I'll call this meeting to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the
flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all very much for coming. Please be seated.
I'm glad that we can laugh and joke when we get started here.
Um, please let the record reflect that Mr. Tucker, Mr. Durnal, Mr. DeMoss and Mr. Kerr are present.
Um, this is the July 21st, 2026 regular school board meeting of the, uh, Richland Boston Community School
Corporation. Were there any visitors who wanted to address the school board tonight? Yes.
Okay. Would you please come to the podium and state your name? And we'd love to hear from you. And the
microphone is for cats only. It does not project your voice, so you'll speak loudly. Got it. Hello.
My name is Tommy Weakley. I'm a former Edgewood graduate.
I was an Eli Lilly scholarship recipient at Edgewood. I was the point guard for Edgewood's most winning
basketball teams ever, including Edgewood's only boys basketball undefeated regular season. I was a
student athlete at DePaul University, where I played college basketball in the NCAA for four years.
In the summer of 2024, I was hired as the athletic director at Seven Oaks Classical School, which
As we all know, it's just right down the street. We are a public charter school. I had a great experience
at Edgewood, and I still have some incredible memories. I saw our community come together in a way that
I don't believe has happened since. If you happen to have been around during those times, it was really
a special community experience. I've established lifelong memories with my teammates.
with my peers at Edgewood, with my teachers, and my coaches. I came here today to address my concerns
about RBB's decision to ban Seven Oaks sports team from competing with RBB teams. Specifically, my concern
has to do with the middle school Monroe County sports invitationals and tournaments. Until last fall
of 2025, Seven Oaks middle school cross country
and track and field teams were included in the Monroe County athletic contests. Last year, we received
word that RBB would be banning Seven Oaks from any sports competitions at any level. And as part of
this, we would be excluded from the middle school county contests. It was even brought to our attention
that Edgewood refused to compete in last year's middle school track and field invite that was hosted
by Tri-North.
if Seven Oaks were included, these Monroe County invites have been open to literally every other school
in the county, including private schools, including homeschool teams and including the other public
charter school, the project school. My first concern is how this has been perceived by our kids and
our families.
Besides being hurt and a little confused, this has negatively impacted our middle school sports schedules.
Having a chance to compete in the county invites allows our teams to have something to look forward
to and to strive toward all season long. It allows our kids to compete against other kids in the area
that they might already be familiar with. My second concern is broadly about the nature of sports themselves.
Sports are about building community. Sports are a unifying force that bring people together who might
otherwise be different. Sports are a unifying force that bring, that build friendships and go beyond
our ideologies or our politics. Whether it's true or not that RBB has excluded us due to competition
for enrollment, I think we owe it to the entire community
and to the unique purpose of sports to allow student athletes to participate in sports together. I would
be more than happy to brainstorm with any of you individually or collectively to figure out how this
issue can be resolved. I brought a stack of my cards in case anybody has any questions or would like
to reach out to me. Thank you guys so much for your time.
Seeing no other visitor comments, we'll move to our consent agenda. First is the approval of minutes.
We have the May 27th executive session, the June 16th public hearing, the June 16th regular meeting.
We have the treasurer's report for June 2026. And Mr. Durnall, the claims, please. Thank you, Mr. President.
For gross wages, many pay on June the 4th, 2026 is $3,343.37. Gross wages on June the 5th, 2026 is $1,000,000.
$10,758.40 for gross wages, many pay on June the 17th, 2026, 2,384.88 gross wages on June the 18th,
2026 for $620,508.41 for total in that area, $1,630,000.
$6,995.06 for claims and prepays from 6,126 to 6,3026 is $4,180,378.61.
for claims and vouchers on July the 21st, 2026, $1,698,987.46 for total in that area, $5,879,366.01
for a grand total of $7,516,361.07. Thank you, sir. We also have personnel, resignations, retirements,
non-renewals, leaves and terminations, see one through five,
and personnel appointments and transfers, D1 through 23. We have two overnight field trips. These are
annual events. The Edgewood High School sophisticated ladies will be going to the Hidden Falls Camp
in Bedford.
and the Edgewood High School Music Warehouse will be going to Camp Allendale in Trafalgar, Indiana.
We are happy to report there are two donations. There is $100 that is going to the Edgewood High School
Fishing Team from Tim and Vicki Interkin in memory of Jim Wilbur. And there is also $186.88 that is
going to the RBB Lunch from lunch
from the Edgewood primary PTO. So do we have a motion on the consent agenda? We also have item E, the
personnel student appointments. I just wanted to be sure that was included in the consent. Yes, yes,
and those are not listed. I'm sorry.
work it out because it wasn't listed, but they're not listed because your students. So I do apologize.
Thank you very much for pointing that out. So there is a personnel student employment for educational
purposes, but we do not list their names on the agenda because of being students. So I move approval
of the consent agenda. Also moved and seconded any discussion. Any offer about the field trips?
Do you have anything to offer for the trips? I would say answer any questions you may have, or give
information about it, whichever you prefer, if there are any questions. Sure. Let's hear about it. Yeah.
So every single year, the show fires take a overnight retreat field trip to a retreat center. We've
gone to the falls before, and we've gone to Camp Allendale. And while we're there, we like to start
our year doing some team building stuff. We bring our choreographers. We have dedicated time.
to work on our shows and prepare for like tis the season and just get to know each other and get that
team bond going. This year, both of those groups are the largest they've been in several years. So we
have 48 girls since Fiske ladies, we have 44 members of the music warehouse. So having time together
to get to know each other a lot better since it is freshmen through seniors has just been really valuable.
Some of my favorite memories from high school show choir at retreats. So we just really enjoy going
on those trips.
Yeah, we have parent chaperones, yeah. No. No, the junior high director may come with us and help us.
She's been invited to that, and I think she's going to check her schedule, but it is a high school trip,
yes. All right, thank you. I've been before. It's pretty neat, and my kids loved it. Yeah, chaperone
before. And my kids loved it. Locations are the same, too.
Yeah, these are places that they have been to before. Thank you. Anything else? All those in favor say
aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. I believe Andy Scholl has some introductions he would like to make.
Oh, OK. Good evening. I'm excited to introduce some people to you tonight. Our newest teachers at EIS, but
Just as a testament, I'm gonna say this, I'm hoping Kent doesn't throw anything at me because as testament
to how much RBB is becoming the premier school corporation in this area, I received 50 applicants for
elementary teacher this year. Okay. Which is amazing.
15 or so, we're from MCSESC. I mean, this is becoming the place to be and we're getting great applicants
and the people you see before us tonight are the cream of the crop. First off, it's Rachel Hendricks
now. She's gonna be a new third grade teacher for us. When I hired her, she was Rachel Morris, but she's
been married a week or so at this point in time. She has a year under her belt up at Brownsburg, but
her and her
husband now are going to be settling in this area and we're excited to have her. She's avid runner and
also very active in her church.
Unfortunately, Melissa Degraff could not be here tonight. She got COVID and I said, better stay home
for that one, rather have you healthy in a couple of weeks. She's gonna be our new fourth grade teacher.
She previously taught at the collegiate level of music and this has been a second career for her. She
taught five years at Arlington Heights and was excited to come this way. Her daughter graduated this
past spring from Edgewood and she's just been so impressed with the community, just wanted to be a part of it.
Megan Terrell is coming to us from Southport Elementary. She has 10 years up there. Went to IU Indy,
IUPUI, and settled there for a little while, but it was from this area and it was ready to get back.
Tired of commuting too. Finally, Mantha Brownson. Just graduated from Taylor University with an art
education degree. Her host teacher just
could not be more impressed with her, the way she was able to take over the class. She's extraordinarily
skilled with ceramics, but her host teacher even said that she's even more skilled at giving those skills
to the kids. So we're excited to have all four of these new teachers at EIS this year. And I will introduce
Mr. Rinsler.
And Andy keeps forgetting to tell you guys is that when you come in and you get introduced, you're each
supposed to give a five minute lesson. So we see what you're like in the classroom. So, yeah,
maybe not. I will be sure to not forget the part where once we're through this part, you are free to
leave and you don't know. Welcome. We're so glad to have you guys.
And no, Andy, I'm not jealous of the 50 plus because for ELA, which can be difficult to fill, we had
25 plus applicants for ELA position. So again, we're doing something right to get that many applicants
for for junior high. And this is a different world. So something to be said for that.
Last month, Madison and I both missed the meeting because we were on vacation, but Madison Shackleford
graduated down in Castle, Indiana, or from Castle High School, student taught at Jackson Creek, and
now she's going to be teaching eighth grade English language arts for us at the junior high. So. So
I think we did a trade. I think we got one from Taylor and we're sending
So happy you guys are all with this and then again you can leave if you want to. So you don't
miss superintendents report. Okay. All right. Move right along. And so we only have one
presenter tonight, so all these will be for Dr. Sanders. First would be the Centerstone memorandum of
understanding for the 26-27 school year. Yes, sir. So Centerstone is a regular partner of our school
corporation, a mental health partner. They provide licensed mental health professionals
that provide school-based counseling to eligible students. They work with families, they work with school
staff, and this is an agreement that we ask the board to approve every year. There is no financial commitment
on our part. They will often bill insurance, Medicaid, and occasionally
parents might pay out of pocket for that, but it's mainly insurance and Medicaid. We are required for
the school safety grant to have an agreement with a mental health provider, and so we just recommend
your approval. I'll second. Any discussion?
All right, all those papers say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now we'll look at the structured
pay scale for instructional assistant leads and interventionists. So the rationale behind this request
comes from our
kind of what we're about, and that's doing business better. And we have some outline positions that
we wanted to pull together so that we can, as we consider future salary changes, rather than taking
each one individually, we've grouped these six people
under one category of instructional assistant leads or interventionalists. And so you will see in your
board packet that these are folks who
They manage classrooms and small groups independently, so there might not be a classroom teacher there.
They plan and prepare lessons and instructional activities. They provide classroom management and maintain
effective learning environments, and they must hold a bachelor's degree. These positions are the following.
English language art,
English language learner assistant position, and so we're replacing two part-time ELL aides with this
one assistant position. Our ELL population continues to grow, and so we need that help. This is pretty
much a wash financially.
We have a math interventionist at the junior high. Greg Watson, he's worked with the junior high for
several years now. He's a retired licensed math teacher. He's actually helping us
helping us to not have to hire another math teacher, but his position is kind of one of those outlier
positions that we wanted to put underneath this umbrella. And then we have four positions that, they're
basically under the Ready Schools initiative where two of those positions will be
working with Project Lead the Way and our Makerspace Labs. One of them is Andrea Andrews and she's already
been doing that. The other person, we're not replacing Sarah Figgs, thank you. We're not replacing Sarah
Figgs, so in place of that we're going to hire somebody to teach the PLTW
classes for the primary school. We have Garrett Odulio at the junior highs doing the same thing and
then Lisa Wilson at the high school. And so in the board packet also showed the scale for from zero
years to 10 plus years. So it's like I said, it's just a matter of trying to do business better. That's
the rationale behind this.
Second a discussion Discussion with dr. Sanders and miss Barrett today on this I My concern was how
many people is going to affect which we think is five. There's five people affected by this correct
six and I want to speak
continue to be cognizant of where we're at with our finances and our budget. The term wash makes me
nervous when you say it's a wash because it's technically they're not always as Mr. Federal, Ms. Tate
will tell us. We have to be very cautious of where we're at because we got grants that are going to
expire at some point. That's still my biggest fear and I always want to make that my point. As grants
expire, we're going to have to make some tough calls unless we get continued grants to replace those
which I know
optimistically, that's what we want. But I just want to put it out there on the record. And we also
have a track record of continuing those grants. But it's still not a wash, just so you know, okay. There's
a better word than wash. Well, and I'll just point out, you know, we had a, you know, we shared some
information with you recently. Right. So that's just a, you know, it's just common part of our conversations
when we're considering
positions, we might have a need. We try to figure out how to meet that need without any additional costs.
So your point is well taken and it's something that- Yeah, because we added a new position at EPS. We
added a new person to help out at the office level. I mean, we still replaced it, but at a lesser value
person, agreed? Lesser value as in financial.
So we came out a little bit ahead but we did add an extra body. Agreed? Okay. That's what I just want
to make sure. We're always cognizant of that. Yes. When we're talking about that because you guys are
watching the budget and you know what we got to do. So. It's just and Debbie can attest to that. It's
part of our regular conversation. Okay. Of hey, we have Sarah Figg who's leaving the classroom. She's
going to be the new student success coordinator and
And so we hire an instructional assistant who can adequately cover this teaching of the PLTW. All right.
Thank you. Anything further? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Now look to approve
our procurement plan.
Yeah, this is one of those items we bring to the board. We have to have a procurement plan so that we
could show how school nutrition lunch funds that are complying with federal, state, and local procurement
regulations. And so this must be reviewed and approved by the school board annually.
Any discussion? All those very say aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. Any opposed?
Motion carries. Next is the approval of the Robert bolting house contract. And I do want to go back
real quick.
quick because of the order that that was set in. I want to make sure the motion was to approve
the procurement plan and it was a seconded. So all in favor say aye. I oppose. Motion carries. Okay.
It may have sounded odd on the record. So I just want to clear that. Okay. Now moving on to the Robert
bolting house contract. Yeah, this is a technicality when we when you approved Robert's appointment to be the
principal at the high school, his contract was not included in the board packet. So we're just bringing
that contract, the actual contract, to you for approval tonight. Any discussion? Yeah, I just thought
you were going to work for free. It was kind of a surprise, wasn't it? Yeah, it was pretty. Okay. All
those in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed?
Motion carries. Next is our revisions to our Neola policy, volume 38, number two. This is the second
reading, so it is an action item this evening. Yes, so like President Kerr mentioned, these policies
were brought to you last month for first reading. And just as a reminder, every time we look at
policy that we utilize, NEOLA, and NEOLA is an organization of attorneys that review recent changes
to state law, court cases, and advises school corporations all across the state of Indiana that part
of their policies may need to be revised. And so I just
bring those to you tonight for approval. Any discussion. She told me she enjoys. All those in favor
say aye. I oppose. Motion carries.
Now it's consideration to confirm or revise policy 5136, which is in regards to personal communication
devices. Yeah. So as you know, the state created a law that says that cell phones have to be out of
sight, inaccessible, turned off, bell to bell.
I did take our policy a step further, and my rationale for that, well, the step I took beyond the state
law was to say that they should, that the keeping the cell phones inaccessible and turned off should
also apply on the school bus to and from school.
And the reason I wanted to add that is, you know, a bus driver's number one priority is keeping their
eyes on the road and safety. But there's also kind of, to me, a hidden safety issue in terms of students
having access to their cell phone while on the bus.
nobody to monitor what they're looking at, who they're talking to, what they're sharing with other students,
and it's sometimes difficult to prove. And so my rationale was that I felt like it would make a safer
environment if we
said that students could not have access to their phones on the bus unless there was an emergency. We
did get some pushback from some parents on that. As I look at announcements from school corporations,
there's a lot of people who aren't happy with that law.
And when I look at the comments of other communities, they often blame the school for that law. And
quite frankly, my personal opinion is I like it. I think it'll help students to be more focused and
engaged. We also know that social media often leads to
some behavior issues So personally I I like the law In our case, we're making those phones They were
just saying they have to be out of sight inaccessible turned off But in our case we added we went a
little bit further added on the bus so I wanted to bring it back before the board to see if there's
any discussion on
adjusting that, the part about the to and from school. Having the cell phones inaccessible. We have
to do bell to bell, that's the law. But I wanted to bring it before because we, just to let our parents
know that we do listen. You know, we pay attention to their views, their comments, and just bringing
it back. What I would like for the board to do,
So in past practice, if you look on our website, it actually is probably still on there. Under
transportation, it states by practice that elementary students shouldn't have their cell phones out
on the bus. Junior high and high school can under bus driver discretion.
The current practice is it depends on the bus driver for junior high and high school. To me, I feel
that's a little inconsistent. We ought to say that they're allowed or not allowed. But I just want to
hear what the board has to say and if there's anybody who wants to have a conversation about it. Is
there any buses that are monitoring?
A few, mainly special education buses. My talk with the bus drivers was that we're not gonna tell them,
I don't expect them to be walking up and down an aisle looking for cell phones. A driver, like I said,
my number one priority is
driving the bus, but they also have to monitor behavior of the kids. And so a skilled bus driver knows
how to do that, knows the right time to be checking and seeing if the students are up and running around
or doing something they shouldn't. And I've been told they can't monitor, really monitor whether a student
has their cell phone out or not.
I think that also is an argument that they can't also monitor what they're doing on their cell phone.
And we're really giving students an opportunity, a time, not very long, but time on the bus when they
have, they can get on their cell phones without any supervision. But I could see both sides of it too.
The board thinks we need to just go with the state law, which is bell to bell. I'll support that.
My thoughts, if you make the decision, you have to stick with it. But I don't want it to be a joke either.
You know, where they say, you know, we're not, I'm on my phone every day. You know, they don't know
anything about it. So, but I think if you made that decision, you had a reason to make that. I think
it's a good one. And I think we should stay with it. I guess my question is, you've had a policy
bus drivers discretion. Right. How did the bus drivers what was there? Well, that works out for you
know, some drivers just that doesn't bother them. And they don't have an issue with it. So they allow
the cell phones to be used. Others are probably a little more strict.
just like teachers. So. I agree with Joey. I think whatever we need to make a decision, that's it. I
just didn't get it. I think at least give it a semester and see how it works out after the first year
and then go from there. I don't know about it. Things that I wonder about are like,
So is this where only the students that would obey the rules anyway are the ones who won't have their
cell phones out and the ones who always push the envelope are the ones that are gonna get by with it
because they can't, it's gonna be hard to monitor. I mean, the seats are purposely high on buses for safety.
And so it's very difficult to see and monitor. So, you know, it's kind of, to me, a perfect opportunity
for good kids to be penalized for being good and allowing kids that push the envelope to get by with
it with no recourse. And, you know, then I just worry about the equity in that.
So that's something that bothers me. I don't know how that weighs. It's just a thought, you know.
So it's, you know, I don't know. That's just something that bothers me in trying to look at the fairness
of it. Is it really fair because they're, you know, like I know,
Again, some good kids are going to say, I'm not going to do that, because that's not the right thing
to do. And they won't do it. And the other kids that push the envelope are going to be sitting aside
and getting by with it. And it's going to be frustrating. So that's a concern. To what extent is it
making bus drivers' job harder? I'm sorry? To what extent is it making bus drivers' job harder, too?
I'm inclined to go along with Jimmy. Let's try it.
see what happens if we need to come back and revisit it. Maybe evaluate and get the bus drivers input
on it. See what we hear from parents and students as well. Maybe revisit it mid semester at the end
of the first term. Pretty much. This is really not just what happens on the bus, but this policy is
new law and how we're implementing it. I kind of figured that
there would be a trial and error really for a while. Some schools are saying the phones have to be in
their locker. They're very specific where they need to be. We just made it more simple, out of sight,
inaccessible, turned off. But when you put something in practice,
Sometimes it looks great on paper, but Not in the implementation You should have coaches and chaperones
well that that was my Like I said, I had reasoning whether it was good reasoning or that's the guess
that's up to everybody, but my thinking was after school There's a greater need for you know
a group of students coming back from a trip and they're back early or they're gonna be later, a lot
more communication that has to happen than a ride home. And I thought, yes, that there would be coaches,
there would be somebody other than the bus driver who would be able to monitor what a student is or
is not doing on their phone. That was the rationale.
I definitely don't have a strong enough opinion to do something different. I'm just glad I actually
had the discussion out in the open. I think that's important. And I have heard out there that, well,
the teachers ought to have to abide by this, too. That is the silliest thing I've heard. Sorry. I just
want to put that on the record. That is the silliest thing I've heard.
on this, 2020 was a stinking hard year, 2020. You remember why? Yes. Why was it hard? Because I retired.
That's why we had to wear those masks every meeting. And why do we have to wear the mask? Because it
was the county ordinance. The health department said we had to do it. So we did it, and we enforced
it. Because that was our job, to enforce it. And the school, and I hated dealing with it, but we dealt with it.
If the lawmakers said bell to bell, they spent a heck of a lot more time doing prepping for this than
what we did at a school board meeting. I'm fine with going by the letter of the law, bell to bell. And
as far as the buses are concerned, I'd be curious if you looked at the numbers, what percentage of our
kids ride the bus to and from school every day? And those kids that aren't riding the bus with parents,
they're on their cell phones just the same way. So you're concerned about having social
can have from some kid riding in the back of his mom and dad's station wagon to school, takes somebody
in the station wagon behind him. We've got enough problems to do with the school corporations for teachers
to take on more headaches that's not governed by law. That's my thought process. I'm cool with waiting
and revisiting this in nine weeks, whatever. After the first nine weeks, that's fine. But I have a hard
time going above and beyond that
because there's so much gray area on the school bus travel from point A to point B. So that's my take
on it. And my rationale there is, and Christine could tell me if I'm wrong, but you can always be more
strict than a law. So we can have rules that are more strict than the law. We can do that. And we chose
not to be more strict on how it's enforced.
with using some common sense at the last board meeting to where we're not gonna require and put them
in a pouch or stuff them in a locker. So I think we've used some common sense. I hope we use common
sense on this bell to bell rationale that the state has put down. Well, I appreciate the comments and
I'll give you a kind of report from time to time on how it's going and not only on the bus,
question, but during the school day too. From school. What's that? What if there's tricky weather to
or from school? Well, that would say that would be an emergency. Yeah, just kind of wondering different
things flashing through my head. That's and that's kind of I think Brad's right. You know, you have
to apply some common sense to all this. Also, to me,
I just worry about students. A cell phone, a student can just do just about anything and connect with
any website, any person, and I just worry about the safety of the kids. And that was my number one rationale
of extending it to the bus because I thought it was going to create a little safer environment.
as you've got, they're under our two leads for about eight hours a day. So the other 16 hours a day,
somebody else is what, are they being watched at home? That's really not our role, is to babysit the
kids 24-7. Okay. Good discussion. I like it. I think, you know, it's a discussion we can continue with
as we see how things play out.
I'll just maybe in my super tends report in October November. Kind of share with you on how it's going.
Yeah. It's just a yeah, just a discussion. We're doesn't appear to be ready to take any action on tonight.
Okay. So next is
the revised Ready 2.0 resolution. Okay, so back in April, I think it was, we were asked by the Indiana
Economic Development Corporation to have a resolution approved by the board that we were going to authorize
$2,255,500 from our 2025 construction bond proceeds for the Ready 2.0 Biomedical Life Sciences project.
As we continue to work on the design of that project, the final cost that we were submitting for the
grant was less.
and we were a little worried about that because We were kind of worried that we would not qualify for
all the five hundred thousand dollars but we got some good news in that the cost of the biomedical project
or Working you know doing the band and choir areas and transforming that into the biomedical labs that
that cost came down to two million and
$101,110, and we will still get the full $500,000 grant for that. But we have to submit a revised resolution,
so I ask for your approval for that tonight. I move to approve the revised 2.0 resolution. Any discussion?
It's nice to get good news like that.
Yes, it's great to receive that money and it's also great to come under what was estimated, so that's
awesome. We're going to continue sometime over the end of fall to try to get this memorandum
of understanding. Yeah, we're working with Christine on that. Okay, so will we have any progress with
that? Yes.
Motion carries. Next is the approval of a cross crop cross crop lease agreement. Yeah, so we are bringing
before you a new agreement that we have with Nailer Farms who leases our property around the
elementary schools and the preschool, and also down by Harmon Farms. And the terms will stay the same,
which is $190 an acre, and they're farming 58 acres for a total of $11,210. This will go back to November
1st, but then Christine added some language in there to make it an automatic renewal.
if there aren't any changes to the terms. So I wanted to bring that before you tonight. Any discussion?
Yeah, just the 58 acres. The field that's closest to Reeves Road, is that just like fallow this year
or are we, is he just not gonna be farming it?
Right in front of the no, yeah, yeah. No, they're going to. He's going to mow it for us, but not far.
OK, OK, I just noticed that he's picking up some other area. So it was pretty much a wash on the nerve.
OK, yeah, I wasn't sure he was doing that stuff out by Herman Park because it didn't seem like anything
was coming up. Yeah, I didn't see if it's planning or not.
Yep. And as you think, you know, but we're going to tear down the farmhouse and the barns and the silos.
And Scott Naylor is in the process of removing his equipment that he had left in the garage area and
also taking down the silos. And then
We had a test, the house tested for asbestos, so once all his equipment is removed, then we'll go through
the process of removing the asbestos, and then we'll seek some bids or quotes on tearing down all the
structures. What does that say? Do we have any plans for that site? Well, we've talked about, and this is,
probably going to take a little bit longer, but the original idea was to turn it back into farmland.
But there's some environmental work that has to be done to make sure it would still be good,
healthy farmland. There's another outlying project out there that may give us
of use for that property, but that's just kind of pie in the sky thinking right now, but what's that?
Yeah, yeah, but you know, right now, it's all about the idea to turn it back into farmland. Early on
to cancel them if need be.
So we'd need to be forward thinking if it comes up that we determine there is a use. And I really appreciate
Scott Naylor. He's really good to work with. He's been great. Absolutely great. He's looked over the
agreement, the lease, and that's acceptable to him also. Anything further? All those in favor say aye.
Aye. Opposed?
motion carries. And now we have the 27th budget calendar to discuss. Yep. So Debbie mentioned to me
today that she gave you these dates, but it wasn't on the agenda. So I wanted to put it on the agenda
to make it official. But the dates haven't changed.
The regular school board meeting on August 18th will, Paul and Debbie will be sharing information on
education, the current status of our education fund, operation fund, debt service fund. We'll look at
the school bus, five-year school bus replacement plan. We'll look at capital projects and we'll,
seek permission to advertise for all those items I just mentioned. And then that advertisement will
be August 24th, which would be 10 days, more than 10 days before the public hearing that is required.
And that public hearing would happen on September 15th, and where the budgets will be presented.
The proposed budget for 2027 will be shared with the board and along with the capital projects plan
and the five-year school replacement plan. And then on Tuesday, October 20th, would be the date, that's
also a regular board meeting, but that would be the date we would
asked the board to approve the budget for 2027 and then we would submit the 2027 budget to Gateway.
Okay and our last
item for this evening, is consideration to approve the reclassification of position for Nader Erlmann,
our Google Systems Administrator, and I believe for that we actually have someone besides Dr. Sanders.
We have our tech director, Rick Rappen.
So Nader's been with us for about seven years, six years or seven years, I can't remember exactly the
date that he started, because he was a five star, then he came to RBB employee. In that role, he was
always just a technical support specialist. I shouldn't say just. He's always been doing way more than
just a technical support specialist. And over the last few years, his role has really changed since
we have had the privilege to have additional tech supports in our office. And so I've really had him
focusing more within the Google and the systems administration of the servers and the applications and
things that take a lot of time. And that is something that is really required and needed for our corporation
to continue moving forward with all the stuff that we're doing and propose to do in the future. And
so when he does this, the title really does mean something to someone. And there's a lot of different
titles out there.
And it really made sense because he does so much in our Google administration console, and he also does
so much on our systems, which are all the servers that we rely on to do our jobs on a daily basis. So
I combined it and called it the Google and Systems Administration title. And so he's really well deserving
of this because of how much he does and how much he works on keeping our network, or not the network,
that's Ashley, our systems running. Then he also works with Ashley, which is the network's specialist,
network security administrator to make sure that we have the security and the communications that are
required for the servers and then for our links to all of our applications that we use on our daily
computers. That really does make a person feel better when they have a nice title behind them and not
just I'm technical support specialist. Also, it elevates him a little bit because his job is much different
than the other two
three technical support specialists we have and so they do look up to him so I think it's it's really
deserving for him to go and be have a different title than just technical support specialist. Any discussion.
From a teacher standpoint knowing how crucial the computer system became as I was
And toward the end of my career, it started to settle down a little bit. And since I've been on board,
you rarely hear other than just niggling little complaints. It's running so smooth. And I just really
appreciate what you guys do. Thank you. How would you like position? So
All of us came together for this. We just got done installing 1800 Chromebooks at EIS and EPS. That
means we took 1800 out of the Chromebook carts and put 1800 new ones in the carts. So we're starting
the new year at EIS and EPS with brand new Chromebooks. The seniors at the high school are not seniors,
but the high school. This will be their second year with the brand new Chromebooks. We also just finished
installing 45 brand new interactive monitors at EPS.
Yes, plus I have more in the works, but right now we were maxed to the deal with getting that done in
time. I was out walking the dogs and saw two highlights of Chromebooks and nobody ran. And so I was
first, I kind of walked up, I walked up toward them just to see what they were. And about that time
somebody popped out of the door at EIS. Those are the those Chromebooks were
bringing them in and they were they were on top of the alarm to me we have 8. How lots of use Chromebooks
sitting in poor Audrey's transportation building right now. Yeah, I saw Carolyn. Yeah primary and she
was she was chasing around. So yeah, we've been it's been a very busy summer and it was all hands on
deck. But we also had stuff behind the scenes that had to get done. We've been working on that as well.
Right now, we're trying to determine what we're going to do. There is some value to them. And so we're
looking at all options right now. Unfortunately, we have a lot of work ahead of us before we can even
do anything with them or donate them or anything we want to do is we have to what's called decommission
them from Google. So we get our licenses back. And that is a very time consuming process. So we're trying
to figure out how we're going to best handle this situation.
Right now I've talked to Arnold. We're looking at probably using one of the shipping containers that
is sitting in the parking lots to get them out of Audrey's Way, put them in the shipping containers,
and then as time allows, we'll probably pull one out, bring it into the maintenance bay or something,
because we have to take them all out, open them up, power them on, do some key commands, wipe them,
and then there's a lot of work to it. So we're just trying to figure out how we're going to incorporate
this into our daily task going forward.
I can't send them off to another school or to another anything with our license on it. It won't work
for them. So we have to do a lot of work just to even get him out of our possession. Yeah. And you know,
it's as we keep expanding, everything we expand has technology in it and there's
more and more need and it just becomes more and more advanced and I I'm just always amazed at how you
guys are able to to keep up and you know I I worry when I worry about staffing I worry about your department
I really do because I just know that there's got to be so much that you guys are doing all the time
So I do worry about your department in that way. Thank you. Thanks for Audrey and Arnold for all their
help, because if it wasn't for the beautiful transportation building that we have, we wouldn't have
a place to put some of our stuff during these transitions. And Audrey's always been very helpful with
us getting that in and out of there. And then Arnold and his staff have helped us a lot getting our
products to and from every building.
It takes a while to transport from the transportation building down to EPS on a forklift. It's not a
it's not a quick run, I'll say. So he has been and his career has been very helpful in getting all of
this organized with us. So thanks to Arnold and Audrey, too. That's awesome. OK, anything further? All
those in favor say aye. I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you very much. And now we have our business
manager's report.
And we have Debbie Tate. I gave you guys some updated reports from the original board packet that was
sent to you. It's the revenue report and the fund report.
I made a few corrections after I sent it to you where there were some posting corrections with the 800
fund and a grant. So we just had to move some of that money around. And then there was a posting correction
with the interest. It was posted in a different fund and it should have been posted in the education
fund. So it just shows where the money is now. And I wanted to give you those totals because those are
the totals that will be reported on our Form 9.
and at the close of June 30th. It was different from what I had originally sent you, so I wanted to
make sure you guys had the most current information. When we are looking at the cash flows, just looking
at the education fund and the operations fund, one thing that Paul and I were talking about in the education
fund, we started the year off in January
3.6 million of a cash balance. And at this moment we have 3.9 million. So we've increased that fund
balance and we're just, you know, keep looking at those totals. And then in operations, we started at
2.1 million and we're sitting at 3.5 right now. So we're just, again, and you guys, you know, we sat
down and showed some of you guys how those funds are being assessed
every day between all of us. We're trying to save as much, but we're also trying to just make sure those
funds are staying solid. We received all of our tax money that we had anticipated, so that was on track
for those funds. One thing, and some of you, we talked about the state is changing how we are funded.
with the operations fund. So basically we used to get 4% and we're going to get an increase of 6% of
income into the operations and this is hopefully supposed to help that difference that we're gonna experience
with all of the tax changes and everything happening in the future. So it'll give us some extra cushion but not
not to use, but to just help us with that for the future. And one thing they've changed is the CVET,
the FIT, and the excise taxes. We used to put that all in debt service, or some of it in debt service,
and now it's all going into operations. Again, that's another place where they're trying to put money
into the operations to kind of offset where we're gonna lose some of that money. So yeah, I think.
I think that's all I have. Do you guys have any questions? Thank you so much. Thank you guys. The assistant
superintendent is not here this evening and we did make sure that the superintendent knew that she did
not yield her time to him or is she allowed to. So he is limited to his own time for the superintendent's
report. You have like
until 730. So the way I see it, I've got 27 minutes. Oh, it's 710, not 710. Well, this won't take very
long. Congratulations to our High School Music Warehouse group. It's hard to believe, but they
are celebrating their 50th anniversary. And this Saturday, July 25th,
I just put the special concert that's going to happen at 7 o'clock, but I believe the public can come
over at 4, and there's supposed to be some memorabilia that you can take a look at. But the special
concert's at 7. I'm really looking forward to that this Saturday.
Just some real brief construction updates. I know that Martin Truesdell from Skillman is often, he's
here every other month, but there's a lot happening, so I just really wanted to share with you the roof
projects at the EPS, EIS, and the junior high are in process and should be completed mid-August.
Softball baseball turf project has started. And if you drive up there, you can see that they basically
are at taking the top layer of the soil off. And it's a real interesting process to watch them install
turf. So I would just encourage you from time to time, drive over there and see what's happening there.
It's pretty exciting.
I didn't tell everybody this in time. Some people found out by accident that we added some new speed
bumps around the high school. And the idea is we're going to continue to, we'll move up towards the
junior high next with some speed bumps. But I've observed that and it really does help slow down the traffic
Going around the school and So I just want to let you know about that The additions and renovations
project to junior high and high school which is involving At the high school expanding the front of
the high school for a new band and choir area and Then where the current band and choir area is right
now. That'll be our biomedical
sim labs that will be have available for our students and students in that pathway and then up at the
junior high will be expanding the high school for a new band or the junior high school for the new band
and choir area and then where the current band and choir area is right now will be additional classrooms
and a special education classroom
We had a pre-bid meeting today, and the bid advertisements are out there, and one was last Friday, and
I believe the next one is this Friday. And then on August 6th at 2 o'clock, we'll have the bid opening,
and we're looking at probably starting that project in September.
Believe it or not, the 2026-27 school year is right around the corner, and I just wanted to share with
you some of the start of the year dates and important happenings that are going on around the campus.
We sent out the Welcome Back to School letters. The meet and greet and open house dates and times are
on our website, and have also been communicated to parents. The school calendar is on the website, and then
if they come in on time. The goal is to have, which we do every year, we have the calendar put on magnets
that parents could put on their refrigerators, so that'll go out on the first day of school. Principals
and secretaries reported yesterday, and they're already busy sending me emails about new enrollments,
and that's always good to see. And then,
There's not a student in Edgewood schools that will go without school supplies. So that's the and we
can say that because we have people from the community who can continue to contribute to the student
assistance fund. Also Tri Kappa provides funds for school supplies and we also let parents know that
There's a backpack giveaway with school supplies at Ellisville Christian Church this Saturday at 10
o'clock, 10 to noon. And so that's open to the whole public. Registration window open today. This Thursday,
we'll have our administration retreat. And since we have a few new administrators, that'll be really
important for us to come together and
The feel like it do some team bonding activities and talk about some new initiatives going on in the
school corporation. The bus driver back to school meetings July 28th a new teacher orientation days
are the 30th and 31st. Nutrition Service Department their back to school meeting will be August 3rd.
And then on
The morning of August 3rd, we'll have our back to school breakfast and meeting for staff and teachers.
We'll introduce our new teachers, staff members, and administrators. And I usually try to give a welcome
back to school speech. And then, so August 3rd and 4th are teacher work days. And then the first day
of school will be August 5th. Here we go.
Thank you so much, and it's 710, good job. Appreciate that, appreciate that. Did you have one before?
I'm sorry? Did you have any before? Yeah, I did. All right, Mr. Durnall, RBBEA? No? Okay, so Mr. Durnall.
I'd like to welcome the new teachers, but they left on us, but that's all right. We'll have those,
and Tommy, thanks for your comments, appreciate you coming up, good to see you, haven't seen you forever.
Just like to just thank the administrators who are here tonight. Thank you so much for being here. It's
so good to hear from you. Thanks for introducing us. That's really nice. And Rick, thank you for the
update on all of this. I saw that palette, but I didn't think much about it. Larry's more of an investigator
than I am. He's already got more time on his hands, maybe. That's all I've got. Thank you, sir. Tommy,
I was sitting here thinking
Treasure the memory of when Washington. We had a full house. And Tommy hit three pointers over
the outstretched seven footer Tyler Zeller and we ended up winning that game. Most exciting moment in
Edgewood Hot Basketball history. I think that that's something all of us remember, but yeah, I just.
The excitement of another school year is always something in the.
This year's I'm looking forward to it. I think it's been just be terrific song. I can't wait until August
3rd and I'm hoping maybe what time do the new teachers get here on the 30th? They'll be here. Yes. Early.
I think. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Tucker.
Good to see you again, Tommy. Grown up. You're grown up a little bit. That's good. That's good. So thanks
for the discussion I had about the cell phone policy. That's something that just all these things we
get dropped to our lap. It's all school specific. I get it too. But I'm glad we are going to follow
the letter of the law. So I'm looking forward to some continued discussions. Yes.
We do have good discussions, and we end up making a combined decision, and we make the best decisions
that way. So I appreciate the board for that. Right. And I want to echo what Dr. Sanders said. There
are so many giving groups in this community to help kids out with school supplies and so forth. So get
out there and use them. And there's a lot of these places that have leftover supplies, and I think they
might bring them back to you guys' buildings.
There's always a lot of things out there to help kids out. Thank you. Thank you. I, too, want to appreciate
you coming in and talking with us and gave us definitely something to think about. I, too, enjoyed watching
you play. I believe that you can't remember if you were older or younger than my kids, but John and
Rebecca around your age.
So, it was fun to come to the games and be a part of that. So, enjoyed it very much. As always, we appreciate
the donations that come in. And, you know, the community is always great at supporting and supporting,
helping with the school supplies. There are numerous avenues that are available
For new teachers, make sure they know about the teacher's warehouse and that's a great resource for
them to have. I also believe the IU surplus this week is having a sale for teachers, like a half price
sale on certain things. So if teachers are needing things, that might be some place they can go as well
to look for things.
I just want to make sure that everybody's careful as the start of school will happen before we meet
again. Be careful with the buses out there. Give extra time getting to and from work and wherever else
you may be going. You know, we do have a great resource officers and police departments that really
help monitor to keep people
doing the right things by not passing our buses with arms out. But so, you know, keep alert and watch
out for those kiddos getting on and off the bus and walking to and from school. So be safe.
And with that, thank you all for coming and this meeting is adjourned.