but if you scroll down then you get to on the left hand side are the indicators of success from last year's last year's presentation that are still listed in Vision 308 and then the column to the right is the progress that's been made so far so one of the things that we're really working on is uh Gathering and feedback through student ambassadors and having that group expand they've recently developed a mission statement that will be later on in the agenda today and then have done some work with mental health and a student survey then on our website page one of the goals was to have a list of current partners and then have a draft of a pamphlet and a push and they have really worked together to get a list of Partners and put that on so that future business partners would be recognized there and then this group of people that I talked about so far really worked hard to put together a list that was from all of the different departments so that it is on our website with all of the pieces around special ed around English learner around diversity Equity inclusion around SEL so it was one stop shopping for our parents and that has been successful and they've been pulling together to do all of that and I think I'm going to turn it over to Teresa sure so um the next one that's up there is the draft plan for the parent education Summit and the community chats and that was just the end of what faith just covered so that's kind of continuation of everything that we've done there the next one is the alumni we are currently working on building a database on our website we have an opportunity for people to sign up and we include that in newsletters every now and then we are building that core up we want to have that single spot for people to be able to come register at the district and for us to communicate so that first newsletter was an accomplishment and then we presented to the the CAC communities so the community advisory committee that met here on our different opportunities for communications and some of the Community Partnerships that we have across the district and then the dashboard and that's an ongoing one but that is updated after each one of these meetings on the district we did include a link to that in the last newsletter as well so people can kind of follow along but we do update those in all the presentations that are shared here as well as the presentations that are included and board docs can be found on our website following each meeting and the next piece is just the indicators of success that we'd like to bring back at next year at this time when we do this same in or report and by then we want to have a standardized feedback form that we use for all of our parent engagement opportunities and make sure it's tied to Envision 308 and then get our feedback on how they've found it to be successful or not and then the next piece there is continue the website listing of Partners and create a form for future Partners to complete if interested so if they're looking at the website they have a way to contact us right away we're going to continue that whole group working together for a parent page and work on a parent survey to know what they might be interested in coming in and what Forum that would be whether online or in person and back to Teresa and then we're going to continue to grow that Alumni network and begin some quarterly newsletters within those there will be opportunities and ways for people to come back and be part of things at the district announcements on public events and those sort of things and continuing to update that dashboard on a regular basis and then the bottom is just how all that ties into Finance student learning support for student learning and of course Community Partnerships just remember that the whole slide Deck with all of the details it will be posted on the website tomorrow it is also in board docs this evening does the board have any questions in regards to the presentation this evening small suggestion can we clearly I won't be here so tell me if this is out of the realm of possibility but um if you slide up just adding and I again I don't know how it would be done but adding a student voice piece would be nice like even if it's like you know some kind of here's our clubs or here's our sports teams or here's our just some sort of students giving feedback on OHA feedback are you talking about the survey well or even just little you know little videos that kids make that that you know even if it's just on canva or whatever just something like you know here's our club here's here's what we do or here's just some you know some you know the talk program or right well I don't like again I don't I just like the only thing that's missing from here for me is just a is a student-led and I know that we're just kind of getting started on this whole so again clearly I will not be here for that I mean I'll be here in the district but I won't be here right I just mean some sort of you know like a student ambassador report or uh you know a like a I mean there's so many things that happen in all of our buildings all the time we do try to use social media platforms to capture a lot of those stories on a daily basis and use that as kind of a platform so it's not so many stories because they are literally multiple every day yeah um but I mean we can certainly look at trying to to weave some of that back in most of the goals around this quadrant of the Envision 308 plan are really focused on connecting at that higher level the district with the partner organizations and bringing some of those opportunities like the parents to have educational things and sponsorships and some of that that we have that really comes into the district level a lot of it doesn't seep down um to the student level but we certainly can look at it through that lens I think the student advisory committee piece is probably the only place up their faith I don't know if you ever jump in that's probably the only place where we have specifically called out students and that really is student-led and and involving students at every aspect of that portion of it but beyond that a lot of it is really that 2000 foot District I think to Ali's point though if we if we did have a way to report out what students were doing just so that the community could be could appreciate um all of the great things that our students are doing it may spark uh the idea of a Community Partnership with someone they say oh I can help them to do that better by whatever it is but I think it'll it'll be great PR for the community to see all the great things that the students are doing so we do yeah and if you don't shout out here if you don't follow us on social media please do but yeah we do try to put those stories together so anyone across the district can always email stories at sd308.org that's just a little if you have if you see something you hear something neat if your students have come home with some neat idea like that's what we try to do is use that as a vehicle to get that information back to the district office because you're right there's so many cool things every day but we're not in all of the buildings to capture all that so we rely on everybody to help us be our eyes and ears so please share the stories and we absolutely love to to feature those those are certainly more fun than the business stuff thank you I have a I just have a comment um and then to follow up first and foremost um just in a huge amount of gratitude to Mrs early and Dr Waller um uh some of the programs that I've participated in uh this semester um have come from these two Educators and they have been very powerful so thank you for the work that you do I think sometimes it's exciting really powerful I had a parent reach out to me that said that they were looking for a specific matter and I said well this is very interesting we have a community chat very interested [Music] sort of a weeping phone call back saying thank you um it was really fun something that she needed and I share with what it was but it was an incredibly important and Powerful so the work that you're doing is really hidden home in this District to that though I would like to say do can we have a little bit more communication um and maybe even some um and when it comes to communication because so many people that I share these with don't realize that they're happening and again I'm not saying you guys aren't communicating I know for a fact you are you all information overload somebody's really important um communities Outreach that get lost so maybe we should consider just something a little bit more proactive and um the word out there I think that's incredibly important and then the other feedback that I got was something about having to sign up through years can there be an easy obey so I just wanted to pass that close piece of information along but again some really really important work being done here and I'm incredibly grateful that it's getting superintendent report well good evening board uh February is Black History Month it's important that we remember that black history is American history and we all should set a time aside during the month to acknowledge the struggles resiliency and inspiration of black Americans throughout history and today they ask that you keep please keep an eye on our weekly newsletters as we share uh the these stories about different people some of whom you know and some of whom you may not know and uh but they all Inspire us all there's also a special webpage on the website with links to local events and other ways we can celebrate this important month tonight I am going to share a number of celebrations because there are many this year we had a number of Staff members who are recipients of the those who Excel award that are given by the Illinois Illinois State Board of Education so congratulations to Southbury principal Samantha sinovich who received the award of meritorious service in the administrative category do a language instructor at Hunt Club Diana calvillo who received the award of meritorious service in the early career educator category first grade teacher at the wheatlands Barbara Richmond who received the award of meritorious service in the teacher category and the members of the bionic program believe it or not I care Wendy prep kawain Prado and Rachel azifer to receiving the award of special recognition in the team category these honorees will be invited to the 49th annual those who Excel and teacher of the year are banquet on April 29th so congratulations to all of our district recipients and I think that deserves a round of applause that's quite enough quite a great thing here all right as I said there's a lot of good stuff happening here so I'd also like to congratulate our Oswego Co-op gymnastics team on winning the 2023 ihsa Regional Championship this is their fifth consecutive title they will compete at sectionals tomorrow night congratulations to the panther OHS Panther co-ed cheer team I'm placing sixth at the state finals uh this past weekend congratulations to OHS girls bowling team as they are the regional Champs in both oh and OE girls Boeing we'll move on to the sectionals this coming weekend as well also a number of our students from both Oswego and Oswego East High Schools recently earned multiple Awards in the National Scholastic arts and writing competition in the Midwest region eight students who won the gold key will have their work Advanced to the national competition which takes place in March the Scholastic art and writing Awards give students the opportunity for recognition exhibition publication and scholarships also last week's over 30 student athletes joined a national Signing Day on February 1st as they committed to their verbal scholarships offers that they've received from their colleges for the next academic school year congratulations to those students and we look forward to seeing them continuing their athletic success at colleges and universities across the country and in closing I'd like to remind that a reminder that the five essential survey is underway and open to all parents through March 31st if you haven't already please take the time to complete the survey this feedback is important to the schools a 20 parent participation rate needs to be reached in order for those results to be be provided to the schools so more of the information is available on the home page on our website and that is my report for this evening 2.2 student ambassador report hi everyone so the ssac is playing planning to meet again on February 9th this Thursday and we hope to narrow and continue working through the many facets of mental health which is one of our goals for this semester we also hope to introduce the ypar process which is the youth-led particip participatory action research which was used last year when making research questions Gathering results through the survey that was sent out to students and developing solutions to what we focused on which was sexual harassment as we transition into this analysis of mental health of the mental health responses within the school we want to look at the schools and the student population and we want to create an environment in which students can amplify their voices and with an added perspectives of the new members we will be able to see how mental health is treated in the district 0.3 all right so I thought we'd do a board member I'm good I got that too okay um so in your for the public you can you can see the documented um reports of equity financing those they are they are now I would just ask are there any addition of those reports reports if no questions you'll move on to 6.4 we had another committee yeah policy and legislative or like 100th meeting I want a board member because I wouldn't let John talk about wrestling member comments there you go see so there's also really quickly before we get started I just wanted to be due to the truly happy of this the fancy that there is another one coming up this Monday and it has been added and added our schedule just because of the sheer amount of work that we work is what that we're doing so I just want to make that clear to the community thank you thank you tons of meetings tons um so on top of that um Oswego East had four kids qualify for sectionals um wrestling sorry um and an alternate and Oswego High School took fourth as a team um we have five qualifiers five alternates and uh Cruz Ibarra got his 100th win as the first place match so our champion hit his hundred hundredth win as a senior as the Champaign regionals which was pretty cool to see it's awesome um I would like to shout out um Amy Overstreet she is the family and consumer Sciences teacher at the nursing Junior High leadership panel for the students of that class and it's about 80 of them and it was a forum by which be invited leaders from all over the community to her class and it table and the the question that I got most was what is happening routes there was a person who called off sick and so therefore someone else had to take a double route and it left them at minutes for 30 minutes more and obviously it impacted them greatly because they they asked me about it a lot and table and then they would rotate in every rotation that question was a question and so we're just you know you know better for for our students and I you know I tried to articulate it to them in in the eighth grade way that I could we have no work to do um go ahead no were you done I'm sorry yeah we're done go ahead uh I have the uh opportunity to do a site visit over at Traver uh if you've never had the chance to go see the library first of all uh definitely go there it is there's so much to do there I want to spend the day there um a lot of students going in uh it is more than just showing up and getting a book say the least it is uh quite quite something to say the least um I was able to tour the building during school hours I have to publicly apologize to Ms Kellogg for interrupting her class but um the good news is the fellow social studies teacher uh it was a lot of fun getting drilled by a student so so I'm always up for that it was a nice uh local Civic lesson which I'm always up for that as well uh any chance we can get to um bring local Civics uh to uh classrooms I'm I'm game but I will Echo what you said uh they were definitely uh what they wanted to talk about with Transportation well actually after I should say after the one to know my favorite school which I told them I do not have a favorite school I do have a favorite mascot but uh that's that's the secret we will keep but um yeah Transportation was definitely uh what they wanted to talk about and it was interesting what it affected um and so uh I have said this before and I will continue to say um the bulk of what I'm getting is that at the junior high level um I did have some parents uh that I have been talking to uh one-on-one who did reach back and say hey I've seen some improvements so after that but a bulk of of what I still received and directly from student voice at this point um is built Junior High and transportation so uh overall though uh while remarkable uh visit at Traver suited that um just just remarkable um although a couple students thought I was a former teacher and now I forget the name escaping me but I had to go introduce myself uh apparently I get mixed up with a lot of people but I was not that person so very impressed The Traveler it's a great site visit that's all I do want to just say um as the board president you know I I speak for the entire board and I I don't take that very lightly and um so when our board we understand our next superintendent of course that understands shade that and I I could not agree more I will I will today I think it was Friday um sometime last week that was just once again beautiful to see I hid in the background to see the from the studio while they're they're serious stuff there's a lot of funny and just see the light bulbs something that I will always be grateful for as they make picture of them so sit around their and I'm going to get emotional emotional um and then they talk about what it means and when we're untying and when we when we hurt each other and the things that stand that uh really hard to take those things back up because the wrinkles are still there and I think we have to continue you know get to meet with some not meet with but some of the candidates that I haven't said they're involved we cannot and it you know a lot of a long time social media has you realize that we have a lot more in common have or that we different teachers and um what changes we're making so maybe at a future board meeting we like what we are doing and we can hold ever support transportation Department in sure that our students are safe transported out on instructional thank you we're not 7.1 consent agenda are there any questions on the consent agenda can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda please uh make a motion to approve all items under consent including 7.1 minutes for the Board of Education meeting on January 23 2022 open and closed session and 7.2 to acknowledge the foia request received by the district second Miss Swanson aye Mr Cerrone aye Ms simultan aye Mr Gatewood aye Ms Johnson hi Mr cloger Mr pluger sorry thank you hi hi we got you now yep the ugly counts one before she passes president simultane we're getting some feedback that it's hard to hear in the microphones on the recording so if everyone could just speak up a little bit thank you item 8.1 is in for as an informational item on financial statements does the board have any questions on what's been presented this evening well I'll go first I am the broken record we really need to provide some more transparency when it comes to our spend and so I am board meeting we can please have a month to month care for court that explains Earth year over year so that the board members can understand or spending is very cyclical um and so it's very it's very important for us to see because the last year versus this year on a month-to-month basis typically it is a report that you should be able to get from our financial software but nonetheless Earth but I really like to see the CDR item 8.2 is information on roof bids for Oswego High School and Homestead work to be done this summer Dr pesky all right and I'd like to introduce uh both Bill Queen our director of buildings and grounds along with uh Charlie Johnson our representative from kluber Architects so that they can share with you the most recent bids that have gone out and the information about those good evening President Hamilton Dr sparlin you guys got me on the board of education I think yeah go close how's this on January 26 2023 bids were publicly open and read aloud for the above reference projects OHS and Homestead Elementary we're going to start with OHS three contractors chose to submit bids for the project low base bid was submitted by JL Adler Roofing and Sheet Metal incorporated from Joliet Illinois and the amount of 531 470.
we are excited to have Mark after serving as in his role as principal at Columbus East anxious to take on this role with McDowell the adult and alternative education center this position opened up whenever Megan shaff was named the director of title services so that created that vacancy and again I'm I'm pleased to recommend to you as board members Martin Newell for that position Mr Oldham thank you Dr Roberts do I have a motion to prove Mr Newell as director McDowell a Dalton alternative education I move that we approve Mr Newell as the new director of McDowell a second thank you are there any questions no okay all those in favor say aye aye there's a post congratulations thank you [Applause] okay uh first and foremost I'd like to thank my wife Jeannie for all of her support and encouragement she's my rock and my anchor and I'm truly grateful for her I thank you to the board and Dr Roberts for the opportunity to be a part of the McDowell team and Community it's one I do not take lightly and I'm honored to take this position and in 28 years of education there's lots of people I could thank in lieu of brevity tonight I would just like to recognize Bill Jensen Bill Jensen hired me 19 years ago as a math department chair brought me into the culture of East High School mentored me guided me through these 19 years Administration and for that I'm truly grateful Dr pleake asked me to pray a few words tonight and it took me back 15 years ago when I was accepting role of principal at Columbus East High School I was nervous excited not sure what I got myself into and guess what I've got those same feelings tonight but what gave me confidence drink 15 years ago was I knew I was going to work with a staff to a student-centered valued all students who who they were as individuals worked to support each student in finding his her own success and the same thing applies to this evening as I know that Megan and the staff of Mcdowell have that same Student Center focused that values all people who walk and look down campus they're focused on building relationships and getting to know the stories of the individuals they are supporting they're giving their students hope and a strong foundation for future success so once again I'm confident taking this next step due to another outstanding staff to have the privilege of working side by side striving to support each student and finding his her own success in closing the foundation of great Community lies with its schools and I'm asking for the support of the community and the school board to work together in supporting McDowell along with all the other schools in bcsc to serve the needs of our students and families together we are stronger and together we learn again I'm thankful and excited and very humbled to be the director of McDowell [Applause] foreign hey I think Dr Roberts back to you again yeah thank you so we'll just keep going here uh Mrs Wilden um this is an annual event for us a very exciting one each year as we consider our education Hall of Fame awards and this year we are very pleased to be able to offer two of them to very deserving uh Educators for the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation so to help me with this this is day off Dwyer as a former board member who has been involved with this committee for quite some time Kathy correct and so it was a part of of this process this year back in November December into January and making sure we got the right selections here so Kathy I'll turn things over to you for a minute thank you and this is kind of odd being on this side of the the board tonight but it's very exciting and it's one that I really loved being a part of in the 14 years 14 and a half years I've been on the board board members I appreciate all the work that you've done and in support of all our teachers and administrations over the years so tonight the education Hall of Fame just to give everybody a little bit of background on that is that we have community members teachers and support staff that actually said on a committee and I was the chair we have four plus myself is five we're doing math too so the idea is majority rules right with Robert's Rules of you know well sometimes when you just get through it and it's the same numbers that keep popping up and everything so this year we decided the committee decided that we're going to award two and looking at it's actually time fitting because one of them is currently a teacher and we're very that had that um relationship with our students and the other one is a teacher that had not only been at the elementary level but also in the administration and what people don't understand with what I've learned what I've been taught is that to have a good solid school system you need to also involve the community and there's a lot of work behind the scenes when it comes to our superintendents being out and about and building partners and bringing Partners into our world and we partner with our community because we are a community school as once I was told by a certain superintendent so so there's been other things I've been told too so we'll share that in a little bit but first I would like to recognize our committee for the education Hall of Fame this year if you're here please stand I know I saw a couple Mr Ferguson you could stand up in the vacuum so we have two of our four uh that are here this evening I want to appreciate their time because it is sometimes be laboring and I think the hardest thing is going through all the letters of nominations for everybody and really finding those pieces of that so Dr Roberts if you would like to go ahead and start I will do that thank you Kathy so the first uh person we would like to recognize tonight is Peggy Myers Peggy has taught with our school corporation since 1993 strong contributions to our special education department um you know we have a very strong special education department period and Peggy has been an integral part of that for the many years that she has taught with us and has been recognized many times before oftentimes you'll see Peggy's face in the newspaper as she is accepting one award or another a special program that Peggy was a part of was developing the Champions together one at Columbus East High School and it provided athletes with or without disabilities inclusivity opportunities in the mini school and sports programs that we have uh so in recognizing Peggy Pagan whenever you start walking up here to the podium and as she's doing that I'm going to read the plaque that we have for Peggy and the plaques that we put together for the education Hall of Fame award are based upon uh words that come from the letters of nomination that are provided to us and so we take those words and build a plaque out of it and so this particular one says 2023 education Hall of Fame Award presented to Peggy Myers Peggy changes lives fantastic teacher five-star mentor and friend altruistic creates an inclusive environment celebrates unique gifts is supportive and encouraging tireless a true humanitarian and Advocate innovative best buddies East coffee cart and unified track coach in quotes she is able to provide scaffolds and supports which allow all her students to make academic gains so on behalf of the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation and our school board Peggy I would like to award this Hall of Fame award to you thank you [Applause] [Laughter] thank you she forgot she was going to say a few words so I did not know all I can say is thank you and I'm very humbly and honored um I I can't begin to thank all the people that I should thank um because as you know I'd go on forever um but my family who's here in abundance and my students and their families because that's why I'm here so um George and Bill Marianne and Karen and Mark and Lori I can't say enough so and all our staff Dana who worked with me for 13 years before she abandoned me for higher things so thank you so much and thank you for allowing me to work with my students that's the greatest honor [Applause] one thing that Peggy has done which I think we should incorporate in all of Columbus is that every year at Columbus East stand at Columbus North high schools they have a banner out in their common area and it says ban the r word and it's not legally we're Banning the r word but what it is saying is that bringing up front that there's other words that we can use that is not hurtful that may be describe or you know use that just take that whole word out of our vocabulary now there's a lot of other words that we could take out of our vocabulary which I tend to take a lot of words out of my vocabulary at times so you know it's one of those that I think it's a cool thing especially if we get in the middle schools and even the elementary school because I know in years past watching students what we teach in our elementary tend to grow into our our middle schools and middle schools are tough you know and everybody knows that is the hardest time of our kids life six through nine it seems like it's a lot of growing changes and everything and I think as a community that would be something that I would like to see and I know a lot of other parents would support as well is that you know if we all get together and just say for the month of March which is a disability awareness month that we just be in that word and you know it's a commitment to us that we are not going to use that word and that we are an inclusive community and we are caring for other people that may have a little different abilities that we all maybe may have or may not have so with further without further Ado this next recipient was my superintendent when I came on the board and he's always a little intimidating you know just because he walks softly you know you heard he walks softly carry a big sick while he doesn't have the big stick but he always has words and stories and so I know a lot of his colleagues and other people that we run into we always talk about Dr John quick and him you know he talks about his horses and you know things and he's always a lot of fun to be around and his philosophy in things of when he was at Taylorsville teaching and all the different places and his colleagues and how he sees our community school and has he sees our community as a whole he's very uh he's a mover and a Shaker and he's one that I've learned a lot of things from and I appreciate very much the time that you have always given me but the time that you give them to our kids uh High School graduation is always a time where our superintendents talk and stuff I know at one of my kids uh graduation and I think it was maybe my nephews uh at East High School uh it was uh your message was to don't forget don't forget to call your mom on Sunday and it's one of those that you know and I thought you know that that is true our kids go off to college after being home and you know just give us a call let us know you're okay and how things are going so anyway uh with that Dr Roberts thank you Kathy so as Mrs day off Dwyer indicated we have a second recipient is Dr John quick uh Dr quick joined bcsc in 1991 as principal of Taylorsville Elementary School in 1998 he was promoted to assistant superintendent and then in 2003 became our school corporation's superintendent these individuals as Kathy said have been selected through a lengthy nomination process we're glad to recognize each of them in terms of this plaque for John just as I indicated for Peggy we took the nominations tried to find some words in there that would that would describe the person well I think we did an okay job with this Dr quick so 2023 education Hall of Fame Award presented to Dr John quick puts kids firsts values families highest expectations for bcsc immersed in our community exemplary collaborator leader and storyteller Trailblazer and networking skills demonstrated management by walking around far-reaching influence in the field of education and perhaps the most difficult thing for me trying to follow Dr quick is Dr Quick's quickisms things like just keep showing up I can help you get to the plate but you have to hit your own home run so on behalf of the Bartholomew Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation and our school board Dr quick would like to present this education Hall of Fame award to you [Applause] foreign [Applause] I'm not I'm not sure I deserved a standing ovation but then again I have arthritic knees I don't deserve that either uh and like Peggy I've been to about 20 of these so I knew I was supposed to say something uh you know you're old when you look around and one of your former elementary students is on the school board now and uh so I and I want to say congratulations to Peggy very well deserves I think first time I was in her classroom there was about 300 square foot room do you remember that and they had dance rehearsal in that same room and so one of the first things we did was build that nice big room over by the tennis courts uh I am very proud of bcsc and the bcsc family Andrea is the only family member I have because I have family you know all across the country and I don't have any relatives here in town but I'm proud of Jim and the cabinet and I appreciate Laura spearheading this and uh you know and I I'm proud of all the administrators uh you know I helped recognize and promote and recommend I guess uh hearing uh the kind words and everything I I felt a little bit like remember when Tom Sawyer attended his own funeral and he got to hear all the good things people were saying about him and I kind of to feel like that a little bit you know this month is the 50th anniversary of our first date and uh so and uh I did not know back then she would be the brightest best red person I know the only thing that I knew was she was into me and I was into me that worked out well for me uh we have uh the most important thing to Andrew and I were how our kids turned out and Megan and Tyler are great adults Megan and Joe are watching I think on YouTube in Pennsylvania along with our six perfect grandkids we're headed out that way next week and uh there are five boys and at least three or four of the boys have my uh extroverted and and sense of humor it seems like so it'll be interesting that uh John Tyler and uh CD are in Pasadena I think watching and so there's a middle of the afternoon they're going to take off work to to watch it I guess you know you think about how you get to a point where you're successful it's because you're you know on the shoulders of those folks that came before so I came from a long line of John quix that didn't get a chance on at least the fourth and or fifth or I know Tyler registered at IU because he thought it was funny be John quick the sixth I don't know if that's really true or not but he he thought it'd be funny to to do that but so there's a long line and and they didn't get to go to to college the dad got drafted in into Korea and and uh and had three you know little ones to raise and but uh I felt like I hit the parent Lottery we didn't we didn't have a lot uh dad was a mechanic and ran a an auto junkyard and and when I couldn't find a job I have to work in a junkyard too you know and so and he pretty much took care of a family I had 37 first cousins and you know you know how it is in in Pike County I I do want to well they they know I'm not going to tell any of the cousins stories but sometimes in cabinet they wouldn't believe my stories one time they even made me call Mom and say could you verify this or no but I did have a parent letter you know Dad was great mom was you know he's a general giant 6'4 250 mom was like five two perfect Irish mom you know uh now here in bcsc uh that whole career there's one fellow though that particularly that you know and I I want to say there's an air of omissions you know we buy that policy and I'm not going to be able to mention everything 2 000 employees 12 000 kids a year for 25 years you know do the math I can't do that but Ray Ziegler was on the school board 24 years and I I saw see Jill sheds here early 16 years I think she's number two and Karen garrity's mom was also 16 years I think on the board but Ray was a was a mentor and he taught me a lot about uh boardmanship about politics he's a master politician one of the things he said Ray said to me when I got to job he said surround yourself with people who are smarter than you he didn't realize how easy that was going to be but uh so I also uh had a lot of great administrative assistants three of the sweetest ladies that you ever met Shirley bazel Robin Dorsett and James surface surely when I took the job she said my job she said my job is to make you look good now she didn't know how hard that I was going to be but and I kept thinking I'm their seventh superintendent she's worked for and we went through several and went I had nothing you know so uh I wouldn't mention Jane Jane was with me 25 years so when I moved you know wherever I moved to and whatever job I had I kept her as an administrative assistant her nickname uh by the ladies in the office was Saint Jane because she's such a and Jane surface here and then I know I see Jim nodding it is now Andrew said she got that nickname because she put up with me for 25 years and stay the other way around uh I'm the first superintendent to retire in the district at least in the last several decades and uh maybe the only one I think that ever retired in the community and so that has some good effects you know uh I for 13 years I never got a snow day right and uh there's uh stuff in the paper you know all the time you didn't get that right but here but but now everywhere I go in the community something in the paper or it's a snow day people will say well if you were a school superintendent you would have and then they fill in the blank of what they think is the right answer and you know so I'm I I always had a pretty good self-concept but I haven't made a bad decision in six and a half years so I'm feeling pretty good about myself now I'd recommend that the board to do boat I could list all of the great things that uh that this Corporation has done uh you know before my tenure and during my tenure but you know the 2020 referendum that was bold you know you're in the middle of a pandemic you pass a referendum that was a boat you know you need I I would recommend that you build programs and buildings that attract more students and fight the fights that are worth fighting not just the fights that you can win uh you know we have done that in the past and it moves in you know Pre-K uh was a tough was a tough time for us to try to do those references but you know what Pre-K now is is spoken as if that's one of the things that's going to come down the fight so and I you know keep keep expanding keep building you can't shrink your way to Greatness now the three R's now are rigor relevance and relationships and the most important to that is relationships I got a lot of credit for knowing every kid at Taylorsville School including Logan in and I got a lot of I bet you know where Andrew and I grew up and 60 in my class 50 in her class and they closed before they closed down Winslow High and you know you knew everybody and so I had to know everybody when I was a principal and one year I think in and out we had a total a thousand kids and so uh but if you met in the hallway I had to know that and that's those are the kind of velcro strips you have to have create a velcro strip and uh to every person you try to teach or or you mentor yeah the lesson um you know a few years ago I was invited to MC the 100th anniversary of of our old high school and um during the organization uh the guy that was organizing that and there was MC and he said uh I asked the principal Mr Thompson said you know you were here 40 50 years said who was the who's the student you remember the most who was the best who was the brightest who do you you know who is that one student and uh principal uh Thompson said John quick and that made me really proud because I knew he was talking about my father thank you [Applause] foreign well that's hard to top but we'll give it a shot okay I think next step we have best practice from McDowell thank you it's uh continuing the theme of Mcdowell as we start the year I believe so we're we're really happy to be here and share um a little bit about what McDowell um is and does for the community uh here for bcsc and Columbus um pictures see how it goes there we go quick history overview 1960 was when it was built if you've not been to McDowell I suggest at least drive by McKinley Avenue it is not the kind of school that you would expect to see in Indiana it was part of the Cummins architecture bringing in a famous architect's John Carl warnicky I assume you say and it was in 2001 a National Historic Landmark for its unique building since 1960 and Mr Ellen did share the story as I was researching just a little bit it was an interesting fact in 1967 First Lady Lady Bird Johnson was on a tour Across America had a stop in Columbus staying at the Miller home and while she was in Columbus she was a guest of honor at a dinner at McDowell followed by music in the gym from a 60-piece Orchestra so kind of a little interesting fact that I learned along the way so it was an elementary school at this point and then in the early 80s was transitioned to an adult education center I think the Indiana Winters and kids having to put on and off those snow gear coats and all of that really just was too much for not the kids probably but maybe the adults around and then Renovations were completed you can kind of see the difference in the two pods there in 2013 that really helped bring that up Mrs Andrea quick was a big part of making that happen and in fact as I was looking through some of that history Mr Newell said on quite a few of the uh meetings I think with the committee of folks who are part of that building renovation so the history goes deep with all the folks that we've heard from today and we're excited about the future of Mcdowell moving forward quickly you're going to hear from Josh Gunter with our alternative education program and Nikki nolting with adult education we've got lots of things going on at McDowell we say Learning for Life we've got four pods there and many different ways that we serve the community so it's it's one of the unfortunately we say Best Kept Secrets if you've been in Columbus for a long time it's the best kept secret that we don't really want to be a secret so we're proud to be here tonight but if you've been in Columbus for a while you know in the 90s you McDowell maybe had a different reputation in terms of what kind of students went there and what went on there but today we serve the community in very a variety of ways and and it's a pretty exciting place to be one of them is through our Bright Beginnings program and Kristen Marshall is the director we serve as an early learning program students aged six weeks to three years old we've got four lead teachers in those four classrooms many many um kids and a couple that you might see up here I don't think I have any of the Robert's Grand kiddos in these photos but they're here there's a there's lots of folks that that are around from teachers kids it was originally designed and it serves as a place for students of bcsc high school students or of bcsc who are parents or parenting as a way to help them really um continue and maintain that education to get their high school diploma and not have child care stand in the way of that so I would say in the five years that I've been there we've maybe had about five or so students take advantage or need to use that but it's it's made a difference for each of those uh young parents to finish their High School career so it's a wonderful program that's kind of housed under McDowell and and uses a lot of different folks through the title program and so forth to keep that going for our service we also house C4 cosmetology that Jim that was uh the 60 orchestra band in 1967 is now our cosmetology salon and that's through C4 so we're not going to go into that too much um but it's wonderful that students have that pathway and that option to come through uh C4 both our bcsc students as well as our County students coming with that opportunity to get certified by the end of their two years in that program it's also an open working salon so if you need your nails done or you a haircut you can stop by Monday Tuesday Thursday or Friday afternoons from 1 30 to 5 and they are an operating salon so another way that we serve the local community as well onto our real specific McDowell measures in terms of our our high school alternative education uh Mr Gunter Josh Gunter I think four years with us here at McDowell is one of our teachers and he's going to share with you a little bit about what alternative education is uh at McDowell [Music] um so just being a history teacher it's kind of cool being in a building that is a natural National Historic Landmark just being able to look at the architecture every day I think Jared Miller said it best when when saying the built environment of the community really makes that Community what it is uh actually had the honor of uh for my senior Capstone in college writing about the Cummins Foundation program I spent a lot of time in the in the architecture archives doing my paper over that so I have some a lot of interest in it to begin with and being able to be in the building is really cool um I just want to talk about some of the things that the program at McDowell does um and talk about some of the requirements from the state about the program itself before we get back into talking about students specifically it is a community uh school I think we can say this in the true sense of the word Community when you look at McDowell compared to every other school you saw all the different programs from it could be from from a three-year-old all the way to a 90 year old taking classes in the adult side and we see people come and go we see uh English language Learners it really truly is a community sense in that regard and I think our students in the small setting that we have really build that sense of community um McDowell is a place that we really want to be that welcoming inviting uh place that that students can come and have and find success as part of that in order to be eligible for our program and these are all laid out by the state a student has to have intend to withdraw or have withdrawn from school before graduation they have failed to comply academically and would benefit from instruction offered in a manner other than the traditional form our parents are expected parents and unable to regularly attend school are employed and employment is necessary to support their family and will interfere with their their day in sometimes in regards to students being disruptive they fall into the restart program and I'll talk about that in a little bit some also also some requirements for the state are a 15 to 1 student to teacher teacher ratio and research shows that the smaller class size the more beneficial for a lot of kids and and we see the results of that in our program of the high school side each able to give kids individual attention and kind of meet them where they are help find some successes and then eventually raise that bar and push them academically in ways that they didn't even think they were capable uh each student has to have an individualized service plan at McDowell we call it an individualized success plan everyone all the the staff have access to those so we can help as a group build those things together and we definitely have to have high expectations for the student it's not enough to just come and be a part of it we want you to be successful and we're going to build on that success as much as we can all right um yeah in regards to the high school program uh we have students from east north and new tech ultimately they are students of those schools will graduate from those schools uh remember that we are a program and what how McDowell operates is there are two different sessions we have a morning session where students can earn up to three credits per quarter we we do operate on a quarterly it looks like a black schedule but we meet every day okay so you don't switch out every day like you do in the normal high schools we meet every day it gives students an opportunity to earn more credits in a shorter period of time in the in the afternoon we offer two credits per quarter we typically do not have students that are there all day there are exceptions to that rule um with the when the fit is right uh and it's not right anywhere else the student may spend more time at McDowell than typically but uh foreign that's what a day looks like for us and we work pretty ex pretty extensively with the home schools to make sure we're getting on we're staying on track with what um we need to and to to kind of share some of that information that we're seeing in our classes with some of those teachers at East or north or new tech as well uh we have a bus bcsa provides shuttles from the home schools to McDowell and from McDowell to the home schools and also provide shuttles to the restart program at Youth Services Center each quarter we have students that complete enough credits to graduate so we had several students that graduate at quarter so first quarter they're done with their graduation requirements they're no longer they no longer need to attend school they're able to walk in May with their cohort but they've they've come and they've been successful and they're moving on with their careers or going to college or whatever it may be for them we also work in a collaboration with igrad we have quite a few students that are also part of the igrad system we work with a centerstone's FSS FSS sorry probation staff and families to support each individual student's needs in regards to the restart program we have one restart teacher that is at McDowell in a pod opposite to the high school program and we also have a teacher that operates out of the Youth Services Center uh restart is a program that is supposed to be a temporary pathway for students who need a little bit of extra attention so restart is even a smaller scale than you'd typically see in our McDowell classroom and this is for grades 7 through 12.
great discussion we do have some Schmidt and Associates Hempstead and Anna Marie Burrell Robin lysine and Craig flandmeyer who we work very close with on other projects and we're looking to forward to working with them on this thank you I I would just add that we've enjoyed our work together and really look forward to what you have to bring for our new building kind of president if I if I could uh I just want to commend you all on a wonderful presentation and also Mr Smith and Mr Miller I'm bringing in some very highly qualified candidates for this project I'm really excited to work with all of you I think it's going to be really impressive great um I and I just want to interject here that in our work sessions they're mainly for discussion and we rarely have um decisions that we need to make in our work sessions and have vote vote in our work sessions we do today because this is Con construction and construction is very time sensitive so sometimes we push that through a little more quickly so we will have some some votes to take on this okay then um Mr Smith the approval of resolution authorizing a construction manager please Madam president members board Dr Smith by State Statute it is required by the board to approve a resolution the Board of Education authorizing the use of the construction manager as a Constructor method for Contracting or con yes Contracting for all of the or portion of the construction and equipping of the new Lawrence education Community Center just uh to recall and remind you over the last 13 projects we have used this method CMC as we know it and upon approval of this resolution we'll also start that process for us to send out an RFP solicit proposals and go through an interview process with potential contractors as a CMC any questions or discussions on the board Mr Smith I'm wondering if you could help the community understand what the role of a construction manager is and why it's important in terms of being able to better manage the finances in the project as a whole absolutely CMC the way I kind of explain it is the owner's eyes on the project 24 7.
um and then the our projected meaning the projected from the demographer was 12 189. but by October but the adjusted for January 1 was actually twelve thousand two hundred and eighty nine and so then from there we did a plus 100 projection for 24 25 and 25 26. and so you'll see our anticipated growth over the next couple of years going from 12 200 right now uh we're anticipating at least 200 more students by 25.26. and again that's starting from here and then looking at the number that is up here a multilingual Learners we have the highest percentage of multi-language Learners in the state of Connecticut the highest in the state of Connecticut and that growth is like no other District in the state of Connecticut and so you'll see where we are where we've been with in 1920 um at the start of the pandemic um 3331 projected by next year you can see where over a thousand students just in this one category um of 4415.
that seems concerning if that Trend continues with the percentile scores but then the next year we're back up to 61 right so if you look at it over time with all of our scores this is what you see right if you would look at the just raw scores it would appear as though our scores were plummeting over time but if you take a look at a comparison to the nation you'll see we reside this is kind of where we sit in District 99 for the past five years now in 2020 there's no score because of the pandemic but you'll see we kind of sit in that band For Better or Worse that's where we're at and test scores when you look at them in comparison to all of the kids taking them year to year we're kind of sitting in the same spot well actually I think that that's kind of promising in a way I you know I think back to when my oldest first was taking the act at the time because that was the series we were in and we had him take that test four times and we got him some tutoring right to help him with that because it was a rather high-stakes test right now here we are where many if not most colleges are looking at s-a-t-acts test optional and are looking at many other metrics to determine I mean there were schools even I remember back you know around 15 16 when I was looking at colleges that had already moved past the sat on their own because they had already determined for their own students looking at the previous 10 years that how a student did on the act or SAT test was a very very poor predictor of how successful they're going to be at their school at Kalamazoo College was once caused so um and now just everybody's pretty much looking at it that way and so when you have um a situation where parents aren't doing that extra bit but I we're not seeing a huge falloff in how our students are performing I I think that that's kind of that's kind of good news um knowing it's not it's it's not the high stakes test so much but but to see that the students are still performing and um yeah and that's why what your the changes that you're talking about across the country with the importance of test scores and looking at College Pathways they're the the lack of students investing as much time and money in test prep leading up to it is a lot of the reasons why if you go out and look at the the Articles and the the thinking out there of what's going on as you see this fall in overall scores you know you can see we're matching that with the rest of the country you could still have districts too that are putting a little bit more emphasis on that um you know just traditionally because that's what their Community wants um and that so that also I mean how do all these variables correct really hard to compare districts right next to each other across the state across the country I think this is the most I think the Apples to Apples you're just comparing us to all the other test takers right that year do you have any data on how many times kids take it or you know is it for us it's that just it's that one test that's given in April yeah yeah that's the one that counts for us like we can get some of the other data but the one that shows up on our school report card and the official one for us is that April one that's given whether that's their first one or their fifth one you know that that's the one that counts for us sure yeah if a student took another test outside of that right Gina it doesn't count for us or against us we're administering it so late though we're administering it in April yeah and you're you know you're like so I think back to my son by the time he was taking that April test he had already taken the test a few times whereas my daughter Mary who graduated a year and a half ago you know we she took it we had her take it one time as a as just a practice and then she took the test to school and we didn't we didn't get her any extra you know tutoring for it or anything and I I'm sure she might have done even better had we put you know as parents if we'd put a little bit more in into it as we did with my son but we just didn't see we didn't see the value in that and I don't think that we're too different than a lot of others and and that's so I know that there's got to be less going on now than there was before I know it's anecdotal my experience but I think it's pretty typical yes that's a graduation request that the state uses that as they have to do it to graduate yeah yeah all right so uh there's some like I said there's interesting nuances when you look at the state level inside of here and you really get the full picture you have to kind of understand how this works so um this is shows up on our school report card is meets and exceeds data right so if you're above the line you meet or exceed if you're below the line you don't but what's important is where Illinois sets that line so sat College Board would say you are meeting or exceeding if your score is above 480 on that but Illinois has chosen a higher bar a much higher bar of 540.
second lowest base bid was submitted by Metal Masters roof Inc from McHenry Illinois in the amount of 623 723. we only received three bids from them so that's that's where we were at Homestead roof replacement five contractors chose to submit bids for the project the low base bid was submitted by Metal Masters roof Incorporated from McHenry Illinois in the amount of 769 thousand four hundred twenty three the second lowest bid was submitted by JL Adler Realty sheet metal excuse me Inc from Joliet in the amount of 799 400.
so middle schoolers that maybe are falling behind or potentially disruptive are given an opportunity to find some success there and it's not only for academics but also for social emotional learning and ultimately what we want to see is those students be able to return home to their home school and find success there foreign we do utilize Edgenuity uh the uh same kind of the same system that CVP uses uh in those classrooms at restart we also see a students can help get credits through that as well and get that that support from a teacher in a small environment and um some some students that that we see in in these programs attend May struggle to attend school just for a variety of reasons and this is really an opportunity for them to uh to be successful uh if you haven't seen Don Michael Thompson's uh Sammy the squirrel this is Sammy the squirrel at the Youth Services Center we we actually have our own as well named patch um so I guess it's a theme with the uh McDowell education center that we do have these I just want to say that the both the Alternative High School program in the in the restart program um really provide an opportunity for it for kids to be successful and I know I've said that a hundred times but I want you to think back to your youth for a second uh how many of you guys attended camp like as a kid and think back to that small size and you're there for a week and you develop lifelong friendships and build relationships and some of those people you know to this day McDowell's a lot like that in a short period of time you're able to build relationships with people that you may not feel comfortable doing in a large setting and I think we owe a lot of our success to that yeah 20 years yeah Nikki nolting I'm the adult ed coordinator at McDowell last month I spent that was my 20th year there so I started in the bookstore when my son was in first grade and I just kept staying so that's how it works so um McDowell we have high school equivalency also known it used to be GED GED is to tissue as Kleenex I mean it's the same thing it's high school equivalency now in in Indiana so people may come in for a variety of reasons again they may have to quit school to work for their family support family members maybe parents were incarcerated they're basically raising themselves so when all else fails on all other sides we are the next we're the lab I would say the Last Hope because sometimes people come they leave they come back they come back again so I would say maybe sometimes with the eighth hope so um this guy in the middle his name is Charles he earned his HSE at 65.
they work very closely with the owner and the architect from the design process all the way through the final build and turning over that project to the owner budgets maintaining a budget change orders are all vested and and really guided through this CMC working with the owners to make sure that the schedules met the budgets are maintained and the product is a high quality of this size yes it is matter of fact and a lot more school districts in the last three to five years have picked up this process as the state has allowed us to do so also with the number of projects that we as a district are going through uh it it helps us manage all of those projects simultaneously so it has done very well for board members if you recall especially for new board members the state granted us permission about three years ago to get into this business prior to we had an outstanding construction manager two of them in Roger Smith and Grant nesbeth we oversaw our own projects and we may have hired a construction company but the CMC is a little bit different because as Roger pointed out they're on the finance side looking out for our interests as an owner's rep so that gives us a little bit more flexibility through the process but Roger was a fine the football stadium Schmidt those elementary schools that we renovated you are very closely with Roger Smith to make that happen but this is this is even better great so now we are on to something very exciting for our students perhaps a request for proposal for nutrition division colon Pizza Madam president members board Dr Smith we're always looking at ways to give our students different opportunities and options on the food line and we are requesting the board approve an RFP that will allow us to purchase and to utilize a firm's product that will produce individual onto on request seven inch pizzas we're going to start this off we'd like to start it off at the middle school high school McKinsey and see how that goes and we can grow this into all buildings if the products is good as we we know it is Miss Rowe Brown is here as our director of food and nutrition and she's been working on this and they've experienced a product that we feel is going to be exciting for students uh basically the ovens are the big things for them it's a production so it goes quicker than just an oven uh commercial or a convectional oven is so upon their request of what type of pizza a student may want it is then cooked right there uh on time and the vendor will be federally and state approved for schools it all meets our federal guidelines for food and nutrition so we feel that it's going to be an exciting adventure for us great thank you where would the funding from this be pulled from uh food service from Food Service just wanted to clarify that for the the record and also with this interfere with the pizza that we've known for over on those how many years there you go a little square box yes it has to be student approved now I kind of like those myself I think it'll be a step up from that yes okay all right I don't know way back um well actually two questions one when does the board get to taste the pizza in order to decide just kidding but uh the second question being will these ovens be able to be used for anything other than pizza or is it exclusive to pizza or do we have a potential for expanding our product line in the future I can't answer that no but I think around probably are specialized thank you hello it cannot be used for anything else but the idea is the kids actually get to see the only thing I can that comes to mind is Quiznos how they build your sub they put it in the oven and you got to see it come out on the other end that's exactly how this pizza production works so what we're gonna do is we're going to take a whole line and make it a pizzeria so they will be getting their Pizza there will be an all-you-can-eat salad buffet so they can build their salad there will not be any protein on that Buffet because obviously the protein is the pizza the grain is the pizza but they will get an all you can eat salad fresh fruit at the end of the line so it will be a totally reimbursable amount and they are absolutely delicious if the person who makes it was in state I would have asked them to be here tonight so you just said that this is completely reimbursable through yes responsible meal has to be so this will not impede on right but there will be no impact in terms of students who are on free or reduced lunch to have access to this tiered lunch like a lot of districts have tiered lunches right I've seen that in many other districts I just wanted to make bring it outside vendors that's not yeah that's good but Roger just our program and I feel like this is the way we can be more like a food court instead of being an institutional it's very creative thank you Mr Smith and Miss Puckett alluded to this but I'll go ahead and just put it out there explain your budget for Food Services the board it's the one area where it is completely self-sustaining is that correct it is and a lot of it is federal funds state funds and it's all driven by our number of counts we are very well to do and our food and nutrition accounts and actually as a result of that over the years we've been able to use part of their dollars to actually renovate our kitchens when we go through and renovate that building so in addition to a very sustaining program year to year it's also given us other benefits to our facilities board member done it alluded to those Federal subsidies come in and so we have to have something that's for everyone okay so that needs to be clear to the public that we're not tearing or making something about me everyone will have access to this wonderful Pizza option okay and it's a self-sustaining function of our food services so we have to maintain it with our own funds okay and we use none of the other funds that we talk about at this day is to supplement or to support Food Services so that was kind of my question too so the pizza will be at a similar price point as other options okay yes okay thank you so much thank you okay now we need um an Indiana Department of Education dashboard update and uh miss the plant yes Madam president Dr Smith members of the board tonight I'm going to give you some information about the Indiana Department of Education Indiana graduates prepared to succeed dashboard known as the GPS dashboard we're going to start with just a timeline you can see that in April of 2021 House Bill 1514 became law and that was to have the State Board of Ed and the Indiana Department of Ed develop a dashboard to display school performance data as you can see since that time committees have worked on the characteristics the headline Matrix Intel just recently in November there was an embargoed release for districts to look at give feedback and actually on December 7th this did go public so here's an example of what Lawrence Township looks like you can see the Benchmark headline indicators if you see the red yellow green those are the trends trend lines to show how the district is trending in those areas you'll see to the left kindergarten Readiness and Pre-K to grade 2 literacy are coming soon those are considered aspirational indicators just meaning that we know we want those to have a part of the GPS but they have not decided yet exactly what those measures will be here's another example the dashboard allows you to drill into each headline indicator so this shows attendance and one of the most important things to understand with the GPS dashboard is how they are Computing the data that they're sharing in fact they've added a new button so if you do get on live you'll see an explore button that allows you to drill down even more and it explains the formulas so for attendance we do not have a 41.6 percent attendance rate the way that that is computed is to have the number of students that have 94 percent attendance divided by the total number of students and so that's why that is shown the way it is on this side you can see more examples of the indicators and where you can drill down this is showing a drill down into advanced coursework prior to ninth grade something I just want to draw your attention on this slide you'll see that the state has a little green arrow up for 38.2 percent and you'll see for current for Lawrence Township it has 48.5 percent and even though we are doing better than the state because as you can tell on the trend line with the district because from 2020 to 2021 that went down slightly that shows as a red arrow rather than a green even though we are doing much better than the state with this indicator the next slide just shows more examples of headline indicators you can see one interesting thing at the bottom the graduation and Beyond employment and enrollment sustained employment medium income per capita these are some new things that districts are being asked to include as a part of their story and then on the last little part here is just looking at our iLearn performance which is probably the data that we're most used to as we tell our story and that will continue to be a part of the dashboard so as we think about the future of the Indiana GPS dashboard the public release took place just in December 7th deeper data drill down so as I shared how you can take one step down they are working to add more layers so that our community continue to drill down deeper and to be able to learn more about how the data is being delivered aspirational indicators I showed examples of that with our kindergarten Readiness those will be indicators that will be coming but they're still determining how they want to measure those things locally identified indicators this is one where Lawrence Township would really be able to add some shiny moments in fact the certificate of multilingual proficiency would be an example of something that we would want to put up for our locally identified indicator and school accountability you know as they continue to develop the GPS dashboard this will provide insights as the state continues to discuss how School accountability formulas will be considered and so I just wanted in conclusion tonight to make sure for the record that we had some key terms as we all work to build our common language around this new tool and I'd be happy to answer any questions and I also asked Chris mceloon here to answer any questions as well I have a question and maybe a far reach as a state Setter or have they done research as to why they're Statewide I think we kind of know why but what has the state said concerning the attendance decrease if I'm correct because that's what it's showing on the attendance slot what is that slide number apologize yeah I thought it was a number on it I'm sorry the attendance lied I think there are two reasons for the attendance decrease first and foremost we know the impact kovitz had and so we're all working on that but I think another key piece with this slide is the way that they are Computing attendance the formula of the students at 94 percent divided by the total number of students is making for this number thank you for this presentation I would like to ask about the graduation and Beyond and so can you talk a little bit about how the state is capturing that data how far back it goes I see here it goes back to 2006 but how are they capturing that data I'm gonna let Mr mcaloon take that one foreign so it's limited which I that's what I my assumption was which makes the data fairly skewed if we think about the number of our graduates who may not be residing here in Indiana anymore video um thank you so much I might make a suggestion for the dashboard that for for every iLearn we reiterate our graduation rate I learned graduation rate I learned graduate just an idea um and and you've talked about attendance um College and Career credentials for us and for the state how are they how are they Computing that that's around three and four percent that doesn't make sense to me one more and you notice number of students okay just recently pulled out of that um that's what I would think what have they pulled out for example so our our our a plus students are our nursing students none of that counts none of that ours oh that hmm okay I had a question thank you for this data to kind of summarize as Educators what are some key highlights of this new dashboard that you feel really encapsulate a more accurate picture of our district well I feel like there are some additions to this dashboard that will be helpful I think looking at kindergarten Readiness K2 is predominantly been grade levels that we haven't had any accountability measures with and so that is good I think that even when you look at College and Career credentials the intent of that is positive but what's going to be important is that we make sure that we educate our public in really understanding how those numbers are being determined one example was attendance and that's part of the reason we wanted that on the public forum is because we don't have an attendance rate of 41 but it's how it's being computed and just as Mr mcaloon shared with the College and Career credentials making sure that there's an understanding of what is and isn't being considered for that data so that's going to be important credentials why are they calling it College and Career credentials if they're not including licenses that you earnings have to stay this is an iterative process state board of education is to work and they are in reporting regularly so we're almost on everything yes company and that chain just recently I would guess I would say that the college of being response the goal is to try to get more I have two more questions if you don't mind the first is you had indicated this the plant about educating the public about the dashboard in our attendance rate according to the dashboard what are the plans of the district to educate our stakeholders about the dashboard we actually have an attendance task force that we've put together and so we will be having constant communication to our families not only about attendance in this way but also just about the importance of attendance getting back into good healthy habits but in terms of the dashboard as a whole is there any um I think we want to engage the public I think board members as well as Educators this was launched pretty quickly we knew it was coming we didn't know exactly when it was going to be launched so there's still a learning curve for the professional Educators in the state of Indiana so we're going to as we learn more we'll educate the public because this is really new information we felt today extremely important to put it here in front of the board so the community can understand we're having a conversation about this new form of data that's going to be put that's being pushed out from the state is in looking at this on the website I see that our 21st century Scholars enrollment is lower than the state average do we know if that's because we have fewer students who qualify for 21st century or is that because we have fewer students who are actually applying I can't answer that I don't know if Mr kuznick would be able to but we could definitely look into that and get you some follow-up perfect thank you it's new how much confidence do we have in this data you know data is squishy and can be yeah Madam board member we're going to say the politically correct ways because we want to be good partners with the Department of Education in the state but trust me my team is deep in it we're learning we will share information we attend the meetings and we're very vocal about what's going on but as a board member Dunn just pointed out about the 21st century Scholars as Chris even pointed out they're changing information as we speak so we're having to catch up and learn what it's all about I would caution the state to probably slow down a little bit before you put all this information out allow for the Educators to grasp themselves so we can explain to our parents what it really means there's some information on there that we just learned we're learning as we go along okay I do say that it's very powerful and robust to have a lot of data about our school district because it tells a better story of Who We Are for years we were one or two data points only as to our story our story is much larger in Lawrence Township and so this message will certainly indicate the great things that we're doing across the board in all areas of our student achievement is generation for the dashboard the data so they're getting the data from us which I think right I just I'm wondering if there are other call outs though as it relates to how they're Computing the data other than just the attendance piece that we looked at before that could be disproportionately affecting our number compared to those averages on the state I would think that the College and Career is a good example right exactly that's why that's why I'm raising it yeah yeah so you know it would be much to it would be to our benefit if they would include career in college and career yeah absolutely yeah right in high school right they should just call it dual credit just dual credit credentials but those are good observation and it's Chris indicated some of these data points are not coming from our data sets and the Department of Education an example brought in about college about youngsters graduating from college and Workforce it's coming from outside agencies so this is going to be new we're all going to learn it it's much different than what we've had in the past and I think it's going to provide like I said earlier a greater picture of really who our kids are in our community so it's a lot more data do we know when they plan to roll this out kind of publicly is there any kind of big media push or anything like that that we need to be thinking through in terms of our story it was made public December 7th which was also a very tight turnaround from embargo to to when it was public I don't know if there's a large marketing campaign around it the state has not done it's been very um and I suppose they wanted it for this General Assembly because it was part of State Statute that didn't come up with this thank you Mr macalin thank you yes so this is very exciting we'll have a discussion here about our Equitable student outcomes update this is one of the early updates we've had yes absolutely Dr Smith Madam president board tonight Dr Hoss Brown Miss Bush and I are going to bring an update with our progress on the district's Equitable students outcomes plan we will start as we always do with our board policy this policy is truly not only the foundation of our work but it has become the foundation of our district-wide professional development by the end of this school year all instructional and non-instructional staff will have completed activities and thought processing processing around this board policy here's a review of our work over the past two and a half years just to have on record this began with an audit in the 2021 school year by Dr vermita vernita Mayfield that led to a report that had 25 recommendations across 10 themes we had a district Equity committee that met for five evenings and last April the board approved our district Equity plan and just as a review here are the 10 themes that those 25 recommendations were built upon and so we'd like to share some of the progress we've made and Madam president board members Dr Smith what you'll see now is just a snippet from our website each month and we have our dashboard updated so that all stakeholders can access monthly updates on our progress and so our process is each of our division leaders or our Liaisons to the equity leadership team input each month ongoing work and once that is inputted then that goes to Mr kuznick and myself where we vet it we edit it and we also assess on the Continuum where that particular recommendation area is and that starts from in the queue to getting started to ongoing to institutionalized which is our goal for each and so each of those items listed in the previous slide are here broken down by sub points and so that happens monthly so that and also our superintendent reviews it before it is goes live for all of our stakeholders to review Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board we also had a couple of our action items that we wanted to highlight for you this evening can you go to the slide before thank you one is our district Equity professional development that we have to develop common language and an experience that would include all of our staff members and not be just exclusive to our teachers we have Mr Gavin Alexander who is a fifth grade teacher at Amy beverland Elementary who came through our teacher Leadership Academy and developed this professional development and has been presenting it to many of our divisions that have already already been through this training we also have our res our district-wide restorative practice training that is happening as we speak the first semester we had a an overview with peace Learning Center at every school in Lawrence Township of what restorative practices is and what it's not just as an introduction and then just last month we started our district-wide train the trainer opportunity where we have building level teams that are trained we have three days this semester and as you can see day one was January 11th and we have our second day coming up in February followed by a final day this semester in March in addition as a part of the access to resources theme we have gone through a comprehensive review of our elementary high ability program to ensure that students have access to all the resources they need so there was a district-wide committee we've had five meetings throughout the year we also offered any Committee Member the opportunity to go the National Association of gifted children conference was luckily was held in Indianapolis this year and we just concluded that work and there will be recommendations coming to the board soon so as for next steps we continue with our monthly meetings for all schools and divisions Dr vernita Mayfield continues to support our work we continue to update the dashboard and we're very proud of the fact that we have been asked to present for the second year in a row at the ascd conference and so we will be doing that in March of 2023.
currently we are at um a 65 to 1 ratio an optimal staff student ratio was 45 to 1 and our numbers are growing we have again we have a thousand additional students so to get to 45 one would be a challenge to maintain a 65 to 1 is really our request is trying to do is just maintain that number 45 to 1 again is the is optimal ratio students with disabilities growth nonetheless not certainly not as significant as my multi-language learners but you'll see where we are now 2223 with an expected uh 30 plus additional specialized students next year and that is including Pre-K and so um last year we were not able to get all of the staff for Danbury High School that is that is not a new trend um here in Danbury but but it does come at a cost it comes at a cost when trying to make retained staff it comes at a cost when you hear that our staff is coming in and saying that they're overworked but just to give you an idea of what that looks like and then there's also a financial um reality as well and So understaffing currently requires teachers to teach 57 classes outside of their contractual obligations and this is just at the high school and so everyone in this call May typically have five classes the majority of our teachers at the high school teach five classes but because we are under staffed at the school we may call upon teachers to teach a sixth class that's the equivalent of five and a half additional teachers or this number four hundred and fifteen thousand dollars and then we broke down the enrollment increases in terms of our requests um so you can kind of you kind of you've had the background or the backup if you will why we have we need the ESL and bilingual staff and that's why we have eight ftes here this special ed special ed Staffing eight ftes um most of those being needed in in pre-K three staff additional staff for Middle School the 13 and a half for the high school to address the growth at that level you might recall Dan Donovan principal dominant coming in and speaking to the board in the cabinet that evening and then of course to say The Advocates I know this has been well chronicled we had talked about one additional one at each Middle School to reflect the requests on the board last year and then two additional at the high school to reflect the ongoing growth at that school and that's how we got to the 2.6 million and then this is the um the enrollment increases by Staffing area and so just breaking it down a little bit more um one bilingual staff would be needed at Pembroke one at Broadview to address the bilingual growth there um the same is true for so there's a bilingual Portuguese but then there's also a bilingual status needed and so that's why those two positions are being requested at the same time a Heritage Spanish teacher was needed at Rogers Park and then we have a Portuguese and Spanish full-time non-teaching classroom support um and that's for uh four staff members and that means power professional power professional support um and then on a special ed special education side we have the preschool teacher um here at the top the five special ed teachers across the district and then into one physical therapist and then one speech speech and language person to get to the age and then uh to round out the requests we have the three middle schools Staffing that are needed at the middle schools to address the growth there the high school on the 0.5 we can talk about this later if you like I know there was some questions at the board meeting as well I know that customer was on the call she could speak to this the 0.5 that is needed in a spring going into the following year core class instructions six ftes for the high school um three full-time counselors to line us up is also lined us up perfectly for the launch of the academy um and then for elective class teachers um and this this gets us to the 13 and a half ftes and then you'll see The Advocates broken out one for each middle school and then two for the high score energies and you energy and utilities um John walked us through this um I think a couple of times now certainly in finance but also with the regular board meeting anticipating some significant increases in Heating and natural gas 30 and 44 respectively including electricity and propane um astronomical gains and projections in those areas and then we have the gasoline John can you just reiterate one more time how we landed on these numbers and um just kind of the rationale behind the projections yeah well um each one really is different although they they look like they might move similarly when we put them all together as energies and utilities um but they are very much the market forces that drive each one are very different uh from uh not only just supply and demand but um in some cases uh international events affect what what happens particularly with um oil price per barrel of oil and you're hearing a lot lately about natural gas so we're seeing it um big increases there electricity has been well publicized in the news with eversource it hits us just like uh everywhere else and propane uh was uh we had been uh taking advantage uh if I can of a lock-in in price that uh chick Volpe uh City purchasing director had put in place that lasted um two or three years it was a long time uh it expired in June and the prices um are much higher since then so each one looked at individually and um together and you see the results here thank you thanks John the technology replacement cycle um I know we had presented out on this and given that we're losing the grants we were doing well with the grants to get us kind of LA to get us to be able to launch our one-to-one um for our district was great we certainly had enough Grant support to get that going but now to maintain it uh we are projecting a a million dollar cost to make that happen um and you will see the Chromebooks and licenses uh for I'm sorry Mike can you explain this to 25 2 500 a year for five years that cycle right so um currently we're anticipating about needing 12 500 uh Chromebooks um that's accounts for our total enrollment plus a number for droppage uh breakage you know spilling things on them so on so forth so uh 12 500 books to be replaced over five years that's 2500 a year so every year we'll take the oldest 2500 take them out of circulation and put in a new 2500 and then every five years the entire uh load will turn over okay and can you walk the committee through the copy or replacement and where we are now and yep so uh copier yeah very similar logic um copiers are a little bit more robust um obviously they just plug into the wall kids aren't carrying them around and sticking them in bags and stuff so um and they're a little bit more mechanical um and they also don't have a lot of the Safety and Security issues that we have with the Chromebooks so the Chromebooks for example if they don't have they're not able to run the latest operating system then they won't get a security update which could uh leaves you know a child exposed so um the copy replacement every six years currently we have I think 112 copiers throughout the district we're adding a few more into account for the Career Academy um so we're expecting that to be a 120 copiers total so that's 20 a year over six years okay thanks Mike in equipment and services it's just a breakdown we'll have some subsequent Pages what kind of break down what this means for transportation um Etc and so Transportation I know John had here but it's really the cost of having a district in place and so for our public school buses we're talking about a 7.2 percent increase uh from this year to next year our non-pubs we are responsible for their transportation as well we have a three to three three point five percent increase there and then our special education busing transportation and this is really reflective of not only the enrollment growth but IEP needs as well and we're looking at a 10.7 percent increase there and buildings and maintenance improvements a lot of these improvements are are a result of enrollment growth and so you'll see room dividers um you'll see things like meteor Center pit fill in um and so this classroom partitions are addressing growth at our schools to make sure they have more realistic spaces for classroom instruction and then there are some other things just for general maintenance um you know new auto scrubbers to make sure quite frankly it's it's a works well investment because without the auto scrubbers in the buildings it just means folks have to work more and work more overtime so it's it's it's it's a wise investment quite frankly um new flooring in some of our schools you'll see that for KSI and KSP um Etc cost saving strategies and we had talked about initially our request was 13.4 million and we wanted to make sure we can find every efficiency possible to pull that number back and these this next slide helps to walk us through that and so an opportunity to renegotiate some of our service contracts possibly prepay some service contracts I.E Transportation pre-purchase goods and services with remaining 2023 funds and so this could be anything and I think we talked to that we we did we talked to the board about this already with approval from the board we can switch some accounts to pay some things early hopefully at a savings and so we will be reaching out to those companies in those service providers and then last but not least an opportunity to utilize one-time Reserve to close that remaining Gap so one-time meaning whether that's um if we have something that needs to be paid down this year but it's not reoccurring for next year we'll use the reserves for that we'll we'll look to go to the reserves for to pay the pay down on those things looking ahead um at the Career Academy of course I got a request to update my computer do that tomorrow looking ahead Danbury Career Academy um and so year one the estimated costs we would need 55 teachers uh to work with our high school students at the card is site for the middle school for 365 middle school students we would need 59 ftes this is not all teachers but this is a combination of teachers certified and non-certified staff at 5.4 million and then Transportation costs for an additional 27 New buses brings us to the 12.5 million that you've been hearing about and then the fiscal reality and let me make this a little bigger um and and this is really just summarizing some of the things that we've already mentioned and that is enrollment gains consists of increased numbers in special education um and with our multi-language Learners here Staffing costs have increased as a result of negotiations uh with for our staff which frankly is all regionally competitive another budget driver certainly is our shift to one-to-one devices and this has to continue to be maintained now as we move forward um inflation John has already talked about when talking about utilities and energy costs and then the big one of course that we're all aware of and that is the 12.5 million it's going to cost to open up this new building for high school and middle school students in 25 26.
so students that are scoring above that line aren't in the top half of test takers in the country they're in the top third of test takers in the country right this is something that we as schools have had concerns about because then when you compare Illinois students performance in meets and exceeds to what happens in other states where they've picked the 480 Bar or a lower bar in a not it's up to the state to pick where that line Falls so if you compare us to one of the other 17 I think 17 states that use the SAT you'll see that it looks like we're not performing as well on it and meets and exceeds data because we've picked a higher threshold so you know if you hopped on this and I've seen this reported in some sources that everybody below that line has failed right that is not at all the case everybody below that line is not in the top third of test takers and then it works similarly for I'm sorry go ahead no no but just so I'm reading this correctly But but so that that 480 is that the excess line no that's just it's just for reference okay okay it's not indicated on the graph and then for math we stay at 5 40 but College Board would put that at 5 30.
the bids that we had received with the two lowest from for each any questions uh Mr Queen did the mids come in uh at budget under budget over budget so oh was under Homestead was over but you need to remember we submitted those drawings three years ago so there was a little inflation there very good thank you thank you Bill uh board does any any questions regarding these this informational item for this evening just one other question in regards to the oh Roof bid uh I know we've we've repaired or replaced or fixed sections of that roof before will this be a hundred percent completion of that roof or what percentage of completion would it be if not a hundred that that would not be a hundred percent completion the percentages it is a little hard to say that it's a mixed up system right we have a bunch of different roofs going on in there it is in scheduling it isn't a plan so at those dates we will reevaluate those um Mr Gay with OHS is a school that's been uh added on to a number of times so there's many different sections of the roof that would be done at you know that would come up we have you know their end of life would come up at different times but I'm sure that we could provide that information if needed does that absolutely does that fix the leaks in the locker room and in the athletic entrance no um I have one question um is this uh as far as the bid did they come in about where we Homestead we were a little higher OHS we were under what we expected so they were both really close to where what our uh Figures were at all right any other questions for item 8.2 item 8.3 is a update on the work that's been done regarding our district admission statement Mrs dalquist thank you well as you know we've been working on a district mission statement for many months we've had groups such as the board themselves executive leadership team student ambassadors our community Advisory Group and most recently we took the final copy we saw it fitting to take it to the superintendent student advisory Council so that student voice would have the final touch on the mission statement that we bring to you tonight the current statement that we are seeking for approval at the next board meeting at February 27th is together we Empower support and motivate all students to thrive along their unique educational Journey then we will be coming back at the next board meeting seeking approval I've had the opportunity to sit in on three of the discussions and it's been incredible to watch the dynamic of the conversation was different in all three settings and it was the pros and cons for all of the descriptive words and then now to even be a part of the the last one with the students where they landed at motivate being the word but I think that I think it encapsulates even a part of the community advisory committee uh during that I think this encapsulates quite well um who we are who we strive to be in the future for our students so I just really appreciate the effort that went into it to make sure that all stakeholders had a voice in creating it very good any other questions I just want to share that I just feel as though voting on this in February is not in our best interests we have the opportunity with um with the whatever um superintendent search firm we go with to get a lot of good news Community about what they want they want just in a superintendent but what they want um we've waited this long and I foreign we can always change it when a new board is seated right when a new superintendent comes in we're not spending millions of dollars printing correct we're not spending millions of dollars Printing and uh a mission statement can be changed anytime but it's also something that I wouldn't think would be you know is this the last mission statement this was done in 2015 so it's been some time you know when we talked about it in June the ideas of of uh you know does it currently match the work that we're doing right now in SD 308 and the answer was no so we've gone through quite a process to get to the point we're in but this is a discussion that the Board needs to have if you want to find us to bring it to the back to the board for approval on February 27th or if you'd like us to hold on that when I think about this um I'm not sure if the format of the search firm and what they're actually looking to elicit from our community um I don't know if it's something that that they have to specifically add requests or or what what would that look like in order to speak to this hospital I'm not adjusting that whatsoever but I am suggesting is as we're looking for a new superintendent no District it's just made just makes sense that in before before you know hired and also came to get the best we get from the community about about the new superintendent could be helpful to the board just just the feedback but I'm not suggesting it would just be interesting superintendent we stand getting around since 2014 2015 . yeah a disappointed clarification yeah I just want to make just one point of clarification because I don't think it is something that's being slid in I think we've been going through this process for uh for some months with intentionality of getting it completed and then new information came to light while we were going through the process so I don't want it to appear as though we're putting it on the agenda just to get it approved now I do I do agree that um I do understand I should say how getting the the input of the current or the the next superintendent could be beneficial but I think that if we believe that this mission statement is representative of who we are then I think that it really just informs the next superintendent in regards to our mission and then they can decide if if who they are aligns with who we are because I believe we you know we did get our our community's feedback we did go through the process this is not something that you know was created in a vacuum by the the board we lit we did circulate this throughout the community to all stakeholders so I just wanted to make sure that um I don't I don't know if I understand completely what you're what you're saying or about sliding it in to get it approved now so part of the things that we went through my very first year here when we did listening sessions for Envision 308 uh and we listened to uh the number was over 3 000 people as we had some things with Community groups as well as staff and students to come up with the the statements that were in Vision 308 and we did go through with different committees through board Committees of what the you know priorities were there and then we looked at Envision 308 and through the notes of those conversations to begin to draft phrases and statements and then we came to the board and to the groups that are mentioned there in the memo I think that it's very fitting that we ended with students in amplifying their student voice that is something that is really unique to our district that we believe in that and I think that that group uh as part of their first meeting went through and made this important decision would be an important consideration for whether we would approve it at this time I just don't to to act upon this and I I please the customer to someone who has a long history and did and also envision keep going down a road Where We Are [Music] heard from okay thank you Jim thank you Mr s Jeff so is there anyone else who feels does okay then we will go forward putting on it on the point one action item approval of bills for payment can I have a motion please I make a motion to authorize the bills of payment in the amount of three million 169 320 and 25 cents as presented oh second Mr Cerrone aye aye Ms Johnson Mr ploger Miss Swanson hi Miss simulton hi motion passes six zero action item 9.2 approval of superintendent search firms so here we're going to pause and have I don't have a comment on um um yeah I don't have a comment on the the search firms but I heard concerns about the quality of candidates that we might get if we were to um try to move forward and have a superintendent seated um you know by July so do we um want to consider engaging with the search firm but other alternatives well as a social scientist right you know many of us will say that it's not the history repeats but it sure does rhyme and uh for many of us who have been engage engage voting I would say active actively engaged and voting and and definitely paying attention for quite some time in this District um we those of us we really remember uh back to I believe it was 2013 right when we had a superintendent who uh that superintendent resigned in February and um we had a search for one of the search firms that um would that came into our boardroom the other day and they've presented a candidate do a board during election year um and we came up with uh Dr Wendt uh at that time and I think that was in late May and that was Blade the blade in the process um for finding a superintendent and I think that we do the community a disservice if we don't learn from what we've done in the past this is not to and I want to make sure I reiterate them this is not to point fingers at anyone from the path because we are a community and we learn together the point of bringing this up is we should not necessarily or we should take any consideration right um you want to travel down that road again and I would say that we probably should learn lessons from our path and um I definitely want to reiterate that I think we're going to have a new board and the new board needs to be able to get along with our new superintendent but I also think that we need to realize that getting uh into this late in the game is also going to hinder us finding the best possible candidate we can bring in for our community and that's what we should do we should bring in the best person we can bring in for our community I think we need to realize those two things can I get clarify Clarity on a couple things you said Jared just first thank you and just Clarity on something else you said Jerry you said going down that road again um just just from a contextual knowledge let me know which road and then also because you have contextual knowledge you're asking you said uh it sounds as if you're saying we should consider additional options what are those options we needed we we felt and and by the way I I again want to reiterate I am not pointing fingers at that board um because I believe the community felt the same way so I don't think the board was acting in a way that was not reflective of the community so I want to say I think the board at the time and the community felt that we that we that that position and and that's what that board did um they filled that position uh they did they did what was after them right um however um once that position was filled uh there were definitely some things that alarmed the community uh once that position was filled uh there were some things that perhaps um uh made the community uncomfortable with what they were finding was coming out of Iowa at the time and um I think there were people in the community had some buyers remorse um and I want to be careful where I go with some of this but um you know I I think the point of all of this is to say that um and the lesson to be learned is we need to make sure that we are doing our utility so so Jared and then I'm just going to speak to Dominic and what Jared I think are trying to say correctly if I'm wrong um so normally you you um Embark upon a search for a superintendent that process for most districts um who take the time to do it starts in like October um at the latest so right now we are significantly behind in terms of the time frame in which we would pick us because right now for this year because right now um districts have either already named their superintendent or are in the very last stages of of our next year so here we are in the month of February process which would mean and if we are who say we are which is we want to make sure that our new board has the access and offer offer to be a part of that particular process then we're looking at May June and in May and June the candidate selection pool is very shallow so do we want to from a shallow pool of candidates I think is not what you're saying Jared is you picked in May and you felt like maybe that pool was really shallow and you wanted a better process Jared didn't pick in me I did and the pool wasn't shut up Okay so so I I spoke to um personally for myself I needed to understand what um what the pool would look like and I did speak to one of the um the search firms that was here and I asked them that question and they they were pool is going shallow that delegating but they were also saying that the pool is shallow no matter what because nobody wants to be an administrator incrementally I think that looking would be a mistake no no no we need to go in before a person is exactly so I'm feeling a little wide were they all ready to ready to get started ready so you're having a lot of probation saying that's not a good idea I'm not saying what I'm saying is that they they are all ready to do um what they presented that they would do that is that is not the issue um and they will they will do a search for us because that's what we want um I asked them about whether or not when we got to May and June um if we were not interested or didn't want to move forward with the candidate a pool that they had provided for us what would that mean and they said that they would um they would re-embark Upon A search process if that's what what we wanted because we have till May in order to include the new the new um the new board and so what because hold on What's Missing is if we start a process now and we want to create a profile of what that board or or what that candidate should look like and the new board has not had an opportunity that very important tool and then we interview candidates who that board did not have an opportunity to be a part of selecting now they can come and say you know what I don't like that process I don't like I don't like these candidates I want to start over so we're just having a conversation about what's out here and what's available but in fact the pool is shallow come May and June if that's what you're picking from from my HR perspective and someone who has been in this exact position before on the HR side number one um but we also have to remember that there are candidates out there that we don't know about and there are fake situations that we are on a literal well I totally agree with Mr cloger like we ask Ed the firms about that thorough to say that we have we've been going down that and all of a sudden someone's pulling the brakes and so I we don't get her and we always have the you know we're not finding what we need but um we still have all the upfront work to do to build the leadership profile to meet with constituents in the community all of that stuff takes time and we have Dr sparlin until June till the end of June so um when there is an opportunity to if we I guess we're still yes I agree we need to have a plan B but like we haven't even gotten into the practice yet that we're already pulling yeah I don't consider it um you know what I'm just asking like Jared when you said we don't want to go down the road are you saying that you feel like we're we're what what what role did he answer that because I'm not sure I'm understanding what do we not want to do do we are you saying to rush the process Rush is that what he's saying yeah and then we've we've also heard that you know it could take up to a year to to finish this process and do it right so um now but go ahead go ahead Jared so I think we need to we are making it that we we want the best candidate and if they're not finding a candidate that we are comfortable with then yes I am 100 comfortable with going with alternative to just hiring somebody because we feel we have to we have to hire someone by a date I don't think that was wrong for a reason we all agree that we are going to um to share what our thoughts are on who you know who our who the search firm you know using the rubric that we selected and I definitely believe that we should go forward um not putting on any breaks regarding that um but if um you know we also need to understand that I don't know I'm just wondering about waiting until what if we get to May and um we have a person I thought the point was to bring the people who are running for the board in on one of those meetings and that would have been before me well they firms talk about having a focus group specifically for the the aters I think we think we believe that that's a really good really good thing to do um it doesn't it like close right close I agenda item but definitely having a focus group specifically for them um most boards who go through this process it takes about five or six months and they they start like I said in like October November we we don't have that right now but it's not to say that we're going to rush the process if we don't find our first well for the record I think it would be an inaccurate description irregardless of your feelings of that superintendent to say that we felt rushed about that I'm talking about yeah when they hired when I was on the board time so when we hired Dr Wendt that was we did not feel rushed we did not feel like we had a low pool of candidates and that's good I think I like yeah I feel like we're just making a lot of right I don't have a crystal ball before appropriately and hopefully diligently as we come on but I think everyone and I agree for the community and find what we want we are not going to just hire alternative what the community wants and hear from the community and and I I agree with that but we also got to contemplate or investigate what the downfalls would be of um not looking at filling you know the seat in an interim level um with the prospects of letting the new board really dig in and choose their superintendent I'm definitely trying to be difficult to pass all we want but the truth of the matter is the community is already pretty much had uh they're safe on that and um whatever we want to say about it that's not happy and so going down and doing the same thing all over again is it well receive um from many in the community of rehash and do the same thing well I'm just saying if we were to we could start the search and I agreed with Jen we can start getting Community feedback we can start looking at um the different aspects that go along with you know what we need for a superintendent but um if we were to go through that process with a relatively and the search firm isn't the only one that's saying that other districts are saying that I believe the Illinois State um Board of Education not the not the is B but uh iasb you know is also kind of conceded that uh the the pool that's going to be available now is not necessarily going to be the top tier candidates so there's a good chance that we might not find the greatest candidate I know that you might have had it yeah you might have I'm talking I think we're making a lot of assumptions and nobody has a crystal ball and if you don't try you're never going to know what do we tell our kids well I just well I don't know if yeah but this is a a big decision I mean this this isn't just you know this this is something that we can let the new board whoever it would be completely select their their superintendent from A to Z and then with an interim in place they have plenty of time to make that happen and be appropriate we mitigate that risk we mitigate the risk of not having the best Canada pool um you see what I'm saying a few 12-month process if we need it that's what just is that what you're saying like um we give the new board the opportunity to pick their superintendent the case then none of us should make any decision yeah that's that's what I agree with you on that Jen for sure yeah can work in Terror apparel I I agree we have to make the decision about the search firm because we we need all of this time I totally agree but I think I see both sides because I I think that I mean honestly I can say that we don't know what the search firm is going to find we can think about this from a traditional standpoint of because I agree when you think about the candidates who would be the Top Choice they've all they're likely if they're available and they're not under contract they're likely already selecting uh the district or the place that they're going to work right now so I do understand that there the those individuals will not be available but I also don't think that that may preclude or exclude uh other candidates that could be out there that may be the right fit for the district that's one side so I I fully understand and consider that now if that happens then we have to consider a plan B because we're not just going to select the candidate simply because they're available and then if now we're at June Dr sparlin's con uh contract is up and now we have to have an interim but the thing that I think about from the interim perspective is that there's decisions that have to be made right now and of course Dr sparlin is here the team is here so we have to consider if we don't find a candidate by the end of June or June then are there decisions and implications starting today that that will be further um exacerbated in June and do we have to make decisions or we are making decisions now and what decisions are what are the decisions that we have to make and I'm being very vulnerable to say because I don't all have all of the contextual knowledge that's why I'm asking deeper questions of Mr cloger of Miss Johnson and everybody sitting here so that I can make sure that I can contribute to the decision of yes we said go full steam ahead with the uh search firms and I believe that we should continue to do that no matter what because whether it takes us I mean I think four months on this higher is pretty aggressive but all of the firms said that they could do it so if if if they're following that trajectory and we get the results we think we can get great but if we don't now I hear us saying let's just make sure we have a good plan B and the plan C so that we can get the right candidate but the one thing that they all start we want to want to include our new our new board in the process agreed so if if but then there are other things that we won't be able to start like actually interviewing the goal and all of that and that's gonna have to take place after when it when is when is the election started until May though okay so so the first meeting in May all right so now we're still back to that May June thing um but one thing that I thought of when Dominic was talking was there's just so much change going on with a new board a new superintendent all at the same time why are we putting ourselves about this for the first time why are we why are we putting ourselves in that place I don't I don't know I mean because I'm not there but I'm not looking at each of you but I'm really struggling with all the questions right now like we've spoken about all of this and had a trajectory forward and once that leadership profile which I do believe every board when exactly what we're looking for once that leadership profile is created I think that really is where we start to have some of these questions May entered in a better place to get that person available is that person to give their voice we don't even know we're making a lot of assumptions to say this person is or is not available if we do the we do this that we'll notice and they will not be happy that the exact same thing that we it's a good chunk of the community that pays attention that's not an assumption I'm not talking about that as an assumption I'm saying that units are available and you're not the only person that said the word assumption um you I just want to make that clear that that I'm not the only person that noticed that and and and there were people in the community that were not happy with that higher not not so function that that our community isn't going to notice and that there are people who are not going to say why are we doing the same thing I agree with Jen about status well we so um I'm gonna say this and then I'm gonna stop talking um when we when we came into this room the first time just to vote on whether or not be or when we talked about how we were going to go forth in this process we all came in here with a certain set of facts or knowledge or understanding and now we are here what a maybe a month later if not more we know more we've thought about it more there's a whole bunch of other things that are factors that you know we've gathered from you know whether they were meetings um with faith in Dr spotland or whether they were superintendent updates that we get every Friday or whether they were so you search firms that we've talked to or you know whether the the 10 board presidents that I you know that I'm in contact with all the time and just understanding and I I just I have a lot more information now and I don't know if I would made the same decision that I made then I'm making now but I do feel like we have to get started and I think that from those three search firms that I'm just not maybe we just all need to get in a room together the next time we have a board meeting and maybe talk about this a little more but I think at this point if you talk a little more about the rubric the rubric and your rankings for each of the the search firms or if you guys your person the The Firm that you chose first well if that's where we're transitioning I think we did everybody provide their rankings yeah even everybody that's on the phone so I don't know if we're going to change anybody's mind so do we even have a discussion on that or The Firm that things on everyone's in appropriate about them specific as to why you thought they were good or anything no not me um you know I'm the one that had a little bit of concern with the first one because uh yeah it was it was me I don't know I no I um I felt that somebody could really outweigh their their vote um but uh I I wanted to make sure everybody said number one was the first choice number two was the second choice number three was the third choice so they're for the lowest score would be everybody [Music] I'm looking to my left and there's nobody there Lori and Jared aren't here I mean you guys don't vote on that stuff that's why um I just want to make sure that you know we didn't assign three points to our first one no okay so the lowest point wins okay so okay so you would um would you like to announce the name of the The Firm that was selected in terms of um everybody chose number one everybody tells us SS School accept connect School exec connect so we had a this is this is the first time we've ever I did not consult with it okay okay and listen I feel like because I know we're gonna have this conversation later but I also feel like it's important to note because Jared keeps bringing up that last superintendent but there was a reason that we brought in who we brought in and I don't I think that those reasons in 2013 are much different than they are in 2023 and I think that the district's in a much better place and I think that we're kind of you know what I mean like there was some things that were happening that that needed fixed quite frankly and you know whether the community appreciated him or not things got fixed right and then at the time he left we got Dr Nguyen and you know what things got fixed and things mellowed and he got us through a lot of things so I'm kind of struggling with the fact that we're not going to pick because of one superintendent oh like that's not my well I just I just wouldn't yeah I don't even think I gave that or that I just think I think we're in a much different place than we were back then I think everyone on this board that I've spoken to and I've spoken to each and every one of you in both in public and in private we all want to include people we want to know Infinity with those eight candidates in uh and with the finalists and everybody forward understand there would be as important thing with our community [Music] Community Vision for them with regards to who the leader of the district is but I also think that my son it was you know how many years ago plus the fastest but then I just reset it for everything we just find ourselves in a complete environment yeah I like that [Music] um just so we're clear when when when decisions are made one year following year when you see things happen or the year after that or the year after that and so the residual things that we are seeing are 100 because of that decision so um you know things were not fixed that that's that's absolutely not not the narrative we should be telling the community at all and to sit under the bright light and and and talk to our community about cuts that wasn't Dr sparler I want to make sure that we are making this clear that that was because of his and so um um and and so we absolutely need to make sure we're paying attention to the things that happened in our past uh yeah I agree it's definitely a different place um I definitely think that thank goodness we have uh tremendous staff whole thing together um and and do a tremendous job in this District but um yeah no I I I cannot I cannot listen to say something because because we continue effects of that and and uh there are a number of people in the community that absolutely share that that thing that the same thought okay and before we vote um just want to let everyone know that our board members will be vetting the references that so search file has given us so our vote is going to become contingent upon getting those those back so if you guys can have those back to us by Friday send any of any Ursula um you have the questions that the references that completed by Friday but our vote will be sold one if there's no more conversation can I have a motion please I like to make a motion to approve School exec connect as our superintendent search firm contingent upon the reference checks oh second Miss Swanson hi Mr Gatewood aye Miss Johnson I Mr poger motion passes 6-0 action item 9.3 approval of personnel report can I have a motion please yes you may um I would like to make a motion to approve the person that were Personnel report as presented Miss Simonton aye Mr ploger Mr Gatewood aye Ms Johnson hi yeah Mr Cerone aye Miss Swanson hi I would like to make a motion at 8 48 to adjourn second
he also gave this one of the speeches at our high school graduation our HSE graduation and Charles had a stroke and watching Charles go across that stage it probably took him two minutes to get across the stage and everyone was silent and when he got his diploma the place just erupted so that that's the kind of stuff that we do and he came back and he's actually has worked on his computer literacy because he again lifelong learning he wants to keep coming back so this is our English language program which this year has um just skyrocketed but I have never seen this many English language Learners come through our program in 20 years since we've been there they actually have surpassed our adult basic ad um we had 40 students new students come through last week orientation so this has just been um it's been a crazy Year we're just trying to manage it but um yeah some so in since 2018 I kind of went back I'm kind of a data geek I like looking at all this stuff since 2018 we've had 496 individuals earn their High School diplomas through McDowell um 101 certifications we also do short-term certifications we do a certified production technician certified Logistics technician Microsoft Office specialist we also have a partner with another program we do CNA ccma so um we've in the last three years we've had 101 certifications that also carry Ivy Tech credits so if they want to go on and and go to Ivy Tech and join one of those programs those certifications just automatically go into those programs so that saves them money and mom and dad money as well awesome there again the Career Training high school diploma learning English we are part of region nine so we cover Three Counties Bartholomew Decatur and Jackson County so Jackson County again we have a huge ell population there that we're serving we're running classes basically four days a week for four evenings a week and four days a week so yeah it's it's been something so our enrollment this year usually when I went back to 2018 we averaged about 590 or halfway through the year and we're already at 470.
we'd be happy to answer any questions well I'm probably chomping up a bit too too soon um for the high ability review do we know because one of my concerns is um Behavior being a source of disadvancing students to higher ability and I use the air quotes because Behavior can be subjective dependent on definition and cultural capital um is that one of the pieces that's a part of it because through some lived experience that's been a barrier our behaviors that yeah Miss Norman did a wonderful job of wrapping up our high ability work last week and just was very clear with the committee that the board is all about eliminating barriers and so I feel that we've got four recommendations that will bring to you that will allow for more opportunity and choice to support students okay so I'll just put a Ellipsis on the end of that yes and to be fair I know that that was discussed in our small group yeah right right Miss Norman and I served on that committee last semester in this semester I do have a quick question about the dashboard when I'm on the dashboard which first of all thank you so much because it's very transparent to our stakeholders um and that's much appreciated so when I'm on the dashboard when I click here to learn more it looks like there's a barrier to accessing click here to learn more is that something that we can address because it looks like you have to have a sign in to a Smart sheet and so I'm not sure that our district stakeholders have well there it goes now it wasn't at the very bottom it said that I needed to log in so I don't know it's only my jacket because the first one were the last few did not it's asking for a login for smartsheet we're using um Safari Safari on a PC or a Mac but it that for the others the bottom ones did not work so just yes please jail because this is super super helpful and my other comment about the uh maybe I'm not looking in the right place but I had to look around quite a bit on our home page to find our Equity work um and so I wonder if we can make that Equity work a little more of a standout on our front page absolutely so that we don't have to I think I this is what it was under a different heading and the bottom one exactly it's absolutely yeah if we can make that very accessible yes I knew I wasn't losing my mind I just wanted to make sure on the record so it's the ones at the bottom when you click on click here to learn more it takes you to a smartsheet thank you part of my ignorance on slide 8 ascd presentation like what's that the association for the supervision of curriculum development thank you it's a very prestigious organization probably one of the finest in education so kudos to the Lawrence Township team for being just invited twice two years in a row is what I understand that is quite an accomplishment because I know that is very difficult so kudos to you okay they're also responsible for a significant amount of educational uh research and most of the books that are written in education they're Primo they're they're top of the line okay and if you go to their website you can find some of their books many of which I'm sure the titles would Fascinate you certainly some of your books that you've been receiving before that's correct or published correct so what made up of Educators with uh K-12 education but also higher education so okay thank you so much for that great update and I look forward to more updates uh I'm hoping that we can have an update on this quite often just as we as we were negotiating this policy we had updates quite often so I would hope we'd have continued updates and this how's the staff responding to the PDS wonderful wonderful the I'll speak to the the um our support groups our Operations Security division the training that's been been presented by Mr Alexander has been very well received they want more as you know it can be difficult to gather those groups that aren't that are that are non-classroom teachers for this and so they're happy to have the opportunity and and it's been very very well received fantastic Madam president I do have one other question as it relates to the professional development this is not outside of their working hours so they're still getting compensated for being in the development it is they are it is a net benefit to this um to our to our staff absolutely and I do have a question echoing what Madam president said about updates I see now that I'm drilling down it's very exciting about the great work that's happening but I see for example that there was a panorama survey that was given so are those the type of updates too that we can expect to see are um the just how the families are feeling in terms of voices being heard and updates in a more granular level yes because I would really like to see that especially Benchmark data like how are we doing with Panorama surveys because I know we were utilizing them previously compared to now so we can see if the efforts are working yes we we just did our first family survey just this past fall and we have another one coming up this spring so absolutely look for an update with those results to compare the fall to the spring it's excellent fantastic thank you board great questions how about just uh one comment I just want to say thank you so much for this work because every time I hear the word Equity it just reminds me of the ability to lean into humanness and to be seen and so I thank you for this work that Equity literally means just to humanize and just thank you for this this makes my heart smile that's my comment thank you okay well we will move on to the next agenda item which is the board goal mid-year update which is also very exciting and that would be Mr kuzik and Dr Brown again Madam president Dr Smith members of the boards never bring you our 2022 2023 board goals mid-year update each division will update where they are so far through the school year on reaching their goals up first under equity and anti-racism our director of student services Michelle bush and as we just shared with our update on Equitable student outcomes we we are proud to lead with this work and with this board goal we are implementing our action plans and updating the progress to the dashboard which is updated monthly and we look forward to the feedback from community and just to continuing the work and and implementing the plan up next we have student Chief now turn it over to our chief of programs Miss Stephanie Laplante yes um we only have one small update for graduation rate we're still working on what that 2023 graduation rate will be our rigor diagnostic we did do the beginning of the year so we'll be eager to share with you at the end of the year the growth that we've seen in the schools as we look at the goal for the growth of 10 percent meeting our Benchmark math and reading we do have a semester update that overall there was a four percent growth in English language arts and a three percent growth in math and then for iLearn we do not take that until end of April early May and so we'll have more data for you again on that at the end of the year up next is our strategic plan Dr House Brown will present that update sorry can I just have one question on the student achievement yes well the um will the work with the higher ability the review coming back from that I'm assuming that the changes or the adaptations to that will further change the numbers for academic honors diplomas therefore just tying the work together so people can understand and see the bridge for some of the work that we absolutely and that's the whole goal that's why it was under the access to resources is because it starts with Elementary High ability to ensure that students can get where they need to be for those honors diplomas I just want to highlight that bridge thank you one other question about the academics and that is when you are talking about the graduation rate of 30 or 93 percent and then an increase in the honors and Technical Honors do we have Baseline data for that because I've seen a disproportionate number of students who are getting General diplomas that are Black and Hispanic and so do we know what those numbers were for Baseline data I believe we do Mr kuznick can you answer that November from last year so we have a copy of that we can cheer them it has the breakdown absolutely okay perfect thank you I I have a comment but I'll save it till the end moving on to our strategic plan we've been hard at work over the months of November December and January 29 focus groups met and data was collected from stakeholders of all sorts and we've been working with Dr Kramer's and strategic consulting firm and she took that information helped us organize it into seven main topics and we had our first community-wide meeting for our committee on February 1st it was very well attended over 120 stakeholders attended and and we looked at those seven areas and our cabinet members as well as some directors served as facilitators that evening and we want to thank both Miss Norman and Miss Lawrence for being a part of that evening we next meet on March the 1st and next I'll ask Miss Johnson to update us on our people goals good evening Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board we proudly bring you our human resource goals and in our first area that all employees will participate in common District develop PD for all job classifications we're glad to report that all of our new staff members went through our Equity training in their summer new hire orientation and a hundred percent of our staff in buildings and divisions are participating in ongoing Equity trainings monthly and our safe schools modules that's a kind of a year-round process but we have about 93 completion rate and embedded into those safe schools modules our work on our Equity goals our second goal a new goal for us is the intentional focus on recruiting hiring and retaining bilingual staff so we are in the process of building a type of tracking system to figure that out so I look forward to bringing you a further update our goal of increasing our racial and ethnic certified staff diversity by three percent you can see through the years in our current reality for the 22-23 school year we're at 47 percent which means we've hired 169 um staff members certified staff members of which 47 percent are meeting that racial ethnic diversity cult and then to recruit and retain 90 percent of our district effective and highly effective teachers will bring you that at the end of the school season once we've gone through the evaluation process to determine that percentage I would just ask for a clarification certainly um 47 of our new hires yes are diverse um so it says increase our racial and ethnic certified staff diversity three percent I thought that would be total help to get to 54 pardon we hope to get to 54 yes by the end of the year by the end of the year okay so that that the the reality is just our new staff this is not our entire staff because that number was um a little frightening to me like backwards on that goal but okay so we're looking for 54 by the end of the year okay thank you Miss Johnson and now we'll ask Mr miles to update us on the finance goals thank you madam president members of the board Dr Smith update on our three financial goals that we had for the year uh again our cash balance of 12 million dollar in our education fund we went through that at our last board meeting we met that goal at the end of the calendar year so happy to report there as well as the positive balance and all taxing funds at the end of the year again another check mark in the right column there our minority spend increased by three percent was our third Financial goal and we are on track we've met that so far and we'll continue to monitor that throughout the rest of the school year thank you and finally Mr Smith with our Safety and Security Madam president Dr Smith members of the award Safety and Security being a high priority for msdlt we continue to look at the requirements per Indiana code all plans are in place and we continue to do our monthly and semester drills pre and post tests security checklist that continues on throughout the year we review that on a regular basis review and update board policies as a state legislation makes changes so do we and we continue to do that each and every year expand and update our internal School plan including new equipment and personnel as you well know during Renovations we address our Safety and Security of our buildings and any other equipment as we are in right now with the updating of the cameras and door access I have a question I only realize this question is interesting when you go through stuff is that you realize when I had crutches the question made me realize how often do we go through our buildings to make sure that everything is properly accessible now we look at that constantly for that reason ADA compliance it's a state requirement in law so our elevators or stairs or walkways are all free clear and hopefully uh in good shape for all of our patrons coming in or not and if there is a concern who would they go to it would be operations we address that from a facility standpoint and we try to react fairly quickly on that and correct it as needed one of the great things about our district board is you have a lot of renovated and up-to-date facilities that is critical to that topic um having elevators at our stadium and handicap accessible at our public venues and our auditoriums all of that will make a difference so for the new projects at Valley and Belzer in their school those renovation times will be crucial to update those facilities Miss Puckett and so Mr Smith and his team is well on top of that as well as our regular and our partners and Architects to help us design and to make sure that we're up to date and thank you to each and every member of the cabinet who's worked on this these board goals are are Paramount and how we address the school year and my promise to the cabinet and to our administrators is that we will have board goals prepared at the beginning of the new year this year and as such I do want to we we do get a lot of help from you in preparing these what's possible what's not possible what's achievable because we don't want to set standards that we cannot achieve and but we want to make them we want to set the standard high as high as we can and I'm looking at slide number four student achievement and I just want us to think about this a little bit in light of our Equity work we know that we have an achievement Gap in Lawrence Township and we're doing everything we can to eliminate that achievement Gap but if you look at the wording on these it um the last the last of the line says this the same growth in every racial subgroup and if we have the same growth in every racial subgroup does that institutionalize an achievement Gap um I would assure our public that we want each and every one of our students to have rigorous curriculum and to achieve at their highest level we want nothing less for any of our students but I want us as we move forward can we look at that language and give it some thought to what that to what that means if the if the language inadvertently cements uh an achievement Gap s we'll take a look at it and as well as more remember we want these goals to be easy and understandable for our school leaders right most importantly for our classrooms who are making it happen every day in the classroom to meet the goals and research absolutely and I don't think there's one educator in our Township that looks at this goal and says well I have to make sure to keep that achievement Gap in my classroom right I don't think that's the case I just want to make sure that our words mean what we say and we say what we mean thank you all right well I guess then we move on to the approve I guess we're in our action items did we get the action items already yeah okay we'll get to that we'll get to that Miss Lawrence um the approval of an architect for the new lecc project Mr Smith Mr President members aboard Dr Smith I recommend the board of proofs met and Associates as the architect for the new lecc project as submitted so moved second is there any discussion no discussion all in favor aye aye aye any opposed unanimously the eyes have it Schmidt Association Schmidt thank you very much thank you always have a great presentation we appreciate your work with us and um it's nice to have someone who people who live in the township working with us as well so thank you so much congratulations um all right the approval of the school board authorization of the use of the construction manager Mr Smith and president members board Dr Smith I recommend a board approve a resolution of the school board authorizing the use of construction manager as contractor method for the new lecc project as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded is there any discussion all those in favor aye aye any opposed the eyes have it Madam president just Roger Smith he wasn't by reminding the board since they approved that resolution what would this allow for us to do next month Roger actually we will start immediately to send out an RFP that will solicit our uh proposals for the CMC contractor and this whole process will take us through the month of February and we'll present a recommendation to the board in March well prior to March Roger it's the important assignment for the board and I what do we need to do the board will actually be part of the committee thank you Roger there you will interview these uh potential candidates contractors for our project directly from there to the approval of a request for nutrition division Pizza Madam president members aboard Dr Smith I recommend the board approve the requests for proposal for the pizza production equipment as submitted so moved second any discussion any requests for a slice oh wait all right all those in favor aye aye aye any opposed all right we the kiddos you're gonna have pizza coming up all right um we do have um the the Personnel report we need to approve the Personnel report we have a motion Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board approval is sought for the Personnel reports presented this evening so moved or do we have a second second in properly moved and seconded um any discussion we'll go to a vote all those in favor of approving the Personnel report aye aye any opposed board great meeting I wanted I want to say to you that I appreciate all of your questions um I really feel that that this board is dedicated to getting into the heart of our issues as it relates to our students and our families so I appreciate you all so very much for your Insight and your wisdom absolutely um so now we're on to board and administrator comments and we might start on Crystal's side sweet um why don't hold all comments or the parks what are we doing comments comments okay I just want to say um trying to focus on gratitude this season so I thank everybody like sincerely I appreciate all of your work um this year has been interesting from a parental point of view so I can only imagine um I sincerely say thank you from the bottom of of my heart for all the work that you do and so I am grateful to be able to work alongside of you and I'm excited I really am so thank you that's my comment great and Miss Norman very well said um I was thinking about the month there's a lot of celebrations things to reflect on this month it's Black History Month the kids are doing a lot of great exciting uh things at school in regards to famous um individuals and also it is school counselor Appreciation Week my mother served as a guidance counselor for a good part of her education career so pre-computers so I I appreciate the work that goes into all the scheduling and planning as as a parent too so thank you counselors and also good luck to the lady Wildcats on Saturday well I got stuff to sign and I've got things to say and I agree with you miss Norman um I was going to call out that it's Black History Month it's our first meeting of the month and it's really exciting and I wanted to commend Dr Altmeyer and the communications staff for the great work that they're doing to publicize the Excellence that we see not just here on the Deus but also within our administrative staff and within our teaching staff and our professional staff celebrating black history we have a incredibly diverse and Incredibly um professional and uh just an exceptional group of Educators that are here and so I just want to thank all of you especially for sharing your stories foreign second to last is really tough when I have these amazing women that are going before me and said it also eloquently so I just second third um all that has been said and just also want to express the gratitude for all the work that each and every one of you doing are doing as I sit here and listen and I ask questions it's not because I don't believe that you all are doing tremendous work um it's because as a district of Distinction I know that we can do even better for those students like my own daughter who is African-American and so when you talk about that Equity Gap that is hard that is really really top of mind for me um as a mother of Gabriella visa and so I just want to name that um it's not questioning is not anything other than trying to learn more so that we can do do more for the students that are interested to us so thank you for that work well Dr Smith I would like to reiterate for uh for our stakeholders that we attended a board retreat and just as the just as here in this room you know the board members are asking the right questions and digging in the right places and are in it entirely for our children and I appreciate you so much I did attend one of the Lawrence North games I believe I attended um Tuesday night and the front of our girls and um was so excited to see Jayla Smith and a friend come to the game right I was also excited to see a little note on the internet the Lawrence Central basketball coach his coach came his high school coach came to one of the games his mentor and I was so moved Dr altemeyer by your remarks about Dr Smith and on on Whose shoulders he stands uh get making sure that you when you interview you know our staff for the Black History Month postings you get to the heart of who we are and we all stand on very very sturdy shoulders we all do the girls the girls team standing on jayla's shoulders and the our coaches standing on their coaches shoulders and um I'm so proud to work with this District so Madam president I'll keep the sharp Grant nesbeth one's a regional game so we can go collect our trophy at Decatur Central so we are all Wildcat this weekend as we're down to one team they are the sectional Champs and so we will call out to everyone to make sure you come out Saturday to support our girls at one o'clock and Miss Blankenship will work with the board and I have make sure we get tickets and make sure we head over to the West Side to uh root on the Wildcats and that's all I have today Madam president that's all I have I usually I have a lot to say but I don't have much to say today well we've been busy boy we've been busy we've been together a lot yeah we were together yeah you were with me all day on Friday that's right they were learning yeah so um that being said um would I don't do we need do we need a motion for the okay okay do we have a motion to adjourn so moved exactly looked at me at seconds all night second okay properly moved and seconded we are agenda Amy's taking that job yep we got it board
so the cliff which we have certainly talked about a number of different ways with the board and with the city let me reduce this now if I can there we go okay and so if we can look at the left hand side Esther 3 S2 cares act we refer to cares act as so one oftentimes Alliance is our big grant that rely on for Staffing and support staff in our schools title one we use similarly our idea Grant is a grant for our students with disabilities and then other Grant Revenue um you know that's kind of pulling together the remaining grants and then the city funding is of course from the city of Danbury and so I just want to walk you through this on going from left to right and so 3 of course um and really the point we want to make is Essa 3 we received um the sizeable Grant from essa3 which was supposed to provide support for kids mostly for acceleration and for social emotional support um S2 similarly but also for um we had we when we received SC2 we had received kind of instructions similarly not only for acceleration but also to address any covert covert um um strategies that we need mitigation strategies and so you know we purchased we purchased um over five hundred thousand dollars worth of furniture to address you know as a mitigation strategy to spread kids out uh we hired additional teachers to make sure uh we went from a seven period schedule to a period schedule to make sure we can spread as many kids out of Danbury High School as possible um however at the same time while we were implementing those mitigating strategies uh we were also dealing with increasing roaming growth and so that enrollment growth quite frankly is that Lifeboat analogy that we talked about with the board in in previous presentations where we we had a Lifeboat in these SC2 so1 SO2 and S3 served this purpose in that regard but that wasn't his initial purpose for us it helped to make sure that we can continue to meet the needs of our growing population but those funds are expiring and so you'll see in um 22-23 the cares Act is no longer around you'll see in 2324 Esther 2 expires this summer actually it expires in September of 2023 and and then you will see in 2425 all three um relief grants will have expired and we will be left with making some really tough decisions because unlike some of our other districts that did not have enrollment growth it's a little easier to lose those positions we did experience enrollment growth we did not get the funding to support that enrollment growth and now that growth is previously funded by these three big grants is now gone and so Alliance you will see um we the projected the projected growth in the line going from left to right currently at 19.9 million dollars next year anticipating 20 close to 22 million um 24 25 projected 24 24 million 25 26 it projected almost 26 million and so as we share those numbers and certainly it's the same a title we certainly continue to expect increases but it's it's not meeting um the respected need and so you'll see at the bottom I'm going to bring your attention to where it says city funding and so city funding right now is at 141 million and this is our budget our need is 223 million to help address all of our needs across the district that would mean in 2324 we would need 150 million as we maxed if you go to 2425 now with those expiring funds leaving us our ass now jumps from 150 million to a projected 172 million next year again without those relief monies we see our need going from 172 million and now by the way this is the time when the academy comes in that now numbers are jumping up to 187 million dollar budget with the city and so I I can tell you last year when I made my presentations um and we were kind of making our presentations across across the city um we imploring the city to make an investment because we knew this day was coming and and frankly didn't think it would be realistic that we can get 172 million dollar budget and 187 million dollar budget but without a significant investment in the city in the um in the in the in the city in the in the school budget we're pushing ourselves in the corner where we need something this sizable so this is what we're facing right now in 24 25 um you know we we've used the term kicking the can down the road and so literally you'll see the 11.4 million dollars in 23.24.
so uh district 214 has done a lot of work and advocacy around this and this is who has provided us kind of the analysis but uh the top third of so as I said that line is the top third of all students nationally uh it's at the 65th percentile for meets and exceeds so in that case 41 of our students in English 48 of our test takers in math are in the top third of all test takers in the country so back when No Child Left Behind was left behind and we went to Essa every state had to come up with a set of accountability measures and a standardized test we needed a standardized test in English and math uh we did we start with act or did we start with us we started with sat um the every state in the nation was required to have an English a math and a science test I'll talk about our science test in a second uh and then they were required to set their thresholds as to what would be meet or exceeds so it's entirely determined by the state the state of Illinois took great pride in the the time that it was setting higher standards for students in Illinois which that's great you know that we have high standards in Illinois it's not so great when you try to compare apples to apples across States well I think I think it's good that we've set higher standards um I think the challenge is just in the messaging then right and that's why we're taking so much time at multiple board meetings to try to yeah I know the board has heard some of this several times but you know and Jill has prepared right now which is I'll do a quick transition this little one-pager that we're starting to put out in the district office around the schools just to help the public better understand some of the nuances inside of these scores so we're just trying to make the information more accessible as well this is one that Gina shared in November and I think this does a great job of illustrating though that now not with just raw scores but the meat and exceeds percentiles this shows us in blue uh all the dis all the DuPage County high schools in aggregate in Orange and the state of Illinois in red and remember these go back to those cut scores not percentile scores so remember those scores are falling Across the Nation so that's why you see that downward Trend however what's important to look at at this is that District 99 is keeping the distance between our peers right so once again comparing us to those other schools in English you'll see a similar set of Trends in math shows you that like there isn't a massive drop-off when you compare kind of apples to apples all right Illinois Science assessment this is a fun one so Illinois didn't really have a true Science assessment when Esso was put in place uh so they had to quickly write a test for the first several years of that test it was up to the school district to determine which students would take that test so some like I think life science it had to be a life science test the students so of us our life science classes by by our freshman primarily took it the first few years okay there's two or three and then in 2019 it became Juniors right across the state all right so if you go even on the Illinois school report card it's very difficult to find any scores before 2021 because the tests continued to change from when it showed up until just the last couple of years it is not a norm test it is not like a high profile test like the SAT or act it's just written around Life Sciences in Illinois and it is really written to meet that mandate it doesn't count for anything for College admission or any of those pieces because of that many Juniors and their families opt out of this test so and because it's not a norm test the state only measures participation in your score so they'll give you this graph in the bottom right hand corner of performance level but really what goes into our scores participation rate and for last year we did not have we had 93.5 percent of Juniors take the test you're below the threshold of 95 percent so we did not meet that criteria for next year regardless of like the student performance you can see was pretty strong on that and we were pretty strong in comparison to others in the in the state on that test but we did not meet for our accountability metric because the number of of students that chose not to take it um because of the fact that it really means nothing to students a lot of families decide like it's not not an experience I want to engage in one of the key things on the school report card that matches up with many of the board goals over the last five to seven years is encouraging students to engage in high-level academic programs so they do have this screen that has advanced academic programs that looks at things like early college courses which are AP for us it's AP and dual credit uh what you'll see there everything in yellow every number in yellow is an increase from last year it is a board goal that we increase those things year over year over year and we have done that Gina's done a great job of working with our curricular teams and teachers across the district to create more and interesting course offerings and our students are taking advantage of those things we know that when we talk about predictors of post-secondary success one of the greatest things is taking an AP or a dual credit course that predicts success at the next level not even scoring high on the exam just interacting with the content and the rigor of that course is a great predictor of post-secondary what are the ninth grade offerings we have we don't have any AP that's what I thought other than we will occasionally have like some students in AP Computer Science we do have some dual credit that occurs more so at the ninth grade level once you get to 10th grade you'll see more in computer science and U.S history and then it yeah 11 12 just explodes even in all right other measures of success these are these don't all show up on the school report card but these are indicators that the board has requested of the administration over the last several years through our goal setting process and our strategic planning so many of these have been reported the board in a variety of reports throughout the year but this kind of pulls it all together into one one spot so AP enrollment's up dual credits off Capstone course is up co-curriculars extracurricular activities up those are all predictors of post-secondary success tcd enrollment right higher than we've ever had it I mean and we're on Pace to shatter that number for next year as well fabulous and we also have other emerging opportunities that the board has heard about College and Career endorsements a couple years ago we set the we were leading the state in that the state's catching up which is great but we continue to to expand the number of endorsements that we offer for that and then our internship course that the board approved a couple of years ago that is got started during the pandemic but is is continuing to grow yeah the tcd and finally on that sheet was of our scores is the five essential survey this is just based on completion rate so it's it's not a rating of how we score on it it's just do we get enough people to submit so it's really important that our students and families and staff complete that survey it helps with our scores just based on completion so we continue to encourage all of those audiences to complete that survey all right uh any questions from the board it's just striking you know just hopefully you know the public is paying attention right because there's there's so many there's so many factors to to look at when we talk about how well our schools are doing right now and if all you're looking at is SAT score and comparing that to the last few years you know you could you could have some concern and legitimately so if you're seeing a falling number and yeah and it's it's not to say that that isn't something that maybe we you know we need to we may need to pay some attention to depending on what happens you know going forward um you know you don't want that Trend to keep going down forever right but like SAT scores have for 40 years that's the curve for 40 years true yeah um very true so uh but there are so many other things that were look we're looking at here and and we're required to look at and I think it's good that we look at all these things so I mean I look at that tcd number I'm like you know yeah it's I mean what about that what do you have to say to that I mean that's that's like that's huge that's huge and and yeah and because we know that all of our students are not going on to college most are not going to get afforded not be the right pathway that's right yeah some will do both yeah yes so uh there's dual credit classes we're having the number the amount of participation we're having in more you know it's nice to talk about more in AP right we want more but the reason we want that is we want our students to challenge themselves and they're doing that and and so this is huge success it's not perfect there are things we'd like to be better that's why we do what we do right and so we're never satisfied but all in all a good report so thank you any other questions or comments All Right Moving On student fees this is an easy one you know I like this the administration is not recommending any increase for next year anyone knows my history here I'll put on my mark Stalin hat and remind the board that during times of high inflation no increase is actually a decrease a good thing yeah yeah how do they do mark pretty good [Laughter] all right yeah the transition between your jury I'm known for that Mark is there anything you wanted or jury anything you wanted to highlight on the actual returning fees they are as indicated the same as they were last year I think I'll give one comparison the top score the the top item registration textbook we pay for our students textbooks some schools sell them and they say they don't charge the fee but they sell them the books and that comes into a much higher than 300.50 fee and then they try to kind of college they try and read yeah at the end of the year if they aren't eating you know so that's all I would just say it first well because it's hard to have people pay fees and no well I appreciate this and this is something I think um you know Mark you've always responded you know positively my comments about this over the years and and um you know my goal I guess you know now that I'm getting close to the end of my uh service here you know one of my goals when I first joined uh nearly 12 years ago was was to create less of a Reliance I'd like to see less of a Reliance on these fees because they are not regulated in any way we can charge as much as we want to charge um but yet um you know really I don't you know there's this there's this idea that while my kids are in school you know it's okay for me to pay a lot more and and I've never looked at it that way I mean I don't have any students here anymore and I you know I'm happy and proud you know to be paying into this system and and I'm going to be paying for this school improvements many years uh well without you know directly reaping a benefit from that right but I do because I think those students we saw tonight you know there are students they're they're they're part of our community and so you know this is something that can be a burden on people um on families and it's really great that we're able to keep it level because it is in fact you know reducing our Reliance on it and it's it's a good thing so thank you I appreciate it sure I have a question yeah like we talked to some kids at South um last semester just in the government classes and they were wondering what do you do with the parking fees or how do you set them and yeah I mean I didn't know the answer yeah the cost is to help offset the maintenance of those lots so snow removal salting you know repaving all of those things that's why they were established Rovers and then there's a high cost of security patrolling those spaces over the course of the school year so it's all it's offset for all of those costs and truly it's not something that when we talk about what what your school is required to provide to the community you know providing parking spaces for students to park there is it really it's not required not really right so there's right so what I'm just saying so we've we do a pretty good job with it I think and and uh and so it makes sense that you might have to pay a little bit for it in the village of Downers Grove has done a nice job of partnering with us to provide as much street parking as they feel that they can as well yeah they've been good partners with us over the years so I would just add lived experience of one I work with three people who have teenage children in high school in nearby but not in DuPage County and they were talking about registration fees and they were talking about driver's ed and some of them because we were I was talking about how my kids went to Michael's or whatever it was and it was about the same as our driver's ed which I think I probably is more now outside of here driver's Ed's a weird one because it isn't it regulated by the state as to how much we can charge for that one but they were all they were all talking about what they were paying and they were paying substantially more more yeah this is the best our driver's ed is the best deal in town registration yeah overall yeah yeah all right any questions on that one all right I'm assuming from this conversation this is not something that the Lord would like to debate at a future meeting that the board's comfortable with the administration's recommendation I am not raising fees yes yeah okay yeah then there's no reason to bring it back for approval because those are our current fees all right hybrid block schedule uh Ryan's been busy uh he's back in person again you know you know I've been here a lot when they've given me my own sign yes yes so you're a fixture now yeah yeah so uh since I've seen you um I am continuing to get feedback from students and staff so just to connect to the Strategic plan um you know I've been going to kids and staff in person rather than sending out by email so um kids have seen me around uh the cafeterias um if I'm subbing for Access sometimes at South and then also walking through the spaces um for uh where teachers are just to get their opinions on how things are going and on just to revisit the reason for moving to the schedule in the first place was for students to have an opportunity to get some help from teachers during the day to have some Flex time with our teachers for their professional development by making sure that we've seen all the research about starting later in schools and you know how that helps kids so that consistently start birthday and then also offering opportunities for some deeper learning or enrichment on those longer periods and so since you have seen me so October November and on part of December is what I had been up to and then I came here and made some recommendations following those recommendations I went back out to the schools and talked with students about um you know their opinions about that any tweaks that I needed to make before we made some changes for second semester access I think actually Caitlyn mentioned some of those at a board meeting or two ago about some of those changes and then we also started looking at student choice that one of the things that came across with student feedback and parent feedback was giving students more of an opportunity to have some choice in what they're doing during access and then also some of the the concerns that people had with the schedule either about having free time in the middle of the day or things like that and so I started started developing some you know plans and running them by kids whether or not it was a principal student advisory or literally just walking table to table in the Commons a student in class today said wait a minute aren't you the voice of access I heard you I'm like yes I am the voice of access uh that yeah that was uh unanticipated when I went into a classroom to check in with a teacher he recognized my voice so get him a name badge that says feedback yes it is a recognizable voice um so uh since then um there's been three things that I've been working on right uh and I think the last time I spoke with you when I was on Zoom we talked about uh some concerns that I'd be working on starting second semester one students being concerned that they were not able to always hear the announcements to the time the timing of C lunch and three having too much free time blocked into the middle of the day so um for announcements for students um right now at the end of the first block of the day there's an extra five minutes on Wednesdays and Thursdays for announcements after talking with the kids whether or not they're in the locker room they don't have a first period class they're in a study hall in the Commons something like that that they haven't been able to always connect with those announcements and so we're proposing just taking those five minutes moving them into access all students would then be able to be in a classroom setting if there's a video announcement they'd all be able to see it and so also if there's something happening in resource or an update for Access that day that we can give it while they're all there largely students and staff have supported that staff mostly so it separates a little bit from the class and the announcement part that you know the access and the announcements seem to be a better fit and for students it's making sure that sometimes when I've asked them they've said like oh I we really want more career opportunities and resource I'm like oh my gosh we've offered several career opportunities and resources I'm like yeah but I didn't hear that announcement um so this will be able to help close some of those gaps for our kids um the second one was about timing of sea launch this was a Hot Topic um that almost every student to um the student especially students who have C Lunch starting at 117 is not something they're fans of um so I've walked the cafeteria a lot on this one students and staff have just said that by the time that they've gotten to see launch at 117 they've either snacked so much during the day that Chartwells I believe is reported that there's actually fewer kids who go through the line during C C Lunch second that they're just exhausted by the time they get to lunch and they're like you know I did have a student say I'm so tired I don't even want to eat um and so we propose flipping uh periods four and two on Thursdays and that would move uh sea lunch up in about an hour and 20 minutes the downfall of that is that ailart starts at 10 25 and so I walked this get I walked the cafeteria quite a bit about this um I talked to about 200 students in the cafeteria at South and about 200 at north um I did it during all different periods a lunch C Lunch fourth period resource you name it I've walked through it um and all of them have said that they support the change that while 1025 seems early that fourth period lunch right now starts at 10 56 so students with fourth period lunch they're not going to experience that much of a change other students have said that not everyone has a lunch both and that if they have a fifth or sixth period lunch their resource then lets them out of school for classes at about two o'clock and so and then some students said that I don't eat breakfast and so knowing that I'd have that dedicated time another piece of feedback that I didn't anticipate was that by having that period lunch in a different period that there'd be more seats for kids there's fewer kids in study hall and during two and three than there are in seven and eight and so kids said that you know when I come down for lunch there's actually going to be more free seats because kids who are in study hall that are also in the Commons won't be there for a long period because they're not gonna they sort of stake out a table and then that's not available for kids who are at lunch the third consideration was just about three periods in the middle of the day it's the same shift right by flipping period four to the beginning of the day and two after access students who wouldn't uh who wanted that same sort of Freedom um so like Caitlyn what period do you have lunch oh yeah fifth all right so um other students would say Caitlyn's a little bit luckier than they are if they have fourth period lunch right her senior counterparts with fourth period launch say like well wait a minute I have 8th period release for sports I have fourth period lunch so I have this big chunk of time right in the middle of the day I would love the same opportunity that Caitlyn has by you being able to come late if I'm a junior a senior in good standing um as the kids that have a fifth and sixth period lunch staff have said the same thing that there's staff that have the flexibility of five six that you don't have that same flexibility um of four also students said pretty openly that by having fourth period at the beginning of the day they're more likely to use it as a study hall than they are after they've already had a class and access simply because there's more kids that are rolling through some students have said I have all of the intentions to study at the beginning of fourth period and then I start talking with my friends I get on my phone I stop at the coffee bar and then the eighth period lunch kids start to roll through um and so then suddenly two hours have gone by and haven't used that time so by moving it to the beginning of the day when all of their classes are ahead of them that they're going to be able to use that plus there aren't going to be the lunch kids that are also rolling through because we have very few kids that have a second period study hall because the day is just starting out they'll either be a late arrival or an early dismissal so on the next slide um this is what that draft looks like Monday Tuesday remain the same Friday Also Remains the Same and so by flipping periods four and two we are able to move launch into that 2-3 block so one it creates more seats because we won't have kids in study hall two because fourth period was a lunch period we weren't able to run it during this block so by moving it out of that space we actually can um and uh moving access our announcements into access so overall I walked the cafeteria with the schedule again with several hundred kids and also with the workspaces for some a lot of the staff especially staff that we're considering part-time making sure that they had an opportunity to see the schedule before their deadline of putting in for part-time and they've a lot of the staff and a lot of the students have said like yes especially fourth period being at the start of the day that while 10 10 25 seems a little bit early for some of them they're like I will take it if I get fourth at the beginning of the day and a lot of the staff said things similar one of the other things I've attached a video so I don't know if you got a chance to see the video I'm not going to play the video now this is uh so the student that said oh you're the voice of access this is a video that they just saw um talking about student choice and access so as we were talking with students in December many of them said sometimes I want to go see my teacher but I can't get a seat they've already given out their passes other teachers have said I've given out my passes but I know that you said only give out three on those days for each of us but I give out six because I have more kids who want to meet with me my partner who also teaches in the same room gave out six and we still had 20 kids who didn't leave without a pass so now we have all these kids in the room um and so students have said like you know parents and students have said that sometimes on Black Days it feels long and if I don't have PE that day I want to move other kids said like I just need a quiet place to study so we've built in a student Choice model where students will have about 50 options with a set number of seats and once those seats are gone they won't be able to choose that anymore so there's open gym is available at South the library is like Puzzles games and things like that at North the library it shows quiet study we have collaborative study available and then a wide variety of meet with my teacher for help they can meet with their counselor they can meet with one of the social workers or psyches if they want and so students on if you click to the next slide so as I talked with students this is one of the slides I used in the screencast to hopefully that they've started to feel some of the changes that we've made in Access right we've simplified the access schedule we have streamlined some of the lessons seniors are maybe sometimes having a lesson that only they see and then sometimes they have an autonomy day when the underclassmen are watching or experiencing a lesson we've also made all of the student pass days on Wednesdays so it makes it easier for teachers and students to have that same time but it was that providing student choice to meet their needs that's that's the part of this pilot that we're going to do on February 15th with our Juniors and seniors that we're going to address so on the next slide I have a timeline of what that looks like and just for Simplicity stake I I keep calling this open table for our students right this is the opportunity well Ryan's talking about the student choice is the opportunity for every student to kind of Reserve their seat and what they need for that day so student support with the past is the teacher reaches out and invites the student into their space this flips that the opposite direction where the student then reserves the space that they feel that they need so on February 2nd that video that I have linked in there that's what the students watched and they were also given access in their Google classrooms to look at the list of things that would be available to them so that on the 9th so next or this coming Thursday when they get to access the Juniors and seniors there'll be an announcement with some reminders for example open gym you know please leave your backpacks in your blocker the we won't be able to use the locker rooms wear proper shoes things like that um then um about five minutes into access I'll open the form and um all 1340 Juniors and seniors at South and 1042 at North they will make their choice on their form and I will be sitting there making sure that the technology doesn't go Haywire so I'm I won't sleep I'd probably Wednesday night um and then um teachers will get a list of the kids who chose them so that on the 15th they instead of reporting to their access they report to the room that they chose and then on the 16th they will get a survey asking me um me asking them did you find a choice that met your needs um overall did you feel like you had a successful experience and then do you have any suggestions um before we run the next pilot which will be with freshman and sophomores mid-march and then we'd like to do another pilot with all four grade levels my goal is that we can run a couple of these student Choice Pilots between the SAT and AP testing so that students that want to try to have a larger group sort of meeting with some of their AP teachers would be able to have that opportunity through this format also that as we're looking through these Pilots there are plenty of flexible scheduling companies out there and as the staff and students show that yes this is absolutely a direction we want to continue in that we will start exploring using those so that we we come back in the fall that everyone has experienced it and so it's not something new I would love that that as we try these Pilots that this is something where students and teachers can count on oh yes this isn't something new this is something that we've done before and so they're starting the year feeling comfortable about making those choices and how the system works and that is it I got a couple questions so first of all I want to commend you because I think you know you presented at our last meeting and the results of the survey which had several thousand respondents yeah and the fact you know when you say I talk to students you're not you're not pulling two or three people aside and saying hey give me your opinion you're literally talking to hundreds and hundreds of students and I think that's important and I I commend you for that if a student has a specific concern or a teacher has a specific concern what's the mechanism that they can uh usually they just email me and say hey can you stop by um and so I am at North and South quite a bit um so students if especially if I'm subbing their access at South because you know they have more access rooms and so they have fewer people available to sub students will ask there was a U.S history class at South that was doing debates about the schedule and things and so students were emailing me questions and all that kind of stuff which is great I offered to come in and that was like probably one step too far Heroes also know they're students are not shy about giving you their opinion if you just sit down at their table and speak with them one-on-one that's why I haven't been doing a lot of like Google form surveys in between the last one you know my next survey will come out March 20th and you know I hope that we get even more responses especially from families as well but if you just sit down like how's it going this is something I'm thinking about is there something that I'm missing um that they're they're pretty good about it um and so but the student newspapers have reached out I've done you know all quite a few interviews with them about that you know we're going to a parent meeting on Wednesday at North where I was going to ask if there's I think Monday yeah okay um so and then staff we did drop it we did virtual online sessions we did drop-in sessions so we've been available to staff as well yeah for staff it's you know stopping at their supervisions into their Department offices things like that knowing where you know people hide you know I I know the staff at North far better than I do at South since I worked there and so um I think they're a little bit more willing to just like reach out to me and say like hey come over here um and I'm getting to know the South the staff a lot better so well my other quote um so if we have a lot of students who can't get in to see their teachers I mean we're tracking that obviously or we're just we're getting it anecdotally uh how are we gonna how are we gonna make it open that up so I mean the first the first change was this semester of putting all student support with a pass on the same day to kind of streamline that okay so we heard first semester that there were some challenges in doing that so that was our first step in that change so now everybody is free across the building at the same time yeah so and I think then with the student Choice model teacher or students will now be able to choose once you the after we move through the pilots the good thing about also using uh sort of a third party scheduler is that you can open it up to teachers a day before students choose and the teachers that need to see you know the I need to see these seven students like okay I have 20 seats in my room for this I'm going to choose these seven so that when it opens up to the students to make their choices those students their choices already made for them and then 13 other students can choose that that spot or the other way a kid could go to a teacher and say I absolutely need to be with you I can't fight for a seat like I have to yes I didn't get a seat with you last week can you please choose me this week so that I make sure that I get a seat yeah so and as part of access do we like do we how do we communicate that come out as are the announcements or um for the students to report with the pass yeah I mean how do we just communicate this because I'm not living it it just seems kind of and because it's new yeah so this is the teachers have a pass that they can invite students with um and that but if the student really needs to see the teacher there's a lot of yeah they know how do they know how to say Ryan you've got to put me in because I'm really struggling um I think some students said better than that than others we do try to coach kids up about doing that um that this Thursday or yeah this Thursday when Juniors and seniors are choosing um that the freshmen and sophomores are doing something with student conferencing so teachers in Access or you know just asking kids hey how you doing um do you need the teacher do you know how to reach out to that teacher so we gave a list of prompts for teachers to kind of like coach kids up that aren't as good as maybe you know asking for help I also think that teachers do are pretty good about going to their kids and saying like I really need to see you I want to see you during access and if a student says like I've already taken for Access that they've here are my office hours so those are also published on their syllabi yeah yeah that's a good point because it's not every teacher has two and a half hours yeah and any any student requesting help from a teacher they need to work together within 24 hours to find a mutually agreeable time to connect so and that's that's contractual that's in the contract so whether it's one of these formal things between office hours or access or it's more informal I just need to connect with you all of those things are expectations across the organization thank you I just wanted to say I agree I command you for the award you've done on this for talking with the students because that's important that we made this change so I think it's good we'll see what we come from I have kind of a two-parter yeah so uh one knowing that there's a maturity level difference from freshmen to senior year and we think about how students are using their time wisely when they have choice and how to spend their time you know um what more can we do to help some of those freshmen sophomore students and I don't want to pick on boys but um who rabbit play video games and really stereotyping but anyhow that seems to be a bit of an issue I think and then the other thing that I've heard is that we have instances of that age going getting to go home early not a freshman and sophomore that's not happening with 14 or 15.
so we're on to a record year this year so yeah been good talking about your partnership oh yeah sorry uh Partnerships we also do on-site classes with businesses this year it used to be I would have to go out and cold call and say hey you have a lot of English language Learners do you want to have on-site classes and this year they're calling me so um we have a partnership with ta Services that's with Cummins and that's with certified Logistics exhibition so they send us our their employees we just started for Via which was forcia now it's for Via we just started a class there last week we're starting one at Tipton Mills next week Beacon is coming up soon and Kai we just started two weeks ago those are all English language classes and most of these employers are saying they're about 50 percent Latino or non-english speaking so we're going out and meeting them where we need to be foreign that's good so as you can see lots of stuff going on serving in lots of different ways across multiple counties and really just I think Nikki said it with hope right I think our best practice that we share is hope hope for um future Community for each uh each individual and I don't know is it the next page where our video is we've got a nice little video and really the only thing that matters is is listening to some student voices McDowell has impacted me in a lot of ways when I first came here they came up with a plan I was not doing well in school so they were able to keep me back on track and I formed a lot of connections that I didn't think I could make which got me to exactly where I want to be in the law enforcement I made connections and now I'm doing exactly what I want to oh McDonald's has impacted me honestly a lot I love this school I think it's honestly better than my homeschool um the teachers here are really Hands-On they love the kids I feel like so that's like really important to me and just the community I met a lot of my friends here I did not have a single friend before I came here to be completely artist and now I've got like 10 15 so it feels amazing um so I I've spent a lot of my life incarcerated and McDowell actually allowed me to come here and get my high school everyone too and so now I have that and uh now I'm taking the computer class here so I'm just they're helping me get a lot more things under my belt so whenever I do want to move on to a career I can't for me I was having a rough time fitting in and concentrating or even attending my classes at the bigger high schools um but then I started attending McDowell and it gave me a new opportunity and a new environment that I really fit well in and the teachers considered my needs more and like more effort to build a relationship with me and I just feel like it's somewhere where I can focus more because there's less students after I graduate I plan on working at McDonald's some place that has impacted me that much I want to be a teaching assistant but that may not be an option right away so there are other Departments of the building that I can work in until that's a possibility so my experience at McDowell was amazing uh in Mexico I have the opportunity to make a lot of friends for and know about different cultures I can improve my English back years ago what's up and then when I feel confident with this I start to work at bcsc first as a volunteer at Southside school then at TA at Northside and now I am a coordinator for cultural and safety day space that I have the opportunity to help other immigrant people so thanks for listening to the whole presentation we probably could have just played that and that gives you the overview from adults doing lots of different things and really telling the story of of what it is every day at McDowell and why it's such a special place um full of Hope I will say can we oh there we go uh that's where we're located encourage you to visit us I will also say we do send out to the board an invitation in May for our adult ed graduation ceremony that we hold at Columbus North High School and if that works in your schedule we'd love to have you and are ready for any questions that you might have no question let me yeah so I have a quick quick question as you're leaving your position and Mr Newell's entering I'm sure you're giving him advice on the side but if there was something that you could do to leave the place even better than what you are leaving it what what can we do to help make that happen what is what's out there if you can name one thing that you don't have today that would make it a better place did you say yeah can we build a couple more pods so we can just serve a few more people keep it small more more adults and more space certainly uh you know we want to bring that message to others so certainly we didn't get into a lot of the details we do have um on the alternative side the high school program and restart we've got three full-time teachers at McDowell plus our two restart teachers and then three part-time teachers in the morning that kind of extend that to be able to serve more students but the need is great we're probably the largest right now every quarter we have new students that come through so right now we're at 120 just high school program students then those are bcsc Juniors and seniors working to try to graduate on time and stay on track for graduation so um you know that's the work certainly it has continued to grow we have that Center Stone FSS who's actually here tonight with a student at the team effort the the effort and the collaboration between north and east that's what makes it all happen CSA new tech a lot of caring adults so hard to say one thing but of course if we could always extend capacity that we would like to serve as many students as possible so Mr stair and I um Megan took us on a tour just recently and and the two things that stood out to me the most which you did bring out tonight is is we saw lots of students at lots of different ages but they were all engaged in learning so many different ways and and you can't walk through that building without seeing there's relationships going on but between the students but also between the teachers and the students and the staff and the students even the cafeteria people and the students there's just lots of relationships the other thing I want to commend you for is the the ell going out to the community instead of waiting for them to come to you that is very cool thank you it's been exciting and challenging including I think we've mentioned a few times from you know the Afghans opportunities we had and now we're serving quite a few of those on site so it is a it's been a fun time but a challenging one but great people make that happen so we have a great staff thank you very much thank you okay uh now I think we'll move on to board commendations do I have anybody I'd like to start Dale put his hand up well I had in there to um commend Megan Megan shaft and her staff at McDowell for hosting us so I will just put that in there but you you saw all the good stuff that's going on there um also commendations to the East High School art Department Allison koser Buck Brad Barber and Sydney Albert and their students they had 18 students recognized through the Scholastic art program in 3D art 2D art and photography if you go to the east website and the art Department you can actually see last year's student winners that I'm sure sometime in the near future we'll see this year's but they're worth it's worth looking at there's some pretty impressive art and finally commendations to Jay Payne and Blake Manuel at and the staff at Central Middle School Mr Stenner and I also visited Central last Friday and saw many core courses and elective courses and lots of good stuff going on one I guess extra Commendation to Michelle fee who's the media specialist at Central there are many good things going on but this just really stood out to me each quarter she has she hosts a different group of volunteer students who come out of the resource time and work on what's what they call the charge as in Chargers and it's a combination Video magazine and school announcements in one week the students Planet recorded edit the video and every Monday they show it to the school and it's I got to see the kids coming in on Friday all excited about it and saw some of the stuff they produced and it is phenomenal well I've got a few here but I'll try to go fast uh first off accommodations congratulations to the FFA parliamentary procedure team that won the section 4 contest and they will compete at the next level on February 11th so good luck to the FFA parliamentary procedure team I mentioned this group at the last meeting I'll mention them again the accommodations congratulations to the girls uh bowling team at Columbus North who continues to roll their way through the state tournament and they will be competing in the state finals this Saturday in Indy so good luck to them accommodations congratulations to three senior basketball players Sage tall at Columbus East Cooper horn at North and Lauren Barker at north um all for surpassing the Thousand Point uh uh Mark over their careers at north and east and you know they've gotten a lot of attention for that certainly through their athletic accomplishments but what's been very impressive is I know Sage's uh coach Coach Brown sages principal Mr Newell incredibly complimentary of State Sage first and foremost as as being a good person and asking coach Ferguson and uh uh coach flight at North about Lauren Barker uh coach white said you know not only is she you know hit the Thousand Point career Mark but she's an even better person than she is a basketball player as a member of the National Honor Society student athletic board member 4.2 GPA and the list goes on and and very impressively what coach Ferguson had to say about Cooper is that Cooper was a very humble player and had a unique ability to elevate the play of his teammates and even though he has been recognized for scoring a thousand points over the course of his career he has passed up probably that many shots or more to help Elevate the play of his teammates so again congratulations to those three for their athletic accomplishments and and being great people the East wrestling team who won their eighth straight sectional I've built uh just a superb program there and good luck to both the East and North wrestling teams who finished 1-2 in the wrestling regional and both teams Advanced 10 wrestlers to the semester real quickly here let's see Saturday the 28th the East boys swim team for setting three school records and two Hoosier Hills conference records and good luck also to East Junior Gabby Meyer tomorrow at the Jasper diving Regional after winning the north sectional for the third year in a row and the last two I had the opportunity to attend C4 open house at North on well last Monday the 30th and to say it was a well-oiled machine I think would be an understatement I mean it was super impressive event from Mrs Richards the first year nursing teacher greeting people at the door to conversations I had with some of the other teachers Mr Yates the assistant director and I wanted to make special mention of a C4 student ambassador monacy indulker who gave me a very thorough explanation about the uh I.T cyber security program at C4 so I mean it was a super great I mean Super well put together event I mean you couldn't hardly walk through the crowd hallways it was so crowded and then lastly I know I've mentioned this before but I think it's worthy of being mentioned again the monthly HR benefits and payroll news letter that goes out it's just always a very full of valuable information reminders opportunities I think one that stuck out to me was 30 30ish and clueless about retirement so I I can't say for sure but I would seriously doubt that there are lots and lots of Corporations out there that have that level of communication through the HR department so Kudos accommodations to them and that is it thank you any others okay thank you real quick sorry sorry um I've got uh one two things I just wanted to say I'm going to be trialing a process I hope that we can look at in the future which is I'm going to be looking at two different schools and working with their principal over in between each one of these meetings to try and get athletic academic and staff commendations so the next time I'll give a report on two different schools um I did want to tell all of the both academic and athletic teams you know especially with some of their Seasons closing out for a winter season you know congratulations and thank you for all the hard effort that they've put in as a former athlete it's kind of hard when you're a senior knowing that sometimes this is the last time you get to compete in whatever level it is so do you do your best at the end so that you remember that forever and the last thing I just I'll remember this forever it was a couple weeks ago when they had a senior night at East and it's it's easy for me to talk a little bit about East because my daughter goes there and we go to a lot of the games and one of the most amazing things I'd seen in a very very long time and I apologize if I get the names wrong but I believe it was the Roberts and Cox families saying the national anthem before the game the varsity game and I tell you it was it I got I just got a chill right now um just thinking about it because usually the band plays and the band does a pretty good job but just to hear people sing it and sing it almost perfectly I mean it was a Super Bowl level rendition without all the lights and and all the stage and so I just I thought that was something worth letting those families know thank you for doing that and doing a great job with it so thank you house thank you okay we will move on to school board member reports yeah Mr Grimes um so from the legislative perspective I had the opportunity to attend um third house virtual meeting this morning attended by Representatives Lauer and Meltzer and Senator Walker there wasn't an overabundance of uh discussion regarding bills and K-12 education probably the one that got the most attention and discussion the this morning was from representative Lauer who who talked about House Bill 1449 and the process to Auto enroll 21st century Scholars um so uh Cliff's Notes version of this today marks the beginning of week five of this legislative session and so kind of the Cliff's Notes version of week four um there were there were a variety of bills mulled over amended everything from the science of reading to School Board filing periods to school board partisans races again the 21st scholar Century Scholars and the process for auto enrolling those kids that are eligible increasing this was one that I thought was interesting that house bill 1382 that intends to try to increase the percent of Robotics teams that exist in school corporations across the state it's currently about 30 percent this bill proposes to try to get up that to 60 percent of the school corporations across the state with with robotics teams to help promote stem and hopefully eventually retain those people in the Indiana Workforce so about three weeks left uh this session for bills to get out of the Committees from their chamber of origin in order to remain active some have moved on many others are still being amended but uh originally again just over 200 bills that either directly indirectly um uh deal with K-12 education and then lastly from the school Foundation again just a quick plug again the Harlem Wizards Sunday March 5 at two o'clock the school foundation's biggest fundraiser of the Year tickets can be purchased at bcsf stars.org thank you hi Mr Stenner I was able to attend business advisory committee on behalf of the board a business advisory committee was new to me so I'll talk a little bit about the committee and Mr Jensen is the facilitator for that committee members of the committee are mostly from the private sector I would say from the largest and some of the entrepreneurial small companies in the community the presentation at this particular meeting was made by a corporation employee Kristen Beck not in her current role but really related to her previous roles a high school counselor and it had to do with how and I remember 10 years ago being interested in this but the ability of a corporation to track its graduates where are the folks that graduated from high school four years ago how many of them are working toward a post-secondary degree maybe have achieved already a two-year degree have they been part of an apprenticeship program but the the ability to track our students and learn from their experience and what they do after graduation I think is going to help us tremendously in terms of understanding our high school students and helping them graduate and get on a solid Pathway to a career so it's a very interesting meeting my assumption Dr Roberts would be that at some point in the future we'll see a presentation like that maybe a strategic planning meeting or board meeting question I think to share with all board members yes thank you Mr Johnson the others Mr now um I haven't met with any of my committees yet but I did meet with Gail Coors who helps to lead the high ability Advisory board so I got kind of up to speed so two quick takeaways from that which were eye-openers to me one piece of data there's 140 students involved in the academic ChalleNGe Program but the high ability um highability work in our district actually involves 1200 kids that they take care of and track so there's a lot of kids outside of the academic ChalleNGe Program that are part of that and the other thing is I got on just at the right time because they did a whole lot of work and Mr Grimes was part of this um on the committee to put down I think it's four parts of their program in writing a lot of a lot of processes things that they have been doing but that weren't necessarily in writing and now it's formalized and in writing so I'm looking forward to working with them yeah pretty good thank you the others like Mr Nowlin I haven't met yet but I would like to thank Mr Green and Mr Phillips for sitting with me last week talk about the health trust that meets next week so I'll have a report next time thank you okay thank you okay and then uh for me the isba organized a meeting for all School Board presidents in districts nine and ten so that meeting took place a couple of evenings ago so got to make a lot of connections great suggestions there were some refinancing that was being done it felt good I had already heard that here and we were taking advantage of that they were also looking to raise teacher wages and we had already done that they were struggling with Staffing I think we are you know we're always hiring but I think we're in a stable place so actually I walked away feeling pretty good that we're being proactive in some of those tough spots that others are struggling with so um there's nothing else we'll move on Mr Phillips good evening each quarter we do an overview of the financial finances for the district this covers um the entire year 2022 so this is the fourth quarter report financial report um on this slide this covers revenues for the three primary operating funds for the district education fund operations fund and operating referendum fund the education fund revenues were up about five and a half percent over 2021 and we're just up less than one percent over budget this increase was due to uh increase in state tuition support and slightly higher ADM than expected we I always try to estimate low on the revenue side particularly from an ADM growth perspective there's just so much unknown when we build the budget when we build it we're actually a year out from this past Falls ADM count so we try to estimate low there and be conservative in that way interest earned was also a big surprise in 2022 you learned that at the last meeting when we went over the board of Finance report and so that was a pleasant surprise for the education Fund in 2022 on the operations fund side revenues were up about 8.2 percent over 2021 but we're in line with our budgeted revenues we had tax cap losses of about 1.9 million dollars but um pretty much made up that entire 1.9 million from um increase in interest earned we split the interest earn between the education fund and the operations funds and um also miscellaneous Revenue categories um like excise tax Commercial Vehicle Tax financial institution tax indirect costs rental revenues and then also Dr Bozeman and his staff had a couple of auctions of excess vehicles and property during the course of 2022 and those were we served to offset that 1.9 million in tax cap losses on the operating referendum side revenues are up 4.3 percent from 2021 and about 1.4 1.4 percent higher than budget um that is entirely due to an increase in assessed value so that's on the revenue side um this is the education fund only and on the expenditure side salaries were up about three and a half percent of this actual salaries expenditures on salaries across all categories so teacher substitutes administrative assistance teaching assistants anything that is in the school setting for the most part comes from the education fund as opposed to the operations fund but they were about 2.1 percent lower than budget the majority of that I won't say the majority but the biggest chunk of that was actually substitute teachers we had over the last few years each year spent significantly more than the prior year on substitute teachers as we went through covid um all districts across the state I think experience that and so we budgeted more and more each year this last year we went almost back to where we were three years ago from an expenditure standpoint so that was down about four hundred thousand dollars in 2022 compared to 2021 on um on the substitute teaching side and the remainder of that again I um I'm gonna underestimate on the revenue side and overestimate on the expense side and so if Dr Fleek tells me hey we're going to add five teaching positions next year I'm going to assume we're gonna hire all of those every one of them is going to stay from day one until the end and with 2000 staff members that's obviously not the case and so we were um down about 2.1 percent compared to budget benefits were up 3.7 percent from 2021 and right in line with budget and just a reminder salaries and benefits on the education fund side the final tally for 2022 was 95.6 of the non-transfer portion of the education fund budget is salaries and benefits other expenditures were as expected while the transfer to operations was up mainly due to utilities and property and liability insurance which I believe we talked about last time as well on the operations side obviously this is more facility heavy and utilities fuel buses equipment those kinds of things come from the operations side so the salaries and benefits is a much lower percentage of the overall spend in operations but we were up about 1.5 million over 2021 but very close to Budget on the salary and benefits combined and then on the non-personnel side all the other categories this uh this was about 20 higher than 2021 and um we're driven primarily by utilities electric was about 340 000 more in 22 than it was 21 Water and Sewer about a hundred thousand more uh fuel about 260 000 more in 2022 compared to 2021 and then I'll also remind you we um the board allocated an additional appropriation in 2022 to spend three hundred thousand dollars on stop arms stop arm cameras for All Buses so that's operations fund side all the operating referendum side obviously this is the opposite almost all the expenditures are on the salary and benefit side and the largest part of the operating order for node is obviously teacher salaries we budget 5.3 million dollars per year for increased uh teacher salary increases and salary related benefits so that includes FICA and teacher retirement fund as well as 401a matching if teachers put their put dollars in their 403 b a question wasn't there uh buses as well in this fund or is that a different oh correct in the Safety and Security portion and I'll get to some of those details here in just a two slides this is a slide that we've just done for the last couple of years just to show you at the end of a year what have we done from a salary and benefit perspective from the operating referendum so as a result of the taxpayers and the the voters in this community approving the operating referendum what difference has it made well we spent just about ten and a half percent more on salaries because of the operating referendum fund that includes teacher increases hourly increases for both bus drivers and all other hour hourly staff as well and here's some of those details that um we've covered for the last couple of years just to again kind of review the impact because we don't have another board presentation where we do that and so it becomes part of the financial statement about 522 teachers received pay increases in 2022 as a result of the operating referendum the average of those increases was ten thousand eight hundred dollars and nearly 1100 classified an hourly staff averaged more than eleven hundred dollars in increased salary during the course of 2022 Safety and Security side Mr Schultz you mentioned the buses we spent 420 thousand dollars to purchase additional buses above and beyond while we budget out of the operations fund and I don't want to steal anyone's Thunder for next year here but I think we're probably within a year or two of having no buses that are older than 12 years old and that was one of the primary goals of the operating referendum permanent Safety and Security perspective um this we don't talk about the revenues on The Debt Service fund side because they're very consistent and they don't they don't vary um but from an expenditure side I do like to put this in front of you just to show you um the these are all of the debt payments that were made in 2022 almost all of these go to serve facilities and or equipment most of the equipment is just a one or two year bond that we've done in the last few years the rest of them are facility Renovations um the only bond that expired that we we paid off during that time was this 2020 Geo Bond and then the additional the new Bond was a full first full payment on this 2021 lease rental bond that is paying for the renovation of both Parkside and then a partial part of the renovation costs at Schmidt there are four Bond issues that are paid off within the next two years and so this list gets shorter and the majority of this debt would be paid off in the next six years if we take no further action and the last slide here is just a supported fund overview of the January 1 2022 balance revenues expenditures profit and loss and then the ending year balance and almost um well every fund with the exception of rainy day which no money went in or out of the rainy day fund and Debt Service which is down just a little bit all the other funds are up from the from the beginning of year from a cash balance standpoint a couple of notes there particularly for the the new members of the board this amount on debt service right here and we'll talk about this again in the fall when we build the budget but the state legislature changed the law several years ago and we used to be able to carry enough cash in our debt service funds to pay 50 of the next year's payment so some catastrophe happened like a Great Recession or a coveted related pandemic recession you'd have enough money to at least pay your first we pay in two payments June and December so big chunks of millions of dollars you would at least have enough money sitting in your bank account to make the payments for June even if you don't have any tax distribution during the course of that year that was a really good plan helped us build healthy balances and we have had two major Financial catastrophes in our country in the last 12 years they changed that down to 15 percent of the next year's payment that you're allowed to keep in cash basically basically extra cash on hand and so as a result of that as we retire old debt and replace it with new debt we'll continue to draw down that cash balance so on the debt fund side we'll see continue to see that cash balance be lower than what it was in Prior years and I'll also continue to advocate for these slightly higher cash balances compared to where we were before as we have continued to increase wages expenditures for wages and benefits the majority of our budget we need more cash on hand again in case there is some sort of a delay in tax distributions or state tuition support we're able to continue to meet payroll in the meantime so that's it for the 2022 Financial update happy to answer any questions Mr Phillips can you remind me rainy day fund how are you targeting rainy day fund we have not um we have not targeted anything with the rainy day fund other than what I I usually include the education fund balance and the ready day fund as one pot of money to say this is basically where we stand from uh if the state stops sending us money how much money will we have to keep keep making payroll and that's around the 10 million dollar Mark right now we have only in the last uh eight years there's only been two transactions here we withdrew money from this to basically pay an extra payroll to teachers to accelerate the the calendar because teachers were getting paid until mid-september when they started in August and then we put that money back two years later when we had money in the operating fund to replenish it so went out a couple years later went back how many how many bi-weekly payrolls would that get us through the the 10 million are we about 2 million in payroll um we're closer to 3 million a payroll now so that'd be three payrolls and it depends on whether or not federal funds also can stop to flow if if something were to happen but we should comfortably be able to get you through three payrolls um before we ran out of cash and then if if that happened there would be some other emergency um emergency ways to generate revenue from the state there are mid-year tax anticipation warrant possibilities we do tax anticipation warrants every year ask you for approval and you allow us to continue to do that during covid when they delayed property tax payments many districts went and did mid-year tax anticipation warrants and that's another it's another possibility if we were ever into emergency it's a it's a fairly small number Mr Phillips and I'm sorry if I missed it while you were talking but the other in the education fund what what kinds of almost 100 percent um supplies okay so in the education fund it's salaries benefits and supplies there's a very a little bit of mileage in there for teachers that travel um School sites that go back and forth supplies mileage a little bit for stipends and professional development that's it yep as you're going through the preparations for a report like this thinking about what's going on in 2022 did this give you any ideas about something that you want to do differently in 2023 or are you making any changes in in your operating plans based on our experience in 2022.
um this is the we have one more school year left um and 24 25 and 25 26 um we we have a lot of challenges ahead of us um and so trying to find out where those monies are coming from um is something we're all going to have to um put our heads together to try to figure out the Danbury Curie Academy I know we've talked about and the Staffing that's going to be needed to open up that building I know we just had the ground breaking yesterday we have some pictures to memorialize that but once again we will need 12 and a half million dollars just to staff that building that's the 25 26 school year um it's an estimated 10 to 15 increase we're going to need moving forward after that and so the cost just continue to just compound um and without some type of sizable investment now on the challenges are just going to be insurmountable in 24 25 and 25 26.
in good standings with parent permission interesting because that's I've I talked to one parent today who has well they might be signing their own kid out but that wouldn't be like a parent can always pull their out of school but that's not that's good that's good news for me because I I think that they need to they definitely need to be here so far as using the time appropriately it's it is a learning process and our teachers I've talked to a lot Ryan and I have talked to a lot of teachers about the different things that they're doing to try to set students up to be successful so like you've fallen behind in the class so during resource you should be working on these two missing assignments right now obviously it's up to the child during that period they're also reaching out to parents with similar things like that but it's also important to recognize not every kid is going to be successful within that and that's part of the learning process we heard so much from kids that went off and left us like that went off to college after us or wherever after us that academically they were really well prepared for whatever came next but they over and over again alumni would come back and say I just wish you would have done a better job of helping me manage my time like their days if you look at a high school kids schedule they are scheduled in from when they wake up until they go to sleep at night for a lot of students especially those in activities and Athletics and they're not given the opportunity to practice uh the world's a lot different than like when we were kids you know my parents would kick me out of the house and say don't come back until dinner right and you had to manage your time the world isn't that way anymore so what these blocks of time allow students to do is to practice but with the oversight of us there with them to think that every kid is going to be perfect at it no that's why they get that opportunity to practice when we look at this school year it's only been about like 23.
um that's a good question the only I'm always thinking about how can I be more accurate how can I make sure that gap between actuals and predicted can I get that close while still being conservative and making sure we you know we meet our all of our obligations this is a bargaining year so we will be bargaining with a Teachers Association this fall so that's always on my mind the other thing I will mention is that Dr Boseman and the transportation team did enter into a in agreement with the uh basically it's a fuel purchasing Cooperative run by the treasurer the state treasurer's Department the Indiana Bond Bank basically to hedge against the price increases on diesel fuel so that's one thing that we did as a result of what happened in 2022. and uh I'm sorry last last question I promised uh you mentioned some of the unanticipated expenditures where expenditures might have been higher than budget or pushing pushing the edge of the budget even though you budget and conservatively or electric water and sewer and I I know Electric's pretty hard to predict but I mean we live right here in town with the folks that run water and sewer did something unusual happen that pushed our rates up or are they calculating rates a different way for us that was actually that was a an increase over 2021 so we did account for an increase in the budget for water and sewer because we knew that was going into place across all of the City properties anyway the city communicated very well they we knew those increases were coming Duke Energy does a terrific job of communicating with us about rates too so we had some inclination that we were going to see some increases there in 2022 but those numbers that I listed earlier were increases over 21's expenditures okay thank you yeah so I had similar questions and Mr Phillips had emailed me earlier and answered them but one of the other things I think that he had mentioned was the cost of fuel so I think that's something we can all feel right we I think in the last two years three years we've also fell water and sewage go up so so I take the the one that I would hit on to that you noted for me was the fuel cost so that was pretty expensive I think we all understand how that impacts everybody so 100 miles at low mileage okay any other questions again thank you Mr Phillips okay I think now we would cover public comments we have no one signed up this evening so we will move down to the house Mr Dr Roberts you're getting that wrong tonight yeah it's okay thank you Mrs Wilton I have a number of items here so I'll just roll through them we have the minutes of the regular school board meeting from January 23rd our last meeting supplemental contracts we have a list of those field trips and professional leaves and a quick note you had an additional field trip in today I think I thought maybe there was an extra meeting in in February we only have one this month so make sure to get that one in to you tonight school fundraisers you had a short list of those claims and payroll for this time the claims for February 6th today's date a little over half a million the pre-run for January 1 through January 31 totaled about 5.6 million dollars payroll and that question was brought up earlier 3.1 million dollars that does cover the check date of 127 for the work period from January 2nd to January 15th just a note on there was a one-week pay for nine month classified staff based upon their work schedule coming out of break additionally have these recommendations for your resolution to establish savings parameters and hire underwriter and bond Council a resolution to approve supplement to master continuing disclosure undertaking and reapprove building Corporation f and g legal things that we need to to address based upon a report from Mr Phillips last meeting letter H is permission to award Taylorsville Elementary School roof contract and also letter I permission to award a guaranteed maximum price Amendment amendment number six for the educational Improvement project we've been going through and then letter J is transportation routing software contract asking for approval for that and then letter K that very last one is a purchase of buses so those are my recommendations I know Mrs wooden might be one of those somebody's looking for a motion to pull out of there yes so um Mr major and I I believe feel like we have a conflict so do I have a motion to abstain Mr major and Ms wielden from the vote is that how I do that probably uh there was a question in talking with Mrs wooden and Mr major about a conflict of interest with letter K and so we just wanted to I think pull that need a motion to pull that out of the consent agenda item and vote on it separately so they could abstain on that one item correct so I would ask for a motion to um uh pull letter k out of the consent agenda items at this point yeah just to be specific those contain Cummins engines and I work for Cummins so I'm not going to vote for that just because so just for clarity I would make I would move to approve as written with the abstaining of K from myself Mr MacGyver that's the proper way to do that and pull it out separately yeah okay yes yeah I'll second that motion yep okay thank you all is in favor of approving items a through J can I do this guys you're looking at me like I'm doing it uh discussion yes of course Jay I got myself thoroughly confused Mr Phillips I apologize on the Master continuing and approve the supplement disclosure documents can you walk me through that Justice did you did you read those Mr Center several Pages there I'm impressed so these are both related to the refunding of the 2013 bonds and so these are the same approvals that we go through it's actually fewer there's only two of these uh anytime we do something with a lease rental Bond and those are documents provided by icemiller our bond Council basically the the master continuing to disclosure um includes all of the things about the district that we have to disclose to our creditors and to the bond agencies to make sure that they understand the complete picture of bcsc's Financial and Regulatory standing and they're in their long and written in legalese sorry Mr MacGyver thank you I appreciate the clarification and I've got a question for Dr Bozeman who I think we'll be back there in the notes he's coming all right and sorry to make you get up but just a quick question about Jay um uh transfinder and the way I interpreted it is that is a that's a new software coming up a change from what there was before I would be happy to have Mr McKean come up and address your specific question about this routing software good evening yes we are we had some issues with our current routing software we started school up this past fall at that point in time we decided we were going to go shopping for a lack of words to see what was out there we spent some time with the ID I.T Department as well as with my three routing Personnel in the office and transfinder yes is is a software that we have chosen they've been around for 30 years have a long-standing in the transportation Community all over the United States so we've been very impressed with their their serviceability and and what their what they can offer for us thank you all right so real quick if you wouldn't mind please um the one one question I had here is is um the software I'm assuming will help you with both efficiency and Effectiveness can you help us understand by how much it will it's always a challenge when we're transporting 9 000 kids every day and the current software we're using you know software is there to help us until it doesn't anymore so this software actually will be merging three different departments it'll also have our service finder that we use in the shop and the Trip Finder that we use to schedule our uh Sports trips field trips all that stuff and there's a dashboard so it will be used all those pieces communicate together and we can use that for data mining because and if I said in my desk I can see what everything's doing for today and so can the person that's three doors down the hall versus now we have three different software companies doing three different things and we have to pull pull data three times individually and then then compare that way so and also during this process we have their implementation team for a year to train train my staff and they reevaluate our routes and look for efficiencies deficiencies and help us make sure that we're doing everything possible to to get everything done right thank you okay all of those in favor of approving items a through J as presented tonight please say aye aye all those opposed they are approved Dr Roberts thank you so then I now recommend uh the letter K the purchase of the buses as well okay do I have a motion to approve purchase of buses as presented tonight thank you do I have a second second okay again Mr major and I will abstain from this film but all this in favor oh yes thank you and sorry I've got another question is it um is it standard I noticed um just out of curiosity is it pretty typical or standard practice when you go bus shopping to to just get a couple of quotes from vendors I'd be happy to introduce Mr McKean uh actually he can speak to the uh specifics of that a little more clearly so we we spec our buses in such a way and BCS even have for many years for example seat belts and all the seats and all of our security systems and all those items you've heard of before so we we submit those specifications to a co-op who then facilitate the bids that do you see you may notice if you've been with us before usually there are three bids on that sheet this year there are two the other company their bid was not accepted for some legal matters that they have going on there that they're working through at the at the state level so that's the difference if you notice two bids this time versus versus three I have one follow-up question on the buses would this be the the first round to final get rid of the ones that don't have seat belts or how far out are we on the seat belt I think all of all routed buses already have seat belts on them is that correct okay and this will just bring all the buses to that 12-year Mark it's essentially what Mr Phillips after yeah actually what's your what you're approving now um is the ability for us to pre-order buses that would be delivered in 24 and at that point yes we'd have zero uh buses on on routes that are older than one of that 12 years I know uh Dr Bozeman we did some things kind of retrofitting our buses and I'm thinking of the stop arm cameras uh some other customizations that we may have done when we're ordering buses to be delivered in 2024 will they come the way we want or will will we have to adjust them after they get here uh correct they they come with the stop arms uh the stop arm cameras um from the factory um matter of fact our buses that we'll have delivered here in a couple months um or as well so the only thing we've retrofitted would be those stop arm additions that you referenced okay all of those in favor please say aye all of this posts Mission approved thank you Dr Blake I request approval of the HR recommendations as presented this evening thank you Dr plate do I have a motion to approve each of our recommendations I move that we approve the HR recommendations as presented by Dr pleek thank you Mr Grimes do I have a second any comments questions okay all those in favor say aye aye on this post motion approved thank you all right we will go to that's a scary picture you put that up there oh it was a good looking group I guess I'll send you a different photo okay for next for next month okay board input and review who would like to start I'll go ahead and suggest that I need some hair photoshopped um no and I'll sit here no I'll take you to here right now um no I just I wanted to just real quick say again thank you to all the both academic and athletic seniors and others out there that are competing possibly for the last time and uh that over the next uh week will be Logan and I on our tour will be at the North side in Taylorsville and we hope to have a similar report as Mr now and Mr Stewart gave tonight so thank you I've got a few things um one I want to thank bcsc and the isba for hosting some new school board members writing it was uh very insightful and helpful to understand our role in this process and really allowed us to share some best practices with I think we met within what region 10 which is mostly Southeastern Indiana so it was nice to meet across and see other school systems the other thing is is and feedback wise I've been selected to be a part of this idoe standards review to reduce the number of measures specifically in the social sciences economics and financial literacy section so any input from the border feedback please feel free I think we meet two times in February and another time in March to get the number of Standards down so that our Educators can focus on a fewer number of metrics versus the hundreds that I see today and then the other the other thing that I noticed is our policy updates one thing that we talked a lot about at the isba training was how integral we are to the setting policy and one of the best practices shared was looking at how to get those in front of the public to drive engagement so I would like to see given that we have the second reading scheduled for March 6 to see if we can get the final drafts that we're going to be reviewing out to the public at least two weeks so like February 20th so that they can see what we are voting on and that way they can make public comment respective to those drafts and so that would be one of my kind of asks to Dr Roberts and the administration if we can get those up and available so they can have that opportunity to review yeah we'll look at how we could do that I think you guys get the PDF versions and and then review those prior so with a month out we can see what possibilities exist to to share okay any others okay um congratulations again to uh Dr quick and Peggy Myers for becoming bcsc Hall of Fame members thank you to miss chef and the staff at uh McDowell for their presentation congratulations to Mr Newell on his new position uh thank you to Mr Phillips for another uh thorough well-explained financial report and lastly based on that picture it makes me realize how super anxious I am to grow my hair back but unfortunately I I think I'm still losing it so I've got a while hahaha okay also Echo the thanks to uh all the staff at McDowell I know we just had a few folks here with us tonight but um not just for the presentation and for the best practices that they shared but for the work they do day in and day out with the folks here in Bartholomew County and in some cases other counties as well that's really much appreciated thank you yes yeah the only other thing I would give you is that picture would look a lot better too with the bcsc sign right about right here [Laughter] Mr Right no no hey just so everybody knows I have a quick guide to Robert's rules on its way from Amazon okay so I will get this eventually I am generally an informal person and this is sometimes hard for me so I appreciate patience and for Mr MacGyver's help and with that I think we'll call oh wait next next school board meetings yeah so let me just cover those real quick Mr Williams so the next school board meeting regular meeting as has been mentioned is is a month away so March 6 2023 again here but additionally we did uh approve those subcommittees uh last time and make sure we give public notice for those uh we have the school board agenda one meeting here in the terrorist room at six o'clock two weeks from now and the public engagement one will meet upstairs in the boardroom uh also at six o'clock so those are the two subcommittee meetings and uh well there I know I've been asking for input and feedback and trying to start working through some of the purposes meeting the purposes of those those groups very good okay thank you with that we will call meeting adjourned everyone have a nice evening
so I will end there then there um the subsequent Pages the pages that make up the next hundred slides or um Teresa and Al or essentially your book um and Miss Cooper the book that you have at home that hard copy Blue Book um we took that book and now that is in this presentation it's all one big book um so nothing is separate the story is in front of the line items and then the live items come after this q a page that's here we of course we will take the Q a q a page out of um the book when we go to submit it so I will stop sharing now and I'll be happy to jump back into any pages that you might have any questions on Teresa will we be getting all this tomorrow yes yes thank you um to to um oh my gosh um Cara is going to um update the packet I think we have 24 hours to update the packet so the blue book that the board received will be replaced with the book t-h-e book The Only book that will be the same book that the city of Danbury receives meaning the council and it will be the same book that the board has and I I will make sure next year assuming you will have me uh make sure that the board receives a book in draft um by the last meeting in January probably a workshop um I think prematurely I handed you I think I handed you that book too early this year um and so I I had a book in circulation in which we never typically hand the book out in circulation knowing that we still have to make some modifications um but I it was important to me that we had a book that told the story so we didn't have slides here in a book here it's all going to be one um and so I'm hoping it will engage our readers and engage our Council um collectively so that they're putting pulling it all together as they go through the slides and the in the book in the presentation I'm sorry no I'm sorry I've talked enough we certainly thank you for you for your efforts in giving us the numbers to look at and we've gone through them and we do understand stand your needs I see uh luis's hand up Louisa Britton are you uh on Deck thank you thanks Al um just a quick question or a couple questions the need that you have the number uh the total number um which includes the 150 million ask from the city is that your is that our number just to you know keep our doors open and make sure that we reach all of our our benchmarks that we need as far as Staffing and all of that stuff or is there you know a wish list that was also folded into that number um so to Teresa I'll I'll answer to you in this way um because I know this question is coming so I appreciate the question so I I think it really depends on what the taxpayers in this city want for our children right and so my team we put together a budget that reflects what we feel and know are the needs of our kids and so if if we are happy with our kids as they where they are right now um and that means High numbers of chronic absenteeism high low numbers of proficiency across the board meaning kids not at grade level um if that means we're happy with kids growing at rates with frankly I think an upward trajectory but I cannot tell you we're going to maintain that upward trajectory if we lose the resources that help support that trajectory and so if if we're happy with not having resources like they have in Stanford like they have in Norwalk like they have in um like they have in other districts that look like ours and I can't think of the one that starts with the m right now Kara what's what's what's Mark's Meriden um the these districts have coaches these districts have people pressing on printables which we who we call Chiefs um these districts have people um folks who ESL teachers who can help support our multi-language Learners without those things I can't even tell you we will continue to experience the success that we have right now Louisa um and and by the way and again I I think the the board has gotten the taste of what the differences in our school's post pandemic experiencing what's happening with our expulsions it it's it's a different school system right now it's a different school system post pandemic and in this in this budget doesn't even have all the guidance counselors and social workers that we need right now um and so that that's my long way of saying this this ask what we have right now is what we feel like we need now if you tell me we're going to lose millions of dollars we're not going to come close then I'm telling you we're going to lose the support that this system needs to keep the upward trajectory that we've experienced perfect thank you and uh I'm sorry I have one more question um that number that you're projecting once the academy opens the that 12 million that's strictly Staffing that doesn't include operational um numbers am I correct that is correct Louisa um okay yes yes okay so 12 million is really is just Staffing so we have no idea what it's actually going to cost to operate the buildings right like energy and utilities cost not even calculated in that number right now okay Teresa thank you um thanks Lisa from one of the last presentations John mentioned taking the sr2 funds to replace some of those copiers so is this budget phase two of that proposed copy replacement John you want to clarify that piece because I I thought we said we were going to do something else with two but the the unfilled positions money from the general fund we were going to try to address the copy of Peace um because of the need for the the Mandate for the reading program uh we think it's better to use the uh remaining yes or two money for the uh the K5 reading program and as you saw and as Dr selig mentioned uh we're gonna start The copier replacement program year one will be um actually uh this year with the some of the unfilled positions that's the one I mentioned would be coming back to you with the transfer of four in the beginning of your presentation I had a little blip in my audio okay you did I understand correctly uh we bumping up to three Chiefs of schools rather than two or is the number two I'm sorry so that's that's so funny because that came up um in my office today so um it it should say chief of Schools administration and just to clarify so John's position Mike's position and Kim Kim Tom's position their Chiefs so those are the three Chiefs that's in the general budget John is the chief of Finance Mike is chief of operations Kim is chief of HR not true which McCall yeah right there's the roach and Morocco right yeah right those two were paid out of Title One okay yeah thank you thank you Terry I see your hand's still up uh is that the high tool or you just get to put it down I can't help it I have questions I'm sorry um I understand that we're going to get are the state is going to offer grants for the reading program will we be applying for those for that Grant to support the new program no it's dumping it if I may um so I have reached out to the state about that because in all of the uh webinars and the meetings that we've gone to we keep hearing about this um but there has been nothing tangible we haven't seen an application yet it's been a little bit elusive as to how to apply for it who who's eligible um you know as part of a strat our strategy with with making our decision this year instead of requesting to delay was a we have Esser funds available now and which we won't have down the road but B um hoping to for Danbury to be kind of first in line for any funding um to kind of get a jump on anything because those those pot Strat pretty quickly but I am actively trying to understand how to apply for it I have reached out to um our technical technical support provider along with some of the Commissioners um department heads to to get information but there's very little right now they are in a little bit of a twisted State I hate to say it that way but they're trying very hard to deal with the reading legislation mandate themselves as they they too did not quite have the same level of Manpower that that's needed to kind of support districts uh in the moment but uh I'm anticipating that will come eventually things have been coming very slowly but we're on top of it thank you you're welcome thank you any other questions questions closing statements sir well one Mr rooster I just want um to acknowledge the sign behind me AIS um I I am at AIS this evening and I've been invited over to read to kids this evening so I'm that's why I wear my favorite tie uh so I'm I'm excited okay absolutely um but but but but thank you and I I appreciate your patience with us as we were trying to get this information in this update um I I feel a little bit better about where we are I feel a lot better about where we are right now in terms of the story um it was important to us to make sure the story was kind of folded in with the line items so it's just kind of one big story if you will um and I you know I'm looking forward to the day hopefully soon I know we will be at City Hall and speaking to the education committee um and I I think it's really our opportunity to just reiterate um the needs um and Luis I appreciate the question Louise was asking because um I anticipate we'll get a similar question from the council that evening well what if you don't get this much uh what does that mean um and I think we need to be prepared with that with that answer for you um and then also for the city of Danbury so we will be working on those answers for you over the next couple of months leading up to April and May when these decisions are made thank you sir no thank you Mr Russo John Eddie comments good thank you all right thank you ladies and gentlemen uh any closing remarks Mr walson or shall we adjourn I'm I'm fine Mr Rose said thank you I really appreciate um everyone making time for us tonight and um and accepting um the invitation to meet one more time before the board meeting tomorrow I really appreciate it all right let's just say I I think the presentation uh tonight going forward if it goes down to City Hall is a great presentation uh very clear and that's because most of us have sit through this at least three times and more and really understand it and I think you're much more clear uh the only thing that that really we need to sort of think about and focus on when all those asset funds and we get to that cliff and how that's going to really affect us in the next two years we're going down we're asking for 100 million okay our budget request is nine million we don't know how close the city is going to bring us to that but I think whatever we asked it's just enough to barely keep our doors open and I think once the citizens of Dan bear really understand it and really I don't think anyone unless their specialty is to do budget really understand what that really means and we can talk about all the things and Mr Donovan did a beautiful explanation of what he needs to get kids through the high school and uh I think if we keep working together and hope that the city can look at what we need and maybe work with us a little bit more and give us a little bit additional funding and I don't expect that will happen but you know it doesn't hurt us to ask but uh I'm very pleased with the presentation and I just hope everything goes well uh do you know the exact date that you're meeting with the education Committee of the city we don't have a date yet um I know John and Citywide PTO last night just went through um the month of John what month was that again April last week of April oh okay well we don't have an exact date yet miss Cooper okay okay thank you thank you and thanks again Mr Russo for tonight looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow uh all right wish you all good evening and let's adjournitz 5 51 p.m ah Terry Terry I see your hand up dear God emotion emotion to adjourn oh I seconded that okay thank you all for participating Sir Mr Wilson thank you very much for for again another closer look and again it's a little bit different than we've had before yes but we know who we are we know what we need and I appreciate you all your your cabinet and your Chiefs of schools John [Laughter] to all I wish