
- as the K-12 mental health coordinator. And so now, I'll turn it over to you.
- So as far as the student success coordinator position, this idea pretty much grew out of a plan that
- we implemented at Edgewood Junior High School. Today, there's so much on everybody's plate, but our
- principals with having requirements to be in the classroom to conduct evaluations, cover behavior issues,
- communicate with parents that sometimes that could lead to not having enough time in the day to support
- our teachers. And the downside of that, if you're a teacher in the classroom, is sometimes the principal
- doesn't have time to sit down and really talk with the student about what's going on in their lives
- and to address
- behavior issues and still at the same time support our teachers. And so we added a dean of students
- at the junior high, Tom Norris, and that has been a really huge success. It really has made a difference
- in the school in terms of
- Mr. Norris handles most of the behavior issues, and the principal and assistant principal can focus
- more on their other duties. So we've been looking for a way to replicate that at the primary and intermediate
- schools, but the problem has always been how are we going to pay for that? And we've figured out a way
- to do that through a grant.
- And so we actually did a little experiment with this at EPS at the end of the year with Sarah Figg being
- in that type of a role. And I think it really worked out well, even though it was just a month. But
- so we really kind of had Sarah in mind when we were trying to define this position.
- And she just will do a great job. She wants this job. She wants to serve in this way. And so she's going
- to bring to the EPS and Jordan at EIS, they're going to be able to bring when we're, you know, as children
- are growing, they're coming to school and they're learning how to act in a different environment than
- from home.
- And it's a learning time of their lives when they're learning not only the academics, but they're learning
- behavior. And so Sarah and Jordan will be able to take time. If a student has a behavior issue, they'll
- be able to take time, talk to that student. They'll be able to coordinate with the mental health team
- more. And so we believe it's really going to help
- EPS and EIS as a whole. And so I recommend both Sarah for EPS and Jordan for EIS.
- Moved and seconded. Any discussion? I'm always excited when one of my former students is moving up in
- the world. So I had Brittany. Sorry, I had Sarah. Actually, Sarah was on my younger son's little league
- team. And was the best hitter on the team. All right. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
- Sarah and Jordan both wanted to be here this evening. Sarah's family has a vacation scheduled this week,
- so they are out of town. And Jordan has a new baby in the family. So getting away right now is not an
- easy thing for him to do, even though he really wanted to be here. So yes, absolutely. So new little
- churaks at home. So about a week old. I tried to combine too many of these. So now we will now consider
- the appointment
- Brittany Straw as the K-12 mental health coordinator. So, you know, I think, as I think about someone
- who asked me earlier how many years I've been here, and I think just nine years, but maybe one of the
- things that I'm most proud of is how we've grown our mental health team. When I got here, we had counselors, we had
- social worker, but really not a lot going on with mental health. And I remember it was, there was I
- think a school shooting in Florida. And when that happens, I just want to lock down the campus, make
- it harder to get into than, you know, an airport.
- As I thought about it, I realized that the real answer was mental health. And so we started down the
- journey of, if you guys remember, down the journey of looking for grants. And we established a partnership
- with IU, and that's brought in several million dollars of grant dollars.
- to support mental health. And we've just grown to a point now where we need one person to manage the
- K-12 mental health program. And once again, a lot of times people just rise to the top in terms of they
- don't even have that position, but they're already exhibiting the skills of leadership and in this case,
- knowledge of mental health.
- and what that means. And so Brittany really came to mind pretty quickly in terms of being this K-12
- mental health coordinator. It's not only going to be coordinating the whole program, but also taking
- on grants and keeping those grants flowing. And so we're really lucky to have
- I thought we were going to have another little guest here tonight. Any rate, Brittany, she has a lot
- of great ideas.
- I think our job, Jen and I, is just trying to maybe keep up with Brittany. Yeah, for sure. And I talked
- to her about, you know, her office will be in the junior high, and just gave a little bit of guidance
- that, you know, your office is in this building, but you need to be in all the buildings, and that's
- not going to be a problem with Brittany.
- And she'll be moving about. They'll probably hardly ever see her at the junior high. But, and I'm glad
- to have Brittany's family here, Chris. Do we have a motion? The approval of the appointment of Brittany
- Straw as K-12 mental health coordinator. Moved and seconded. Any discussion?
- All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Brittany, do you want to say anything? Sure, yes. Okay,
- hi everybody. I am thrilled to be here. I've talked to Dr. Sanders and Sparrett many times just about how
- This role is something that I have worked so hard for and I could not be more proud to be doing it anywhere
- other than here. My time at RBB has been
- a godsend. Like it has been wonderful. I have learned from so many wonderful people. I work with a phenomenal
- team and I am so excited to start being in all of these buildings and building those relationships and
- then also still having the opportunity to continue work with Barley, who is our therapy dog, but also
- with students through the edge. And so I could not have thought up a better
- position than what Jen and Jerry presented, and I am just so thankful. So thank you for having me, and
- I look forward to growing this as far as we can go. Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. This is definitely
- one of those the sky's the limit positions. You know, when Jen Anderson started our mental health program
- through Tim's grants,
- years ago, Jen would tell you the same thing. She doesn't have a background in mental health. She's
- not a social worker. She's not a counselor. We can run grants and we understand numbers, but actually
- understanding the work that is being done is something that when Jen left and it rolled over to my plate,
- I couldn't really help with those things. And so to have a mental health coordinator who
- understands what it's like to work with kids, to now have somebody who's working hands-on with our students
- at the Edge. This is growing our capabilities here at Edgewood even further than what we've seen them
- before, and I'm so excited about
- where Brittany has some ideas about where we're going to take this program, some billing that we can
- start doing through Medicaid, which we haven't been able to do before. So this year is going to be a
- year of growth. It's going to be a year of learning. I've told her, and Dr. Sanders has said the same
- thing, please don't try to do all the things in the first three months. Chris, I promise we have stressed
- that she does have to come home.
- But we're really excited about the support. Not only is this going to provide to our mental health counseling
- teams, but also to our administrators, our teachers, and ultimately the impact that it will have on
- our students. So this is going to be really, really great. And I'm excited to see where it goes. Awesome.
- This looks exciting. Yes. Meeting awesome. This is the best board meeting we've ever been a part of,
- by the way. This is so much more fun than it normally is. Yes.
- Okay, now into some more mundane things. We do have a consideration to approve revisions to our 26-27
- school calendar. Dr. Sanders? Yeah, so we, a couple years ago, moved from 183 teacher work days to 185.
- And as we got word on the financial impact that Senate Bill 1 was going to have on school corporations,
- we immediately started trying to figure out ways that we might be able to save some money. And one of
- those ways was to go back to 183 days.
- So I probably prematurely brought that to the board for approval because since it does have the potential
- to impact teacher salaries, that needs to go through bargaining. So since we have to promote and have
- an official calendar before we start bargaining, we are going to go ahead and restore those two days
- And so the 26, 27 school year will have 185 days. So that'll be two days at the beginning of the school
- year and then two teacher work days at the end of the school year. That's where we're adding on the
- extra days because it was gonna be one at the beginning and one at the end. And then we'll go through
- bargaining and we'll see if what happens as a result of that.
- And, you know, maybe we'll just stay at 185. That'll be part of the bargaining process. I move approval
- of the revisions to the calendar. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
- And now we're looking at to advertise for the
- Junior high in the high school additions and renovation projects. Yeah, so this is a the latest project
- we've been working on for the last several months had several meetings evolving teachers principles
- in terms of what our needs are at mainly at the junior high and high school because we want we really
- need to expand the band and choir areas.
- And so that's been a work, like I said, last several months. And we've fine-tuned the designs of both
- projects. At the high school, not only will we be expanding this front corner out for band and choir,
- but where the current band and choir rooms are will become our biomedical
- and sim labs for our biomedical project that we're working on. And then at the junior high, there'll
- be a new wing put on the back of the junior high for the new band and choir areas and where the current
- band and choir programs are will become classrooms to help out because the junior high is especially
- pretty full right now and so that'll help
- with that project. So we have to advertise for bids. And so asking permission to do that, the bids will
- go out this Friday, July 10th, and then the following Friday, July 17th. And we'll have a bid opening
- on August 6th at two o'clock. I have motion. I move approval to advertise for
- Junior high school and a high school for additions and renovations That's part of the roof on the high
- school, correct That's gonna be the roof on the high school to that's part of the The renovation part.
- Okay. Okay. So all of them will be on the sixth in perfect
- Favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Our last action item is to approve policy 5136 involving
- personal communication devices. Okay, as probably everybody knows, the state legislators decided to
- basically ban cell phones during the school day. The law says that they have to be
- powered off and inaccessible. And so we've revised the handbooks accordingly. We are also a part of
- the policy is the students will not be able to have their phones out on the school buses to and from
- school. And now there'll be certain situations
- emergency situations or if a student has a medical issue where they would be able to use the cell phone.
- We're not saying as some schools are specifically saying the cell phones have to be in their locker
- or they have to be in their book bag. We're basically saying that what the law says, which is powered
- off and inaccessible. So they just can't have them out. They have to be out of sight.
- And we are putting together a little flyer that we're going to send out Friday. It's not quite done
- to show you guys tonight. Trying to explain what students are allowed to do. They are allowed to bring
- their phones to school. After school is out, if they have after school activity, either band choir or
- some sport, they can use their phones after school.
- If they are on, if they have an away game, then they could have their phones out on the bus
- for extracurricular activities. And, you know, we're trying to follow the state law and I hope parents
- understand that this is motivated because it is a state law. And, but yet we want to be able to have
- some common sense
- and understand that there are practical issues for using cell phones. So we want to accommodate that.
- The consequences for having them out, the phone will be confiscated and taken to the office and a parent
- will have to come to school to get the phone.
- If there are multiple violations of the rule, it'll be treated like any other violation where a student
- might be violating the rule over and over again. So they'll follow the normal behavior discipline matrix
- for that, if that's the case. But I think personally,
- I think this is gonna be a really good thing for our schools. Of course, I grew up in a time where we
- didn't have cell phones at school. And I remember the day that I let my daughter take her phone to school
- in junior high, and she didn't have it out. She was following the rule, but her grandmother called her.
- phone went off in class. So, you know, there are reasons why we have these rules. And we want to be
- able to have the highest quality educational environment for our students and have them totally focused
- on what's going on, the learning opportunities in the classroom. And I think this will help with that.
- Now, I will say this.
- We're asking you to approve this policy. You've approved a handbook. But anytime you have something
- new like this, and it looks good on paper, there may be where we may have to come back and tweak this
- a little bit. We'll just see how it plays out. But I think we're off to a good start. We have good policy.
- And we'll get this communication out to everybody on Friday.
- I think the other thing to add in there, like Dr. Sanders was saying, I've already seen some things
- out on social media where my child who uses a phone for their glucose monitor or I have a kiddo that
- is living with me who doesn't speak English and they use that as a translation device through Google
- Translate. There are a lot of exceptions to this and like Dr. Sanders said, common sense has to
- to also take some precedent here, even though it's a state law. So we're considering all of those pieces
- and where it needs to be utilized, when it should be utilized, those allowances will be made. We're
- not gonna put a kiddo's health in danger. We're not gonna prevent a student from being able to communicate
- effectively with peers and teachers. There are a lot of cases that the law allows leniency and we will
- make sure that those pieces are in place. That's why we have,
- Co-ordinators who work with our ELL students are our students with mental health who potentially could
- have some things there going on as well I think our coordinator may have her hands full with some Students
- who may have some issues with having those literally removed from their hands during the day some withdrawal
- going on maybe some things we haven't seen before with 9th through 12th graders, but all lightness aside
- cell phones provide a lot of
- positive pieces. And those things will also be taken into consideration outside of the academic world
- where we know that they're needed. So just to kind of quell some fears that might come up with parents
- or have already come up, I think they'll see in our plan that we'll get out on Friday blasted across
- social media, email, all of that, that all of these things are being taken into consideration. And I
- think the hope is that
- keeping them in backpacks and inaccessible during the day that our students and families can respect
- that. And we can keep that policy that way. I don't think we want to get to a point that we say they
- have to be kept in cars or not brought to school at all. So we're hoping that we found some middle ground
- there that our families can work with us on. Policy 5136. I second.
- No, I agree with Dr. Sanders. I know it's the state law, and we've got to use some common sense. And
- I'm just looking around this room for the last 15 minutes. And this is an anomaly. I don't think I saw
- anybody looking at their phone. Somebody's got in their hand, though. I knew you did, yeah.
- But it's amazing. Even when I'm talking to two people in front of me, a husband might be texting a wife.
- And it's just, it's everywhere. And the consequence, Dr. Sanders, is what it was in 2008. That was my
- last year here, I think. Parents had to come and get the cell phones. And it was an opportunity to meet
- more parents for a while. And it was not always enjoyable, but it's like, come on, let's just talk about
- your kid. And it's gonna be a challenge for the administrators.
- and the classroom teachers. And you can't babysit every classroom teacher. It's going to happen. But
- I think the common sense thing is there. And I'm old school, but I've had an intern at the office, and
- he shows me how many hours a week or how many hours a day he's got cell phone usage. He's like, golly,
- who could be on a phone that much? But that's just the world we live in. So hopefully, the parents will
- understand and accept it.
- And we will follow the state law. I know this is as horrible as the mask issue was, but like I said
- back then, if there's a law, it is important for us to make an example for the students that you follow
- the law. No matter what that law is, you follow the law. If you don't like it, take steps to change the law.
- But if there's a law, you have to follow it. You don't get to pick and choose what you follow and what
- you don't. I'm happy with this policy. I think that it was very common sense based. One of my daughters
- had a bee allergy, so she had a phone earlier than some of the other kids did.
- we felt much better about it when she had a phone. So for those parents that, you know, she didn't have
- to have it out, she didn't have to have it powered on in my mind, but she, for me, I felt better that
- she had it. And so I think still allowing them to have them, but having them out of sight and powered
- off is a good approach. And I just hope that they respect
- how commonsensical we are being with this and know that others are taking it much more extreme than
- we are. We're trying to work with them and working with the parents. Anything further? We've come a
- long way. From my career, I had to stop and find a phone.
- Then I had a beeper, still had to stop and find the phone, you know. So, yeah, the cell phone really,
- really made, I know I've been in law enforcement for a long time and Mr. Leggio back there makes fun
- of my horse when I first came on, so. But, you know, I definitely think there needs to be some control
- over the cell phone. It's gonna take a while, you're not gonna be able to do it the first day, so.
- You know, common sense is going to prevail, hopefully. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion
- carries. OK. There is a time for board member comments. Mr. Tucker, do you want to? Welcome to all the
- new hires tonight. And as Jennifer said, it's a lot nicer than having one of those COVID meetings with
- everybody with the mask on and people yelling at you. So I'm glad we're here.
- Hopefully everybody's having a good summer and excited about the New Year DPS and good to see the teachers
- here tonight. And I'm looking forward, it's gonna be pretty quick, about four more weeks, five more
- weeks. Yeah, it's coming up fast. 37 more days, Ms. Goss, something like that. All right, thank you.
- Thank you, sir. Lucy and James, I met them back in the Jennifer's office and they indicated they toured
- the building.
- Of course, you know, it's a 20 year old building and it still looks pretty well brand new. And you'll
- find all of our buildings are like that. We've taken very good care of our buildings. I'm very proud
- of this corporation. You know, I'm a long time board member and it really means good to me that you
- two are gonna take over up there. And I see the teachers back there smiling and raising their hands.
- And so it's very good, but welcome aboard. And Brittany, congratulations on your new
- position and wish you well. Thank you, sir. I disagree. The steps we're taking tonight are going to
- reverberate for the next generation. And yeah, the project, the building project, is important. And
- I'm looking forward to that. But the personnel changes, Brittany and Sarah and Jordan and Dr.
- Fishman and Dr. Robinson, I think I'm very excited and very
- optimistic about the future. So welcome. Of course, I echo all that. And I'm so excited that Brittany's
- taking on this role. I think that level of coordination is something that we really, really need. Because
- I personally have had a hard time wrapping my brain around how all of these positions that we do have
- are connected
- and who, you know, who sees who and who takes care of what. And so I look forward to, and we've talked
- about in future board meetings and down the road we're gonna have a discussion about that. So we, and
- now we've got a really great person in that position to lead us down that road. So, and I,
- I'm really excited for Lucy and James to be here. I wasn't in the interviews with James, but I was with
- Lucy. And in that, I explained that I'd had some concerns about the last year that EPS has gone through.
- But I feel excitement about where they're headed this year. And the fact that so many of you showed up today
- you know, makes me think that you guys are excited too. And so that makes me feel really good going
- into this next school year. So just, you know, I'm glad my vibes or feelings are changing and, you know,
- because you're all great people. And, you know, this is just wonderful to have you all here tonight
- to support one another. So with that,
- This meeting is adjourned and you all have a wonderful evening.