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you join me in the pledge of aliance the United States of America stand na 2024 har could you please call oh Frost not here no here Ben ysf here CH here gorson here here Tire here oh we're six tonight okay do we have any correspondence none that I see report not happening tonight so do we have any visitor statements a lot of visitors okay ofit so cricc all right well uh welcome to 2024 and beginning tonight with our curriculum team presentation uh and I'll give Justin an opportunity to introduce his team here in one minute uh while they cue themselves up um but uh as you know each month we do uh curriculum team presentations around our social emotional learning goal um and this evening we have representatives from our multilingual learning division here and so Justin I'll let you introduce your team all right thank you Happy New Year everyone great to see everyone tonight is it the wrong so we're actually doing Spanish this from last year it was wonderful I got so excited M Nancy was here last year so I'll introduce everyone that's Nancy is the team leader Nancy Al to ny's left is Christina Mueller and then we have Mia Caris who is new to Stevenson here very excited to have Mia sort of and Mia yes Mia actually I I I met Mia for the first time on a trip to Spain when she was a junior I think between Junior and Senior year joining us Sam and I were shepher oning on the trip so we're excited to having you back as a teacher uh I haven't Gott used to calling him Sam yet by the way it's still Mr yeah it's sort of like hey and then Mr fist yeah I keep trying uh we have Chris and then s wonderful and there they are in that picture there along with their entire division wonderful group this was taken at the beginning of this year so they actually tasked me with this slide uh they put my name on the bottom right so just to situate where this course is in our sequence this is Spanish 34 it's an IT receives accelerated credit um it's situated just before Spanish 5 which is AP Spanish language and culture students can alternatively take Advanced Spanish conversation and culture this course if you go back a few years would primarily been a sophomore course but as our K8 Center Schools have Diversified their offerings we actually have a lot of freshmen who come to this course as well so it's probably a full section full of freshmen in this course each and every year and those students will often continue right on to apa sophomores and we have uh every grade level represented freshman sophomore juniors thank you okay so um just thinking about where we were now looking at our most uh recent student voice survey data um we can see that value of subject in classroom belonging our least percent favorable um scores but we've actually done a lot of work over recent years to increase these scores um we focus a lot on student connection acceptance empathy um for example they're constantly consistently looking at um the target culture um looking at similarities and differences comparing to their own culture talk engaging conversations with peers um learning about their culture so we've seen these scores grow a lot I actually just looked it up our value of subject score in 2017 was 49% and our classroom belonging was 58 so um we've grown so much in that area already so we wanted to push ourselves and see what else we could look at um so we saw that our third uh least favorable score is classroom learning strategies and we saw it's kind of um stagnant and these are around how students use strategies to manage their own learning in class or processes um so for example before you started a challenging project how often do you think about the best way to approach it and our lowest percent score there is how confident are you that you can choose an effective strategy to get your work for this class done well um so anecdotally we said that our students are really stressed they're accelerated kids um they want to get that a um and sometimes they get defeated when they don't and so we saw a lot of times um you know absenteeism on assessment days or students level change even though they're placed appropriately um so we wanted to decrease student Stress and Anxiety when taking performance- based assessments decrease student absenteeism on assessment days and increase student uh agency and involvement in their learning and growth um so we thought of the best way to do that was in one area of our rubric or um in our grade book uh for the interpersonal mode we made a portfolio so uh collection of student work um the of different conversations over the unit um reflecting on their areas of strength and growth developing strategies to improve before they go on to the next opportunity so they can have that chance to show growth all right and then Chris will explain a little bit more about what that looks like I've got a bit of kind of the then and now of kind of the evolution of how we assess students in the interpersonal mode historically students would have one opportunity sometimes two depending on the length of a unit to demonstrate their skills in the standard and it' be a culminating event typically at the midpoint or towards the end of the the unit depend if you had one or two assessments um and it was kind of like a standard process was a 3 to five minute long conversation usually depending on the student level at our level by the end of the year they're typically speaking for around five minutes after the assessments the students did a self-reflection they got feedback from their teachers a score uh was uh associated with that usually conversation with the student then students would typically have an opportunity to reperform Second opportunity uh the second assessment event to try to improve their score what what ended up happening though was the emphasis at least in the from a student's perspective was on the score at the end and not necessarily the language that they were producing and then the growth they were going through over the course of the unit or their whole trajectory as a student of Spanish so this is kind of like the before calendar just focusing on their personal modes there' be other assessments throughout the unit but this was your event this is kind of game day at the end of the unit in a traditional sense not really out of the ordinary but let's say you're in a food unit and you were tasked with a prop to debate your partner what is better a potato chip or a french fry you better be ready to go probably January or February 12th like that's the day and if you can't do it by that day you're you're kind of behind the a ball kind of playing catch up to try to reperform improve your score and again we saw absenteeism from a lot of students stess levels were high and then the process of rep performing really never got at the true nature of the spirit of learning a language and growing and improving over time and so as a team like ncy had outlined what we looked at was what if we kind of spread the opportunities throughout the unit why do we have to decide which one count as their score students should have some kind of agency in terms of deciding like hey this is my for the most part second language for some students third language um sometimes you have bad days and certain topics are easier to talk about than others so what's the big deal if we offer them a variety of opportunities with prompts that are associated with our curriculum at the end of the unit they choose still maintaining the spirit of the assessment um it's not the prompts were shared ahead of time still expecting 3 to 5 minutes conversation from the students the self reflection process was relatively similar however now it extended to a degree because students had far more time to consider their work um anecdotally from our perspective the way that they go about assessing their own work and reflecting on it and just like informally conversing about it has changed quite significantly um in in favor of this system um so before I pass off to Christina this is kind of the evolution of what a unit calendar would look like looks like they have far more assessments but in all reality they're they're opportunities and the students have become very accustomed to this so if on the 18th of January you're having a rough day or you're absent or you're out for for some reason it's not going to negatively affect you in the interpersonal standard one thing that we then as teachers kind of evolved with was how are we actually building our units if we're going to have four different opportunities for students how does this cause us to rethink the our curriculum as a whole the resources we're using to stimulate the students in their conversations and can we boil things down uh to unit sub themes to help them be successful and also to make it more actually stimulating for the students for for our student population all right thanks Chris so as you see here like Chris mentioned we divided up our curriculum into subunits which was really great because students were able to dive into our units at a deeper level by talking about different subtopics because we were giving students the responsibility of choosing their best performance we wanted to make sure that they were receiving quality feedback throughout this process so we kind of have a three- layer cake here we have the self-reflection we have pure feedback and then we have teacher feedback that was provided for simulated speaking conversation assessment and that mimicked the AP exam for the simulated conversations they were still able to to get that experience and that exposure we do this so that students can get feedback along that learning process but also by the time it gets to the day where they have to choose their best performance they have been given feedback multiple times by multiple people on different conversations and hopefully that gives them a clear picture of which conversation demonstrates their highest proficiency so with that the big tool that we use for students or to help students choose what their best recording is is this uh reflection tool right here so students get a copy of this it's just a double sheeted paper and so I'm going to kind of zoom in and explain the three big parts of this document so the first thing that we have students do is students first choose what their best recording is and they Circle The Prompt and then just State why did I choose This Record why is it my best one the second thing they do is they actually transcribe and correct their language now one of my favorite things to do is to actually watch students while they're transcribing because you'll see them so intently with their headphones on and they're writing writing writing and then sometimes they'll be like oh yeah like I use that so well or sometimes you'll see students being like Oh my gosh oh my gosh I can't believe I made that error and then sometimes you'll even have students get up and be like Sora I need another one I'm not doing this one anymore I'm going to do my other one because then I realized I did that on the other one so they're really involved in analyzing the work that they did in this these conversations and their proficiency and the third step of the reflection process is this part right here so you see four categories of our rubric language function text type communication strategies and language control and to us as a team this is our most empowering step for students in a traditional assessment model normally this is the teachers's job however in this step students are able to not only self assess but they can self-evaluate using this rubric therefore making it such an empowering step in their learning process and their assessment process which gives them more ownership in our classroom all right so the portfolio process is not simply just to teacher designed calendar with our pacing and our sub themes and our rubrics that we print out for them all nice and awesome that they engage with we also do um seek student feedback within the process so this um data right here is pulled from a Google form survey that we gave students at the end of semester one just to assess you know where they feel um they are at in the portfolio model and if they truly understand how that model you know is working and functioning in the classroom and how that compares to their previous experiences with the personal standard in their other courses that may have taken so this exact question that we asked them part of the survey was overall what is your perception of the portfolio process for this mode um which was you know the four conversations versus the one um and 79.5 students you know stated that they feel positively about the portfolio model they like it better than the previous model of just the one assessment date um so that data showed us that the St the students are you know not only understanding the process and all that we aim for it to offer them but also gives them the opportunity to truly engage in a more reflective learning process where assessment is integrated well into instruction um lessening their anxiety about arguably the most high anxiety standard that we you know assess students on um so here are some quotes from students right so we're not making this up got all these students we all divided and ConEd all six of us we all wrote one of them um so we have the bold and underlined Words which are really notable I won't read every everything um but you know I like the first one especially some days are just bad days it gives me options because my outside extracurriculars have a tendency you know they can interfere with the academic process and if we want students to be balanced um you know it's important to note that they are human beings outside the classroom they can build multiple ideas to improve outside of class um we can be part of our grade and basically choose what will help us um very teenage use the word basically there I love it um reflecting improving your Spanish communication and speaking skills which that bottom middle is important too because it you know it's not like going for a grade always it's truthfully at the essence improving our communication skills which is you know the backbone of why we are language teachers and they're language students in the first place um and we can see ourselves grow we have student choice we have growth we have agency and we have true you know Improvement of the skills not just oh man I'm going to reperform because I'm so how has this impacted us as teachers and how we're developing curriculum um as was mentioned before with the calendar it used to be that we had just one time at the end of a unit in which kids had to really kind to demonstrate their ability and oftentimes we would rack our brains in terms of what does that assessment look like to make sure that it's encompassing the breath of everything we've learned and having switched to a portfolio model being able to develop sub themes we've realized that hey we can break this down in a very manageable way for students and as mentioned before students can really dive in more curiously more intently into an area that they feel passionate about um another thing that's happened as a result of that is they're paying more attention to what's actually happening with the resources so in the past it could be kids might have dialed it down at the beginning of the unit and then dialed it back up towards the end realizing I've got an assessment coming I really need to pay attention here it's something where students every time we have a resource they realize this is going to be a factor within the next conversation that we're going to have so um in terms of of what it means for us in developing the resources in lesson planning in uh building up what it means to have those interpersonal communication strategies and skills and opportunities it's been really beneficial um throughout in regards to the portrait of a patriot and what we hope from students this portfolio model has helped us in regards to having them understand what it means to self-reflect so when it's in terms of pacing for us and how we are doing this our students have always had conversations what we really switched here is the idea of when are we recording and when it's not as though when you see that calendar with one assessment that they weren't speaking other days they were always speaking and it was just us kind of switching things a little bit so that way we realize let's capture them at these different moments um and as a result all these different points here have been something that we've been able to leverage with them um that self-reflection in terms of them being more cognizant of uh where they're currently at and what they need to do uh the idea of how it is they're working with peers and uh communicating with one another how they can gracefully say Mia this is your not best work and here's the reason why and having to use language from uh you the class to to really explain that um and then justifying it to us right so the idea of evidence-based learning the conversations have really switched to students uh saying to us instead of what's my gr here is what do I need to show in the next one or uh you know um what can I do to make up this this particular part because they've self-identified on the rubric or they've worked with their peers or they've internalized it so much that they realized what needs to happen in that next step moving forward though I think as a team we're set up beautifully in terms of uh the willingness to want to iterate so we've naturally been tweaking things so what we've done one unit we've talked with one another thought about what's worked what hasn't worked and we've been adjusting so it's continuing to work on that realizing that Perfection doesn't exist um but that Pursuit should always be there right us tweaking things so we're improving the next is expanding it so we've talked about interpersonal and that's something that as Mia stated is probably the most stressful things for for students because they're having to put themselves out there but we have other modes of communication that we assess kids on and the idea of building a vertically articulated portfolio uh where students are going from one class to another having similar experiences where maybe they start off with interpersonal in uh Spanish 3 let's say or sorry 23x and then the next year they roll in interpersonal with presentational so that they're having a sense that they're not going from one portfolio to a different portfolio model in different skills but they're able to then see longitud over years how they' progressed throughout so being that our teams are highly collaborative we haven't gotten there yet but we're in the right step to go towards that um and the ultimate goal would be to have just a portfolio for all the skills right so at this moment we've LED down to interpersonal I believe other teams are doing presentational the beautiful thing about our programming here is that because we're highly collaborative and we have people on different teams you don't have to mandate that one team does one thing people naturally are on different teams and they want to do what's successful other places and so we end up getting to the right place faster as a result but that's the ultimate goal so thank you I know there's a lot that we stated and I'm sure there's plenty of questions yes a question you were talking about the the part of the process where the students kind of do their own analysis of their work and provide input as to how they feel they've done what they've accomplished and where they are in the in the process how do you all or how do how do teachers evaluate that and validate what it is stud prod so their own personal self-reflection well what if you go back to you know like the old school days the teacher would just grade the student more directly either in a conversation or um a written piece of work or something like that well that's not happening so how do the teachers get involved in validating the that evaluation process with the student so think a lot of it comes from modeling beforehand what the expectations are for the assessment sh kids exemplars of like this is what it meanss to be sucessful successful in this assessment but as Christina mentioned the transcription is really powerful because in the end we're asking students to show to show us the evidence So within that conversation they've or in that transcription they've stated everything they've written down so if a student misidentifies their strength and we come back to them we say well you know you believe that you were strong in this area here but I'm not finding that within your transcript like where are you seeing that you're successful in this area and I think it's teaching kids to be a little more forthright and honest with themselves but having that is the evidence something else that we do as well sorry to so something else we do as well is once we as teachers have graded all of their interpersonal speakings it is an in-class activity to go over the feedback so we pass back the transcriptions and something really powerful that we do is we actually do not post the score in IRC right away because we really want the students to internalize that feedback we know our students love that a and so we know that if they just see the score they're just going to just shut down or they're not really going to pay attention to the areas of strength or areas growth so what a lot of us do is we'll have them analyze their any comments that the teacher has made and then we ask them you know based on this feedback where do you think you have scored after your teacher has like marked it up and um it's really interesting because 90 95% of the time students are very accurate like they're like oh man I thought this one was really good but I didn't even realize that I was doing this wrong or I didn't even realize I didn't have strings of sentences so that's where kind of that interaction piece comes in sure to that to that exact point do you find that kids are still or some of them at least are still a little bit uncomfortable not being able to say well you're doing kind of B work now or you're doing a work now that they want that that um more definite grade is that or are they really kind of Chang they do I have they Chang their mindset to really accomplishing Mastery and not driving for the gr I think we've heard like anecdotally like their language change before it would just be like all right well I think that that one was like that one wasn't it or whatever but I remember the first time we did this like last year a girl was leaving she's like I don't know because recording was really two because I had a lot of strings of sentences but my text type was better in this one and my question my communication I was like I didn't even know that you knew the language of the rubric and then they walk out and they're really reflecting on like the areas of the rubric and not the I think this is a a three or I think this is a two 72% yeah right yeah 72 exactly yeah so I think their their language has their mind set has shifted but I mean they're always just going to want that I you know I'm sorry I do have one more question in terms of the entire group are you seeing consistency from one teacher in one section to the next do you have you looked at that data you should take a look at our group chats we should have done a screenshot of that I'm very fortunate to you know work with such wonderful people who are willing to put themselves out there but then also respond to other people's questions so our Spanish 3x team chat like people will upload videos and say like hey can somebody help me with this one and so we calibrate that way in terms of interpersonal or interpretive or writings or whatever it is um and it's you know it's the combination of personalities and willingness to work and kind of be out there but uh I think as a result of the calibration beforehand the calibration once we get the assessments together uh I think the great distribution would probably prove out that like we're very well calibrated thank you question about um did you break out the data in terms of sort of stress levels around assessments with regard to your sophmores or your upper classmen and your freshman because I'm just you talked about how in 23 you're sort of moving towards this so that's a softer transition I'm just thinking about kids who are coming from our different Center districts different classroom cultures and they you know the young in the classroom and how that might be compounded also just adjusting to a totally different way of participating and self assessing and being assessed so what is does it look different with that sections worth of freshman that you have in three four think we've broken it down that way but I mean that's really because I mean I know the freshmen in their comments or in the surveys have been like I don't really know anything anything else so I'm pretty okay with it I guess so I mean yeah I don't know but that would be really interesting dat though so the way we collect the data I don't think we can unless we ask them to indicate indicate their so future yeah my other thought is just that hopefully by the time they've been here for a year plus they've been more informed and more intentional around class selection I feel like sometimes that first year it all feels hard or maybe they've gone the most aggressive placements you know not like I have twin eth graders at home and have selection on the brain sorry but um just asking for a friend a twin study so so you talked about uh portfolios that you collect all this work into a portfolio and then they go over does that portfolio stay with the child as they move to to the next level the next class um so that they can then continue to build on it or is it just stay within Spanish 34 it's next level is themselves live like digitally yeah so I think we're at the experimental stage right now so we're really piloting this um the way in which we're doing it and other teams are starting to uh you know decide if they want to do a portfolio model within your personal present ational and it was important that everybody all the teams decide how they want to do it so that we can see what works in like a really expedited way um so at the moment nothing is ver articulate that way but the hope would be that in future years we're aligned in such a way where a kid could go from you know their first experience to their last experience and have their full body work but if we were to try to do something like that now because we're still tinkering and messing with the dials it it could get really kind of Haywire so until it's something where it's programmatically Sol five like this is based on our experience the best way to do an in pris portfolio like I don't think that's going to happen so until we get so it stays there I mean IDE so it is digitally like they at the end of the year um we do it on an app called class kick they could download it as a PDF and keep it and have all the files and their feedback and Reflections um but what they do with that in the future wouldn't necessarily be what we do in 34 wouldn't necessarily translate to AP but they could have it for themselves ideally what I heard you say earlier I think in answer to Gary's question is yes kids are chasing grve we haven't we're not changing that but in doing so they're doing it based on very specific skills and they're understanding the skills and where they need to go to get there to get to the grade that they want is that any different in the last few is that a bit of a shift also in in terms of that type of thinking with the new ways of grading and all these other factors that have kind of played into this is that different I think you see them celebrate like their performances differently so you get like more Snippets of students like experiencing success and being happy because of the different experiences like celebrating their language so we historically since I've been here since my fifth year the kind of the framework has existed in terms of self-reflection teacher feedback peer feedback but then the way that the students go about like analyzing their own work um and then trying to improve upon it is like this has kind of been the big evolution so you'll see after uh a recording one day like the kids are like like they're like really excited for one they're like oh would you mind if I use that one like or like one part might be kind of bummed and the other like you it wasn't my best one the other be like hey I I think I'm going to use that because I really like this piece and so there's a little more there's a lot more like celebration of kind of like the the interaction that they have with each other like right immediately after a conversation versus just we're going to talk we're going to upload it and do my reflection and move on um that at least is something I see consistently across the board something that add to that which I think is really important too in the original model whoever your partner was for that particular conversation that was it that was it um so sometimes you get the kid who doesn't talk at all and sometimes you get the kid who doesn't stop talking and you got to but in this particular model right they've got four opportunities so as Chris was saying like some kids are super pumped about that conversation because they the Synergy was there and everything lined up whereas that's not always the case for everybody so in terms of agency in terms of different metrics of student report like this assessment is alleviating a lot of stress this process alleviating a lot of stress for students and it's creating a better environment for ourselves and I'd say like Chris has brought this up like a lot is because since they do four different conversations you know one kid could you know upload this conversation but another kid uploads a conversation with that other kid and you can hear you're like oh you picked the right one like that one that you did awful that yeah like that one wasn't your best it's cool to be like you didn't you know like you have the they have the awareness of being like this is the better one and they're only to get better at it as well so I know from having gone um and done EBR a couple years ago when we first started doing that the students learn the process so I think as kids go from two 3x doing this to us the that hurdle you get over is a lot faster because they understand the mechanics of the language um feeling with it all do you think that that's reflected in the increase in your belonging metrics next data set bring out maybe two soon next right thank you oh sorry let just ask one more question so if you found that this is a a good thing for students that that uh it improves whatever they're supposed to be improving are you sharing this with the other language groups in your division it's actually people in French doing this or yes Chinese this has been a thread of our staff our quarterly staff development for the past two three was last spring yeah last spring this team actually presented uh to the division we have uh our our German teacher Bina has been doing content based portfolio for quite a while and it's been fantastic she has a portfolio presentation at the end of each semester uh this team thought a little bit differently about it and thought of it through the realm of choice around assessment and we really glommed on to that and we're expanding it right now as they mentioned we're innovating so uh we're working there isn't really a model out there uh at the high school level for how this could work there's research that says this is very powerful but in practice there isn't much so we're in the act right now of of making that model for others and yes it's something we're committed to collectively for sure Justin are you saying there there are no there are no other high schools that are that are doing this to your knowledge that this kind of the portfolio that's astonishing to me is that true yeah and there are very few that use our grading system in general and then beyond that to give choice and assessment you'll see it a little bit more at the University level where there's a portfolio you'll have a number of things you might turn in and then you pick the one you want um and it's originally in the research going back to 90s in the world of English language development elll it was a big thing to presentent portfolios so that it started many years ago it's not a new idea per se but to use it on world languages in practice is really novel surprisingly interesting their portfolios say fine arts for inst English depart generally speaking I think a lot of language programs are still kind of stuck in the grammar kind of focus whereas Market having a birthday party exactly whereas people do right this group has really been focused on want kids to be able to like actually speak the language so you know it's it's a different model Al together well thank you guys so much we appreciate you great job very nice thank a thank you thank you you of course are welcome to stay um but this was the best part of the meeting so um we'll give you a minute to find your way thank you so much thank you got married the office the B that was awesome thanks happy about that yes very happy about that all right here we go uh next item is our for policy updates uh we did a first reading in December yes did um and so we're bringing this to you as for your approval tonight um and it's a press issue one 113 okay sorry um can I get a motion to approve so much who was it that was second second thank you okay any questions for Eric on this uh and just to remind you you know I know you've probably taken a look at this but you know we've kind of categorized these um where you know A and B are the ones that um you know p and I felt like um you know we really wanted to get some more information and dive in we for a we've reached out to lawyers to make sure that we're on the right page and for B uh level B those are things we also wanted you just to pay attention to everything else um you can either skim or ignore um but Level A and B are the ones that we wanted you to be sure that you were comfortable with and I would say that um all of these are essentially this term required by law yes so feel free to disagree but you got to do it anyway I don't have a disagreement but I have a question about one you categorized as C I'm just curious um because I like had to reread it several times to make sure that I I think I understood it how does a commemorative holiday get reflected in the school year is that something that happens in the classroom or like this is the footnote to the school year and calendar day about adding Constitution Day as a commemorative holiday what is I I just want to understand what it means yes all right yes yes it's put in there as a footnote and I think it's one of those things where it's just duly noted gotcha yeah yeah I just feel like with anything with regards to the calendar and obviously next year we're going to have the election day cor as oh no no no this oh sorry now I understand your question this is not reflected in our official school calendar the commemorative holiday correct not correct sorry I misunderstood your question that's what I wanted to understand no no no no no no there are many of those um I know yeah yeah yeah those are not reflected in our official school calendar I'm sorry I misunderstood no because I was also like does that have to be like refed in curriculum okay good like I said it was a sealess question most most of those things um fall upon our friends in the social studies Department to make note of and highlight and great things to talk but it's not part of I'm sorry I misunderstood it's not part of the official school calendar gotcha yeah thank you sorry yeah no no no good question I had another question about a C1 this um deny future admission to athletic or extracurricular we talking students or are you talking about unruly visitors what poliy uh 8:30 visitors just generalized visitors so if somebody is anybody known to be un ruing they can be correct yes behave yourselves behave yourselves Troy will trade the bouncer yep I've seen it if I behave myself and the dog walker and one other question about the um number 750 on the SE um transfer to a regional safe school does that mean that we have expelled a student if there transfer there or is that sometimes a temporary move could be a temporary issue not an exposion okay any other questions okay ter could you please pull the board it's a Voice vote oh it's a Voice vote sorry it's okay all right so all in favor to adopt the policies I oppos carries okay um you'll see our uh Personnel report includes our normal um kind of selection of transfers and reassignments and resignations uh and hirings so you can take a look at that uh we will not need an execu and that'll be approved in consent we will not need an executive session following the meeting and for the first time in 17 years I can't remember a night where Sean has nothing to say so let's Revel in that for just a hot minute and uh note that um the remaining items are for consent including destruction of close session audio video recordings release of executive session audio recordings and uh the need for confidentiality for executive session minutes all of those will be taken up uh under consent you'll see our um foyer requests for this month and that brings us to the consent agenda all right and just to clarify the recordings because it says voiceful next to all of those but it's still okay it could be part of consent part consent okay can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda so moved second I have no idea who did this uh that was Ronnie and Ronnie thank you um so could you please P more certainly Ben ysf yes s you hi course hi good Moon I Tire hi no hi it carries six to nothing okay just some uh interesting uh notes Here we had a really great midyear celebration honoring a whole schoras Borg of teachers and faculty and uh Troy and Mark uh honored folks with super Pats and so you can see that nice list of folks that we were able to recognize there um including Matt who happens including our very own Matt super super super P that's right the two-time winner um absolutely amazing work to get the PAC ready yeah no kidding uh just thought you might be interested in the article you may have seen it the misguided war on the SAT I thought that presented a a great Artic a little bit different take on the whole um do away with college admissions testing I thought that was interesting uh I just thought you would also be interested in our uh we have so many athletic programs I think I've shared with you before that there there's only a handful of division one colleges who have athletic programs bigger than ours we have well over 2500 athletes Troy I forget the exact number um 40 something Sports all these different levels over 200 coaches over 200 coaches um and now over the past couple of years um we have a girls wrestling program that is one of our fastest growing um Sports they're doing an amazing job I sent you a picture earlier today the girls wrestling in the Fieldhouse um absolutely fantastic so kudos to Trish and our coaches uh for creating that opportunity um and so you can see an article I included there as well around girls wrestling in the United States and kind of the equity challenges and opportunities that it provides um I hope that we're um fulfilling our expectation and commitment to equity um so that's just a note of interest uh I also shared with you um a list of important dates uh p and I put this together over the past few days this is uh Beyond a draft maybe not totally final things of course change uh but it's here linked but I also we also gave you a hard copy I know that some of you like to have it in your hands um all of these dates will be put on our Google Calendar um but we also wanted you to have a hard copy you know I usually provide this for you right around this time so you know what's coming up in the spring and summer I just want you to and I part of the reason in pointing this out is I would love for you to go to the back page and I just want you to note um that our very own version of um of I can't say that L public meeting but um he week is May 20th to May 24th right so we have this is usual right we usually do this past 16 years we have our board meeting on Monday we have admin reviews on Tuesday then we have graduation on Friday so it's a big week but we' like to get it all done get it over with um so out the and accordingly we will have good food uh and the opportunity to be together that's it that's all we have we're hoping it Troy's gonna make sure it doesn't rain and snow tonight so yeah thank you Troy we appreciate it I got a cover enough um okay can I have a motion to adjourn so moved all right all in favor

Julie Cara Caston here Ken Dawson here Chris Espinosa here Jenny hagstrom here Terry pavage here Don rener here Gianna hunie here and Nala moath here thank you having let's stand for I pledge Al to the flag of the United States America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we're you go first all right so it's been a few weeks into the second semester and everyone is excited but also anxious and nervous these sophomores and freshmen they're wondering what their next classes are going to be with the course selection and I've seen a lot of the underclassmen go to Upper classmen asking like what they recommend for them to take and what is easier what are the easier classes harder classes and then um Juniors they're they're really feeling it now with the SAT prep classes and the SAT coming soon and also knowing that this was their last year choosing classes for next year and Senior year is going to be harder for them and then seniors of course they're ready for the semester to end but they're also anxious on what the next steps are on what colleges they're going to and when how they're going to see their friends next year if everyone's going to different places so everyone's anxious but also excited and definitely like I know a lot of clubs are figuring out like different plans so that way it could this year could run smoothly and everyone's like a little bit more calmer thinking about like the future and with access classes we're having a lot of those student Choice days where everyone's actually relieved from those parts that way they can think they can ask teachers for help while also studying with their classmates and then we also have our future Mustang night today so a lot of kids are going to South for clubs and trying to get these freshmen these incoming freshmen to to join their Club so that way these freshmen can also feel as if they belong when they come into South next year and I myself will be leaving a few minutes early to talk to the freshman and also uh talk about my club that I'll be at so all in all it'll be a great start of or it has been a great start for the second semester and hopefully everything will go smoothly from here thanks uh similar things over at Downers North we also just had our course selections coming up so counselors have been meeting with their students and just building a schedule on what's kind of best tailored to them I have also had a lot of people come up to me and say hey should I take this class I'm like no or yes um so I have my yeah but um seniors are just kind of writing this next part out um juniors are freaking out about the SAT and ACT but like I remember doing that which um which I I know a lot of sophomores are excited for the new SAT program that's coming in for Access because that's going to be I think alleviate a lot of that stress uh we have our new student orientation coming up so hopefully we get a lot of new PE we obviously we'll get a lot of new people but hopefully we get a lot of very excited people showing up and wanting to get as involved as possible um our access has also been very good I think the students love having a new student Choice I've been loving it because um especially with the snow days just being able to catch up with all of my classes and the flexibility that it allows is awesome uh the snow the SNES actually went really well um I know this was one of our first times really doing this I think it went it went pretty well teachers prepped us beforehand and they were like get on the Google meet you did this for a year you guys know the drill just get on the Google meet and then they just gave us an assignment to do and it was really well ran so all in all good stuff thanks G uh moving on to item number four approval of minutes can I get motion for the Board of Education to approve the minutes of the a December 18th 2023 business meeting and the b December 18th 2023 closed so moved second Chris second thank you Terry pavich I Chris Spinosa hi Jenny hagstrom hi Cara Caston hi Ken Dawson hi and Don rener I really do we have any visitors we do not sir no slips okay than I'll turn it over to you number six all right we have a finance heavy evening this evening so uh this is the Dre show most of the night so we'll turn it over to Dre for first the quarterly financial report okay so let's see all right this slide is showing us our current operating fund balances as of December 31st and as you can see the ending fund balances for for 2023 is very similar to 2022 which is at the bottom um nothing of any surprise right here so um everything looks like it's pretty much on Target and on this side we're looking at the revenues that have collected which is typical at this year we have a little over 90% collected because the bulk of our revenues do come from property taxes and those property taxes are received in June and September for the most part um the only areas that we're still kind of waiting for collections on are going to be your our our school fees and those are those come in all year long BL state aid and federal aid is coming in as expected we don't see any surprises there does anybody have any question on any of the revenues okay on to the expenditures then and once again typical at midy Year we're about 50% expended for for our budget um which you know is where we should be there's just two areas um that we monitoring one is in the area of special ed any of the services related to special ed which would be transportation we have staffing agency expenses that are a little bit higher this year than what we had anticipated and then utilities um we just recently got off of a three-year uh energy contract it it expired in May and then we started the new one in June so those rates went up um we had locked in for three years at low rates um so it's it's our best guesstimate as to what the cost would be for this year and they're running a little bit higher than what we anticipated and then we've you know now that we've got some cold temps we'll see where we we're at but it it looks okay it's just a little higher than what we had expected but overall everything looks Just Right On Target Dre just for the benefit of the new board members could you explain the tuition line item and what that represents please oh sure um and Scott might want to help with that that's um outplaced facility tuition for the most part a small portion of it is to tcd um but for the I would say the majority 90% of it is for outplaced students so students that are receiving their their educational environment outside of the North and South High or t99 and what are some common reasons for um I mean we have some students that um you know like significant behavior issues that they'll need wraparound supports and so we use a therapeutic School uh to support them um we have some students with um you know really significant needs um you know autism non-verbal uh medical that just we use uh private schools for that so thank you any other questions all right moving on uh fiveyear Financial projections as the board uh remembers typically we do these in the fall but jury transitioning into the new role and some of the things we're doing with facility plans we put this off uh till this month so here with this yeah so there's been a group of us that have meant met over the past few months to go over like Dr athy mentioned um some of the capital projects in that um and we're taking a pretty um deep look into salaries and benefits and possible retirements over the next few few years and how that might affect the forecast um this forecast goes out to 2028 um it's as you can see it's based upon um certain I'm sorry is the full slide there is that just part of it uh I oh it's in two parts okay it's in two parts okay thank you uh as you can see then at the top part there's um just some variables that we've included in here CPI um some of the average increases for our expenditure categories as you'll see salaries is net of retirement so we do factor in the savings um the reduction in expenses for salaries if we have a number of retirements and what those Replacements would be uh we're projecting on our did you want just okay just on our enrollment just to stay kind of steady um again that's just a just a projection right there uh our Capital outlay as you can see is is um pretty typical between 1.2 and and we million for next year is what we're anticipating since we have some other capital projects planned um outside of this so um any questions on this portion of it it's just the basic variables okay all right so here we can see that overall if we go to the very bottom line that's probably the most important line it's showing us where we project our fund balance to be at the end of each of those years and we are maintaining that balance well above 5% um we've factored in a pretty hefty adoption of textbooks next year um additional cost in transportation expenses so our typical um increase in expenses and then our revenues are are basically staying flat except for the property taxes and for the last couple of years or so those are just it's just an estimate saying CPI is probably going to be around 3% any questions on any of this we were Dr the and I were pretty happy to see that we were able to maintain fund balance at at the rate I if you want to add anything to it now our goal is to always try to bring it as close to a balanced budget as possible and also one that doesn't see our fund balance going in the wrong direction uh even considering the fact that our yearly budget is in expected to increase year-over-year so keeping that fund balance that it you know steady is is a goal so we don't have a structural deficit built in just because of the increasing overall budget do you use this primarily for Capital projections or uh no for basically to try to gauge our budgets over the next few years and future contracts so when we're talking with first student saying this is what you know all right this can this will go within what our forecast is or we find out it's going to be higher than what our forecast is and we might have to make other adjustments but for the most part you our largest expense are salary and benefits so we use this for those contract negotiations we also have a board policy that if we start projecting a fund balance below 3% that we would have to put austerity measures in place to make sure that we're not dropping below that number so uh this is one of the things within policy to just demonstrate we're not projecting you know a a structural deficit where four years five years from now all of a sudden we're dipping below that threshold and we have an opportunity to make smaller adjustments now that would have long-term impacts on the budget um so this just shows like basically if we keep functioning as we are we stay out of that idea of a structural deficit all right any other questions all right next one uh is just a legal requirement that we inform the board at a public board meeting that we filed uh with the electronic Municipal Market access portal uh our compliance annual report and jur did that on December 21st 2023 so the board and the public has been informed that that has been filed very good all right uh Bond issuance uh upcoming Bond issuance uh so this is as the board uh remembers we discussed in fall Travis and Jim brought forward some additional Capital Improvement projects that fall out of our normal normal Capital planning uh these date all the way back to we knew these were were coming when we uh passed the referendum for the master facility plan and the committee that was advising us on the master facility plan recommended removing these types of things from that overall project and addressing these further on down the road we are now further on down the road and uh many of these things are are becoming end of life and need to be replaced or repaired uh so as we discussed earlier this fall uh these are things that that we need to do and we have a proposal of bond issuance that we would be able to uh put in place to pay for these projects um current operating funds do not currently include these projects so that forecast that you had uh includes these projects being paid for outside of the regular budget buet so that's $5.2 million in working cash bonds uh however the way that we would structure those bonds there'd be really no discernable impact on the uh on the property taxpayer they fit into our already debt structure which D could talk more of if you have questions on it and then in order to do this there'll be a public hearing is our next step we'd ask for Action tonight to hold that public hearing for the public to address the board on this matter uh before we would move forward how do I do Jer M all right so any I I can give you the overview specific questions we turn and look at Jer so uh anything any questions the board has on this it'll be a a topic for the next couple of board meetings though we have expiring debt such that this 5.2 isn't going to impact the taxpayers Hang reference it will be coming off and we do have um funds in The Debt Service fund that we have used to make some of the first payments for other issuances and so that's what Bond council is working on for what that structure looks like mhm there's you did point it out and I I I did put it in my notes to to also point out that as we looked at the fiveyear forecast we looked at that fund balance of being around six % uh ratio and if we were to take $5 million out of the operating funds then we would drop below that 3% which then violates board policy so we would have to do something you know if we were going to go forward with these repairs and improvements well I think we all recognize the importance and significance of these projects such that if you know we should move forward forward right and it's not going to have any substantial impact on our tax base I think that's the best of absolutely absolutely yeah all right any other questions no so there'll be an action item today for resolution to place uh that public Hearing in the future and the order to set the special meeting yes all right uh summer camp fees also up as an action tonight I'll turn this one over to jury as well okay so uh last winter there was a large group of us that met it was Administration and staff from both athletic departments to review the athletic summer camps that we offer um we discussed the detail of each camp and fees that we charge for the camps and then the Staffing compensation the way the current free structure is set um does not allow for all coaches to be paid for their full amount of hours that they actually put in to the camp um and so with that we felt we really needed to look at a different type of structure which is what we see on the right hand side and um so we are as a group we we're proposing this new fee structure uh it better reflects what our camps actually are that we offer now they've kind of changed over the years uh The League Baseball on the left-and side is now the 70 and more hours on the right hand side and what that is is it would be summer camp baseball and the league baseball kind of combined together because it that's really what it is most of sorry it's inter I was going to say but so so the assistant athletic directors and the athletic directors all felt that a a fee structure such as the one on the right is just a better one that to to offer are most are most of the camps staffed by coaches d99 so that is the vast majority the majority we do have some a few that would you it's not many a couple that are external and then we have some high school students that help out too and that doesn't interfere with the Isha rules for uh coaching oh oh no no no these are the youth camps right yeah this is open to so that's why to the community yeah yeah are they also the camps that high school students go to yeah current students too yeah incoming and current students but they're not the practices that start up like in August these are just the camps that start June and July they run they could run for as you can see I think like the tennis camps run for about 20 hours or something yeah is that right yeah yeah we just lost a tennis coach in Ence you're you're this is a self- sustaining program meaning revenues are going to pay our expenses and you thought the prior expenditure rate schedule was too low to match our expenses correct but it's not charging Camp attendees for like facility charges and lighting no heting or what have you no it's really just capturing the actual pay and compensation our coaches yes one area that we found that was not included in the prior um look at expenditures is the athletic trainers that we have on staff all summer long for these camps and so we we included those and so that was actually $5 per Camp so that part of the increase was due to the athletic trainers and have we been seeing a steady increase in enrollment in these camps in recent there's I think the camps are always full yeah they're always full okay you got a good bang for your buck yeah this is very similar to what other local summer camps run per fees and that we looked into that so really if you look you know 19 hours or less like all the way up until that 40 or more you're seeing about a $15 Increase five of that is the athletic trainers the other 10 is just increased costs and then we just expand that model out to reflect the number of hours in those other ones yeah I think keeping it affordable is key I experienced with these camps and I think it is a great way as young people schoolers you about the school ands Andes I just they're they're are really great and affordable pressure of school for most although some do summer school and a camp yeah and in the case of my daughter it led her in an athletic direction that she was not going in because she participated one and decided to stop what she was doing and switch because she had such a good experience so and you're talking about3 to5 an hour right right very reasonable very reasonable how many summer camps are we planning on offering this coming year do you know by chance oh I would say oh there's got to be almost every sport could tell you the number but it's most not all sports off camps and we have do one I don't know they do like a summer's a lot and I mean there's kindergarten through through third grade and third grade through fifth grade and so that's why I'm like there's has to be 30 to 40 per school and there could be more than that there's just so many because of all the different ages it depends on enrollment who signs up but most of them run every year so yeah MH yeah it's a great way for our coaches also to see what they've got coming yeah my soccer coach bases a lot of stuff off of what he sees in the camps I was able to build a really good relationship with my coaches because of the camps yeah yeah so it's really a good thing all right so this an action item later tonight any other questions or concerns on this one all right moving on to other things over the summer summer school compensation uh Rob has a memo in there with a recommendation of increasing the teacher stipend from $3,324 to $3,490 which reflects a 5% increase which reflects what our increase was this year due to inflationary rates so uh any questions I'll turn it over to Rob otherwise this is an action item for later on this I know Rob wanted to give a 20-minute presentation super complex yeah also uh for approval this evening is the proposed summer school calendar this reflects what we've done for the past I don't know 8 10 years something like that um and reflects the required state holidays of juneth and the 4th of July in there as well this is also up as an action item this evening uh any other questions could go around you rotate between South and then North right we do yeah so which which campus is it at this year where were we last summer they at North at North North okay we're back in South this year and esy will be at t99 esy is at t99 now yeah extended school year will be at t99 so happy to move that into facility EX all right no other questions moving on to scoreboard contracts uh these are up uh for approval pending attorney review this evening um so we recommend the total cost there is 1.68 760 1.3 million uh and authorize us to sign all the contracts once the attorneys have reviewed Travis is working between the board board's attorneys and the company on these couple of renderings on the bottom that the board has already seen before um but this would be the approval to start moving forward with those projects any questions on it I'll turn it over to Travis um and so with these um I know we were uh talking about um advertising MH now is that um do we have a committee that that's uh looking into that um to offset this cost CU it is a lot yeah we have some general plans right now pending we're not doing a ton of work on that until the board approves that we're actually going to move forward with them and then we'll start working on that moving forward okay do we anticipate a certain dollar amount that we're looking at to bring you heard a wide variety of numbers depending on the school district that you're in and the community you're in I think we'll know more a year from now than we know right now okay we anticipate though it it becoming a revenue stream for us yes well you know I'm just looking at offsetting the cost of of of it you know when you're looking at you know 1.4 let's say um you know that's that's a lot of dollars and um have we made a um a decision on what we as a board are going to do for um advertising the board policy allows us to to do advertising uh the existing board policy will bring once this is approved assuming it's approved this evening then the team will start working on actual plan and proposal that will come back to get approved by the board later on this school year okay so we we still have to set some parameters we don't set or any of that that process so jury and Travis and the rest of the team have been talking about it just kind of informally in the background uh but you know one step at a time so we're not going we don't want to invest a ton of the staff time in uh project if the board doesn't approve the purchase of the actual scoreboards right and approve the bonds to pay for them them right so it's all of those kinds of pieces have to fall in line with one another well uh seeing the renderings that were in the packet um they're really cool they're very very nice I believe that they will be a draw for advertisement just having the video nature of them and the type of resolution that we're looking at on these screens uh I think there'll be a a big draw for advertising which will go right back into our capital projects um but you know one step at a time here well you know and it's also a a a step in the direction of don't say it yes you know what scoreboards i m fa these are not digital signs these are scoreboards but it's a step I I do want something that I've been after for how many years correct you're getting digital scoreboards not S I do want to point out that by doing both of these projects both inside and outside there's two factors that are at play we get just under a $77,000 uh discount by doing both projects at the same time okay right and also with that from uh everything that we're hearing your Revenue amount is greatly increased by having both internal and external because you have a lot more events that are able to to occur right so um initially we had talked about outdoor alone but when we started hearing some of that and uh were able to get some discounts associated with that we thought that makes more sense because we can our return on investment will be much quicker right so that's why we're we're looking at both indoor and outdoor MH is is our number of indoor outdoor activities like roughly 5050 no much more more many more inside okay okay I I thought when we were looking at the 5.2 number um and the original estimates we had placed estimates at 500,00 000 on each campus for the scoreboards so we're over estimate that was for the just the uh exterior just the exterior did we estimate in interior scoreboard we were we were at 250 uh for each of the indoor okay um and 500 for the uh the outoor so we're actually under budget then we are but this is with no infrastructure work right so that's where but we do feel confident with the amount that we have put in uh these as well as um if you remember when we when we came earlier this fall uh we already had in there that we needed the the sound system at North inside replaced right so when you consider that we're tackling that as well um we feel like we are in a good spot for the electrical and fiber that needs to be run uh both inside and outside and the 5.2 Bond issuance also includes the issuing fees as well correct mm so that's in that 5.2 mhh well to me this is very exciting and I think our students will get a lot out of it too there's a lot of really cool engaging things such as uh if you have the app and uh say you take a video at the game it can send it up to the Press Box it will clip it to a 10c uh video stream it can be reviewed and hit approve and it will play up on the on the boards so there's a lot of um things not only when we talk about adray but the experience at the at the games is is really enhanced it's pretty cool this definitely creates you know in our theater departments we have a lot of students that work with light and sound and production and uh in those kinds of theater settings there's a whole industry of creating these environments in athletic settings uh and this is a job skill that we're going to have a group of students that'll be able to work with this equipment that it's a it's a job market right there yeah for creating content running content running the boards running the lights you know figuring out the video clips all of those kinds of pieces there's entertainment venues across the country that you know you've seen it all that are out somebody out there is behind the scenes getting all of that content ready for a timeout and getting all of the video queued up and the sound and the lights and it it's a real job that some of our students will be able to experience right here with us using the new technology does our staffing that works with the theater and stuff like that have the skills to do this like do we this company will come in and train us on how to use the equipment well I look at it for a track meat there's so many different things going on at one time that you know it you know if you can separate you know the different squares in the board you know you can be uh watching the uh shot put or discus over here and see the long jump and the running and you know it just is really cool so or even like I know I have friends that want to go into sports marketing and like I know we have a Sports Marketing class at North so we' be able to like incorporate that class into the new scoreboard too yeah yeah yeah so lots of lots of opportunities for our kids that was a nice plant there tra thank you I I think I think our community deserves something like this I you know I've gone to sporting events at both campuses over the past several years and and frankly I think we need to step up the overall experience for the fans and uh this is a commitment from the Board of Education to do that and I think it's an important step in the right direction and they need to be replaced right they're kind of at their end of their life anyway so we're going to do it we're going to do it with the right recommend that the board do it with the right equipment and these individual screens can be easily trans transposed or substitute correct so it's not as though you're buying a 30X 40 screen that if it breaks you're out of lock correct it's made up of a whole bunch of panels kind of the size of a laptop screen that individually pop in and out if uh they can replace an individual LED in it or just one of those whole panels um so it's pretty much Plug and Play yeah and this has by far the best uh warranty that's out on the market by far very good all right so this is up for approval later on this evening uh discipline Improvement plan this is an action item this evening this came up Scott provided it in the meeting tonight but per uh Illinois Law if we sit on the top 20% of exclusionary discipline which we have and uh we're required to submit a discipline Improvement plan Scott worked with uh a couple of folks on our our staff uh to look at that plan and then pending board approval tonight we will submit it by February 1st any questions you have on this topic was here to answer them for you um but this has become a yearly process for us just because of the way that the metrics work and the size of our buildings any questions for Scott all right we'll ask for board approval this evening so he can submit that plan to State employer requests we've received them and filled them and they are available on our website just need to search for Foya and you will find them all right that's it for my reports okay item number seven moving to the consent agenda is there any item a board member would like to remove from the consent agenda hearing none can I get a motion for Board of Education to approve the consent agenda as presented which includes a personal report have best and certified appointment classified B Personnel report retirement certified resignation classified retirement classified C Personnel report termination classified D November and December Treasures report and December Financial Pages e annual comprehensive financial report and F review of Clos session minutes and verbatim report so moved second move Ken second thank you Terry pavich I Ken Dawson hi Chris Espinosa hi Jenny hagstrom hi Hara Caston hi and Dan Runner hi motion carries it number eight recommendations for Action um going to go ahead and Lead item number a or item a excuse me in view of the current Financial condition of the district the Board of Education will consider the adoption of the resolution declaring its intention to issue $5.2 million working cash fund bonds pursuant to article 20 of the school code and I direct that notice of such intention be published um can I get a motion for the Board of Education to adopt the resolution declaring the intention to issue $5.2 million of working cash fund bonds of Community High School District number 99 Dage County Illinois for the purpose of increasing the working cash fund of said school district and directing that notice of such intention be published in the manner provided by law so move second J 10 seconds thank you is there any discussion hearing none Julie please call role on the motion to adopt set resolution Jenny hagstrom hi Ken Dawson hi Chris Espinosa hi Terry pavich I Cara Casten I and Don Runner I motion is carried and the resolution is adopted in record the board uh Item B for recommendation for Action can I get a motion for the Board of Education to approve the 2024 summer Sports Camp fees as presented so moved second remove Jenny seconds thank you Terry pavich hi Jenny hagstrom hi Cara Caston hi Ken Dawson hi Chris Spinosa I and Don rener I motion carries item C can I get a motion for the Board of Education to approve the 2024 summer school compensation is presented so moved second Chris moves Ken second thank you Chris resinosa hi Ken Dawson hi Jenny hagstrom hi Tre pavich hi Cara Caston hi and Don rener hi motion carries thank you item number D motion can I get a motion for the Board of Education summer school and summer calendar is presented so moved second Chris second thank you Ken Dawson hi CH sposa I Jenny hagstrom I Terry pavich I Cara Caston I and Don Renner I motion carries thank you adem um I get a motion for the Board of Education to enter into indoor and outdoor scoreboard contract subject to attorney review through digital scoreboards with a total cost of 1,368 76 and authorize the administration to sign all documents related to the contracts so moved second I'm not sure give it to first Ken second than yeah Terry first Ken second thank you Terry pavich hi Ken Dawson hi Christopher Espinosa hi Cara Caston hi Jenny hag I and Don rener I motion carries item F can I get a motion for the Board of Education to approve the discipline so move second Ken thank you Jenny hagstrom I Ken Dawson I hi thank you Chris Spinosa hi Terry pavage hi Cara Casten hi and Don rer hi motion carries Hank item nine any old business no old business new bus no new business uh Julie uh item 11 no sir we have no slips item 12 Communications and announcements Jenny do you have any anything to report on that no we'll have our uh first meeting for this year on Friday's not here Hank do you have any reports on sass yes we have our joint uh meeting this Wednesday evening so the combination of the governing board and the other [Laughter] board so uh board yeah board one and board two will uh be meeting together uh is a joint meeting on Wednesday night um so that's what's going on uh Terry and Cara any report from The District 99 Education Foundation uh we uh we didn't have a meeting because some of folks were sick um this last week but um we did um work on the letter that you're going to be getting and I don't know if it's come out yet or not I got uh regarding the Mark McDonald scholarship yeah Julia and I Julia and I exchanged Communications yesterday okay and then this week I'm going to work on uh circulating that within our own community and also amongst the superintendent community acoss really excited about that because I really I I think um it's it it's great to honor him he he was a huge part of this district for so long that um and helping students with scholarships is a as a major thing so so that was really good I've already had a few people proactively reach out so we'll get all those Communications out this week well I ran into Dr eblin the other day in the grocery store and and mentioned it to him so um he is going to call you though for a uh a breakfast or a lunch wonderful to see him he hasn't seen the schools since the remodel oh so I said I I I volunteered you as as a tour guide always happy to be a tour guide I think that that's really an important thing um and um so we are meeting in uh February and um that's about it don't forget any uh faculty that wants to turn in for uh um grants yeah grants sorry thanks I got um please do that because um we do want to help you so and they did I mentioned to both of you they printed the checks so they're going to startend more Julia said they're going to start attending toot I think that's really that'll be a reminder to teachers and stff it's always a fun celebration when they come with big checks yeah yeah big checks with big amounts on always fun well to what they need yep yeah so so that's a good thing okay Ken any report on iasp nothing new uh there is the division dinner Yeah March we got what are you talking about yeah y division me division dinner in March yeah so we'll be talking more about that in February toind people thanks uh a note to the public our upcoming board meetings um next meeting is February 5th 2024 here at the ESC at 6:30 p.m.

Board of Education meeting for January 22nd 2024 can I have a roll call please mrone here Mr gate pres M Johnson pres Dr Mario pres Mr pres pres present can we all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stand one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all can I have a motion to postpone the following agenda items for future for a future meeting 4.1 5.1 9.5 and 9.6 I make a motion to postpone the following agenda items to a future meeting 4.1 Pride present presentations 5.1 student presentation 9.5 ebf and Beyond 9.6 mowing bid results second Miss venman I Dr Mario I Mr hi Miss Simon hi Mr Gatewood hi M Johnson hi Mr hi motion passes 70 do we have public comment okay since the there's no public comment we will move on I move to 7.1 the superintendent report good evening board and good evening Community it's great to see everyone this evening on this uh despite the iy conditions out there you've braved it and we appreciate your coming out tonight um couple in due to the what we know as the icy conditions I'm going to make a couple brief comments but in the last couple months we we've invited board members to also make shoutouts to regarding special events and we will save those this month for um for this board meeting um I'll be sending those out in a more of a memo and a followup um a couple of things I do have to take note and speak to this evening we've got our 14th annual community versus cancer event on Saturday January 27th um this is hosted at asigo high school and it's a partnership between ASO high school and Yorkville High School basketball game between our two teams um for boys and girls basketball um the first game begins at 9:00 a.m.

e i' started it's okay come on D okay we ready Nick we're good all right thank you all it is officially a little after 6:30 6:31 we're going to go ahead and get started for those who are able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay we have our entire team here so I will call this meeting to order Dr robberts if you would certainly thank you Mrs won we always start our Schoolboard meetings just reflecting on our vision and core values our mission we develop expert Learners by partnering with our community to invest in people and our vision is for bcse to be the choice to learn work and play the six core beliefs which we attempt to follow each day we all can rise to the challenge of high expectations learning is most effective when we have Choice flexibility and see relevance we Thrive when our physical social and psychological needs are met our community and School District are stronger when we partner with one another we flourish because of the diversity and variability in our community and our democracy and Democratic institutions are strengthened by civic-minded citizens thank you Dr Roberts I think first today we have United Way we do so we have some United Way guests here if they could step up with me so each year the United Way has a campaign that so many uh entities throughout our community participate in and bcsc is very much an active participant and trying to raise as much money for United Way as is possible and we have a check to present a big check literally like it's really big like here so presentent this to you uh this year's check is in the amount of $26,845 and this again is throughout our Corporation from student Le projects to staff Le projects to our administration building getting involved and and shipping in some dollars as well so on behalf of bcsc I'm proud to give you United Way this this check you're [Laughter] [Music] welcome awesome so I am Sarah Davis I am the resource development director with United Way of beral mu County and I'm honored uh by the generosity and the hard work of bcsc staff and and students in making their annual United Way campaign a super success this year the funds raised will significantly impact the three in one one in three pardon me struggling families in our community ensuring that vulnerable children and their families have the support they need to thrive United Way of beralu County envisions a community where every child is supported in and outside of the classroom um together we can create lasting Solutions so thank you to bcsc for your part partnership and helping lift families in beral M County out of poverty and may we all live United by giving advocating and volunteering thank you thank you so [Music] much with the slide that we have up here we mentioned our core beliefs that we are stronger when we partner with one another and we just appreciate United ways partnership with so many of us within the community and glad to be a part of that and Karen could you please stand Karen sanduski was one of the leaders for us with United Way work and it's our first time doing it for us so thank you so much nice all right I think next item is the best practice sharing from CSA Lincoln Mr Finley how about now go all right thank you Dr Roberts and the uh school board and uh my name is Brett Finley I'm the principal at CSA linkoln our motto is work hard play hard it's unofficial but we we try to live by it um and there's some general information about our school or 26% uh economically disadvantaged there's 20% of our students with disabilities uh we're one of the 11 elementary schools that receiv received the purple star uh for their service to uh our veterans and their families and in 2021 we were a National Blue Ribbon School Award winner and it was for closing the achievement Gap and much of what I'm presenting today is really uh tied directly to that as well so I'm going to talk to you about a program called beyond the bell and it's actually called a free after school programing for all students and I'd like to say that this is a CSA Lincoln kid but it's it's just a a template I found online but what I love about this template she is cute um she's probably about a year too young to be in kindergarten um but what I love about this is that um it kind of puts in into the our good framework of what we're what we're trying to achieve our elementary kids are going to spend seven years with us if they're in prek that's eight that's more than they'll spend in the the secondary but our ultimate goal is to set a great Foundation uh for graduation and so that's kind of a good piece of what we're trying to do uh at Lincoln and all the other elementary schools is to prepare our kids to be success successful at the secondary level and that aligns to our strategic plan uh in that students will have Equitable access to to learn grow and demonstrate success so I'm going to walk you through five uh steps today um and that's just the history what we're doing why we're doing it the challenge we presented to our our school uh the program and then the results so I'd like to say that um you know what we've been doing at Lincoln happens in a lot of other schools as well and we try to talk about all of these different pieces play a role in um academic and Student Success Project based learning and we're in our 16th year that was well before me as well but we provide kids with real world experiences um we've over the past several years tried to invest more in our Arts programming for our kids as well whether that's um you know getting this typen for a choir teacher to provide free choir for kids year round our field trips our PTO support our PTO does a ton of great events that provide great experiences for our kids as well uh school-based events we had you know Boomer from the Pacers came out uh before fall uh before Christmas break uh we bring our grandparents out for a big reading event um you know every Friday we do what's called passions it's an opportunity for our kids to learn about something outside the academic uh realm from a teacher and we're actually starting our third quarter passions this Friday and uh we've got fairy tale there's basketball skills um foods from around the world uh you name it and the kids get to sign up third through sixth grade and learn about those types of things and you might be thinking okay that just sounds like a lot of fun and U but what does that have to do with actual academic success and two years ago I came and presented about um two different categories along with John hatti and John hadti is a professor and he has done a ton of uh research on what types of things have a a strong positive impact on Student Success and he's done over 800 thou 80,000 Stu uh studies and you can see anything above 04 is considered to have a really positive effect on uh accelerating student learning and this is something that since I've been at Lincoln we have been tied to and have tried to go back to it time after time to stay focused on and how we can continue to be successful so when we look at that um um right now we're focusing on these four things there are a ton of things we there are 285 different characteristics and things that he uh charts but two years ago I talked you about teacher estimates of student achievement and Collective teacher efficacy in teacher estimates of student achievement if 04 if you think about that 0 4 is a has a positive influence 1.62 uh is significantly higher than that teacher estimates of student achievement what that's saying is a teacher understands where their child their children are at their students what they're capable of what challenges that they might be facing and then how to set good um benchmarks for them to achieve Collective teacher efficacy is the belief that you as an educator have the skills to help students be successful to have a positive influence on them and that is a those are the two most powerful things and as you can see those have a lot to do with teachers and uh today I'm going to focus on self-reported grades and prior ability and how those play a role in Student Success and how we at Lincoln are trying to um help our kids achieve the next level so in general if you've already seen them PowerPoint but self-reported grades and prior ability what a child knows going into uh school or into an experience directly um plays a role in how much that they can learn how fast that they can learn it doesn't mean that they can't but just what they know coming into it plays a huge role along that line prior achievement teachers need to know what what do students know what are they uh capable of and then how can I help them and once we get those two pieces figured out if a teacher if we have a great teacher that's able to get this we're going to build student confidence and that comes under self-reported grades and when students are confident they know what they're learning they know they can be successful then they can achieve and that obviously leads to leads to self-reported grades so one's tied to the other and ultimately it comes down to prior knowledge and prior ability and the big question is well how do we do that how how can we if we only have them for 6 and 1 half hours increase their prior knowledge and they're not reading books you know at Young ages they're you're learning through experiences right we get high school and college and you know even Upper Grade you can you can read learn it it's all about experiences so how can we provide our students experiences that they may not be getting at home so so to do that um really to frame it much better than I just did how can we create experiences for all CS Lincoln students so they can expand their background knowledge build confidence and use those skills to achieve success so at our very first professional development meeting I had been thinking about this and I shared this slide this exact slide with my staff and this is my son and he was a kindergarten at the time and I'm like all right here are all the things that Calvin has been able to accomplish a lot because of who uh what I do and my wife and he's done a lot I mean his first trip to the West Coast was my first trip to the West Coast and that's mostly because I married up but uh long but you know I went through all of these things that Calvin had been able to do and we all were laughing we had a good time and we had good some good jokes about it and then I put up a PowerPoint slide of another student and I put his picture up there and this is a student that was a little bit older than Calvin and I said okay Okay now what's on his list now as I meant you know as I went through in that the previous slide knowing your kids and knowing what they come from and what they're capable of and what theyve what their background is plays a huge role and unfortunately there was nothing on that kid's list and so that room was silent as we sat as a staff and I said here's Calvin here's this kid both cute what can we do for this kid that isn't happening because of at home like I said it was silent and then in that moment we formed um what was beyond the bell and we all got down to work at that time and said okay what are we going to do because we can only do it during the school day and I can't even take credit for the name uh of the program an art teacher came up with it but we created what what we call beyond the bell and I said okay we have four expectations I want it to be free to our kids I want it to be accessible to our families uh I want us to make sure that we're valuing staff and it needs to be financially viable it's no good to come up with something not be able to support it and then the next year we're saying well parents I'm sorry we can't do it anymore and in that room um in in February we we hash this out and groups hashed it out and um it is free uh doesn't cost our students anything to participate it happens right after school um we also pay our staff members teachers classified staff members um to actually work the event and um we have created a budget and able to stay within that budget uh each year so our beyond the belt timeline we started in the PD days um back in 2022 we rolled out with cross country uh the following uh fall we had 75 kids participate and then as you can see we go first and third and fifth quarters and um we just had our first quarter again this past year we don't do the second quarter holidays it's just way too crazy um and our registration forms will go out on Friday for this upcoming session process it's pretty simple every time we it's completely optional to our staff we say who wants to do it this session I have a kindergarten ta who's doing it my nurse did a baking one um back in the spring uh we create a program guide It's sent out via parents Square parents sign their kids up I'm out of time and then we uh we uh get through the session so I'll go so here are some of the sessions that we do um and it's been a great I'll say this it's been a great experience um there have been tons of uh opportunities for our community to get involved and the kids have learned about a wide variety of things um including Tao drumming uh this is a partnership that we've uh fostered and now our students they started today they get in a bus a bcsc bus after school which takes them on their way to foda to this uh to this building and they've been learning every week and it's a whole new session this quarter as well and it's free to our kids um CSA fod also POS participates in that 17 um beyond the bell programs in just over a year and a half we've had almost 400 kid kids participate 100% student placement which means if you sign up you get put in a session um we budget $2,000 um for Staffing and supplies each year for this and our positives when I look get a review if you count beyond the bell and all the different ways that we get our kids involved in something not like a school field trip but whether it's a PTO event um all these different things 90% of our students participate in at least one um School event uh free um 81% of our economically uh disadvantaged students participate we even created some really cool programs for our special education students in a smaller scale this past year um because we wanted to make sure they got involved as well uh things we need to improve upon when I looked at it the 17 students who didn't participate uh five of them were multilingual students so how do we get them involved we've come up with some ideas and then incorporate more communitybased programming that was fast but I was out of time and I apologize so I will happy to answer any questions you have what's been your most popular event great question um we've done something different almost every time cross country has been extremely popular we've also done it the most um we're getting ready to folk folk dancing around the world um that's been one there was a baking one that was really popular crafts any type of small like little craft activities um the 321 we had that huge giant inflatable planetarium that was we did the constellations that was very popular as well cool so can you go back one slide sure um so the participation rate is phenomenal and the whole program sounds wonderful I am curious so the economically disadvantaged have you looked at what possible barriers are or why their percent of participation is slightly lower great question um yes we have also I think it's important to note that just because student is economically disadvantaged doesn't mean that they don't participate in other things when I looked at all of our list I was like oh yeah they're doing dance you know I know my kids oh yeah they're involved in Lacrosse they're doing ice skating so that's um that's generally what I saw a lot of those things um there still is the whole Transportation type thing yes we're keeping them after until 4:00 um but we still have to have parents come get them at that point as well so I would imagine Transportation would be a piece of that so this one was more concerning to me is just how how I can't get how can I get more of my multilingual students involved and we we actually after this data Columbus East put on a really cool um uh big event at their school last year where they had all these students presenting about their different countries and one of our T drove the the white bus and we let all of our multilingual students pick out a friend and they went with Mrs Boseman and they went on over and had a had had a great time during the day to go do that so any questions yeah so as far as time the only clock you need to worry about is this one up here because we'll kick you out after you're over um you're good this it's actually great what you've shown here and I think um when we think about best practices the thing to me that stands out is how many of these are reused elsewhere and it sounds like fodrea and you are kind of partnering together do we have I guess this is a bigger question to more than maybe just you but do we have elements of of this that are creeping into other schools so that you know these good things you're doing can be done elsewhere so I was thinking about that question I know that um Schmid Elementary hosted a evening um I don't know if it was a Thanksgiving meal or type those types of things that they're getting evinced on um I know that um as much as you can get done during the day is extremely important because then you're taking away that whole transportation thing I know that uh Dr Parson's and Patrick mafy have done everything from um obstacle courses to they've had some Bingo event nights as well um Southside Jeff puts on a ginormous type Carnival event um that's almost hard to even kind of replicate I think another great example is Smith Elementary with their Vex robotics um those kids getting to participate in that even go to Worlds you know and have that sponsored by the community so I I just got the chance to present about Lincoln but there are a lot of ways that these types of events are happening at other schools as well so just off the top of my head thank you maybe just adding too for that Mr major I I think um with cross country referenced here I Brett you started in the fall of 22 with that with 75 in the fall of 23 that became all 11 elementary schools with with a leak so that got out and then you mentioned Vex robotics with Smith I think Smith and Parkside both had teams in 2223 Smith really um successful went to Dallas and so forth and then that led to this year we had 26 teams uh when we included the middle school so things are being successful we see a lot of interest in have have started to bleed into the other schools and created some organized programming that's a great point about the cross country we did that and now 450 students across 11 elementaries participated this past year in Cross Country really cool yeah I just want to Echo I mean one I think it's a amazing amazing Roi in terms of a limited budget so what you've done with $2,000 others I mean in general 20,000 30,000 would be expected um I think that the last thing and I kind of echo Mr major but I appreciate Dr roberts' statements is how do we scale these best practices and like it looks like we're already I knew we were doing it with cross country I didn't know the robotics was this piece as well I think we're just looking at how do we draw cohesive messaging I know when our my visit to Lincoln I think it was last January um you know your whole system is built around a common message for the year and the theme I think also looking at our programmatic approach across the elementary schools would allow for students that cross and are transient students to be able to immediately have identification and plug into those Solutions so right if Lincoln's calling it beyond the bell but someone else is calling it then all of a sudden you're going to require those students that are at the most disadvantage to now have to relearn a process where we could create a similation a lot um better for those students sure but like that's outside of Lincoln but I think at the at the corporation level that's an opportunity thank you thanks Brett awesome thank you Mr Finley okay next I think we have school-based health clinic presentation and and on this we see the screen coming up um Nick is getting our one of our uh copr presenters up on Zoom so Scott I think is going to be available that way there you go okay Miss Wen members of the board and Dr Roberts thank you for the opportunity tonight to talk about an opportunity for a school-based clinic here in bcsc I want to start with a document that's very familiar to all of you and that's our strategic plan the focus area for this work would be healthy safe and welcoming environments and I would like to highlight the portion that says every learner has access to resources needed to thrive and under programs and methods to implement student health clinics in the schools with the greatest need as we began exploring this possibility we were quickly able to identify that it did align with our strategic plan um we know that access is a care access to care is a need in many of our schools by the work that we do in those buildings and we also um I was able to be part of two teams that visited clinics so I visited a mobile clinic that is active in Northeast Indiana we visited that clinic um they operate in different parts of the community we were able to tour the unit and see how they operate I also traveled with a group to Southern Indiana to New Albany High School to visit a school-based health clinic and it has been in operation for a few years now and they most recently added staff that wasn't eligible for full-time benefits to be seen in that clinic as well and as we have done this work to date I have a few people that I would like to recognized that have been a partner through through this work um from Columbus Regional Health I would like to recognize Lisa crane who is the director of healthy communities and Julia badian who is the executive vice president and chief Community impact officer for CR and they are both here in attendance tonight and online participating virtually um Sarah Ward from Windrose Health Network she is the director of Community Health Affairs and the CEO of wend Rose is now going to finish the rest of this presentation and that's Mr Scott Rolette all right thank you for allowing me to speak to you tonight again as you mentioned I'm Scott R I'm the CEO of one Heth Network a couple fast facts about Windrose uh we were established in 1996 so we've been around about 27 years we've been a federally qualified Health Center since 2003 last year we served about 20,500 patients and we delivered about roughly 67,000 outpatient visits we've got five Health Centers currently uh mainly in Bartholomew County in the town of Hope in Johnson County and also on the south side of Indianapolis uh we also have two Community pharmacies one on the south side of Indianapolis and one of the town of hope uh we have roughly 26 medical providers uh which is a comprised of Family Medicine Physicians pediatricians and also family nurse practitioners uh we also have seven Behavioral Health Providers which are mainly licensed clinical social workers and also licensed Metal Health Counselors we have a total of about 178 employees and our bu last year was 28 million next slide uh so just see a couple of patient insights for you uh to tell you about us uh as I mentioned we last year we served 20518 patients about 15% one5 uh actually came from barami County um 53% of our patients are at or below the federal poverty level so as you can see from that um our patients are not wealthy uh 38% are non-english speaking patients um and not coincidentally about 40% of our staff are multilingual um and about 42% of our patients are uh are basically identified as a minority um race and ethnicity uh this may be somewhat surprising uh in Central Indiana but um not so unusual for in the federal qualified Health Center world but uh about 37% of our patients are identified as white uh 133% identifies Hispanic and 39% uh identify is Asian which is primarily Burmese refugees and Punjabi Indians uh from a px 60% of our patients are medicator hip um about 26% um have Commercial Insurance about 8% have Medicare and 7% um are an insured which I would expect in 2024 that number will will probably grow significantly because um 2023 we still had some of the Medicaid redeterminations happening basically long story short a lot of Hur got kicked off of Medicaid in uh the end of 2023 uh last comment about that uh we uh were a gold star recipient uh in 2023 for our quality um that recognizes Us in the top 10% of U of fqacs Across the Nation for Quality metrics um there's about4 00 fqhcs in in America so as you can imagine uh uh being in the top 144 was a quite an accomplishment for us next slide so basically we're proposing to to um to do two models uh we're hoping to have a clinic located inside one of your schools which would be kind of a permanent Clinic uh we're also hoping to do a mobile clinic which could travel from site to site um the drawing you see there is kind of a a brief depiction of of what a mobile clinic might look like um basically it'll have a check-in checkout area uh and also one exam room uh we would hope to do Behavioral Health out of these models as well um either on site or through tele Health as well so next slide okay the funding for this will primarily come to a uh Hera Grant Hera has a Health Resource Services Administration um and they sponsor school-based clinics acoss Across the Nation um there should be a grant opportunity coming out in 2023 in which we would apply for um uh with your U with your assistance and um essentially that would fund the greatest majority of the expenses uh the rest of the the funding would come from Patient Service revenues um in other words we would build patients for services um and that would basically comprise our entire budget so we're we're not asking for anything from the school corporation other than just basically in kind Services utilities internet um space um so it's a it's a win-win partnership I believe um potential Staffing is probably going to be a three-man crew uh probably a nurse practitioner a medical assistant and an administrative assistant of some type quite probably also a medical assistant for efficiency um we're going to do Primary Care acute care sports physicals immunizations and some form of Behavioral Health um at winr uh our Behavioral Health is primarily uh short-term counseling and Interventional therapy um we typically refer things like Psychiatry out to Centerstone an adult child um and some our other partners in the area next slide so as again I mentioned there should be a grant coming out uh relatively soon uh so we would submit that Grant application roughly in the spring of 2024 uh they usually announce the winners of that gr more towards the end of the summer possibly September and then if awarded we would have roughly 120 days uh to be operational and to see our first patient which probably in this case uh we would probably use our mobile unit uh to get that started and meet that 120-day requirement so thank you any questions yeah what questions do we have I would ask um what is the actual deadline for the submitting the Grant application Scott it says spring 2024 what would be the final deadline I'm sorry are you asking for the dollar figure sorry the um deadline date for the gr application no so the the notice of funding award has not been announced yet um I believe that they're waiting for Congress to pass the budget um but I do know that this has been identified as a priority by hersa so I I think as soon as Congress comes to an arrangement uh we'll have notice of that of that funding award uh but as of today um there there isn't one okay thank you questions so I got a few questions not to hog the mic uh uh I didn't get what would be the operating hours and location of the physical clinic and then the operation hours of the mobile clinic U at this point we would just start with the mobile clinic and it would be operational during school hours at this point school hours and then would there be a cost for services provided and would there be a sliding scale for those that uh more economically disadvantaged sure I will let Scott Che um sliding feed scales um kind of a core tenant of the Community Health Center models to um we a a sliding feed scale Avail to all of our patients um it's based on the federal poverty guidelines that goes basically from 0% of the federal poverty level I'm sorry 100% at the federal poverty level all the way up to 200% and then basically it kind of slides off our charges the vast majority of our patients are at what we call the minimum pay category which means that they're seen for roughly $20 and then uh uh one second just checking off my questions uh and then would parents be required to take the child out of school to go to these clinics that's currently how the clinics operate the student is released from school and the parents take them to the clinic okay and then we discussed about you know access to care as a strategic alignment um what percentage do we have of bcsc's population that currently does not have access to care um we just I don't have a percentage we don't ask them for insurance information when they enroll or come into the nurse's office okay and uh the other question I had is just looking at how Baria county is set up and I mean I know this is a joint presentation with wro so I apologize putting you in a a predicament um CR has the predominancy in terms of access to data so like my children go to Northside pets I know a lot of other children go to Columbus P's are associated with the hospital would would we not be partnering um with it Windrose would they have access to all that data to be able to make conscious decisions based on prior medical versus um like our C facilities are all they all have access to the same data at this point in terms of past history visits you know visits at emergency rooms so they could reflect on all that history um going in for acute care I guess I'm a little confused on your question are you asking how we know versus the Windrose partnership versus CR partnership it seems like okay I'll let Scott explain that part well we we've enjoyed a a long-standing relationship with Columbus Regional you know we don't necessarily see ourselves as competitors um in fact as I mentioned earlier the a was instrumental in helping us get our Hope Clinic started uh back in 2006 uh I I believe we we work very well together complimentary um you know some of our staff have access to Clum regionals medical record so um you know we can pull information from their ER or some of their specialist and so forth so um again it's not perfect but um you know I feel like we work pretty well together for the benefit of our mutual patients and then I didn't get in the presentation what is the annual cost that bcsc would incur once the grants expire um in terms of retrofitting the on-site clinic and the upkeep of the mobile clinic um is there an expiration date Scott on the clinic on the grant yes um I believe the initial Grant application is 24 months but um in all reality these things are meant to be ongoing um if you demonstrate success uh typically it's it's it's fund and a again um in specific regard to your question I think I mean we have 120 days to become operational so um through the grant submission uh you have to kind of propose a timeline um of what that's going to look like so um as we mentioned our hope is to have a a permanent clinic and also a mobile clinic so in that timeline we would probably propose that you know within 121 120 days you know we'll start with a mobile unit and then we'll work with your staff to basically um identify what what's a realistic uh expectation for the permanent Clinic am I last thoughts here was uh so I worked a lot with love chapel with the food bank right and so when we were having a lot of food issues um food insecurity issues around 2012 around that recession there was a lot of desire to push a lot of other food banks right rather than consolidate the resources um so I did some research and I know you presented I think it was in November to the ccic is right now we have six urgent care clinics in barom County I believe at least four pediatric offices I checked with three they're accepting new patients Medicaid as well um Urgent Care offers day night weekend coverage and they all use cr's slidy scale or similar to what Windrose I talked with Windrose and hope right they're using the same scale as well very similar I'm just trying to understand what's the opportunity of this solution that the other parallel paths aren't providing already to the community I think that's one area where I'm not Gathering the information um I I don't for example like if I'm a student that needs a physical if I have an acute need prompt medet is centrally located there's another one I think there's another Urgent Care on 46 there's another one edinberg Windrose and hope there's CVS Walgreens they all provide it and then you have pediatric offices that are all accepting patients are we not better off pushing our the students that need these services and directing them into the community where the services are already provided rather than offering a parallel path at an incremental cost um to not only to the facilities but also just in terms of utilizing our locations so I mean that's I'm just trying to figure out what's the demand there I know that there is people that don't have access and I'm not being denial of that but how much is there and what are we doing to get them into the past that already exist today for them I think that's something we can continue to work on we do have plenty of students that fall within those gaps um we certainly want to get them into a medical home and where they can have continuity of care but that is not happening 100% right now so we want to continue to get those patients there that don't have barriers to care that we can get to a primary medical office um and for those that don't we want to have these clinics that fall under that federally qualified Health Center that have different um opportunities for those students that are medically underserved right now yeah and I I mean as a foster barent right that was one area of the category that traditionally has problems getting access to medical care because they don't have the sustained relationships I mean and clunkiness of the government you can make claims of whatever but DCS does a very good job of like here's your provider opportunities here's the ones that are accepting Medicaid here's the direction resources that's very similar to what we did with love chapels like here let's pull our resources get them into the one lane that's the only feedback I'd have for this presentation thank you okay other questions yep de um I'm wondering um the timeline for when there would a clinic in the school and the process for determining which school that clinic would be in we will look for an opportunity to serve the maximum amount of students with the greatest need and we will work with Dr bosan and that team as far as making sure that the area is ready to be fit for a clinic but with the grant deadline we have 120 days once we receive that and that would be really hard to get that ready in that time frame so that's why we'll start with a mobile unit and allow ourselves more time to get that other Clinic established any questions yeah I think Logan hit a lot of the points I was concerned with my I I too made note of there are eight free or income based clinics in Johnson Jackson in Bartholomew County I didn't know why we had to put one inside of a school where we're already talking about concerns with space inside of schools um I know we've got uh in the the spending that we just approved or the the plans to spend we talked about wellness centers as what a Wellness Center was described to me did not include a health clinic and so now I have a question are we're going to start with one is there only going to ever be one or are we going to have clinics in every school um if we do I think you will not only hear from me as a concerned but you'll hear from people in the public in general with primary care acute care Sports fig physicals immunizations and Behavioral Health that I understand the importance to try and help but those are really parental concerns for a child um there are areas where they can go to get that expertise outside of a school and I think that there's a little bit of um scope creep for what we're trying to do from an education perspective into now providing uh health care for kids I I I think this might be just a little bit beyond what we need to be looking at so I would I would need to have a little more conversation around this so that I can help explain not just explain it to other people but have it explain better to me why this is important to us what other questions do we have I have a followup question have we surveyed any of our community or done a stakeholder engagement matrics in re in regards to the demand for this um those question there is a question about access to care that is asked in the community health needs assessment that the hospital and um Healthy Communities they do that every 3 years so that data is in there I can't quote you that exact number right now but I could go to that report for it I appreciate that yeah one one last real quick question what is the total amount that the grant is going to be for for the two years period dollars I think Scott didn't have exactly those numbers yet correct because it hasn't been released yet from the federal government what is our expected cost for the two years then our cost would be the um if if we would develop space in the building it would just it would be be that space and making sure internet utilities and so forth are are on the um operational costs fall to wind rows in terms of Staffing and um supplies and equipment do do we have a breakdown of that today I don't I don't believe so we don't want to have the the cost yet okay Kelly can you go back to the I don't know first just about the first slide of this presentation so in in our um strategic plan um when we evaluated needs including the community health needs assessment that CR does um we we had an access issue based upon transportation and based upon the ability to get from home or school or or whatever to medical facilities regardless of how many there were some people can't get to those places and so recognizing scope creep or not that we have students uh for a period of time in our buildings if we had something that was closer to our buildings uh it is not going to be us as a staff St or all of a sudden Mr Finley is not going to be um trying to to staff or or run a health clinic uh the health clinic is to be in schools with the greatest need so we'd be looking to identify those with that largest gap of not accessing care we we have buildings that that are in more need or greater need than than others and so the mobile clinic would go uh back and forth initially to to schools with the greatest need and then eventually um a a clinic in a location to to Kelly's point with the highest volume so I'll just throughout a building the danger of doing that everybody says it's going to happen there but Columbus North High School is right in the middle of a bunch of kids and and so if if something was there or if um the mobile unit was sitting uh in the parking lot we have three buildings uh including St B's uh fourth the private school that could access that clinic and it would not be again our staff it would not be anything except we are participating as a partner with Windrose or CR or whoever else would be that other partner CR has been involved in these conversations initially we were going to be working with CR thought that might be a good good piece but working through this and trying to figure out things with the grant Windrose seems to be our best partner for this circumstance so just trying to add a little context in terms of where things are with this conversation and I I agree with all that said I think the the Gap that I'm seeing here is you need A needs assessment that shows that you're more accessible than the Alternatives and that's what I'm struggling with when it comes to prompt med and others who have honestly better hours coverage and density coverage I see the I see the discussion around the mobile unit I think that's a a great piece I I don't see the in clinic I I think it's going to be less available because you're going to be on a school hour shift which isn't very favorable to working parents and then you're also going to be probably in a location that's it's not accessible to everyone it's accessible to some where at least with the Urgent Care they're spread throughout and that's what I was wondering from A needs assessment how are we looking at the solution that we're providing versus the Alternatives already available yeah and I if are we going to treat a child without a parent in the room I said no no it's so and I'm and I'm using that to prove my point too is regardless where it's located whether it's mobile or at a school a parent has to be there so the the parent is going to have to travel no matter what to Logan's Point um works the first shift is not going to be able to get there they're going to have to use somewhere other than a place located that closes at 3:00 so that's why I think there's a lot more discussion that needs to take place there's a lot more understanding that needs to be had so that we can prove that you know this is necessary I yeah thanks thanks um I I would just like to say my perspective is a little different I think if we can offer more um might as well try and if it's one of those things that we don't get um a lot of a lot of visits then then then maybe it's true and everybody already has their needs fulfilled and and and we try something different but I appreciate that we are looking at ways to to try to to meet needs um you know I do agree being in a school when I take my kid to school I have to go to school then I have to take them somewhere else then I have to bring them back there is a little bit of time savings I think that could be seen um and and so I I appreciate us being creative and looking for ways to offer things um knowing that it's never a guaranteed outcome but we're at least um trying to make something available so thank you for being creative are there any my question was um do you have any examples of school systems where this something like this mobile or in school is functioning currently yes in New Albany and Floyd County they have both high schools awesome great thank you Shelbyville still have the clinic okay any other questions or thoughts from the team great hey appreciate um appreciate the time this is great thank you y okay I think next we have um Schoolboard member reports so um I like to surprise my friends and pick on a different person first each time so I'm going to say Rich Mr Stenner do you have anything today thank you uh the U business advisory committee was scheduled to meet but it turned turned into an e-learning day and so our business advisory committee meeting is going to be rescheduled uh in terms of districting and Facilities committee uh did have a chance with other members of the committee to uh make a site visit to cso Architects up in Indianapolis uh the main concern that the committee wanted to U address in that meeting was whether or not U CSO Architects was ready to um sered bcsc throughout the term of the building projects that we're looking at uh whether or not they had the staff uh to accommodate the projects that we're thinking about and um I think at the end of the visit it was clear that the answers to both those uh questions were yes so that's a districting and Facilities committee update thank you thank you Mr ster Mr major do anything yeah the uh Redevelopment commission met early the city Redevelopment commission met earlier today at 4:00 and they did a swearing in at all the voting commission members they reviewed the garage budgets they had uh resolutions for the finance and legal uh support they also did a resolution for Second Street project um so that's starting to move a little bit more they've got some other things that they have to do for the state in order to get their permit they do um have a uh two other things real quick um they had a uh potential Lei that is pending uh for the Betos area so there's some good news there looks like we'll get another restaurant here coming pretty soon and on Monday the 29th anybody uh in the public that is interested in Tiff uh tax increment financing um Tiff meeting on Monday the 29th 400 pm at City Hall uh the Health Trust is the other one so last week thank you to Dr Phillips for getting us into the Nexus uh Park facilities um I put a picture on my Facebook about it um the the facilities are excellent as you would expect they're all brand new you would expect something new to be nice but I think the thing that was really wonderful was it was very efficiently laid out um how the patients enter where the caregivers work I think um they did a really good job of laying it all out and it should make things a little more efficient uh to operate the area and move patients in and out so I think everybody will be happy with it and again thanks to Dr Phillips for getting that tour set up good Mr Bryant did you have any updates no okay about Mr Nell no Logan um uh ccic meets I believe in a couple weeks hall of fame um has identified the recipient we will present that award at the February 5th board meeting with the reception uh prior I believe okay very exciting Mom's the Word Mom's the Word Mom's the Word Mr GMS uh two things the school foundation will meet tomorrow evening and just a quick uh announcement for teachers that might be listening there has been a new deposit put into donors choose through the school foundation so through the uh uh deposit and potential matching dollars there is a fresh $30,000 out there for classroom project support So teachers please visit bcsf stars.org to get your project started and your wish list out there um from the indana school boards Association uh we're two weeks into the short legislative session approximately 750 total bills have been introduced produced um 113 of those are in some way related to K through2 education 67 house bills 46 Senate bills uh last Thursday I attended a webinar um Senator Linda Rogers spoke about Senate bill one uh which involves a a very proactive comprehensive Bill uh regarding the need to identify kids as quickly as possible um that could benefit from more intense reading instruction as the doe has a goal of 95% of the state's third graders reading at grade level by the year 2027 and then also heard from representative Jake teska who spoke on House Bill 1219 uh education matters it's an effort to deregulate and and take some of the heavy hand heavy-handed mandates and I think the word he used was uh perfunctory um off of Educators plates um things like the school Improvement plan and other other things that in my opinion are nonsensical and a waste of time um so and then um lastly I just recently um contacted representative La um and uh and um we to talk about House Bill 1376 which is um an effort to put referenda items only on general election um and Municipal general election ballots so two weeks in and I think March 8 maybe is the goal of the legislature to get this short session wrapped up wow that's a lot Mr okay um for the county Redevelopment Commission I have I've been remiss in sharing some of the updates that are are out there publicly regarding Kings Hawaiian but it is very exciting to see some businesses um moving into the area up in enberg and how the Redevelopment commission has been working through issues with them has been pretty remarkable so we're excited to have some new business up there generate some Tiff dollars good all right oh I'll jump into cabinet reports if you want me to all right thanks Mrs won um book review request does actually fall under the school board but I'll I will uh introduce it to you in terms of uh now that we have specific policies uh in place following legislative changes that occurred last spring that put policy uh policies had to be in place and the law would also go in effect by January 1st and so uh we do have a review request uh the book is people kill people by Ellen Hopkins uh the the book um was uh complaint was filed uh over a year ago um and then we did have a committee put together who reviewed that book in March of last year and did return uh an opinion on that um and so that opinion is uh being appealed um it was uh Mr major has has filed that complaint was gracious enough to to uh be patient as we waited through all the changes with legislation and uh the change in the policies and and what was to be looked at and all those kinds of pieces so um we are to get it to you at the next available time and so you have that information in front of you in your packet was the original complaint as well as the uh committee's review of that complaint uh given the policy that you recently passed and you passed two of them they kind of deal with this particular topic one would be selection of Library materials and Equipment which was policy 2520 and then you also um approved policy 9130 which is public complaints and concerns and so once we get through the pieces of uh meeting with the building level and talking through things at the building level and then if if needed a a formal complaint is filed and and then a committee reviews that formal complaint then that that recommendation uh comes to to me then that next step is to come to the board if the person uh wishes for that to be the case so once it is and again in our policy um uh anybody who chooses to go back and take a look at this again it is on our website and it's public complaints and concerns policy 9130 it does have a very specific piece about matters regarding School library materials and um it is that the board uh would review those to determine if the the complaint um and the book thus is obscene or harmful to minors from a school library as the terms are defined in Indiana code uh Indiana code is very specific with that um designation or or that definition um once the board has the information you again review the request the next public meeting and then in order for the board to have sufficient time to appropriately review The Challenge materials you have uh by our policy um you have to advise the complainant in writing of its decision within 60 business days of the public meeting where the materials were first reviewed and so since that's business days that is basically 12 weeks of time uh take into account any holidays and so forth that that might be in there um and so that's that's where you are is is talking through you know what next steps you might need to take um in regards to this understanding that you each have a copy of the book I believe um you have all the other information again the complaint that was filed in the committee's report on that complaint and the book and so we'll need to set up some time to uh review Converse and then make a decision on what you wish to do with that book um in regards to it being obscene or material harmful to minors as defined by Indiana code and I I I'd just like to make a real quick statement just before all the Facebook fund begins and my friend Columbus man has me being the world's most hated individual um so just so everybody understands this a little bit better this is not a new review as Dr Roberts mentioned this was reviewed last January uh in April uh it took a little bit of time to get there but in April Mr mver and I met and during that discussion we talked a little bit about the book and my concern was really given opportunity for parents to opt into a section of the library that might be above and beyond the age of their child um so in a high school you have kids as young as 14 and as old as 18 possibly 19 years old um those kids are all a little bit different in their abilities and uh you know what I had focused on here was uh advising parents that there may be material that's not normally what they would agree for their child to see uh I know that there's words that are said on the school bus in the classrooms in the hallways on the fields and on the courts but you know if if a parent knows that that's happening they are going to most likely hopefully address it um so what I'm proposing is that we uh have I I will have no issue leaving that book in and Mr mver can confirm this is what I told him in April last year I have no issue leaving that book in the library if we have an opt-in section for parents to be made uh I guess the the disclaimer that says you know what's in the books that are in that area may be graphic in nature um this book in particular it is not I know there's been a lot of talk about lifestyle choices that uh may be the concern for removal of books but in this case that's not the case the case here is that it's extremely graphic nature uh it describes in his Vivid and vile detail the rape of a 9-year-old boy from a grown man on a camping trip um it happens on two pages it's two pages that don't need to be in the book to tell the story is two pages that contain pedophilia and child porn I do understand the book as a whole may be a good book but those pages do not need to be in a school my concern is again that um we are not advising parents that there's these books that are in the library and my hope is that you would accept my amendment to my challenge by pursuing an opt-in clause or or capability for parents and the library for materials okay so I'm confused are you making a motion or because I I do believe we've discussed this optin opt out throughout our work sessions and that wasn't necessarily supported by the board so Mike can you help me sift through what the appropriate thing to do here made no motion what I said was if you are willing to pursue which means you as the Comm that's going to review it I won't be part of that committee because I'm the Challenger right it's conflict of interest for me to be there I'm going to vote to get rid of the book no matter what right so you all will have to look at this and determine do you want to pursue an optin and tell parents that there's material in there that may contain while it may not be the whole book but there may be material in some of the books that contain graphic detail of pedophilia and child point porn inside books inside the libraries and that they then will have the ability to opt in so we would have to create a procedure that would update that that would be the end result of a decision from me making the amendment to my document that I will not pursue this further to remove the book okay if you pursue that okay so um and let me summarize what I think we would do next Mr MacGyver and you tell me where I'm wrong um as a board minus Mr major because he is the complaintant we can decide as a team we would like to pursue an amendment and and then Mr major would drop his complaint or if that is not supported by the majority of the board we would review the complaint for our current policy I think so I mean I I think you all really those are two distinct questions in my mind um I I think pending in front of you there was a book that was challenged that went through the administrative review process and that that decision that final decision to retain that book is is what is being appealed to the board and that question needs to be addressed I what I hear Mr major saying is that if the board would choose to take other steps related to its Library policy he may not be interested in moving forward with that particular challenge but I think that it to to me that is a distinct question that that the two are certainly related but they are different questions okay um from a review standpoint to Dr Roberts's point the statutory criteria um really do focus on the material as a whole and that was the reason that the policy was crafted in a way to allow you all time to review the materials so that you can can make that decision um so the next step on that review question would be some kind of of Target timeline uh for you to be in a place to make that decision I don't know that that requires any formal motion or vote you're you're bound on the outside by the terms of the policy itself um but if you all as a group say we think we can get through it in in four weeks then you know we'll make that Target and everybody knows knows what their deadline is to go through it if you say six weeks or three weeks or whatever I think that is the initial question would be for you to to have a general Target of when you want to be through the materials and then if there is any any other discussion that you want to have around Library materials again that would be something that we'd have to work into the agenda at an appropriate time in an appropriate way okay thank you Mr M so I will work with uh my colleagues to collect input on the appropriate timing to at least answer question one and and then gaug interest in the option that Mr major has presented tonight and I've I've waited a while so it's not you you don't have to be like doing this in the next two weeks because there's other stuff too so thank you okay good yes Mr now I um at the risk of doing it going down a rabbit hole I am unclear how Mr Major's proposal is different from um Mr Schultz's motion a couple meetings ago that about having a special section library that that was voted down I'm not sure what the difference is is are we talking about something different I don't think so I don't think so okay I think the same thing y okay that wasn't a rabbit hole okay um Vision 2030 update yeah so turn to Dr Phillips and Dr bosan on information regarding Invision 2030 some good news exced good evening everybody thank you um I think we we told Mrs Chrisman last week to just put an Vision 2030 update on the cabinet reports and leave it there until we tell you it doesn't need to be on there but this uh there's not a lot to report tonight but just briefly uh last week we did receive confirmation from the county clerk's office that the uh window to submit signatures to add the 2030 projects to the next ballot that window passed um and we did not have a petition uh turned into the clerk's office and so you know we wanted to acknowledge that and really thank um you the board and the public for their support around those projects because we'll be able to move forward with these we'll be able to provide these facility improvements we'll be able to provide our kids with a um worldclass facilities to learn work and play work hard and play hard Mr Finley if he's still here um and because it won't be on the ballot this coming um this coming spring we can do so without increasing the tax rate for any of the property owners in uh the bcsc area I'm going to call for a round of applause this is a big deal everybody um and we probably the first bond issue probably won't actually occur until probably uh early to mid fall would be my guess based on timing there'll be a lot of things that happen between now and then and Dr brosan and his team have been um working feverishly in just the last month trying to put together what our next steps are going to be um you know pending that that uh that petition window closing so Dr bosan has some updates for you and at least a brief window into the next steps pH how about now great thanks thank you thank you Dr Phillips um yeah I don't have a whole lot to share but I'll run through a few items that we're working through now and what the next few weeks look like for us and you uh before I do that just a reminder parksite Elementary is scheduled to be complete um in July 24 under budget Schmid element you have one item in front of you this evening for a pre- purchase of of hbac but um The Lion shair of the project for Schmid will um be going out to bid in the middle of or end of February those are outside of the Envision 2030 project um just as a reminder we have a group that's been then working on some things in anticipation uh we plan to meet with you board members in an open um public session of strategic planning on the 19th of February in the evening and what we'll bring to you at that time is a draft schedule of phase one projects related to Envision 230 um for your feedback and review those will U primarily be items on the front um first phase would be uh those buildings that have programmatic ties to them so we'll uh we're working on that now we'll bring that to you we'll meet with the districting and facility committee as Mr Stenner mentioned on the 1st of February uh they help uh Drive a lot of those things for us so we have that coming up here in the next the next few weeks also appreciate Mr stener's uh mention of CSO you saw my note um and on Friday notes on Friday of um our partnership with CSO to be the primary architect through these projects as we continue we've also reached out to the cumin Foundation um for a list of potential design Architects for the 12th Elementary uh that process um is just getting started and we'll be uh heavily involved with the public review similar to other uh projects in the community that have gone through the cumin foundation and uh the board will be heavily involved in that as well um and then we plan to on March 3rd in the board meeting um bring to you again and publicly what that phase one um schedule looks like um we'll have construction manager R rfps going out about that time and just as a reminder um all of our contracts bid permissions uh bid acceptances approvals all those things will come to you for um we'll be very busy over the next few years so they'll be coming to you for all of your um approval as we normally do so happy to answer any questions but that's kind of where we're at right now and and what we've been working on and working towards questions okay now you have to get to work Dr Bozman got lots of money spent okay public comments um so reminder of our process um each person who is on this list will get three minutes there will be a clock here that um that Nick will start with us in and please watch that as you go I do try to stick to time um if there is a group here you can pick a a spokesperson we only have a couple people that so that probably doesn't apply um please don't use the names of individual students staff members or specific titles it's kind of the same thing and we want to just make sure we um we stay away from that um no cheers or deers um getting in um up to a podium in front of a group can be a little intimidating so we just want to make sure that the the audience is is respectful and it makes everyone feel welcome and then another one that um I would just wanted to remind people it's not necessarily a time for the board to respond so sometimes we get questions and it's like this awkward pause and so it's it's more of an information to us for us to think about um if you do want you know response on any of your questions we're usually available after the meeting or or through email phone call Etc but we'd love to hear from you and those two people I will call up as you signed up um first we have Crystal pump Frey okay um so the question that I actually wrote down uh Mr Boseman helped me answer earlier um I was just curious if I could ask a different question on a topic that you guys have already spoken about sure okay um the book that you guys were referring to um I read a lot of books and a lot of them come with uh trigger warning so to say um 136 books is what I read last year um when it comes to I guess the parental aspect of it with students in the school uh the pages he described can be quite a trigger for a lot of students um I believe if the options are to either have the book removed from the schools or to put it in a certain section where there is a warning label or the parents are oh what is the word I'm looking for informed sorry the parents of the students at the school are informed that hey there is this section of the library that has books that have possible trigger warnings and graphic content and stuff like that depending on the parents it may cause an uproar it just depends I guess um I guess my input on that is if the options are to remove the book or to get a special section in the library with the graphic nature of the book itself I understand there are certain topics in it that could be discussed but I feel like with that graphic nature of a book it shouldn't be in school I guess um but other than that I guess I'm done someone else can come up and talk thanks for hearing me appreciate it okay thank you Miss fumy uh Kermit key hello thank you for your time uh first I would like to thank Dr Roberts for his service to our community and wish him the best with his future endeavors I have appreciated his authenticity and transparency during the years he has served with bcsc second I would like to voice my support for the school-based Health Clinic Grants if approved it is my understanding that the clinic will provide Primary Care acute care sports physicals immunizations and Behavioral Health Services considering the growing concerns with our community for mental health care I'm excited to see what Behavioral Health Services will be provided to our children while some are concerned about parental involvement we have had overworked nurses in our schools for decades they continue to partner with parents to provide only the care of their child needs with their permission despite wild conspiracy theories I don't see that changing finally I am disappointed with one of our board members and their continued push for a Personal Agenda regarding books in our school libraries after they filed a written complaint to remove Ellen Hopkins people kill people Mr key I feel like that's maybe a little on point and it may violate one part of our policy I'm trying to make sure I'm staying in line haven't named anybody they named themselves well well Mr mcgyver you want to give me a advice here I just want to be fair you can let him go I I know he's talking about me I'm still writing down what he's saying okay okay I do believe we all know who I'm talking about but I'll keep it as big as possible okay a Review Committee recommended the book remain in our libraries unsatisfied they filed an appeal so that the board must decide within the next 60 days whether or not to remove the book I am disappointed because this same board member recently complained at a meeting that they and fellow members had spent so much time on this matter and very little time discussing Envision 2030 or other budgetary matters yet here we are watching them continue to push their own agenda including hostage negotiations they admit in the complaint that they have not not read the book in its entirety only the parts that someone else told them was offensive but they appealed the decision of five other experts and peer reviews they have hinded further action including frivolous lawsuits should they not get their way will a tantrum not suffice I hope the community sees all this as the radical actions of a political agitator with a Personal Agenda rather than the thoughtful concerns of a public servant actions speak louder than words anyone can claim that they're not an extremist or pushing extreme ideology but when they receive less than 50% of the vote continue to be outvoted and deny the findings of Review Committee and still refuse to compromise then we can draw no other conclusions thank you thank you Mr key okay that is all we have for public comments tonight uh next on the agenda we have our board appointments so um we kept this very simple we assigned everybody to the same stuff they had last year um so in and in most of these cases it takes a bit to get to understand the role that you are to play um and get to know the people that you're working with so I appreciate the team um you know willingness to stick with the groups that they had and so that's the decision that you're going to see up here for us to approve tonight um so I I can list through them so bcsc Health Trust um Mr major will stay on that committee District and Facilities that's always a popular one Mr Stenner thank you very much for for participating in that diversity Leadership Council that's myself um and business advisory is Mr Stenner so like the recommendation Mrs Wen I guess for 3 a through D would be then next do I have a motion from the team so I move that we approve the board appointments for calendar year 24 as listed in number three letter a through D second thank you Mr grie and Mr major um I have a motion second to approve item three a through D all those in favor please say I I all those opposed say nay motion passes okay so I'm going to list through um those assignments on on number four um High ability BR based committee is is Mr Nan um BC or bomy consolidate School Foundation is Mr Grimes Corporation continuous Improvement Council Mr Schultz education Hall of Fame is Mr Schultz um isba delegate assembly Mr Grimes he does that one with Vigor I'm also glad that he um has agreed to stay on that one um isba legislative liaison is also Mr Grimes iupuc Advisory Board Mr nen um classified employee Round Table is Mr Bryant Council for Youth Development is Mr Nan District Wellness Council Mr Bryant um bre Al me County Redevelopment commission is myself and city of Columbus Redevelopment commission is Mr major those are items 4 a through L motion I move to approve uh 4 a through L for the calendar year 2024 as presented thank you Mr Schultz do have a second than thank you Mr major okay um decision is to approve decision motion and second is to approve item four a through l all those in favor please say I I I all those opposed please say nay motion carries okay an old business I should point out that it's um the IU Columbus Advisory Board oh as of July 1st I guess but yeah so we'll be thank you Mr now exciting all right the next ones are are my recommendations Mrs won we have requests for approval as you said said for old business under that we have quite a few sets of minutes minutes of the amended regular school board meeting of December 11th 2023 executive session from January 8th regular school board meeting from January 8th and the executive session recently held on January 17th as well as you had a set of new Ola policy revision recommendations we had spent quite a bit of time on a couple of policies we've already referenced here this evening these were other ones that were based upon legislative changes uh enacted or adopted last last session so I would I don't know how I want to do this I want to pull out can I pull out just policy 4121 for a small change yeah yep so do I have um so then I would ask for a motion on everything excluding policy 4121 so I so I will move that we approve um item number five parts A and B except for policy 4121 thank you Mr nelan do I have a second second thank you Mr Schultz all those in favor please say I I all those oppos say motion carries and I guess this is a motion there was one part of policy 4121 it um this is um the policy update for background checks for support staff and um I got this correction from Dr ple so I think this is correct that um it should say and it now says that um that the applicant would pay for any of the advanced or enhanced background checks and um so it wasn't clear which option we went with but it's the applicant that would pay so that's the only chain I do I move do I make a motion so I would move that we accept that as edited that the um applicant would pay for the background check motion to amend a motion to amend policy 4121 I'll second it okay thank you so we have a motion to amend policy 4121 um made by Mr n and seconded by Mr Schultz any questions on the team okay all those in favor of the amendment please say I I all those oppose say nay okay motion passes we now have so now I would move make the motion that um we accept policy 4121 as now amended thank you Mr Nan second thank you Mr Schultz all those in favor of approving policy 4121 as amended please say I I all those opposed please say n very well done thank you okay thank you then we have request for approval for new business so starting with letter C now a set of fi trips and professional Lees that you had in front of you school fundraisers as well as claims and payroll claims for January 2 22nd are a little over $323,000 and payroll for January 12th was about $3.1 million uh I'm also asking or requesting for you to receive bids us to receive bids for mechanical HVAC equipment at Schmidt Elementary Dr bosan alluded to that just a few moments ago I request to receive bids for rof replacement at CSA Lincoln request to accept a bid for field lighting that's the football field track complex at C at Columbus East and Columbus North a conflict of interest for Mrs vogle we just didn't include that in the packet last time so getting that caught up and then an approval of a print management agreement that was also in your packet so that those are the issues we have um see through J I move that we approve all items listed under new business as presented by Dr Roberts second thank you are there any questions or comments on um six 6 C through J from the team all those in favor of approving item 6 c3j please say I I I all those opposed say n motion carries thank you Dr pleek I request approval of the human resource recommendations as presented this evening there are 11 of them two retirements two resignations one appointment and six leaves thank you Dr P I move that we approve the HR recommendations as presented by Dr pleet second thank you Mr gron Mr major all those in favor of approving the human resources recommendations please say I like to discuss oh would you like to discuss Mr Bryant there an item that gives us could we uh maybe say no to one of them that was your Chet he took it away from you Mr Roberts Dr Roberts I get to call you Mr Roberts when you're not the Super right okay would you like to discuss Mr BR okay all right all those in favor of approving the HR recommendations today please say I I all those opposed say nay motion carries thank you thank you you're welcome that one hurt a little bit okay Dr B there no initial right yeah so no we always have number eight on there just in case we have a special recommendation but none none this time okay board input inter rview um I'm going to start with Mr Gres um lots and lots of good stuff going on I uh was starting to kind of keep track through newsletters and the minute amount of attention that I pay to social media but I've quite honestly lost track so congratulations to all the students dcsc employees and all the extracurricular programs and all their recent successes um thanks to the community members that are here um this evening thank you to Mr Edwards for providing uh updated graduation data and uh really looking forward to the new team's approach um getting bcsc back on track in terms of graduation rate and reaching uh its full potential um thank you very much to Mrs Thompson for the information on regarding uh the potential Health Clinic Mr Finley for uh beyond the bell and all the good things going on at Lincoln um reminder to the community C4 openhouse Wednesday evening 5 to 7:30 at North Door 15 and lastly and I'll keep this brief there'll be more time later but uh thank you and congratulations to Dr Roberts thanks Todd thank you Mr Schultz I've not been around as much I've been traveling a lot but I I do want to thank the presenters and thank the community members that spoke um I think Mr Finley's uh best practice is one of the most scalable solutions that I've seen and honestly one that reaches so many and has proven success and its scalability um I appreciate the update on the clinics and being able to serve and um overall I just appreciate all the schools have uh I know Southside has for my children pivoted to indoor recesses and all the logistical hurdles and Nightmares that that creates uh especially at the elementary level um when you're already juggling PE so I want to thank all those teachers out there that are taking it day by day trying to keep our kids active and moving because that's helpful in their educational process yeah thank you um I have want to give commendations to the following students for receiving scholarships at the Martin Luther King breakfast last Monday it was a very cold day outside and inside the commons last Monday morning um the scholarships are based on academic achievement and Leadership and they also include a matching scholarship for ivtech or IU Columbus if the students enroll there the student awardees were Kelly Hunter Angel afana Elijah Murray Malia diet um Messiah trap and Leila Sanders and they represent two students from East two from North one from CSA new and one from Columbus virtual Pathways so as I was sitting there I um thought that also that reflects on the quality of bcsc and and the um benefit that students are getting from our multiple Pathways thank you oh and also sorry um the I want to thank the the um let's see it was one administrator two classroom teachers two parents and one librarian that um took time from their own time to read the book under question and um complete what I thought was a very thorough and well- written reflection of their thoughts on it thank you Mr briyan Mr fley is left but uh I was going to invite him to that great big building just West Library I'm going to invite him over very to that they can get together collaborate and come up with some things the B thank you Mr Bryant Mr major yeah I have two two things so the first one is uh a shout out to Chris Cooper the wrestling coach at East that won his 300th meat so 20 years ago when he started coaching I was actually um on his coaching staff with him for about three years so I do have uh a little bit of fondness for him and the work that he's put in over the last 20 years and the key to that um one of the things that they've done really well there is growth over time and the growth in is not just in the young boys that are wrestling but also in the young ladies that are wrestling now and so there were two uh wrestlers Eden Knight and Monica mcmah that made it to State wrestling tournament this last couple of weeks and uh Eden unfortunately lost the first day of wrestling Monica went on to place third and so just having seen the amount of work that goes into that sport um it is probably one of the hardest sports to do next to swimming when you think about just the endurance and the level of push you have to have internally to do that sport the second thing is I wanted to congratulate the Southside Robo stings on a second place robot performance at the Indian a first Lego uh League challenge state championship and so I know that uh robotics programs here are growing I know they're going to continue to grow CU I know a couple of things um I know that robotics programs are going to be uh something that is going to really help out in the community here so uh just a big thank you to all the teachers and volunteers at each of the schools that make that happen thank you don't even need to say my name huh uh I'd Echo the comments of the board members that have preceded me uh there are a lots of folks doing a ton of good work I'd like tonight uh especially to thank Mrs Thompson and Mrs Thompson could you pass along to Mr Rolette our thanks for his part in the presentation this evening uh it's an exciting opportunity and uh uh look forward to seeing it as it fleshes out um I think that's all I have thank you thank you Mr Stenner um I know Mr major talked about robotics I wanted to specifically call out Lisa Lisa Haynes who was the main organizer for the event at Central Middle School on January 13th that was really well done there were over 60 teams of kids who got up really early on a cold morning to just work their butts off getting these rots to do some pretty cool things so there's just so much behind the the scenes there's volunteers there's parents there's lot that goes into that and it was really cool to be a small part of that and see it all come together very well organized I can't remember the sheriff there was a guy that played the role really well as the sheriff wrangling at all there was like a western theme it was very cute um but anyway was who is it Eric Whitlock that's right Eric Whitlock yep thank you um and then I know that the topic of school closings and delays is is kind of hot for some people um I just I just want to say I appreciate that we're conservative and I I for a couple of reasons and I think it's because I recognize that um kids need more than just an education from us sometimes and so you know having a place to go having meals having all of those things having the buildings available to students if we can make that available I I appreciate that we we try to do that even when when weather can be tough and then for a working parent and I work in a manufacturing facility that's not always very flexible um I I appreciate that it helps parents out too so I know that that some people struggle with those decisions sometimes and I appreciate that we likely make exceptions where there are struggles but um it it's a tough call it really is a tough call um but I can see both sides so okay um so we have a special board meeting next week um here at 5:30 uh it will be very um short likely but this team needs to hire a new superintendent because Dr Roberts is leaving us as we just approved um and so we are going to get some help with the search process it is the intent of the board to have somebody in place by the time Dr Roberts moves on July 1st and there's a lot of steps that need to happen and and there are there are organizations that help with that so we are going to to work through um who we're going to partner with in that process and approve approve them or or review them I guess I should say next next week on Monday at 5:30 here okay um and then we have a regular school board meeting on February 5th at 6:30 um and again Mr Schultz had pointed out the education Hall of Fame award reception is going to be prior to that at 6:00 um so I'm looking forward to that uh and that will be here in this building as well and then our strategic planning session February 19th at 5:30 um will also um be in this building and we get to get a lot more in depth with the the the 2030 projects which I think we're all excited about so a lot of great stuff coming up here in the next few weeks okay and with that I think meeting is adjourned everyone having a great night

good evening everyone and Welcome to our regular business meeting of the board of school trustees held here in public 6 pm on January 22nd 2024 item two on tonight's agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance and moment of silence everyone could please rise Mr babjack will lead us in the pledge pledge Ali to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you you may be seated item two tonight patrons registered comments on educational issues there being none we'll move on to item three consent agenda Dr Terrell thank you uh for your consideration this evening we have 3.01 which is the minute from our meetings previously uh we have 3.02 which is our uniform conflict of interest disclosure statements 3.03 the Personnel agenda 3.04 recommendation for employment of candidates pursuant to Indiana code 20-26 d5- 111.2 and then finally 3.05 the voucher registered checks as listed you've heard the recommendation of the administration for the approval of the the consent agenda may I have a motion please so moved second motion by Mr Smith second by Mr babjack question or discussion um being that it's in the consent agenda this we uh is it one item or two like is it 3.03 or is it just 3.04 it sep uh being that it's in the consent agenda I don't think we're allowed to do that unless we modify the uh motion so I could do that you could modify the motion uh so Mo modify the motion looking for approval of the consent agenda eliminating it item 3.04 so we're approving looking for a motion to approve items 3.01 3.02 are we good with 3.03 regular Personnel agenda 3.03 and 3.05 excluding 3.04 may I have a motion move to approve uh uh 3.01 3.02 3.03 and 3.05 of the consent agenda a second second second by Mr vaser a motion was made by Mr Smith those in favor of 3.01 3.02 3.03 and 3.05 signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 z uh motion to approve recommendation for employment of candidates pursuant to IC 20-26 d5- 11.2 item 3.04 may I have a motion so moved Mo motion by Mr Smith second by Mr babjack all those in favor of sign of approving 3.04 signify by saying I oh any questions or just for a vote discussion okay okay fair enough those in favor signify for saying I I I those opposed motion approves 31 thank you very much item four action items 4.01 resolution 6841 sorry my site 2023 year end appropriation transfers Mr ree thank you Mr President members of the board we bring before you as we do every year the appropriation transfers for the end of the year 2023 these are the end of year transfers that you uh we ask you to allow us to do we bring back to you at the end of the year for the budgets we complete those those budgets as you know in August and September of 18 months prior to that end of last of this past calendar year and uh we don't always get it exactly right and we use these to transfer the Appropriations around to match them up to Zer out so with that we recommend approval of the transfers uh for end of the year 2023 and resolution 841 you've heard the recommendation of the administration for the approval of the year-end transfers for 2023 2023 and resolution 84 one may have a motion motion by Mr Vasser second by Mr Smith questions or discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z Item 4.02 environmental remediation Sol and Robinson Elementary Mr ree thank you Mr President we solicited bids for environmental remediation at Solen Robinson Elementary uh with that we did receive four bids our low bid has since request requested to pull their bid they have left the area uh so with that we have a bid for the work for safe environmental Corp the amount of $286 347 for the environmental remediation at soland Robinson you've heard the recommendation of the administration for the approval of the environmental remediation at solar Robinson Elementary to Safe environmental Corp for the amount of 86,4 may I have a motion second motion by Mr Smith second by Mr babjack question or discussion please uh all those in favor please signify by saying I I those opposed motion carries 4 Z 4.03 Administration Jerry Ross administration building Jerry Ross Lake Street Solen Robinson Timothy ball and Winfield Furniture award Mr ree thank you Mr President this uh request for purchase of furniture finishes out the new furniture for all of our construction projects not saying we won't have some small pieces we may need to fit in but these are the large purchases that tie in with the construction so as construction gets done Furniture gets delivered it's important for us as we use this National bid uh through Ki like we have with our other purchases so with that we're recommending approval of furniture for the administration building 26784 31 Jerry Ross for $ 68,69 Lake Street $16,917 42 soen Robinson for $5,256 Timothy ball 42,8 36.79 and Winfield Elementary for $2,818 186 from Ki you've heard the recommendation of the administration for approval of furniture for the administration Center in the amount of 26784 31 Jerry Ross for $683 65 Lake Street for $16,917 Solen Robinson for $ 55,1 12757 Timothy ball for $ 42,8 36.79 and Winfield for $ 528186 from Ki Inc may I have a motion second motion by Mr babjack second by Mr Smith questions or discussion we got is some of the U Furniture then moved out what happens with the old stuff the old stuff either be donated or or auctioned off if worth anything of value a time frame on that Mr ree or there's no set time frame each one's going to be a little bit different as the construction projects get done they get furniture gets delivered for those areas especially at the elementary buildings as you're staging that it doesn't always all happen at one time but as it's it's why we're using somebody like Ki with their services so as areas open up new furniture gets in and we're ready to go any other questions all those in favor please signify by saying I I I those oppos motion carries 40 4.04 resolution 842 disposition of real property delegation of authority to superintendent Dr ter thank you uh for your consideration this evening we have resolution 842 as Scott just mentioned uh per your board policy uh 7300 it requires the board of school trustees to dispose of real estate that is no longer needed uh for any of our educational programs here in Crown Point schools the former administration building uh located at 200 East North Street uh we no longer have a use for that as a school building here within our district so we're bringing this to you tonight uh for asking you to approve uh the disposition of the real estate property and the delegation uh Authority to me the superintendent of schools uh to proceed as we move through the required steps in order to uh dispose of that property you've heard the recommendation of the administration for for the disposition of property and builing located at 200 East North Street Crownpoint Indiana for zip code of 46307 and author delegate to the superintendent all necessary duties and powers to comply with board policy 7300 and the Indiana code 20-26 7.1 D1 and to take all actions NE necessary to comply in regards and also with the approval of resolution 842 may I have a motion I'll make that motion second motion by Mr Vasser second by Mr babj question or discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I I was opposed motion carries 4 Z thank you Dr Terell discussion report items policy additions and revisions first reading Mr a thank you Mr President and board members this evening we bring to you for a first reading another set of policies to consider again for a first reading uh they would be policy 6110 uh Grant funds this provides guidance on receiving handling Grant funds from government agencies foundations businesses and individuals schs policy 6320 purchasing this policy provides guidance to the purchasing agent or treasur of the school corporation in addition to purchases it also addresses the procurement of federal grants policy 6325 the procurement federal grants and funds this policy addresses the procurement of all supplies materials equipment and services pay from federal funds or School Corporation matching funds within those three policies IES that I just listed there are references to conflict of interest policies which we want to update at this point as well so the remaining three 1130 3113 and 4113 deal with conflict of interest with different employee types so what we were recommending this evening is just a first reading of these policies and we look forward to bringing them back to you next uh month for a uh possible waving of a second reading and approval thank you Mr President thank you uh any other qu or a chance to review those policies if we have any discussion we'll have that at the second reading and the approval of those thank you Mr Kiwa 5.02 the 2025 2026 school calendar Mr Dr terl sorry thank you with the uh calendar that was presented to all of you I just want to go through a few things and highlight a couple of different dates uh this is for the 25 26 school year our practice has been to continue to keep two years out there uh so our parents and teachers students have uh the opportunity to plan for that in advance the 2526 calendar looks very similar to the 2425 calendar uh has us beginning uh School the second week of August teachers first day on August 11th uh students first day August 13th uh continues the practice of a full week of fall break uh the same with three days for Thanksgiving break um one of the advantages that we have both next year and in 2526 is we're back to having two full weeks of Christmas break rather than uh having to break them up like we did this year which can present a challenge uh one of the things to note as we continue looking through the spring semester um spring spring break is a little bit later uh the beginning on March 30th and concluding on Good Friday April 3rd because of Good Friday being an earlier uh time of the of the month this year that will enable us for our students last day to be May 29th and teachers will come back for that June 1st uh final day for teachers but at least students do not have to be back in the building after uh Memorial Day so with that um we actually they will be back they don't have be back in the building in the month of June um for one day so with that we bring before you uh this calendar our practice has not been to vote on the calendars but it's more an opportunity to get feedback from you and to see if there's anything that any suggestions that you have uh or if you guys are are good with the calendar and we will move forward with with that questions discussions on the topic for the 2025 2026 school calendar and as we as Dr Terell mentioned in his discussion regarding it uh it's never been a voting matter we've always taken the right uh Administration moving forward with that calendar so if there's no questions or uh discussion based on that calendar we'll move on to uh information items item six we good thank you uh item six information items I want to make sure I did this in order superintendent discussion groups uh anything from our Redevelopment commissions Mr basser uh it's it's been rescheduled in Cedar Lake for tomorrow evening um had utility issu couple of weeks ago so I have no report until tomorrow night thank you uh Mr Smith nothing from Gra thank you very much we'll move on to 6.02 uh director of Grants and assessments Mr Hardman good evening members of the board good to be back um wanted to give you a little bit of information looking ahead to 2526 um there's going to be a change in the testing uh I learn testing grades three through eight uh they're actually going to go to a a through year testing that means there's going to be actually uh three checkpoints going to take place that will begin in uh as early as September uh and then there's going to be the iearn testing that will take place traditionally that we have in uh in April uh the checkpoints are more of a formative assessment they're aligned to certain standards learning in math and language arts that are uh covered during that period of time the checkpoint occur so that you can monitor and measure how your children how the students have done on those and then uh there's another window where there's additional standards or a repeat of standards that are really critical there's another checkpoint which are different questions different standards being tested and then finally there's another checkpoint that will take place uh in the spring prior to the actual I learn um I learn test is going to be shorter at that point in time which is a good thing the testing that's going to be the uh um checkpoints will last will be 30 to 45 minutes untimed and but it's good feedback on for our children as to how they're doing and to address their uh their needs also you can give the you can repeat a checkpoint uh one time so for instance if you want to reive uh one of the checkpoints to measure how students have uh done with their intervention we have that opportunity also so that's going to be coming in 2526 we as a district have chosen to opt in to that cycle next year so so we'll be opting into that so that we can understand better the type the way to uh the system is going to work I think it gives us a year to plan how we're going to adjust our formative assessment uh right now we use nwaa uh we have things happening that U are funded out of the formative assessment Grant that's going to go away uh so so there's some things next year that we want to uh just kind be a part of so that we can uh begin to develop our strategy for testing the following year uh so we will be opting in we actually submitted today uh the optin notification to the state uh for the iearn testing uh the new iearn testing next year's test will be the same so in 24 25 when we opt in the iearn test that that happens in uh April May will be the same one it's not going to change until 25 26 school year so wanted to inform you and if you have any questions at least right now just give you an overview of what's going to be taking place over the next year year two thank you Mr Harman any questions so Jim would there still be checkpoints along the way even though the test is still the same there's checkpoints for next next year we're opting into the checkpoints we're going to do the checkpoints but just know that the test is not the shorter version of the iearn test that will not start until 25 26 thanks for clarifying that yeah thank you anything else Mr Harman okay thank you 6.03 director of Elementary education Mr China I'll try to time that better so you're not running up here no still getting used to this new format thank you Mr President and board members um given our calendar discussion earlier thought I would give you a little uh overview of what the elementary teachers and staff will be up to on our e-learning day uh coming up next week on January 31st this day is all about professional development and professional collaboration uh our elementary teachers we meet all together with them periodically throughout the year most of those meetings are virtual on Zoom before school starts before students show up um but we always get feedback from our teachers after those meetings and one thing we hear uh pretty overwhelmingly is that they appreciate the time to be together in bigger chunks uh and in person to collab Cate uh so that's what we will be doing next Wednesday uh elementary teachers will start all together at Wheeler Middle School um we'll all be in the gym together to start with uh and then what we'll do is we break out into grade level meetings so a principal or a couple administrators will take each grade level um I kind of go over the the activity the plan with the principles I'm actually doing that tomorrow and then the principes lead that activity with one grade level at a time um kind of uh that's a good way that we've found to break things up and give teachers the opportunity to really spend time talking to each other and sharing about what's working um we're right at the point where we're taking those middle of the Year nwaa assessments so we also want to take a little bit of time to celebrate the success that we're seeing there's a lot of good things that we're seeing so we want to make sure that we recognize that with our teachers as well uh after that time at Wheeler in the morning uh teachers will go back to their buildings um they'll engage in different different activities at their building level for building level PD or professional collaboration uh or in their teams also at the elementary level one thing we started and we're still continuing is having a half hour set aside for teachers to connect with their students on those on those days um in case students need support uh so that'll still be happening on those days and finally uh we're going to end end that day for the elementary f folks uh with some professional development in the area of inclusion and Universal Design for Learning but I don't want to steal Heather's Thunder I'm sure she will cover that when she comes up here thank you Mr China uh just to for our purposes how many days again do we get this year of uh the learning days where we do the collaboration three uh four four okay yes all right just want to clarify that thank you director of secondary education Mrs Ramirez thank you Mr President and board members good evening I will continue um expanding on what Mr China talked about but focused on secondary and what we will be targeting on January 31st for the e-learning day we too will be participating in Universal Design for Learning and inclusion with Dr Louis Lord Nelson and then we'll have um a series of both teacher Le and administrator LS um professional development what I really look for for to on these days is the educator growth the collaboration that all drive towards increasing student engagement Student Success at the middle schools our professional learning communities have identified a student centered Challenge and inquiry question Based on data and so they are looking to share strategies and action steps to be able to show greater growth in those areas they'll also focus on technology and data analysis we'll have middle of the Year nwaa data will also continue to be looking at I learn data from last year to make sure that students are um prepared adequately for that assessment and then we also ask that they look at classroom data as well as we want to make sure that they are collaborating aligning and providing a common um educational experience for our students at the high school there will be a lot of diversity in terms of the programming that they'll have to help support teachers there will be a heavy focus on using our Crownpoint Community School Corporation supported technology so that's parents Square Ed puzzle paradex screencastify our clear touch panels um buzz features to provide feedback to students we also have a great opportunity for our gen Ed and special education teachers to work together those that um co- te will have time we have our Ela and math District specialist who will be working with our Ela and Math teachers to support sat um discussions and again really giving our teachers the opport to collaborate and to um really dig into seeing where we're currently at where we're going and how we're going to get there lastly I would like to just share um really an exciting event that took place this last Saturday Taft Middle School was able to host for the first time the Science Olympiad competition and it was quite um an event Mr Angel was there as were many of our um board members we have M Dr Terell was in um kind of in the loop of everything and handed out Awards as Mr Gan fery and this was quite an undertaking the coaches from um Taft and Wheeler work together along with sponsors parents volunteers the students to host over 500 students we had 15 high schools and 13 middle schools from Indiana and Illinois that were competing and as we were able to be part of the award ceremony it was so reassuring to see the passion and the talent that our students have for the Sciences whether those are um the Natural Sciences physical science forensics when you heard about the 23 different events in which they could compete just really what talent they have and I'm so proud that our Corporation is to able to provide this opportunity to our students the enthusiasm was very much felt both in the gymnasium and in the auditorium when awards were distributed so I would just really like to thank all of the sponsors and those involved for their hard work and their thoughtfulness in planning this event and um really congratulate all of the students who participated Taft ended up taking second place overall wheeler came in fifth place and Crownpoint High School came in seventh overall so just a really great event if in the future you have the opportunity to attend I highly recommend that you do so because it's pretty cool to get to see what our kids can do thank you Mr MIRS next on the agenda let's see 6.05 watch How I paused this perfect director of educational exceptional education Mrs pascus thank you I appreciate the wait time good evening president Angel members of the board um just an update on what's happening in exceptional exceptional education um back on January 11th we had a parent advisory group meeting here at the new administration building it was exciting our group got to take a tour of the building as well as he updates um in the department uh including the growth and some of the programming ads we've had um over the last year um we also had a demonstration of one of our rooc kind robots so Milo did put on a little bit of a show for our parents and then Dr T Terell also joined us and spoke with our parents so um hopefully we are able to um one of the things parents asked for is a way to help some of our parents going through the special education process for the first time if they're child does qualify so um we're starting with the preschool level of a brochure and um resources parents can use um to help navigate the special education process um on January 31st for e-learning exceptional education has quite a bit going on um it's a opportunity for us to work with teachers PA professionals and our related service providers so um a couple of our speech language Pathologists are going going to be working with pair professionals um on communication techniques for our students who may be nonverbal or may have some um communication struggles um some of our students use a device that looks similar to this called a it's their voice and it has pictures and symbols they use to communicate so that's one of the things they'll take the pair professionals through to learn how to work with students with such needs um we also have a applied skills teachers will be receiving uh deeper training on uh one of their curriculum resources called unique Learning System um our elementary resource teachers are going to be receiving training from one of our school psychologists and a couple of our diagnosticians on how to accommodate Stu accommodate students with mild intellectual disabilities in the general education environment um and then we have a handful of of exceptional education staff members who will be part of the Universal Design for Learning inclusion team training that is going to take place here at the admin building um so what Dr Louis Lord Nelson who's a a national consultant um she is going to take our she's done some coaching visits so she visited over two days um several of our schools observed what teachers were doing it was informal not e evaluations and gave feedback on on how they could take what they were doing and use this what they call udl framework so she is aware of our Buzz curriculum and um wants to help them examine their curriculum and how they can um reduce barriers and offer other learning Pathways for students we're also going to start this week at our principal's cabinet meeting with a self assessment that our leaders will go through measuring their current knowledge of practices and and kind of how that looks at their building thank you any questions thank you Mrs pascus Chief Human Resource off I'm Sorry Miss one assistant superintendent Mr Gan Ferman thank you Mr President board members uh just let me start off by saying of the four people that talked before you just kind of indicated on how hard that we do work to to try to provide our teachers and instructional staff that that professional development when we have those e-learning days and I really appreciate all their efforts that they put in to make that worthwhile time for our teachers and thanking our teachers and instructional staff because they really do show up and put in a lot of effort on those days to kind of improve what we're doing for our students uh quick comment on the uh ta Science Olympiad uh it was it was a great event to attend i' never attended one it's the first one that we've hosted in our district from what I understand and I didn't understand that the students really didn't know if they what place they had come in until it was announced right there as we were handing out the ribbons so it was great to see like high school kids just running over each other down the bleachers to come and get their third place ribbon or whatever they want at that time but that's a lot of it just indicated how much work they put in our people did a great job of putting that together prior to that on January 6 there was a robotics tournament at that uh Taff middle school so it just shows you that uh our Co our coaches and our our teachers are really using that facility to um provide some great opportunities not only for our students for a lot of neighboring students as well it is a great facility to host those kind of events so I'm glad to see that we're using it and people are benefiting from it um speaking of events just want to mention this to you that every uh cromp Point High School Vex robotic team will be attending the Northwest Wisconsin VC Showdown on Thursday and Friday and the really cool part about this is that it is at Lambo field I don't know if it's on the frozen tundra but I had to say that because I had an opportunity so I think willing that event but again thanks to our our High School coaches for giving our kids that that's a that's a really cool opportunity for them and then finally in uh CT e programming um our director of our Co-op our South Lake career Co-op Tim Summers brought an opportunity to us about a month or so ago the Perkins Grant which is a Federal Grant had additional funding in it this year so they offered us um an opportunity what they were calling a reserve Grant kind of just additional monies that you had to put in for and Lyn elky our associate principal did an awesome job of putting together all of the equipment the beds the simulation mannequins all the medical equipment we need to furnish and equi our CNA lab which has just been completed in the construction project so uh she received just about $39,000 to fully furnish that lab and that's going to be a great um pathway for our students who are interested in the medical field so thank her for all her her work on that and thanks Tim for bringing that to our our attention questions thank you Mr JM fery 6 07 Chief human resource officer Mr Keo thank you Mr President and board members two items tonight uh I want to pass along a thank you U to a gentleman sitting here in front of us and that's Mr Dave Coulson unsung heer over here who really helps us out with quite a bit and me particular in my department I just want to thank him for doing Wellness checks on a lot of our families he does checks on our mckenny vento families he also helps up helps helps us out validating and confirming a residency in some areas where we have questions these are not easy visits to do sometimes very uncomfortable checks uh but I just want to thank you Dave personally for all that you do for us uh in a role that you know many don't know about uh but it's it's a great role and it's very appreciated by my my department and and the principles and everybody else so just way to go Dave thanks uh and as far as uh activities just wanted to bring to the board's attention that it's we're getting to the end of January into of February we're looking at the next year already so uh we're starting to roll up some numbers and we'll be rolling up our sleeves as well as we we look at a possible staffing needs for the next school year so we'll keep you posted as those uh efforts uh move forward and that's all I have for you this evening thank you Mr Kiwa Chief Financial Officer Mr ree thank you Mr President members of the board I'm happy to recognize tonight the business office we were actually closed uh with the financials by uh the end of the county year on January 9th and by January 10th uh a few short days we were back ordering supplies and goods back at the building for the 2024 year that's the quickest I can remember us turning that around in in quite a while we've normally gone two or three weeks before we were able to open up 24 and start doing our normal business operations and getting goods and services out to the building so we're very happy um with how they accomplished that goal over this this winter and we had some people out during that period and everybody stepped up and took care of some business so just want to thank them for the extra work they did over over the break U then we were all excited to take a few days off after the break was over um once we got the mission accomplished thank you thank you Mr Reese 6.09 director of communication Mrs alen thank you good evening in November the board approved to apply for and receive a grant from doe and robokind for assist of technology in the form of robots um as M pascus mentioned they are here and we were able to be there um on the first day that our teachers and students were introduced to these and we created a little video to share with our community so my uh my update is in the form of a video this evening for spe e so we'll share this with our community um social media website and newsletters in the upcoming week but thank you to Kelly for her interview and also thank you to rut who is our digital media specialist who puts together all of that footage thank you 6 point Tech 610 superintendent of schools Dr Terell thank you just a few things uh this evening want to recognize our maintenance department and our building custodians during this winter weather and the challenges that it presents uh we've had quite a stretch here over the last uh 10 12 days and it's continuing even as we speak I would just want to thank them I know they they get there early and spend a lot of time and extra effort uh on top of all their other things that they have to do just making sure that our buildings are ready our parking lots are ready and we appreciate that also with that I want to thank Marty Freeman who generally gets out on the roads about 3:00 a.m.

and um uh this is this will be our election of officers uh for the board of Finance uh Mr miles thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board uh the state of Indiana requires us as a public school district to hold an annual Board of Finance meeting and at which time um we are to elect officers the president and secretary and also appoint an invest officer at this time um I would recommend that we do that first and then we would move into uh two reports that we're also required to present annually do we have a slate of officers Mr miles typically speaking our officers for the board of Finance mirror those of the board of education so we would recommend uh that we would follow the same procedure and the same officers following that this year board do we have uh would you does does this require a motion at this time it does so board do we have a motion to elect the officers for the board of Finance miroring the officers on the school board so so moved second properly moved and seconded are there any questions for Mr miles no all those in favor I any opposed all right we have the election of our officers now for the report yes as in addition to that um just as a point of clarification uh we do those elected officers do need to an appoint an investment officer typically uh that is our CFO do we have a motion so moved second properly moved and seconded if there are no questions all those in favor I I any opposed so Mr miles you're our investment officer thank you thank you madam president and then at this time I would um ask if we can go ahead and pull up the slide we will show our investment register from um the past year currently in our investment accounts we hold in excess of $15 million and we earned an interest just over 1.7 million in interest uh this past year that is so much higher than our in uh investment income from previous years can you explain that us uh certainly our interest rates on our Securities uh has certainly in increased um along with interest rates on in the market and so um that has really fed um our ability to earn more interest secondly we have um our annual Financial indicators report which is produced by uh Indiana doab or Indiana distressed unit appeals board this report is always a one year in lag so this is the most current data available from the state of Indiana which is our 2020 22 data and the slides will show an overview uh of our daily uh ADM or average daily membership which is our enrollment the next slide which um we've we've covered those uh in past and we also know that we are growing as a school district the next slides uh the next two slides actually this one and the next show a synopsis a quick um screenshot of just the fund balances that are currently in all of our accounts um and as you can see again the 2022 figures those fund balances are growing versus 21 uh likewise the next slide our fund balances uh for our education fund and operations funds um encouraging growth in both in both cases the next slide um deals with our revenue and expenditures uh and you can see as also our revenue is growing our expenditures have grown over the years um and this also shows the transfers back and forth the next slide is our fund balances as a percentage of operations again encouraging and very positive growth over the last several years the next slide uh identifies our revenue and where it comes from the blue bar in there in the middle is our largest uh Revenue uh share source which is from the state of Indiana and then the last slide is our operating uh referendum and as you see uh quite proudly here at MSD of Lawrence Township we do not have an operating referendum so that balance is zero and that is our doab report and those reports are also available online Mr miles for members of the public could you please explain how some of the actions taken at the State House have impacted our funding up and down throughout the the year in particular this last fiscal cycle absolutely as last year as you know um was a budget cycle a biannual uh for for our state so um that is where actions at the state house uh truly impact um us on a local level here at school district roughly speaking our our state public uh schools are about 50% of the state budget um so impacts that we've seen over the last uh 12 months or so certainly one of those is uh this the school funding formula is critical to our dollars that come uh as a per pup basis um other changes such as our our textbook uh rental they've changed that those the textbook rental fees are now as a part of um built in our P per per student funding um so those went away that was a big change for us um other changes that that legislature is always looking at is how things impact property taxes and certainly property taxes feed our local tax revenue here um as we see by Revenue so those are all critical as well other districts obviously have had to come up with the same funding for for students how are other districts managing these unfunded mandates uh it's always um you know the devils in the details so to speak um each school is different different circumstances um that may work from depending on what they're dealing with certainly uh some encouraging news for us from school district from our budget standpoint uh was that our assess values went up as property tax our property values go up even if our rate is the same uh which is always our goal to keep our rates the same uh from a property St tax standpoint it does provide more Revenue um certainly we're also dealing with inflation just like everyone else is even at home um so those as those costs go up um our Revenue needs to go up as well we've been able to um just through good fiscal stewardship avoid that operating referendum in other cases some some schools have not been able to and they've had to go to their public to ask for those additional dollars can you remind members of the public the percentage of our um um of our budget is in the rainy day fund currently we have uh 11 just over1 million in our rainy day fund um our education uh State funding dollars are roughly 140 million our total budget is about 260 million for the year that includes our federal stimulus money um um from our Co dollars and and other sources thank you Mr miles can you go back to slide one can absolutely to slide one there we go ADM oh and and I want to look at the fund balances look at year 2022 yes and we see that that that super dip with Federal stimulus funds can you explain that to so yeah that it shows a little um it looks a little odd on the way the duab report shows but basically what's that what that's showing you is um even though it looks to be a negative it's it's a our funds from uh stimulus dollars have actually grown um 22 was more than 21 as the as the federal government put more dollars out there that's really what that's showing okay but we have doesn't it show that we have less funds year year after year it is just that green that green L that green bar that goes goes downward yeah yeah so I we're still getting positive funds from the federal government and those will it's just a change in funding correct and those this is the last year that we have to spend those dollars so thank you yes thank you for that we also go ahead over this last over this last year have also received funding for free and reduced school lunches available to all of our students now could you explain how that has impacted the potential for um for revenue from school lunches and how how how does that actually work because I think I was I was a very happy parent to to receive the free lunches I think others were as well yeah that that's a great question not on the doab report um but but basically um through direct certification um a certain percentage of our families within our district have to meet um the federal standards for that um meaning um uh TANF snap and other other indicators once we reach a minimum threshold that uh again as a district then all students qualify for free and reduced lunch um we're still analyzing exactly what the impacts of that are going to be but so far we've seen very good um impacts in our in our food service budget uh along with it's also given students the ability certainly everyone's eating we don't have students that that may be skipping a lunch for one reason or another uh financially and some students therefore then can use the money that they may have spent on school lunch to buy other things as well so um it's it's been it's been a win-win both for the district and and we feel for families and that's both breakfast and lunch correct great questions are there any other questions board for Mr miles if not then um that will conclude our meeting and that meeting will be adjourned now we will call into order our regular Schoolboard meeting will you please stand with me and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the rep it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and we board we will now um present our superintendent Awards good evening Madame President Dr Smith and members on the board and the community that is president present we are excited to present our superintendent award to the kanana Club of Castleton Mr Denny could come forward since October 1st of 1988 the Kanas Club of Castleton part of Kanas International has been an organization focused on helping children founded by top level officials from Fort Benjamin Harrison members have committed their time talent and resources to supporting the children of the community over the years that service to the community has taken different forms including tutoring elementary students raising money for area children services delivering meals on wheels and providing scholarships for Lawrence Township graduating seniors to name a few in addition each month kowas recognizes students from Lawrence Central and Lawrence North as a part of the character counts initiative I am honored to present the Kanas Club of Castleton with the superintendent award congratulations [Applause] ations thank you that we're all ladies [Applause] though next we have Dan kosnik assistant superintendent of secondary education to present some middle school and secondary Awards thank you Miss Johnson Madam president Dr Smith members of the board good to be with you again this evening tonight we recognize several musicians and vocalists it's that time of year for us to recognize our performing art students so up first from Belzer Middle School director of BS Eric Park thank you um in uh recognition of their participation and selection for the um Indiana band Masters Association All Region band like to recognize the following students from Belzer um bands uh Adam Buckner who is not here today but um Adam Buckner Samuel Walters Chloe Anderson Tyler Gardner and George [Applause] Ry congratulations you guys sounded great congratulations bears up next for fall C Valley director bands Miss Shannon Jones good evening the first select few are for the All Region honor band uh Bennett Lawrence on trumpet who is not here Morgan Thompson on flute Karen Salazar K un flute who is not here Heidi Dean on flute and Arthur CL and clarinet the next group our All Region honor Orchestra Liam Welty on violin is not here Hazel Reynolds on violin Ruth barbar bonitz on violin Andrea ketler on viola Timothy Wilson on viola Maggie Ashburn on cello Kira Shu on cello Annabelle Keith on base and thanks to the new sixth grade program that we're now in our third year of we also have some elementary students that are students that are honored through our program um with Miss Williams uh our singers are Jordy Chavez an Elina little [Applause] stand congratulations [Applause] Wildcats turning to our high schools up first for Laurence Central director of bands Mr Marshall good evening everyone um proud to uh recognize two of our students that were members of the Indiana All State Orchestra uh we have Mr Oliver Heyman on French horn finished fifth in the state we had Bailey Workman who finished first in the state on [Applause] bassoon congratulations [Applause] bears and last but not least from Lawrence North director of Orchestra Miss Meer my student's not here unfortunately but um my student Ava Genson was the only Lawrence Township student in the 2023 inaugural Indiana High School All Region Orchestra [Applause] ch congratulations to our Wildcats that's it for this evening thank [Applause] you this concludes the awards portion of our board meeting we will now be switching to the illuminating business part you're welcome to stay or leave thank you very much and congratulations uh we will now move to our um Blue Ribbon update Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board just want to give give you a quick sight view uh little snow out there last couple weeks has been a little cold and snowy but uh we have done some outside work as we continue on uh trying to finish up our projects LC pool uh continue on the sidewalls are being poured and they'll continue uh to the shallow end and then start bu back filling and doing the deck new pool inside uh uh locker rooms and hallways continue to be built out again another picture of the front entrance Ln again another sight view uh you can see there on the lower left uh we do have steel going up you see in the next slide um for the new addition going on to Lawrence North so it continues to move forward uh LM bookstore this is just off the left side of the auditorium so it's starting to go in and the old pool has been filled in and also we have some uh uh new doorways cut in and they are continuing to work on uh the locker rooms in the office area of this space uh LGI is almost complete hopefully by the end of this week we'll turn that uh room back over to the building those are Middle School uh the auditorium continues on got some heat in there so they continue to work uh LG I and next SL six other classrooms uh we have moved forward to with their uh renovation and they're starting to go back together as we speak Fall Creek Valley uh again more classroom space and student service space in the 700 Wing uh I believe there's three more classrooms as well as this is the IT department uh that continues on new bookstore there on your left uh the outside and one on the right the inside and we continue to uh wait on the bids coming in for the Lawrence uh education center uh on the forth and those are due uh February 16th and we'll be hopefully bringing back some uh uh contracts for the board approval later in February board do you have questions for Mr Smith um I do have a question thank you for the updates Mr Smith I I know you've um spoken to this in previous meetings but just to address it again I've had some constituents um around the Lawrence North Area um just inquire what will be utilized in the new Auditorium space um that was the old Natatorium because it's a fantastic space uhuh right uh we're actually turning that space in a multi-purpose space so an indoor space for Performing Arts athletic PE uh so again it's is a additional space that we can enhance the overall building by giving that back to them thank you uh I do have a question um on the LGI um renovation what changes were made in the Little Theater uh we had a complete new ceiling put in uh all new uh uh seating uh the cushions and the backs were replaced uh flooring paint and the stage will be finished okay are there any other questions about the report this evening if not we'll move on to the resolution for property acquisition uh Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board uh a resolution for property acquisition I'd like to start off with a little bit of history of why this is coming to the board uh this is something if you go to the next slide we've been pursuing this property for several years now uh as we have looked at the uh the the property around Lawrence Central we were really constrained and landlocked and in 2015 we started a conversation when we looked at renovating the stadium and the concession building that we wanted to put up on the south uh East Side would go on a piece of property that actually was was not ours uh that was part of the lodge so in that process the conversation continued on where we actually uh traded the lodge the parking space on the east side of that Lodge that was ours uh they actually owned the north portion of the property that was known as our football practice field that the school had been leasing for years off of the lodge so we made a an agreeable trade that uh we would swap our parking for their property and uh they would get additional parking and we would get the space that we needed uh to put our concession stand uh on there and uh continue to have a practice space uh for our football conversations expanded we uh started talking about the overall renovation of the high schools and what space was needed to uh give us at LC what Ln had and vice versa so uh we had several conversations starting in 15 with the Stuart uh family about an interest in that land and number one would they be willing just to sell uh the land portion there's two Parcels there one is a little over 10 acres uh of just land and the other one is uh the house and the property at four plus acres so we were interested in the acreage that would help us solidify some things there at LC uh we then found out through Mr Stewart there of how the land was set up it was set up in a trust and uh he was very much excited that we were interested in the property and vice versa uh but he also informed us the process that he had already put into place and therefore would have to remain in place and that would be after the passing of Mr and Mrs Stewart the property was put in the trust and then would be sold so as we move forward with LC uh renovation we continue to look at the steuart property so if you would flip to the next slide just to show you we started doing some thumbnail sketches if we had that property what would it become how could we develop that would it give it what we need needed uh to support LC and uh uh their further growth um if you go back to the previous slide um we continued on with the design but uh as that property did not become available to us we pursued some uh more property actually the Boy Scout also pursued it with us uh and knowing that at one time we had acquired about out flipping some land uh gaining some land more accessible to uh the Lawrence Central High School uh which is the property just north of us um that did not pan out and that was actually in ' 09 when we talked about some possible flipping of properties that did not pan out with the current administration of the Boy Scouts so we pursued we built our uh uh soccer stadium back there on KO drive and and continued on in 1920 and uh 2020 uh n 2019 and 2020 uh you know we continued on with the high school Renovations and that's when the boy scout property would become available for us uh 20 acres north uh and we went through that process to expand uh the soccer the soccer JV field and the baseball stadium so we are moving in that direction we will complete that project this spring in 2023 uh early fall is when the Stewart Property became available after the passing of Mrs Stewart uh we did pursue some options uh with that again we were not interested in the house we were just interested in the land and we did put an offer in on the land based off two uh appraisals the average of those two and they were however rejected from uh the owners at that point knowing that they could probably get more money if they sold both pieces of property at the same time so we continue to uh pursue our options uh of how we could acquire uh that piece of property during that time we also was made aware by the owners that another offer was given so uh looking at that uh and knowing that then we pursued some of the options that the board could take to acquire that property and that's why this resolution of property uh is coming to you so if you look at this picture here this is the picture picture of the Stewart Property if you don't know which one it is if you see where the football stadium is it's just to the upper right it looks like an upside down sea that is the 10 point uh plus acres that is really what we have always been interested in as you see it backs up right next to our inzone building our track and also the softball stadium actually there's a bare speed piece of land right there that we had over the years have really been squatting on the Stewart's property uh from her softball area as well as track also Sheila if you look up in the upper rightand corner where the old shotput disc is currently north of the go over to the right right there that was the parking lot that I talked about before that we switched uh and traded the property just North which would be to the left of the current Masonic Lodge where uh J or our football practice field it was and is uh but anyway right now our current shop put and discus are way over there on the far uh east side of our property giving this property would give us the ability if you look at the next slide to basically move that into the majority of the baren space on that piece of property over the years it has grown up some but that would be the only area that we would transform on this piece of property giving us access uh for shop putut and discus which also gives us ADA compliance for uh our athletes as well as any Patron that uh families that may want to watch that our intent for the remainder of the property would be to leave it as it is and allow it to further mature with the vegetation on there the East Side uh does have some mature uh uh trees there that we want to again leave as a buffer between our neighbors and us um so the more trees there the more protection from light and sound uh as we currently have on the football field uh we've kind of helped work with them as we move forward with that but again you'll see a minimal impact of that property but it gives us a huge advantage of uh our students being in proximity of as well as access uh not only to our shot putut and discus but also to further maintain our our softball Diamond as well as our retention Pond there uh if you look over to the what I wish I would have put up the new schedule of our property if you take the far left side of the yellow and drop straight down go on down that property is what is ours now so really we'd be squaring off our property and really land loocking us to the advantage for anything future going on uh and anyone else from encroaching on our property so with that I wanted to also have Mr quer Bush talk about the board's rights in acquiring this land what kind of options do we have to move forward at this point as we have exhausted uh other means that we have used in the past uh in order to acquire this property thank you Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board it's a pleasure to be with you Jeff qualkinbush with Baron thorberg so the resolution that's before you this evening is very similar in in many ways to the resolutions that you've approved in the past with respect to acquisition of property whether it's the Boy Scout property or the new Transportation Center property and things of that sort it authorizes the an offer to be provided based on two appraisals that you have obtained one was for 3 million or 1, 310,000 the other was for $920,000 the average of those two comes in at $1,115 th000 so this resolution allows you to provide an offer to the current property owner for an amount not to exceed 1, 115,000 and other terms and conditions standard to the purchase of the property in addition uh this resolution takes it a step further because of the need for this property and the uh location that is currently in existence is authorizing the school corporation to proceed with imminent domain if the offer to the property is not accepted that would then involve uh the school corporation filing with this with the Maring County Courts for that request and then the average of the appraisals would be paid whatever that may be the appraisals that you obtained would be thrown out there would be appraisers that would be appointed by both the court uh and then those would be come up with new appraised values in the meantime the the two parties could at any point in time reach a settlement agreement and file that at that point in time which could be for an amount whatever is determined between the parties to be necessary to be able to properly uh compensate the owner of the property for the purchase price but also to avoid any additional litigation costs and other costs that might U be involved in that as well as any sort of time delay so those are the options that are available in the resolution that are before you this evening I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding the resolution but if there's anything regarding the process of the property as far as it's use I'll turn those back over to Mr one thing I may add excuse me uh with this would be acquiring both parcels and uh we only want the land parcel so that would also give us the ability to resell the house uh and land around the house as the second parcel thus keeping on on the tax rolls and right now the estimated value of that piece of property is between 700 and $900,000 so that would also then help recoup our land or dollars and cents uh thus lowering the price of the overall piece of property that we really want I I do have a few questions um do we plan to install any light or sound equipment on that property no okay um um I see that around on the diagram that around the shop put area which is mostly in the grassland right now there's additional grassland surrounding that property what will we do with that AR inent would be to continue to allow this H piece of property to mature in growth of trees and vegetation uh we do also have U bser putting in an agricultural uh curriculum uh this could give an option for Bower as well as science and AAG at the high school uh to utilize this space uh for that curricular use thus not disturbing it or putting any other buildings on it so that the trees that act as a buffer in the neighborhood would only increase it would the number of trees continue to grow yes and continue to grow naturally okay um um I think that's that those are my questions right now thank you I have a question um will there be any increases on taxes how would this effects affects taxpayers actually it would help well it really wouldn't impact at all any taxpayer based off this transition uh what it does do is allow us to keep uh a piece of property on the taxpayer which helps the city uh with their Finance as well as us as schools would there be any changes in traffic patterns if we were to purchase this on wallingwood uh no as our current we do uh take buses in that area picking up students in there as we've had for many years that that would continue but that would be the only traffic um there would be no increase in traffic on wallingwood actually if we sold the house it eliminates any access to this piece of property from Walling board so it would all be accessible only to our property Mr Smith can you explain what the potential concerns are if another um if another property buyer were to come in and purchase this land what what what impact would that have on our students and our school Community well I think uh over the years what I've learned is uh the residents in that area have uh uh push back on any other expansion of property in that area especially with housing uh or even if any other developer would utilize that would incre increase traffic flow within that area and I believe uh uh that is residential uh roadway and also uh the utilities to that space to increase it and grow it would be at a cost of the city as well as the potential buyer of that property uh we would not do anything that would increase the utility cost uh sewage water for that piece of property plus nor would we impact uh that neighborhood with any type of traffic for the school and Mr Quackenbush could you please explain the resolution that we're voting on this evening and what what that means in terms of um of kind of the the process by which we would move about acquiring this if you could give a a brief timeline of what that would look like absolutely happy to do that so if you approve the resolution this evening then we would as soon as tomorrow morning submit the uniform offer letter to the property owner and its attorney they have up to 30 days with which to respond to that offer if they respond during that period of time and reject the offer then the resolution authorizes the school corporation to then file a a claim in Maran County Court System under the imminent domain law once that claim would be filed and the court would approve that then the parties could reach a settlement and could then decide to file a settlement at that point if a settlement is not reached then The Next Step would be for there to be a hearing on the public purpose uh that would be scheduled within a reasonable period of time 45 days at the end of that if the public purpose would be determined to be uh sufficient by the by the court which in this case it would be because the characteristics to determine if it's public purposes is it neighboring existing school property is it being intended to be used for a school purpose and those two things would be clearly met by the location of this and by the drawings that are identified and then after that public purpose decision would be made then the appointment of the appraisers would be appointed by the court after the two sides would provide their two lists of appraisers and they would then reach a determination on the value of the property after that determination is reached then the court would order the school corporation if it wants to take the property to pay the amount and then they would Grant the uh transfer the property to the name of the school corporation at any point in time during that if the two parties decide to come back to a reach a settlement they could stop that proc say file the settlement and if the court determines it to be a reasonable settlement they can approve that are there any other parties involved in these transactions that could claim emminent domain the only parties that could be interested in an imminent domain proceedings are those that have an interest a current uh recordable interest in the property so that would be any lean holder mortgage holder to the property so a bank of some kind could be a potential an interest owner there that would have to be identified and they would have the ability to speak with respect to the appraised Val value uh in addition the county if there are any back taxes would be an interested party here there are no back taxes based on our research of the records So based on our research of the records there are no other parties of interest that have a reportable interest in the property that could identify itself during the imminent domain proceeding okay and Mr miles this may be more a question for you or maybe a combo for all three of you so feel free to round robin how you answer this question tonight we're approving the motion to move forward with the the investigation of the process and defile emminent domain claims once that happens and assuming everything moves um smoothly through the courts um how would we then fund the purchase of this property uh so our next item on the agenda um tonight speaks to that piece um jumping ahead a little bit as was a sneak preview um we will be coming to the board tonight asking for permission to to hold an additional appropriation hearing which would take place in February uh we would go through the proper advertising process beforehand and have that public hearing we would use rainy day funds to purchase the property so that's why um our current rainy day fund appropriation is short of the average of the two appraisals so we would need to ask for that additional appropriation final question Mr Quackenbush in terms of I I know these litigations can go on for quite some time uh eminent domain cases um do we have every indication that we may be able to reach some sort of amicable agreement with the property seller in order to avoid potential extended legal fees Etc yes we do thank you that's all I have some questions about the financial aspect could you share how much if we did have to come to a settlement how much the district would be paying is that it would be whatever the two parties are are willing to reach at this point in time we understand that there is an offer out there for $1.5 million on the property by the by the other uh purchase potential purchaser so it' be reasonable to think that that would be the amount that the school corporation would have to match to be able to acquas the deser desires of the current property owners to reach the same results that they would otherwise have with the current property owner the biggest difference is is that in connection with that current property owner or property offer there are a bunch of conditions that have to be met that may take one month or several months whereas we would not have to reach those same conditions or have those same conditions apply to our purchase or our offer and so they may be more willing to work with us on that as a result of that okay and so one.5 plus the cost associated with The discus so how much total are we looking at potentially taking from our rainy day fund I don't know what the cost of The discus is and that sort of thing I would turn that back over over to Mr Smith but it would be uh the 1.5 potentially if that's the offer that would be agreeable to the two parties together with what whatever the improvements would cost then you would need to subtract back out of that whatever we would be able to recoup in the way of the sale and so if the sale of the property with the house on it is roughly 700 to 900,000 you would need to net that out of total cost sure I understand that so I in just a point of clarification rainy day funds are funds that taxpayers have already paid that we have put what can you explain what rainy day funds are usually meant for because I just for the Public's knowledge the source of rainy day funds really can come from three different sources there could be sale of property and oftentimes when you sell property as a school corporation you will deposit money into there so that that could have been a source of Prior rainy day fund monies in addition there can be transfer of monies from either your education fund or your operation fund uh used to be several funds it was your general fund your capital projects fund Transportation uh those could be transferred into your rainy day refund from time to time uh in an amount not to exceed 10% of your total budget for that year and then in addition there could be other sources of revenue whether it's donations or other federal funds that might not have been used for their purposes then the federal government would Grant you to retain those funds and you could transfer those into there the rainy day fund resolution as I understand it in policy authorizes the ability for it to be used not just for unanticipated expenses related to operations but also for land purchases uh because those are rainy day is probably the term rainy day is the terminology that was given to it by the state of Indiana but the purposes were broader than rainy day purposes in that they can be used for other one-time expenditures that may not be unanticipated or negative expenses or loss of revenues but rather you don't want to use other fund balances because those may be needed for more reoccurring expenses over the course of your budget year over over several years thank you very much Mr Smith would you clarify for Mr done the uh shop putut dis is how would we go about purchasing that that that would not come out a rainy day uh no that would be out of our uh cpf or other uh funds that we have for buildings Mr miles can you give a few additional examples of how we've used rainy day funds in the past um to my know and I've got a short frame of reference I will I don't mean to put you on the spote for that rir question um we have not used rainy day funds in my tenure which has been uh about 15 months now um so prior to that I'm I'm sorry I can't speak to that I'd be happy to to look into that Madam board member we have worked very hard to build a rainy day fund Mr Smith we can remember we didn't have a lot of rainy day fund uh Mr quac and Bush outlined very exactly what we could use those funds for uh we've been fortunate in the last 10 years we've not had to use our rainy day to purchase property uh so we've been very uh fortunate to do that in the purchase of the property that we had at transportation we actually sold our old Transportation facility to purchase a new one so we purchased the property that way so we've been very fortunate but in this situation uh we have to use our Randy day funds in order to purchase this property okay I think Mr quaca Bush outlined um the financial situation of how much we would have appreciate theal call Y thank you yeah Roger and I have the gray hair here we we do remember or do you have additional questions about the wallingwood property acquisition um we do have we do have a member of the public that is asked to speak on this topic um Miss Caitlyn wild are you here thank you microphone please come on to the microphone um again state your name and your address and you have three minutes to address the board um hi I'm Caitlyn wild I live at 11943 Discovery Circle um 46236 um I actually had a few questions regarding it um the first was um at a meeting a public meeting on January 11th um Wendy must speaking on behalf of the school board um indicated that your guys's plan was not to build anything in that agricultural area it was actually to plant um a bunch of trees to act as a buffer um for the Neighbors so I was just wondering like on record on behalf of the wallingwood neighborhood it did not sound like any planting of trees was going to happen just the maturing of the current trees um so that was the first question um the second question was um you spoke about leaving those mature trees to further mature but also having it be used for curricular purpose that would involve clearing a lot of the undergrowth and a lot of the things that would buffer the neighborhood from your property to be able to even walk through it so um it it sounds you know like there's actually buffer being removed and a sports area being put in um and then also my concern would be um how are you going to keep students from entering that neighborhood out the back way or you know things like that and you know what the might neighborhood might experience in terms of those unsupervised teenagers entering the neighborhood yeah Mr Smith H first of all um our intent was not to put any large struct any structure building on that site as we have in the past as we acquired uh very little uh structure going on with the shop putut and discus uh concrete pad and a and a little bit of fencing up next to the softball area uh so actually building of a structure uh no we our intent is not to um as far as maintaining the majority of that piece of property as its natural state is the intent um if we put uh uh there's areas there that we can also put Landscaping in to modify and add to and if we can do that we will do that uh but also uh I've spoken to several of our neighbors there who also use that property as nature and go back and walk and dogs and we want that opportunity to continue on uh having our uh ability to take our students out there uh yeah path through Pathways could be an option as we have in most of our wooded areas that we have there now so the neighbors would still be able to utilize Lawrence property and be coming onto like property where students could be holding agricultural class courses or something I mean like it wouldn't be closed off from the public would there be any safety concerns to the school and the students about people from the neighborhood entering your guys's areas um yeah safety is always a concern that's a priority we have and most of our property especially at the high schools we try to fence on the perimeter side uh but also if you go to Lawrence North or Lawrence Central right now uh we have people walking through our property every day uh from the community as I was there uh last week and a uh lady and her dog were making way through our property uh but a safety the concern yes indeed but we also try to fence off those areas and make it minimal if possible we can also secure it uh during the day or open it up uh in the weekend so we've done we're able to do both and have done both on many of our sites okay thank you thank you very much for your comments okay uh we will move on to the requests for additional Appropriations Mr miles thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board as uh previously alluded to um at this time as an info information item um later tonight I will bring a request for an additional appropriation hearing so at this time basically what we're asking for is the the opportunity to advertise um that we would like to hold and plan to hold that additional appropriation hearing other questions board okay we'll move on to the request for permission for RFP for um phase two of LCC oh sorry I'm sorry Mr Smith Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board as we uh continue looking at uh our Renovations of our Middle School in this building uh I do need to to request permission uh to send out an RFP for the CMC for Phase 2 of this building lecc uh it is a separate project from the first and uh by State Statute uh we do need to post and select another CMC uh for this project that actually would start uh in the design process uh uh this year year and run through the beginning of next year which would go out to bid and uh actually would start construction in June of 25 uh that renovation would take two years so it would be completed in the fall of 27 for it to be reopened for student use Mr Smith I have a question about that if a as we um run at this building for student use will we be renovating all available space that's not currently in use with the Lawrence Advance Academy and the um sharing Place yeah we we have a lot of Partners in this building it's been growing over the last uh several years laa has been here almost 10 years now and it is growing we do have some uh special classes here that uh grew again this year uh leap we house here these are all student-based programs uh that will continue to grow as well uh the sharing Place uh we are a partner uh hopefully for a long time uh with them uh we will continue to house them in this building as well the Chamber of Commerce is currently here as well and we will uh share space with them as well as the office space for communities uh in schools um also we we have have a uh um Clinic here uh with community that will also remain but uh the remainder of the building then would be utilized and occupied by student of different programs what was the number of students that we intended to occupy this building in the new academy uh I think it started out at 400 went to uh 6 to 800 uh based off the space and the programs I had a question to go along with that I know we spoke to this I believe at our May uh of 23 meeting but we've all slept a lot since then when we had presented about the future plans for the Craig Middle School Academy um so this construction process would com be completed and ready to first start welcoming students is it the fall of 27 correct okay I just wanted to clarify okay thank you any further questions I do have a question has it to my knowledge we have not determined exactly what the academy would look like correct there have been ideas that have been shared about potential 56 but that has not been something that we have voted on correct correct and so I guess my question is prior to getting an RFP would it be proper for us to to understand what students are going to be coming into this space so that we can create a space designed for them because if we as a board potentially thought that it could be a 78 space instead of a 56 space that could potentially look different so I'm just wondering if we're putting the cart before the horse as it pertains we're not we're not we're going to have to renovate the building no matter what um uh board members but uh we will be bringing a proposal very soon to the board to approve what type of program you want with this building Roger Smith needs to be renovated uh regardless of what program we put in the building just simply because it's an old building it needs to be renovated right I I understand that I just know in education spaces for fifth and sixth graders might differ from Seventh and eth based on size and so forth so that's why I was just curious as to the programming that would be here and how that impacts potentially an RFP and who is providing that information so that was the clarity was trying to look for process that we have done with all of our Renovations putting our architect and our CMC together with us to design that space um we do have the architect Fanny and Hoy uh the board approved them for phase one and two when we brought them on board and they will continue on they will be working closely with our team as we do this so um it's not the cart in front of the horse here we're running in tandem uh with each other the more we get involved with the CMC the better cost effects they know what we're doing and as they as we build and design they will able to help us uh look at options and also Mo uh more efficient ways of uh going about our renovation thank you so clearly any um new usage of the building would have to be approved by the board moving absolutely abolutely okay um any further questions there board um then we'll move on uh Mr kosnik and Dr Brown Can you um update us on our strategic plan midyear report please yes president must Dr Smith members of the board we're very pleased to bring to you our first midyear update of our three-year strategic plan and as we begin we'd like to just quickly review the development process of theate iic plan and during the 2223 school year we began with focus groups in the fall where over8 stakeholders attended these focus groups and we collected over 500 pieces of data um from these focus groups uh from our stakeholders their input on what was going well and what we could improve upon and the second semester of that year we had two Community meetings which were very well attended by our stakeholders holders where we worked in groups to then uh hone these pieces of uh these data points into pillars and action items and metrics by which to measure those an executive strategic planning committee met to then polish and then we presented to you the Strategic plan which is now a public a published document and approved and we've been working on you see there a picture of those with our six pillars this strategic plan can be found in prints it can also be found on our website as well as our dashboard good evening again Madam president Dr Smith and members of the board uh the next slide you saw there in the PowerPoint was just a picture of our dashboard but Mrs blanket ship is now switched over to our live website which is the dashboard that we published first published back in October after the first quarter and now that we finished the second quarter of the first year our second quarter update is now there we'll see all the activities with the action steps currently ly being worked on uh percents being complete and a narrative of each of those action steps flip back to the PowerPoint form this blanket ship that dashboard is updated quarterly each division leader submits an update that is sent to us and approved by Dr Smith and then post it on our web page so again if you go to our web page you'll see that on our strategic plan page each of our division leaders has prepared one highlight for you this evening so we'll begin with curriculum and instruction and representing that division is Miss Natalie Schneider good evening so I'm going to provide you some updates on um some of the improvements that we've made for K12 literacy achievement um I'm proud to announce that 100% of our K3 students and teachers have now have access to decodable text um we continue our professional development specific to decoding and reading development for merging bilinguals with um taju um we continue to um get support from the Indiana literacy C and that's in place for Brook Park Crestview Harrison Hill Indian Creek Oakland and Skyles test Early Learning Center at Amy beverland and the Early Learning Center at Brook Park um the district was also awarded an early literacy Grant of nearly $500,000 um to support professional development and literacy support for Amy beverin Forest Glenn Mary Castle winding rdge and ELC Winding Ridge this has provided um professional development for teachers coaching and materials for instruction for literacy um we've also identified an I ready score of 490 as a strong predictor for I um for I and we are using um that 490 to kind of help us make some predictions of what's going to happen um this March um and then finally um our agenda for the January Elementary Leadership Academy is going to be solely focused on I read and making sure that our students we have a strong plan at each of our elementary schools to prepare our students for Irene thank you shifting now to our culture pillar within our strategic plan Miss Shan Bush Madame President Dr Smith and members of the board tonight I would like to highlight initiative number three in our culture section of the Strategic plan as we have two strong partners that we've have started this work um to Institute more restorative practices uh in response to behavior infractions and the first partnership that we have developed is with peace Learning Center and building level teams have participated in restorative practice training with peace Learning Center starting last spring our secondary schools are working with peace Learning Center facilitators to have all of our staff trained in secondary schools um by the end of the of the school year year so that would be restorative practice level one which is a foundational training um that we are working on districtwide peace Learning Center facilitators are also available to our secondary schools to model restorative responses to discipline infraction infractions and we did have a parent engagement night in October to begin to educate the community about restorative practices and what that means next we've been working with Dr Dominique Smith um our our administrators engaged in a book study of the restorative practices Playbook by Dr Smith uh last school year and this year many of our of our schools followed suit and did that book study as well this summer Dr Smith Dr Dominique was present for our Lawrence learning Summit and each of our building level teams spent a full day of training with him in preparation for this school year um in which Dr Dominique has already been to all of our elementary and secondary schools for coaching and implementation with restorative practices our next pillar is Staffing and people and our director chief of HR Miss Carla Johnson good evening the Highlight that we'd like to share this evening from Staffing and people involves our classified staff from our strategic plan we heard loudly and clearly that our classified staff are wanting to feel valued and so we've been able to provide professional development this year and we began in July with a focus on Equity we invited our classified staff on September 21st on those parent teacher conference days and we continued with equity and then on January 8th we invited our staff to come and we made a connection with um our curricular resources that have been offered um this year new in math and so partnering with our curriculum team and thus far to date we've had 146 participate meeting the needs and now our fourth pillar facilities we'll look to Mr Roger Smith thank you uh in this first semester we have started the the building assessment of both elementary and middle school and secondary buildings uh for building capacity and we expect to submit a final recommendation in May of 24th and our fifth pillar technology Dr Steve G at our last meeting you may have heard me mention that in our uh three cycles that we deliver uh Chromebooks we have a it used to be a 234 then a five six S8 and then a nine continue 9 10 11 12 and I mentioned that that Middle School cycle is very hard on the devices so we've changed that based on input from uh our building administrators and working with our vendors so we've moved that to 23 four five then 678 and that allows us to take those uh devices out of circulation after three years gives us a year of warranty to get them fixed back into circulation so uh we're more cost effective and don't have to buy many Replacements and closing out our sixth pillar for finance Mr Matt mil yes thank you as uh the Department of Finance um and our and our strategic plan goes we get to work with everyone in the district because everyone has financial needs uh we worked closely with HR during our bargaining process uh and afterward to support our needs of our classified and certified staff um since then we've also meet regularly uh with the different departments to review budgets and make sure we're aligned with their initiatives and that they are um achieving their budget as as planned we meet and collaborate regularly with operations it contractors other stakeholders to support our vast construction uh that we've got going on throughout the district and then future planning um including bonding and and the other needs that come into into play to make sure that we're able to support operations facility needs equipment needs and the other tools to support student and staff success which slide it was um it was on slide number five I think um Miss Natalie was um on that one and I had a couple of questions um that Grant that's very exciting um what was the criteria for those schools uh what did they have to meet to receive that Grant um you know what that's that's a great question I was not one of the people that was involved in the writing of that Grant so but I can get that information for you we will go ahead Stephanie because it was a competitor Grant and not all School corporations receive the Grant in the state corre fact even in in Maran County it was competitive our curriculum coordinator coordinator Adrienne Sergeant wrote and and won that Grant to help support student- centered coaching specifically around academic achievements for students okay and I saw in that paragraph I believe was it development specifically for emerging bilinguals um or other um groups of students was it well there two different things we are working and the grant will help support some of that um but we were already working with taju to help support the emerging bilinguals and then the Student Center coaching is for any school okay yeah thank you for that explanation I mean it's fantastic anytime we can get grants or additional funding for these type of programs to help close any achievement gaps so um thank you to her as well may ask a question well M Snider's there um you referred to the I ready predictions for March and can you clarify that for me have we already determined our predictions for March or are we waiting for test scores to determine the predictions for Mar we do have a prediction right now um so we use the scale score what we've determined is that just through looking at our data from previous years is that a scale score of 490 um predicts with 80% accuracy that a student will pass I three so right now um we are looking at um around a 39% um pass rate for our second graders and that was based off of our December middle of the Year data so it could be more than that um because again that was based off of a test that was taken in December um that's the Baseline for that was 27% last year so that's already showing an increase right now for our second graders and getting us very close to the board goal of 40% and okay and for third grade um it's looking about 56% right now compared to to 57% was the pass rate in March of last year so we don't see much growth um remember that's again it's based off of that um December um middle of the Year data so that that was the Act 57% was the actual pass rate and 56% is what we're predicting right based off of where where it was in December so it could be higher than than that because that gives us from December all the way till March to continue that growth and so that's why our Focus for our Leadership Academy is very much focused on ir and making sure that we are providing every a really strong plan especially for these six weeks moving into I read and how many years have we been utilizing the the um the new reading techniques when you say new reading te techniques talking about the strategy she's your your strategies um the strategies that we've been using well we have well for one we have more Advanced Data than we've ever had because we're using our dyslexia screeners and even with I we can now break it down to specifics we also use I I read screeners that also help support um specifically what the identified pieces are that we need to work on and so we've we've done a lot of work trying to look at all of our different schools and looking at um the data and what interventions have been provided and which ones are the most effective and this is all related to the science of reading correct and the decoding and the taju um all of it's related to the science of reading yes thank you thank you very much followup question can you share what interventions you found to be the most um successful I hear you say that you um have looked at that data so what interventions are finding the most successful our students we've looked at a lot of different interventions we've at we've we use youly we use Orton Gillingham we use um Sr we use quite a few different um interventions we also look at um just basic things like reading passages and working through comprehension tasks and it depends on the student and it just depends on um making sure that we're matching the intervention specifically to what the student needs so we spend a lot of time and that's one of the things we're going to do at Leadership Academy is really take a deep dive through that data to make sure that we know specifically what each student needs and make sure that they are getting exactly what they need moving into in those six weeks leading up to Irene there are a number of goals that are listed I'm just looking at the dashboard to go through these um that have deadlines um in 2024 so this this year um some in September some in May um I'm looking in particular um with training for some of our um some of our elementary and middle uh Middle School programming um and then in addition to that um some of the um some of the uh High ability Andor advanced placement credits um that are still at 25% with a 2026 can you just give give us a general sense for how we feel we're trending against some of these benchmarks in order for the public to really understand if we can meet these by the Dead line that's outlined in the Strategic plan we are working towards all of those and the the Strategic plan is in the Forefront of everything that we do um every time we have our principal plc's every time we have our Leadership Academy we also do literacy meetings at each of the buildings where we have the Strategic plan in front of them and we are constantly relooking at those uh strategic plan data points and making sure that we are progressing towards them and anything that we're not not we look at what what is it that we're not doing and what do we need to do to rectify that to make sure that we are progressing so we are making really good progress there's a few things that we need to make sure we provide Clarity on so that when they're reported To Us by the schools too that they all have the same understanding I'm not I'm not banked um so I do have a couple of additional questions that may not have to do with your pillar I think this is in culture so miss miss Bush I think that's you there was a parade of brilliant people walking up to the microphone I can't remember who owned what but I'm glad I got that right okay so um one thing that is a big passion of mine and one thing that we included in our board goals for this year is returning attendance rates to pre-co Levels by uh beginning with the 2023 2024 school year we're at 50% there um I've seen a huge push and I I'm so excited when I see um uh all the Facebook posts that our um that our schools are posting about kids doing an awesome job with their attendance can you just help us understand what the pathway is to coming back from that Co from those covid years and returning our schools to full attendance I think the pathway to that is just reestablishing the fact that that school has to be a habit um we had developed some new habits during the pandemic that have just been hard to kind of you know push aside um it's very very difficult for many of our parents to get get to school to pick up a sick kid and for a while there every little sniffle they were having to come and having to come and pick their student up and that's just not the case anymore unless the student is is sick with you know multiple symptoms sometimes you're going to have a sniffle you might have a little cough that doesn't necessarily mean that they shouldn't come to school and so we are trying to push through that and to educate our parents to let them know that it does matter you know one one day of missed instruction is it you know can can make a difference and so I think educating our parents and letting them know um of the the legal responsibility uh through the state of Indiana that we have to ensure School attendance those those are all pieces to it thank you um Miss Johnson Johnson and I do have a couple of additional questions related to staff thank you Miss Bush um in particular uh SP 2.1 um through 2.4 um so the salary data um for our staff employee exit surveys as a measure of climate and reduction in the number of emergency permits um can you help me understand why all of these um the first two are listed at 50% complete the last is 25% and that may just be that we have a different deadline but I just am curious where we stand on those goals I'd say that over the three years um there are some that we feel like we're working towards faster and there are some that are taking longer to build to implement and so I think we're trying to create a culture um with our staff and participating in the exit surveys we used the beginning of the first quarter to actually build that survey and to get it launched but I don't know that it's institutional in a practice yet so we're constantly looking at each month how many responded how many resign how else can we reach them and so I just think over the three-year distance it's going to take longer to reach full completion to make it institutionalized shifting that culture can be really difficult so I appreciate the work that you're doing to to make that happen thank you great questions everybody are there I just had actually a really quick comment um I had a little one that came home to share uh some of the re restorative practices that she had learned in school this is the foundation of our home and we talk about it quite often but somehow when you guys went over it um it seemed to sink in but I want to thank you for that because like you could see go she was so excited and so I thank you she was actually telling me how she had used it and so forth so I thank you because it empowers personal agency and social awareness as it pertains to conflict resolution and it as a Young Folks say it hits differently when correction or redirection comes from a peer that's your age and so I thought it was powerful when she came home and she was so excited um and she is my natural leader so for her to she's really excited to move forward with this so I just wanted to share that piece so thank you that you yeah reinforc what we've been teaching for een years thank you Miss Pucket Miss Pucket I think it's the same thing when you have a babysitter maybe they they act a little bit better for the babysitter than they do for the parent sometimes Dr Smith could you please explain to the members of the public what the difference is between this strategic plan and our board goals and that may be a question for you as well simple that simple uh just so the public will know the Board of Education since I've been superintendent for a decade is always engaged with annual board goals and those tend to be very direct with issues or topics that we believe are of the utmost import importance during that year which are developed by my cabinet and the Board of Education our principles the Strategic plan is where we go out into the community and we really look at long-term we used to do fiveyear plans well you guys know what happened back in 2020 all right a 5year plan is not going to work we learn how to do things very quickly so we're now this is a threeyear strategic planning process and it will close very quickly and we'll be on to another plan so this is the second plan since I've been superintendent that we've had and I would highly recommend to the board for the future you continue to do strategic things like this please have a plan it's easy for me thank you do have a quick question I I was just going to say that in a strategic plan um is CommunityWide um the the Strategic the the goal the board goals are created by the board with an eye on our strategic plan and through the listening listening to our um public so this thank you uh this is for you Miss Johnson I um I just wanted to ask because I am a big proponent of professional development think that it's wonderful however uh many times that we see our colleagues going to professional development and then not seeing what they have learned in those um sessions being implemented with our students with Fidelity um how are we tracking to ensure that the professional development is being actually utilized and that we're seeing an impact on student instruction and behaviors for the Highlight that I had shared today with our classified staff I still think that is in the early stages as we look at that reflection I think that because they've never had that paid time to be a part to just come and learn what our Equity work is in the district and we had some key takeaways as to what you could go back and just the value of knowing every student's name and being a part of the information that the teachers heard just to be able to have that collaboration but figuring out how to measure that and how they're all doing that we're still trying to figure out for those that didn't attend how do we invite them so we had two sessions of it and so then in January I would say that as we made that connection to our curricular pieces that all the teachers that learned all of the new math resources over the summer we realized there was a gap for those support staff how can we make sure that they have it and how can they utilize it with our special education students and so I just think the feedback that we got from them that day was very valuable and Rich because they felt very left out and so they were very eager to share and then many buildings are doing it at the building level if there people couldn't come so we're finding ways to use the instructional coaches to reach those who didn't come on those days that's wonderful thank you I appreciate that immensely thank you very much are there more questions on the Strategic plan report I I just watch so no no no just no okay you sure the culture piece is so intriguing to me I was just no I'm share with us I do want to know you know what I'm just going to ask I know that we're in the ongoing phase uh as it pertains to behavior and so I'm wanting to know where are we in that process and the reason why I asked because it leaks over into this displine and other facets and so I guess I'll go ahead and ask now where are we and how is that looking where are we behavior I'm sorry naming Behavior where are we naming Behavior so the whole intent of our work in restorative practice is to begin to look at behavior and teach those skills that are lacking um you know to to discipline does mean to teach and so we want to look at behavior in a way that is respons responding to the behavior um in a more restorative way than a punitive way we want to let let our students know that even though they make a poor decision um they they're still a part of our community and that we want them back we want them to be back with our community and one of the one of the biggest things I think that we're learning with regard to restorative practice is that 80% of that is build the culture of the school of the classroom of that community so that every student feels like they're a part of it so building that sense of belonging is the foundational piece that is restorative practice right there 80% of it only 20% is those restorative chats restorative conferences in response to something that's happened and how to um let let let the community you know the the person that was that was I don't want to say victim but the the person that did the behavior and the person that the behavior was done to they are sharing how that impacted them how that impacted their parents how that impacted staff members so that they see the big picture of how their actions affect not just them but their whole community and how do we build a community that is worth keeping whole in the end thank you that is my heart 's passion I really just wanted to hear you put beautiful language to it because I do feel like that is a pivotal piece in building Community restoring community and so I thank you for pushing me to just lean in because I really just wanted to hear you say that so thank you thank you I'm Miss Bush I little followup Miss Bush I have just one quick followup we do want our students in class we do want them back we do want them to be able to have the emotional language to have these discussions and that's a beautiful thing when they can have these discussions and I have heard um from various teachers about instances where conflict really dissolved and it's it's a beautiful thing but I just want to be very clear when we say we want them back there are specific behaviors in which we can't have them come back correct absolutely we we want them back when it is appropriate to have them back than it's not always appropriate to have them just for our public I want to make that clear and and sometimes you know sometimes they sometimes they need to be removed from the classroom sometimes they need to be removed from the school or sometimes short sometimes longer periods of time um unfortunate that that that's just the the the world we live in but you know in for for safety sake um sometimes they they do have to go um but that doesn't mean that we want to to banish them from you know emotionally banish them I mean many times students are already dealing with so much um yeah but but sometimes they have to sometimes they do have to be removed just thank you for that that bit of clarification yes thank you are we on to I believe the transfer funds update Mr miles thank you once again Madam president Dr Smith members of the board at this time uh I report back to you from an approval that you the board voted on and gave back in December and that is our semiannual transfer of funds between the education and operation funds and so you do have a summary um itemized um listing actually of those transfers uh between education and those fund transfers go in both directions um again in June 30th and December 31st um the net result is listed as well and for a total of 13.88% and just as a point of clarification the state requires us to uh maintain that U transfer not to exceed 15% so we are within that uh by quite a bit Bo do you have any questions about the transfer funds no we did go over this in our previous work session so if anybody listening wants to go back to our previous work session we go to more depth with that um um we'll go on Mr miles to the resolution to approve the transfer of funds to the sick day buyout thank you again uh Madame President Dr Smith members of the board um last year uh we the board approved a uh sick day buyout fund increase for um for our staff uh when they retire to be paid out at a rate of uh $100 per day of any accumulated sick days so last year at this time we funded $50 of that the this resolution would allow the board um in the district to fund the additional $50 per day based on the number of days that uh we currently have as a potential liability so that's what this uh resolution is for it would be about $3.1 million uh to fully fund that liability and fund it into our sick day buyout fund I just have one one quick question for you Mr miles um as it relates to the sick day buyout fund can you please for members of the public explain how we got there it's my understanding this is part of the negotiation with the Lea and this is this is an agreement we have an obligation with our absolutely um well well said and and uh so again through negotiation with the Lea uh any accumulated sick days that um an employee would have um we do pay those days out at the end of their uh again at a retirement point so for a teacher they're that is $100 per day and so this funding of this um this transfer allows us to have money set aside there as those those employees do retire that we can pay them out we don't have to dip into other funds our education fund and and other sources and it was a net increase at the time for the teachers we doubled it doubled it and and this was a significant benefit for our teachers absolutely and from what fund does this come that this good question this is coming out of the education fund thank you that's where we pay our teachers so the public will know thank you um any further questions on the sick day bout fund uh we will move to the financial update Mr miles at this time I present to you our November 30 uh 2023 uh finances both for our general fund and our transportation fund um we will report back um following tonight's action by the board um in February with our year end uh but this was a due to the timing of the board meeting in December that following earlier um as we have holiday uh later in the in the month we did not present the November financials at that time so now we present those uh both the general fund and the transportation fund um are in as expected or uh anticipated uh positions both from a total revenue and a total expenditure standpoint and um I welcome any questions I do have a question sure can you explain um please on our expenditures uh why we have uh increased the amount of because it looks like we were budgeted uh 6.7 million but to date we are at almost 9 million um and so could you explain a little bit of what is causing that substantial I'm sorry I want to make sure I'm looking at which line at the expenditures the supplies Transportation I'm sorry the Contra the contracted services oh contracted Services Under the general fund f so contracted Services yes yeah budget it was 6.7 and we are currently or this was in November at 8.9 good question so this year um we've entered into new contracts with uh our our partner uh rjb and so that is one of the factors that's really driving this up um at the time the budget was originally prepared that contract hadn't been settled those budget numbers hadn't been set so um it shifted money away from salaries as you can see the salary line items and the benefits are actually under uh the projected so it's kind of a trade-off use a lot of as you know public we use a lot of acronyms in education Roger for the public and Matt rjb is what I'm sorry yes great question rjb is the actual that that is the name of the vendor that we use uh for both custodial and actually our maintenance contract as well great question great question I had a question on the transportation fund um it's on it's on column number three um for the revenue can you expound upon what the where the other income comes from um I know the state support is obviously the majority bulk of our funds um the 207,000 I believe Yes actually so our transportation fund is primarily funded by local tax dollars our local tax levies and so um the other number the the other income in there other miscellaneous fees that that you may pay through licenses excise um CET um and I don't know if I can tell you what CET means but it's CET it's one of the fees that uh the state allows us as a school district to u to obtain revenue from and so they're um they're a little more unpredictable um year to year thank you okay we we will at this time move on to our board committee chair reports um Miss Norman Foundation um there's a lot going on in the foundation um good stuff uh Miss Lawrence can tag team with me because I will likely miss something but the main highlights um we have a lot of exciting things going on um February 2nd I believe that's a Friday is night with the Stars at here at the LCC it's where a lot of our high school students will be um you know it's open to the elementary kids to come and do activities and food and enjoy a good night out and the parents can get have a night out as well um that can be you can apply for that through through the msdlt f.org website in addition to the two other events that I'm going to mention which is currently right now for the class of 2024 the scholarship applications are available through February 4th so make sure you apply again on that website and finally the celebration Gala is coming up I believe it's the Magic School Bus um come away on the Magic School Bus and uh that will be March 8th um at the end in a Roof Ballroom all proceeds will benefit LT students and again that sign up is on the foundation website I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to dress as Miss Frizzle for the for the gala but one one other thing that um that actually just happened yesterday so miss Norman and I have been um linked arm in- arm for the last several days we we had an offsite yesterday um and I will say for members of the public it was incredibly um rejuvenating in terms of um you know we have new leadership on the foundation um and we did discuss kind of our mission statement um our vision and our values and how we you how we will layer those up to the overall vision and values of the um of the district itself um I'm I'm really excited about the future of the foundation and um as somebody who has served um for seven and a half years at one point with you madam president um I'm in my very last term and I will say it's been um an incredibly rewarding experience um serving on the scholarship Committee in particular because those scholarships mean a lot to members of our community um they come largely through donations from members of the public from um from you know events like you know that that allow us to have um programming for our students and um and and these things are critically important for members of the public to be involved in and um and I know that our students benefit um significantly throughout not just um not just their time here but uh even even in their post-secondary work thank you for that for the both of you thank you for that wonderful report um Miss Pucket what is new in parks and reicks parks and wreck awesome stuff um actually there's some engaging events that will be um that I will bring to you hopefully by the next session concerning the eclipse coming up on April 8th as well as I will present more information concerning the Next Level Trail on Lee Road exciting this there and so that's a brief synopsis for you more to come yeah that's it Miss Dunn do we have any news we do thank you Dr harshberger for um providing me with an update of our policy committee uh we'll read what he has shared with me with the rest of you so the policy committee anticipates anola policy revision packet encompassing new and updated policy from the Indiana General Assembly short session by April as you all know we have been working on administrative guideline updates and revisions uh this is currently we are working on revision packet volume 34 number two and we anticipate that this should be ready for publishing by the end of the week thank you again for your continued commitment on keeping us all a breast of our policy work wonderful and then Miss Lawrence if you ever have an update for us I'll give a very brief one actually because is um there has been a significant legislation that's coming through um the state legislature um that the Indiana school board has taken stances on many of them I would just encourage members of the public to to be very diligent in um in looking at the legislation that is before um before the State House it has significant impact on our students and significant impact on the ability for us to to provide um opportunities uh and and uh and and be able to help them um and I I would say that this is really um kind of a a dual thing because the foundation largely funds a lot of some gaps that are part of that and so um when we have funding taken away from our students it has to either come through Foundation funds and or the the school district itself so it it has a significant impact I would encourage members of the public to to take that seriously and um do their research thank you very much fellow Bo board members and I will say to any public um here or or watching or listening that your board members serve not only um many hours per week um working on school policy Finance Etc but volunteer in our community um on on these specific committees and I thank you for your additional service Madam president may also remind the public that the board also meets regular with their local legislators and to remind you board your calendars you will be meeting with our six local legislators over the next couple weeks so I will see you there as we begin to talk about some of the issues as it relates to Lawrence Township so absolutely our work is never done nope because our kids needs Never End um okay we're on to our action items uh 4.1 approval of the resolution for the property acquisition uh Mr Smith Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I recommend the board approve the resolution for property acquisition as submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded is there any further discussion so I just want to go on record to state that I will not be voting this evening um as I have a conflict of interest uh my daughter uh was a student here in Lawrence Township and we made the decision to move her to the nature school because of the small um the small setting um the nature school has been absolutely terrific as an option for my child um I had two older children who have attended Lawrence and believe very much in Lawrence Township Schools but um it was not the choice for my old for my youngest child um therefore I will be um abstaining from voting however I would like to go on record to state that I am very disappointed that we are not giving the public the Ade amount of time to be able to weigh in on if this is how they would like to have their tax dollars spent um I have heard from the board um or have heard that the neighbors um are interested in this but we have not given them the proper I believe the proper time frame in which to come and express their interest if they would want Lawrence to have the property or if they would like to have the Nature School um I also think that there's opportunities um for us as a district to think about how we are not competing with others but playing together for the sake of our children to provide as many options as possible for students within Lawrence Township and so I just wanted to go on record to state that thank you are there any other questions or comments I do have one additional question um just for clarification we are not voting on transferring of funds tonight so members of the public could if they should wish come and speak to oppose the transfer of of those funds yes that's correct and when would that hearing take place should we approve this resolution tonight so the next resolution that you will vote on separate from this one is an approval um to advertise that public hearing which would take place on February 12th thank you thank you um properly moved and seconded um all those in in favor of the approval of the resolution for property acquisition i i i any opposed and and Miss Dunn is Rec recusing herself from that point okay we'll move on to the approval of request for the additional Appropriations here thank you madam president Dr Smith members of the board I I recommend uh for our discussion earlier uh that the board approved the request for additional appropriation hearing as submitted so moved second any discussion properly moved and seconded all those in favor I I I any opposed um we will move on now to the approval of the request for permission to RFP for the for the construction for phase two of LCC thank you Madame President Dr Smith members of the board I recommend the board approve the request permission for n RFP for CMC for Phase 2 at lecc as presented so moved second properly moved and seconded any discussion all those in favor I opposed um approval for um after care rates and this was discussed previously this meeting Dr Smith president must members of the board in December I presented um a proposal to increase after care rates tonight I'd like to ask for your approval as those are submitted so moved second properly moved and seconded if there's no discussion I I do have one point of clarification just for those that maybe weren't at that original meeting I know we discussed at that time the reduction in rates for staff could you just quickly explain that yes we have have a staff discount of $115 a week for after care for any staff that uses our after care service thank you all those in favor I I any opposed guys have't approval of resolution to transfer funds to a sick day buyout fund uh Mr miles thank you once again Madam president Dr Smith members of the board at this time I recommend the board approve the resolution of transfer of funds to the sick day buyout fund as submitted so moved second are there any questions all those in favor I I I any opposed all right Madame President I move we treat action items 4.6 through 4.11 as consent agenda we have a second to that second uh properly moved and seconded um all in favor of creating consent agenda i i i any oppos um and for the public that consent agenda includes our board minutes approval of personnel reports and approval of claims approvals of service agreements approval of pay ups and building project payments uh and approval of field trips um Madam president I move approval of the consent agenda second uh all those in favor of passing the consent agenda I I any opposed um that will conclude the business portion of our meeting um I invite you to board to um make your board comments what board comments would you like to state today if any have n long night I'll just make mine really brief like the principles and their bullet points on Sunday night but um sorry I sto your idea but um my first one is just more of just um thankfulness um specifically in this season thank you to the operations team and transportation because I know the yucky weather is coming and you're going to do what you can to make sure our kids get to school and back safe so thank you for that um I'm thankful for our foundation um as Miss Lawrence mentioned one of the cool things about being on both boards uh is that you can see the intersectionality of the goals for our community uh especially around Equity uh we had a board member mentioned that she remembered a time where students had to stay back and Miss field trips because they didn't have money for field trips there were schools that did not have access to Vex Robotics and other options and to see that as a parent to see that as um a dual board member it's really powerful how we're coming alongside each other to support our students and staff so um I just wanted to say thank you and then my final uh point for the evening I know it's been long um is um it's board member appreciation month and so I didn't know there was a month for that but I wanted to say thank you to my fellow board members um you know we've all been through the fire together um it's a unique position and um we're all just grateful to serve I I'm thankful for the those who've come before us those who might come after us um and also thankful personally to um the examples I had my mother um who was a school administrator became a board member after she retired and now currently my biological mother um is serving on the Board of Trustees at her um chipa Community College so I I guess it runs in the blood but um I just um I see everyone and I appreciate all the board members in in the US so thank you um I would like to say thank you for members of the public for being here with us this evening to listen to our conversation um and to get a better feel for our discussions what are thoughts and and how we manage our meetings um and encourage you to stay in touch with us um Dr Smith oh I did want to say one thing Dr Dominique Smith who who trains our teachers as in Reading skill in teaching reading um does not just come to our district and train reading he he really dives into the culture of our district and I got a chance to speak with him at a recent basketball meeting uh basketball game last week so Madam president you forgot this into the de what we didn't get a chance to comment oh you did I saw you go forward listen uh I did look at my weather app it hasn't started sleeing yet so I just want everybody to know that I have your safety in mind as I as I was thinking about although I promise not to belabor it because it's hot up here in this mask one thing that I did want to call out Dr Smith you and I were um were discussing earlier well maybe it was late last week the installation of metal detectors in both our middle and high schools which will be going in um soon or very soon yeah I'm sure you can give me the timeline in a moment um I I just want to say that safety is the thing that I think probably everyone on this day is takes most seriously and um um not only do we have an obligation to create the facilities which we have um and the environment uh around safety but we also have an an ability as a district to help lead our students it was uh very uh you know I think we're dealing with the effects of covid in a lot of different ways you heard it tonight with the attendance rates you heard it in the disconnection we have as a community and I I would just say that this keeping our children safe keeping our students safe keeping members of the public safe that is a a a collaboration and a conversation that happens within our community and we can do everything we can to create the right environment but until we as a community feel the connection for one another and the ability to hold one another up um in in uh and and hold one another accountable um for the safety and the uh morality of our of our district um we we will continue to fall short of what our goals are and so I would I just want to thank members of the public who have been deeply invested in kind of understanding this and um I would just encourage everyone to continue to lean in to these conversations because I think we all share the same ultimate goal and how we get there is by working together and connecting with one another and I would like well taken important remarks and I would like to add to that that the district Works hand inand with the Maran County Health Department with the mayor's office from Indianapolis the mayor's office in the town of Lawrence and um with our state legislators working tirelessly to improve the environment for our children and to create to create um legislation that can can really really help us address these issues Miss done um Dr Smith very short 4:30 it'll be here before you know it Roger Smith so all know our secret 4:30 a.m.

[Music] she right [Music] yes oh the face yeah bu good evening everyone Chief andanada and I are happy to be here this evening in this public forum at the invitation of the Boon um Board of Selectmen we want you to know that we both support the role of the school resource officer in our schools as a proactive measure towards Safety and Security in all possible scenarios and because it builds positive relationships with students staff administrators and families so the purpose of tonight's Forum really is to inform the public about the role of the SRO in schools and what they can bring to our schools ALS also we want to be able to listen to your concerns answer questions and unravel some of the confusions or misunderstandings about the role of the resource officer particularly as it relates to our school community and our culture and also to gauge the pulse of the community and whether or not to move forward with funding for the SRO position in our Boyston Elementary School and toono Regional Middle High School so tonight we look forward to an open honest conversation with with the stakeholders in our audience and appreciate your interest in willingness to attend tonight we'll hear from chief anunziata chief shner from the Berlin Police Department and Sergeant Dave Golding from the Berlin Police Department who serves as the school liaison officer at Berlin Memorial School about the benefits of this role and you'll hear a bit little bit from me as well after we get a chance to do the presentation we're going to open up the floor to questions and concerns you see around you two microphones and we'd ask you either to come up to the mic if you have questions um or we can bring the mic over to you if you're more comfortable with that the idea here is to just have a dialogue with one another to understand what you're worried about to to start to just open up that those lines of communication so at this time I'd like to introduce the Boon police chief John andanada hi good evening everyone um so if we don't uh if we don't answer all your questions today uh feel free to ask at the end of it or uh reach out to Carol or myself directly and we'll get an answer back uh where we start from all right so uh the purpose of the uh School uh school resource officer is uh just to enhance safety uh build relationships um there's a lot uh there's a lot that goes into a school resource officer it's not just taking a patrol officer and sticking with the schools it has to be the right person for the job has to be the uh person with the right temperament there's a significant amount of uh training that goes into it uh goal is to build uh build positive relationships uh between the police department the staff and the students uh parents also uh key objectives uh safety security education uh uh uh drug prevention again positive relationships mergen response Community Police and youth Outreach uh just again another resource for staff uh there's a lot of uh facts uh or there there's there's a lot of misunderstanding of what a school resource officer school resource officer is and what they are not um there are some people that think uh you're going to get Rambo um and then there are other people that think you're going to get a a police officer that is just look looking to arrest any uh student uh staff member Etc that they can um so this kind of the facts and myths um people may ask what do what do you mean an advocate for students how does that work there's a lot of U there's there's a lot of stuff within the criminal justice system that just the lay person is not going to know um having that school resource officer uh be present at school can help guide staff uh students uh and parents Guardians into uh these different resources uh whether it's uh from mental health uh the substance abuse um treny uh V various different uh things um having obviously the law enforcement presence that's that's been kind of a a main front leader in the need for school resource officer uh Safety and Security Uh current prevention um you know there's a lot of I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with dare program um there's still dare program there's still uh there's a competitor program called lead law enforcement against drugs that has different curriculum from uh prek up until seniors in school um this is all stuff that uh we'd like to implement within the school to again help educate people and then obviously have us there for emergency response uh a lot of people uh are misinformed um W with with a school resource officer cannot be used for administrative discipline um it was in the 2018 uh criminal justice uh reform and it's also in our current mou um I mean an administrative issu is a school issue the police officer the school resource officer cannot will not get involved uh there's a a lot of people that think it's just simply an armed guard without a purpose again um that there is very much a purpose for the school resource officer that we'll that we'll get into um that it's an over militarized mentality again going back to that Rambo mentality it's not that um and a uniformed approach meaning that you take one school resource officer um and apply it to every single uh school system that's not the way it works the school resource officers in Massachusetts are going to be widely variant upon their uh their Set uh policies and procedures are should be reflective of your community uh values uh and that's how the Boon police policy sign so the school resource officer their standing operating procedures their policies and procedures are all going to be reflective of our community so in 2018 uh there there was a Juvenile Justice Reform uh there's a lot that went into it uh basically the uh the takeaway is that there were a lot of nonviolent criminal offenses uh that were decriminalized uh uh non-violent crimes such as uh uh dist disturb by public assembly disorderly conduct things that were kind of the go-to catchall if if the police department needed to get involved though was not a thing anymore though that's all considered administrative uh discipline now which again the police department can't get involved uh they increase excuse me the age from Criminal responsibility from 7 to 12 meaning Under 12 you can't get charged with the crime um and then it changes the way judges uh handle things if they are brought into the court system um one of the things that also uh touch upon was uh was instituting uh the requirements for the school resource officer resource officers uh and Justus um our current mou uh Chief shner uh would would took the lead on it it's uh it it mimics the W County District Attorney's guidelines for our mou that's one we have in place um so it was already it corrected things that other communities had the correct fortunately for us we were already operating in that um there there there is a uh there is cost to school resource officer um there's the ongoing expense and then there's the initial upfront expense uh things uh things such as uh uh vehicle Mobile Radio uh the health uh initial Health exams and then the miscellaneous is office equipment stuff to to create a school resource uh office in the school um you know uh it adds up between 180,000 to 210,000 for year one and that includes the officers benefits um Medical Dental Etc uh did you wanna talk about the breakdowns um so uh so it's a shared it's a shared cost between the Boon police department Town of Boon and uh and a school district so just for numbers um we estimated that uh 75% of the school resource officers time would be spent at Tanto and 25% of the time would be spent at the Boon Elementary School this number is subject to change it's uh obviously very different reasons why the school resource officer would be at B compared to Toronto uh BS is really going to be building those uh positive relationships uh making themselves available for advocacy where in toono um obviously larger uh or large larger group of people uh and usually more indepth uh problems um but again this is uh change this is something to change as the needs change um so again you know it's uh in Massachusetts where in the process of rolling out a new active threat uh a new active threat training where every massachusett police officer and fire fighter is gonna be trained in the exact same way uh building those positive relationships um I was a product of a very uh if I didn't have a very involved police department and a very involved family um who knows what my path would have been um I've I've lived it um I've worked with school resource officers and they do a lot of behind the scenes stuff that uh they don't get credit for um they're a uh a safe person to talk to uh they're they're the quiet room where students uh who may be having a difficult time uh can can go in there do and do their class work the uh dist the wi District Attorney's office is uh rolling out this program uh it just called Handle With Care um it's for those kids that the school may not know know what's going on in their uh personal life and their off time of school and the role of this program is to uh you know have the school resource officer have the police department um notify the school not give particular details but just say you know hey uh you know uh you know John enata he he's gonna have a difficult uh day the next few days just Handle With Care so if he's not prepared for that test if he didn't come in with that homework it's uh key to the staff say you know what uh cops you need to cut some slack we'll cutting some slack uh those are all uh those are all goals of this uh of this program um the uh the the districts in our immediate area Clinton North Ro shrewbury WUSA westbo um they all have successful uh school resource officer programs is that that's all yeah I think that was a l okay so just to add to what John was talking about I think we all understand it takes that saying it takes a village to raise a child it takes a village to hear things that are going on to share information with one another to take care of our students in different ways and how we see the resource officers bringing looking at this our schools from a different lens I think the principles can can attest to the fact that a lot is going on here during the day much of it of course is academic and students are engaged but other things are happening kind of another layer of of events that are taking place and incidents are taking place we want to be mindful of what's Happening as well there so that we can be proactive rather than reactive about addressing them I looked at some statistics I didn't bring them with me I contemplated with sharing with you you know the kind of fear piece of this that that the rise in school shootings the rise in in what's happening uh in in our schools with our children I don't think that's who we are necessarily as a community but I think we all can say maybe you know we might be what can we do to help our children now in so many ways so we can avoid incidents in the future and I think that that's really what we're trying to look at with this support of not only our resource officer but the mental health providers that we have in the school I did want to share with you that as I was I was look thinking about who's in our school as far as mental health guidance so we have between our school psychologists we have guidance counselors we have adjustment counselors we also have a family success partnership that we do with as and Valley um collaborative in total we spend about 700 $130,000 a year on Mental Health Providers and support among those individuals I mentioned for services for our children so I don't think we lack in that kind of support for the small District but this adds another lens for when we think about it not a lot of money for those 10-month period of time that we have them because these individuals will then go on and serve into in the community in the summertime so we're looking at a 10-month period period of time from our perspective the SRO brings to the table that Safety and Security emergency response not only because of those scary things we hear about every day with with with critical threats and into our school but also other kinds of incidents that are going on in school emergency situations checking doors making sure everything is safe and secure for our children watching the lens of suspicious behaviors suspicious individuals we have a really interesting U side note we um you know obviously you know that we had a new um food service group coming in um and so the first day that that food service director came into the building he didn't have any kind of identification with him so fortunately he got stopped by the custodian and by one of the teachers who said can you tell who can you please um I just I'm sure you're doing something could you tell tell me who you are he was wise those two individuals were wise enough to stop that individual and he really appreciated it because who was he right how did he get in he knew how he got in because he was the food service director but others were not familiar with him so this is just like another pair of eyes during the school day for us I think it's true that these individuals that and particularly the the person chosen for this position will build those positive relationships I support community policing I think it's a different kind of policing than as John said that kind the image of some of the higher I want say higher but different types of policing that we often see coming to the scene because they get to know our students um John uh Eric and John goody can tell you a little bit about that just in still maintaining those uh relationships years Beyond uh the children's time in school so I think it's really important that their proactive and that they get to know our students um and certainly stay in touch with them long after their time here also there a portion of education and enforcement for example those opportunities to visit classrooms um John mentioned the Dare program over in Berlin and other types of programs that educate children not about the good and the bad and I'm here to be scary about making good choices in the future because the reality of it is there are consequences and we we don't think about it that way as our children are going through school but in fact when you get in the upper grades if you're driving your car and you're a teenager and some of us may have had that experience like there's there's rules to follow these individuals in a safe way can talk about that with them can get to know them if they see them on the road and say hey you're your blinker is out your you know your headlight is out your you know where you heading whatever it is not where you're heading but what what like being concerned about what they're saying I think also talking about drugs right and alcohol situations that that are going to affect these students if they do get consequences for that so this is a way also I think to the resource officers can be a resource to parents who need support who need be able to reach out to somebody in addition to the folks in the school setting to find out what about those legal ramifications because these individuals are extremely knowledgeable extremely helpful in that area as well so the other thing I would just mention to you before I turn it over to Eric and and goodie is the following if we put this position in place and you'll see this in theou that we gave out it's not just that we hire the person and they go off there's a significant amount of training and introduction to the community and and voice that the community would have in the selection of this individual being able to come in and meet with the different organizations meeting with the staff members meeting with the um Administration getting to know this and they have continuous training they're probably in the field of of community policing one of the most well-versed and trained in in the field because this is their work to do so they get continuous training um they know how to deescalate situations and that's going to be really important for them to be able to work with students in that way um and then finally that we will have a way for the chief to get feedback along with me from representative groups of teachers parents and students along the way so there's checks and balances to this position as well it's not just again we have to evaluate that individual annually so so there there is a structure to all of this I think if we look at thatou that we made copies of you'll be able to see that laid out a little more um not clearly a little more extensively in that in that document so with that I'll ask Eric or goody if you wanted to share any other thoughts before we turn it over to questions turn the questions rather hear some of the questions because we're gonna compliment what John said there's a lot of questions that aren't on these slides I'm sure people have okay thank you okay so let's do that John Campbell has he hasn't volunteered I have run the mic he will bring the mic to you you or you're welcome to get up there's a mic Over by Eric and goody if you would like to um access that that questions concerns comments for us hi Greg Lano a question is the SRO a unique individual or a position filled by more than one person no so it would be uh so it it would be one it would be one person um and more likely than not it would be an external hire I've uh I've talked to my staff um it's not something any one of my staff uh would be interested so we be we would be hired externally uh specifically for the school resource officer position so then would that position be confined to the same vacation schedule as the school calendar no sry um I I reach I reached out to other other Chiefs and it was do you uh do act to the position while they're on vacation you limit their vacation it's um the uh the uh General consensus was if they go if they G be out for more than a few days they let School know uh they usually have a second person that's trained to be a school resource officer who would be the point of contact if there's an issue off a school but no they're not they're not limited to the same schedule as a school and so the SRO we're talking about just service the Tanto and be is Berlin not going to have an SRO would that be a separate persons just to cover their Elementary School it's to my understanding the Berlin uh the town of Berlin is satisfied with how uh the burlin moral schools handled is that fair John uh Cort Berlin um here for two reasons I'm a member of the fincom in Berlin and also interested in education generally and the kids um my question is about this slide right here um you have indicated that the following school districts have successful school resource officer programs they're listed what I would like to know is do these communities have um SRO in both elementary schools and high schools and secondly um how many SRO officers do you estimate they would have I look at this and with the exception perhaps of Clinton these are very big school systems with um considerable budgets and lots of kids yeah uh so it's my understanding that the that the schools listed here have one school resource officer who has primary responsibility in the high schools and then uh they still W to see the other schools I'm from North bro um I know he spends detective Sullivan he spends the majority of his time at Algonquin um and then that he goes and does the alist drills Etc at the other schools so Sim similar to how we have it set up or how we would have it set up okay so um my follow-up question is an SRO who is trained for high school students um and then Works in elementary schools as well would have to be pretty remarkable human being because those are two very different School populations and um I I mean perhaps there are people who are that skilled um but I wonder if they have should have different skill sets I guess that's my question yeah so so that's the uh I I guess that's just the nature of our profession is we have to have that tool or we have to have that tool bag that has all those different skills in it and the school resource officer is no different it's it's ultimately we're looking for temperament they have they have to have the right temperament in the drive to uh to be in hi I'm Karen MC I'm also from the finance committee in bston um I have a couple of questions I guess I well a comment first I find it a little disappointing that we feel we need one in our elementary school when burin doesn't feel it they they do I feel like our town is you know we'll answer that okay but one one other quick question which is when you split the time 75% 25% is that a full eight hour day yeah yeah so so they they'll be there for their 40 hours a week they would be assigned to the schools okay so I mean would there potentially not be to be any students in the school as part of that time so if there're so because the schools have left for the day or because the schools are on vacation Etc well I I guess Never full hours right yes but so so but the uh tando uh School traffic Etc starts about 6:45 7 o'clock and then bees dismissal is about 3:30 so there's overlap the officer the officer still has to uh still has to check up on on the uh daily activity logs so there is prep work the officer has to do before he enters the school so reading reading through the previous logs uh shift uh shift history what happened um where all the calls happened I'm not sure whether Greg was kind of trying to get at this but so in this in the summer are we paying this person are they working for the town like what yeah so on so on vacations and so like School vacations and then summertime they go back to the police department and they just fall into a designated shift uh for the control so then would the cost of this person be more than the 200,000 that you put up there because you that was said for 10 months no so uh so it's approximately 10 months they'd be working for the uh school and then if the other two months they'd be going to the police department so would be a shared expense between the district and the Police Department would like toar I uh well first I'll go to Cliff real quick and say a different set of skill sets that would mean could we send our 24 year-old good police officer to Gates Bond Road to your house or do I have to come because I'm out to pasture we're police officers first and foremost so you have to have the skills it isn't an age thing thing it's a highly trained position like our Firearms instructor our drug investigator our sexual abuse people are all highly trained in special Fields but first and foremost we are police officers we can give it the name or give it the title they're there to serve the community the community they're going to specialize in is the school district and the children and there's a lot of vagueness and different things and I've worked with each one of those uh School resources recently working with the Clinton one and he reached out to me Paul and said you know goodie what's uh this situation up at toono and like that I said who's the officer there said we don't have one and and he was shocked and we've always done it behind the scenes with John and his great staff working together but he has other responsibilities as a chief now and running the department things so we don't have a specialized person here to work closely with those other ones there so many things came up they were all over the place most School Districts The there again it's a police officer they can still fill in shifts they can work Sunday night they can work Christmas when another officer wants to take the day off in the summertime they go to regular Patrol they go to a thing called admin schedule unlike other officers but they're first and foremost police officers right Chief you know and and he's not getting into really the minutia that so they're 247 and when you answer the first PR about it's not going to be Rambo I've stood on the stage every year when we do the safety talks with all the staff do our training in cooperation with Boyston I'm not Rambo but I assure them Rambo's coming through the door and a couple of times we've introduced them to those police officers that are highly trained in that field I'm the liaison the spokesperson and I work with them um as far as Berlin we're in a unique situation we're a small community officer bomb started the program program years ago with the D programs we introduced to him and he was our school resource officer before it was a mandated thing under governor Patrick that every school district had to have one designated under a reform law and uh and I picked up after that under Chief Galvin we call the Community Service Officer working with the seniors Outreach programs and things like that we modify it based on our population our budget and I I don't see parents here I see most of what I call the Bean counters and the people that are respons wor running the town and that's your job and we do it in a way that I'm able to be there not there and back and forth and through the grace of Chief shner and the rest of the department it's flexible um it's a lot of work and a lot of it's not counted or Quantified I don't go on to social media and tell you what I did I mean an average day for me is to pull up first thing in the morning after going to the station and being a police officer and checking the town real quick and checking with the other guys guys pulling in seeing the bus hey how you doing bus driver going to tell me problems visibility plowing road rage that and take that write that down carry it in check with the janitor going in check in with the cafeteria the front staff all the teachers go over stuff with the principal answer some minor questions because relatively very small I'm not going to scare you still the safest place in the world US public schools but we have prevention programs in place um checking with the teachers and there's a lot of behind the scenes things custody issues probate issues divorce things security issues building security issues I'm I'm not going to stand here and say that it's you know a war zone but we're constantly maintaining safety for the parents then it's outside real quick with John if I have the time drop off meet parents hey your sticker your tire your plate light all stuff prevention hi kids how you doing holding a bag that's snug you know stuck in the door not talking to answering residents questions that see me there about problems they're having as John says let the line go Sergeant goody stop talking kids get in talk to the staff once again there's just hundreds of things that happen that I don't write down in a chart for Chief shner and we throw it on social media and he can report back to the selectman it's prevention and behind the scenes reaching out to Carol and the staff and reaching out to John quite often and his officers talking what's going on at the high school level it's a little more involved Electronics cyber bullying there's so much that goes on that these kids are potential victims to internal problems I get phone calls at home from parents ties that I've made with college kids having problems I reach out to other police agencies to assist them that doesn't go in the town report we just call it police info because it's private we have a memorandum understanding um internal staff problems you have a large population of employees that have everyday life issues and we work with them on that to make it a better environment I could go on and on along L them but we're in a unique position in Boon rather Berlin that we can do both and I think what a board member said a couple of weeks ago when they were talking about we have one by de facto I got to tell you I sat in the audience going yeah de facto all right that was a slap in the face I do it because it's a job we do and I do it for the parents and the students and I work very close with John his staff and all these other agencies do the same thing it's just we're lucky and we're unique that you don't have anybody in this position I'm really surprised so if that answers a little bit about that so you know that's what is but it's a great program but once again it's a police officer clip you know and they have specialized training egstone select board member of Berlin Carol a question for you um how soon do you want this is this this fiscal year or next fiscal year we were looking for it in the budget for this coming fiscal year but um John can talk a little bit about the training involved that person probably would not come in till mid year because by the time he goes out to look for this person um we interview the person's hired and then goes out for that very specific additional training that they would need to have to come forward so mid year of next year um chief for you you mentioned training or Carol I think that you had mentioned additional training when is that training going to occur would it be during the school year which would be time away from the SRO or would it be in the summer no so I wouldn't I wouldn't put the officer in the school until all the training was completed that's depending on when the training is available but what about additional follow on training I can't imagine it's a oneand done no so so the ongoing in service training would be uh during school year can I uh step in um all the SRO training is uh January Christmas break February break and April break and then uh the last day of school Ser golding's gone for uh three days three days right away the training Works around the school schedule the Massachusetts criminal justice training Council developed training that works around so when February vacation I have to go to a class you know summer ation there's extra classes going on why just scheduling they make special inservice training that all police officers have to do and they do a school resource officer program so you're working around things like that more questions and then I'll stop hogging um I didn't have a chance to read the the U memorandum of understanding but will the community be involved in the interview process for this position from both Berlin and Boyston um we we would be uh there there' be of course room for feedback uh ultimately the person serving as a as police officer I would involve the superintendent uh certainly in on the process but as s Fon pointed out there're still they still a police officer um after uh we give a consideration and then uh then we move on from there and last question what have you done to search for Grants to pay for this officer uh as of now I don't of any available grants that are open so there's uh uh the the cops Grant should be coming out they hire that gives uh municipalities funding um to hire police officers I don't necessarily know if we would meet those standards I'm on the office office of Grant research weekly checking on what grants I can apply for if there's a grant out there sure you I can I'll apply for it we we often apply for these kinds of Grants if they're available for sure the the challenge with the grants in the long term is that we don't necessarily get them for the following year or they're they're only good for a certain period of time and so having somebody already in the budget and we do this with with uh teaching staff as well we know that we we're assured we have them if we go into the totally into the grant um mode if we lose the grant we lose the officer that's the only that's the risk of that but we're always we always are sharing grants across the board sending them to each other so we could certainly like look into that this uh this last uh this last uh year think there were only four or five communities Massachusetts that were successful in getting that cops Grant so it's a fiveyear program year one uh the program pays 75% of the off salary year two is 50 year three is 25 and four and five it's fully on the municipality um but they they were they were all large agencies um I don't recall seeing any agencies of our size so I don't know if you have to meet that specific criteria but last year it was it wasn't something I was I was looking at but again this year this year is probably going be different um I just have three quick comments I'm a parent of eight years in the district and I've been on the PTO for seven years at Tanto and Bs so kind of have some firsthand know also one of my daughters is a graduate of the D in fifth grade at a different District in I know this may be kind of coincidence but they had 32 students and of just keeping in touch with them probably more than half have diverted away from substance abuse and trying it and I don't know if it was through Scare Tactics but they love their DARE officer who is a parent of children here from another District um so I just want to give a thumbs up for dare if it can get to be yes over the years if there's time second I just wanted to commend Sergeant goody volunteering I've witnessed ter and I on pich and we volunteer a lot of events at the school and I'm just so impressed when the kids come up to you you're just walking through the cafeteria they're like hey Sergeant goody Sergeant goody so those are Berling kids who the boyon kids haven't met really but in some of the Bon kids like who's that who's that I'm like oh that's our their officer from BMS so I just wanted to let you know that and I will tell you when you instill somebody in the district here in a high school middle school which once again needs more attention I'm never downplaying the first grader that I open a yogurt for at lunch those gogurts the stress and you're struggling and it's going to get on the uniform those two uh children 20 years from now reached out for me or talked to me there was a student getting picked up in the parking lot um and and we handled the Civil probate situation with that family and they were comfortable with this so that's the first and foremost thing you can do it here and John was doing it years ago with me and being a sergeant and patrolman the best he could juggling it so you've been spoiled as a community that you've had the benefit of a lot of volunteer and I say that to the I understand the fiscal responsibility of the finance committee and the elected officials but you're a parent and the cost if I put a slip in for everything I do um first of all I'm looking at that and that's better paying than I'm getting in Berlin so I'm going to talk to John afterwards on that first slide little plug to you up there but the cost fact factor it's it's a cost all right and um you will have somebody here whoever he picks he or she I work closely with the female in um bolon Thea split by three towns and I take a lesson from her of cooperation there isn't anything they don't do in that District they don't involve stow and Lancaster with the Bolton school resource officer similar Geographic with three towns we're Berlin we have berin students here we have continuity but the school sits in Bolton so they are the primary person but she works in concert with Lancaster and Stow to be efficient as I do with the asit school resource officer and there's one in every school in uh cliff and malro he or she reaches out to me and and that's how it works but you will have that same result and when you're looking at numbers and finances is it worth it is not worth it that same relationship or that high or hello may Save a Life when they're in a situation where it's friendly and receptive and I'm very honest with them about I am a police officer I have laws to enforced we have discretion but if we can prevent something from happening and and that's part of the Dare program that I've showed to John and he took the lead no pun intender with lead and started something on his his own years ago when you didn't have anything and I shared with him the Dare and dare is changed it's not drug abuse resistance education it's decide assess respond and evaluate and you have to ask yourself tonight you know having a police officer assigned to the schools in Boon working in conjunction for safety and prevention was it right decision you know assess respond and evaluate it's at the end of the day it's the right thing to do but I understand the fiscal responsibility so in violation of some of our contracts in the union I do volunteer once in a while to show up with the schools and do things but I hope uh thank you as a parent I like to hear the parents talk about you are the parents you are the taxpayers you are the community and you're the most involved but I respect the elected officials that have taken a responsibility to balance the budget too so you have to be open in your discussion so uh goody and I have talked about this several times it's uh it's it's a remarkable thing when uh so I oversaw the schools as the liaison officer for a number of years and uh it's amazing the connections you make with kids and how you could talk them down um I received numerous phone calls while I was off duty uh it was always one of when the on duty officer would call it was always one of your kids is out of control mean one of my usually was a parto kid and they throw it on speaker phone and I talked them on the phone and it was just I mean you can just flip it because it's not just some nameless cop now now they're talking to someone that they actually have a personal connection with um I saw a few weeks ago I I I respond out to a uh to a call um family was going through through uh some difficult times and I could hear the argument with the police from the outside soon as I walked in uh parents go thank God it's officer John and the kid go kid put his head down goes ah crap it's officer John it was like Hey obviously for privacy I won't use but it was come outside let's talk talk about what's going on dude you can't do that it was just a situation that more likely not was going to end in a use Force thing was able to uh quickly get overturned because that personal connection we had and all this is what the goal of the school resource officer is is building building those relationships that are ongo I I do want to add to what you both are saying too I don't think we could have imagine this more than five like five years ago or maybe a little bit longer this is this opportunity is a result of the work that's been the groundwork that's been done with our administrator with our police departments and our fire departments too through these past number of years we have come together in a partnership the officers are very familiar coming into the schools they're very comfortable we call each other all the time some of the incidents that you know as parents we've all been involved in critical incidents we're on the phone with each other we know each other extremely well we know how to get in touch even if we hear something going on these are the these are the people that I would put my own children and grandchildren in their hands it's community policing it's it's a different kind of scene and we are unique here and these individuals reflect who we are just as we reflect as Educators who we are in the community these officers reflect who we are as well in the community and that's why you have folks like John and Eric and goody here there are people a couple of quick questions I'm ever Crossland a parent of a first grader at BS um and just one first question so where's the budget for this coming from is this going to come from the school budget at all yeah it it would go into the school budget for the 10 months right yes um and also I know I understand you're saying presence doesn't look like Rambo uh can you describe that a little bit more what is the officer carrying or wearing a vest what does that look like yeah um the uh uniform would be ultimately what I decide um I gotta be honest with you it would probably just be a it would be just regular uniform um but my my comment about the rambos I talk to people and they think that you know they think of you know essentially like a a special forces officer who's just you know so tactical and just ready to stop any threat and that's just that that's not it's a it's a it's it's a patrol officer in the school who's capable of handling all the situations not just there for taffs so that that was that was a ramble cop more like more likely than not it would probably uh probably just be a regular police uniform um some school resource officers they're in a polo with their with their gun belt um it just no I'm open for feedback on that if we if we got that fire eventally with a gun they it would 100% be with fire so you know as a parent of a elementary school student U and exposure to somebody with a gun even in a police uniform um in this town seems uh out context to me um and yeah and then the other I guess the other question on the on the elementary school front I understand the the preventive policing and certainly appreciate that and the relationship and Community Based policing um are there incidents or is there has there been a trend upwards in incidents at the elementary school where you've seen a need for um a heavier presence or police presence at the at the elementary school statistically speaking no so so the elementary school the goal the goal there is to begin those relationships start start start building those positive relationships getting the kids familiar with the police officer and that role it's more being an advocate for families uh help helping them along with it um the firearm um I've had this conversation a lot with parents as I was in the schools a lot that's the of Education um not asking you whether your firearms in the house or not but eventually your child is going to be in someone's home that has a fire um it's it's again it's stting that education part of every time I walk especially the elementary school um if they're in uh kindergarten first second grade they never will get me they're always looking at everything in my tool belt um so I when I used to teach even for the fifth graders when I used to teach a program in there it was all right first things first what are we going to talk about my belt today get the Curiosity out there and then let's move on so John I will yes there is an up kit threats cyber threats phone in threats it's a different world in 2024 there's a lot more activity and threats locally and around us we practice for this and we're prepared if you were in first grade uh or your child was you'd be introduced to me through the te teacher or you'd meet me at the uh School open house or before we meet in preschool in kindergarten John and I talk to the prospective students usually when they're coming in uh to sign in and move into Berlin because they're checking their address to make sure that they're actually from the district because we're such a valuable High learning district they want to come here so we make sure they're not sneaking in and we check their address and I meet them and have a one-on-one conversation what we do there isn't a student in BMS that doesn't know what the most important part of my uniform is and you know what that is what do you think it is I'm gonna ask you right here it's my pen I'm constantly talking to them about that and when I get a new student that's out of District or formally homeschooled and there's the fascination like I had and they're looking at my duty belt which we talk about for second third grade about the tools we draw away from this whole object uh we do a safety thing about it because they're going to be exposed like the chief said but what you know what do you think my gun is made of and I you know that's part of the conversation you know metal aluminum it's almost all plastic and that gives into a whole 40 minute lesson about how dangerous even Toya replicas are that you don't know and to teach them to call 911 and they'll never get in trouble this is a whole safety thing we do with them but every student knows this is the most important part of my uniform and when I walk in BMS or if I come up here I jump into the lesson plan and talk about oh yeah I could do home you know I go to police school next week I still take tests in fact he sent me something he was missing something one of my test and I shared that with the kids yeah Chief shner said I didn't complete something I have to study do homework my pen you know what is your pen do it just wrote in the log Sergeant goody was at the first grade classroom helping hand out things and talk about safety so that three months from now they can look at my homework and say sag goody there was an incident down by the school were you at the school yes I was all right we see you we on duty in the log look at your homework my homework says I was there from 8:30 to 11 o'clock what did I observe like that and so the kids remember that so when I see a new student I love when it goes hey kids what's the most important part of my uniform your pen and they're proud and I always tell them I only hear hands they can't shout out so we demystify it but we point out how dangerous it is and they can't even I can't tell the difference I'm not the raino gun expert between a real one and a toy one and I'm going to secure it and bring in one of our experts and no one's going to get hurt and I'm going to write it down with my pen what happened and we'll have a story and everybody be safe so I hope I got both there's a higher rate of incident a lot of it doesn't make the press a lot of it's handled internally with the principles the school resource officer and the Chiefs and then the demystifying the tools so they're comfortable but but I as a parent I truly expect that question and I sit down with people privately when John recommends it to me and and talk about what I do so I hope that answered that because that's a personal one for me too I uh Julie Malik um I'm on the Berlin incom so I just want a clarification since the budget came up again you said that it was roughly 63k is that just salary or is that also Al paying for all the other expenses to support the officer yeah so uh so that so that's the 10-month period and the the remainder would be uh on Fall underne Police Department yeah but when you showed your other slide you showed a whole bunch of expenses yeah so so how and that's much higher than yeah I'm not sure that's to the numbers don't really match up so the so the salary range for a boyon police officer is about $30 23 cents 3597 the benefits health insurance Etc uh the there's an educational incentive so if you have an associates degree uh bachelor's degree master's degree you get between that 3 and 12,000 the initial uniform uh purchase that the uh the onetime purchase from the collective bargaining agreement is 1,700 going on uh every other year after that is 1,500 there's an initial Department purchase that the off that the department so oil police car have to provide to the officer jackets uh leather gear Etc that's approximately 7,000 uh the vehicle and Equipment obviously that's a onetime purchase the mobile radio to go into the vehicle that's a onetime purchase uh the miscellaneous office equipment that just like I said the out the actually I'm kind of confused because the vehicle usually has to be replaced so we have say one time purchase it will eventually so so so it's it's the initial purchase so we we usually get five years out of a cruiser so every five years yes you you would have to count on that say something all right I get what you're asking so the 63,000 is the piece that would be allocated to the schools town of Boon since the officer will be reporting into John will be a boon police officer the town would be paying for certain expenses on here I believe including the uniform we talked about the vehicle radio all that stuff so that 6 that's the piece that's going to get allocated annually to the school so what would be in the Berlin budget would be the 17,000 right right about 16 17,000 right we were factoring what how many students right whatever perent those percentages 47,000 right okay so they so having that broken out more clearly would be really great because it's a bit muddled right now the way that slide is no we absolutely will no doubt hey I'm oops um stel I don't have a child here anymore he graduated a couple years ago um we some retired police officer was one of those towns Westboro the high schools about 12200 students so it's a little bit bigger seven schools total we have one resource office in that whole town could use three or four easily the answer I understand your concern sir our resource offic is playing close 100% we tried it years ago the uniform your concern came up with the students in so he went to plane clothes you don't even know he's armed don't even know he's got a radio he's got his own office there he's got an unbo car so that works out fine what we haven't talked about all those programs AG gr we talked about and what these gentlemen talked about what we haven't talked about people don't want to face reality is active shoo is folks it can happen anywhere don't ever say it can't happen in my backyard it can happen most in critical thing we can have is response time to have an officer in the school is the most important thing you can can have when you have an arm Intruder okay and she talked about mental health that's a real issue before I retired that was a real issue real issue so don't say you know I don't want him in there I don't want her in there it's critical to have somebody in this school my son was here still I'd be pushing for this the most important thing is response time to have that officer here um the high school principal actually has a has a radio directly on our frequen Rel leas frequency something happens he can call us usually the school resource officer most of his time is in the high school and he floats around to the elementary school he can only be in so many places at one time I 100% support of this for those issues it can happen folks and to say now we don't want it and something happens how are we going to feel to parents how are we going to feel I leave you with that thank you um thank you to the retired officer it's an important point and oh I'm Mary Porter I'm from Berlin uh I do wear a finance committee hat um and I wear a few other hats around town um let me just go back to what he said about the seriousness of this and and a couple of comments on that the first one is yaldi and and I don't think that you know my heart goes out to parents children to the children to the teachers in the rooms to everybody in the schools with what we have going on in our society right now but do not assume that an armed resource officer in the school is going going to guarantee safety and we know that from our history the whole thing is a tragedy so you know when a very wise person said to me once what does fear me false evidence appearing real okay so what can we do and and you know Chief anunziata I don't want to get you in trouble because you're over that age of 12 and you know I don't want to you know get you into any kind of hot water but one of the things that I'm hearing here tonight and I've been hearing all along and I'm active in the community and I care deeply about these communities I don't have any kids I want our children these towns to be educated involved citizens when they become adults and I want to make sure that we do that and we deliver for them so what what you have in these two towns in Berlin we have pretty active community policing tradition that goes back decades and decades and you know Chief I don't want to disparage anything going on but I think what I'm hearing is that in Boon we'd like more of that and and so the over arching issue that we want to achieve is this safety and this communication in our communities question is how do we get there and then I asked the question how do we get here tonight and as I understand what's been the information given out to the public is the school committee initiated a drive to get a school resource officer in our school district okay and appropriately our district superintendent costell respond responded the schools in question are in the town of Boyston so Chief anuna is the chief person those two people are the decision makers I have I like to read the law so I have here a copy of what Massachusetts passed that defines what is a school resource officer it's a defined legal term it's under Massachusetts General Law chapter 71 section 37p and what it says is this is done at the discretion in a Regional School District of the district superintendent right here super rendant Costello in conversation with the chief in the town where the schools located and with Appropriations from the town so let me put on my finance committee hat here okay so so we'd like to see more community policing around these two schools toono won Elementary but when I look at Town Appropriations we had an extremely challenging budget season last year okay and and we got through it and we got to fund pretty much what the schools had asked for we can't do that again this year so if we elect to put funding behind school resource officer this year we're gonna have to ask the school districts to take that money out of something else in the school budget because guess what the fact that you're only putting part of those expenses in the school budget it doesn't mean that it just goes away or there's some magic want the towns pay for it and in these two towns it's residential real estate it's your tax bill okay now it's an initiative that's worth it our safety our children our education are extremely important in the town of Berlin and I don't think Boon's very different it's half of our budget and I support it question is I want us to use our money wisely because it's not an it's not an infinite Supply let's think about how to do this rationally let's think about is this are we putting the cart in front of the horse and saying I've got a solution for everything here why don't we think about something else that we can do and by the way when I when I look officer Golding and chief shner know me well Chief you and I are not not as well acquainted but officer Golding just tonight threw his body out in front you know a speed bump you know for me he doesn't just work the schools he's he he works the entire Community right and my my challenge to all of us is to broaden your thoughts about how to achieve what are the goals and how do we achieve them what are the what are the different Alternatives and and continue to study this question until we're really satisfied that we're doing the best thing for these two small towns because I don't think my opinion member of the finance committee a citizen who's very engaged in at many levels and um um and a taxpayer here I don't think it's the best route for us to go I want us to stay in this conversation but I don't want the conversation to stop here um and again you know I grew up I went to school without of course when I went to school we had to we had these drills where we had to we had to dive under our desk because somebody was going to drop a nuclear bomb on us but but that never happened and that's different today you know bad things do happen so let's come together and try to do the right thing with this and and um don't assume we have we have only one answer to how to tackle this um what am I forgetting I don't know I'll probably talk more if I forgot something I'm always talking thank job yes uh so just a few takeaways I have so with uh research containing the active Shooters it's kind of suggestive there's no data out there that uh goes you know hey Mary you know I I heard you shot up this school were you gonna shoot up any other schools well actually I was going to shoot up this school but they had a school resource officer so I was this school you know what I mean so so it's just suggestive and uh so I I recently attended a uh a active shooter uh tabletop exercise with the Beth Beth Isel deist Medical Center uh Fellowship so it's a group of uh doctors from around the world uh that uh research uh active shooter situations and disasters and critique it and say what could we have done better so I can't speak for valdi or any of the other shootings but what I can say is that the program Massachusetts is rolling out with the BMC disaster medicine is going to make Massachusetts the most appear law enforcement uh Oran agency in the United States to handle this so I don't know I I am reading the doj notes on evolving the other shootings but what I can tell you is that's not how Massachusetts is trained I've never been an active shooter situation myself I I would like to think I would react a certain way but until you're in the situation you have no idea but I can tell you uh Ed once this alert training is rolled out uh Texas used to be the uh top pop dog Massachusetts will will be the most appear law enforcement agency to handle these situations I have possession of the mic uh first of all I want to thank superintendent Costo you Chief Berlin officers and anyone else in the room school committee for doing this presentation and bringing this topic uh to the community uh it is a topic that affects the community a great deal perhaps more than most things that you are going to make decisions about uh I think officer goody if I may be so informal uh is an outstanding spokesperson for the role that you're speaking about and I only wish that more parents were here to have heard it not only the whole present ation but to hear the passion of someone who does the work every day yeah I'm on the fincom and I'm going to have to respond financially but I also am a a parent of adult children a 38-year public school educator 20 years of principal and a six- year member of the school committee so I have interest in schools and kids perhaps you need to do more Outreach to parents because it would really be important to not only engage them but to get their full support because they will be attending town meeting and they will have to make decisions about the town's finances and particularly about the school budget and they may hear a recommendation from a fincom let's say um that that does not support it and so they would have to think about that and what they can do or should do so thank you and um I encourage you to continue the communication and have a great spokesperson on hand thank you thank you cliff and I do think that I mean this is one effort that we're trying to make to bring forward as I said earlier this is a a discussion this is a conversation this is information gathering for the public who is here also the public who is at home who may be watching this as well we've reached out to this many folks many of whom are really on our boards and committees so we do want to try to reach out more to parents so we're hoping we're doing that in this way but I mean I we we're I'm in the schools all the time for coffee chats and and any other kinds of events and I'm happy to have this conversations and reach parents that way PTO meetings um you know right they PTO folks know that so we will continue that conversation just like anything else hopefully that what we want to put forward we will have that information available so that as many people the parents in particular that we can reach by the time we get to town meeting are informed about this so thank you for those suggestions too I am a parent actually and I've listened through all of this and we're actually new to Boyston we just moved in last year I have a high schooler and a elementary school student and you know I recall very vividly when my oldest child was eight years old when the first shooting happened in Connecticut when Adam lens and and killed all these little kids I couldn't sleep for a week I would go drop off my kid at school watch the windows and I I almost asked the teacher to move my kid to it was just very traumatizing and I'm listening about the finances and I'm very sympathetic but to me it's just so worthwhile if it takes you know all of this if it saves one kid's life it was worth the expense and and so to me if we can re you know you finance people because I spent 10 years in Oklahoma and one of the reasons we moved from Oklahoma because of the open care you just you can walk into a gun store and you can have 10 years worth of being in a mental institution they don't care you can buy your guns everybody has guns so if it takes a school resource officer if what DET turn one kid from deciding that they're going to do something really stupid to me it's worthwhile to expect and you know we can look into maybe cutting expenses or whatever we're paying enough taxes but that's that takes priority over other things that's just my dick as a parent so I'm sorry been emotional so I uh one of my previous agencies that were very well established school was also a program um and the officer was often made fun of for you know not really doing much and until I my thought was same until I Shadow him and and the uh amount of information that flowed to him that went around the principals and the administrators directly to the school res saw us officer it was something as uh you know signif as like hey like you you might want to take a look at uh you know little Johnny um just he's not right something he's not normal he hasn't been like this for a while just something's not right it's that encounter the police officer has with him that's different than the school that's different than uh your your your friend's it's just it's just different um and again going back to the data there's no data to capture did that stop self harm or harming other people did that stop uh someone going to drugs there's no data to to capture that but I've worked with in uh with police departs that have a very successful school resource off officer program I'm I'm a product of it I know the B very Porter again I told you I I threatened i' probably talk some more this's parent behind me I again I want to say my heart goes out to the parents to the students to everybody that's in these classrooms in this current environment and it isn't all about money I I want to point out that superintendent Costello mentioned let's see if I got it right uh how much money are be spending on the mental health uh Professionals of the schools right and including some services that we provide $730,000 is okay M okay that kind of spend I can get behind when I think about my role on the you know the finances of the Town my obligations to the taxpayers as well as myself because I think if you look at the history of what's G on the the incidents in the school there's very often been someone connected with a school of student who has a mental health issue and so when I speak about about cost it's about before we spend the money make sure we're doing it effectively and how can we we're small how can we do this in a better way that's my that's my point it's not to not spend money and I think I don't think we I think we want to keep an eye on the mental health aspect of this I think it's really critical many kids do not come forward many kids with mental health issues do not come forward and these are potentially those that end up doing something stupid because they don't feel comfortable going and talking to a counselor or they don't have access to counseling and uh or you know if you go back at the history of many did have mental health issues but many did not raise red flags at all just out of the blue they decided that they were going to bring a gun into school and start shooting up people so while I agree that proper mental you know I was reading an article today about it was actually in WPI a few years back they had seven kids who committed suicide on canc it was one of the worst and they had I presume resources Mental Health Resources and just couldn't figure out what was going on and so when a kid snaps and decide that you know what I'm just going to grab my dad's G and go into school today you know what's going to matter and I understand what you said about yaldi I mean it was just one individual who did not do what they were supposed to do but the time to response to neutralizing the threat could make the difference between 10 kids dying or 20 kids dying so or nobody dying so to me having somebody in there where my kid is coming and attending makes a whole lot of difference and it means cutting costs in other aspects of the school budget it's doing worth it that's just you know cafeteria hi um Jessica Crossland I am married to this guy so we have the same first grader I just wanted to say I appreciate hearing that the Dare program has improved since the early 90s when I went through it because it wasn't a great program back then um but I'm just curious so we just got a health teacher in the elementary school who presumably is addressing healthy relationships bullying peer pressure drug use um a lot of the stuff that a SRO would talk about with the younger kids so I'm curious why we are not waiting to see how this health teacher is approaching similar crossover topics and why we would use a police officer as an assembly or a special program why we feel like we need an entire let's say a day it's going to be a bit more if it's you know 20 5% of the week but let's just say a day out of the week that we have an officer in the school um that's my first question my second or comment my second comment is I come from a social work background I wholeheartedly believe in social work in schools I'm curious you know we have uh adjustment counselors and other people I'm curious why we didn't kind of look at the social work case management um person for this kind of role who's going to tie in all those loose ends who's going to communicate with the community members with the family with the school with the therapist whoever to wrap around services for these kids um I don't necessarily agree that a kid in trouble is going to turn to a police officer as opposed to a social worker a teacher a counselor of principal um and also I you know know we're not going to stop school shootings we're just not and having a police officer split between three schools any kid who's on the brink of you know a collapse is going to choose the day that their officer is not in their school to do something I mean it's it's heart-wrenching as a parent to have to think about this as our lives um but it's a fact so I I understand the respon time comment I get that you're not going to stop it but maybe it'll be faster I get why an SRO in the high school is important and reaching out to the middle school is important I don't quite see $116,000 from the school budget for the elementary school is important I also think we fought tooth and nail to get um for they're called the the teachers AIDS in the kindergarten classrooms this year and nobody half the town didn't want to pay for that we still have a roof that is leaking in the elementary school that the kids can't use the library on rainy days I mean there are so many things that we need to address in the elementary school that is aging and we're not keeping on top of and yet we are are pushing this additional resource in that personally I don't I don't think it it merits the need yeah so so the the school resource officer is not going to be going in and taking over what a health teachers teaching they have their own set of curriculum that they teach for so when I taught Le to the fifth graders it was alcohol and tobacco uh use and how that affects the brain specifically the developing brain it's all dependent on what their age what their age group is and what's the variables for their group um what was the other comment I had um yeah so and again it's it's to build it's to build the relationships for when they do come to toono that it's the the the excuse me the relationships already there it's to deal with the uh out of school things the parent uh uh the parent issues uh where you know you you going through custody B there's more uh there's more that goes on to the elementary school outside that's still related to the elementary SCH School uh during just normal business hours it's just and again just to make it clear this is just for Tanto and Bo now school not not bin water schol yeah absolutely hi for those of you that don't know me my name is Megan Grill I'm the chair of the school committee um just about the budget so the way the budget works for the schools is that the school committee actually sets the budget we vote on it and then it goes to town meeting so we do take input from the finance committees but the school's budget actually is set and voted on by the school committee so just because if the town of Boon decides they want to add an SRO that does not mean that the school committee is going to decide to cut fixing the roof at bees or not adding teacher or whatever else we need in the schools at the end of the day that goes to the school committee and then it goes to the town and last year we had a huge at least in Boon in Berlin as well I believe we had a huge turnout of parents and an overwhelming response that the towns wanted to move forward with the school's budget uh again it's uh I understand we're never going to stop the school shootings or active Shooters in general but the goal is to prevent and the more resources you have more likely you're have to prevent it I too would never have thought a kid would open up to a cop before they would open regarding certain situations uh than a teacher I've seen it I've seen it first hand um I to was a non-believer I've witnessed it it's kind of like I said it's a it's a remarkable thing a couple questions um the first is starting student privacy can you talk a little bit about how that privacy is protected and are sro's bound by fura so police are not bound by Hippa however in our sorry I asked a guest about fura not Hippa oh excuse uh what what was it FPA federal education right to privacy act I can answer that John in fness to you he hasn't gone through the specialized training including firefighters that have been on D detail in our school for recent situations for the pump that don't understand that so I have to go over very strictly with them the guidelines it's 80 hours of inservice training every year and a lot of that covers furer which is federally overseen information sharing things like that very strict it's not the Patriot Act it's not the Fear Factor or anything like that we are bound by confidentiality above and beyond regular law enforcement and that's part of the memorandum of understanding to meet the guidelines of the school district so there's a very strict rule of what we can share and not share frustrating sometimes because we could solve a lot of problems if we could share information but we do meet the standards of fura so I I do have theou in front of you oh so so on on theou uh Pages six seven and eight discuss what information can be SC uh can be shared from the school to the uh police department what can go from the polip to the school and then outside wants to but it's it's pretty strict can you speak to the training that SRO go through with regard to mental health disabilities and positive behavioral supports what once again Advanced Training the academies have put a lot into mental health awareness training right now under new post regulations that every officer Chief down has to go through but a school resource officer is mandated even more we're luckily District partnership uh with Massachusetts Partnerships for youth constant ongoing staff psychologist teachers administrators belong to this collaboration of teaching Network that we're allowed as school resource officers to participate I don't get any of the what do you call those cus and extra credits to get raises I just go because it's mandated um so I can answer that so it's Advanced Training and I can answer to the mental Health proud of it too but if you have another one students working with students with disabilities is no different than working with community members with disabilities we're given extra training and autism and other things that we weren't taught years ago where there was many mistakes so we work with children with disabilities to the level that we're allowed to fura you know all the Privacy things like that as we would with any other student with a followup on not do you abide abide by behavioral intervention plans that school staff are required to abide by yeah yes because there is and the principal can speak to several incidents where things happen and I look at staff or even parents go Sergeant goody you can do something no no that's not that's not my job you know there was a situation uh a couple months back with some third and fourth graders are running out of the girls room and one of the boys had gone in there third grade and the kids were screaming and like that one of the girls screaming ex good ex said who get me a staff you know this wasn't a public area where I would normally intervene as a police officer there's a whole different standard of where I can go across line and not but she reached out to me for help she trusted me she was comfortable with me from first grade on and then shared that experience but I get a staff member right away so you do abide by if there if a student has a behavioral intervention plan in place you do abide by that plan there is a plan in place which is also very private I'm well aware as um I don't want to speak to my specific family members let's just say I've sat in many I AP meetings am I saying it right and things like that all right IP you know personally so I'm well aware of those situations and we do abide to those stands yes and the last question I have is do would an SRO report or take direction from a police supervisor an administrator both no Falls underneath the police department that's that's sped out in the too um there are certain situations where the off uh the school resource officer must notify the principal uh before taking any action and then there's room in there if there's uh a media throughout the public uh safety etc etc um consult with the principal uh when reasonable too uh if if an arrest estimated like said so from 2020 to now there's been two juvenile arrests um neither one of them were a member of oilon or Berlin neither one of them had any affiliation with the hando the elementary school they isolated incidents the preferred method written out theou and just across Massachusetts the preferred method one deal with June miles is through summons um you know get core paperwork show up here but the the M will answer a lot of will answer those lot excuse me will answer a lot of those questions yeah and I would say it's very clear guidelines in thatou around that partnership between the superintendent and and the police department and with the principles as well of the school I mean there are certain things we're definitely working together on these issues in the school so I think a lot of involves a lot of conversation with one another there there's 100% room for continued education across the state um with uh with police officers how to handle uh mental health situations um unfortunately there's just not a lot of State funding for it um but obviously uh if we were a successful in achieving this that that would be one of the priorities there isn't a a law enforcement retired active I believe that would never not support Mental Health Training and awareness we sit back that's a topic conversation and stations going why is money going here going put it to mental health our job would be so much easier we've always welcomed cooperation and working together with mental health people and I look at the number thrown out is700 something thousand with mental health training so that's good for right here the SRO in the law enforcement Community connects it to after 2:30 in the afternoon Mary to Mondays nights and Saturdays and Sundays if we're not working together so the $63,000 tied into $700,000 you just reinforced your community safety and mental health training that much better because that's no good without us and we're no good without them and and we can't separate them and I'm trying to touch like three different things things first of all AAL in I read it all weekend long I'm personally embarrassed that's not Massachusetts and I could have brought a lot of slides to show success rates for SRO and preventions I didn't do that I didn't feel I needed to um to the parent behind you tragedy that we live with in law enforcement every day Connecticut but guess what your school and band School were the same size so we say Well they're big cities those little Town's the same size as Berlin and Boon so it can happen anywhere and back to Mary well I goody was a human speed bump well thank you for the accolades and I have emails from former students here saying what a great job I did but I can't be here all the time and what he's asking you and the parents are asking you is you need a full-time school resource officer to fill in that void we're all going to try to do the best we can but at the end of the day I can't be be here all the time to be that speed bump and to the parent back there I can give you over 5,000 interactions that I've built in 41 years with a youth that reach out to me I'm getting old marital problems other problems things like that because there was good communication among good police officers that were going to strive to get the best person in that position working from prek all the way through high school and continuing through college and at the end of the day that's that's what it's about and and all the training helps but we have to work together I reach out to your school psycholog all they call this we're working closer now than we ever have but I can't do it all the time and and I'm one person and this is a high school middle school I do it with our elementary people helping parents cope with things and meeting the standards and the training and all those things so at the end of the day I know it's a money thing but that money spent and collaboration works together wonderful if you jump on our Police website start throw on put on some Poli uh uh for this uh Vu uh I put up uh how the B police policy procedure on how to handle juveniles um uh to go with if you are transgender or just applying lgbtq um there's a there's few policies on there that are related to the school um if you have some downtime I have you read a read up on some of those now that should kind of give you a guideline of where we are Mary porter back again I just a comment officer golding what I was trying to say earlier is that you you and our Police Department do community policing RIT large across the question that we that we particular question is do you need a full-time person physically present in these two schools at all times do you need that and and going back to that overarching goal that the the safety education of our students I don't think it's black and white it it's not social workers versus cops it's bring it together question is how much do you need when do you need and then I want to return to the comment from the U Megan from Megan gr the chair of the school committee the the current school committee and actually the current District administration is a bit new um I've only been on Berlin's finance committee maybe five six years but there's a long tradition of negotiating around budgets it's a process it's not a it's not an onoff switch um and my understanding of that process is is it doesn't uh begin and end at the school committee it's a back and forth iteration and among other things the towns take a vote ahead of town meetings so we have a finance committee vote on the school budget we have a select board vote on the school budget we come together we work really hard on setting priorities and getting things done and and have to understand that there's a time frame to some of these things and you can start it now but you might be finishing it a few years down the road M here's the problem the towns can't print money we can't print money right so there's a certain Revenue we estimate the revenue we estimate the expenses it has to balance out so yeah if we had a perfect world and unlimited revenues we could keep talking about this we don't we have to make some really hard choices it's agonizing we work really hard at it right now the the Berlin finance committee is meeting every Wednesday night we do it from January through the end of March to try to resolve this and I'm going to say it again we had a really tough year last year the school budgets passed with enormous increases historically unknown increases in budgets not because parents showed up but because we had some special issues last year related to the pandemic related to special education and the towns stepped up and supported the schools we can't do that this year heads up we cannot so make your choices thanks there any other questions or comments around the school resource officer or concerns I think that the important conversation here too is hearing different perspectives on this and that's exactly why we wanted to bring you together tonight from everything from safety and finances to the role of me to mental health and all of the things you're concerned about I've been thinking here tonight um next steps that was mentioned in addition to going around to the schools to talk with parents and be available um I think that talking with the school committee talking with our administrators who in the audience tonight and the officers that is what we'll talk about after this this in informational piece tonight what are we hearing and what do we need to do you know to to answer more questions to help you make an informed decision um as you go forward in into town meeting with this or or we don't I think that's going to be important conversation internally as well as with the towns go ahead can you hear me now uh so my question is kind of in this Slide the one before it and it's neither for or against the SRO it's only a question because we're a uh Combined District between two towns and it doesn't seem like $63,000 a year is going to be enough to fund that officer in fact when the question was asked when the officer would start you said it wouldn't be in the budget until probably halfway through the year next year because you have to get this officer trained and up to speed so what you're effectively saying is that the residents of oil state are going to fund the training and all the supporting financing that goes into this officer that's going to benefit the both communities so I think there needs to be some more discussion around how and where the funding is coming from whose budget a lot of this is coming out of because I don't think that the I don't think the wrap rate that's being used there reflects the $75,000 car the gas the upkeep of that car and everything I it just seems like it's basically his pay rate Plus benefits with no other rery right and that's a part that we would incur as a as a dist as a school district right but to your point yep the rest would be absorbed through the town of Boon exactly yeah yeah it would give you another office here yeah another officer right but we're paying for 100% of the Fring benefits Fring on that officer the school's not burying any of that so that $100,000 $75,000 car is not reflecting that 6,000,000 Jimmy did you want to add to that mob radial health and benefits package should be split yeah based on 7525 time split then based on whatever the probation is so Chief to go up for Excuse excuse whatever your budget's going to go up for the entire year to fund this officer everything included right 80% of that or whatever the number is needs to be built back to school not just the you know $35 an hour plus the health insurance everything that's why we have these conversations and that's something the find you have to sit down and try figure yeah I was Wai to have that conversation until we meet everything but yeah again that that's that's what we have this platform um to get both Finance committees input p s input Community input we wer we weren a Regional School would matter yeah yeah good point thank you yeah correct so it's actually going to be off in school that office be obviously I think the logic before was well it's a municipal vehicle that's only being used in boil that's that's kind of where my logic was but I'm any other questions concerns that final thoughts okay I do want to thank you all for coming out tonight I appreciate I know it's hard to get out on a school night um and and meet for this conversation I want you to know that I think I can speak for Jon and myself how much we respect all the different perspectives that we've heard tonight we know that there's different perspectives out there about funding of resource officer and even the presence of one in our in our communities so whether you agree or disagree with the idea the fact that you're able to share that um the our ability to have this conversation respectfully with one another is very very important to both of us I know to all of the administrators the folks here we thank you for the input you've given us the criticism you've given us which is fine um we will take that back and have the conversations um and move and move forward with some decisions Next Step with this so if you have any other further questions John and I will both be here um for a little while and I'm sure officer ging will be here as well the administrator so please feel free to stay stay with us if you want to email me or email John tomorrow with some last thoughts we're happy to take your input at that time as well so thank you all for coming [Music] [Applause] tonight don't

[Music] come in ready there we go I'll do again good evening everyone I want to welcome you all to this evening's uh school committee meeting for uh January 22nd please rise if you're able for the pledge of allegiance The Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you I want to remind everyone to uh turn off any cell buzzing devices I just did so myself uh this meeting uh is being recorded uh and will be rebroadcast on DCTV channels 9 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 5:00 p.m. Fridays 6:00 a.m. Saturday 8:00 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. the meeting will also be rebroadcast on dcv DCTV channel 18 on Monday and Saturdays at noon and Thursdays at 300 p.m.

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[Music] uh this is the Greenfield Public Schools budget and finance subcommittee meeting January 22nd 2024 and I will call the meeting to order at 12:01 and take a roll call uh Martini I am present and member Den present okay and member child's is not here yet but may join us at some point okay okay uh so we have only one uh item on the agenda for today which is just an update on the fy2 budget development so uh Andy and Christine I will let you take it away so at this point um we've done done all of the meetings with all the department heads um I will say I'll let Andy and Karen interject but um there's really nothing like Earth shattering that you know there's no um huge requests of things that I recall um some lines are up a little some lines are down a little you know it's it's nothing I don't think that you would sort of expect um we do have some um some staff that I will review with you um suggestions or desires that I have to add to fy2 which I can talk about briefly um so as I talked about two School committees ago uh because of um cost associated with subbing and overtime we have posted the um float custodian position again um but that's you know that's happening now um last year we had an IT position that was funded out of eer 2 that we let go um you know we didn't continue the position into eer 3 um or into the local for this year um I'm I'm at this point I am proposing adding a an it um staff person I'll be honest when we look at the full budget request I may or may not um change that plan but as of right now now I have tentatively put it into the budget um there are projects happening and with our eer 3 money we expect to be adding technology so the fact that we're a person down um may impact our ability to get all of the new technology up and going so that is a potential um and I'm looking um new we have a special education IA that um is needed for an IEP that has been added to the budget um I'm just going to interject one second to say uh member child's has joined us yes I I noted the time time for arrival for the for the minutes um I'm just scanning down my staff list um we have another IA that is um would be a new one to one so a couple of IIA vacancies um due to individual student needs and then potentially adding the um custodial float back into the budget and um the it position that's what I have I don't know if Karen or Andy if you remember oh and Glenn it's right at the top I forgot Glenn had asked um if we could potentially budget for for a school committee um secretary more in terms of assisting with um budget uh subcommittee meeting minutes and things along those lines and we already are posting for that HR um support person to do the FMLA and um workers comp that I talked to the school committee about in December um so we're we're somewhat looking at combining those so that we potentially actually get somebody to take the job as a full-time position um and them being on uh you know in the district full-time allows a lot of flexibility in terms of their ability to access the minute you know the meetings and I know that you can take minutes from a recording but um it just allows them to be more of a participant in the process um so those are those are the only potential new with the acception of um I know that the committee wants to talk somewhat about the music program so that's five full-time positions as I'm counting is that correct great for now I think you folks Kate you most certainly know and just for Elizabeth and an special education changes minute to minute so I put an asteris always near the IIA um near the IAS so right where are we um at right now with the Staffing of IA positions and I know the committee um only very recently approved the um requested increase so there probably hasn't been time to have really an impact on hiring but how is it going for IAS yes and and substitutes we we have some substitutes you know um the problem is we have more absences on a daily basis then you know I think any District would have Subs um and we do still have some vacancies I would estimate if I think quickly six seven potentially um we do use Staffing that we already have to cover um you know St this is the time of year for student absences so at times there are students who have IAS who are out therefore we're able to move Staffing around but um yeah we do still have some vacancies we have professional vacancies like our psychologists bcbas um that have continued to be um continued to be vacant um they were last year they still although I am we are in process of making an offer to a school psychologist so hopeful that they will take the position um but you know a lot of the professional positions that we have opened have been open for more than a school year okay um the float custodian that was um correct me if I'm wrong I remember talking about it um in December um has it been posted for a little bit now I believe we posted it the day after the meeting or two days after it was posted pretty quickly okay so far no takers though huh I'm not aware that it has been filled I haven't seen a hiring um Hing recommendation to this point for it I'm actually looking to see if we have any applicants that's one of our biggest challenges is we're not there's there's not a lot of applicants for the positions that are posted um are we still in the same position of um paying out quite a bit of overtime in order to um so the the positive we have a couple applicants for the custodian those are very recent um so I can check in with Mike about how that's going um no he's he's you know Mike's um making some changes internally with practice that he's hoping will positively impact the overtime uh um you know there's always a trade-off if you reduce the amount of overtime then um you know he's prioritizing areas of buildings to be cleaned which isn't um that's nothing that is out of the norm with any District where I've ever worked there there are the needs at times to prioritize if you have a special project if you've got um you know a spill or or graffiti or something that's out of the ordinary that needs to be tended to then sometimes you need to prioritize what our staff is doing during their normal shift but that's not an atypical uh decision making process for facilities directors but positive we do have a couple of applicants so that's nice I don't know what experience they have or you know the potential of them being hired but we have a couple folks in there okay uh and you mentioned the music department um do you have specific um plans in regards to the upcoming budget related to that so um so there's a couple things I guess one thing I would just say for the committee is that when we talk about the investment the district makes in to our music program um you know it was very clear last year that the desire of the committee was to continue to financially support strings for kids which you know is is fine um but I I think the committee you know should know that for this upcoming school year that's about a $225,000 investment out of the school budget toward music for the students of greenfields um we have two full-time music teachers at the elementary and then you probably know we split a music teacher middle school high school I had asked for the numbers um of students who chose music electives a couple years ago um at the high school but I don't have them yet uh just a reminder that year Maria sceta of her own choice moved from being a music teacher at the middle school to being a math teacher and we weren't able to find a placement for her and then as we looked at the students who had chosen music electives at the high school the numbers were quite low so we made the decision to consolidate um so we can add a music teacher um you know we've thought a little bit about adding um we can add instruments back to the elementary uh um that was very well participated in when we had the music teacher at the elementary the only challenge is there is potential one of our current employees would want to shift as I don't know that but that person was the instrumental music teacher prior um but if that configuration does occur and we add the music you know the instrument teacher back at the elementary school we've had a hard time finding music teachers so if we don't get a general music teacher at the elementary level then we could run the risk of having instrumental music and then a vacancy in the general music which we have to provide because that's one of the specials and that provides the contractually required preps for our classroom teachers so we have to have a body in that space um so we could do that we could have a full-time teacher at the middle school and full-time teacher at the high school but at this point we've done the course selections for next school year at the high school um if the committee wanted to put a full-time music teacher at the high school the guidance Department would have to rerun course selections for grades eight through you know upcoming eight through upcoming 12 um and then we would have to see if we got sufficient students choosing a sufficient number of Music electives to run a full-time schedule um we generally don't look to run a class if we have less than 10 um you know some AP classes could be an exception uh special education of course we run we run as needed but you know that that would be a gamble to find out whether or not we've got enough students who wanted the music electives at the high school to run a full schedule um at the middle school we could do if we had a full-time person we could do General music or band we can't do both because of scheduling con um constraints we could do one or the other so those are sort of the choices that I think um you know the committee could consider if that is something you want to do for this upcoming year or do you want to consider adding music electives for the following year so that they can be built into the course selection process um but those are just my thoughts I I've asked a bunch of questions in a row so I want to make sure to give room to an and Elizabeth do you have um questions or discussion um I'm sorry forgive me I'm I'm sick in my basement um actually I don't know is I have so much a question but I have a lot of concern about the music program and the arts program in general um our mission statement doesn't describe our district as being you know concentrated on Sports but that seems to be where we put a lot of our passion so I'd like to see a more and I'd like to see art have a more equal footing with sports and I know that the band in middle school that Miss scera did that program was arousing success with a lot of support from parents and a lot of support from kids so if kids aren't signing up up for the band electives or if there aren't enough children interested there's a reason why and it's probably because Miss CA is not doing it but um we need to find something similar to get their interest alive because the passion for the Arts is there but we maybe are not tending that fire the way that we need to and so I'd like to make sure that we have all of our arts and our Sports all of those special activities should be equal because not all the kids want to play the sports and they're not getting what they need in the uh Arts end of things so I'm hoping we can get maybe a little deeper into how we're going to fund the music and the art and how it's going to come about and what we need to uh get it on par with the other things that we offer so question for clarification what does it what do you think is missing for Arts I mean if you folks want to fund more art just you need to tell me where you think that would go in in the district and you know you can you can certainly add funding into the budget for art I think it would be really helpful to have a a table where we have currently what we have available um just for art and music and also Sports any sort of extracurricular items like that and have this data sheet so that we know where it's on offer everywhere because it's kind of complicated to wrap your head around it because we're not like in the buildings with you so we don't know but um it's hard for me to remember what we have at elementary versus middle school and why it can't cross over in certain ways because of scheduling conflicts or things like that so it would be great if we had a sort of a uh just a easy write up so that we knew where we stood with each of these things so that we could see um maybe what we're missing or what we could add um it's hard to come up with really concrete ideas because it seems like there's a lot going on like you have a lot on your plate with that and the schedule of it and the different buildings so I wonder if that's something you could in your with all your extra time I can I can I just want to make sure I'm understanding what you're asking for um you want to know where art is available in the district right right what kind of art where what building like and you know have you had to cut it because of lack of Interest or has there been a lot of interest and then we stopped or any of those things any pertinent data points one spot I can write it up but I can also tell you fairly quickly all of our buildings have art um all of our students access art all the way through Middle School it's one of the electives that's provided and the high school actually has two full-time art teachers so um and the high school offers a pretty nice variety of art electives in my opinion so um you know one of the challenges in adding art is it does complicate the schedule like if we were to add an art teacher at the elementary just for the sake of of you know an example um that I don't know when students would access art as a second elective during the day um without taking away from English language arts time math time science and social studies lunch recess um we have to offer PE so that is not something that we can you know to skip so well maybe I can rephrase this if I'm a parent and I want I'm planning on taking my kid to G GPS I want to know what art is available for my child how would I find out like where would the list be on the website to see what kind of disciplines are taught and at what grade level I guess is what I would need because as a parent I would want to know like my kid is a stellar sculptor and they need to like have that as part of their Adventure I need to know where it is do you know what I mean like where's where's that list and then is there a Google survey possibility for parents to um get in there and say what they would like to see or uh different artistic disciplines or music disciplines that they'd like to see happen and be available as a feedback generating tool the list of where art is is in the high school's course uh program of study because that's where they get choices at the elementary and the middle school they are students are signed up to take art so um okay so is there a place on the website where we can see how that's broken down probably not I don't know I mean like I said at the high school they have the program a study but at the elementary and middle school it's it's just an Ive so um I don't know on the website I want I want to recenter a little bit uh because uh I am definitely interested in um discussing longer range planning and communication about arts in general in the district but um we are to here to talk about the FY 25 budget so um and I also would like to um just discuss music um a little bit more specifically because I have had um quite a bit of constituent communication specifically about the music program um not that folks are not interested in um other types of Arts programming in the district but I've just had a lot of email about uh particularly the music program so um based on what you were um saying Christine about um possibilities uh it's sounds like the most immediate thing that might be available would be to make a posting for um offering instrumental music at the elementary level and if you post are you able to post and see if you get applicants and who applies and then you decide whether or not to actually fill that position yeah actually we do have um a process by which we we consider it um an anticipated opening so we can post with a start date of next school year anticipated opening and then um see what types what type of Interest we get and then I can certainly share out with the committee that you know we had we had wonderful candidates that are um qualified for the position so we're going to interview or I can say we didn't have any applicants and so this would create sort of A Wrinkle In in the big picture yeah we can definitely do that okay uh would that require any any particular action or Direction um from the committee or you can just do I think both I think I can do it but I feel like if the subcommittee has an interest in that I can do it on at the request to the subcommittee for thank you for being patient with me subcommittee chair thing before all right so uh so I will make motion then I move that a position be posted for uh Elementary instrumental music instruction is that adequate as a motion for me did anyone second that I second that okay and any discussion on this I'm sorry can you read the motion again the motion is that a position be posted for elementary instrumental music instruction ah okay anticipate I'm in agreement I'm sorry say Christine anticipated opening an okay uh all right a position be posted for an anticipated opening for elementary instrumental music instruction is that correct wording thank you uh and do you want to just re second that just okay I will second that again bureaucracy okay thank you uh any any discussion about this particular motion all right let's move to a vote uh I am a yes member Childs we cannot hear you for now but you heard me there we go okay yes you're back okay thank you uh and member genive yes secretary okay thank you uh that motion carries all right um is there further discussion um in regards to the topic of music I would just say that I would like to continue the discussion about how to um continue to enhance and promote the music program going forward um in which we will then be really talking about FY 26 I think um but that's definitely something I think we'll probably continue to hear hear more about um as a committee and and should address as a as a full committee uh Christine was there anything um additional that we should know about the um fy2 budget development at this point um I think the biggest pieces are that um the February meeting will be bringing the bus contract for the committee to vote on um the process that's required because we were part of a group bid for a 5-year contract is the city council had to vote to approve that we go out to bid for a fiveyear and then they just voted to approve the resulting contract so now it goes to school committee um the increase in transportation um was about 11% which Andy has shared is not atypical at this stage of the game um Andy do you happen to know the impact on the all funds for that Transportation bid or did we not do the math that that far yet well I mean it's it's an 11% so um as far as the impact on the all fund since we're building the budget it's just going to be part of our bottom line cost proposal um just so everybody as far as I want to say I know it's a concerning amount but the last contract was a fixed price for a good chunk of it so um the vendor did actually last fiscal year reach out to see if the member districts were willing to potentially engage in uh increasing the contract this past year obviously we said no um so uh uh this is just I'm going to say that unfortunate nature of doing business when it comes to uh bidding and transportation I can tell you in our other clients the 11% is about the average of what we've seen across the board so um again I'll say quote unquote not ideal but you know the thing about it is that we do have the funds both in our as we're building the budget but also we do have the transportation revolving account that we use to offset the the transportation cost as well so our there was only one yes there was only one vendor and our recommendation is going to be to accept and approve any questions in regards to Transportation I have a question about a different topic but I don't want to move on from Transportation if anybody has anything member child's so for this Transportation does are we planning on adding or cutting any bus routes don't know yet um sorry go ahead oh sorry um there's a couple pieces um we are doing a little bit of work around I will be talking with the committee at some point about the um busing policy to propose options if the committee wants to entertain them or not um which could have an impact on bus routes so I'll be doing that you know I would say no later than March hoping for February but no later than March um and then we'll have to have um the vendor run our bus routes for next year but it's generally um I expect will be about the same um as what we are now other questions or comments about Transportation I wanted to ask about um any positions or other changes in relation to going to ful year science and social studies at the middle school um because that was something that had come up when we were um discussing uh redistricting and um I just wondered what as I recall there were going to be U there was going to be a need for several new positions in order to make that happen is that something we're not doing this year right we that's not the recommendation right now um in looking at we would need about seven staff added to the budget to do that and given that redistricting will have in the year following and some of the staff impacted or that we expect to be impacted at the high school um those those positions can be shifted to cover some of the need at the middle school we felt like it would be maybe not the best timing to do it for next year but to wait until there was the bigger shift in Staffing to move to that and that's you know that's our Karen and I had that conversation with Mich thore um it's just it's a huge budget impact to add seven people yeah yeah especially if then we would be looking at potential or likely reductions the year after it's possible some of the folks that we would hire would then be let go which is certainly not anything a district wants to knowingly go into you know we always want to hire folks with the Assumption they'll be with us for a very long time so um so that's our professional recommendation but uh that's what I thought as a result of um choosing to delay for a year on the redistri te but I just wanted to ask um and also in Rel oh I'm sorry member child's go ahead well this is also about potential additions is there any way in the foreseeable future that Spanish will be coming back to the Middle School um that's something if the school committee wants to have happen um we would just need to you know guess you folks would need to make that decision and if that's what you want they add the position back and then the middle school would need to um build the master schedule around around whatever that would look like we did talk about that happening in terms of redistricting because of the fact that um at the high school e8th grade does take a language so there are sections of French and sections of Spanish that are um scheduled for our eighth grade so when eight moves back to the Middle School there'd be a reduction in the number of needed sections of the high school so we did anticipate that one of our Spanish positions would likely be split between middle school and high school so I do think um you know at least when when we did the big Grand movement of staff and and students we did project that at least 8ighth grade we thought would be able to access Spanish so um you know I think if if the committee can wait a year um there will be more shifting um including Spanish um some general music I believe we anticipated the full-time science and social study so I think the middle school schedule is going to be changing pretty dramatically at least I say this all with projected anticipated um you know no guarantees until we actually do that schedule but it looked like those things would be um would be happening with the redistricting piece does that make sense an I know that's like thousands of moving parts and ifs then but that answered my that answered exactly what I was asking so it sounds like it's in the same uh position as uh science and social studies where while we technically could hire for next year long-term strategically that would cause more of a headache there's there is potential that it would cause some reductions in staff that we may have just hired yes any other questions or discussion about that specific topic I think I just had one other thing I wanted to ask about which was um we did discuss the need to have um on offer some planful um social activities to help students who are going to be transitioning to a different School um next year and I just um wanted to ask if that is included within the anticipated budget um not expit yeah no exactly they we we do offer um you know family engagement things like the Sundays the playing um on the playgrounds at all the elementary schools um part of what the committee will need to talk about and I expect that um at some point in The Fairly near future we'll be trying to schedule a redistricting committee subcommittee meeting um you know is the the full committee will need to make a decision about um all of the students who would be impacted by the redrawn school catchment lines and how the committee would like to do that if it wants to have everybody just move to the new school based on the newly Drawn Lines effective September of 25 and get my years right or if the committee wants staggered um staggered changes of schools so that will have a fairly significant impact on the types of activities that we would need to offer um maybe well maybe not the type but the the volume um so I think that you know the subcommittee should meet and then that conversation go to the full committee and then we can be more specific about how we would do any type of um orientation to a a new school does that make sense yes thank you okay is there um anything else that you think is important to know about um the fy2 budget development Andy was there anything you wanted to make sure yeah I just wanted to kind of share I always do every year for everyone there are set like dates that are kind of key dates for us to keep in mind um in addition to our local dates as far as when the mayor needs to have our budget and we need to have our hearings and everything but at the state level I'm more talking about like we should be hearing next week sometime uh if not even this week uh the governor's proposed budget for fy2 which will include the Chapter 70 amounts and the required local contributions that the Commonwealth will be uh providing to cities towns region so uh we'd like to think I mean all signs are pointing to that they still will fund the student Opportunity Act funding as much as that's great when you're talking about Greenfield is what we say a above an above minimum community so that in a sense you know I'm going to say it's nice but it just gets absorbed in the total amount that we get regardless so that's you know and then that starts the ball rolling of both deliberations amongst House and Senate Ways and Means uh Full House and full Senate at the state level then we have as far as our internal budget development operations is what we call like the April one moving date and those are for the special education students where any student that is on our roles prior to April 1 uh we are fiscally responsible for any student that comes into the district after April 1 the district from which they are coming is fiscally responsible unless it's an out ofate but those are kind of the key components so we've built these budgets uh like in special education regarding our tuitions we do have some like a contingency built in place but we've also done things like factored in the increase in the tuition rate set by the state for those 766 programs so just uh you know as far as this is as much as it might not seem it we are actually still early in the process admittedly it's can be a pretty fast process but it's it is still early so I just wanted to share those as uh some key timelines at the state level that we are running parallel with speaking of the increase in the um chapter 766 which is specialized private schools uh for special education um did greenfields see um anything from the supplemental budget um that we did not reach the we did not reach the threshold to see any amount above okay thank you any other questions Karen is there anything else about the budget for next year that the committee needs to know about that I didn't think of no I was just thinking in terms of curriculum and a lot of the grants are ending so I just think we need to be consciously aware that to continue our highquality instructional materials um unless desie rolls out some new and exciting grants to continue the support of that we will have to move that money into the local to support that moving forward to purchase ongoing materials correct so when when the superintendent budget comes out you will see that impact okay uh anything else uh for discussion or additional questions all right with that I will move to adjourn and I have a second I'll second that thank you any discussion on a journey all right then uh I say yes member Childs yes secretary jie yes okay we are adjourned at 12:40 4 P.M thank you everyone wonderful thank [Music] you

and then later in February February 26 is a regular business meeting again at 6:30 p.m. here at the ASC and it it is a leap year we will be leeping okay um can I get a motion for the uh board do go in close session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees specific individuals who serve as independent contractors in a park recreational or educational setting or specific volunteers of the district or legal council for the district including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged against an employ specific individual who serves as an independent contractor in a park recreational or educational setting or a volunteer of the district or against legal council for the district to determine its to move second Chris M K seconds thank you chrisr Spinosa hi hen Dawson hi Jenny hagstrom hi Terry pavich hi Cara Caston hi and Don rener I motion carries and for the members of the public and the audience the board will not be taking any action other than to adjourn when it comes out of Clos session take a quick break and be right back in here Jenny

as well and this event will include a blood donation bake sale Raffles bone marrow donation sign up and an art gallery proceeds of this will go to Cal's angels helping to grant wishes raise awareness and fund research for Childhood Cancer really important it it's such an important part of our community that we really invest in really doing for for others and Beyond what our own needs are and so so grateful for this this month we're kicking off a new annual initiative inviting all local artists to share their portraits to be featured in sd308 Coloring Book for our elementary students the effort is underway to collect works that better represents the students and styles that make up our district I'd like to ask Dr Waller to speak a little bit about what prompted this initiative because I I think it's an important story to tell all right hello um so we are um really excited to um support the students with uh asend and the work that we're doing with them um they have been working very very um hard to provide an amazing event um it will be taking place on February 16th um in addition to that um we have had some amazing meetings where the students have been really elevating their voice voices and um so we're preparing for um amplify as well as um getting our teacher survey pieces together so the students can begin to address student teacher relationships so we are really excited about all of their work thank you Dr Waller um this past month on January 18th our new District dual language committee met for the first time um this is really building on the opportunities that are before us as the community we've heard this past fall a lot of some of the concerns but also strengths of this dual of our dual language program and out of this we've launched this committee um 20 staff and parents participate participated um the committee's purpose is to build on the strengths and to continue to improve the Dual language program the group began by sharing out the positive outcomes for students then there was a presentation discussion about the growth of the English language English language learner population and the program's space needs yes we have space needs um the meeting was extremely uh productive and welled and I want to thank the leadership for organizing and the group meets again on February 15th and next month we are launching Black History Month although arguably it's black history month every day so um we'll kick off Black History Month formerly and throughout the month we'll be sharing stories of inspiration examples of preservation and achievement and ideas on our ways our students and staff can celebrate and Inspire Generations this year is also near and dear to my heart which is that we're celebrating we're focusing on the theme of African-Americans and the Arts um we'll be helping to highlight Visual and Performing Arts literature and fashion music all throughout the month and uh particularly for me this is unique as a black educator and an artist myself I find that this is really important because the Arts have had a big influence in my life and so I'm thrilled that this is the theme and this past month if you still have time it's still at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago Faith Ringold all of many of you may know the book tar Beach um if you taught third grade or second grade it's always a popular book there um and her work is being shown there the quilts there so head over to Chicago when it's not icy though so and with that um stay tuned for more information on our website and I just want to thank everybody as we wrap up the month of Jan well thank you for that report Dr katti and we're moving on to um our student ambassadors ambassadors are not with us this evening and so we will not have a student ambassador report can I have a motion to move 7.3 and 7.4 to the end of our action items make a motion to move the following agenda items after our action item 7.3 board committee reports and 7.4 board member comments second Dr Mar hi m s hi Mr hi mrone I Mr hi hi M Johnson I we'll be moving on to 8.1 our consent agenda can I have a motion to approve our consent agenda please make a motion to approve all items under consent including 8.1 minutes from the Board of Education meeting on January 8 2024 open and close session 8.2 to acknowledge the foer requests received by the district and 8.3 to approve the field trips for overnight over 200 miles second are there any questions on the consent agenda Mr Gatewood I Dr Mario hi Johnson hi mrone hi Sim hi Mr i i a motion pass 70 okay uh this evening uh board we are going to begin with uh looking at the 2024 referendum Bond refinancing and invite Bob Lewis to join us and we also Mr oemi our Chief Financial Officer to please uh uh introdu hi boy we have uh Mr bub Lewis from PMA Mr Lewis is the district's Municipal advisor and just by the way of introduction this uh refunding is for a referendum bond that was issued originally back in 2013 that bond is cable 10 years after and back in um in February of uh no actually in August of this of last year the uh in February of last year the board did an approval for the bond to be refunded but uh the administration looked at interest rate then and at that time it didn't make sense financially to go ahead and complete the refunding because of the uh the savings that were approv from that refunding wasn't significant enough to go ahead and do the refunding so we were waiting until such a time when interest rate would better and uh starting in October November uh based on the uh policy of the board and the economy interest rate is actually trending in the right direction right now so we've decided to bring it back and be able to realize uh enough significant savings to be what the uh the issuing cost so I've asked uh Mr Lewis to come here and talk to the board about it take it away Bob thanks very much it's not hello well thank you for having me here tonight and uh Mr obimi gave me a good setup there to review where we've been at on this discussion and a little bit more recap in detail you may recall last summer we refinanced another bond issue and locked in the savings and got that done and then that Bond was callable on October 1st that's why we could take the action we did this Bond 2014 is not callable until actually later the beginning of next month and the interest rate on this bond is 4.17% and they they par out that out standing is 9.6 million this was the estimated savings when we presented to the board at the beginning of August when the board took action approve the resolution to proceed with the the the plan and so the total savings right around 250,000 present value is around 200 and then by the end of August before there's things you have to get in place you can't just lock it in like you would have like a bank mortgage by the end of August savings had deteriorated to the point where there was very little savings remaining and after that point in time here's a graphical representation so here around a was right here is when the board approved to move ahead and then things just really kind of fell apart in the market interest rates begin to rise economic reports job in terms of jobs and inflation were not positive for Bond markets and the narrative shifted to the Federal Reserve is going to keep rates higher for longer that only lasted for about a couple months that narrative and it seems like they just spun around on their heels and by the end of this year the narrative was the fed's going to cut rates next year and the markets markets don't wait for the rates to be cut they they move and rates adjust at that time so we started to see the Improvement you see out here at the far end I'm you I'm pointing at the lines here these are represent a municipal Bond index of AAA rated bonds we use it to monitor Trends just like Dow Jones Industrials is used in the stock market it's not meant to be exactly where any particular School District would borrow but it gives us an idea of where where the Mark is heading I think this is one of Mr ob's first decisions when he came on board wasn't it yes he held us he asked us to hold so I think I a good I mean there really wasn't no value remaining so and so interest rates have plateaued since the beginning of the year they've started to tick up here a little bit so the savings that you see here are a little less than what I shared about a week ago uh this is what was shared with the finance committee unfortunately ticked down just a little bit more I estimate they're probably around maybe 3 45ish 340 um present value savings hopefully the market continues to hose couple good or important economic reports this week first reading of GDP for the fourth quarter as well as the fed's preferred inflation measures so see how those go so what are the remaining steps well we have to refreshen up the rating you can't just slap the rating on your bonds and say they're rated we have to have a call with the rating agency and we we're scheduled to have that this week on Wednesday and then it takes we're going to try to get them accelerate this schedule a bit so hopefully if we had the call this Wednesday we probably will be able to get that rating back more around February 1st and then you have to put that on a document called the preliminary official statement that gets circulated for about a week for potential investors to uh investigate your bonds so likely hopefully be selling the bonds assuming the market holds still um around February I don't know if the 8th is on a weekend or not but somewhere around there a little bit earlier than the 12 why this timeline's important is because that resolution that the board approved is only good for 6 months there's a Sunset date put into there and I don't have the exact day in top my head it's right around February 20th action has to proceed to sell the bonds if that action doesn't occur it's not a huge thing it just means the board has to reauthorize the resolution and if we get to that point that's because interest rates begin to climb again so we just would want to reauthorize a resolution and just be prepared to take action whenever on the market would hopefully e back our way so any questions on that presentation you know just uh slide six we see this quite a bit um so the the dollar savings projected as of now is 440,000 then we get the Net Present Value benefit what what are you using to Discount that are you using whatever the expected rate is going to be yeah the expected rate 3.49 let used as the PV Factor okay yeah for some reason I was looking at the 3892 and the 3496 the same yeah what this is that's a good question there's a lot of numbers here I probably could have done a cleaner job explaining them uh here's the present value savings and we take that number and divide it by the principal amount of the bonds you refunded to get that percentage and the reason why we do that is so you can make relative comparisons because if I was showing you a refunding for $50 million a principal and the savings were 375,000 that wouldn't be a whole lot of value for $50 million refunding so that's why so by dividing by the principal amount you get sort of a relative comparison regardless of the size of the issue okay and you're discounting it by three and a half okay yeah yeah they happen to be close that's coincidence yeah that's why I was kind of question that's all okay okay I'm good just out of curiosity who buys these bonds is do we I mean who specifically in our case buys them is a public offering or yeah it's a public offering Raymond James was the underwriter who won an our RFP and they will put it so what happens on the the day that we price the bonds an order period is open for a period of two hours and then different investors will call various Raymond James um Traders and put in orders and that could be Newen it could be black rock it could be SE management account yeah I mean right so a whole bunch of different types of investors might be interested in this um a big purchaser now are these separately managed accounts where they buy a bunch of bonds and then individuals can buy into these separately managed accounts and have shares in them this sort of like a mutual fund but a little more sophisticated thank you thank you thank you thank you Mr Lewis we're going to build on this and continue with just some of the opportunities one of them that happens every year is our final audit report um an extremely important part of our business in this district and I want to welcome Jason qu from Baker Tilly who led this and Mr Obi so this is a requirement uh by Statute every school district actually I dare say every public entity is required to be audited to just uh let uh the resident of the community as well as uh folks with interest to know what kind of financial condition the district is in so this is a financial audit that is performed of the prior year uh financials so the the audit uh result that uh Mr Carl is going to present is for last fiscal year I'm going to hand it over to to Jason thank you is that working now yeah there we [Music] go I was trying to hold it in I can tell good Let It Go all right well with that excitement we'll move into the audo report here um so yeah as was mentioned this is the audit audited financial statements as of June 30th um so I won't talk too long about this I'll just highlight a few things um by their nature obviously we're about s months after the end of the fiscal year so these these numbers are a little stale but that's how audits work you know it takes us time to go through and do all of our audit tests um um so in in your board packet are the financial statements both the ones that are distributed publicly and then there's an annual financial report that is submitted to the State Board of Education uh in the format that that they like um in your financial statements on page one is our opinion from our firm it's about three pages long um it's an unmodified or unqualified opinion which is the highest level ofur that we can give over the financial statements and the financial State uh information within your financial statements basically what that opinion means is that somebody could pick up the financial statements of the district and rely on the information in there as they're evaluating your financial health and your financial operations uh for fiscal year 23 um and so there's no change in the level of assurance that uh we gave this year versus last year um it continues to be un modified opinion right after the opinion is a section called the Management's discussion analysis and I know every board member wants to read these couple hundred page foot long financial statements but I do encourage every board member to at least read the Management's discussion analysis about 15 or so pages long it does a nice job of comparing the current year to the prior year there's some nice pie charts in there for example it'll show 45% of your Revenue comes from property taxes and then you'll see most of the rest of that comes from um grants um and then it shows you know where's your where's your money going in a pie chart and obviously majority of your money is going back to educating and caring for students um so anyway I would encourage you to at least read that document once we get into the basic financial statements or the me of the financial statements I won't talk about a lot of the detail in there but on one page is there's called a statement of net position and it's just one column and it's where we take all the funds that you're used to seeing on a monthly basis and we put them into one column and then we put other information there on there that you're not used to seeing regularly like your Capital assets your buildings your vehicles things like that we also put on there all of your long-term debt for example the bonds you were just talking about along with net pension liabilities and net other post-employment benefit liabilities again things you only see once once a year in the annual um in the annual audit um so just to give you an idea because pensions always seem to be a Hot Topic here in Illinois you're in two Pension funds IMF uh and the teachers retirement fund um your net pension liability as of the end of the fiscal year was $22.6 Million which is relatively small given the number of employees you have that's because most of the liability um for TRS is held by the state of Illinois not by local school districts um your other post-employment benefit liability which is other mainly paying for healthc care or subsidized healthare for retirees um was $ 31.2 million as as of the end of the fiscal year um as well so just to give you an idea some of those numbers that you don't you don't typically see um once you get into a couple schedules later you'll start to see the funds that you typically see in your border pack education fund Transportation fund things like that I will point out that the general fund is made up of your education fund and your working cash fund put together which is a little different from how you typically look at that but for external financial reporting purposes uh we required to put those together um your transportation fund did go into a deficit position for the year because you've been deficit spending out of that fund for the last few years so as of the end of uh fiscal year 23 you actually went into a negative fund balance uh position and I know at the finance committee meeting that was talked about ways to remedy that uh in the future um I do also want to point out that in the annual financial report that is given to the State Board of Education there's a ranking they rank all school districts based upon a numeric ranking of five different attributes and you're in the review stage recognition is right above that and there's also two stages right below that so um I say that by historical comparison you've moved up in the world if you will from where you were a few years ago so you know I want to make sure we recognize the improvements in your Financial Health that that you've seen there uh over the years um also in conjunction with their audit uh we do provide some recommendations on innal control improvements um you know the purpose of the audit is not to provide an opinion on your innal controls but we do kind of Kick the tires on them if you will uh as we plan our audit uh I'm happy to say that we didn't add any new additional recommendations uh this year there do continue to be a couple that we've recommended in the past um and the report only points out the recommendations we don't point out all the other great controls that are going on on a regular basis um the mechanism is really only to report the recommendations that we'd like to see um so again they didn't they didn't we didn't add anything to that and I know we've talked with management about ways they're planning on addressing those uh over the coming months and and years as it might be so I know that was brief and that was relatively high level but um I that really is uh the end of my formal remarks but I'm happy to entertain any questions you might have so one of the things that we discussed was that kind of that we're in the review stage and then um so when I heard review stage you know thinking oh that's not good you know but it's actually the second best possible so we've gotten a lot better that and the reason that we're still in review stage for the most part is because of that long-term debt right relative to our district size and all that stuff right the different categories your four being is the highest and one being the lowest you're in threes and fours and four the categories and then long-term debt ratio you're at a one uh you know largely because of the fact that um you're over the statutory limit because you got special approval to issue so much debt uh in the past and obviously long-term debt carries with you for a long time by its nature and so that you continue to you know the mechanism there gives you comes out at a one for you so I was I was kind of surprised that um you know our cash balance um was in a three or four so our you know our net position at the end of every year or whatever um at the end of last year got us a three or four whatever it was I don't know um but uh I is that because it's improving or is it because of the the whole number you think that we only got that we got a three or four on that well I haven't looked at historical Trends on that but I I would say it's probably been improving over the years because I know it wasn't not too long ago you were in watching or even a warning stage so I believe it's a couple of things is help to us one is that we have been paying down our debt true and we started back in ' 06 with 450 million and the last time I check we've gone down to about 386 that's the sub we're still one though yeah that's that's a substantial amount that's why I was you know and then by if you go out to about 20 uh 30 we'll be pretty much uh almost done with it so we go from about 37 million that we pay right now to about 710 million and by the time you get to 2036 we'll be out of we'll be I think there's I think there's a historical piece here too that when that legislation was passed specifically so that this District could do something with the the amount of growth we were having it's not like it was financially recommended to do what we did it was a matter of desperation right and so one of the pieces that I hear and I think is always important from the historical standpoint is in 2019 we had the nice little the nice bright lights right and we were sitting on a stage at OE we knew that there was going to be pain and we knew that pain was going to be um I want to say long term but it wasn't going to just be over like that and I mean we got a room full of Educators to tell you what pain looks like from from those cuts right and so I but we also knew that going through that pain would improve us over time and I think that that's the historical piece that it's good to hear this um but like kind of some of it I'm I'm not surprised because that's why we did some of the tragic things that we did and the debt continues to hang over us I think the other thing um we did a lot of um discussion in our finance and Fa facilities committee about our transportation department and I think that it's really important um rapael if you could to share with the board how due to um this is the second year in a row that we've spent more than we've brought in when it with regards to Transportation kind of how you're reimagining uh the transportation department and I think it's important for the board to see that we do need to cut some expenses there and how you're taking that on so Transportation as it stands right now is a sick child of the district uh the last few years we've lost significant amount of money which means that we actually spend more money than we take it and I think the situation is unique to us because of the configuration of the district we we're a big District we cover 68 square miles so so there's no public transportation to speak of so a lot of our children rely on transportation to move them around and we've not always done a good job with efficiency and with the way we manage transportation and with the fact that if we don't change the way that we run Transportation it will be something that will get us in trouble so what we're looking at we're looking at uh a number of things to try to right siiz Transportation one is we're looking at how to do routing uh to do it more efficiently uh we're also looking at uh the way we lease buses and make sure that uh we optimize that so we we need to make sure that any expenditure that we we have related to Transportation we're thoughtful about it with the people with the process those are things that we're looking at to make sure that we need to ring as much efficiency from the transportation system as possible if we it's not a it's not a choice it's something we absolutely have to do because of all the funds that we have Assist stand right now that's the most critical uh area where we're bleeding we're bleeding money thank you R can can I ask a question about that when you were talking about efficiencies and so forth if I look at a map of our school district there's probably two School District or two school districts two schools that actually have any kind of growth that are actually north of those schools the vast majority of the growth in this district is going to occur south of the vast majority of our schools and I'm curious and listen I don't need an answer right now for sure but one thing that I want to place in the back of our mind is to always be Forward Thinking think long-term big picture and so when the district grows out it's going to be quite interesting to see what happens if our student population shift further south and our schools are all built up here uh and what that will mean for transportation it's very interesting thank you thank you again for your du one one more one more point I'm one more point Sorry I'm going to assume that the whole reason that the state requires this is for transparency purposes correct one of the reasons that's one of the reasons yeah I mean again not only the school districts required audits but most governments in Illinois except for the very smallest ones I mean largely because you're holding and spending and receiving public funds it's good to to make sure that the numbers you're presenting to the public are accurate and that's that's our job 100% and related to that too Geral if you remember Mr Lewis from PMA just said something about refunding the investors also rely on it because it gives them an idea how uh financially where the district is with the financial statements that is independently other as opposed to something that we generate generate internally my my purpose in asking is from time to time we will have um comments that will come in about uh the financial transparency of um the school district so I would invite anyone to I mean it's a very extensive report it's very long um this would be this would be one of the reports to to read for those who uh believe there's not transparency out there this would I would I would welcome the uh uh anyone out there to take a look take a gander in fact you have quite a bit of information in the back of your financial statements that you're not actually required to have there um it's 10 years worth of historical Trend information which is you know can be great for the public but frankly can be great for you board members as well to have that very handy that 10year Trend information you you see what's happened quickly over that the past year so we even asked multiple times in multiple different ways the other night what could we do better what were their problems are did you find a lot of issues and you continue to say nope you guys are doing a great job and um you whenever you audit as someone who has been in that position before the Auditors come in they bring their crew in and they do what's called fieldwork and they literally are asking you for documents that you have to provide they're their job is to find things that is their job you're never going to be perfect but you were very um positive about everything that was found and so I to to what Jared said um there have been recent comments in um local um um social media that were very upsetting as a a board member that we cook our books or you know we're constantly doing things that are inappropriate and this is the best way to uh from an independent um third party to see exactly what's being done and and I'll make this quick but I I think the frustration level I get right I get the frustration level why are we spending at this amount and we see this this is the final product I totally get it but it's why I want to really talk about the history of the debt because that debt hangs over and looms over and so without it um it would be a very uh different picture if you will and things would look very different without it well to your point Jerry there will be no way to accommodate the growth that that happened in the uh in the early 2000 because 12 schools were built Transportation facility were built and there's not enough money in the budget which is why you do a referendum that allows you to go out and borrow beyond the regular budget so there was no way to get the resources to be able to do the development required uh in 2006 207 that without uh that's what those laws are for the referendum for for bonding incre and I and I just this is this is quick um we do even though we are transparent we do do have plans to become even more transparent with the budgeting process and all that so it's it's it's not that we're we're definitely looking to improve even um so to that um uh Mr oemi has continued to put um everything that we're doing from a finance perspective on our website we are so grateful thank you it's something we've been asking for for a long time so that the community can follow exactly what the finance and Facilities committee is doing and the documents that we work we walk through um in these board meetings are now online as well thank you kudos to both your teams uh Dr zy and mrm for your due diligence um this evening we also want to welcome thank you again from thank you uh next we have want to invite Charlie jono from clubber Associates um to speak regarding the health Life Safety survey for our high schools and Bill Queen will you be joining all right good evening everyone um this is our 10year life safety survey this is Phase One um this is required by is to uh for us to complete and present to the board Charlie would you take it away I will this is um uh as uh Mr Green mentioned it's a requirement this is the third time the district has gone through this and the first time you did it there were only six buildings so um now you have 22 academic buildings uh an academic building for ISB is houses students um we decided last year to split up the survey because 10 years ago we well 2017 we did all 22 buildings it was a huge burden on you uh from a financial perspective to pay us to do that survey also from an uh implementation process of even be able to do the the uh violations that showed up so we recommended breaking it up into three parts um ISB and its wisdom said that's great but you have to get everything done by the 10 years so that's why we're starting early so if it sounds like 2017 and it's not 10 years later you're right it's not so uh we did start that I'm going to kind of go fairly quickly we broke it up into three phases the high schools Junior highs and Elementary and lower that roughly is about a million square feet per grade level Pro for those groupings um we just finished the high schools last summer uh we we have you have two high schools roughly 700,000 ft and 5,000 students um the main uh point on this slide is the three um uh levels you've got urgent which means it happens to happen has to happen within the first year the re remediations required means they need to happen within the next five years and recommen recommended quite frankly isby doesn't really care about unless you're asking for funding on it uh which your district is not uh We've also migrated all of these elements to your Envision plan so that your uh buildings and grounds folks are looking at one place for information so Mission CR Mission critical and Urgent align uh uh corrective maintenance and required align and required uh kind of fall in a little bit of both preventive maintenance corrective maintenance Etc um these are the documentations that come out of the report uh the item at the very top is the schedule of violations you don't uh see that with exception of this format because when it goes into ISB it's entered line by line uh with a value in it they require the health Life Safety the called Safety reference plans which are the doc the literally the plans of the buildings and then the safety reference documents reference all the buildings the years they were built the codes they were built under and the requirements they're uh uh required to stay current with uh and then the third the fourth document over there is its alignment with your current planning um um the only thing I want to highlight here is those pieces that clubber does that are independent of code everything in the um not bolded is what the code requires we do uh but in addition to that we also are going to take after tonight we're going to take the document that we put together take it over to your Regional Office of Education review it with them because as soon as we input it into the Ia system it's electronic they'll see it but they'll have pre-seen it so then they'll go through it fairly quickly get it sent down to is and get their approval on it as well um we went through that key points from this past year survey is again it was just the high schools your facilities are generally in really good condition uh that's kudos to Bill Queen and his staff uh certain elements cannot show up on a 10-year survey like uh new air conditioning systems or sprinklers they're very typical these things are related to code violations under the codes in which the buildings were built um and then priority C recommended items completely were removed from the survey because uh the the buildings of ground staff said we can take care of those pieces or we want to get them in our plan and we'll work them in a different way because they're recommended they're not required we want to focus on what the state sees is required and we'll get through those um and again priority A's and Bs were also put into the plan so that there one place for all that information the next steps for buildings of grounds in clubber is to go through that and separate out building management components things that uh will absolutely be done internally and those things that have to become capital projects uh the other findings that came out of the summary is approximately $600,000 uh over the next five years because again we're focusing on urgent and required uh 150,000 roughly for a priorities and uh 425,000 for um B priorities and again those documents the schedule violations after today I'm going to review it with our we get those in uh for the next uh meeting in February when you'll actually approve sign off on this um again the uh upper bar as we progress through this process so next summer you'll see that grow it'll have all the junior high schools in it and you'll see all the monies but we'll also see it being paired down as bill and his staff start knocking off those um items required and again it's it resides in two places here and in your Envision Mark I did that very fast so if you have any questions it was a lot more uh in depth for the facility finance committee so just ask them they they know as much as I do yeah I I I don't think we're gonna have to go over anything in from the finance committee uh um later on today because we just heard all pretty much of the whole meeting um one thing I think the board would should probably hear is um why aren't we looking for funds for life and safety because you said because we're not looking for funds so the way life safety workers the way Levy Life Safety funds that uh Mr Ron uh referred to is all part of the levy the number of funds in the levy the head fund being the largest it's also the most flexible so if you do if you Levy in life safety that doesn't mean you get more money what it does does is it limits what you can use that money for and since in the district we have to be very careful about how we spend money we made the decision not to Levy specifically in life safety to Levy it in Ed fund so that gives us more flexibility on what we can use it for we can use the money we can transfer it to do the work that needs to be done into onm we can Levy in onm but we don't want to Levy in life safety if we need the money for somewhere else so that's why we don't Levy for Life Safety just to be clear leving for Life Safety doesn't give you any additional funds you still can only Levy so much but if you Lev in life safety it kind of locks you in to using it for life safety and we always want to have flexibility especially since our cash flow is so tight it makes it very restrictive if we do that so I think the other thing and Charlie went over this really quick at the beginning is that we still have to meet the 2027 deadline all 20 two buildings have to be done we focused on high school next will be junior highs then the elementaries and then the only other thing that I thought was just interesting for the board is that issues are reviewed against the code at which the time was built not necessarily the current code so I just thought that was interesting to share one one piece I just want to clarify so as I see that um you can help me if I'm looking at this correctly so as I look at the price tag it says roughly there's about 500,000 half a million roughly uh improvements that basically we have to make when it comes to the high schools so I think sometimes it's easy for us to want I say we um the proverbial we um it's easy for us to um or I guess I said us not we but anyways um to focus on something that we we feel like is needed that's an addition to one of these high schools and so forth but I think it's important for us to realize and correct me if I'm wrong that stuff has to get done right and so when when somebody says something like well it's 100,000 or it's 78,000 for something to the high school one of the high schools I don't think all the time that we're realizing but there's also half a million dollars worth of things that we have to do and so um I think that's the piece sometimes that gets lost and you can correct me if I'm wrong on anything I've said trust me I it won't bother me but um I know there's some things out there that people would like to see done to the high school specifically myself included but but I think we have to realize that that stuff has to get done yeah correct and the interesting you absolutely right the interesting thing is it grows every day this is a snapshot it's a picture in time we know every building degrades every hour so this is just a snapshot so to your point it grows every day it's half a million then but it's growing it doesn't include things like roofs or other things that we have to get done you know it's just not part of the life and safety cost but I do want to make the the understanding that while this is Health life and safety the other thing we talk about in financing facility is all of the projects that we would love to see done the things that are aspirational and the things that are things that are going to have to be done we just may not necessarily are able to do them right now so while we have asked added Turf you know to the football fields those are things that have been asked for we have all of that is being documented and talked about this is very separate from that in that this is something we have to do it is be related and that it is separate but it's also this is the health LIC and safety is also part of our bigger plan as well so there's all these kind of competing Parts working um together there's a reason it's called Health life and safety right well thank you for your due diligence and your team for the work you've done thank you thank you thank you thank you Charlie everybody get home safely and that binder right there that binder right there is the out there yes yes I know that are lots of well good evening I want to welcome now Faith doist uh Tammy Harmon and Shannon lutters um we want to we're we're thrilled with our we're thrilled with the participation this evening I know we've got lots of Educators with us this evening as well and so we look forward to hearing from you and uh this has been a labor of love and hard work to really bring us to this point so thank you VIPs VIPs yes we have VIPs in the house how about now there we go for those of you tuning in home you cannot see the PowerHouse of Staff um behind me um behind me well we can Applause before they evero so the amount of passion and Innovation and expertise behind me is truly amazing uh I'm not going to talk because the voices of all these people can much better tell the story than I can I'm going to turn it over uh to Tammy Harmon and Shannon lutters and we will talk about the new possibilities for ELA in both Elementary and Junior High good evening and thank you for having us tonight I am very excited to introduce our team this evening who have worked the last year together and um they have really stretched themselves and shown their expertise and their dedication to this work as a unit uh the individuals here this evening represent a larger group of about 50 people who have done this work at elementary for the past year together and at Junior High a little bit longer so um we are going to let them share their Journey this evening with you and so uh just one change actually two changes for Junior High staff presenting tonight Kelly Waldren is unable to be here with us but we have Jill Bean uh from plank Junior High uh joining us tonight and we are as Dr Harman said so thankful for the work that all of these folks have done uh I especially would like to say thank you to Stephanie paselli our secondary instructional coach who has uh really taken a leadership role in uh finding this new resource for us all right so um both Elementary and Junior High follow a very similar process in terms of getting to where we are tonight uh we first determine that we have a need for a new resource we go through and do a lot of research in terms of the types of things that we want to make sure and some of our uh teachers will talk a little bit about our criteria very shortly um but we also do at our level uh budgeting so the budgeting that we have for this year we allocated last year so a year ago um in preparation for this so then we reach out to our teachers and ask them if they would be willing to help us and pilot resources and then uh serve on their the curriculum teams and then um we get to the point of Pilots we make a recommendation uh within our teams and then we bring it to all of you for information and then we'll come back to you in February for approval hopefully the criteria that we did developed and choosing a new resource was very thorough um it was important to the committee to find a resource that not only aligned to our sd308 literacy framework but also our Equity statements would you mind introducing yourself just so just from Context ER cron I'm fourth grade at Grand Park Elementary um equally important we felt it was important for our new resource to meet all the needs of each demographic group within our district as well as offering a variety of assessment and differentiation opportunities and when we evaluated both Pilots this was the criteria that was used to evaluate Heather mayor first grade at hun Club our committees were made up of every grade level from every Elementary School kindergarten through fifth grade we had teachers piloting including special education El and dual language every Elementary buildings instructional coach was also part of our team um with our Pilots so for uh sixth through 8th grade our Ela pilot included not only classroom teachers but also any co-teachers so special education Andor uh other English teachers that were co- teing in that classroom we represented all of our schools all of our grade levels special education as I mentioned as as as well as our sheltered English instruction classrooms good evening I'm Megan man I'm the instructional coach at Southbury Elementary and if you can picture that long list of elementary teachers put them all in one room and ask them what are you passionate about for our reading and writing you know curriculum resource I mean you can imagine the energy and passion that was in that room um I want to thank our leadership for honoring the fact that that conversation needed to happen as this whole process started um there was a lot of passion a lot of ideas we whittel them down to this list right here right at the beginning you see a love of reading and writing you can imagine that was so important to every person in that room um we not only want them to be able to do it really well but we want them to love it and we think that could go hand inand and then we know that it needs to be systematic it needs to be very explicitly taught um that there's opportunity for collaboration throughout all instructional areas and that we can differentiate for our students all of the students that are in our classroom so we um are excited to share more about that tonight and um just again want to thank our leadership for letting us develop this statement hi I'm Nicole Watson the instructional coach over at Long Beach Elementary over the past year and a half there's been extensive professional development done with all elementary teachers around the district with the adopted literacy framework it was important to the committee that the resource we chose closely aligned with our framework and all of its components hi I'm Anna Gibson I'm the instructional coach at Old poost um first we'd like to all of us would like to thank the commit that sat in these chairs eight years ago and adopted our current curriculum um readygen they did an outstanding job um my job right now is to tell you why we need a new curriculum so um we know that phonics and foundational skills need to build on each other and our current curriculum does not have the rigor that we need to teach these skills for automaticity and Mastery we also need differentiated instruction resources that are built into the program where a teacher can easily access the content and this is very difficult in our current program because the resources are lacking or not available assessments both formative and summative are too narrow in scope and it makes it difficult when teachers want to use assessments to drive their instruction for our dual and English language Learners their resources are inequitable and for all of our students we need a variety of texts that include diverse characters authors in which our students customs and cultures are authentically embedded and ready genen which we have right now has some but definitely not enough and the last reason is is our current one ready genen is um being discontinued so I I'm Joan munsinger I'm the instructional coach at Fox Chase um my slides are the the data slide so you can see and I know you've done a ton of work with data but our last um year Illinois assessment of Readiness in ela um is on this first slide and so areas of green um and then dark green are meats and exceeds so um currently or within the last year when we gave it we had um 34% in third grade 39% in fourth grade and 42% in fifth grade that were in that meets or exceeds category and so we have some work to do um we definitely have some areas that we can work to improve in addition um you see now our different demographics over time the last four years of data is here and giving the I I um so as you look at this data we don't have any data from 2020 because of the pandemic year we didn't give the assessment that year but in all other data Cycles it looks like our um data really stays stagnant or declines in some areas um there's also quite a bit of opportunity gap between several of the demographic um subgroups that are there so knowing that um we know we have some things that we need to change from what we're doing right now and so tonight you're going to hear more of my colleagues talk about um different ways um that this um recommended curriculum may be able to overcome some of those opportunity gaps and provide some diversity and differentiation for our students hi I'm Vanessa farbacher second grade dual language at Boulder Hill and before we get into the good stuff of the curriculum um this is just an overview of our pilot and decision process which began last January when the committee first came together our initial tasks were to CR critically analyze our current needs and explore the available resources that would fill those gaps while still aligning to our District's literacy framework that you saw before me the committee explored several options and had narrowed it down to two resources which all the teachers from the committee piloted for the first half of this school year after that we came together to collect data and give our feedback from the two pilots in order to make our final decision good evening uh my name is Lan girth and I'm the instructional coach at Homestead uh so we wanted to tell you a little bit about the process uh we started with 18 resources uh to consider for us to Pilot which was a lot uh but we eliminated any that did not um have a compreh prehensive program or that was available in Spanish uh it needed to center around current practice and research and um meeting all the needs based on our ready gen review and the things that we felt were lacking so once we eliminated uh programs we whittel it down to four and then we had a presentation last spring from four different companies uh and kind of got a chance to take a look at all the parts uh that they were offering and we created a rubric that the ELA committee used uh and once we walked through that rubric we whittled it down to the two that were mentioned the first one was uh the hot Mifflin Harcourt inter reading and arba Laura how' I do um and so we spent the first part of this fall uh going through uh that pilot and then after that we took a look at uh The Benchmark advance and adente program and uh you it's the s's a little hard to see but it had a lot of different components both of them did and so we spent the second part of the first semester uh getting to go into the classrooms and pilot those it was really fun for us as instructional coaches to be able to work alongside of the classroom teachers uh and really get our our elbows into it and get to know both of these programs before we came to our big decision my name is Mahia Patel I'm a fourth grade dual language teacher at Hunt Club um and the for the moment that we've been waiting for after piloting both of these programs in the first half of the school year Benchmark was the selected curriculum and Benchmark was selected because it has a wide range of resources including texts featuring diverse authors and characters again features that we were looking for it provides explicit phonics and foundational skills instruction it gives us the ability to differentiate instruction for our monolingual students dual language students English Learners and special education students it is userfriendly for teachers and for students it has highquality accessible dual language resources that have actually promoted some enriching classroom discussions for us and it is development mentally appropriate at each grade level while also including units that build on each other at each grade level um creating continuity for students and more opportunities for collaboration for teachers hi Ally Anderson Avid Elementary um also when we were coming to the decision we did have um those that were on the ELA curriculum oh I piloted at H Club in fifth grade too I help um we um had them complete a survey so so we went through our first pilot we gave out a survey so we could have both quantitative and qualitative data at the end 31 of um those participating completed the uh survey then we did the same for Benchmark we had 35 responses for that and then on the very last day we kind of met so we we knew where everyone was thinking and then we went over our priorities and said okay now knowing that and what we know what's going to help most impact our students um meeting our framework and is what we're Desiring from what we're not have currently having um we gave a final survey and said what is your decision um and 45 people completed that so we are really really happy with those results um and pilot in action best part right these are our kiddos um and they are doing all things uh Ela and hmh um sorry Benchmark and hmh the um bottom pictures you notice that there was um a guest teacher Benchmark provided opportunities for um someone who used to teach Benchmark and now works for them to come out um and model lessons and then have a de debrief afterward so we could ask them all the questions um and really ask her about her experience as a teacher with it also which was fantastic hi eron gleon language acquisition instructional coach um as Alie said we collected our quantitative data but we also collected qualitative data um some of the highlights around that were those first grade and kindergarten teachers really did love that systematic phonics um saw a lot of growth already in their students in the short time that we were using Benchmark was which was fantastic our seci classroom found the materials for their English Learners to be such great scaffolds and such great language supports that the students were able to actively participate um some of the topics that are discussed within Benchmark are far more sophistic fisticated than the students have had exposure to before and we're able to bring up a lot of diversity and Equity conversations as early as kindergarten and first grade which is amazing and that builds on each other as they go up through the grades and then um our dual language classrooms as we said a big concern was ready gen wasn't completely Equitable between um our e our English classes and our dual language classes and this is a lot more equitable the resources are more consistent and it gives our dual language teachers a chance to collaborate a lot more with the monolingual teachers it's awesome hi I'm Heather Krauss I teach sixth grade language arts at Bed narc junior high and I also teach in the intervention Ela class as well so uh we're going to segue into the junior high portion of the presentation tonight and starting obviously with a need for a new resource at the ELA uh junior high Ela level you'll hear similarities to what the elementary said um our current resource springboard we adopted back in 2015 um we have found over the years that as we have adopted our literacy framework our K8 framework that um springboard is not necessarily meeting our needs as um our framework has identified our current resource of springboard is not really balanced in all the areas of literacy that we focus on um it is primarily focused uh heavily on the writing product but not the process um so that's something that we feel is lacking in the current source resource um it does not have an embedded seal portion um so that again is is not meeting the needs of our Learners and uh our teachers as well um it does not have contemporary texts and the form or many contemporary texts there are some but not many and the formats that reflect our diverse student population and as we grow as a community as a district um we need to have a resource that will grow with us and then um we found out recently that springboard um is being discontinued um after the 2425 school year so um just hence the need to get moving on this good thing we were ahead of the game all right so uh very similar to the comments that Joan made about the data from elementary school um the green represents our students who are meeting and exceeding from last Spring's I uh assessment um and we are approaching the 50% of our students meeting and exceeding but we definitely want to continue to grow and grow and grow um and then the next slide then also represents some of those opportunity gaps uh within our demographic groups um all leading to a need for as Dr Krauss mentioned the diverse texts uh things items that are students can relate to and see themselves hi I'm Maggie dler uh 8th grade ELA at benari Junior High uh this is our K8 literacy framework it was mentioned with the um Elementary portion of the presentation as well but does represent uh the expected breakdown of balanced literacy within our Ela classroom instruction and springboard did not include resources that supported all of these different aspects of the framework and the instruction that was needed so the chosen resource that that were we asking to be approved um it offered more resources it offers flexibility in the modality of the instruction being used within the classroom um it allows for the flexibility within pacing to meet the needs of all levels of Learners um while continuing to maintain uh the Integrity of the framework within our district and I'm Stephanie ply I'm one of the instructional coaches at the junior high level uh I'm going to talk a little bit about the pilot and the decision process which is very similar to what the elementary teachers just shared with you in January of 2023 the district team began researching potential Ela resources in April of 2023 we brought three potential resources to the pilot team who evaluated each resource using the district R rubric the rubric results determined that amplify Ela and hmh into literature would be the two resources that that we would pilot in the fall of 2023 in August of this year I'm sorry last year 2023 the pilot team was trained by hmh and they began the int literature pilot we were uh given plenty of uh support from hmh and we were able to have some virtual meetings with them for that support as well in the beginning of October the Amplified team came in and they uh trained us for the next pilot we did begin the pilot however we quickly realized that we were missing an entire group of our students the E population specifically the sheltered e population at Murphy was not getting what they needed from this resource we needed plenty of accommodations so we did work with our Tech Team and with amplifies team however we were unable to come to any kind of solution for the problems that we were having so in November we met as a team and again we brought the team two more resources to look at and the team ultimately decided again looking at those rubrics that the district had created that we just wanted to move forward with hmh into literature and so we then brought the resources to our Ela team content team districtwide and we provided them with links and surveys so that they would be able to look through the different resources that we had already looked through we asked for feedback from our Ela department and ultimately the decision was made for all of us to move forward with hmh into literature uh there was a virtual question and answer uh opportunity for our Ela content team in December and here we are today hello again um so uh as Stephanie was just mentioning um when we were trying to determine um you know we kind of came to a crossroad so during this pilot process um when we said amplify uh the the pilot pitch was not reflective of what we thought and it was not meeting our um entire student population so as Stephanie said we did uh reach out and we wanted feedback from our language arts committee at the junior high level everybody all teachers um to to get their guidance and help make sure everybody had a voice in this process so what you see on this screen was um the survey that we reached out to determine whether uh we should proceed with recommending hmh into literature um or if we should proceed you know and continue with that or if we should uh still proceed with piloting the amplify Ela curriculum so you can see the results here um a resounding support on the fact that they wanted and encouraged us to move ahead with the hmh into literature recommendation and not to move with amplify and then the teacher feedback from that data again just trying to assess the needs of our teachers and our students um but more so you know on the left is the the students needs um and does hmh meet our students needs and there was a resounding agree and strongly agree which you see when the four and fives um on the side and then with the amplify uh did they feel amplify Ela appeared to meet the needs of our students and teachers in the district and you'll see um that no it did not at all so um that helped us make the decision on on our recommendation along the way our pilot team uh I think I probably overs surveyed them uh but these are what they some of the responses that they gave us um with regard to the range of resources that hmh into literature has available and the positive ways that hmh will work for the students and the teachers in our district and then most importantly our students who were part of the pilot there were 454 students who were part of our pilot uh they were surveyed and these are their words just wanted to point that out these are their words um we wanted to share their authentic itic voice and opinions and we really felt encouraged by this the feedback that our students gave us and again with that student feedback we asked our kids have you been reading enough have you been writing enough and they felt as though they were using or they were being asked to read and write just the right amount so we wanted to share that with you as well that's good hi I'm Julie Vasco um I co- te sixth grade ELA and also um sth and eighth grade Direct One Ela um so we're going to talk a little bit about the differentiation options that hmh provides um as a lot of us know we have a lot of experience and are pretty comfortable when it comes to differentiation but one of the things I absolutely loved about this program is that if I was stuck or what I had usually done to help my students and it wasn't working um I had options and it gave me options right there in our program so um one of the things that I loved again having Direct One Ela um this is a special education class so we all start with one Mentor text and then I have options to meet my students where they're at so I have ample amount of data that says hey this is their average Lifestyle and I can pick and choose what text can support that Mentor text and still come out with the same writing and result as um like what is going on essentially in our genda population all right I'm going to talk a little bit about the reading opportunities that are provided with uh the hmh resource uh the variety of genres and formats the different titles diverse authors are short and long reads and those can all be access through whole class instruction um or with independent reading and offering students Choice um and then the bottom part the focus on notice and note this is a very popular research-based resource that supports comprehension it is a resource that's used by many many um teachers within our district um but with it implemented into this resource we're really excited that that will be something that all of our students are receiving um and maintaining that consistency across our Junior your high Ela classrooms and then with our writing opportunities um we are super excited about a program called writable that um is paired with hmh um and this is a um extensive web-based writing program that allows students to do writing get immediate feedback um it's very teacher friendly with a dashboard available for teachers to support students at their level um in the moment um um with what they need and where it doesn't look any different for a student on one computer to the next but they're receiving the support that they need to access the information and the skills needed for their level um it provides skill ladders uh which help to scaffold the skills that students will need for those end of unit uh writing tasks um it offers Mentor texts um and overall it's just really user friendly and with both the reading and the writing opportunities provided there are just so many resources so coming from a resource where we had such very limited options um at first it's almost overwhelming and that's a conversation that we've been having is how we're going to best support our teachers in looking at these options that are available and how they can be used and how it's going to fit within their classroom and how it can fit into um our literacy framework but all in all it's amazing to have these options at our fingertips social emotional learning is also included in the hmh resource uh every unit provides social emotional learning opportunities for students to connect with the topics texts or themes that they've encountered in class uh for example in one of our sixth grade pilot classrooms students read an excerpt from jacqulyn Woodson's Memoir brown girl dreaming and then they worked in stations to analyze the feelings that the author expresses then they work together to develop self-awareness by listing listing important events and memories in their own lives hi I'm Jill Bean I'm 7th honors Ela and e8th grade ELA at plank I'm going to talk about assessment and the assessment actually helps support all of the reading and writing opportunities that seem a little overwhelming so we currently have fast Bridge assessment and the hmh growth measure is similar but it's adaptive so it levels up and down until it finds the students level um gives us a really clear picture of their strengths and their weaknesses and the really amazing thing about it is the report being so userfriendly you can dial it down by standard and click into the standard and it'll tell you where the students are performing and then even better to help address the great problem of having so many resources it will show you literally every spot you can touch that standard throughout the entire curriculum and all the resource opportunities um kind of fantastic uh with family engage oh sorry lur Bingham principal at Murphy J hi um one of the things with family engagement one of the things our families have shared is that they wanted to know how they can help support their students at home um in this resource each unit includes uh letters that describe the theme of the unit the texts that the students will be reading and the tasks and skills that the students would be working on the letters are editable and available in multiple different languages which is helpful for Murphy because we house the SEI program um among the other buildings but uh that was one of the biggest things that we were really looking forward to um and this will help support family engagement and assist in the um facilitating the academic conversations at home and kind of Bri bridging that uh Gap I guess between home and school another great resource inside hmh is the technology springboard is kind of a giant PDF put on a platform saying it's digital and hmh is actually designed sorry it's designed with the digital world in mind there's so many different resources each unit starts with an opening video that's very engaging a poll to get the kids excited uh there's vocabulary and grammar instructional activities and then independent activities students can be assigned to work on on their own or along with the teach teacher there's pure coaching videos that are acted by students to make them relatable and engaging and they're so cheesy they're good even for the eighth graders to enjoy them um the videos really really got their attention and then each each lesson you have the option to listen to audio that is an authentic reader instead of a digitized voice um the the audio is fantastic and students can still annotate as can teachers in the digital platform there's a reader light bar that will move with the reading to support our English language Learners um and then also you can pull up the different texts in multiple languages so that is helpful and the AI tools are fantastic um students can get immediate feedback multiple times as many times as they want to click the button it will keep generating new feedback so as we are working with kids they can still get feedback and not have to wait as you look at diversity equity and inclusion a variety of texts that reflect our student population was one of our most important needs at the junior high level uh we found that the texts in hmh into literature reflect our diverse populations and we also were very thankful for the significant amount of time and work that Michelle Simmons one of our Dei tosas put into reading all of the texts and uh providing support collaboration insight to our teachers and to our team and uh we'll continue to do that do that throughout the uh um as we move forward Michelle did that for K8 so she did she provided resources and extension activities for our teachers thank you Michelle very very appreciated uh if I could before we um talk about this budget slide with amplify the concerns that we had um and Kelly Waldren is not here this evening but as she was preparing uh for instruction in her SEI classroom where she has I believe 19 different languages spoken by our students um it didn't translate for them wow um and when we had the original presentation we were told that it would translate um and I would and I know Kevin McDonald is is here tonight but the uh cooperation between Kevin and Kelly Waldren they spent hours and hours trying to get this to work um but it we could not um in good conscience Bring It Forward if it's not going to me the needs of all of our students and so that's that's a little bit of the background uh in regards to amplifying why we didn't want to move forward with that pilot um as I mentioned early on uh we created budgets for our resource adoption um a year ago so February of 23 um Elementary Dr Harmon budgeted uh 28,000 and change for the committee work and then for materials and PD $1.3 million uh and then Junior High We budgeted 9,000 for the committee work 800,000 for our material and then 30,000 for our professional development um we do have a quote in from hoton Mifflin uh at under which is under our 800,000 and this is for material 791 th000 and some change and that's a five-year quote for digital and print materials um and it includes writable as well and some professional development in there and and we have a quote that comes in just under budget as well um the materials for elementary the large staff that we have just under 400 teachers materials and resources student materials and consumables um make up that as well as um professional development 18 professional development sessions with with the Benchmark group our next step so um the resources will be available for public review for the next 30 days at The District administration Center and online uh at the February 26th board meeting we will ask for your vote in support of our resources that we presented this evening our March 1st Institute day the junior high is planning for that notice and note training that the teachers described and then both of us um all ka8 teachers language arts teachers will have professional development during our April 25th Institute day we are working with our vendors to um frame that professional development so our teachers can walk away with materials and we know how teachers like to prep for their new year over the summer and they will have what they need as as far as that initial training um before the end of this school year and in May um we will uh junior high specifically will have some continued professional development with grade level meetings for planning and um we're going to begin Elementary uh pretty soon here in February with planning the curriculum so this is the resource that we've brought to you this evening but our curriculum will outline assessments and any additional resources and support just like we talked about Michelle Simmons and some other background building information so the committee work is going to continue and we're going to keep on working together to build a really robust uh curriculum for all of our language arts teachers at both levels and um during next school year we'll have ongoing professional development for all our teachers and of course we want to monitor our data and the effectiveness that this is having on our students what questions do you have first off great work yeah great work can I can I can I piggyback that because in 2015 before right before I was on the board uh and you had mentioned the 2015 and and I appreciate you thanking everybody who went through that because this is a true story I walk in I wasn't on the board I walked into the teaching learning committee meeting and they didn't even finish the presentation they couldn't get through the entire presentation in the committee meeting I remember talking to an Ela teacher outside and it was certainly an eye openening experience and so I think kudos to everybody in the district for how far we've come in in eight years and and I remember them then rushing over here to to the board meeting after not even completing the uh presentation and I see you not you remember that probably pretty well I I I know that we definitely sent the wrong message that day and so thank you thank you and thank you be and to everybody involved compared to what people went through eight years ago I want to also piggyback but just highlight I think what are some of the the quality components of this process aside from the obvious p passion and dedication you all have so just an inclusion of all the grade levels and the schools the inclusion of the El team and the Dual language team in this work I think was really important and key to uh what will hopefully be a resounding success uh commitment to a resource that provides content to students in in special education or access to content to students in special education and students learning English as well as our dual language students um supports for seal will go a long way to incorporate that into your daily work uh resources that align to our commitment to equity and then um I really enjoyed you know we talk about students being involved in the process the opportunity for our junior high students to give feedback about those resources um I thought was a really good and quality addition to to this process um two other comments um the resources are going to be available for public viewing so a note to the public that's for you it's called public viewing for a purpose so feel free hopefully and take advantage of the opportunity to look at those resources um and then the only other comment I have and I think I made it at the committee me I don't have a lot of questions because we heard this at our committee meeting as well but so I had some questions there but um I think I made this comment at the committee meeting I know I talked with Dr katti about it is that a resources is only as good as the professional development and time you have to utilize it and sift through it and things like that so anything as a board um that we can do to offer support uh whether it's leveraging structures for you know collaboration um or you know to me the PD budget seems a little small I'm just saying that too so um I would say count on us to um make that as successful as possible so we don't give money very easily so we're offering it up well when we're offering it it's definitely for students um I'm just curious as to whether you all thought that the needs of junior high and Elementary are so different that you would not choose the same source is one of the questions and then um if you're not choosing the same Source do you feel like um there can be that continuity in terms of transition from elementary to Junior High and what does that look like and do you guys feel good about your choice and your choice and those two being good for our students as they transition from elementary to Junior High vertical articulation vertical vertical articulation yeah vertical articulation I learned something new today yes uh and I will let any of the teachers jump in but um we determine what to teach based on our state standards for ELA um as they have all talked about this is a resource in order to deliver those standards um and so I am very confident in elementary um having their priority standards and the things that they are teaching um we know that our students are coming in already uh prepared for junior high and we expect that to continue um because we do base what we teach on standards um these are just vehicles for our teachers to deliver those standards for our teachers or for our students yeah but I will yeah and in addition the the amount of conversation and learning and robust vocabulary that the students engaged in with Benchmark far surpassed what hmh was able to offer and they highlighted the authentic um Texs for dual language students that Benchmark offers which which doesn't measure up to to hmh for for what elementary had um some of the other um strategies I know junior high was really excited last time to hear close reading continues um our students have uh consumables that they use that they're doing close reading right in those texts and they're um you know taking their notes and um and they were very excited about that that component continuing U for them in junior high as well and as as Miss lutters mentioned if anyone else has anything they'd like to say pass the mic it's coming Co for elementary and I would say teachers felt that both of our options were very good options um and when we went through the all the charts and data that were given to us um I remember sitting there and making notes and i' be like how' they do on this how' they do on this checking checking checking checking um both of them were strong but uh slide 17 we particularly bullet pointed the areas where Benchmark surpassed hmh for elementary so when you look at that slide it was um in diversity and variety of resources the explicit phonics and foundational skills um differentiation um an availability for teachers to use with wide range of students the ease of use um accessibility for dual language and the developmental approach appropriateness and I can speak to um you know summarizing happens in hmh and summarizing happens in Benchmark and synthesizing information happens in both and fiction and non-fiction and poetry and all of that um with very um well established them in both does that answer your question yes thank you and I think while you pass the mic I just wanted to add uh quite a few of the people well trying to think of percentage wise were part of a gr group um four years ago that created our literacy framework and we worked many many many hours on that and the thought and the design behind that we have our standards from the state of what we teach we joked around a lot of what are the truths that we hold self-evident about literacy instruction so we put that together and those two things combined really then we look for the tools of which we're going to do that so that vertical articulation what is important about reading instruction we really really worked on um so that we would have that combined with our standards to go pick a tool so um the tool might be different from elementary to Junior High but what we're trying to accomplish and how we're going to do that there's great continuity in I want to oh everybody okay because we have so many wonderful things to say and everybody's like oh I have 18 answers for this and so everybody wants to talk about it um having read both hmh from K through 8 as well as um Benchmark K through five one point really Benchmark doesn't exist 6 through eight and from what I heard last time it doesn't look like they have goals to make it exist and so benchmark's not available for the Junior High um but Benchmark for the elementary aligns so well with not just Ela content when they move to Junior High but Benchmark really Loops in a lot of Science and so social studies strands and we know as elementary teachers that it is a struggle to get through science and social studies in the time that we have in our school day and so if we're able to dabble in it through our reading skills then it benefits not just ELA teachers in junior high but also the social studies and the science teachers and ultimately we're going to produce more equipped citizens who are ready to go into all these stem sciencey Fields as well as who understand histories of various people in our country so they can go out into society and be more productive humans nailed it it I have I have a I have a comment in a question I have a comment in a question and the question is for Mr obafemi like how I led with that first of all no my comment is I think all of this is wonderful I think you you all did a tremendous amount of work I think it's great both programs are great Mr obafemi are we uh we good on are we good on funds for this uh yes okay my belief in budget and his programs Drive budget okay and we are in the education business so nothing is more suent with what we're doing than this Ela so we will find the money to make it happen Okay thank you perfect thank you I just had one more comment about articulation um there was kind of and this is for just for make the board aware there was a conversation of articulation with the high school as kind of a future step and I know that springboard is going to obviously be out of print and high school is using springboard as well so this is a perfect time to really you know enhance that articulation from middle school to High School uh as they think about a new Resource as well and that has a lot to do with sharing up those priority standards um many of the uh ELA teachers from Junior High that are over there there have have over the years um been on committees that have been 612 Ela committies um that we have done a lot of work with the high schools prior to this um and that was more about ensuring springboard articulation was happening and so um because they are continuing with springboard at least for next year um we will continue to work with them on what are your priority standards for each each year English 1 two 3 4 and any other English classes that they're using and then um the fact that Dr Harmon and Mr arnson and I share a same space um there is continual conversation very close on that yes I think um did you want to say something yeah just build a little bit so I was going to talk about the science and social studies connection but the the one thing that's really cool and I'm a little bummed about this because I'm retiring and so I'm not going to be here next year I'll come back um is the idea that across the elementary school everybody's going to be working on a similar theme like they're all starting with plants and animals at the beginning of the year and but each grade level gets more indepth with that theme and so I if we all think back to preschool in kindergarten a lot of us learned by thematic learning and where you can connect so much together and I was not a big proponent of Benchmark at the beginning and you know I think that's part of the power of this teamwork uh but I'm really excited about the Thematic learning for our students um and what we can do schoolwide as they're all working on similar themes I think it's going to bring um just a new a new light to our learning yes yes that's one please did you want to go no you go um first of all I just want to say that you know a lot of people ask have asked me over the years why am why I ran for the board and this is it right here um these are some of the people that I respect the most in the world I know most of these people and these women and have such a deep respect for them and it's because of the passion that they have literacy does in fact Rock um and I also just want to say that uh Dr alen would be incredibly proud tonight um so I just want to ask a few questions I'm very excited about this but how do we ensure um because I was looking at the the numbers for um professional development they look a little low to me how do we ensure that teachers are implementing this to the best of um their abilities how are we going to support new teachers because it's very overwhelming when you start out as a new teacher and then I'm really interested in this writable thing um so I just wanted if we could have a little bit more information about that sure um so with respect to the PD the 30,000 is for PD this year we haven't even started budgeting for next year so it's 30,000 for right now um and and so that's through May right and so um we will as we are building budgets for next year and Beyond which I also I'm retiring so will not uh be a part of but um you know I am certain that there will be uh professional development we will be utilizing Mrs belli as um the person who goes into classrooms she is she does this already um not just with Ela but with science social studies even math um uh and so that is how we will support our newer teachers is with a lot of PD a lot of um inside the classroom help okay and a lot of work with their grade levels and some of those more veteran teachers okay so for for elementary just if I could add in um it was so important that each of our instructional coaches who are in the buildings piloted with a teacher in their building and they they talked about that a little bit tonight and how they planned with the teachers they actually went in and taught with the teachers and just having that firsthand knowledge about what's contained there about all the components about having that experience with our students is going to be so instrumental in having all of our teachers feel supported including our newest teachers um next year agreed so Jen this this is just this is the exact same topic that I wanted to ask about so um I just wanted to ask the committee um do you feel like the ELA teachers the elementary school teachers are going to be ready for this come next year yes like I mean they they're all I really yeah everybody feels good about that okay I think everyone's been interested in the pilot and they're they're ready for some I think the um phonics pieces are very welcomed and teachers are very excited um K5 what that looks like so I think that's going to be the best part about it to really get people excited for something different we need it Ally you said something the other part of my comment that I wanted that I meant to bring up is that and I'm going to totally age myself but I grew up in the age of hooked on phonic and then it felt like we went away from phonic for a while so is phonic back you know it it's definitely based with when we look at science of reading and also Wy bevens if anyone looks is the guru of all phonics he wrote the phonics piece to Benchmark oh okay um and so you know we talked about that too like for when you asked about PD I think I can speak for teachers too sometimes it is nice to have um it's been a while since we brought some stuff in too and and outside of just the curriculum maybe thinking about what our teachers could use um from you know um the best of the best and and some of that too so I feel like when we have these big numbers for curriculum we always feel like can we please have professional development and so and I know I'm preaching to the choir here but we have to always remember that we're wasting our money if we don't have the professional development so we need to I just want to make sure that it is really baked in there and then can somebody talk to me about writable because it just seems really cool can I just get to the the phonics and foundational piece so um Hooked on Phonics o but um the the benchwork thing that I that I really love what it makes it so different is that it goes into the other parts of the lesson so it's not just in it's not just I'm learning it right here but it goes into small group goes into whole group so you're going to find it all part of the lesson um also the vocabulary is embedded throughout the whole whole whole 2hour it's in it's in your writing and so is the foundational skills piece it's it makes it so the kids can Master this skill we're not just learning it 10 minutes here it's you're going to see it throughout the two-hour block so that's what makes Benchmark um I think that's where we're going to see the big sping for our buck can I just say oh one thing about phing before we get to the writable thing um I appreciate the the um support that this phonics is being given within this resource because I've talked to like young teachers one you know first year students and and they tell me things like in our training in our in my in our education uh she said there was one of them said that they had a an exam and there was something on there called vcv and she said she had never even heard of it yes and and she and and she goes back to her professor and says what is that like we never learned anything about that and so I'm just wondering it's going to support teachers as well because if they don't understand vow consonant vowels and they aren't being taught that then now this you're getting support from these resources that you're going to be using so I'm in a fourth grade classroom and you know I started 24 years ago and it the big push was knowing the syllable types and teaching students the syllable types in order to decode um and we've kind of drifted away from that and this year through the use of Benchmark my kids can rattle off we've learned four of the syllable types even today in a reading group a student was struggling with decoding a word so we covered up part of it I said what kind of syllable is that he said open and I said okay is that a short vow or a long vow and he was able to tell me a long vow so those syllable types are being taught and that made my teacher Hur like that pretty much just seal the deal for me with Benchmark you know the enthusiasm is so important and I I'm really thinking about the change management you've heard about the investment in professional learning but I would say that also your collaboration is really noteworthy I mean I think you're your your shared commitment your discernment uh around the choices I pulled up the 2015 report Jared um I did some history digging right now and and just went back there and I think there's um lots of strength in that presentation and kudos to those folks but I can also see already Market differences in some of the things that you prioritize really centering the needs and the the outcomes of our students around academic performance and thinking about how we are identifying a resource that's going to match that so um can you remind us where uh the community can go find this resource over the next 30 days and um I know that on the night of the boards of vote uh please come back so we can or if uh tune in at least um so that you can see the the celebration of that but I would just say let's remind us where people can go and review the doc the information can I also interject one question just one because I have to get it in sorry so when we go to the Middle School [Laughter] model and if get done in the next yeah sorry I had to ask campaig and no I'm not for the Middle School model for that yes oh when did I stop if we get it done in the next 5 years I'm going to assume that this will not be a a hindrance in any way shape or form right sorry I just had to find a way to get it in there that's great question absolutely writable writable we're gonna do writable all right writable writable is super exciting from a language arts teacher perspective especially after having taught such a writing heavy curriculum for the last few years years writeable is a connected program to hmh so it's a program that I that we're getting with it and um it has every writing prompt that is in the text series is already pre-loaded into the program and you can assign it to students with different supports so if I've already pre-assessed and know who might need to do talk to text who might need grammar support I can turn that honor off sentence starters and frames for kids who might need it you pre-select that ahead of time so they don't even know they're getting differentiation um that's awesome it's it's pretty slick and then as they're writing they can get continuous AI feedback because getting around to between 25 and 32 students takes some time so they can get continuous feedback on the larger essays um you can use one of their rubrics and they're all all their rubrics are already standard by standard or you can build one so one of the writings we built a rubric in it that matched the standards aligned rubric we were already using and I scored them just human scoring and compared my scoring to their AI scoring I was within 310 of a point on every kid I was impressed and they provide feedback standard by standard and then a paragraph of feedback at the ending there's not enough time in the day for us to do that in enough in a short amount of time to make it meaningful it was I cried I'm not even kidding my my husband asked me how are you done grading I'm like one of my favorite features is a feedback feature where you can ask students to give peer feedback but you do it through the writable so you assign it to them and then they're getting in front of them pops up a peer's writing but they don't know who it's completely Anonymous and they get the standards in front of them and they can give feedback to each other and they can go like the the opportunities are just endless it's amazing I just have to say it's just very timely for me I was reading um my son's essay he was defending a position and I felt terrible because I reached out to the teacher and I'm like there are so many grammatical erors there are so many this and she's like I have a lot to like it's a lot to grade all these it's in a short amount of time and I can only get to so and I felt terrible and so she's like We're you just have to he's getting the best that I can give but I am one person trying to do all this so it's so nice to hear that you'll have support for that that other stuff it'll tell the student how many gramat matical errors one student said you have 102 grammatical errors and he just looked at me and his mouth dropped open I said you better get back at it and it doesn't tell them where so then as the teacher you can run a standard by standard report to see where they're struggling and you know what many lessons to offer that fit in our literacy framework love that love that amazing isn't it cool yes okay you going to say something and then we're going to cost element you said it came in under budget is it also five years license on the software or it is not five years um we are still working with them within some parameters to get multi-year um but the initial costs are slightly over um what we you what we purchased this year so for ready Jen for the costs for um our digital access replacement materials we also have words their way that has a digital component and that all comes in a little over $300,000 that we spent for this year and um for H A years of consumables and the digital components um the annual cost is $396,000 and um as I said uh we are still working with them to um to get to get the best costs okay so that's not the final bottom line okay all right yeah I was it wasn't mren will be reaching out to connect with you all to also have a go at talking with their their their company yeah I want to make sure that it was something that we budgeted and yeah I just want to make sure that everybody knows if you're wanting to come and view the materials that you just come to the reception area there at district office and we'll guide you to where you need to be to see the materials and then there was just one more thing um you gave an example you know of of of improvement already um Can can pretty much everybody say that they've seen relative Improvement more than they would have expected I guess uh just in the limited amount of time that you've Ed it relative to the current materials speak okay well I don't know if everybody everybody in the audience I don't know about the yeah and and it's here I had a kindergarten dad stop me in the hall I was work with the kindergarten class and he's like what are you doing uh cuz he was just shocked at how far his child had come uh with with the program uh I saw a lot more writing come out of the kindergarten than I had expected to see and so we were we were pleasantly surprised um and the teachers really like the consumables um so the kids can be noticing and noting even at kindergarten uh which is pretty cool of the Year yes they are the uh Benchmark provided us the full kits at no cost to continue for the rest of the year well thank you all go ahead it's okay no please I was just going to say from I um piloted reading with our um second grade teacher and writing with our fourth grade teacher um at Fox Chase and in second grade one of the coolest things that we're able to do is being able to annotate in the consumable it's like a little book and they love it I mean we are we have them annotating circling important words writing vocabulary definitions things that we are just not able to do with our current resource and it's really cool to see an eight-year-old be able to do that seven-year-old some of them you know to be able to do that so it's really it's really I I've seen um the kids change they're thinking about reading it's not just opening a book and reading it they're actually working with that text which has been a huge benefit and then my only comment is I love the uh you know the statement back loving to learn loving it I'll give it back Cu uh you know it's one thing to to get a meter exceed but it's to continue to love to learn and so um and glad that that was one of your your missions so I just want to make a quick comment about dual language um because I've seen a lot of growth in the short amount of time with their languages of connecting and really Bridging the two languages together since we mentioned before our ready gen curriculum was very separated where we would have a topic in English and then you just cut it and like switch next language and it's something completely different so with Benchmark uh really truly bridging both languages together we were just able to dig dig a lot deeper and what students were able to draw on both of their languages to really deepen their comprehension and their discussion between each other between their peers so it sounds like it really will uh enhance collaboration um which I know is difficult when you're when you're having a so many different resources and over the years it's just been uh tough so thank you for sharing that Shannon and Tammy congratulations I mean this is one of the most collaborative um experiences that I've had since I've been on the board so kudos to the both of [Applause] you thank you thank you thank you so [Music] right do you guys look at them no no please have a safe drive home this evening everybody thank you again back come here oh paging Aaron to the stageit and I don't just say that I that is my thing uhhuh yep I know I know we got you thank you for all your hard [Music] work yeah and then uh last but not least this evening Dr zmy uh with an update of our draft of 2425 school year calendar um one thing that I want to thank is I know that this has been a collaborative process involving our representatives from oea and our District level team so uh Dr zmy yeah well thank you Bor um this is a first draft tonight and as Dr kotti has said it's a really a collaborative process amongst um our unions uh we are open to feedback I'd like to go through three highlights tonight um in order to uh set up the school year for great work that we're going to see uh next year throughout uh English and throughout all our our other classes so um number one our starts and our end times uh for next school year uh is proposed for to begin on Thursday August 15th and conclude on May 23rd which is a Friday our holidays and breaks a couple things that I want to bring up to everybody is to be aware Tuesday November 5th is uh election day so there's no school so we needed to factor that in our winter break next school year year proposed is December 23rd through January 3rd our spring break proposed is March 25th through March 31st I also want to bring the Highlight uh many of you asked questions about professional development uh for what we just um saw with the great curriculum work um we have our teacher Institute days uh four of those to start the school year off we would have a teacher Institute day on Monday uh the 12th of August then a teacher work day and then another teacher Institute day allowing for more time to get acclimated to the curriculum uh was the design that and another area that is a little bit of a different of a design is coming back from winter break the committee wanted to move uh the standard second semester Institute day to the first day back to allow the secondary Junior High and high school to get acclimated to classes that are just beginning second semester similar to the runup that they had to start first semester off so a very nice um uh concept that we would like to try uh for next year so again here's your highlights uh August 15th first day of uh School for students concluding on May 23rd Friday May 23rd remember to um be aware of election day uh which we had to factor in and then the professional development days so this is our first draft it's a collaborative process we are open to feedback what questions may I answer this evening I just have a couple things one um first of all I can only speak from my own experience but that day when you're coming back from winter break oh my gosh like we we did a work day in my district and oh people people love it like um we had to walk away from it this year for some reason I can't remember what what it was and people greatly definitely missed it so i' while I'd love to hear feedback I think that's uh that's definite win the other piece too and I know we can't align perfectly but we do have a lot of Educators living in this District to say the least and we certainly have um a lot of uh um you know cross and I'm just curious if um I know they have to finalize theirs and we're all under the same kind of deadline but I'm just curious if for kind of looking at some of those other districts um uh just to I hate I I hate it when you know we have conflicts and some teachers have no choice but to call off it doesn't benefit the students or when students are taken out for you know various reasons and so forth so just trying to see if we're as aligned as possible I know that's impossible to do like with every District aligned with other districts like you mean like with like so spring break and winter break and and yeah yeah yeah again I'm not I don't expect an exact science but other questions so again Brian just review the timeline um in terms of process just so you know you know I I have heard we're a little later in um the calendar year than we would like to be um one thing that we talked about not for this year but into the future we are interested in bringing you two years of calendars at once um once we this team kind of understands the process a little bit more that' be something um so we would like to just get feedback here tonight um follow up with uh representation and then bring you a final draft in a final copy in February for uh you to uh vote on and we would recommend a final copy uh at the February 12th meeting okay thank you all right thank you Dr Z oh yeah I I was just going to say I mean the fact that it's been committee went through committee work and you know I'm assuming it's a pretty good product so or a good product okay thank you thank you all right president yeah moving on to 10.1 action item securely classroom can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the purchase of securely classroom second I have a comment before yeah me too but you go first so I want to thank the board last month for uh last board meeting it was like a month um uh for the feedback I know that the team worked hard to address the questions that were brought up these are memorialized in the uh memorandum that you received this evening and so it definitely helped strengthen the The Proposal that's being brought to the board and and I do I'm confident in the work that they've done for tonight so yeah my only comment is as I as I look at the costs and I see like for instance I see that haara is a thousand less and I understand what we were um you know the information we were given and I don't I don't discredit it I don't I'm not going against it that you know um we um you know securely is is what we're going with because of it um because of what we already have in place right and it working with what we have in place the only thing and listen I'm not saying everyone's going to have a crystal ball and be able to look into the future but when we do look at those bid proc processes I think I think it it's good for us to know in the future hey there might be other things that we have to utilize and there might be a cost to this and so when I go back and I think about what the bid was in my mind that bid was actually for you know for security was actually a th000 more right because we have to go this route and I'm not going to say I'm going to vote against it or anything anything like that that's not my point but I do think it's it's it's a learning tool and just something to be cognizant of if that makes sense just good feedback thank you okay Miss vmou I Dr Mario hi Mr hi Miss Simon hi Mr Gatewood hi Miss Johnson hi Mr BL I motion passes 70 action item 10.2 [Music] 10.2 policies for second read and approval can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the following board policy section two School Board 2 colon 20 section five general personel 5 colon3 5 colon 250 5 colon 330 section 6 instructions 6 colon1 15 6 colon 30 6 colon 50 6 colon 60 section 7 students 7 colon 70 7 colon 1 160 7 colon 1 90 7 colon 270 7 2857 colon second Dr Maria I miss Simon hi Mr pler hi Mr Cerone hi Mr Gatewood hi miss vmou I miss Johnson I motion passes 70 can I have a motion to post action item 10.3 until our next meeting I make a motion to postpone action item 10.3 student disciplinary case to our February 12th 2024 Board of Education meeting second Miss mm I Mr cheron I Dr Maria I miss Simon I Mr pler hi Mr Gatewood I Miss Johnson I the action item 10.4 approval of building administrator contract can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the building administrator contract as discussed and presented second Miss Johnson I miss venm I Mr I miss Simon hi Dr Mario hi mrone I Mr Gatewood I motion passes 70 action item 10.5 Personnel report can I have a motion please make a motion to approve the Personnel report as presented second Mr Gatewood hi M Johnson hi Dr Mario hi Mr sler hi Miss Simon hi mrone hi Miss menman I all right we we are returning to action item I'm sorry we are returning to 7.3 board committee reports we have equity and teaching and learning I'm sorry equity and teaching and learning and finance and Facilities who would like to start I mean for equity and teaching and learning I mean you saw it I know I do have same with Finance Eugene Eugene got one very brief comment is that today's meeting and presentation is why I was on the board this is probably one of the best meetings that we've had to me that was great yeah that's great I just want to add uh equity and uh teaching and learning we also discussed um El location or DL locations which will be an upcoming board meeting um and space issues for those programs yeah and I think you know just to add on to that piece I I think it's going to be really interesting when we get to looking at um projections and so forth and again like I I want us to always keep in mind it's not blame like I think sometimes in society we get into a blame game or a race or I don't know what to be honest you half time doesn't make any sense to me but um it is what it is right and the reality of the situation is we have our schools located where they're located and building is going to occur where building is going to occur right and you're not going to stop it and so I think we need to make sure that our Partnerships and this kind of goes maybe with the legislation aspect of the um legislation and policy um you know we need to work with our partners we need to make sure that we're voicing um that piece infrastructure is going to matter all of these pieces and um and it's going to cost and it's yeah it's not going to be free right it's not going to be free and so um you know I I know this is can to sound really weird but my my oldest son he's in my house what is it what I I don't even know this is it Pat McAfee or whatever right and he makes I hear this guy make this side comment where he says well everybody should be learning Spanish in school right and I'm not I don't know Pat McAfee from anything but you know my son asked me and I was like well yeah I mean look at look at demographics look at the numbers look at everything else and so um we will have to have some serious uh conversations about dual language and um but it is important that we that we make this journey together and continue to make progress I just wanted to say our finance and Facilities committee and anyone that may possibly be list ing if you want to know what's actually going on with the track or with the swimming pool or with anything our committees are really doing the Deep work that they've needed to do for a very long time and so uh Mr Queen has shares an operational update on all the projects that are happening in the district and so I encourage the board to look at the documents to see what's going on and we it's the mo it's the most confident I have felt in a long time with understanding not just what's happening today but what's happening one year 2 years 3 years four years down the road so it's very um very comforting for that and I also we were in a makeup meeting um because our meeting got postponed a Thursday and I know that we really wanted to attend the Dual language committee I was so pleased uh when I walked a parent to uh Faith's office and I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing because it I have a lot of parents that have reached out to say we feel we feel heard finally so thank you very much all right then uh 7.4 board member comments any board member comments we have had a great meeting that's all I got to say you know I do I do want one more thing and I want to emphasize one more thing when I sat in that teaching and learning committee meeting in 2015 and I want to make sure that I make sure make it clear I was not on the board yet when that happened right I was is mystified and frightened right and and I can't help but you know we I think sometimes maybe deal with absolutes or whatever that continuous Journey from 2015 to now is is is evident and it doesn't happen in a day it doesn't happen in a year no offense it doesn't happen in three years this is something that happens continuously and the community has asked for growth and it's been occurring right and so over the last eight years I have always seen growth from one year to the next even when we had to sit up there and 2019 and sit on the spotlights and and do that kind of cutting there was a good deal of the community that still understood it and so um we I I remember some dark days in 2015 and we have continuously made growth and that's that's to everybody all stakeholders and I I I applaud all of them very good thank you all right 11.1 can I have a motion to adjourn motion I make a motion to adjourn second all in favor I you oppose we are

and usually I get my first text from him about 4: uh just Gathering data and information and sharing that back no Marty Freeman does not make the call do not call him complaining uh you can call me that's all on me so I want to thank him um the other thing that I want to uh take the opportunity and that is January is School Board uh appreciation month and I just want to celebrate all of you and thank you for what you do the continued support for our students our staff members um we're fortunate here in Crownpoint schools to have a school board who works together toward common goals and understands the teamwork that is necessary um to be a successful board and I know you're going to find this hard to believe but that doesn't happen everywhere and I appreciate that and there's a day go by that I do not take that for granted uh so I I appreciate you guys and just thank you for the way that you continue to uh support us and Lead our school corporation so thank you thank you Dr Terrell and for the kind words on behalf of the board um 7.01 other business the board anything we have something or I'm sorry Mr bastter uh yes uh keeping up my duties for legislatively Aon um as you know down in Indianapolis it's a short session as Dr Terell mentioned before the meeting they're going to try to crab as much in as they can um the big things that are going on right now is uh today was a headliner moving school referendums to November instead of having the choice of May or November so we'll see how much traction that gains along the way uh there was an I read pass um students not passing was mandatory retention that's being talked about but it doesn't seem to Gathering a whole lot of traction down State uh I'm scheduled to be down there February 6th for the State House day so I'll have a much more U complete report for you after that thank you Mr V appreciate that and the information that you provided us with this evening on updates uh board statements of appreciation and recognition M Randle real quick going back I'm sorry other business uh I don't know if we have an update on transition from RDS to parents square and if anybody can comment on that where we're at in that process yeah I think it's important enough to address I'm going to ask Mr Gian fery if he would uh there's there's so many different levels and it impacts so many different departments but um I think Mark can give us a pretty good idea of where we are power school is what we're power power school so we are we have made a lot of Headway our our tech department there was some additional training that was needed for our tech department to really be able to manage the transition to our folks that training was completed and once that was completed we were able to do some some big things um we are still working on it it's very complex there's a lot of things behind the scenes of just marrying those those systems um some of the big things that were accomplished though was getting those grades to populate um a report card and uh attendance letters are now available a huge thing that we had to do was we had to get transcripts ready and we had to get historical grades and historical transcripts up to date that was a monster task that has been accomplished one of the biggest things that we need to tackle now is for our learning management system Buzz to automatically populate grades into power school and that takes a lot of coding it's not it's not um just a simple couple butt so we feel confident that that once that automating uh great pass back starts happening a lot of the other things will fall right into place so um it was it was a lot to start and and everybody I've talked to other school corporations say you know it takes a minute to get it settled in but I'm pretty proud of our folks at the building level who have just continued to move forward we've asked our our teachers to do a little extra inputting manually and they've done that um and so that I I really think our tech department has rolled up their sleeves and are are tackling a lot of things at one time and and uh we're pretty confident that things are going to start coming together here quickly I I appreciate your comments and the fact that all our people are working diligently and hard to to get that transition in place so it's a Monumental task right I mean we've had RDS for how long we I think we go way back Beyond 20 years 20 20 years so sorry sorry I had to look at you Jim by I did too three days before water I so so we appreciate I just want to say thank you to all those that are working hard on that I know um we appreciate the patience of families and parents and especially at the end of the semester as people apply for college there's a lot of pressure and but uh certainly appreciate everyone's efforts and continue effort to get that transition over thank you thank you any other under board uh other business with that moved item eight uh 8.01 board statements of appreciation recognition anything this evening Mr BAS well as I typically in these meetings tend to point out the less than not the Marquee players but um as I passed a a school crossing guard today I realized they're employed by the city but they obviously they're there to help our kids and uh the things that they're doing on to keep our kids safe can can't really be understated um tomorrow morning God only knows what that's going to look like uh the weather pattern that's here and may be coming so just really appreciate those folks that stand out there in the cold and the rain and the dark and everything else so they're they're vital to our students safety thank you Mr fter Mr babjack anything CV nothing for me Mr Smith nothing um I have a couple here hopefully I won't forget um I'm making sure I clarify this it's a special needs cheerleading squad on Saturday or the Blazers the Blazers okay so I want to make sure they got their just due uh that's the one game which I didn't know got postponed from Friday to Saturday uh where one of the special need students sings the national anthem and the Blazers perform and I'd probably been to the last six of those not even knowing that that was Friday night that got moved to Saturday and the young lady that saying the national anthem and once again this is someone that I can't even imagine what she felt I saw her crying afterwards and she knocked it out of the park I mean uh so congrat congratulations to all those involved with putting that together the visiting crowd from Chesterton was an amazement so thank you to all those that are part of that group um the other one is to our custodial staff and all those involved with the cleanup at Taft um for those of you might not know we had a little water thing there from a sprinkler head that did some damage luckily at about 3:05 after the school day last Wednesday Wednesday and by Thursday with the help of Dion curas from skilman and getting the right people out there to mitigate um you would have never known what looked like a hurricane hit it the next day and pretty much we're right back to a functional School Corp less than what what's that 14 hours later so kudos to all those involved uh because I was there Saturday for the uh uh Olympiad thing but just on a side note what a spacular event that is being that was my first one um I spoke with the custodial staff and a little area thanking them for their extra work that was needed to help out those besides the mitigation team that we hir from an outside firm to take care of all that so thank you to all those and just my little last word on the Science Olympiad um I showed up at the beginning of it at 8 o'clock and being that this was the first one we held I mean there's schools coming from everywhere kids arriving and complete chaos yet somehow someway everybody got to the sections they were supposed to get to with 500 students of middle schoolers and high schoolers and and that's early in the morning um one of our instructors our wheeler uh or our wheeler coach saw that it was an opportunity for someone from the board to get involved in pictures so I was grabbed and pulled to take some pictures with our team so uh I said well if I was forced to do kids you guys all got to get up here with me so I made sure some of those probably weren't like me I'm not don't like you know photography that much just get the picture over let's move on with the day so that all worked out so uh it was a great event and we were handing out Awards Mr me and uh Gian fery uh mayor Pete land so and you know what it was like uh someone touch Bas the surprises on their faces some of these schools we're talking smaller schools too Whiting um a school from Illinois uh Benton our Benton Central from you know Far Far Away Northridge had like six teams represented the high school level um and then uh what was the one from uh Illinois you remember mark neille one of the N but it looks like it was a like a separation of the big Neighborville School Corp it was like a homeschool version of it or something like that I mean it was just incredible to see these kids and I was looking as I was walking around classroom to classroom at some of the projects and the subject matters and I mean I couldn't be a judge in any category let me just tell you that I don't I consider myself overly intelligent but I'm telling you this is detailed stuff so kudos to all those involved and especially our leaders that took the initiative to host one I did find out that this is an Invitational so it's kind of like a practice event for the big regionals and state competition that follows later on they even mentioned at the closing that they're going to try to move it up to where could be not during this type of weather maybe earlier in the year so you kind of can take this and then not one month later preparing for regionals or stay so once again thank you to all those involved so uh with that uh to those few high school students that have texted me during this meeting School decision has not been made as of yet that'll be made by the individuals that make that at Dr teron our transportation director and those on the cabinet so I just wanted to make sure when people saw me looking at their phone it's the few high school students I still know and no we have not made a decision on school for tomorrow morning so with that uh item nine I will look for a motion to adjourn so mov second motion by Mr Smith second by Mr babjack all those in favor please signify by saying I I I nay that carries 4 Z thank you have a good evening that

we will we'll have a great decision for you uh as our team will look at the roads very carefully and uh I'll let you know parents out there what what what we're going to do tomorrow morning but we're on top of it so uh it's going to be a short night tonight Roger Smith but we're going to check the roads aren't we y all right we'll make good decisions that's all I have Madam president and board thank you thank you it's been a long evening if I would entertain a motion to adjourn so moved second we are adjourned I have a few more signatures here Mar good gracious that was a long one I and I haven't finished

uh roll call Kate Kathleen ameral here Chris Oliver here best Coughlin here Shannon Jenkins here John newes yep okay so we are at 602 uh we are beginning our meeting at 605 uh with the public hearing for school choice for the 2024 2025 school year um this hearing was advertised in the standard times on January uary 12th 2024 um so we cannot officially open until 6:05 another three minutes in another three minutes so may I make a recommendation that we at least take the minutes yeah sure yep motion motion to approve the minutes of uh January 8th 2024 second uh point of clarification yeah the regular session minutes regular session yeah yeah well it's regular and Joint it's regular and Joint yeah for the reason that we did not have a uh executive session on January 8th so so we have a motion I made the motion second any discussion all in favor I I I'm G to abstain passes for to 01 exstension so we have two more minutes uh we don't have a student rep report tonight I just wanted to mention that um our student was rep was unable to join us this evening may I make a recommendation Madam chair sure uh that we at least take uh maybe you have time for one of the consent agenda items absolutely so I'll turn it to you Dr sa M okay so um on the consent agenda this evening we have um two requests uh related to field trip so not field trips actually competitions um we haven't or at least I haven't seen yet that um we have our indoor percussion team in our winter Color Guard in uh competitions and I know that Mr Flint was supposed to be here this evening but he had another engagement and I know Mr noones has um has some information that he wants to share with us regarding I mean this is this is standard these are uh the W winter guide International WGI regionals uh that you have to partake in before you have an opportunity to go to uh Dayton in April so that's what these are and this for the colad this Pennsylvania is the closest and right now for uh the percussion it's uh Toms River New Jersey excellent uh I'll make a motion to approve the uh indoor percussion team trip to Tom's River New Jersey and the Winter Guard trip to Bethlehem Pennsylvania yeah I'll second that so we have a motion by Dr Jenkins a second by Mr Oliver um any further discussion good luck in the good luck to them um early spring so uh with that uh all in favor I I passes uh unanimous 5 nothing and we are here 605 so um let's officially open the public hearing for school choice 2024 2025 um I asked that if anyone has any comments um much like our regular public comment session this is just an opportunity for us to hear uh the concerns and the the uh concerns and compliments let's say of uh what folks have to add to the conversation relative to our deliberation later on in the evening um so if you uh have anything to share I ask that you step up to the podium uh and uh state your name for the record um and try to make your remarks as brief as possible um thank you well my name is uh Bob Garin um I've been a resident of dmouth for 35 years uh I'm here as a p as a citizen not as uh a member of the finance committee and I want to thank you for the opportunity to uh get a few things into the record um I recommend that you phase out school choice uh starting with having no freshman for the this following year so that way any any students that are currently in this in the uh program do not get pushed out of the system as of right now there's 132 students in the high school that are under school choice that equals 13.8% the total expenditures per pupil for the town of doth is $177,300 and going up school choice student Revenue per student is $5,000 and it's been $5,000 for two decades so all incremental cost per student over $5,000 is paid paid for by the taxpayers of dmouth for out of town students if you do not know the incremental costs of out of town students then I would ask you how can you vote for placing the B this burden on doin taxpayers I've been told that these are empty seats I been told that the best predictor of favorable student outcomes is the teacher to student ratio if that's true then filling empty seats hurts the outcomes of dotman students other considerations additional staff for out of town students will have future pensions and will also have future medical payments upon retirement on a personal note I would not want to be on a school committee if an out of town student injures adop student uh please consider phasing out school choice and right size the staff of dmouth for dmouth students thank you um hi my name is Arlene Johnson and I a senior here at Dartmouth High School I um am am a student of school choice and I live in new bford um I believe that I have accomplished a lot here at darmouth high that I would not have been able to accomplish at another school I have gotten into the National Honor Society program here and I have gotten the seala by literacy here that I believe I would not have been able to complete at a different school and I think shutting down school choice is not a good opportunity for a lot of students I think shutting that down will lessen the opportunity of somebody to become better at just being a person and being a student in general I have seen a lot of kids here and I know a lot of kids here that are of school choice like my sister and I know I believe like three of my cousins have gone here on school choice and they have become better people um I've have seen what school choice have done for kids and I believe that taking it down is just not right so thank you hello thank you for taking the time to listen me speak today my name is Aubrey wi I would like to take the time to explain why I think school choice is important to me even though I don't go here at the moment it looks familiar my eighth grade year I sat in the cafeteria and listened to someone talk about if you chose to go to Dartmouth High then this is the school that you would be in I wanted so bad to be able to go here with my friends at that point I also have been here for quite a few band performances I did in Middle School see even though I don't technically live in Dartmouth I feel like I'm part of the community I have gone to dma school my whole life and have always been in this town until the pandemic hit my grandfather stepdad and best friend all living here in Dartmouth less than 10 minutes away from this school I know most of the teachers names by face some of you I Rec recognize some of you I don't and because of all of my friends that go here that talk about you um I don't go to this school I went to vetech um in new badford because I moved 3 minutes away from my old house that was in Dartmouth across the street from my best friend since the sixth grade 3 minutes by driving was the deciding choice of if I got to go spend the next four years of my life with the people that I've known since I grew up even though I don't live in town I think I should be able to have the opportunity to go here since the middle of my freshman year I have tried everything to be able to go to Dartmouth High School I think you should let school choice be available and I if I somehow got picked you wouldn't be picking a random person to come into your school you'd be picking a person of the Dartmouth Community I also have a lot to offer the school I'm an AB student of our city cheer leader I also Run Track I think that I should be given the opportunity to join the junior class next year with all of my peers thank you for your time hello I'm Danielle I'm Aubrey's mom um I just quickly wanted to add that I did offer up to the school department and the town of Dartmouth that we would pay the offset cost for my daughter to attend for the year and they said they don't allow it um we were willing to pay and they still wouldn't allow I just wanted to let everybody in the room and the school committee know that that was not an option available and I know a lot of people have and I'm sure some of the people on here have concerns about the budget but maybe you should consider allowing people who want to spend the money um to do so thank you for your time hi good evening um I was not planning on speaking today um this is my first meeting my daughter um goes here she's a junior your name sure my name is Don um my daughter came here from our town school that didn't have much to offer in regards to sports and clubs and she is th driving here uh she has her grades has have excelled she's earning 97s in her classes she earned her um her way to go to Spain in April she's part of the Multicultural Club the Key Club she's she was at Varsity um freshman softball player we have um just become so comfortable here in this community and this school is so incredible I brought my daughter who is in eighth grade in um Catholic School and she has been looking forward to coming here um right along um we actually live right on the border of Dartmouth um we're right across the street so uh we kind of feel like we're part of Dartmouth more than um than Westport and it would just mean so much I think you know for all of us to be able to have my daughter as part of this school system also um they're really looking forward to being together in the same school um and I didn't know that people had been talking about potentially paying um if that ended up coming um an issue I have been following the minutes um through all the school committees and I understand there is that the budget and the finances be more than happy to pay um whatever we needed to um to help U my daughter get the education that my oldest is receiving here so thank you for your consideration thank you anyone else I Madam chair make a motion that we close the uh public hearing for school choice for school year 2024 2025 I'll second that okay any discussion all in favor I I motion passes 5 z uh the public hearing is now closed um and I would next like to um open the floor so to speak for our regular public hearing um similar to uh what just happened just ask that if folks have anything to add to um any comment or for our consideration relative to anything any item on the agenda to please um step up to the podium and just state your name and again just try to be as brief as possible um we're not a large group but still don't all run at once speak at once looking for move doesn't look like it all right that is uh no taking thank you we're good all right next we have um Spotlight on kids I'm going to turn it over to Dr Sabre McGuire to introduce our guests okay wonderful so this is as your superintendent this is my first Spotlight on kids so I'm excited to be part of this part of your audience and hear um what is happening here at Dartmouth High School as far as internships are concerned I understand that's the focus and Mr Shay is going to introduce this segment to us and I'm thrilled to see that we have students here this evening yeah I'm ly I don't get to talk too much today so um I when we were talking about what we wanted to Spotlight we wanted to really highlight something that is um a really growing thing here that has always estab established here um I want to be truthfully honest that I was an intern when I was a senior in high school and um it was the best thing that ever happened to me in the sense that um I realized I did not want to go into marketing and I found a love in special ed and I didn't spend $200,000 on an education that I knew that day one that I wasn't going to be in um so I have the just the distinct pleasure of introducing um Mr White and Mr Russell who are running our Spotlight program and they've done a lot of us um our internship program and they've done a lot of work this year to reestablish it and and and really grow the program and you'll get to hear some of our goals at the end thank you oh sorry Mr par first hello M Mr parate from back behind the scenes of the control room I'm actually here as the uh business innovation technology Lead Teacher so um for our Spotlight on kids tonight we are uh overviewing as Mr Shay said our internship program uh what we do we pair senior class students into multiple and many unique experiences some of which we have a database of which we're going to go over in a few minutes um and then others that students actually uh find their own experiences and they can come to one of our um uh internship coordinator teachers and um actually input those into our program and uh this year it's all new to us because we're using a new software which is called imblaze um and Mr Russell will talk a little bit about that but currently we have 92 seniors placed in and around the community of Dartmouth which is a big increase from last year which was 49 and the hope is uh in the next few years to place every senior at Dartmouth High School out into an internship experience um and I know Mr Shay is a a big proponent of that and we're well on our way I think and uh we are really sparking a lot of interest in our program as a matter of fact we recently met with Fall River uh Family Services last week who has heard about our program very interested and working with our seniors not only for an internship experience but also for a compensated opportunity experience for work for students um after school hours as well as paying for college experience to BCC in those experiences that they're conducting the internship in so uh they have many uh placements right now in Fall River and we're hoping that other communities will step in and hear about this and we'll be placing students uh not only in our local community but in the surrounding communities as well and I think this is a a great opportunity for all seniors and I could say the for the purpose of this why what's our why why do we do this well uh in the past uh I know Mr Shay has spoken about this I have experienced when I went to high school like I was in an internship program and um the big purpose is for students to find out if their interest is truly their interest what we can do literally is give that opportunity or that experience to a student and they may decide that that opportunity or that experience is not for them as a career what does that mean that means that if a student let's say the medical field is interested in maybe a career in the medical field well they conduct an internship experience and they decide you know they might be oh I you know I I didn't think it was like this or I didn't think this entailed this well now we have literally saved that student thousands upon thousands of dollars going to college for a career that that student thought they were interested in and now says you know I try this I I don't think it's for me so then they can focus on something else that might spark their interest so I think um that's a good reason why for a student who just wants to explore experiences but for a student like like myself when I um did my internship in high school I was so laser focused on what I wanted to do and um I really went right into my internship and worked hard and and now it really was like a a stepping stone to other and bigger opportunities for me personally and I can see that with many of our seniors um they are not only spending hours within the program time but they are spending time outside of the internship program time after school hours and working with these mentors and working in these um specific job experiences so right now I'd like to introduce Mr Russell who's one of our uh business teachers and internship coordinators here he's going to talk a little bit about uh what we had to do to acquire our software that we're using and he'll talk a little bit about the IM blé software and Mass higher of uh great and new be hello I'm Mr Russell I am one of the uh internship teachers at the high school I am also um a uh business teacher here as well so uh yeah the as far as uh bringing the program to uh to a larger uh population uh it is H you know there are costs involved in we do work closely with mass hire um to help them def Fray any cost that we can uh wherever possible and um we have a contact over there who's been very very helpful um showing us uh giving us um actually you know ideas of what they can and cannot uh do to fund us and when I brought up the uh the program which is called in blaze this is the software program that we um that we um discovered from um visiting xbridge High School who uh works with that which I'll get to in a minute uh we were're hoping to um you know to integrate the software but at the before we went up to the school we did have that in the back of our head how much is this going to cost and uh uh it is actually something where we got a quote I believe is something three or roughly $3,000 per year and that's increment that can be incremental too because if we have n we call 90 student licenses right now so that costs $3,000 a year for us to use that software and um but we do have the uh we have we have that worked out for the next three years but if we do scale this up and we have uh more students we can go back and there's a good likelihood we can continue to uh have that funded 100% by mass hire so um Mass hire has been very helpful um for us in in in securing that U that resource which I'm going to actually just explain here um briefly so Oxbridge High School uh does use this um this program they have a they have a a smaller program it's a smaller school so there's not as not as uh many students involved in it and they do um get to really um you know closely um stay involved with what the students are doing in their internship through this program just briefly are we going to walk through the actually you want me walk through that I I can do okay so I'm just going to cut in here a little bit um so just to give you an idea of um what the software looks like this is the actual software page so um what students can do it's almost like a menu of different um job experiences and opportunities that students can log in and either select ones that we may have which currently our database um we literally have pages and pages of experiences as I scroll down and you can see that students already placed into those um experiences but not only do we have this to keep every time we add a position or a job that stays in the database and so those mentors we can almost guarantee that we'll have interns in the future for those um job experiences and what's nice about this app too is students also will log in using their smart device so when they go to the job site they actually log in right on their phone and we get the data of the um of the logins and the hours kept by the students uh when they're at their work experience which which is great and uh it's a great tool um to use just to pair up those student experiences with the actual seniors and this is only our first year of doing this and like uh Mr Russell said we went last year to see what Oxbridge high school was doing and they we kind of got the whole layout of the software there and um we found out about it there and but because there is a cost to it Mr Russell uh worked with mass hire and was able to save the district for the next three years it's about three or $4,000 every year just for the cost of the software so we save the district that much money so this is all free for us for the next three or four years so which is great um and then now I'd like to go back to our presentation and introduce uh Mr White who's going to talk about our placements hi good evening I'm Rick white I'm a business teacher at darmouth high school when I'm not coaching football I'm teaching business um nice to be here uh just going to talk a little bit about our interns and how they get placed Mr parate and Mr Russell talked about the emblaze app which is we we're building that database with some previous internships that we've had last year this is my first year doing doing it so we're kind of collecting all that uh information and putting it onto the app uh the other so the kids can come in and they can say go through the database online and see what might be a good match for them okay not everything on there is going to be a great match and they may be like hey coach I don't see anything I like so um in that regard we can say well what do you want to do what are you thinking like Mason's going to talk about his experience this year uh bushar who's a senior and he said I'm thinking engineering broad range we called Fen in Associates in Fair Haven hey what do you think about it I got a I got a guy that wants to do a a student that wants to do um an internship would you be a to take them on and then they can we set that meeting up and we meet with them see if it's a good fit the student meets with them see if it's a good fit and kind of go from there so there's a couple different ways of doing it um also students should uh if they have something that they know they want to do they can come to us with the idea with the contact information of the business in the area and they can bring it to us and then we can go through it that way and if it's a new internship experience we can kind of vet it out and see if it's going to be good a good match for Dartmouth High School it's a good match for the student and then go from there um but currently we're doing um these are some of the pictures from the fall uh of our interns with their mentors um throughout the community we go as far as fa Haven uh East and we go pretty much as far as Fall River West it's about 15 minutes either way um so we're looking at Fall River Westport Dartmouth uh New Bedford and uh Fair Haven um obviously they could go north a little bit I don't know why we don't seem to go north much uh but maybe next year we'll go a little further into Lakeville or somewhere like that but there's just more opportunities in the in the cities and in in the local areas here um so we do have students at in our own school system at the middle school and the elementary schools which is great for the kids in in in town to see the older kids and what they're doing if they especially if they're into an educational path uh and want to become teachers or work in the school systems uh later on we have a bunch of kids uh right now placed at South Coast Community Health um with through um at St Luke's hospital um and we also have students and so Medical Careers are huge right now and um Physical Therapy interns we have uh at hathon Medical we have people students shadowing surgeons uh and nurses and um so you know it it really runs the gamut we also have other uh students have come to us with trades that they want to work in construction and electrical and so they're they're they're partnered up with those companies right now and and it's um uh it's been really great to see and uh the kids show a lot more enthusiasm when when it's something that they really want to do and uh so so far so good um and we're going to continue to try to to to build as many uh different opportunities as possible in the next year and we get to hear from a few of our students tonight thank you so we have um three student presenters for you tonight uh we have Mason bushard who's over at Farland Corporation civil engineering we have Olivia aruo who's at bright dents of Dartmouth dentistry and we have Grace Haskell uh over at Fusion Physical Therapy so first up I'd like to introduce Mason buard hi everyone my name is Mason Bard I'm an intern at Farland Corp civil engineering and before I really get into what I want to say I just want to start off with that I'm very grateful to be given this opportunity to really understand what engineering really is because going into college as my senior I never really knew what engineering really entailed what it really was meant to be and thanks to this class I think I really know what I want to do with my life um so I started off this school year really contacting places getting to know what I really wanted to do for engineering and when Mr White had told me that Farland Court took interns that was the first place I really looked into um so when I first started I really didn't understand what I was going to be doing I didn't understand anything what engineering really had to do but now I've really I've really taken a grasp to it I do land surveying I help out with billing with the administr with the accountant and administrators I do I work on sites I help out with cleanup I help out with planning I uh I've really taken down the basics of AutoCAD which is pretty much primarily what they really work with and I've really I've really taken an understanding to everything and I've really gotten to the point where I've been able to go to go to meetings with project managers and I've gotten able to sit down and listen to them all talk about what projects have to do what they really what they really have to focus on to be able to get the projects done and what's needed to really get the job settled and everything that entails with it for my future plans though I'm really thanks to this internship I think I'm really going to take up in take up civil engineering that's pretty much what I've really taken a passion to overall I mean between the time you spend outside to the time you're in the office it's never you're never by yourself you're always moving you're always keeping it very on the go and I I've never really taken a liking to just always stay in a one place I really enjoy always keeping my feet moving understanding what the difference between just how to get things done and I really think this is what I'm going to do thank you next up is Olivia Ario and um Olivia is at bright dense ofart hi um my name is Olivia rjo I am a dental assistant at BR of Dartmouth um I have been with this office since July now um during over the summer I really just wanted to get a head start on my future with the dental career um kind of pursue like I said my future um my experience is there what I've been doing is I've been working with a lot of patients so I'm dealing with um Pediatrics children along with older people um I've been doing some you know like basic Dentistry stuff um fillings root canals extractions um I've helped the hygienist with like cleanings um I do take X-rays um this office has helped me with a lot through since I've been with them they helped me obtain my dental assisting license so um they helped me uh go to schooling at T University for my Radiology um as long as um with my infection control stuff as well um it's helping me with my future get a head start um for my plans for the future I will be uh going to Bristol Community College for dental hygiene um so it's kind of giving me a head start here um I am really grateful for the internship um program we have here helping me um get in out there um that's kind of all I have I'm sorry and finally we have Grace Haskell who's at Fusion Physical Therapy hi everyone my name is Grace hasell and I am an intern at Fusion Physical Therapy I'm shadowing a PA and a PT and a PTA um I've had an amazing experience with Fusion I mean they're great people but you're learning so much I mean I've learn I've seen hip replacements knee Replacements knee surgeries um shoulder surgeries and just people with problems that they want to fix um so impact of real world it's I feel like this is probably the best learning I've had in my four years here I mean handson is like my thing so being able to watch someone do what they love and take that in is just amazing and I've learned so much um um I've worked to learn the exercises and relay those to the patients and watch them grow and improve and get better which is just so like it's so heartwarming to watch especially with the older people it's just so nice and then my plans for the future is I'm going to Marram college and I'm majoring in BIO and doing a double minor in health science and Kinesiology to either be a PT or a PA I haven't really decided yet but this internship has definitely helped me see what they actually do I mean I had my ideas about what they did and really watching them has shown me what they truly do and the ins and outs which is so important so I've loved it and I've had a great time thank you all right so just wrapping up here um as our program grows and evolves uh it's it's our major intent to work with the upcoming junior class for this year to really focus in and tune into their specific unique Journey for their experiences next year and we are we're going to try hard to increase our numbers from the 92 up even higher that's the idea so uh I'll let uh Mr White if you can cover our first initiative okay so um March 2024 um right now our our Juniors all of our underclassmen are signing up for courses for next year um so pushing the internship to our junior class is going to be very important um so we'd like to have our seniors uh present to the Juniors uh about the internship program itself um so really getting the word out and we'll probably call the Juniors down is what we're thinking during a pace period U or something like that to get uh the all of the junior class to at least hear the presentation and decide if something that they want to be uh signing up for so we're just going to recruit we're going to recruit as many kids as we can because we definitely see the value in it thank you okay just to follow up on that thanks Rick um yeah from March to April through June um when students are juniors are wrapping up their you know their junior year they it really moves quickly and um just to make a little bit of a Improvement to the to the quality of the of the um you know the fit of which students go where what they choose to do of whether they bring their own ideas to um to the table they want to do or they want to use uh the resources we have in the emblaze program um that's where the senior class can really help by um working with them in a presentation doing a QA answering questions for the uh for the students and seeing what's available what type of opportunities are out there for instance uh with um with the South Coast program with Charlton Hospital we charlon Memorial in Fall River we have uh we have a mentorship over there with somebody who rotates students through five different uh modalities of um Radiology students go through there they had no idea that it wasn't just nursing you could work in in Pro specific programs like ultrasound and radiology and they found that uh you know that might be something for them also students there might uh get opportunities to move into other U parts of the hospital into nursing if they don't like that so uh this program really especially with the emblaze uh software which is there's a lot of visual uh presentation to it so they can really really pan through it quickly and get a sense for what they want to do so hopefully um just hearing from the seniors and also just bringing to the table what their Ambitions are we can get a good match for them the real key is um having them do it before the summer because we've sent them off during the summer to you know to finalize if they don't have it yet but it's best for them to just know so they can hit the ground running when they come back they have a contact already in place soon as we get here beginning of September they're ready to go out and start working rather than having concerns about whether or not um they're going to be able to find something in time or if what they're doing is right so we're just going to use our our in-house resources possibly even bring in some some career people to speak to the students as well and um and work from that and then ultimately we're going to talk about the Capstone right going from there yeah thank you so and then to end the year off in May uh we're going to have our seniors make presentations like they did tonight um of uh their experiences whether it be in the classroom or uh uh Public Presentation perhaps to uh even Juniors or sophomores at the end of the year it's important to encourage the younger students um into this uh Endeavor so we're even thinking um even bringing in the uh underclassman to um almost almost like a TED talk so to speak in the auditorium that's what we're thinking and uh to Showcase what our what our seniors are doing with um presentations and photos uh like a TED Talks so and and um we hope to wrap that up for the end of the school year in May and that's our presentation for tonight so questions and answers Q&A we're all here W turn over to my colleagues what thank you Mr parate thank you uh the members of the senior class as well as the staff uh here with you this evening has th has this been the first Like official year of the program or had have we had this in the past um I'll let Mr Shay yeah I'm just curious it's always been a part of the program of studies like I said I in 2001 was a part of it but um like they said there was really declining enrollment in the program and um every year we go to the administrative team goes to a summer Institute and we met the um Mike Rubin at who from Oxbridge who really is innovative in this field and he really was pushing it with Dave MOA on us and saying this you got to build up your program you got a big up program your seniors need experience they need that work experience so coming into last year we really made a start of of an exploration of building it up knowing the numbers were low so we spent last year exploring and then into this year was when we really kicked it off and then as we're growing we're seeing tweaks like one of the things that they said is we want our seniors to have or our Juniors that are going to be part of it to have a placement by June so they can come in in September really hitting the ground running thank you yes personally I'm I'm thrilled that dmouth high is moving in this direction and really promoting and advertising and really pushing our our seniors to take these uh types of internship courses to get we've heard three great presentations from the seniors uh this evening regarding you know career exploration what their you know what their possibilities are for the future uh so I am certainly a proponent of this and I'm thrilled to see that uh dmouth High School um leadership and the faculty are moving taking this to the next step so thank you thank you all for your presentation thank you um so I'm I'm curious is all of this after school sometimes does this happen during school is there a minimum number of hours that um you're at your internship um how does all that work and I think it's great fabulous number of hours Grace um so we are required 7even hours per week I know I go probably 8 to 10 um I work with a PT place but I'm also working somewhere else in Rhode Island as an intern and so I'm probably getting about 15 hours a week and I think that experience it's just a great and the the more hours I go I feel like the more I learn and the better I get every week talk about when you leave school talk about when you school so Mason's doing a morning internship but he's also can I speak for [Laughter] you so uh he's in the morning but if we have a one block one hour block where he it's a rotating schedule so he can't always go in the morning so he set it up with them so he can go after school on certain days too so he's gone above and beyond the requirements by not only going in the morning but on the days that he can't is is often times that he does the afternoon but how many hours um I probably get around 8 to nine hours it's a little it's a little difficult more in the morning due to only having two periods and then I use my free period as well to be able to get at least two two and a half hours in in a day and then after school I get out at 20:3 of course and they close at 4:30 so I can only get about 2 hours in even after school but even still I still can make up up enough hours that I can I can really say I've accomplished a lot doing this doing this whole experience it's just it's I've really enjoyed it thank you can I add something just quickly um you go ahead there Olivia I was talk about um leaving school um so my hours within the week I probably get they range between like 15 to 20 um mainly because I am there uh I'll leave here sometimes around 11:30 other times I'll be out of here by one and then I'll get to work by like I don't know it's only like a 10-minute ride from here so it's not that big of a difference um during the week I'm probably there for five hours and then on weekends I'm probably there between well Fridays I'd be there eight hours and if I pick up on Saturday as well there I'll be there for about nine hours as well so I do get a good amount of hours in between my internship and here so yeah I was just going to add that uh one of one of the things with the program is we can set up for the students a fixed schedule where they have hours Monday through Friday we say it's 1 to two or 12 to two or we can we can keep that open and the students report a block of ours so there there's that um there there's that adaptability to the program and also they can U we can actually too have them move in the in the program really sort of intuitively encourages this for them to to um roll in other Journeys they call them or experiences so not that you want to stay at the same place for the whole semester or year you may learn other opportunities it be a day or two you want to go and see what someone else is doing you might for example I bring back Charlton again the charlon memorial hospital any student can take up to 30 experience days there so they can pick days to go and if they want to see what real is like and they know they can fit their schedule some days they have a two block some days they have a one that can be a challenge but that program is perfect because they can just send the schedule ahead to the contact and she sends them back ours and they go in and they do the rotations and so that's that's another advantage of the program and also with Olivia they Journal their experiences too weekly and you know I could really see the um how her hours went from like 10 to 15 to 20 I think 30 sometimes 30 30 40 hours a week you can see how she's built you know you can see the enthusiasm for what she's doing by the hours that she's do because she's picking up hours you know on the weekend as well so she's done a great job with it it's a great success story and again the the software really does help us adapt to the schedules but I'm going to step aside so someone else can talk here Dr Jenkins so I you know I think this is a great program it's always great um you know I ran an internship program and we had a lot of students who thought they would wanted to go to law school and they would intern in a law firm and they would find out that in fact it was not the career for them so to your points like saving these several hundred th000 and finding that out is just as good of outcome as figuring out that you love the career and you want to go there so it's awesome my only recommendation having you know sort of worked and securing internships I don't know if you do any placements with state and local government um but I would encourage you towns as we know budgets are always tight um they're always looking for people to help out and from police to DPW to you know working for a town manager there are lots of opportunities um to work for state and local governments and because I'm a political scientist I'm always telling my students right there's good jobs in state and local government you get things like health insurance and pensions a lot of which are unheard of in the private sector um so I find that those are really good opportunities for a wide variety of sorts of interests um public health is another example where students can work if they're in health rated Fields so I'd encourage you if you're not doing that already to reach out because there's a lot of local you know thinking going up to Lakeville or going to Westport right there are a lot of opportunities there and I found that super that's super fruitful thank you we we currently actually we have a a student intern working with the Dartmouth Police Department uh we also have a student at the F Haven fire department if I'm not mistaken yeah so we we are currently doing some of that but yeah we would like to do more so anybody watching this please reach out to us excellent Mr thank you thank you madam chair fantastic this this is this is great the interesting thing when you last sometimes somebody asks all the questions that you were looking at and one of them I had was you know the time frame when you're there that's been answered which is great one of the uh questions and Dr Jenkins kind of mentioned it a little bit is you know in the state and and such do you have uh students out in the business World I.E you know accounting and things of that nature and the reason I asked that is coming from the municipal field uh I think of Sean Cronin who's the uh director of accounts and local Services up in Boston and we're crying for Town accountants and finance people because you can't find them type of deal so that's you know something out there to to put a a bug in it's you know so last year too we've had students uh my son did one with sou bees International in real estate and then we we you know anybody that has that business I'm a business teacher so I'm always pushing the marketing uh internships and Finance and Accounting so so um those aren't is you know we got to go out and get those um kids don't always you know it's one of those uh things where the kids don't really understand what that looks like in the real world you know what I mean I think they see it they may have parents that work in the field um but to get them out there uh yeah we we're definitely going to work on those now it's tax season so if there's any CPA firms looking for students you know type of deal as a pen P you know we're taking that like uh Mr ver said we're we're everybody at anyone who wants to jump any business that's in locally that that wants to do it we we're welcome to talk thank you just to add to so also we have several students that are in real estate that really picked up that working with Realtors too so that's a piece of it one last year I'm working with Citizens Bank too in like a loan risk department but I think that's a great that's a great idea for us to move forward with especially accounting and so thank you and and the last question I have and not trying to put the students on the spot but what have you guys taken from this program um I've taken a lot from this program um like I said earlier I'm a very Hands-On learner so being in a classroom is a great and like right now I'm taking Anatomy so pairing Anatomy with PT is just it's perfect so I'm learning about bones in my anatomy class and then I learn about someone with a spiral fracture so stuff like that it's very you can connect the two but I don't necessarily think you get the experience in the classroom that you do in a real world situation like that so I've taken a lot away I've learned a lot I mean I've gained a lot I've learned what pts actually do which is very important like Mr um white and Mr Russell said so that's it's just an amazing experience I think it's super important to get outside of the classroom um I've taken pretty much most of every engineering course at dmouth high I've there a couple haven't taken I'm finishing them the rest of them in my next term but um I got the basis down for engineering with these classes I've taken but with this internship I've really I've hit that Mark where I really can say I've made a jump in learning what I really want to do because of it I've really like the auto the doing AutoCAD this school offers CAD but it's nothing compared to what they do they they're always Hands-On they're talking on the phone they're always in contact with people making sure that all the property lines everything is all the way they want it to be and the computer on the computer you can't make mistakes you got to always be correct it always has to line up properly but with the school I like I said I got the bases down with the cad now that I'm doing AutoCAD it's all it all lines up in the end but without this internship it's really it's just been a blast I've really enjoyed it I love the people I work with I love my mentor I love all they all just make the they make it so fun every day thank you um with this internship I've taken away um a lot more of public speaking skills I'm I'm very anxious when I talk to people I'm not familiar with but this has helped me a whole lot um I'm also very big like Hands-On learner so this that's also helped me a lot um it's helped me learn new things that I didn't really know that I would learn um at this office I do both Dental Assisting and I do front desk so I'm working a lot with with checking patients in and out um insurances and contacting insurance companies so I am learning a whole lot about like um like credit like credit payments and whatnot for patients uh with treatments so it is helping me learn a whole lot and it's helping me expand my knowledge to the Dentistry world and like price like money and everything so thank you thank you madam chair yeah no I think all I I I'll add um going last everyone pretty much has said it um everything but I I first I just it's so incredibly um to see how it's great to see how you all have reimagined this program um and for the students what a testament to the students and the future of this uh Community I could not have stood up there as a senior and uh nor had the wherewithal to recognize that I you know uh Mason you mentioned you know you all sort of mentioned Hands-On learning you mentioned uh recognizing that you know a job on your feet on the go is something that you're interested I did not have that I was not self-aware I don't think I am now at 50 self-aware enough for some of that um but so impressed with all that you've shared um I put down I I just jotted down leadership I I it's exciting to think about how enriched your future learning is going to be by having that lived experience um and and just I wrote down the word meaningful just you've all had such meaningful um experiences and and I'm sure that there are so many others up to that 90s something number that we're up to now for the internship um Good Luck to all of you you are just topnotch uh um what a testament to to the school department by hearing about all that you're doing and and excited about all that's to come um so that's all that I have thank you for your time and go ahead I just want to say one more thing because I wanted to say that you know arleene back there excuse me she's in our program as well and she's had a great experience she has a she had something else to do but she I wanted her to acknowledge her I know she was here to do some other things but you know there you are thank you for thank you for participating as last year too so thank you anden Oliver is also in the program as well sitting right next2 people so excuse me Aiden I'm sorry and uh do Dr Sab Maguire wanted to add a couple thank you I I did and most of you asked the questions and I had written down a few notes but I just want to say when I think about strategic planning and I hear the questions around is this something we've done before I think that this is a phenomenal example of why why strategic planning is so incredibly important to us as a school district because this is a program that we would want to expand and the school committee is sitting here listening to all those opportunities that you've been given and know that that's going to make a difference for you when you leave this high school and it sets you up for success and after all that's what we're aiming for in our prek to 12 space is that you're all going off after school after your high school your um prek to2 experience and experiencing success in adult life and the fact that you're doing it here in the community in the area um again it speaks to what you just said Mrs Amaral about having your talent come back and give to your community I want to thank the teachers here um wonderful Mr White I've only seen you on the sideline great job coaching but even more phenomenal job coaching these young students as they go off into the next phase the next chapter of their schooling thank thank you Mr Russell wonderful I love that you're this committed to making sure kids have this experience and Mr parate I know that you know I've seen you at work with many many young students and have great confidence in the skills that you're building in our students and I would like to Echo Mrs Amal I'm super impressed with all of the students who got up and came to the microphone this evening um so congratulations to you I'm glad you're developing that skill early in life because it is going to take you far so thank you thank you good job great [Applause] job so great I think great I think next on our agenda moving on um where is it resolu resolu resolution 24-1 resolution awarding contract for regular and late school bus transportation services I will turn it over to you Doctor thank you so much so um as you know or some of you might know Mr Kylie is out of the district today he has a um a family matter that he is attending to so uh I know that within your packet you had a memo from him but I'm just going to go over some of the points that that he made and submitting his requests for regular and late transportation services um as you know or as you don't probably don't know U but after reading we had one bid for regular and late transportation and that bidder was trembl I don't think anyone here is surprised by that I think Mr Kylie's pretty much been saying that all along and although he allocated uh within our budget 15% a 15% increase it's actually 26% again he predicted that this might happen and what um I think he wants us all to pay attention to certainly the school committee is but for those in the public listening is that the current School transportation climate uh both here uh locally and nationally is um is really challenging and that there is in fact a bus driver shortage and that wages have increased pretty significantly as a result of that so in addition with inflation the way it is right now it's no surprise that these costs have increased uh somewhat dramatically U Mr Kylie has taken the time to review other districts and look at the the uh bid results and he believes that that this is in fact in our best interest to award this contract uh he has done some preliminary work on uh you know he recognizes this would be about a $75,000 Gap in funding but he is at work identifying some efficiency improvements again as he mentioned at our last meeting that he hopes will result in the elimination of at least one bus and that would uh offset some of the cost uh some of the deficit so this is a one-year contract uh it is um upon your approval after the one year we can exercise a two-year option and so he as you know Mr Kylie continues to monitor the current trends he keeps a really close watch on what's going on certainly in this area and so that's his recommendation and with that I am going to read um the resolution number 2401 resolution awarding a contract for re regular late transportation services K to 12 whereas should it be prek to 12 y no okay I just want to make sure sure they're like no okay from thank you whereas bid invitations for regular transportation services K to2 were duly advertised and the bid proposals received were opened at 10:00 a.m.

on January 2nd 2024 and whereas the bid from the only responding bidder tremblay's bus company LLC was reviewed and deemed to have met the public specifications therefore be it resolved that a contract for the regular late transportation Services K12 be awarded to tremble bus company LLC 284 Myrtle Street New Bedford Massachusetts based on Dartmouth Public School specifications dated December 24th 2024 for the period of July 1st 2024 and ending June 30th 2025 the contract offered is for an initial an an initial period of one year beginning July 1st 20 2024 through June 30th 2025 with two additional one-year options to be exercised at the sole discretion of the school committee of the town of Dartmouth for a maximum end date of June 30th 2027 the rate for July 1st 2024 through June 30th 2025 is $477 per route per day so moved second question yep discussion yeah um so under resolved it says Public School specifications dated December 27th 2024 isn't that 2023 should be 2023 yes yes okay so we'll make that correction anyone else CHR thank you madam chair here so yeah I just want to briefly speak to the fact that this is coming in at 26% increase and I know we were locked into this current rate for three years but when we're talking about prop 2 and a half and we're talking about uh you know trying to stay live within our means it's very difficult to live within our means when we have transportation contracts that are coming in at 26% um higher than they were the previous year uh so you know I just ask uh the viewing public and uh those those of you watching this uh recorded just to keep that in mind that you know we do we certainly do our best and I know at the Joint uh The Joint meeting with the fincom and the select board we did have a conversation specifically uh discussing transportation and how uh it's it's it's constantly a uh constantly a moving Target and Mr Kylie and the transportation department does do a phenomenal job trying to uh clean up routes but at the end of the day we do have to bust our students um so you know I just I just want to mention that we are cognizant but 26% is a lot of money thank you thank you Mr Oliver Dr Jenkins yeah I'll also note I think some people might be surprised that there was only one bid but this isn't just a Dartmouth problem there's been stories in the globe about how most communities in the Commonwealth are receiving only one bid for their transportation services is um it's not an issue that we're going to fix here in the town of Dartmouth um this is something that the state needs to probably look at because you know I don't I don't want to say bus companies are colluding but they have the bandwidth to deal with the contract that they have so they don't bid on any other contracts um there's just not excess capacity in the system um and so when that happens right um there there aren't sort of Market forces driving cost down um it's it's across the state it's not just here in Dartmouth and so um it may be frustrating to see that there's just one bid but I think we were all expecting it and it's there's there's not much that we can do about that no I'm good it's everybody said M yeah yeah I don't really have anything it is what it is as well so we have a motion on the floor we have a a second um no further discussion I will um all in favor I I motion passes unanimously 5 Z thank you everyone all right next on our [Music] agenda is old business uh Dr Sab Maguire again I'll turn it over thank you and so again um we're look Mr Kylie is seeking the committee's approval of the FY 25 through 29 Capital Improvement plan a reminder this was presented at the committee's January 8th meeting meeting and in fact I also have notes Here uh just to reference that U Mr Kylie began presenting the capital Improvement plan uh back in September uh as a matter of fact at the September 22nd meeting and then again at the January 4th meeting I know that you have uh you have that in front of you in your packets but uh he's looking for your approval to move forward well we are not just Mr Kylie anyone have any um questions points of discussion yeah Madam chair make make a motion we approve the uh excuse me the FY 25 to FY 29 Capital approvement plan as uh presented back on uh January 8th I'll second that okay we have a motion by Mr Nunes a second by Mr Oliver any further discussion I just want yeah Madam chair through you to either the superintendent or Kate um when he goes to present this to the uh CIP committee if somebody let you know if I'm available because I know it's usually at 8:00 in the morning type of deal you know if I'm available I'd like to be able to attend perfect thank you noted thank you great um do we all did I say all in favor no the further discussion we no anybody else have anything additional no all in favor I hi passes unanimous um five nothing so now we'll move on to new business and we're moving into the discussion and vote for school choice 2025 we open the floor my colleagues for yeah Dr Jenkins so yeah I would just like to um clear up some misconceptions that were entered into the record earlier this evening during public comment um the assertion was made that the Dartmouth schools lose money on school choice and that is just simply not true we do spend on average $117,000 per student that pays for this building it pays for the lights are on in this room it pays for the books that are in this Library it pays for the librarian who is here it pays for the janitorial staff the maintenance staff the nurses the superintendent all of that is counted in the amount that we spend per pupil if you get rid of school choice student none of those costs go away they all continue to exist right and so we are not losing money on school choice children if you think about a classroom like what's in front of me right and I put two people in those front two seats and I still have one teacher I am not increasing costs at all we have not hired additional staff to staff classes for our school choice children so I want to be clear there are no increases in pension or a tirey health care costs that come from school choice all right it is simply a misconception to say that we lose money on school choice when I add two students to those seats at the front of this room I might have to flush the toilet a few more times I might have to wash hands right I might have to buy some books right that doesn't cost $5,000 all right so it's simply not true that we are losing money on school choice children and so I people can believe that but the facts do not support that there is also an assertion that right why are we adding students of class size is the strongest predictor of Student Success it is but class size is the strongest predictor of Student Success and the effects are greatest at the lowest levels right a class of 30 in first grade is different than a class of 30 in high school both are hard but one is just a little bit harder all right and we're not talking about that we have variable class sizes in the high school so I want to be clear that this is not increasing the cost for the town of Dartmouth that is not having a negative impact on Student Success and I think we heard from the other people who came and spoke this evening that the students who come here through school choice add value to our school Community um so they add value to the taxpayers and the the town of Dartmouth in terms of those benefits they add value when they sit in our classrooms and they interact with our other children and to say otherwise I think is simply not true thank you drins Mr Nunes thank you madam chair uh as usual my plan is to vote no okay and again it's nothing against it's just a fundamental that I have always uh I've always voted on and and believed in type of deal but take a step back okay with what we've had in school choice the funds that we've had in school choice and yes we have $2 million in that account you know unfortunate fortunately unfortunately the pandemic you know with all the federal funds that have come down the pipeline we didn't have to use it okay thank God we've got it because other than that we would be sitting here trying to figure we would really be scrambling for an override between now and June 30th for a million5 dollars minimal in my opinion the type of deal deal okay we've I think the district has been very frugal in using those funds you know between one to one to computers and you know the nice nice presentation that Mr Kylie gave us uh at our last meeting and such yes we did this past year for this current year we've taken money out of it instead of a one-time purchase we've taken it out for per se covering costs with it being uh you know supplies and maintenance and things of that nature the million and a half that we taking out for next year those are you know those are basically recurring costs that are going to come up so we're walking that very slippery slope so we're going to have to be very careful but you know I'm glad we have it don't get me wrong type of deal and it's been a a blessing in a godsend but my vote is still no thank you Mr Nunes anyone else sure yeah Mr I'll go I I certainly agree uh with my colleague Dr Jenkins you know for me you have someone you have people in town that are against school choice but yet like Mr noon said if it wasn't for our school choice we'd be having a much different conversation here this evening so it it just it frustrates me and it boggles my mind that after the disc the multiple discussions that this committee this budget subcommittee Dr Jenkins and myself have had with other boards in this town that we still come to some people still come to that consensus school choice is a value it is an intrinsic value it is certainly brings in money it adds a substantial value to the culture of Dartmouth it it allows students from outside of Dartmouth to come into this District that otherwise wouldn't be able to um so I I am certainly certainly far school choice and it's only at the high school and I don't know how many times we have to say this is that we have a course catalog at the high school these courses have to run regardless whether we have two or three students in there or if we add a few more school choice students in there it does not make a difference if it comes to a point in which okay are we're keeping students in Dartmouth High School that and we have to lower our school choice numbers we're going to do that but the reality is we are losing students from 8th grade that are going to new badford voke into other schools and believe it or not school choice is very is getting very very competitive in this state there are a number of local districts that are uh voting in school choice every year and I can assure you that there are some darmouth students as much as I would love to see them stay in dmouth that are accepting they choicing out of Dartmouth to other school districts so I want to do what we can to build up what we have our capacity to keep our Dartmouth students from going outside of Dartmouth but I also want I'll if we have the capacity let's take those students in because I think it's a win-win for everyone anyone else can I just ask one point of clarification um uh Dr s McGuire correct me if I'm wrong I believe that the school the state school choice program does not allow us to accept additional payments because that came up several times um during the comments if we're if we're going through the state's program where the state reimburses us we cannot then turn around and charge um families who are sending their kids here to pay additional fees is that correct that is correct we wouldn't be able to I just want to make sure we clarify that also in public comment thank you you stole my thunder Dr Jenkins I pulled up the policy and everything any other questions thank you for doing that I I saw a hand raised oh you're good anyone else yeah I I I would um uh just I mean I'm I don't have anything else to add I'm in in agreement Dr Jenkins you were so eloquent and and I loved your visual demonstration pointing to those two seats uh because I do think it's sort of uh folks want to think what they want to think but the reality is the facts are as you presented them um and and I do believe we are just incredibly enriched by the students that come here from other communities um and I wish the student that students that spoke were here to hear that uh because I think that's really important we learn from one another and we only know what we know and I learned from you and and and Etc so it's really um uh strengthens the fabric of who we are it really enriches us um as a community uh just as we're going out with our internship program to other communities welcoming students here I mean it's about it's about just being one Dartmouth and being um you know just gracious and you know open to to that uh enrichment um as I see it so that's all I will share I did pull up the policy cuz I was going to kind of circle back to that point that it we we we allow for a certain number we vote in a range of what we can take in each class you know year um and so we couldn't then based on their policies but we couldn't then go back and say oh I'm going to squeeze in one here if you give me some money on the side it's just not appropriate ethical it's not part of our policy so um thank you Dr Jenkins for bringing that up up uh without I guess at this point Mr Oliver yeah I do have just what one quick statement I do want to thank I know I don't think there in some of you may still be here but thank you to all the uh the students uh that that uh Dartmouth High students or students outside of the district that spoke to about school choice this evening yeah great and so now it's time to vote yeah um Dr Jenkins so I will make a motion that we the school committee vote to authorize uh school choice for the 2024 to 2025 school year um I guess I would say at levels similar to what we have done in previous years at the discretion of the administrative team thank you second we have a motion by Dr Jenkins a second by Mr Oliver any further discussion hearing none um all in favor I I opposed me one so we it uh passes four four one AB uh one um nay one against so um thank you for one thank you um great annual report 2023 annual report attached for our review um for um it's required to approve before we uh forward it to town Hall Madam chair make a motion that we approve the 2023 annual report as sent to us second okay we have a motion we have a second any discussion nice job yeah thanks everyone who put this all together yeah yes um I will just say that we should go over it not we but someone should just go over at a final time to make some punctuation Corrections and M um Clarity okay can I just say one thing about the just I just want to mention as far as the annual report is concerned I'm really interested in um really spending more time reading it because um this is the first time that I've seen that this is what Dartmouth commits to every year and I'm looking forward to working with the committee and with staff here in Dartmouth to talk about ways that we can bring that annual report to life um so that it's more of something that the public can hear about um Beyond a written document so I can see that in the future and um I'll be bringing that to you I love that idea great maybe we can yes Mr news once you know given a final go through type of deal we can post it on the website on the homepage or something yes okay I will say a very informative document as to what the schools are about a lot of work you can see that yeah I mean if you look at the then again I look at the finance but look at the you know the amount of grants that we get type of deal is is unbelievable yeah so nice job by everybody thank you all right um all in favor I I passes unanimously 5 Z next on our agenda you'll see um an authoriza we'll discuss an authorization to release um many uh executive session minutes um and so for uh our review calendar years 2022 and 2023 um and I would ask that we consider um and bring up any of that may Mr noons yeah Madam chair and bear with me please yes do this in two pieces uh I make a motion that we release the executive session minutes for uh 2022 and 2023 okay second okay so we have a motion on the floor for release of all of the executive session minutes listed for 2022 and 2023 yes and a second by Dr Jenkins okay any further discussion on that no okay um all in all favor I I Tes unanimously for 2022 2023 Madam chair there's uh and I'm I apologize I don't know the dates but there are some from 2021 that we need to still hold okay type of deal I don't know if Miss Gunther or Dr Sabre Maguire know the dates but this that we need to hold and not release so we have uh the June minutes the November minutes and the October minutes that we would recommend that we continue to hold okay okay okay thank you so Madam chair I'll make a motion that we release the executive session minutes for January 25th 2021 February 8th 2021 May 26 2020 April 26 I apologize thank you 2021 and May 17th 2021 second we have a motion for the 2021 um January February April May as noted by Mr noones a second by Dr Jenkins any further discussion no I hearing none all in favor I I passes unanimously um five nothing beautiful okay and next we have superintendent excellent thank you so much so there just there are a few things that we want to update you on under teaching and learning I'm going to invite uh Mr tbolt up to talk he's going to discuss uh some of the changes that are still in the proposal but pretty close to um I think are they official yet last time they weren't quite yet we were still going through some public hearings but as you know uh post P pandemic post pandemic absenteeism not only here in Dartmouth uh or the state of Massachusetts but really nationally and I would be willing to bet internationally um absenteeism has continued to be a real challenge for us at every level of the school system um I I'm pleased to say that last year this past year when we looked at our accountability and Ross is going to talk about this um that we did make some progress but we want to make you aware of some of the changes that desie is proposing and the impact that will have on the weight of our uh the impact that will'll have on our mcast calculations moving forward thank you Dr Sabre Maguire um so as you alluded to there are actually two proposed changes to the accountability system that the commissioner is making to the Board of Education um the first is here on the screen now which is just to change the to include a third year of data towards the accountability um system and to change the waiting it used to be two years of accountability data and it was a 6040 split um and the commissioner reports that you know the plan was always to get to um you know uh several years of data but with the pandemic that was um delayed and so they're making the recommendation at this point to split it between three years obviously with 2024 which would be the most recent year would count the highest at 60% and then the 40% would be split between 2023 which would be at 25% and then finally 2022 the third year out would be 15% so that's one of the proposed changes that they're they're making and then as Dr saber Maguire uh made reference to the other um significant change is the commissioner really wants to focus in chronic absenteeism and chronic absenteeism is defined as students who are absent for 10% or more of the school year and I think it's important to note that the department of Ed does not distinguish between excused and unexcused absences um I think there's a misconception that if you know um students are called out uh because they're legitimately sick that that then does not count you know we excuse it locally but in terms terms of accountability and state reporting in absence is an absence and the reason for that um is because we know that when you're not in front of your teachers loss instructional time impact student achievement and and student learning um obviously and so um what this commissioner is proposing is here on the screen um and the proposed waiting I would just say for our community where a low instant a what's called a low instance Community meaning our multilingual learner English language learner population um is not um uh as significant as some other districts so for our purposes we'd likely fall into the no elel waiting um and so the change here is really to take um 15% of the accountability and put that onto uh an additional 10% to make 25% for chronic absenteeism the other thing to note is that that 15% mostly comes from student achievement and the reason for that again is the the logic is that um you know that's where being absent really shows up so why keep that high and also add to Chronic absenteeism is uh is the logic there um so the new proposed waiting uh for you know schools that don't have um a significant El population would be 52% would be achievement and that's in ela math and um science and then 23% would be on student growth and then the 25% would be for chronic ABS andm again that's for non- high schools so that would be for all our elementary schools and our middle school as well and then for high school which is a bit more complex in terms of the accountability again likely in the far right column um but 42% would be achievement which is down from 47.5% and then um student growth would be 23% 10% for high school completion and again High School completion includes four-year graduation rate the extended uh engagement rate which is our students who don't quite graduate in four years but remain enrolled with us to finish out their and earn their high school diploma that would be the extended engagement rate um and annual dropout rate those three factors um would count for 10% which is 10% less than they currently account for um chronic absenteeism would be 20% up from 5% and then um Advanced coursework completion so completing at least one college dual enrollment one project lead the way or one advanced placement course um in your junior or senior year that's what counts towards that 5% so again that's what is proposed by the commissioner to the board not sure when the the board uh meets again to to vote on this um but they did take public input um which they released a summary of um the mass Association of school superintendents has recommended putting together a multi-stakeholder uh committee to look at this rather than to make this change halfway through the year however um the commissioner and the department of Ed has moved forward and is recommending um this change tomorrow morning so very very TI oh they're voting tomorrow so this yeah and public hearing closed on uh January 12th it was it was I have to say a very short timeline wow yeah so I would just add that CRI you know this is a uh CommunityWide this is not something that schools can solve alone we need um support and we know that the pandemic has really shifted some behaviors and mindsets around attending school but I think I would just take this opportunity to encourage attendance at school is critically important our teachers cannot teach Empty Chairs um and so you know um please uh you know send your students to school if they're well and able to be there yeah thank you thank you questions Mr noes thank you madam chair got to love it you know call you call you at 11 59 and say you got to vote by midnight got to love it uh seriously thank you for this uh yes I I totally agree with you you know we need the we need the students in in their seats type of deal but my question is you know you talk about chronic GS onism and everything else I mean God forbid what do you how do you count a student you know that has a serious illness or you know a surgery or God know knows whatever else could happen I mean what what's their take on that so their take is in absence is an absence and they're not you know in school for instruction but I will say too uh I did not mention this but there is some um the commissioner has vaguely referenced a few times that there will be some opportunities to um earn back um absences if you will through either Saturday sessions or an accelerated uh notice I credited the commissioner Mr Oliver these not my ideas no um Saturday sessions and our accelerated acmy the way we've we've run uh accelerated cies and again it sounds good in theory but to recreate instruction that goes on during a school day this week in a Saturday session two weeks from now or a accelerated Academy during February vacation or what have you I just sounds good in theory I just don't know practically how that impacts student learning yeah but all right thank you sir no I was just going to say I I vaguely remember hearing something about for students that are medically at home due to a medical diagnosis if they we provide tutoring to them I think that does count to some extent I don't know if it counts for a full day or how many hours that if we provide tutoring at least 50% of the academic day we count them we should be counting them as pres for instruction so gotcha so I guess my gripe with this with the chronic absenteeism ra going from 5 to 20% is we know that absenteeism is a problem um and we also know that there's only so much that we as a school district can do about it um we can make recommendations we can send home uh strongly worded letters um but at the end of the day um it's really out of our control control so it's it's certainly frustrating that there's there's no um there's no bite to our bark um and I'd love to hear what the commissioner's recommendation would be or what the uh Board of education's recommendation would be and how you know locals can do a little more um enforcing of this because at the end of the day it really we can only do so much as a district and it's frustrating that we're going to be penalized um at the of 20% for students that are chronic uh chronically absent yeah I guess you know I just would like to share that I know that our schools our our school leaders our teachers I mean they are aware of this Challenge and are doing everything within you know their sphere of influence to ensure that kids are coming to school I know the high school made some uh pretty pretty significant modifications to their school schedule as one way to uh ensure that students are in school during their first class of the day I mean the I guess the The Challenge and the opportunity is is that we really we're postco we're still feeling the impact but we're getting there with our students we are making an impact in their perspective and our families on the fact that we all need to be in school um unless we're really sick right and and that's what we're working on again across the district that's been something that we've had multiple conversations about we want our students here if our families are listening we're just encouraging you to make sure that your students are in school your children are in school and if you need some support with that to reach out to your individual child's school and will help to come up with the plan if any of uh our children our students are having any kind of really difficulty uh being here every day but it is important um we do we do know that this is a challenge encouragingly Dartmouth has made steady progress in this area and if I could just add to that I know looking at the data it looks like we're tracking towards improving again um in this current school year but at the end of the day it will be do we hit our targets or not um you know and that's the other point that I would just add is that um the the proposed changes are comparing ourselves to ourselves not to other schools so that'll be important anyone else have any questions or comments just thank you for the present thank you for the information bringing this to us thank you thank you thank you Dr s McGuire so um next I wanted to update you on where we are as far as exploring curriculum resources uh for those of you who took the time to watch the governor's um State of the Union Address she did talk about education and one of the things that you heard her say or maybe read about is the state's commitment to literacy resources this takes a on a particular I would say takes on particular import importance here in Dartmouth given the fact that not that uh I'm not putting Mrs poo on the spot but she is doing quite a bit of work at the elementary level in preparation not for the state to come in and help us but we're grateful for the help and we'll gladly take it given the budget implications um but working with curriculum teams at the elementary level to uh investigate curriculum and to get teacher input into what resources that we think or that they think would be particularly relevant and to our Dartmouth students Mrs Pera you're I put you on the spot totally I was going to text you and say would you be willing to come up but I don't have my phone so we would love you to come up and talk about some of that work that you're doing sure always always have to talk about that I know you are so um we do we did shift our curriculum teams this year so that we have um an elementary curriculum team at each of the four major levels so we have an Ela team and a math team a social States team and a science team and we are working through the curriculum review cycle and I would love to to talk to you about that a little bit more in depth at another meeting and so we can hopefully um dive into that but we know that the elementary literacy curriculum is something that needs to be looked at um who I've stood here before to speak to you about how we address some of the foundational readings skills that we really needed to address by bringing in foundations Integrity to address some phonics and some phonological awareness um pieces of curriculum and I'm really excited because we have some Publishers coming to speak to us about um you know a broader scope a prek to five with the potential even to look Beyond fifth grade and do some connection with the Middle School curriculum um and looking at just you know the commitment to putting highquality research-based materials in our students and in our teachers hands um you know there's really just it's undeniable that what we know about putting high quality materials into the hands of our students in our staff um we're certainly committed to that I'm super grateful to this committee and to the central office to their commitment to doing that and so um we do have a couple Publishers coming next week which I'm very excited about um I have another meeting with another publishing company this week to see if they can come in March um and so you know working with Mrs denisio working with these teams and looking into our data and sort of what that's telling us we need and what our students need and being able to bring that forward is is very exciting for me and and as we recognize there's no one siiz fits all but what Mrs poo just referred to is again research-based highquality resources that for this community really should be a non-negotiable and so I was thrilled to hear the governor speak to that because it was the direction we're headed in anyway uh but at the same time there are other areas of need here in Dartmouth not just our literacy curriculum although that's our priority right now um we have Mrs Deus working at the middle school she is working very closely with many of our curriculum teens but as you know we have to focus on science and that's true for the elementary middle and high school level uh so that is connected to our ability to go ahead and vet resources and and bring those resources in Pilot them get them in the hands of our teachers and our students get feedback and to move forward so it's our goal to put those resources high quality resources in the hands of all of our teachers and all of our students and that's something we're paying close attention to we have Mrs chavier here from from Miss Javier from the high school and I know that's work that she's committed to working with the content leads here at the high school uh we know how important this work is and again connects to strategic planning thank you thank you thank you thanks Kathy thank you Mr t-bolt thank you thank you Mrs poo for coming up even though I put you on the spot I know how excited you are about that work yes she's got a great team of people and again we're going to be seeking input from our Educators that is critically important to choosing a resource and making sure that that resource is one that I mean we're not all 100% going to agree but that we get as close to that uh percentage as we can and so I mentioned entry planning this so I I I can say that I'm beyond entry planning I think I kind of alluded to that at the next which I'm really happy to say that I'm now looking at findings um and I think that I have learned quite a bit about the Dartmouth schools uh thanks to the folks out in the school district and to the central office staff our principles our teachers everybody's been really open about sharing um I still have to get to the Dello so Dello folks we haven't forgotten about you we have that on our calendar but you'll be hearing soon about our findings and will be coming here to present them to you I can say that I've started to write them and that makes me feel like I've accomplish something so we have an outline and I have some help from my team so I'm looking forward to that as far as HR is concerned again I mentioned at the last meeting that we're going to be advertising The Early Childhood director so that's in the works uh we'll be sharing that publicly and hopefully we're going to get some high quality candidates for that position again that will be an inclusive process uh as always I say substitutes um substitute substitutes there will never be a time where we don't need substitutes so if you're out there and you're listening you're thinking oh they have to be all set for the year that just simply is not true and it never will be so um we know our college students are headed back to school and they've been super helpful but we still will always need uh substitutes and again we we've shifted some responsibilities at our central office I want to thank all of the central office staff for the work that they're doing and as always thank you Kate for the work that you do around personnel and HR and then of course we have to talk about the wonderful accomplishments of our Dartmouth students um I did I'm totally using Mr Christa's notes um and I don't have Ben here to make sure that I have properly pronounced his name but I think I did but we have a basketball team that is our two basketball teams doing incredibly well our girls team and our boys team and apparently Bridgewater ROM's a big rival again I told you last time the boys beat Brockton I was happy about that and so I'm equally happy about Bridgewater rum because that's where I live Bridgewater so again the competitiveness yes we're all about Dartmouth winning um so again we have a a our track our into a track team is doing a great job there have been some wonderful accomplishments by the students that are participating in that um and we also heard and I did I want to have this here our robotics team I mentioned at the last meeting that I got to pretend judge and myself and a couple of other people I to say it must have helped a little bit anyway um because both of our teams um placed first at the WPI qualifier and they'll be moving on so we're going to have some other I think things to celebrate here in Dartmouth and so far I don't know I think the boys are playing right now here yeah so we'll see some is it oh are they winning don't I don't know and and so we're looking for forward to you know seeing out the season Boys Hockey also they are getting steadily improving so I'm looking forward to seeing a hockey game very soon excellent nice thank you very much than you uh report of the chair I I have nothing to report I will ask my colleagues if you have anything that you'd like to announce Mr NOS thank you madam chair a couple of things uh number one the advantage of sitting back here I just you know when I sat down and I'm looking at this fantastic artwork that our students I know I talk about it when they have the art show and everything else but never sees us too amaz me what our students do like I said before I can't draw a straight line with a straight edge so when I see what these students do it it's absolutely fantastic uh am I missing something or we haven't seen any voke minutes since they were here in November so could we check on that please we have not the voke you know I know they've met November December type of deal so thank you uh thank you to M church and everyone for the wonderful tour of the atlas room tonight oh my God I'm impressed it's just fantastic and uh the students look excited so that's even better type type of deal and uh the last thing is and and I don't have a lot of information I'll get it for the next meeting but uh Saturday November 2nd uh we will be hosting our annual uh winter uh nzar home show for percussion and color guide and such uh March 2nd March 2nd so like wow it's some advanced notice what did they say November oh jeez wow getting late so yeah look and I put I got March second here okay see it oh oh well anyhow so I'll be looking for presenters but I'll get I'll get that information you know times and everything else as they become closer thank you you anyone else no with that our um the next meeting of the school committee will be same place same time on February 12th uh and I will entertain a motion to uh um adjourn to Executive session exective session for the purpose of non-union contracts and DEA grievance matters and not to return to open session yes I'll make that I'll make that motion a second and so it's roll call kathle Amal yes Chris Oliver cin Shannon Jenkins yes [Music]

operational model of community stewardship that that we are committed to honor with practices policy and human relations and Dr Lauren do you mind starting off the pledge please thank you I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America stands indice thank you that brings us to our roll call we have everybody present Miss Gibson McAn Miss sis myself Miss MB and M mcrey all right and we want to welcome everybody to our tonight's meeting and remind the audience of the request to address board cards that must be completed and submitted to the board secretary if they wish to speak to an agenda item board policy provides for two cards White cards to be submitted in order to speak to an agenda item and blue cards to be submitted in order to speak during public comments due to the open meeting law board members are not allowed to address items that are not on the agenda and that's per policy be D and I have a quick question are we able to um have the agenda up on the screens not prepared for that this evening but we working on that got it thank you and that comes to our approval of agenda I move the governing board approve the agenda as presented second all those in favor I I thank you do we have any public comments Miss quades okay thank you all right and that brings us to our superintendent report well thank you madam president members of the board um a lot of exciting things going on not the least of which is some big news and sometimes things break in between the opportunities that we have to share things with the board so um normally we would have given you a heads up in a board update but it was a little touch and go to pull this together um and yet I am very happy to announce that starting February 1 kraton school district will be able to provide free lunch to all students um this is made possible through the recent approval given by the USDA and the Arizona Department of Education to allow schools to make a mid-year transition to operate the community eligibility provision so that will be on this C program which allows for that um we will be sending out Communications to all site leadership which actually began today with our leadership links that went out to um all of our our site leaders but we'll also be working on distribution to families regarding student balances refunds and donations towards negative lunch balances and the way that's going to work is some of our families who've had to pay for their child's lunch may still have a balance on their account so they will have the option to continue that balance use it for things like call a cart sales or they can um have a refund from that balance or if they'd like to donate that balance to help with other negative lunch balances because keep in mind we'll this year we'll still be dealing with those negative lunch balances from the beginning of the school year until February 1 and then um next year that should not be a problem for us moving forward so um anyway just really excited to share that this evening and wanted to make sure we shared it this evening because Communications will start flying out there tomorrow so um didn't want the board to not be aware of that another thing that came together fairly quickly um and this is as the result of a recommendation from meet and confer last year is that we will be doing the pilot of our compensation for split classes and what that means is when we're unable to get a substitute to cover classes and our teachers split those classes um we will actually have a program that allows them to re to receive receive compensation for that and so um this is something um that we're doing as a pilot for this the remainder of the second semester just to see how the process that was developed works so that way we can make any if there's um challenges or um unintended consequences with it uh our winter interim Benchmark start this week so um kind of giving a shout out there to our students to to hopefully perform well on those interim benchmarks and then uh yesterday we had the mini battle of the books in the district um which was very cool and this Thursday is our spelling Meek so um and then the last piece that I have to share this evening is we're very excited to announce that our on-site Equity professional development will be happening across all of our sites over the next two weeks and actually um this week already the um support Consultants are already meeting with the leadership teams at the schools to get ready for that so that's all I have for this evening and thank you for the opportunity to share thank you superintendent man and Miss Gibson McLean we'll go ahead and start with you if you have a board update um we had a a committee meeting this past week um we're making good progress um there's I don't think I I don't know if I mentioned before but Mr Daniel Lopez is on the committee now and so is um Nicole Marquez um and so we're happy to have them on the committee and working with us um um we have a new another meeting coming up sorry next Tuesday um the 30th right here in this room at 5 o'cl so come on down and check it out uh fun topics as always um I think since our last meeting did the world argument happen after our last meeting oh yeah you can't discuss sorry um so it was just interesting that I've attended the oral argument for everybody else information um is coming in and then also on was it yesterday Mr Man we we were at Helios I believe so so the like yesterday or Monday I can't remember oh wait yesterday was Monday we were at ASU um um helos decision Center for Education excellence and it was really amazing because Helios has this partnership with ASU where they look at high school data and they look at all these different things but they decided that you know this elementary schools especially Middle High Middle School are the ones that are feeding these kids into the high schools and what's happening at the middle school level what are they doing to prepare these students to go to high school so we got a whole bunch of different demographics a whole bunch of you know outcomes from different districts and feeder schools so it was really nice to see that and also it was really a reassuring that what the board is doing currently with the sofg framework is aligned with what other education experts are looking at it's what's going on with the middle students and why are they not thriving in high school so the whole purpose of elementary school is to get those kids get them prepared for them to succeed in high school and then when they in high school is to prepare them for college or university or trade school wherever they want to go and prepare them so it was really exciting to see that it just affirmed that we are aligned with with what talks around the state are going on and happening so um that was great and then on Friday some of us will be flying to the National um DC to the National Schoolboard Association and hopefully we're able to get some meetings with our congressmen to talk to them about some of the issues that are impacting us here at the local level and seeing how they can support us federally with some of those issues so that's going to be exciting as well and that is the end of my board report and then we move on to student outcomes Focus governance update goals God rails and events um I know that Miss MC cheffrey and Miss michaelb attended one cafesito um before I go on and share my experience I would just like for you guys to talk or whatever you felt or how you whatever happened because I had to leave early but who would like to go first sure I can start it was it was small there were um three family members there um but the deadline the Phoenix Union deadlines were like the next day so I think everyone had already kind of decided on they this was a high school uh day or whatever um so there was only three people there yeah we were not the main guest yeah I did um chat with each of them and shared um the goals and guardrails and you know left my phone number and asked for feedback but I didn't hear back from anyone so did you have anything to add Miss MB um no I was able to share a little bit at the beginning with Miss MC cheffrey but I had to go to work so I didn't stay along but awesome I have a comment even though I didn't attend my comment is related to seeing the schedule and wondering just my curiosity is around how the times were selected and knowing um what percentage of our population is working class how these times work out for the majority of families because it definitely doesn't work out for me so I'm just cu is how it works out for most families that have working um caregivers yeah so just to add to a little bit on that I I went there because obviously my daughter goes there and I'm just always at that school and I got really excited about this SG ofg work that we were so on board with getting our goals and our guard rails and I was like okay now let's take it out to the community well I think I got ahead of myself and we did it in a way where it was very unorganized and I take a full responsibility for that so um you're right it was just times that the schools had set and we were kind of trying to throw ourselves into their schedule and it just got really messy there was no bilingual materials available we didn't have slideshows we didn't have a PowerPoint we didn't have sheets for feedback there was just a whole bunch of things that we were missing so that's why board members received an email on how we were going to Halt all that and we were going to kick it off at our community council meeting as the first one and then from there we're going to work with the schools and if not a cafesito available then they're they're just I'm sorry but the principes will have to work with us the CEOs to create a whole new one because our families do deserve to get this information so we're going to work with the schools and redo everything and I'm just so glad that we did that because I'll turn it over to Mr Man and when we were on our oneon-one we were kind of on the same page and now we have like a one pager that we can take to our families it's going to be advertised a little bit more like you guys said it was a high school Fair nobody knew that the board was going to come talk about the vi you know the new goals and the guard rails so parents who could probably make it in the morning didn't even know we were going to have those conversations so that's why we're gonna that's why we stopped everything we're going to start off at the community council meeting and then from there we're going to start the individual sites at the schools and have it a little bit more organized and have it a little bit more with more information that our parents can have and our community can have so um what we're passing out right now um there are those times where you have those synergies that you go okay this was just meant to solve itself this way so when we had that conversation last week I said well it's funny that you felt like there weren't materials because we just like literally that day had received a draft of materials from Hanover research who had been working on producing a tool set for us to use with our families and Community to be able to have the best term I can give it as an infographic for what are stud what is student outcomes Focus governance and then by virtue of that if you look at the flip side it captures our existing draft goals and guard rails so um the executive team had an opportunity this afternoon to get online with them we had found some um some errors and some things that could be cleaned up in it so they they worked quick they actually got our feedback from this afternoon integrated into this and got it back to to us um by like 3:00 this afternoon we were able to print them and have them here for you this evening what we would love to get for you since we are posted to talk about our our sofg work is um to take a look and see if there's any other feedback or changes errors that you see in it because ultimately what we'd like to do is have these translated into Spanish and have both English and Spanish versions of this document to be available um as you're working with with our families at the school site sites it it might make it easier to have those conversations and um what we kind of agreed to with them they they really wanted to kind of get the final version but what we suggested was when we make sort of the final draft version it'll essentially be complete except for any changes sorry to the goals or guard rails so and those should be relatively easy changes to make at that point because chances are you know we're not throwing out the format that the sofg framework uses so you know we might change eighth grade to fifth grade we might change you know 73% to 76% or 71% but those are relatively easy edits to make on here and so that'll also allow us very quickly once the board adopts the final version of these goals to have this converted into a final format and get it pushed out to our community so that way we have that posted out there for them so so any feedback you can provide us would be amazingly helpful because what we'd like to do and not to put a rush on anybody but if we can get the feedback to them tomorrow they can have both the final English and Spanish versions back to us two weeks from tomorrow which will get them into our hands well in advance of that February 22nd um uh community council meeting so and while you guys are looking at that um I also took it upon myself to send an email to president and Napa which is the president of the Phoenix Union High School District um just because three of their feeder schools which is US Phoenix Elementary and Rosevelt District have been working on this sofg framework and for our kids to for us to be spending all this time on our kids and sending them to a high school that doesn't have the same goals or doesn't have the same expectations of our students it kind of doesn't really make sense in in a way so I invited them to the community council meeting them the vice president and their superintendent so hopefully they can come and learn a little bit of what this is what it's doing and what a better way where they can actually firsthand hear what the community is saying about this as well and I know they are a member of the Council of great City Schools but they just aren't doing the sofg work at the moment I think they did they vote against it previously they voted to table it okay there's another group that has some things similar like this um so I think that's why they were entertaining it but I I'm not sure so that's why I ended up inviting them so they can have a firsthand experience of what one of their feeder schools is and obviously now they know that three you know um schools in Phoenix are doing it um I also was um so this book called great on their behalf I think I've talked about this book before it's called it says why School boards fail and how yours can be more effective and it talks about the framework here so I was able to get copies donated for all the board members and cabinet if you guys want to read the book because it really goes into more depth of what we're doing a lot of the you know goals and guard rails that we've been receiving have come from this book and the you know the literature that they give us there's even eval self- evaluations for boards like they have this whole framework already for us so after the board meeting I'll run to my car and get you guys the book whoever's interested in reading and learning more um and with that being said Do we have any discuss question questions comments about what we're seeing on this sheet at first glance I mean I I think it looks great it it's a tiny bit busy but I I don't see anything that I would remove so you know more information I think is better people can take it home with them and you know read it at their at their Leisure yeah I kind of same impression like it's a lot of information but it's all important um and you know these are these are Big Ideas in this is it's a framework that is complicated and simple at the same time if that makes sense but um having that context is important I think to help with that I really do like the um embolden of different words and phrases in the bullet points I think that makes it easier for somebody who does just want to grab the quick information um but no thank you guys I think um well while we did have a small little group like we kind of just shared what they were and gave some background trying to clarify and Define goals versus what guard rails were but this will be much much more helpful Miss SS um I like it a lot I'm just wondering like how we maybe could portray like this at school like maybe posters or something um that even the teachers can see every day and so they know um just kind of what we're doing as well um yeah I love that idea and I've even talked about once all this stuff is finalized is having it here in the boardroom you know transparency is a huge thing and the more our community more knows the more empowered they feel and when they feel empowered they take ownership and I think that's the end result that they start taking ownership of you know their schools their students learning just the way that we do so I think the more that it's advertised and it's visible and seen it's it's important to have and Miss Gibson McLean did you have any comments or anything no I'll just give these suggestions to make this a little um more reader friendly yeah and that's one of the only I just wrote them on here and when when we get into this sofg framework one of the biggest things that they always tell us especially in the reading materials is that everything should be at a sixth grade level reading level so if a sixth grader can't come up and read this and understand this then it needs to be redone um we just want to make sure that our information is and at a level where everybody can understand it um so that's what I really did like about this because it it kind of is pretty self-explanatory so um I'm really excited we have this okay um do we have any other questions comments about the sofg framework okay perfect we're going to go ahead and move on to our approval approval of consent so I move the governing board approve consent agenda items a through G in accordance with policy bb- second all those in favor hi hi hi thank you okay and that brings us to the revision to governing board policy joa IJ OA my apologies field trips first reading and Mr Man y Madame President members of the board um originally the intention behind this was to simplify approval for the outof county field trips so um there's nothing in statute that requires board approval for those as we looked at some of our neighboring districts s they don't require it and it it sometimes becomes a barrier to allowing these trips we had kind of a hiccup with some paper work this year and had to ratify after the facta field trip for one of our schools so we thought to simplify that and just eliminate that barrier um we would bring the modified language um but as we were reviewing this I think it was last week one of the things that we noticed was that it also specified that Transportation shall be provided only by District Vehicles driven by authorized Personnel so um apparently it's hard to get those um Dash nines anymore since the doors started flying off of them and um so we really couldn't find a way to get our bus drivers trained to fly planes for our Junior ambassador program which got us to thinking it's physically impossible for our transportation department to handle transportation for all of our field trips since some of our field trips go out of the country country or to Washington DC or to places where you normally wouldn't take a school bus so um we've also added the recommended adjustment to the transportation text to allow for the superintendent to give approval based on specific need for exception so um open to any questions or suggestions or any other changes that um that the board feels are needed here that second one is really just to bring the policy into alignment with the necess of practice because of the types of trips that we have thank you do we have any discussion okay I don't have any other added on comments either so this this is first read so of course we'll bring it back next meeting for second read but if there's any questions in between please let us know awesome thank you all right and that brings us over to our presentation of school safety and security Madam president members of the board um just wanted to do a quick introduction for this one the focus tonight is really going to be on our security systems um Miss Shapiro and her team have been kind of looking over what do we have and what should we have like what would be the most effective ways to keep our our students and our and our teachers and staff safe um so she's going to talk a bit about that but um in the vein of safety I also kind of wanted to bring up some of the other areas that intersect with that because there's really a couple of different things that happen with security there's the systems we have but then there's our practices and procedures our drills and all of those types of things and so one of the things you probably all received the other week was a letter from the auditor general about a safety audit um all of the board members in the state all of the superintendents in the state received that letter that unfortunately was drafted as if it was indicating we were the specific District elected to be um to be audited this go around and that's actually not what the intent of that letter was it was to make districts aware that they were getting ready to do the Audits and that there was a webinar um that was going to explain what that process would look like um and so we've captured the information from that webinar and now we're just waiting to hear who selected it could be us it may not be us but I just wanted to create Clarity around that since you all did receive that letter um but in relation to that each year our teams do spend time working on their safety plans their practices and their procedures trying to improve what we do and um we often you know bring in trainers from outside the district and so uh next week um I believe it's on next week from tomorrow um we will actually have a trainer working with the site leadership teams from all of our schools as part of our winter leadership seminar um and so that'll be kind of refresh uh a look again at Best Practices for drills and procedures and all of those things they'll also be reviewing and updating their plans but then beyond that we actually have even more training um that's intended to be um implemented with our site safety teams and so we're we're putting together a site safety team affinity group so that way they can get together with a trainer and get even more exposure more deeply into the school sites we're trying to get away from it's just our principles and a assistant principles who get this training and distribute it more broadly so um that we don't have a date for yet because our original date ended up being problematic and we're working to reschedule it so there's multiple facets of safety that we're constantly working on um but Miss Shapiro tonight's going to share with you sort of where we're at with recommendations for future School Safety and Security related to our systems thank you madam president governing board members uh we will be providing a presentation on Safety and Security upgrades for security cameras Access Control Bell intercom emergency communication systems Mr denal Our IT director will be presenting with help as needed from Mr Wells our facilities and transportation director and uh myself for any questions well good evening thank you for allowing me to switch the camera over before walking up here um should be displaying on the screen here any moment there we go uh uh board president CIO uh governing board members superintendent man uh thank you uh I'm here to discuss the kind of the unique Confluence between our facilities safety and all of the technology infrastructure uh that ties in and supports those initiatives and to start off wanted to give a little bit of a history of the last year or so uh with Mr well and I's collaborating on the support of many of these systems uh as we both started discussing a little bit deeper about the current situation with our systems possible Futures and then introducing the Kennedy build plan you know we find over and over again that we have aging infrastructure and that's everything inside the walls it's speakers cabling our Network systems uh and it we really identified four areas that were in need of some long-term planning uh that's our intercom systems for communication throughout the campus uh security camera systems access control that's uh badge access through to doors and our facilities and then less so connected to the Safety and Security although it can have some applications I've included a little bit of information about our classroom displays tying into our planning for Kennedy and and the the greater plan for our entire district and supporting uh those systems uh we have a number of systems that are disparate across the district uh different ages different solutions installed with different um with different capabilities and that that poses difficulty for training and for uh support uh and also it makes it difficult to sustain those aging systems and so sometimes an upgrade can save you in the long run when it comes to supporting and training and keeping those systems functional and useful and then of course the Kennedy build was an opportunity to review and plan uh a districtwide plan in including Kennedy so we don't install something and instantly have aging systems uh we have a number of systems that have uh widely different ages some of our systems are more than 15 years old especially with the intercom and Communications all the way down to our newer installs uh at Mackin and the kraton academy which are five years about five years old other systems or or challenges that we have uh some of many of the technology that was implemented over the years with with a particular partner where that quality of service has changed over the years outside of favor for the district uh and the products that were purchased with those vendor are only supported by that single vendor in the state there's nobody else that you can employ to support those and you can't work with the V the manufacturer directly you have to go through that one vendor so that that limitation came into effect as we were planning and discussing uh possible uh future projects Presley you know I'm gonna ask why why law that requires us to only use this one vendor I I vendor no it's it's a it's a vendor that has had good service over the years and it's declined yeah and then the products that they support I don't know if it's a specific agreement with those manufacturers in some cases but nobody else in the state can or will support those got it okay I thought it was some weird legislator like was like I'm gonna get a budy especially when you start to get more into the outdated technology the companies that will support them are like something weird happening at the legislator and I was like geez this is just out there talk about micromanaging there there's a lot of great products out there there's a lot of great people who support those products and companies um but yeah the the older equipment especially and uh sometimes the education space you can find that that's become a big priority is to not fall into that well again certain I think they're working on a federal law I don't know if it would apply to us but it's like the right to repair so that this kind of thing doesn't continue to happen be happy to talk about right to repair sometime I'm a big proponent um you know and we're also looking at compatibility between systems interoperability the ability for systems to talk to each other is very important for functionality and being able to ex extend how we're utilizing those systems that's very limited right now uh accessibility can be a challenge we have to go through a lot of efforts and retraining and uh software installations with some of our current systems and so we want to improve the ability for our leadership our principles to access these tools uh and and make it make the ease of access in the background and the functionality of these tools in the foreground are there any issues with the ability to have updated software that doesn't work with the hardware that's that's definitely a concern that usually happens when you have a the company that's creates that Hardware you know might discontinue and that's absolutely long-term planning is a is a priority uh with selecting the right Solutions I don't know if we were there yet or like because of some of the outdated Hardware I don't know in in some ways you know there's there in the intercom systems there's Hardware that fails and it we're we're we're amongst many other districts that are going out and scrounging for certain interfaces or piece you know boards that when those fail there's nobody making them anymore so you gotta go out there and try and find things certain yeah a weird question I'm sorry to follow up but um maybe it's not that weird do the phone do the te hardwired telephones have intercom systems that you can patch through to all the telephones rather than they do and there we we have used those as a backup when some of those failures happen uh but they only they're not as loud as they often need to be in a classroom and they don't cover hallways bathrooms other spaces that don't have phones yeah but they they can play a part in the overall solution yeah so coming out of those lessons that we've learned you know our goals are to support the safety security and privacy needs of the district and and other projects that are approaching those um we've had some opportunities to tie in what's very uh non-instructional space to improve instructional environments and I'll get into that in a moment we work to evaluate a number of different solutions to find the correct balance between cost functionality the ability to grow those systems throughout time and to sustain those over a long period of time and then we're also taking an eye on building business rules and processes that support that infrastructure to build that safe secure and uh well supported services do you have another question I was just thinking about kind of where we're at in terms of our um risk or susceptibility to some things we saw with some other districts and the like Ransom wear stuff yes and and as Mr Wells and I have worked on this identified that so many of these systems are very strong techn have are almost entirely Technology based right um we've talked about what's called Shadow it which is when technology systems are installed without the involvement of the technology department that is taking an eye towards cyber security and and some of those other risks and so I didn't I didn't focus on that element but that's why it is important that these are deeply involved with the entire technology process so we can avoid those other risks I talk about cyber security is physical security and vice versa they're deeply intertwined with each other so the the the solution that we settled on for security cameras is called a vigilon is the name of the company uh as I mentioned before it was important that we would be able to identify a number of vendors within the state that could support that equipment and its functionality so if we needed to switch support we would be able to do that we can reach out to the manufacturer directly if we have questions uh there's a number of features you know it's they are they are cameras but it's a holistic system that can include future growth potential like noise detection breaking glass unusual noises and also particulate sensors so Vape sensors could be included in a system like this it's not part of the current plan but that extensibility uh was important to us should the district decide to move in that direction in the future it's accessible to campus leadership it's accessed through a web browser no special software or um skills are required it's it's easy to use and it's deeply integrated with the access control and so the door access and security and investigations that lead to one or both of those work well with one another and it's there's Next Generation functionality there is artificial intelligence built in there present sense where if you're looking for somebody that was wearing a red shirt you know you can put that in and start narrowing down and very quickly turn what could be a five hour investigation into 20 minutes to find what you're looking for you answered one of my questions um is there license plate detection that is something that's included uh in the the functionality of those yeah and then um sorry I'm a nerd and I had to go through this in our district um you're talking to the right people right now I know um and then um as far as accessibility to leadership does it come with um like does it have a good mobile app there is an app yes and it's it's quite good okay yep to like that's the reality like yes if you're doing an investigation on you know a school fight or whatever it's great to be on your desktop but in an emergency like an app as they say there is an app for that right so that's that's our video security system we're also recommending adopting a Vigilant access control of course because it's the same manufacturer you're going to have a deep level of interoperability between those two same same bonus of having multiple partners uh we're looking at a districtwide implementation standard beginning with main entrances but again we'll be able to extend that out further in the future uh and it will it can help to improve security and awareness if there's an event on campus it can help identify who carded in on any given day even without people there maybe watching those entrances U the one I'm especially excited for is our Bell's announcements and our emergency management system uh there the company is named audio enhancement they it was created for schools in particular and it actually began as an audio enhancement for Teacher solution and so if we adopt this system there's a there are speakers in every room and a lanyard that the teacher can wear to project their voice throughout the room right so we have a direct benefit uh to in our instructional environment and it also they they've extended it over the years as that functionality went into the room and it it is also a an updated modernized bells and announcement system you can Zone it out and have more control over where you're doing announcements it has room to room to office communication so that teacher can press a button on their lanyard and call the office directly without having to go anywhere there's also an emergency button to the you know instead of having to find a button on a wall that teacher has access to the button at all times is it like a two button thing or will it be accidentally pressed that's a good question yes um I don't I don't know the answer to that one but it would be important to avoid accidental presses of of emergencies yeah about how about how big and or heavy is it and like does it have to be worn on a lanyard or does I don't know I'm just thinking there there's a regular microphone option and that's one of the extensibility options is there's this it's called the student microphone right so you can put that in the room or or hand it around and students can engage in that projection also I I don't know the exact dimensions but I'd say it's it's about that big it doesn't look heavy but I haven't worn one myself and the the this this company I'm very impressed with the the the owner of the company is was a mother who had a special needs child and didn't have a solution like this to present to her school so she started a company to do this and they're very School Centric and that's why these features that are so needed for schools have been developed over the years so u i I trust that they have a good sense for what works well in our classroom envir I was just thinking like by the time I load up five keys in my bag on my lanyard I'm like sometimes I hate wearing my lanyard so this solution addresses multiple needs all in one one uh solution and then less directly involved although there are options to put up emergency messages even looking at the future with Kennedy and the build and the infrastructure and tools that need to be installed we're looking to move towards digital displays rather than projectors there's a number you know the the cost has come down dramatically on those 75 inch displays over the years and the maintenance requirements are dramatically lower the supply costs you don't have to buy bulbs anymore essentially excuse me what would that look like as far because right now aren't teachers using Apple TV to connect yes and we would continue the that wellestablished practice of using the Apple TV highly compatible with our whole environment but displayed on that display rather than through the okay so you can get them to talk to each other yeah yes so uh I have a number of slides that are kind of looking at the budget of all of these various projects starting with Kennedy our original budget was the $750,000 for the technology line in particular uh but the cost of a a school build especially the infrastructure piece that's the switches in the closet the miles and miles of wiring throughout all the walls our wireless access points the licensing to run all of these things uh takes a very large chunk of that and then planning uh the again the full installation at other schools we would be able to reuse some cabling the speakers that are in all the rooms in a new build a system like the Epic has a higher cost associated with it uh and the displays again it's it's in a competitive range with the projectors uh and then with the camera system and access control we're looking at right around $1.1 million for the technology at Kennedy the Epic system that's the classroom and other systems we look we would look at about $2 million districtwide to retrofit and upgrade all of our communic those communication systems to Epic uh this could this would be a multi-year project and we don't have a specific timeline for this one um like I do for the other one but we would be looking at budgets and opportunities for funding which I'll get to in just a moment here and those differences in costs really come down to the size of the campus the number of classrooms schools with more hallways have more requirements for additional cabling and equipment and notice that we did include the district office it's important to include that those notification and other security systems for all of our spaces that way when there are lockdowns or if a districtwide event happened everybody could be included in that I have a question oh yes never mind mind I think you just answered in the next slide $2 million is not including Kennedy so it's a million dollar for Kennedy alone and then two million separate dollars thank you for asking to clarify it's 1.1 for the whole slew of Technology at Kennedy uh 336,000 of that would be that communication system the Epic system that did that answer yes okay and then our costs for the video and access control would be 1.1 million and 231,000 for video and access control respectively at the remaining campuses not including Kennedy this is just bringing all those totals forward uh the total cost for implementation districtwide uh including all of the technology systems at Kennedy at 4,469 th000 the timelines that we're looking at here for this year would in would be Kennedy including the Epic and all of the camera and access control infrastructure everything uh along with excellencia Mackin and L Malinda receiving camera upgrades uh and access control upgrades and then over the next two years installation of video access control um at half of the remaining sites and then the next year the other half epic and based off of Capital you know it might take a little bit longer for the Epic Systems with that that higher ticket cost and uh Russell I think I'll just jump in on that last slide sure the next slide thank you very last okay very last slide so I did want to um let the board members know that our existing Capital budgets along with the um budgeted amount for the Kennedy bill that 750,000 um plus um so on that uh FF eent budget line You'll see in the Kennedy presentation is 2 million that was 750,000 for the technology 750,000 for the furniture is kind of how that broke up and then the rest of the dollar is going to kind of a contingency of not knowing what we may or may not need in there um so at this point in time our existing capit budgets already had upgrades built into that forward um future planning and had about 900,000 of source dollars this planning year for security camera upgrades um at some of those sites so that's what's purchasing those items or where those funds would already come from because they're already budgeted the capital dollars are what we're looking at for the future and depending upon um if if no other additional monies came in that's what would affect the timeline so we have the capital dollars to make the improvements it would just push the projects out a little further as we plan those dollars as we have in the past so we know like sometimes our adoptions might take two or three years to plan those Capital dollars and that's the intent here we're also going to be very heavily looking at uh Safety and Security grants there's a lot of talk about those potential dollars uh circling things coming to fruition we will be on the lookout for all of those opportunities and um any potential with maybe uh future Capital dollars that are out there in Opportunity so what would happen is we replaced those Capital dollars with other funds it would move our timeline up we'd be able to get the project done sooner kind of the plan um has there I don't have the exact numbers of like what's left in our Esser but would do we have any towards these projects Andor would that cut because I know some of the guidelines around it included technology safety um as we're planning the sunset of those Esser funds uh we have various committees working on that I definitely could bring that um to those committees and have those conversations I don't know that we had specifically planned any s or dollars for this project um but always looking to maximize yeah and I don't want to I know they've been working hard and so I don't want to complicate it but depending on where they are if you know if they even say hey we would like to you know we had a priority as safety you know these are because there suns setting there are some physical materials here that we could purchase before that so absolutely but what you're saying is basically 2023 2024 in blue here um we have the money to pay for yes and I did want to just you know point out the Kennedy um budget line which moving forward I would want to get that updated in our Kennedy presentation with those additional uh dollars to the 1.1 million from the 750,000 I would add that into that Kennedy uh budget and I wanted you to know where that was coming from any other final questions board members do we have any discussion questions I have a discussion um so I know that this isn't um exactly entirely in in this area but I just want to bring to the board's attention as we move forward in adopting these things and how this intertwines with other um policies that will'll be put in front of us in the future and so um I think the concern for me and the job that I do every day is um going to be looking or taking a close look at how and when and why and all of the policies around how we logistically share um surveillance footage with law enforcement and so for me that's going to be something that I'm going to be really interested in um the guidelines around that that staff are trained adequately that there's an agreement that's consistent across the district about when that happens and why um if it's not without a search War why we would consent and in which situations we would consent to do that and so that's just something that's going to be very important for me moving forward that inter twines between this and what might come from the student conduct committee so I just wanted to put that out there and there's certainly a lot of room for us to continue to develop our practices our current practices is only Scott Wells and myself have access to even extract video yeah so we can we can be certain of the the appropriateness of doing that and how and who we share with cool thank you do any other board members have questions um I have a couple the Epic system audio enhancement do we have any other school districts that have that in place at the moment yes uh there's a number of them that have just recently completed here in Arizona um the primary one that I have the the most connection with and have discussions with is Avendale um school district one of the features I didn't talk about and Avendale has implemented this is the um the teacher managed teacher directed cameras in the classroom for professional development recording purposes it's not it's one of those potential extending features you know that would be available in the future but the teacher can turn that on and off and there's a physical cover it's a very Security based so they have complete control over sharing those videos um and it's a very strong tool for um capturing you know your lessons in the room and um teaching remotely extends that too and Avendale did did adopt that I believe at all of their campuses is that like a pretty significant additional cost or what does that look like yeah it's it's it's was substantial enough that we didn't include it you know or consider it for now but it would definitely be a feasible thing for in the future and I know it has been a source of contention yeah in the union because of cameras in the classroom lot of issues there would be a lot of other discussion before entertaining even if we had the dollars and there's also like I think in a pinch like yes the being able to remote out sounds great it is not a research-based method of providing very good instruction I've seen a lot of Technologies trying to do it better but it's not ideal um okay I was just wondering because I wouldn't it's a lot of money and with this new student outcomes Focus governance work you know um we want to make sure that we're aligning our dollars to the ultimate outcomes that we want um and I don't know how an epic system audio enhancement um necessarily helps what I do like about that though is like for example I've heard endless um times of teachers having an incident in the classroom and it's not like they can leave and go run and ask for help right so I I understand that need so somebody can just call real quick I I know I understand that but it's a lot of money can I share on theal Sor yeah go ahead um just because uh I have experience with similar Technologies um so not the Epic system itself but when um s so is referenced here it's because it does increase accessibility for students so especially when um well really especially when we were trying to social distance them and they were in every far corner of the room but um it like depending on the classroom where it is any student um hearing concerns things like that it makes a huge difference um and like we really push teachers to you know not be the sage on the stage and like up at the front so as that practice is evolved which is good because they're circulating it also means that there's going to be times where maybe their back is not you know they're not doing the here's the best way and so if they have that on them they can circulate can help a kid da D while still talking and everybody can hear it it really is a phenomenal tool instructionally so you're saying that there is a tool out there already that other teachers are using that I've used older versions and not this specific brand okay that I I have heard of this one and I know the Technology's gone a lot better than what it was like the ones we had the teachers had a lapel mik or a lanyard and then there was like a physical separate little speaker it wasn't a part of the classroom infrastructure um and because it wasn't there were also issues with like feedback and stuff and all that's gotten way better because this is like years ago right um is there a way that we would be able even if it's just me um to set something up with avendelle to see how that looks implemented in their system I just think me because I'm very new to all this and what this looks like it would make me feel better making a better you know decision especially because it's so much money on how it's operating and working in that District already we we could set up a visit have a to put it out through the board update to see who would be interested and um and definitely do that I I do want to share um I over the course of my career um I had the opportunity to do a very early implementation of a similar technology um almost 20 years ago now at a school out in Cave Creek called horseshoe trails and um and it was one of the first schools in the state to have this like throughout the entire site and one of the things I learned in that process is that there is a ton of solid research with these audio enhancement technologies that they improove classroom behaviors so it's not just about improving student learning because the kids can hear clearly it also reduces acting out in the classroom and so and it's actually one of the places people have heard me say this quote way too many times but I really believe in engaging students but what I've come to understand is we don't have to worry about engaging them students are always engaged in something the question is whether they're engaged in the lesson or they're engaged in something else right and so when you're a kid who's sitting in the back of the room and you can't hear or the teachers move to the back of the room and you're in the front corner and you can't hear the likelihood that you're going to get into Mischief because you're no longer engaged with the lesson goes way up and so um you know I'm not saying we put these in and all the challenges you know with students acting out in class magically go away right but it it is one prong of a very multi-pronged you know set of tools that could help us you know with with trying to find ways to support better you know classroom um behaviors and um student conduct I guess is probably the better way to put it to tie it back into our our committee with our policy on student conduct conduct and I think this would be a very power if we could get this districtwide it would be a very powerful tool set like Lindsay one of my first concerns is always the weight of the lanyards because when we did that at Horseshoe Trails years ago it had like two doublea batteries in it that were rechargeable and it was like wearing a horse yolk around your neck and as you could even see from the picture they've become like many things in our lives much smaller much lighter right because you know back then you had flip phones still so um so I kind of excited and I think um having a tour to be able to see them in action is not a terrible idea well and I like that it's one device that serves multiple purposes like I've worked with the audio enhancement for instructional Parts but um I've also been you know to the school safety Summits and you know gone to these sessions and talked to all these vendors and seen all of these um you know enter from classroom to office communication and da d da like I have a huge walkietalkie my site um and so I like that this has all of those abilities like it's one less thing and opens doors I don't know there's an app for epic too just throwing that out there there we go awesome do we have any other questions and those were all the questions I have thank you any questions or comments no I just noticed your tie and I like it thank you thank you for the presentation yeah thank you so much I appreciate it thank you right that brings us to our next agenda item which is the Kennedy School construction update part two he's very enthusiastic good evening Madam president members of the governing board in just a moment I'll put the slides up on the screen and we'll get started on our next iteration of our conversation about the Kennedy project yeah no which is good so this evening this is our update number two about the Kennedy project uh tonight we'll bring you new information on school naming and some new gathered uh and some cool stuff that has come about we'll share with you the update on the staff selection timeline as well as progress on um student enrollment budget and expenditures as well as the construction timeline and the benchmarks achieved since our last conversation we'll be working together myself Miss Shapiro and Emily walik who's going to bring us new information about school naming and some history do you find more than Google had we did so exciting um I went home and Googled more I I mean as a a Elder Millennial I know my way around Google and really sosing things out and I could not find anything on Kennedy or Kennedy School or the history and then by chance we did an article with axios Phoenix it's just their what's under construction section and Larry C Kennedy's children read it and then scheduled a meeting with us and we got to sit down with them and they came with all this great information about the history about him about what he was like um it was really really special I don't know how else to describe it but I took a bunch of notes so I wanted to fill you in on a little bit about him and about the history and I'm going to read because I don't want to mess it up because it's very intense um oh and then aside it turns out that his three children still live in Phoenix are very embedded in the Phoenix community and two were teachers and one was a a retired pH Phoenix firefighter so all in public service still and kind of keeping that Legacy um and his granddaughter is a teacher in San Francisco Unified School District um so he was a World War II veteran which we knew and a prisoner of war he was a B24 bomber pilot and his plane was shot down over Naples Italy where he was one of 1200 soldiers who spent 29 months in a p camp in Italy and then Germany so that's how that's like a little bit about his service and then to tell his story his friend and fellow P David westeimer wrote a best-selling book so that's this um Von Ryan's Express and Von Ryan is based on Kennedy so they just fictionalize the name but the the story is based on him um and it was later turned into a movie with the Von Ry character being played by Frank Sinatra so you can get that on DVD if you have a DVD player not looked into streaming I'm sure it's available somewhere um so part of and I have not I have not gotten a chance to read the book I actually received it in the mail yesterday which was good timing but in some of my research on the movie in the book it was the character so Kennedy helped British and American soldiers escape a cattle car that was headed from their original camp in Italy to Germany so he helped kind of Escape all the soldiers on the cattle card to then safety in Switzerland so it's like the big tale leading up to that so he is known for that and saving all these soldiers lives and really um coming to the Helm of that um before his military service he was a Private Pilot so that kind of segwayed into his military services as being a pilot of the bomber plane and instead of coming back from his service and going back to being a pilot that's when he decided he wanted to dedicate his his life to teaching so he taught at Lafayette and then was later principal until his sudden death in 1980 a bully from a heart attack and after that uh the state state Superintendent at the time which was Carolyn Warner LED kind of the the charge to get the surrounding community in support of naming the school larcy Kennedy so that's how that transpired um and some of the other information we learned was just in through his children's eyes you know how beloved he was by the community how much um the kids loved him changing the name of the school felt like a no-brainer at the time um he was really known for creating relationships with kids like knowing all his kids by name and what their deal was they told a really um beautiful story about him knowing that the specific child came to school without breakfast each morning but instead of just being like let's go eat breakfast you'd say hey why don't you join me in my office so we can both just have breakfast and hang out and want to hear about your weekend you know just really keeping like the dignity in some of those um interactions with children especially struggling so we thought that that was just another really kind of cool thing to learn about him and that he was known for his Friday Buffalo barbecues and I don't really know the details that just going to like dig in but thought i' add that as like a fun fact um so next for us now having the history and kind of the understanding um there was also an article in the Arizona Republic uh Hilda has copies if you want a copy of it um we'd now like to really engage the school Community about about the name um their desire to keep the name and uh just anything else about kind of The Branding of Kennedy but I'd also love your feedback on any survey questions you think we should ask or what your thoughts are about um Larry C Kennedy is the name or any iteration of that all board members do we have any comments questions um you know I I also tried Googling this past week um and yeah I couldn't find anything so when Jay and I met um yeah it's thank you so much for finding all this information it's it makes such a difference and you know I have been around here for a while and could never really get any answers on it so it seemed crazy to me to keep a name that people don't seem to have meaning but this changes everything I feel like and and I think what we need to make sure we do is get this if if the community agrees you know get this down in writing somewhere so that you know a decade from now we don't run into the same problem um and and I think some of this background would be great to share with the community prior to them taking the survey you know just so they have some background as well but it sounds like a lot of the older homeowners probably have some of that we just don't have you know conversations with them you know um about it so I did hear from one so one one person reached out and just said I know Larry Kennedy and and he was a a veteran and she didn't give me a ton more information there's a movie about him and I was like dang it what's the name of the movie yeah yeah so so cool yeah so well yeah no just to reiterate thank you um because that was that was bothering me um and it's just really it's all very interesting and um yeah I mean I taught there and we always wondered like who who is this named after and you know I looked back then and um and it's interesting um Carolyn Warner was a close family friend um close to my grandma and she is now since passed but I'm like man if I had known that she was a part of rallying that I could have asked her 10 years ago like so um but it's it's also just reaffirming to me like I spent most of my life growing up here my parent my dad grew up here and it's just you get reminded of how much history like we are a young state but there's so much history in our community so thank you Miss A you have any questions comments no I just appreciated hearing the story um it's hard to um put any value into these kind of things when you don't really know who these people are so um like makes a lot more sense now so thank you Miss Gibson McLean uh yeah thanks so much for sharing I also found an article right now that sounds like his parents lived like when this happened his parents lived at 2403 North 28th Street which is very interesting that's also in the district so um which is on like Sheridan in 28th Street so who knows maybe he even grew up down the street I don't know if they told you that or he from a farm in Missouri yes they they they moved to moved here from a farm in Missouri and they did live on 28th Street there for a period of time and then I think they moved if I remember correctly it was a little bit Northwest of that area and the some of the CH sorry some of the children even though they don't live in our district they live at around 12th Street in Northern so they're still you know very close by um and um another thing that I thought was really cool is Larry C Kennedy's wife was actually a school nurse so there was I mean there was clearly deep educational things here and um I don't remember if we saw it somewhere or if someone shared it with us but one of the reasons Carolyn Warner insisted on Larry C Kennedy as the name is there was a concern if it was just named Kennedy School everyone would assume like a thousand other schools throughout the country it was named after John F Kennedy so or Robert Kennedy lck just rolls off the tongue yeah thank you for doing that um I was actually at the district office when you were having that interview and I got the pleasure of meeting the family so that was really neat because they were just it seemed from what I gathered that they were just excited to share this story right and I also think this is a a good idea that once it comes out to the community and we know that this doesn't get lost in translation again um I think it's important for the community to know and I kind of did some research real quick on um Carolyn Warner as well and she was the first non- educator to be a school superintendent who heavily believed in public education so um there's a lot more research on her and more info on her but my initial thoughts of somebody that was so Pro public education and so believed in public schools and all this stuff then obviously if she advocated for this person this person might have had the same sentiment um of you know public education and giving back to the community and stuff so I I thank you for sharing this beautiful story and um even if the community decided for some yourd reason to change this name I think it's still very important to highlight that because it was still part of this District's history for so many years and through years I find it very you know sad that we haven't had this context of who he was and what happened so I'm glad I brought it up and we were able to do the research because now it's just feels so great to have you know such an amazing individual that did so much for this school district yeah and I think it'd be cool like as you said like if the community wants to stick with it that's amazing if they don't like either way just from a design perspective like you know in the foyer in the office somewhere can there be you know some shadow box display something that you know not just one of the little metal plaques there was a little little metal plaque at the old school that didn't give this kind of information so yeah I just I just wanted to throw one more thing in the mix because I just think it's sometimes the universe has a way of having things happen at the right time for the right reason so um one of the stories that was shared with us he came from a farm in Missouri so he loved to grow things at the Kennedy campus and so there were always Snap Dragons and um and he would grow sweet peas were two of the things that his children shared with us and so I just think it would be pretty amazing if we had an opportunity to create a space with there are according to my son some native Arizona snapdragons so grow some native Arizona snapdragons on the campus as well as kind of a throwback to that early effort to grow things at Kennedy so yeah gotta practice saying Missour am I saying it wrong Missour I know I think I said Missouri and I have a friend from Missour and she would be upset with me all right any other questions comments all right thank you so much appreciate it all right that brings us to our next agenda item oh I'm sorry yeah you're right sorry we were just on the naming I'm like oh this is all I wanted to know just kidding we are really excited about it we can make we can be quick um sorry in terms of Staffing we are moving ahead we uh posted for a principal position the the uh posting closed on January 12th we have had 13 viable applicants uh put their applications forward we're in the process of forming a committee uh which we intend to include student voice uh staff voice as well as members of the community potentially even uh one or more of lar C Kennedy's children um we're also planning a meeting with the Kennedy staff tomorrow just to give them the Kennedy L Melinda staff just to give them an update there are some natural questions about you know we see the walls going up we know this is going to open what does that mean for me for us what is what is the what are the next steps so I'll be sharing this information with them at that time um we intend to open the transfer window for interested staff on the 1 of February so that would Pro provide an opportunity for any teacher or staff member across the district um who has interest in the the the outdoor um education and environmental sustainability instructional model to to express that interest we also did a preliminary look as part of our staffing survey which is one of our typical practices for this time of year just inquire of Staff who intends to return for the coming year we asked an explicit question about would you like to know more about Kennedy School and we got a fair number of people who expressed interest in learning more so in the process of putting together an informational event to share with staff more about that instructional model were the remind me with the you might have said this last update was the were the principal candidates a mix of internal and external yes I don't know if I can say more about that or it's it is a mix yes that's why that's why I asked it that way more I just couldn't remember if it was only opened up internally you know yeah more external than internal um we're also planning for grade level configuration progression so much in the way that we opened the kraton academy the intention at this time for next year is to open for our general education students grades prek through five and then our places program which serves students in grades PK through eight and then with each subsequent year to add another grade level until in the 27 28 school year we have a full eighth grade enrollment and the rationale for this um is based on several things one is our older students have they tend to have made an attachment with the families with the teachers and the schools where they're currently enrolled and for Middle School may not be interested in making a change uh also based on some of our budget considerations and limitations we're able to outfit the school very effectively with Furniture fixtures and Technology up to K5 and then using future Capital funds add for those additional fixtures and Furnishings in subsequent years we know what it will all look like we just need those additional years of budget capacity to add those those resources for students I have a random question that just popped in my head um and I see that we're only hiring for a principal and that's for obvious reasons because we don't know of the enrollment right at what point do you start hiring for an assistant principal what's that not the magic number I know that there's no set number but I I'm just thinking out of ah head um how does that happen and how does that come into play that is a really good question Mr man you like me so this is something that has been from my perspective a bit of a mess over the years so if you were to look at our maintenance and operations override pamphlet um what we adverti to the community is part of the reason they were giving us those dollars was to have assistant principles for our schools and yet we don't outfit every school with an assistant principal so um right now the way that it's been structured in the past is that the the cut off threshold and it's been different numbers over the years apparently but most recently it's been set to 600 students so one of the things um and maybe the conversation around Kennedy is is one of the generation points for this um but I know there's some conversations that have come up in Mee and confer around you know supporting students at campuses you know I really at some point think we should consider that we should just have an assistant principal for every site um regardless of that methodology we would want the principal on board to hire whoever that's going to be sorry I didn't mean to cut yeah and I think that's where I was kind of going at especially because you mentioned if those Bond dollars were specified to have a a principal and an AP and you know um I'm just wondering how that happens in the Forefront especially if we already designated that money versus running into an issue where a school has grown to a certain amount of kids and they still don't have an AP yeah and and fundamentally like let's say you have a school they have 590 kids like is it really significantly different than a school that has 600 kids or you have a school that has a lot of specialty programs on it like if you look at um currently at Kennedy at lomalinda they have a number of programs for ed students um those programs often require more administrative support than your regular Ed classroom so you might have 50 less kids but you have some populations that require a little bit more support you know from those other staff members so it's really not apples and like you can't just say well there's X number and so X number that this is what the workload is the workload really varies by campus and you know one of the things I'm very concerned about is we try very often to balance our budget by making cuts that we perceive perceive as being away from the classroom and it feels to me and our teachers you know on the board probably can speak to this better but it feels to me like when we make those cuts ultimately it ends up falling back on the classroom teacher anyway because you take that assistant principal out of the mix that has a direct impact on what's happening in the classroom so for Kennedy as a brand new program and and we've seen this with Theon Academy so I'm tying this to help hild out I'm tying this all back to why it means something about a new school build um when we open the kraton academy we have not had an assistant principal there that has put a lot of extra strain on that system as it's tried to build itself and it's held it back a bit um I don't know that that's the environment that we really want to create as we launch Kennedy but if we're going to look at that we really need to look at it much like the security presentation from the prior item we need to look at it systemically instead of making a fix for one school and then leaving all of the other schools kind of you know out of a line okay um I think that that's a valid point too like if I assume that you guys have gone back to Craton Academy this is something we've kind of talked about before but like what are the mistakes made you know we did that with um mon Vista before uh building but that's Staffing is a great I don't think we we really thought about that you know when we were doing that but that's a it's a good point yeah you want your principal implementing the program and with the teachers not acting as the assistant principle dealing with disciplinary challenges right well that's the thing like I think it's the the number cut offs always drove me nuts um and I know we fell below whatever it was when I was at Kennedy but we had three programs that needed more support we actually ended up getting a behavior interventionist as well um but and you know we talk a lot about making sure like we want to make sure that we are appropriately Staffing appropriately paying our teacher but I just want to reiterate a point you made that there's a difference between you know building up so topheavy versus like making sure that you're not skimming down things that allow support because when there's one administrator on a campus it means teachers have a slower response time when they need extra support in the classroom it means that that person stretch thin because and this is from personal experience as an administrator with no team it there are processes and requirements of those jobs that it doesn't matter how many kids you have they still take the same amount of time um so I I definitely and and to Echo what you said I think that's the Staffing Lessons Learned isn't something we really have looked at so I'm glad that's coming to the Forefront Katie hasn't been shot card yeah we got we need to make sure we're Mak taking care of her as well too I I just had one question on that last slide you said prek to eight but that is just the places program right not okay thank you there is a head start on the campus but in terms of the actual school thank you and we actually technically have two preschools on the campus because we have start location and little big mines is located there and I think we talked about it last time but the places program is a self-contained program for students with severe and profound special needs and it's currently housed at manav Vista this is a purpose built space just for them it's going to be amazing um and so you know thinking programmatically age you know we'll keep the program together a grade level doesn't have the same relevant factors here well and like with that like we used to with all of our different programs self-contained programs it used to be like oh through third grade you go here and then you get shipped to another school and that's hard on the families um it's it's hard on the students in some cases like I think it's important um um especially for those populations to have that consistency and and level support and like you said the space is literally being designed um to make sure that it's not just oh we're sticking you in here like it's intentional which is amazing in terms of student enrollment we are preparing to begin to get the word out to our students and potentially not only current students but students outside who may have interest so we're preparing to distribute marketing materials into the community leveraging social media heavily and potentially some other direct um tools and resources as well we're also intending to work to provide a personal Outreach as I think I stated last time students at Kennedy at Linda are still enrolled and assigned to a school based on where their address is and Kennedy has its its designated attendance area so we intend to do some direct Outreach specifically to those students who live in the Kennedy boundary to make them aware of their options and what the procedures would be if they should like to transfer or if they're older and they want to stay at their current School they'll have the the ability to do that as well so we're preparing some informational events that will be supported by written invitations again that direct Outreach from the CEO and we're really looking at this quarter up till spring break to get that word out heavily so that going into spring break everybody has has that has knowledge about what's happening and what they can do with in order to enroll quick question did we ever land or what direction did it go as far as if it's boundary or like we didn't finish that conversation like are we keeping the same existing boundaries when the school's rebuilt or now my recommendation unless someone has a reason to feel that it shouldn't should be a School of Choice um personally for What Little this is worth um this school is accessible really to any kid like there's no reason it's kind of like how manav Vista is not a school of choice you know the the the Arts programs there aren't really restrictive in any way it's very different from the kraton academy where you have a vastly different program and of course you also have the Dual language component of it um so you know from for my money if we were going to have a conversation about another school in our district being a School of Choice the most logical one would be billm because that dual language immersion it really does have some elements that are difficult to utilize as a um you know just a boundary area school we we it hasn't been a massive issue but it would actually really kind of formalize it not being an issue but at the same time for Kennedy's School unless someone has a reason to make that change because we live in Arizona and it's an open enrollment State anyway that school is available to anyone in the state of Arizona who want who has residency in Arizona who would like to attend it in addition to whoever lives within those neighborhood boundaries and then the last piece and I know um president kuo and I have had some conversations about this we also want to make sure we're we're knocking some doors down and we're getting back a bunch of our kids who may have moved on to other nearby options for learning that are not going to be as exceptional as this school and that um School of Choice message may not reinforce that this is your neighborhood school so that's that's kind of why I asked because I'm like I know there was talk about it you know and I know we decided but it kept getting Revisited and I just yeah to me it's the the vision that's come out of this and you know the outdoor spaces and and being a part of the community Beyond just being a school I I agree at this time I think capitalizing on that opportunity of getting everyone there and yeah and anyone can attend regardless so and and I think it will attract people from yeah from other places as well which is perfectly fine you just explained for anybody listening what open enrollment kind of entails but could you explain what implications internal District School boundaries have at all oh yeah yeah so um so the district itself has a set of boundaries that are established right so that's our our enrollment boundaries for the district um it's weird in Arizona those are the kids that belong to us but technically any child in Arizona can enroll which is the Open Enrollment component within the district they're what are referred to as attendance areas sometimes we call them attendance boundaries but technically they're attendance areas and what those Drive is what the homeschool is for a particular child so nothing else changing if a child lives within the picture on the map that outlines around Larry C Kennedy then then that's the school that that child is supposed to go to but if that child wants to attend one of our other schools by state law they have the right to open and roll into that other school and so if you were to look and and Mr Wells has brought this in the past when we've had conversations about new school builds and transportation and all of that when we look at Scatter Plots of where our students come from and which schools they go to we have an amazing amount of not only kids who come to us from outside are bound iies but also the amount of movement within our district even before some of the disruptions with the rebuild of kraton school and this rebuild um we had a number of kids that were moving from school to school and in fact um in his time here Mr Wells has put some things in place to try to support that and we actually um have the in place now some transportation that not only allows you to get to your home school but to be shuttled to some of the other options that are heavily chosen by our families because the goal is you know we have a focus on Equity we don't want where your house is located in the district to restrict you from being able to attend the school that best meets the needs of your child so thank you did that help or did I go way off the no I was just hoping if somebody was listening they would understand what that conversation was even about the downside with open enrollment is that if I believe this is legal is is if you have an IEP or um Behavior like you've been suspended or expelled from your District a district can say no it's it's actually pretty limited I know expulsion can be a legitimate reason I don't think suspension um remember it's just exposion exposion there are some things about enrollment like you under the law that Mr Man is describing the school can reject a request to enroll under open enrollment with certain things like that they have an extensive disciplinary history but there are very few reasons why a school can say no legal to a child and having special education needs or other um kind of civil rights protections you cannot violate yeah but you what you can have is you can have a limited capacity for a specific special education program right so that might restrict the child from entering and that's why that law was passed a couple of years ago about school district po school districts posting their schools capacities so that way parents know what the capacity at each school is for the school itself and also for those specialized programs so yeah there's definitely some nuances there and some people do pay play fast and loose with it yeah um and so and it is something you know that that we try to make sure we do a lot of education on with our teams in our front offices not saying we've always gotten it perfect but it is when it gets our way it is something that we do work to mediate because we don't we don't want to have a new Kennedy School and then somebody gets turned away for a reason that's not legitim right we were actually just looking at our board policies today about this very topic and one of the things we we Revisited was the idea that if we were going to look at an open enrollment student and consider revocation of that request there's a there's a set of due process statements within our policy that we would have to follow in order to actually do that you know like a hearing and those kinds of things yeah because in practice the um person who takes your application at some districts says you need to get rid of that I you know that's been my experience so I'm glad to hear that we're we're not doing that which I didn't think we were but um I think that is that is a a downside of being able to go with or people thinking they can just go wherever they want because uh that's not and certainly mid year it's much more challenging as well thank you right at this time I'll turn it over to my colleague Miss Shapiro who will update us on budget and expenditures today the most exciting sheet in the presentation um we're as as we were at the last um uh board meeting that we shared this information on track uh we'll start seeing some of these dollars move a little more significantly especially in that furniture um Equipment Technology line as you know orders go in but the numbers don't hit the sheet until we actually start paying some of those invoices um and I had pointed this out in the last presentation with the the two million so we're taking those additional dollars from existing Capital budgets for existing planned projects to add to that Kennedy piece for those uh infrastructure pieces for the technology for Safety and Security that's about 350,000 I I really wasn't sure if um the board may be interested in an info piece that maybe has another column where when we come up with additional dollars in that kind of circumstance I could showcase that don't add it to the sheet uh just knowing that knowledge that there's that 350,000 for technology that we're repurposing for that project or um I could add it into the 2 million line there um for presentation purposes I just wanted to make sure that was very clear and transparent where those dollars were coming from which was an existing capital budget line and um adding that information to the sheet in some fashion I'll try something I don't know uh but nothing else very exciting on here uh it will get more interesting as we as we go along and the uh invoices come in and we'll just keep reporting this out monthly one thing that I'm so sorry and I'm probably backtracking but you mentioned it right now and and it reminded me is have we had any feedback on the teachers or the teachers union on what it would look like for them or how they feel about the EPC audio enhancement system um I do not know the answer to that I'm getting a headshake no and so it's certainly another Avenue that we need to consider and have some conversations yeah no no go ahead uh we are uh discussing that in our U Capital planning committee we've brought that information and then um we are combining with another committee tomorrow night uh to share information and have some discussion uh along those lines please keep in mind the Epic system is not just that one component it's also the intercoms the Bell systems and that infrastructure and uh that was one of the reasons that I had asked that the uh that one component that Russell had discussed which was the the the camera system in the classroom and recording is said that that's just a huge topic of conversation that would absolutely have to have teacher Buy in uh training all of that stuff and that's not we're not even considering that into these projects at this point in time what we did want to let the board know is that the biggest uh factor with these systems is to make sure that they can grow that they can be upgraded that they have the capability and the efficiency to develop with us over time as we delve into different areas especially as we focus on our student outcome Focus goals there could be direction that push uses pushes us down a path so we want to make sure that our infrastructure and the components that we put in there are able to grow and be upgraded so at this point in time what we're looking for is a a standard of Safety and Security for each of our campuses that meets a certain level uh of efficiencies and gets the basics done our secur secur cameras which we know we want and have and have planned for um we just found an opportunity to develop this into systems instead of just having security cameras on our budget we now know that we can incorporate those to all talk to each other and make a better and more sustainable system so it was a great opportunity again as as um Mr man has been bringing up tonight some something about the Synergy of timing of things just happening this year has been pretty incredible for us yeah um and I appreciate all that I just want to make sure that we're going to implement and make sure that teachers have to change or do something that we have some kind of feedback from them saying like hey you know kind of like her P her sharing her perspective it kind of made sense in my head on why um so the more feedback that we can get just make sure especially if we're making changes to a classroom where teachers are going to be impacted as well and that microphone by the way is 1.8 ounces and 3.3 Ines tall thank you 1.8 ounces thank you and if I could address that too I think the other Advantage if we do this with the new school is it gives us an opportunity to test drive it there before we roll it out everywhere everywhere so um and the teachers coming into that space you know are going to be people that are coming into they're going to know what environment they're coming into and so we'll be able to make them aware of that right um as opposed to teachers who may be in an existing space and now we're imposing something on them right okay thank you that was the only question I had um I'd also like to invite Mr Wells to come up and do the second exciting well I don't know this this presentation tonight I don't know if we can beat the Kennedy history I'm trying I'm trying hard this this could have been the Showcase of the night uh We've even got pictures but take it away Thank You Construction I'm happy to say is on track and doing well the team's doing great um we are working on mockups for everyone to see so those mockups be what that exterior that building looks like so the sand blasted block the uh paint we're also working on windows so we'll have a window and window frame that you can see as well as polished concrete because we want to see what that looks like on the interior of the building so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll have that available for viewing and we can get that out to you um benchmarks we met all of our benchmarks which we'll see in the upcoming photograph did things a little bit different this time because we look at an open for plan we say oh we're topping out on Building B well you see the you see the building it's like where's Building B so we tried to identify that a little bit better as we go through uh future benchmarks building a roof structure which we'll be able to see also in photos they've actually started that already so they're a little bit ahead of schedule hanging the drywall again we're as we look through that you'll see they've already started interior framing in lower a they're well ahead of schedule on that for the drywall polished Concrete in March building paint in April so if we can look at the and I i' just like to point out um for presentation purposes we are keeping those same benchmarks and updating each month we're not creating new ones if you'll notice those are some of the similar ones and then we're just adding to and letting you know hey on those last benchmarks that we talked about last month here's what we met so there we tried to label that section of B and it kind of ties day in's hard so we wanted to start showing those so Building B they topped out on block and Building C is our dining and our cafeteria area they also finish that block as [Music] well this is a great picture and I love it for a couple different reasons one that green arrow shows they started putting in the roof structure but right below it is the second floor tins that is going to become our second floor the kids will be walking on and our framing is below it so we're well ahead of schedule they're moving great uh drywall is going to be a March Benchmark and as you can see again like I said in lower building a that framing is already going up electrical go is going in and plumbing and once the drywall is up we are going to mock up a classroom and the 20 years I've been doing this we've never done it we want to bring technology in we're going to bring instructional in and we're going to say where does a teacher live so typically Architects come in and say hey this is where it has to go not in this case we're going to work as a group to see how this classroom is going to function for the kids that's the last one I also have Miss carway in Beck from fmg if you have any questions that for her board members do we have any questions comments concerns I'm I'm excited that we're either hitting or getting ahead of schedule on all the benchmarks yeah and I'm just really thankful for all the construction workers out there I see them working in the mornings this morning at 5: in the morning I went on a crazy run and they were out there before the rain started pouring so it's just amazing to see how much we really do depend on our Workforce and our construction workers and everybody to get this project going so obviously we're ahead of the game um yes I I think strategizing is a very important part but obviously it's the workforce that's getting it there so it's it's amazing to see all this and I'm just really appreciative of the workers that are out there doing all this work holidays too weekends yeah so I'm really thankful and I hope they're being compensated very well care of um any other questions within the budget sorry within the budget yeah um thank you so much for that presentation all right that brings us to our dis um next discussion item it is for us to discuss the district's continued membership with the Arizona School boards Association um I meant to attach my resignation letter to this and it's not on there so whenever we have time if we can be added so anybody can have access to it um I was as formally as you guys know I was the Maricopa County co-director for the past three years kind of oversaw and made relationships with um all the districts in Maricopa County and um I'm bringing this to for us to have a discussion because certain things have happened at the association which I do not feel that are no longer aligned with our values um it's uh concerned with me and with the asba that their departure from student outcomes focused governance model a principle previously um introduced by the previous executive director um they shut that down and to me when we're out looking for governance and for implementation if we're not aligned with an estate Association that's giving us the on how to be better for our student outcomes and for our students it's no longer a line um this model is crucial for ensuring that our decisions are always centered on enhancing student learning and success which is a CornerStore of our mission here in Katon um recently as well asba has made several decisions that are particularly troubling including the firing and the demolition of numerous women of color these actions not only raise serious concerns about the organization's um commitment to diversity and Equity but also suggest a misalignment with our values of inclusivity and fair representation so those are my thoughts some internal insights that I have that I've seen and I really wanted to open up to this for discussion because I know that there's certain um policy services or certain things that we use through asba and I would like after hearing from the board um for us to for the next presentation and where we bring this back forth is to find out how much we're paying a year to be members of this Association um what service actually we're receiving from them because I know for example student outcomes focused governance framework this is not something that the State Association introduced this is something that was you know ran across at a national Schoolboard Association so I know that there's other services out there to do policy service to do insurance to do all these different things so if we can get a list of like what what things or what services we're receiving from asba so if the board decides that come June or July I can't remember the date of when we have to renew membership if we decide and do the research now of what else is out there what else is being offered at what cost then we're informed um by the time that decision make um comes to see if it would be a good thing or not um to continue services with them and that's all I really have to say about that um I can open it up for discussion I don't know if anybody has questions sentiments any comments regarding this um I think you know I I have concerns about Vision as well um that being said I also know that there's always not always but Mo most of the time because humans um there's bad apples in an organization that don't necessarily represent everyone in that organization um and and and I don't know all the you know specifics of everything um so all of that aside like I'm not opposed to looking at other options but just to double down on like my concerns would be I know that we get you know the the policies there that is a huge you know legal vetting undertaking um and so I don't know if there's something else comparable out there um or you know if there is what the cost C comparison would be I think that is really valuable and important um I really appreciate not that you can't get legislative updates elsewhere but um I personally really appreciate the format of theirs the timeliness of theirs um the the ability to break things down in layman's terms um so I think that's um another piece that we would want to make sure that we have information on um thinking about other services they provide I have appreciated their trainings um for new board members you know some of the conferences we've been to um I do think that's not necessarily like new board member training isn't a Mak or break because I do think with the sofg there's other avenues like we've talked about being school you know growing our own school board members um and things like that so those are kind of the main like H what but I think a list of like everything we get and is there a replacement for that would be necessary to have that discussion yeah and one of thing with the trainings and the new board member orientations obviously I was a director there and I've attended most of them it was just really disappointing once I found this sofg work that not once in all those conferences that we've been you know all the breakout sessions we've never really had any conversations and how we make our student outcomes better for our students it's just a conversation they've never had and the fact of for them of denying this framework to a state Association that can better all the school districts in the state of Arizona really does not feel like an alignment to us or to what we're doing here you know um I do believe that trainings are very important but I believe that their trainings have been vary on adult inputs not vary on what are we doing to best serve our students and within this book it really talks about you know State associations and districts that get can get caught up in that adult UT mindset which leads us to not effectively governing for our students so that was one of the things that I noticed too but with this sofg framework I mean we did a two-day study session we had a mindset component which I think is crucial for anybody in education to have and that's just something that we've never I in my personal experience have never received from asba and we still are paying members that we pay a yearly and on top of that we're paying extra for conferences and you know whatever it is that we're doing anybody else have any comments I mean I'm you know throughout the years I've not always been the biggest fan of the um professional development that asba has provided I think it's for me become repetitive um you know I was excited about the change I understand why you know where you're coming from with this um I think it's you know an organization in some turmoil right now I'm I would like to be optimistic that they you know they can get it figured out um because I do think there's some things that would scare me if we didn't have like the policy advice um um the N that's really the number one thing I feel like we we haven't engaged in that enough at at a minimum you know so I feel like we even need more help with that and I don't know what else is out there I mean I'm totally blind into that so um that's my concern I wouldn't want to rush it but I think yeah let's see what services we are getting from them and is there an alternative I know there is you know the trust alternative but I don't personally love love that idea um so I don't think that's a great alternative for us but um I think yeah I mean I think it's we should re-evaluate like what we are receiving um but it it does worry me a little bit with the policy stuff thank you anybody else so I just think basically the same thing I think there needs to be like a pros and cons list and kind of see like you know the oldfashioned there's more Pros or more cons or or whatever but I would I mean when I talked to Jay this week that was my question like what services are we getting um and then what else is out there I mean I don't know what else is out there because we've always been a part of been a part of this so yeah I think that the discussion should continue on but with more information yeah and that's kind of why I wanted just to bring it up now because I know that we don't have to make a decision on this until I think it's June I don't remember but it gives a f us time to figure out you know the MoneyWise what services we're receiving who else is out there do the research and then come make an educated decision I just one of the things that I really struggle with is that we're sitting here saying that our students come first you know we believe in inclusivity and all these different things and then we're feeding money into an association that's contrary to what our district you know what the things that we're trying so hard to dismantle in our own District including systemic racism is something that's very apparent in that Association in the last six months so it's just hard to continue doing that and not doing right by our students in in that sense um so maybe by next time it doesn't have to be the next board meeting but whenever we can just have a little bit of like numbers of what is what and then we can continue doing our research there yeah I do have a bit of it because Miss harez um was kind enough to do a bit of research for us it's what I was listening to was kind of specifically what you were looking for so I think we can kind of probably provide a deeper level of information for the next conversation um but just to read what what she had to share um if if we gave up our membership in asba what we would lose is the PO Services you've all talked about that that's you know kind of a clear heavy hitter the ability to join asate which is the insurance uh health insurance through um asba which we don't currently utilize so that would be like a no harm no foul for for us um we would pay a higher price for Bardock so board dos our our uh board management system is currently discounted because of being an asba member um and then if we did want to attend asba event events there'd be a 50% higher fee so we wouldn't be precluded from attending them it would just be at a higher cost for each of those events um we'd also lose policy bridge and so that's the posting system that our policies are currently posted through um and we would not receive the legal or compliance updates via asba so um we would retain our current policies and then we would have to hire an attorney to update those policies as needed or as all of you have mentioned there might be an alternative service so the example that Miss MC cheffrey shared you know like if we were to go to the trust they have a completely separate policy manual so we need to look at adopting that and then figuring out where we have variant of policies that we'd want to maintain that variance in that system I I've heard several of you say that's not a preferred option it's just that would be the case with any other alternative um that we would need to look at that and then um anecdotally a CED investigated the cost of policy updates through an attorney and the increased cost was their main consider for consideration for retaining membership with asba we did also have a question you know we had this thought could we retain policy services without being a member but when Miss Suarez looked into that that's not not an option so um we would have to have a membership in order to purchase those policy Services um so but to that CED comment you know they found it not costeffective to work directly with an attorney to build it solo custom for themselves but that's different than if there is another entity other than the trust or asba out there who's providing policy Services then it may be able to be cost effective what is SE T I'm sorry what sorry I I keep throwing out acronyms today I don't know what's wrong with me um usually pretty good with that those are the um technical education districts like um in the East Valley there's evid and and there's West Mech and West Valley um and so they're kind of a different animal than a school district but they're similar and and they do participate with asba um when I heard that I I guess my follow-up question about the policy manual if we were to have um an attorney or firm that we hired either through the trust or not within the trust I'm just curious if it would actually be necessary or required if we were to go into an agreement with the firm that we would have to adopt whatever policy manual they have as long as the policies we currently have are legally sound I'm just curious why that would or if has to be and I I I apologize for just kind of throwing that out there but the reason is typically the numbering schemes are different and so there would be sort of an incompatibility with them supporting our existing policy structure with their so when they would send out updates they might say policy 100.3 and we'd be like well ours have letters not numbers and so it would make it very difficult I'm not saying it's impossible but it would be challenging in order to like try to bring two completely different systems together and integrate them with and I guess these policies from asba are like copywritten they are copywritten but um they're not copyrighted yet I thought the we have some where we have modified them and in those cases they're not copywritten by asba but the ones where we've taken the exact as VA policy are copywritten those are noted in the they are noted they have a copyright symbol um in the policies but if I'm understanding and correct me if I'm wrong Miss Suarez if I'm understanding your notes correctly we do get to retain our policies even if we were to leave yeah oh I was more thinking of like creative changes and uses to things that will be public information anyway without saying what I'm saying yeah I didn't think about the policy bridge and I do have a concern about that just because it is you know a clickable table of contents da d d da and it's it's transparency for the public on our policies like we would have to build or hire somebody yeah to build something similar there's a which is not impossible because I've been around on our feeder District websites there's someone near us that does not use policy bridge I can't remember if it's Osborne or or there's somebody where it's like on their website and not on policy Bridge just putting it out there yeah and I can certainly um I have not floated to sort of the we have a little support group with all of us that are part of Phoenix Union um and I have not floated to that team if anyone's using an alternate policy system but I can certainly ask that question and find out if there's anyone out there that has one because that might give us a model to look at did you have another question or okay good any other questions sorry I did one was I noticed you had said there would be an additional cost for board dos Miss what is but do you know what that would be I don't okay yeah so that's that's why I was saying when I was listening it sounds like we're looking to create sort of a grid of like the differential so which is different than the paragraph that we have today so but I I also didn't want to that was a helpful start right I didn't want us to all leave the meeting after the effort had been put forward because at least it gives a starting point for the conversation and then we can gather some of those other components I can do some more asking around to find out if there is anybody who's got another alternative that they're using you know it's it's always helpful if someone's using something else to find out what their experience is so yeah um question that I have so if we decide to move away we would still keep the same policies that we have couldn't we couldn't we have our own attorney to on a contract basis I'm just hypothetically making this up in my head I don't know this is a thing that we could use to help us with policy we absolutely could and then that person would advise us on any policy changes we wanted to make um The Challenge becomes most of the legal firms aren't tracking the statute changes as they occur to create new policies for US based or or changes to our policies to do that so it's not impossible that we could hire somebody and task them with that but it's not you know we're not talking five billable hours we're talking probably hundreds of billable hours that you know that cost right now is spread across multiple districts and that's why um the example of that technical education District that tried to go down that pathway and then you know quickly realized after talking to some attorneys that it would be costly because it's costly doesn't make it impossible and you know there's also the possibility that there's several districts that want to do this together and then that then you're sharing that cost again so so there's a lot of different options and possibilities we just want to make sure we're not advising the board incorrectly as to what the impacts are going to be right right so we're making whatever decision we make it's both eyes open and then the other thing we need to look at is what are the timelines to accomplish those things and so you know even if the board saides absolutely we want to move away from asba if we were to find out it's going to take us eight or nine months we might be put in a position where we need to maybe stay on for one more year to get that transition or that transition might be hey we can hire an attorney to cover us for three months while we're transitioning to another one but you know that's all those are just examples I mean there's a lot of different ways the numbers could play out and then we just need to see ultimately what's the board's desire and what's in the best interest of you know ensuring that we've got those policies and and I really like that idea that you used Mr man because I know that um Tempe unified Tempe or no Tempe Elementary kirne and another school district I can't remember but they all kind of do that they all share the same attorney and they do kind of their own thing as a co-op these three elementary school districts in temp so I know that it's something that's not unheard of and that can be done so that could be a potential especially now that Phoenix Elementary I'm not saying that they're going to do this I'm just saying that because we're all working together and we're all doing this as SG framework collaborating maybe it' be worth a conversation for us to have with those board officers to see how they're feeling and maybe it's something that we can do but those are all options that that's what I mean that sometimes we get stuck on what's been presented to us for years asba is a a Association that's been around for 87 years and I feel like it's been stagnant and in the same in those 87 years kind of like with our district right we've been doing the same thing over and over and it's time for new Innovative things to really get us to that next level and I personally feel asba is not that place for us especially with how we're moving forward with everything else our goals and our guardrails that's just something that's unheard of not only unheard of to asba but they shot it down so that in itself should tell you how interested they are in really serving our students mind you this is a Board Association full of other elected officials that are school board members and they still rather be stuck under adult inputs other than this is what's best for these students in Arizona I think um I think that obviously I'm not the person with the capacity sometimes I have ideas but I can't help um but um you know like like the prospect of something like a phoenix Urban School Board Association it's it's really not that the wild part of like developing a nonprofit and getting that all off the ground isn't that wild depending on what you're trying to accomplish right and so if there's a coalition of board members from districts in this area that maybe feed into Phoenix Union who are interested in this work and collaborating and seeing how we can use our Collective power as districts um in a different way than well I don't know that we're using it at all really right now other as as a political bodies rather than what I'm I'm not saying y'all don't do anything when the superintendent meet but I meant like as political bodies um I think that there's definitely something there that's not been tapped into um the only time that people ever talk is when there have been discussions of you know trying to unify districts or whatever that is um other than that I think that there's a lot that we can tap into there and that we could you know build so that's something I think that could be a long-term conversation that that we could definitely maybe benefit from yeah and thankfully I have a lot of relationships in different districts so I can get those conversations started I don't mind doing that because it's a it actually is a good idea right I love what temp does because that just kind of makes sense you have your surrounding districts you guys are kind of receiving the same information and empowering but that's a really good idea that seeing like there's a lot of different ideas that I think we just need to start looking into and branching into because obviously what's been done has not been working any other questions or comments all right thank you guys for all your feedback and hopefully we can make um better decisions especially moving quicker just because I know we're in January so we have kind of four months to try to figure out how we're going to move forward um all right that brings us to our next agenda item which is future agenda items do we have any future agenda items I just sent one to Misses um I had never sent it before so now I remembered while I was sitting here send um regarding um after hours school like campuses open after hours I would hope that we could get some information for a discussion about you know depending on how many hours it could be open what parts of the facilities could be open what costs would look like for Staffing facilities Etc and what are the unknowns unknown unknown unknowns that I don't know about that we would need to know about from all the smart people any other future agenda items um this is more just a question on one just because time's going quickly I know we said the um options updates for CVA could be incorporating board updates are we getting an update soon on that um for CB CBA and CBA no for kraton Virtual Academy oh I'm sorry CBA yes sorry I thought CB sorry um we there will be a board a board update with some information that'll be coming in the next board update and then in addition to that we'll be bringing that item back to you in March um the piece that prevented us from doing it in February is there was a request to have some of the other vendors come and present so in order to coordinate that we just need a little bit more time any other future yeah I don't know if I can ask this question but um Mr Man we talked about getting those policy um did that go well yesterday like moving forward with um the policies that you were going to talk to Jessica about yes yes I know that there's a there's two future agenda items that are on here that are related policies um I think what we could do with one of them we just got a thumbs up to move forward I haven't had a chance to talk to Miss Suarez yeah we we actually had her in the office sorry um our attorney Jessica Sanchez was in the office today with us and we were able to discuss that with her it feels like it was three days ago but it was just the small so there's been a lot of raining but um but we did we did get some guidance on those and so we'll be able to kind of share out on the one what we're going to be able to do moving forward and then on the other one want so we can get that scheduled as a future agenda item then on the other one we're just going to be able to integrate the change for when those contracts come in February okay okay thank you all right hearing no other future agenda items we're going to move on to our next item and this is to adjourn our meeting so I move the governing board adjourn second all those in favor I gracias W noes

man good all right uh good evening everybody it's uh it is six o'clock and um we are going to get started uh long time no see uh the the weather has changed in the last few days though that's for sure so it's uh some of the fun rain outside so thank you guys for coming in here tonight um uh agendas were um outside we want the first thing we want to do is is call this to order and uh see if there's any initially any comments public comments that we need to address at the beginning all right okay first action item we have is to approve the the minutes from December 12th uh I know that uh Miss Bowen sent those out so um we just want to go ahead and get a motion to approve those minutes thank you we have a motion Campbell second Roberts all in favor of approving the minutes for December 12 say I anybody opposed all right motion carries thank you very much and now we will move into the information and discussion pieces uh for tonight uh we really have uh as you'll see a a somewhat of a short agenda for us um we had the opportunity on Saturday this past Saturday to go around and see some some of the facilities in the district I think gives everybody an opportunity to talk now about that um and uh obviously it's important that we we hear that feedback so we're going to take a few minutes at the table just to to go ahead and talk you know some of the the the things that you saw there so if you if you were not able to go on the tour um and so you're hearing some of this please join a conversation that will so you can hear some of the Reflection from the group so I think I'm looking at our our back table there so if you come up here and and uh I know that Shantel will take care of you um and uh one of her schools was part of the tour um but uh we give you guys a chance to talk about it I I kind of was looking at is almost like if you want to have in your discussion maybe you could talk about ahas from the from the tour things that stood out okay because that's really what we want to know if there's any concerns that you have second thing would be concerns like you know it could be that you could say you know hey I wish uh you know on the tour we had had more information on this that or the other you know um could be anything that's concerned that uh when you saw it you didn't feel like we maybe elaborated enough we'll take we want to make sure we hear that piece of it any concerns that you have and then if there's any questions or research that you still want done for this group things that you're like hey we got to do a followup so what followup maybe or or just needs to come back to the to the committee based on the tour that you don't feel was addressed okay so concerns could be they could overlap but I really I the reason I say concerns is that if you say Hey you know it's rushed or hey you know I just want to know that if there's something then that might lead to so we need more information on this so go ahead and take the next um we we'll we'll give you guys about you know the next four to five minutes and we'll see where you're at if you look looks like you're done we'll we'll come back together sooner than that or need more time you'll tell us all right go and take some time on your tables thanks e you okay we're going to we're going to debrief that uh your conversations um and we do want to hear all comments so as I as I I asked for I said at the beginning like you know ahas if there's something else that comes up in the conversation we're not going to ignore it you say hey but I have a concern at the same time or or information I want but are is in debriefing it at your tables um we're going to have uh and if you guys don't mind we'll have somebody jump in from each table that wants to speak to to it so I know that you're probably going to get you're going to you're going to start start us off Chantel and why don't you tell us um and we'll going to give you the mic if you could tell us some of the ahas and that you guys saw from the uh tour um our table discussed that uh we didn't think it was rushed we thought it was very well put together and we as a committee we were able to take the time that we needed to really look at all of the the to look at the the fleet to look at all the different needs in the on the campuses um and then it was most eye openening to drive out to Asante and look at the growth we said that was kind of our big huge aha is looking at the need out there um and then we also discussed just talking about like if how how would you prioritize things and um prioritizing by looking at our Fleet if if next year we are busing 350 students to simmer on every day we want to make sure that those students are on reliable buses so very good do you want to U continue to comment we can wrap you guys up all at once and we'll go to the next table do you have any concerns or needed other additional information that you wanted to have addressed all right we'll move to the uh next table again same uh pattern anything that turns out as ahas or concerns uh needed information uh so Sim is okay so similar we uh also thought that it was well put together not rushed um I had my own visuals of what I thought certain things would look like you know I've driven school buses I've been out there whatnot didn't realize until you really start looking at the magnitude of how many um very impressed with some of the staff that we met uh Johnny was talking about it at our table well Todd but then some of the other like the bus barn and stuff they just very knowledgeable it was it was nice to to have the experts if you will um hearing and and hearing it from them firsthand um aha for for for me was uh the the 45 degree angle in that auditorium at daart that ramp going down that Hill I'm still thinking about that and I mean you know you chuckle but it's a serious there's obviously a need there um although I'm a little bit of a fan of the 1980s bathrooms I thought that was not too bad um the chillers at Countryside literally just like that was a brick in the head um when you see the work and how they just kind of barely look like they're hanging on um and then you realize there's more around the district that that needs that was big aha for me um I think I think what you were saying like some of the rust and things up close and personal that that definitely like see that um that was the moment where um there was some discussion around us with the bus and stuff about possibly bringing in some kind of professional video audio something to show the public voters if you will about that and that's something that I think we're going to probably either table or discuss um sometime in the near future here but I do think that that would not be um a waste of time um and then again driving out to a Sante and I don't hang out there very much I'm not going to lie so um I know it was getting big and then when you drive around in a bus and you because you know usually you're just driving but all of a sudden you get to just do nothing but be a tourist and you're like my goodness this place is growing and then Dr CAU kept reminding us yeah by the way all of this feeds that one school and then you realize the need for it um I did like the location I know I may people may disagree with that um as long as there's an additional offramp of some kind that could get down there I think that would be that the location wouldn't be too bad um anything else I'm missing from y'all yeah again I hats off to you guys and it was nice to see you guys in flannel shirts and jeans just saying no I appreciate it and and I will um we have note of that that we we recognize the input regarding is there ways to get that information onto any type of recording um and so we'll obviously that's a that's a piece that we'll leave on the table and that can definitely be part of the report to the board as well in the end um the other the other piece that I think it was really good you said is the work that's gone on with the city of surprise up in the Assante area that's how I learned about it um it's because of the superintendent's working in making sure that we're we're having regular dialogue with uh with some of our some of our our city representatives and they're they're explaining those pieces to us hey there is there's there's work going on and El Mirage Road is supposed to actually extend all the way up okay that helps Lichfield Road will have an exit built in the 303 things that are coming right I mean so those are the those are the parts that and I and I look at that I'm like then there's a flood you saw the flood plane in the dam and how they have to work that so obviously there's some engineering pieces and what they got to do there but we know Grand Avenue is you guys saw that piece in there we hit every light which was actually great I was I was really happy about that on the bus that was fantastic so um yes go ahead I'm sorry I passed it back no I had some technical questions I gave to your director did he feed those back to you or should I just email you you can you provide those back to yeah absolutely I don't want to we don't have to go right now they're deep technical things I just so yeah but I'll I'll email you so no and I appreciate that um he did mention to me that was Mr blutter and he did mention to me that he had um he had made records of what you had asked but I think for you to actually document and send that will definitely make sure that those pieces are so we he doesn't miss anything I want to make sure he gives a good good quality answers to each piece he said you had some really good knowledge of what you're asking and wanted to know and I think that was and hopefully there was some answers he was able to provide at the moment but but he did say he wanted to make sure that he got you the exact answers on a couple things all right we're going to move to uh the back table um so we had the same thing with the growth in Asanti and just wow just seeing like how many different plots there were and just how is this going to work for everyone there so that was a main concern of ours um another one was the chillers just seeing how in bad shape they were and then um not having restroom facilities at Willow for like the games football baseball all of that that was something that came up for us um but I think our main thing we talked about was just the growth in aanti and just we need something out there like ASAP thank you very much anything else from the table I just had a question about I mean talk think trying to think outside of the box and having come from as a reservist down at Luke is there no way I know that I worked in the CE area down there and is there no way to utilize the reservists and contract them to come out and help fix repair do things I mean there are resource that I don't know that we tap into as much as we should but we could probably work with them because they have to do two weeks of time anyway and we can St I know as a first sergeant down there I used to stack people to go do work in the community they're getting paid by the military if the if the supplies are there you have a whole civil engineering unit down there that is very capable of doing every part of a CE environment I what's that yeah I I would I would say that I would want to do I would want to make sure that uh we look into that a lot more um I know that there's time that they can do right come in and do it yeah and I and I know that there's been um Partnerships where there's like you know in the elements of community projects or things that have come onto campuses have been done to the elements of the civil engineering pieces I think that is that's the Avenue of your you're bringing people in that are going to be doing work on when you're talking about the mechanical work and everything else there probably is some kind of like igas and other aspects that happened but it doesn't mean that that so I think it's something for us to look into right absolutely I I think the the comment you mentioned though as far as if the resources and the supplies are there I think that's what we sometimes get into is if there aren't those some of these items sometimes get to the point where it's beyond repair and so then we're really looking at really a large Capital cost but yes absolutely there was an ability to just do some repairs at all I'm just saying that if there's a resource you know you have all of these certified individuals that have multiple times that they can burn and use to and it's a win-win yeah yeah no good point Thank you hi thanks also we we discussed the auditorium being a big concern as well and um we think that's something that should have some a priority look at as far as being part of this committee and going forward it was a great tour um the Santi going out there it was eye openening I had never gone there so to see and to understand what was discussed and here uh in other meetings and to put a visual to it was really helpful for all that growth with one school definitely a high priority thank you Bill you came in and a little bit lay sat down I didn't know you were on the the tour was there anything you wanted to add I didn't want I think I I think everything has been said that I you know observed I I think the district has a crisis on its hand with h a Sante um you you have a short-term solution to bust students out to relieve the pressure on the school that's there but the magnitude of what's going on out there um is is really um I think um not out of control but you're going to run into that same problem again in three or four years and the chances of building a school during that time I don't believe are realistic um so I would consider you know suggest working with the city to um notify prospective home buyers that they're not going to get a school right away out there and that the Band-Aid will eventually you know wear out and you're going to need another building rather quickly and I think the people that are potential buyers out there need to know that otherwise it's going to get dumped right back on the district you know in terms of why there aren't schools out there when Realtors and others tell them there will be a school they just don't tell them there's a five to seven to eighty year Horizon right thank you for that bill appreciate that and that was uh there was conversation we heard on the bus that was related to those concerns about that area uh your I I don't disagree with you at all I think there was um there was some expressions of what kind of what kind of problem or the anxiety levels that must cause but then also talking about real the the realistic part of it is what are families being told when they buy homes up there do they know do they know the impacts do they understand understand that do they know the long-term plans what's going on within that what's what are they being what's being said during those during those purchases I don't know um but I do believe what you said is really important I think it's and and as as I as we take that back to uh superintendent those meetings with uh with those City officials I think it's uh it's important to make sure that they are you know that is expressed and how is that information being relayed you know to uh you know that they understand you know do do home builders are they making sure that people know what's what's going on up there and then obviously we make in here the job is that this committee is to make a recommendation in the end right so then it's it's really I think it's it's obviously you know what is daart you know doing to fulfill as much as they can to their obligation to the community up there so I'll be right way back in the day when Luke Air Force Base was at risk of being closed um and that was because of overflights noise of jets and things like that the city went in and notified required that the home builders put signage up that says you're moving in next to an Air Force Bas and you need to know there's jets that are going to be flying over your house and if you don't like that you shouldn't move here and that was an ordinance that the city passed where every sales office had that notification so people knew exactly what they were buying into and It ultimately helped you know save Luke Air Force Bas because all those noise complaints went away or most of them went away and you know with homes being resold people don't necessarily read their real estate documents and there's some of that noise still going on but in the long term that sa that was one of the things that saved Luke Air Force Space thank you for that and understanding that his historical perspective we're going to jump over here just to let you guys know our councilman who is now vice mayor um did have a meeting last week the school board was invited the superintendent was invited um he has meetings every month about the area and what is going on he isn't they're in close Communications with everybody um they know the seriousness of it the um parents know um as for new buyers I don't know but whoever is living there right now um they've been been informed um from like I said our vice mayor councilman for that district and the school board was there I I understand people are informed but being held accountable is a completely different thing when we purchased our house here 20 years ago we had a sign a form saying you were in the flight pattern you are aware of it so you know you're going to have to live with it there's no coming back and saying boohoo so when you're out there in the Sante and you're aware of that and you know after retiring I did sales for a living and people are going to do whatever they can to get a sale so that they can make money and feed their family so the district needs to be able to not just post something in these uh new developments but they need to have a document by the district saying this is what our Outlook is going to be like for five years 10 years when it comes to schools and give these people a choice as to whether or not they're going to want to move out there and make their decisions based on education if that's what they're choosing to do so they can't come back and you know they're being a lot of boohoo and coming to the school districts and saying well we were promised this we were promised this no you weren't this is what we said we were trying to accomplish this is where we stand at this point so if we did that with Luke we can do it with the school districts too and let people know what our intentions are and we can suggest that to the school district and let them know that we can do the same thing so we don't have these issues that are coming up and that might alleviate some of our issues out in Asante coming up thank you for that that just leades me to ask a question about because I know from I live in Asante um but being out there there were several of the families that if you didn't live in the Assante exact Community like you were in the Desert Oasis and on back there you are no no longer allowed to send your child to that dice art school that's the ones that are being bust elsewhere several people have chosen to opt for the home school now does that Esa take money away from the diart district if they're opting to do that versus bus okay good yeah I think you you had heard that to your question no that's that is that doesn't h happen I'm going to let Mary Dell if there's any specific to that but no that's yeah so if there's an empowerment scholarship account that doesn't directly reduce dice 's allocation that's just something that the state is funding um through their through their budget and I think we're in a nice segue now actually to get a little bit more onto the financial side to this because we have some information that's related to bonds and overrides um and tax information so I'm going to hand it over to marydale thank you Craig okay so um while we present the information I'll have um Craig if you don't mind helping me pass those out so um I wanted to kind of recap in general so really the intent of of the committee we wanted to provide the initial overview on what are the bonds versus the overrides and then we wanted to get an idea of what are the needs and what do we currently pay with each type of of funding source then we went into the bond needs of the district now we've viewed them and now that we've established an identified amount of the 127 million is kind of where the committee said okay let's go ahead and start just doing some initial um estimates and projections on that so that's what I wanted to talk to you about because with every funding um Source there's obviously the need to have to pay for it so um that's what tonight I wanted to go through um briefly with you I don't want to overwhelm you there's going to be some charts in here that you're going to say only maridel wants to look at those numbers and I already see you laughing back there because you know know me in numbers but we will just this is intended to just be a visual scenario this isn't exactly what it would um really come out to because obviously interest rates fluctuate how bonds um ultimately would be sold may vary so just more than anything wanted to provide a perspective on how the process works maybe oh sorry user error okay one too many okay so just what's a bond so recap I'm I'm hoping that at this point you are the experts you would be able to tell me what the bond is for how it works the difference between the bond and the override you will be those Community experts that can go out and and educate others because you've had multiple months of training so um just a recap on the bond so again bonds very similar to loans if you recall um authorized by voters this is through an additional property tax through a secondary property tax used to purchase Capital items and Capital Improvements so those on the very first meeting we talked about the types of things that bonds are typically used to fund so these actually are the type of items that we have identified as the highest areas of need with the district um they're usually uh well they're all repaid over a set period of time similar to a mortgage so you can structure them up to 20 years um and so we'll look through some of those scenarios so how do it work so voters ultimately would approve the the governing board would call for the election if the voters approve the authorization through that election process then if they are approved we then work with the financial advisor to put the program to get the documents together to really get the best um interest rates that we possibly can and then sell them in $5,000 increments up to 20 years and so we'll go over that the district then breaks that Bond authorization so let's say there's $127 million Bond you don't issue it all out at one time you usually do multiple series of it and then you um it helps to just helps to level out the the impact to the tax rate as much as possible because if you just dropped $127 M million loan out there obviously that would hike your tax rate so we don't want to have that impact on our taxpayers and as mentioned they are funded through secondary property taxes so this is the page that I know I apologize in advance it is very busy but there is really no better way of doing this um there's two scenarios so in your packets you will see the first page is uh a 20-year option of a payment the second page is a 15-year option so a couple things to note on here um this estimate again it's just an estimated scenario this one has us saying okay if we issued the $127 million bonds and if we did them in three different series you issue out a 43 million series if you see that in the blue boxes there a $42 million series and another $42 million series what would that look like this is making the Assumption of a 5% interest rate again interest rates fluctuate so this is the best known estimate at this time that we that we can project um if you see on the second call well second uh boxer called existing bonds if you see that this is referencing remember our very first meeting we had said we have $ 69.4 million bonds outstanding that are estimated to be paid in fiscal year Ending 28 so if you look at that with interest and everything that's the remaining $77 million that tax rate estimated for 24 is 89 cents um on those payments and so really what asked the um our estimated our financial adviser in putting this together is what would it look like how do we restructure it if we didn't want that tax rate to go above what our taxpayers are already currently doing that 89 cents we don't want to issue bonds that are then just going to Skyrocket anybody's tax rates but knowing that obviously with additional bonds there there is there is a tax that wouldn't otherwise be because if you look at this um at this first scenario after fiscal year 28 the bonds go away but if you look over at that new um really the numbers above it are 13 and 14 if you look at that new combined now you look at your new payments and how that then folds into the previous tax rates to that final column does that make sense so now you have your existing and your new bonds combined that final column you would say okay we're starting at 89 cents now you're issuing out the bonds you'll still maintain at 89 cents and eventually once what we currently have outstanding gets paid off the remaining amount you start seeing it coming down 36 34 33 and so on so this average tax rate on the new average tax rate over those 20 years is that 31 cents is is essentially what's an additional amount which is an average tax on each $100,000 home assessed limited value of a home of of $31 and again just a reminder so with taxes and this is always very confusing people are saying well my ta taxes are going to go up 889 cents on my home and my home can sell for $400,000 now I'm going to pay paying this much that's not how taxes are assessed they're assessed on The Limited value of your home so for instance if you have a a home that currently says it can sell for 500,000 550 you still might just have a limited value which is what your tax rates are based off of about 200,000 or so just for context the average limited value of a home in Surprise is 188,000 700 believe had us research that amount Y 18,75 is the average limited value of a home ins surprise for fiscal year 18875 so that's the average so a couple things to note so this is this first page is the 20-year option I feel like when you're at the bank and you're like let me give you the loans here's one option here's your here's let me show you the other other okay so the 15-year one so this would say let's say you have $127 million bonds but I don't want my taxpayers to pay them over the next 20 years we want to compress that and take that down to 15 we are starting to see more districts kind of going to Shorter terms of repayment because just think about it in your own personal finances you don't want to go out and take a loan for something you're still going to be paying for years after you've already used the items and so typically the longer ones are used for land are used for building a new school because those are going to last for years but if you're looking at buying a lot of um districts go out and buy technology or they buy just pieces of equipment Etc you don't want to be paying that interest and ongoing for so many years after you've already probably at that point used up the useful life of those assets so the counter to this is you are now taking that $127 million but it gets compressed which means your tax rate rates does get slightly impacted more right because you're now having to pay it off at a faster rate so just for comparison that one rather than the average um new tax rate of 31 cents that one jumps up to 39 cents you'll see down there at the bottom of that column 14 so but for comparison purposes I ran the I added the interest the principal payment on the 127 million at a 20-year payment would be about 61.7 million interest that's assuming a 5% interest rate the interest payment on the 15E would be 44.9 million so I mean you're are looking at a pretty significant savings and interest if you just say I'm just going to shave off five years off the payment plan um but still it will adjust your tax rate a little bit so what does that mean in terms of reder so ultimately there's the two options just summarized you have your 20-year versus your 15-year there is um that ft& there's a specific cap that we're able to utilize on just Furniture technology and equipment and that's basically they put a cap on that on saying you don't issue out all the bonds just for furniture and Technology because now you're paying you're you're doing a long-term financing for things that have a generally short-term life so there's a cap on that so what we wanted to have is just a the maximum tax rate of 89 cents to again mirror what the taxpayers currently are feeling with seeing in in their overall tax rate um payments so the first one is the 31 cents versus the 39 so what does that mean on a $100,000 assessed limited value home you'd be looking at with the new bonds only average of $31 additional average tax for year and on a uh on the 15 year you're looking at about $39 average annual tax so again this is going to vary I mean I pulled up mine because I am that person that keeps my tax statements so I got mine and I was like because I'm always like very curious because people call me about their taxes I'm like hey where what what what do we pay and how much do we have so this calculates exactly to how much we're paying for the override and the bonds when you look at your limited value so if you have your tax rate statements or your tax statements you can get a general estimate for what your direct impact would be yes let me bring you the mic well I'm here I'm just because I hear my taxes go up my tax go up so whichever one you got you guys go with whether it's 20 or 15 it's only going to be an additional $31 or $39 on top of what they're already paying yearly okay Mary D and that question is one that I think comes up a lot I I'm I'm curious what are what are homeowners paying right now currently what are they paying right now and then what would be the yeah based on that so right now the increase on them so let's say the let's say that the amount goes up um let's see I had run this the IDE 24 for an 188,000 because again we say 100,000 but there's not very many have so I wanted to put in the context of a new home and surprise so it would add either $58 or $74 based on that 188,000 average home assess value now that would be above what you're already paying so this is assuming let's say if you go back to this first this other document so right now on that um existing bonds so columns four and five you're currently paying 89 cents on your limited assess value of your home so if there's no bonds issued you are now going to go from 89 cents 86 cents 80 cents on the per $1,000 66 32 and then it's gone if we add on bonds and I wish does this have a I don't have a thing for it but does it have a pointer I don't think it does no so if you add on the bonds if you look at column 14 that now adds 9 cents related to that payment 23 cents 57 cents so ra so the final column is your existing and new bonds so rather than at it would have been 898680 remember at column 5 you now have 8986 89 8989 and now it continues further down so obviously the payments will go down as the payment as the bonds are being paid off but per 100,000 for each $100,000 in in home value well this was that semantics that we brought up I think on day one we talked about this right it's like the tax rates your taxes do not go up they just fail to go down if the bond passes you what I'm saying so relative to what they otherwise would have been had this Bond M Bond Bond not passed they go up sure but the in reality if it passes your taxes don't go up it just stays you know just correct doesn't phase out until several years does that make sense that answer your question well they're not going to if the bond passes you you won't see an increase you just won't see the decrease that would have happened huh for a few years for right I mean if the bond fails you'll see the phase out happen right correct if the bond fails but if the bond passes now it will phase out many many years from now that's correct okay that's a great way of putting it Johnny thank you because it is it's so if they didn't exist yes you're looking at column five and they're phased down they're paid off and they're done otherwise what you're also wanting to do to your to your tax rate is ensure that you don't have those huge spikes so when we work with financial advisers we make sure that set it at the rate that we already know we have and then from their structure the payment plan so that it's not a huge Spike um in in the rates but yes if they bonds didn't exist there would be no tax rate the tax rates would go down after really after fiscal year 20 24 they go from 89 86 80 66 and then they're gone after so I know it's a lot of information and feel free to um you know take a look at it call me if you have any questions I'd happy to answer yes of course I know we do this I don't know why the tax rate for business property you know for the businesses are always higher than the residential and all these bonds I know we always do that but I why do we do that why can't why can't the business just be the same rate is there a reason we nobody knows B you know or do you know do you know Bill I'm sorry is that right oh oh did they I didn't know that stupid Cil Engineers oh sorry you you run into the problem of public procurement you run into the problems of the general contractors feeling like their business is being taken away yeah I mean there's all sorts of political Crossfire s yeah and I don't know if the answer was and I think but just want to make sure that it was heard what Bill said was the state legislature makes the determinations on those brackets for the audience to hear so thank you yes right and then that's this again is an assumption make you know looking at the last 10 years of growth this is applying a 6.7% increase in the property assessed value and then after the 10 after a few years it goes down 1.34 so again these are all initial estimates based on um how how things have trended but um it at least gives you a good visual hopefully this helps to see how they're usually spaced out and that's why we don't you know the question was you get all 127 do you just issue it all out they're they're distributed in multiple series and and adjusted and and formatted in a way so that it is as smooth of an impact to the tax rate as possible so you don't have the spikes um up or down question by doing that spreading it out the 15 or the 20 years in the in the three types of increments is that factoring in when when you're the different phases of what you're building and what you're doing for the bond um how does that come into effect with it yeah so when you do make the payments that's when we'd have to work on getting the the plan on what are the highest needs because you want to ensure that you're getting those first things you know issued out immediately as you know as soon as possible and then then really you might have to hold off on a couple things until the next series they're not greatly I mean this is assuming let's say it was a November 24 election the first series is issued in the spring then you start making payment on it and then it's a couple years so that's why it's a multi-year process even to issue out bonds because even when you have them authorized you don't get all that cash on day one you you have to ensure that those are all chunked out and and broken out but um but yeah good question you have to now kind of go back through your items and prioritize those I think what would help is you you put that $127 million example up there of How To defease That Bond but and if that's what we went out with if that's what we decided to bring to the voters but we also need to know how much the UN at least I would like to know how much the unfunded needs are that won't get addressed by a bond passage so that I believe the public needs to know that as well 127 million will buy you this now here's what it won't buy you do as far as just those other needs that we didn't even really discuss I mean we didn't there's always going to be additional amounts but we just identified we in the committee and I think that was the intent of the committee we wanted to go from like the immediate needs and and and you know then we kind of had them an area of priority but you're right I mean when we look back and see everything that would be needed is it an additional school is it you know there's a lot more that would definitely was you know not identified necessarily here within the committee work that was the larger expense I think yes the unfunded needs of just when you look at a Sante I mean we were talking about just some land for high school and and a and a school but one school but then you're saying well yeah but you're already behind what it's built and you still need the high school right and you got all the other ones so the unfunded need yes and then also there are elements to Renovations that we were we very much made sure it was these are just the need needs that would make things work right so will there be other things we look at it in in 3 to four years that that list gets longer so it just keeps adding on so that's just but that's the element of what we're in anyway so I don't think that it was important for us to address it that way you know I think everybody deals with that I'll just repeat and what Bill said is that the voters will think that that fixed everything and I think what your message is is that to understand the longevity so we can put together that information of what that looks like of normal expenditures per year and I think we alluded to that the beginning but we can bring that back absolutely very good okay thank you so now um we'll just go briefly into um so we've talked about bonds overrides are also um a funding source that is P that is paid for through secondary property taxes so again while bonds pay for Capital Equipment those type of um tangible items items the overrides are what provides additional revenue for programs supports people right so when we think of the overrides those are the people currently daar has the M override in place and just um as a reminder this I know we've shared this um timeline out um we had the 7year override um authorized in FY 2122 so we are in year three of that seven-year override we are fully funded um for next year as well as the following year and then if not renewed it starts getting phased out so for context I wanted to just provide um a little history on the last three years worth of what that override tax rate has been um so and again I didn't put a 25 because we still haven't been provided even the district assessed valuations that's what fully drives what that rate is going to be you take a percentage of your assessed valuation Etc so we don't have that at this point in time um but you can see the average of what it has been so I would expect it would probably be something similar in the do30 range or so um so what does that mean again for daart um average surprise home in FY 24 based on 188,000 limited value um a homeowner would have paid 237 um like for personal like I paid last year 8368 so I mean it's and I live in an average surprise home so um so just for context I think that's where you can generally see what the what the average um rate would be so that one again just wanted to give you a general idea of what of what a homeowner or a taxpayer pays to support the override in an annual annual year so that is what I wanted to bring to the group just so you can put a little bit of context I mean we've talked about high dollar figures but now we wanted to talk about okay what does ultimately have an impact a potential impact on the tax rate what would our taxpayers have to consider as they as they make that decision if there is a decision um that's brought to them questions I'm coming oh sorry I'm coming and I'll stand up again I don't know why I'm sitting down get up sorry I'm going to date myself but remember the old you know I'm Just a Bill on Capitol Hill is there a way to do that I'm just a bond type of thing and put it on the media where we can direct people that would explain some of this in a way at our I'm looking at our educational media coordinator back there like oh the the request was back in the day of the days of oh Schoolhouse Rock thank you of I'm just a bill just a lonely Bill sitting here on Capitol Hill of of a bond basically a bond video or something of that of Education I mean we've done um previously some in years past on kind of the difference between bonds and overrides um and the very first video we had I mean it would just provided a little bit of background too but I mean that's I was just thinking of something kind of fun or you know that would be catchy because then I could start like even on my mailboxes or in my little church group or whatever refer people hey start looking at this start paying attention to this this will answer some of the questions and then you know at least provide the education rather than all of the things that are handed to the voters right at election time it can start that conversation if it's out there on the social media yeah no yeah and I I wanted to comment to that and you guys remember what we did at our very first meeting in here is we talked about um you know obviously election law and and that element of what can be provided the district can't provide factual information I think that there's an element to it even in the current state right now as you're saying hey this is factual information we're providing a lot of things factual factual factual right even even to that even to that end the election law obviously it ramps up when you think about that if if you were to be you know the board did call for a for an election because then you're saying okay you could provide factual information that's something that just as you as you look at that you have to make sure that you're not doing anything that's going to be providing any type of sway that we're trying to present it in a certain way so it's important at that point I mean a lot of times you get into the conversation about a pack and other things like that that's important for they you know those those members could be people in here could be others that want to be a part of that that they're the ones that really are leading that that element and take that on as community members to say we want to you know promote that that's up to you know um the Comm the community but uh really again I just want to emphasize that factual piece too and following election law but we can we can provide information we can provide you know you could take video of the of the you know show what it is you know this is what we're talking about and I think that's definitely something that you would do in the end with your um with with a you know really a community uh election committee that would act as that well you're right I mean this committee has had really the kind of a unique situation you received a lot of information over the last last few months and not everyone necessarily always understands and so it's really just kind of being able to explain I mean we and we have the inform the ability to put put a lot of you know um some of this PowerPoint I mean they've all been available also on live you know live streaming so it's it's available for viewing later too but um we just have to tread carefully if an election is called that District does step out of that so it's not using District resources to promote an election just as an example the past couple of overrides the campaigns have cost close to $100,000 so that that kind of money needs to be raised by business and private citizens and goes into The Campaign Committee based on a strategy of educating the public giving them the kind of information that you're suggesting in but that gets expensive and you think about businesses in Surprise who can write a $5,000 check in Surprise a surprise business you've got to go to the contractors you got to go to the subs people that you know those businesses that are going to benefit from the public procurement process and being awarded a bid to build restrooms at Willow Canyon or whatever the transit people the people will contribute but it's hard raising money in Surprise all right well hopefully I know it's a lot of information I've got glazed over looks I just wanted to make one other piece as we finish the override conversation I want to make sure that that was understood that you know that there's still you know we talk about it that the 2425 school year that the override is still in in place correct correct yes so it it techn Technically when you look at that and then the 2526 school year so technically right now where we sit in the 23 24 right the override is still running for two more years I just want to make sure that that's an understood piece as this conversation I know we've said that a few times and that the conversation from earlier that if an override continues as long as you're keeping most factors the same that the current tax rate that people are paying right now doesn't change because it continues if it was approved right unless you're changing the game in some way so those were that same question and I think it's just important that because I think that was the question that keeps coming up and so that's the question I've been getting a lot too so I just want to make sure that that's there remember that we're going to be and I can get into our next item here in just a minute I don't want to jump to it too fast but we're going to be uh at some point in here taking an action item of saying no to all yes to both go Bond or go override and so I think that's just a part to keep in mind that we're going to have to make a decision as a committee all right so oh yes question and saying that doesn't mean that it's just straight recommendation I'm just like for Clear is yes we'd like you to go for Bond yes like we'd like you to go to override or is it yes Bond because of this and could this this this happen I just want to see if there's little specifics that we can put in in the recommendation or is it just specifically Bond yes override no it's like when you mentioned kind of breaking like what what do you have in mind like breaking down like we went on the tour and we seen certain things but there's other schools that need stuff so I'm just thinking like with the money factor can we say like it can it be specifically for this or specific for that and I don't want to choose something and then someone will be like and and that and that part of the question is is absolutely that there can be recommendations when that's presented um and then the board you know because the way that's going to appear on the ballot we could look at language of what bonds do but they do say you know you're saying that this is used for renovation transportation for land for a new land I mean you you identify those elements whatever you're looking at with you know when you say it you do put it specifically I'm not saying we need to be all detailed like that I just I was wondering that and then with that can we get a copy of like or the verbiage of the last one that happened and something like so we can look at that way before is there anything that's approved yes the bond like what what the other committee submitted for the bonder you okay yeah when we get to that point of the action we'll have language for you know for you guys to look at on the different sides of that so you have an understanding and then when the recommendation is made to the board you know obviously you all that understanding then also what the recommendation is truly what is outlined specifically so you guys even got more detail today of are you recommending and I don't want to speak too much to it maryell but a 15 year or a 20 year because that is even part of that's part of the deal right so there's all those other elements and it is it's a recommendation and then the board has to you know take that into consideration and ultimately it'll be the board that determines if if at what amount and also over what series or or time is it a 15 is it a 20 year ETA those types of things but yes absolutely with the committee's recommendation and input they would con they would take that into consideration yes the question is is will we get that information before the next we will have it okay okay and and when we go into the next item I'll be able to explain that because it'll be our our coming uh you know what's coming up next is there any other questions related to this portion down though before I move on I was going to say that the ballot title won't have furniture fixture and Equipment specific desks number of buses you're you're not by the time the attorneys write the ballot title for bonds you won't recognize it it's going to be all legal ease and you're going to have to dig back into the voter pamphlet to find out specifically what it's going to buy it's not going to say you know 12 buses and 15 desks and you know restroom facilities at Willow Canyon or whatever we decide to do and thank you for that clarification that's absolutely correct I mean that's a that was a really good way of saying a bill because there is there's a part where you go back to what specifically was recommended and that's the the guideline of really this is what the district is saying that they would do with that that that uh and yeah what Bill said is the legislature will guide what goes on on the ballot all right um we're going to go to the uh to the next uh and final item information on future uh committee meetings uh just just to let you know that um our next meeting uh as a group will be on February 6th and February 6th Tuesday again uh same time in that meeting uh that we will be getting Paul B will be coming back in with the survey results so we're going to get a chance to review the results do some analysis of those results allow you guys to break that down and then talk about what that means and does that change you know perspective or anything or give us some ideas of what the public is is is thinking I think that's going to be really good at this point to see that um following that then it's really going to be an opportunity unless there's any other information that we feel like needs to still be provided we're going to act we're going to start to move into the action items of of all right let's talk about this we got to make a decision and we're going to have an action related to that so that's when we will have those elements of the language and everything else being presented um it'll it'll it'll carry forward with what would be proposed and and on along those lines so we will have some examples of that as well so I want to make sure I'm answering that question when you say that from earlier that's where we would provide that information so when we get to action items potential whether it be next meeting or whatever but assuming it's next meeting um my only concern is Quorum I know our numbers have been dropping I know was talking with Jenna a little bit about we started off with 30 something we're down eight people where where do we fall in that legal Quorum as far as numbers we would need to actually make a recommendation of vote if you will and move it forward and and maryell and I were having that conversation earlier I know that when comes to the no uh it's a it's a good question um we have a a committee that's receiving the information you know that's that decided to be here um we we've checked in with them the people who are present um when we have the the you know the posted meeting we'll we'll be able to make that call now I think it's a good question for us to bring up again in our next meeting because I would I would like to hear what Paul Ben has to say from his from what his experience has been um I also want to make sure that I don't speak for the superintendent or any other if there's any other attorney language or anything else that we need to make sure that we know we had uh you know Chris Thomas come and speak to us early on he was the one who explained election law uh so so we can we're going to make sure that we have that answer very specific for you guys at that time I've watched it you know in the past where you know it did dwindle over time and then it became whoever was present you know for that decision time and we make sure they know we're doing an action item again so people who are on the committee can still they're not they're not removed from the committee you know I mean we still invite them you'll notice that that they're still a part of this so they can still they can be watching at home right now so and that's been a benefit of having this streamed okay because we have some people that have contacted us and they've had some you know a couple people serious family issues where a relative has been in the hospital so they've obviously they need to be doing that that's where they need to put their attention we have some people that are sick they couldn't be on the tour and they maybe we know that there was a lot of illness so that was happening there for a little bit um that was impacting us so great question all right umu yes correct is that you think everybody on issue for theard make we're not going to rush a great question and we're not going to rush that day on that Daya to say that we're if the if the committee is moving forward and they were want to make that decision that night we have you know we can we can move forward if we want to if we F on that evening hey let's take a a little bit more time to just go home and reflect and we want you know there was still a couple issues here that were you know people wanted a little more information on whatever that might be um we have another date on the calendar which is I want to say March 5th and um and that would be that was considered as one of those final dates um with the intent to following that meeting was intended in the past to bring it to the board after that so that was the whole reason that was scheduled out I mean remember we started in October and the whole purpose of this is really to bring you know to cover all of our bases and allow you guys to get every piece of information you need and also to make sure that you're uh that obviously these Comm community members and part of the school Community go down to the schools and even seek information so um so we will see how it goes that night if it's not done on the 5th we'll come back on the on the 6th and we will come back on March 5th that's March 5th would be our final meeting yes but we can make the decision February 6 and the question can we make the decision February 6 and that is correct that's a yes great questions and appreciate the clarification on on those dates um want to go ahead and I think unless there's anything else we get we get uh um 48 minutes early tonight which I want to say all the other minutes I went over including the T I'm going to say we're even Steven now so um I have to make sure I get a recommendation to a motion excuse me to adjourn the meeting can I get that please uh we say last names please motion Cody second spear all in favor to adjourn any opposed I don't know why you'd want to oppose that you guys stay safe have a great night thank you

if you have specific questions or would like to further engage with the district you may submit your questions using the link on the website and the appropriate staff member will communicate with you our BPS 101 Communications manager Harley dman will now explain the procedures for public comment and call up the speakers thank you president me you've been here before you have three minutes the timer is up on the screen for you um I'm sorry this is Tracy graus here with us this evening um as I said last time I'm not the best public speaker so I apologize if I ramble um I just wanted to reiterate what I was here last here for last time um I do feel I got to meet with Mr Kim and I thought it was a great conversation very productive um I hope to see some great things from that um however I I still deep down even though we had that conversation I still have my concerns um because again my daughter came home today saying how there was physical violence in her classroom um and it was not addressed um so not today I'm sorry yesterday um so I just I really want to keep hitting home on JB Nelson needs help they need more assistance and I don't know how else to go about that I know I'm a sub but not one sub can make that change we need more um or just more um people to help out with the behaviors that are going on um but again like I said I just I just had a great conversation with Mr Kim um but again it's just it's happening all the time my daughter doesn't know who to go to there she doesn't know who she can go to she has no trust with anyone because nothing is helping the behaviors so she's like if I can't trust that so so and so is not going to hit so and so how can I go to that teacher and know that I feel safe so I'm really pleading that if there's something we can do to look into this I would really really really hope for that because all these behaviors are going to affect these children the older they get and they're only going to get bigger and harder to control right so that's pretty much my piece all right thank you record time that's the end of public that's end okay thank you next is BPS partners pod the be I know fight your way there today yes good evening everyone uh first off I'd like to Echo any and all expressions of thanks to our building custodians and maintenance and ground crew uh led by Mark Anderson and his team with our Trifecta of snow cold and Ice days and frozen pipes water leaks and insufficient Heat at the high school all just since returning from break I know that they put in many hours uh much before the beginning and ending of our school times these past few weeks and the Bea could not do our job without our Besa and our District staff counterparts so please accept our heart heartfelt thanks for your time and efforts during these weather challenges we also know that decisions made by Tom and the administration on whether to have school or cancel it and to move to e-learning or use emergency days will always be difficult ones to make as inevitably there will be those who support one of the decisions that is made and also those find fault with that same decision I want to thank Tom for using his resources to carefully weigh all the factors that led to the decisions that have been made over the past couple of weeks I know for sure that the safety of students and staff drove all decisions while adhering to the district philosophy of having a safe warm and dry learning environment for our students with these three snow days now behind us I hope we can all move on to Spring very quickly to keep you as a board in the loop we will be having our second District coordinating council meeting next Tuesday I know that this is not as a familiar committee to many of you as our established committees like CAC and plaque and rack but DCC was negotiated in our last contract as a way for admin and Bea to oversee the functioning of our district committees and to ensure that our collaborative structures are not only working but thriving we have several topics on our agenda but one that is quickly rising to the top of the discussion list is artificial intelligence or AI I know that this is not really the case but Ai and education has seemed to come virtually out of nowhere in the last couple of years and currently does have a prominent place in the mind of our Educators especially at the high school and middle school levels in terms of this topic I'd like to give you a few points to ponder as you continue to bring yourselves up to speed with the implications both positive and negative of AI in the classroom of the future as we navigate these ever evolving landscapes in education it's imperative to acknowledge and address the challenges that Educators face particularly in the context of artificial intelligence the integration of AI in education brings about both opportunity and obstacles that demand thoughtful consideration Educators play a crucial role in shaping the future of our students and as AI becomes more prevalent in our classrooms it is essential to recognize and tackle the challenges associated with its implementation here are just a few key points for for you to ponder as members of the board number one professional development with the integration of AI tools Educators need comprehensive and ongoing professional development programs these programs should focus on enhancing their technological skills an understanding of AI applications in education and adapting teaching methods to effectively incorporate AI tools into the learning environment number two resource allocation and I know Tony's not not here but I think his Spidey senses are tingling when I say that uh resource allocation means adequate resources including funding for updated technology and AI tools are necessary to ensure that Educators have the tools they need to succeed proper allocation of resources will Empower Educators to leverage AI in ways that enhance the learning experience for our students three ethical considerations AI in education raises ethical questions that need careful examination it is crucial to establish clear guidelines and policies regarding data privacy potential bias and the ethical use of AI tools in the classroom Educators should be provided with training to navigate these ethical considerations responsibly four student Equity AI has the potential to either accelerate or mitigate existing educational inequalities it is essential to ensure that AI tools are accessible to all students regardless of their social economic background the school board should work towards implementing policies that promote equity and inclusivity in the adoption of AI number five collaboration with stakeholders engaging with Educators parents students and the broader Community is vital in making informed decision about the integration of AI and education creating channels for open communication and collaboration will Foster a supportive environment for educators as they navigate the challenges that are posed by AI I urge you all as school board members to proactively address these challenges and look towards creating a framework that maximizes the benefits of AI while minimizing potential pitfalls by investing in the support and development of our Educators we can ensure that our students receive a well-rounded education that prepares them for the future now if you haven't quite figured it out yet that entire last section that I spoke about was generated by AI it literally took a matter of 4 seconds for AI to create a succinct example Laden list of excellent things to consider when navigating the Uncharted world of AI and education there is so much good that AI can do but there are also obvious dangers of AI that will need to be addressed by using our stakeholder groups crafting board policy and continually Gathering feedback on where we are as a district with our practices and policies while continuing to re-evaluate and make necessary changes in the future future this is purely the tip of the proverbial Iceberg when it comes to the next generation of technology in the classroom and it is one that is imperative that we stay ahead of but and not being run over by the AI bus like it or not AI use is becoming more common and accessible to our students every day Tom and I as co-chairs of DCC will be happy to speak to any of you about all the topics that we will be discussing at any of our meetings so please don't ever hesitate to reach out and set up a time to speak with us both so with that I will just close by saying that I hope that Mother Nature has had her fun with us for this winter and we can continue our school year with no more interruptions from her have a great rest of your night and I will see you all back here in February thanks next is Laura with Besa welcome Laura good evening um as I do every month I introduce to you a besta staff member and if you look at our slide this is our Branch as besta represents the branches of the educational tree and tonight I have the privilege of introducing Lorie steinis who is the kindergarten enrichment uh instructor at Louise White and um we asked her a series of questions and she wrote a story for me that I will read to you the story of how I came to BPS is similar to many other support staff I've met my kids attended School in the district and after many years of being a stay-at-home mom I was ready to reenter the workforce but wanted something flexible that still allowed me to spend Summers with my kids and to be home with them after school I have an undergraduate degree in advertising from the University of Illinois but knew I did not want to return to my pre previous field in 2014 when my youngest was in fourth grade I decided to give subbing a try and was hooked immediately during my six years of subbing I found a passion for working with kindergarteners I made it known to anyone who would listen to me that I love subbing in kindergarten and was soon being requested by teachers across the district I often popped into kindergarten classrooms when I had breaks in my schedule to offer an extra set of hands to help in any way that I could I even expanded my subbing to the Geneva School District just so I had more opportunity to work with the kindergarteners in 2021 when the district adopted the kindergarten enrichment program as a compliment to half day kindergarten I knew I found my perfect job I applied and was thrilled to be hired by Louise White as the halftime instructor this is my third year in the position and everyone who knows me knows that this is so much more than a job to me I love getting to know each one of these little people and hearing their stories I love watching them achieve things they didn't think they were capable of I love seeing them grow throughout the year and supporting them every step of the way I especially love finding fun and creative ways to help them learn be creative and build confidence probably the one thing that most people don't realize about my position is the kindergarten enrichment instructors spend a lot of time outside the classroom thinking about planning and prepping materials for our students I think there is a misconception that enrichment is just playtime or daycare we are with our class for Story Time literacy math centers crafts and science lessons we reinforce Concepts that were taught by the kindergarten teacher such as phonic skills letter recognition and math skills with a variety of Hands-On learning activities a few worksheets a lot of group discussions students also have an opportunity each day to play with a variety of different toys building materials craft supplies puzzles and dramatic play centers if you've ever spent time with kidergarten age group you know that their attention span is about 15 to 20 minutes I think she's being very generous and then they are ready to move on to something else there is a lot of activities to plan and prop for three hours each day by my calculations almost a thousand activities over the course of the school year and I love every minute of it when I'm not thinking of fun ideas to do in my classroom I enjoy spending time with my family traveling reading guard in cooking taking long walks and dabbling in various crafts I have three daughters all who attended poav schools my oldest is now a grad student studying speech language pathology at Illinois State University my middle daughter is a freshman at Iowa State University studying aerospace engineering and my youngest is a junior otavia high school where she plays tennis and is involved in many clubs and honor societies if I could change one thing about my job it would be that it wasn't going to be eliminated the state of Illinois is mandating full day kindergarten by the start of the 2027 school year and from what I've been told by Administration batavia's current halfday program plus enrichement doesn't satisfy the state's requirements I'm heartbroken that I won't be able to continue working at my dream job but am hopeful that I'll find an equally fulfilling position within the school district thank you Lori we really appreciate your hard work thank you thank you and as mentioned before our student ambassadors are not here today whatever they were entertaining um board Liaisons are there any committee updates Sue do you have any um I just want to Echo one thing tdd said before everybody Tunes out of the meeting to the end of the comments I do want to give a big shout out to the maintenance workers well done just a great job Todd said it all but I figure if I comment at the end people will yeah I'm with you so I just wanted to get that ahead of time throw me a curveball it's fine um beefy will meet on Thursday but I did want to let people know that if they go to bavia foundation.org you can find information on all our scholarships that are available um there are I'm not quite sure how many we have right now this year five six in different categories education nursing um different things you can talk to the counselors at the high school but go to the website the applications are due right before spring break fill them out very simple process and most of them for about $1,000 so do that and also February 1st is the deadline for Hall of Honor applic applicants applications so if you know of an alumni that you want to nominate a staff that you want to nominate um am's familiar with this um or a friend of bavia so fill it out get that in before February 1 so and you can go to the alumni nation's website that's part of Tavia foundation and read all about our alumni highlight of the month Amy Nelson grants are due February 2nd oh teacher grants are due February 2nd go thank you Brett I'm not involved on that side so I'm sure I'll find out Thursday about that but thank you Danielle you have any um no committee has met since our last meeting um I I haven't talked about Louise White my leis on school I just wanted to quickly say they had a board meeting uh last week the week before but you know I've sat in in a few um I'm just so impressed you know I I was on our um PTO board and volunteer for for storm so you know it's a lot of work just like what we do here and whatnot but I'm really impressed um with how well they work with each other and Dr scr it's like I just sit there and just like wow they just they get work done really well and the other part of it is like they're very aware of how to service their entire Community whether it is like a financial type of thing or just a timing of stuff they do a lot of things on the weekends they had like Bingo and they didn't just have one time slot they had two different ones and I mean I know that's something little but it's how you build your community because not everyone's off of work at the same time and it's just like natural for them and I it's something like those little things that really make a difference in the community so um I just I enjoy watching them kind of go to work they have a lot of variety of things they had like a I don't know if it's was like a a shop where like the kids could like a Christmas store but they had like a a bin you know with free free like gifts for people who maybe couldn't shop you know didn't have the money to and I think that's just really awesome to do just kind of remember like you're you have a wide variety of community um so I just kind of want to give them a shout out they work hard and think about their entire Community from what it seems okay thank you uh the insurance committee did meet on January 11th I was unable to attend but I sat down with Josh and he gave me a synopsis I'll read the notes but uh the committee reviewed a report from the well in the screenings from the fall and they just expressed a large number of the population expressed a desire to address health concerns like pre-diabetic symptoms and weight loss so there'll be a communication going out to the members on how to address some of those issues and then another topic was um the committee is going to recommend a renewal of Modern Health um Modern Health is a new Mental Health Resource it's an online resource that we implemented last year um you know I was naive at the time I thought when I think of mental health I think of going and sit a psychiatrist couch but actually the vast majority of people don't access it that way so it's a new program we're excited about it we're going to give it another year and then at that point we'll be able to review if we think it's worthwhile to continue so that's that's the synopsis of what was the committee felt it was helpful though definitely think it was helpful and um you know it's just hard to judge I mean it's a tricky thing because obviously like if everyone's in a good spot we're not accessing so it's hard to judge if it's people are accessing it to the level that's needed so but as of right now we figure we think it's yes because people are using it people are using it okay count uh so the rack had two meetings since our last board uh the one in December um they had a guest speaker uh Bob Lewis from PMA he just talked about alternative funding sources um they gave a warm safe dry update board approved it on the 19th and then um they reviewed the financial forecast and then in January's meeting um we had a small group discussions uh about the alternative funding sources they reviewed um the financial report and then we kind of broke up into small groups and um worked on uh this we had some homework to do for these Financial for we each have to take a section and kind of just give notices and review it and so forth okay Rob um the curriculum committee met last last week um and uh jokingly I I say I try to keep up with all the acronyms that go on try to focus it on that but Challenge on a serious note uh they are talking um some issues and I heard the DCC I know they're getting ready to um um send a proposal over there um the other interesting thing is uh I I for me I kind of listen to Just the process a little bit um and see how they're doing and uh I listed for some key words one of them was prioritization they said that they wanted to create some more focus and prioritize the issues that they wanted to address U because it could be overwhelming I think was some of the sentiment with all the the different things going on um the other point was they were talking about the curriculum week which I understand is only three days if I understood that correctly but uh um in this summer and it was nice to hear about that because they were talking about how to increase engagement um with the teachers um and then also how to make it more value add and and make it a worthwhile session um when they come to that uh that uh that meeting so there more to come but those were kind of the things that that I got out of the last meeting I don't have any updates okay uh my only update is I have appreciation to Rael for covering for me at the last two meetings I guess I had some I tried last time to have a and thank you to Josh for trying to arrange an ability for me to listen in but with the small groups it was very hard to listen and and pick up so I appreciate you um covering and working with me on that Rec um and then the only one I I think at the last board meeting we had had a previous meeting for Bick which if everybody's not aware that's effectively like the Uber Council of all the groups that work with bavia PTO you know those groups um and as usual I'm continually amazed at a couple of things and what I just what echoed with what you said Danielle was how well a lot of these organizations work within their their community and respond directly to the needs of that community and how diverse it is across Pavia School District as well um and how they meet those needs and and hearing others just talking about how one has has been running like winter wonderland for 20 plus years you know in some amazing events and then other one's trying like oh I want to do that how do you do that and and work through their trials and tribulations and celebrate their successes so um that would that meets quarterly right Tom roughly correct yeah and we'll be meeting this Saturday yeah okay thanks for the reminder so um so all right um Craig can I ask one question before you move on the meeting that you referenced that DCC okay more acronyms yeah I think I know them by now but do we have representation on that no okay but you will keep us appraised of what's going on because that what you talked about sounds important yeah that's that's kind of the way and correct me if I'm wrong that's kind of like the like this overarching group that's kind of making sure everybody's meeting right their requirements if there's anything that needs to be some cross collaboration they kind of feed up to that so it's kind of like select members of every group no and I get it and I know it was negotiated and everything I was just curious but I just want to make sure that we hear feedback thank you great anyone else anything else okay all right consent agenda according to our board policy we designate a portion of the agenda as a consent agenda for those items that do not usually require extensive discussion before board to action these items generally are routine recurring and can be grouped together for efficiency Steve is there anything you'd like to discuss yes surprise all right here we go 5.1 the approval of the uh December 19th 2023 uh meeting minutes 5.2 is our monthly Personnel report 5.3 is our monthly uh payroll and bills 5.4 is the renewal of the contract for our mental health support servic discussed 5.5 is the acceptance of the annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year 2023 by 5.6 is the curriculum approval and 5.7 is the approval of the consent agenda anyone have any questions otherwise I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda question I just have one comment this is a copy of the annual comprehensive financial report it's 138 Pages we have a lot of talk about transparency about how we do business it's all right here so people are curious it's available to public document so right there I would encourage people to if they're curious about how we operate this is a good starting spot the other thing I will say is that I've seen paperwork done by other districts and what the state kind of requires as a that backs behind all of this this is a amazingly well digest way of putting the information together that's digestible so it's amazing compared to what I've seen in other districts I will say it's come a long way there's a lot of hard work that go into it now and has accurate and it's easily readable yeah is good understandable they just it yeah you understand not an accountant or CFO so I did have some questions and I know it's Hon's not here but just for as we was talking about transparency um I'll just ask them and then I know that they'll get back to me later in the notes so the first one was is part of the um sure I see it right [Music] the uh invoice Journal was um I was just curious is what we like LinkedIn we have a bill for 9,934 I didn't know if that was like for to um like uh promoting like our uh open positions or like I just because my linkedin's free so I was just curious I don't know what LinkedIn does with all the programs that they offer part of the conversation we you've had is trying to create a more profession new Avenue to recruiting using professional platforms and entities have to pay it's not a free account for for an official like business entity so that's what I was just making like that's I'm sure that's what it was for um and then the other one was uh safe and civil schools was that for the was that for Champs do we know I and it's okay okay yeah champs training okay and then one then the next one was about just the mental health support and I saw that in the report says that 18% um used it and I I don't remember did they get like how many sessions did they get for like they got so many sessions and then they had to pay I was just curious if like that 18% used all their sessions allocated um that was just something and then in this report the acrf um in the special uh Ed report section um when we have like the breakout is our partials in that one or are they in like a different section they are included there it's not necessarily um everything that was been filled it was what was positioned for okay and then I know acronyms but I don't what's CTE programs rear and Technical education yep thank you and then what about the in inter Scholastic programs um I I just I was just on there and I was like what is what is that one you're like athletic Athletics that's athletic okay activities all of those okay yeah okay and I think you were I saw you were you said so that the gifted and honors those are not part of that particular fund okay okay um and then on page 131 full-time equivalent employees page um is this what was actually filled or is this what is what we have and open positions like um like let's and and I don't want to pull it up let's say it said we have 480 positions was that like the employees that we have or is that maybe we only have 470 and 10 open I guess that was just my on the on the I if it's on this so it's but I want to make sure I think on the on the presentation this I believe is our actual head count yeah okay this is our live head count okay yeah um and part of that and I appreciate you raising this this was a there were just some general notes I was going to share about our act for report um as you can see Tony's not here tonight so I thought um this was actually you hit a page I wanted to highlight uh uh if you recall earlier this school year in the fall when Tony was reviewing uh preliminary budgets and preparing reports for the board to see and also published to the uh public this was one of the areas that he had covered and this covers all of our positional history as well if you take a look there's a there's a look back of almost 10 years and actually it is 10 years on this particular page um and so the look back history kind of pretty accurately I would say accurately to the headcount delineates what our historical positions uh look like that we've employed um reason why I wanted to bring this up is because in the Strategic survey that was launched prior to winter break there seems to be amongst the community and even within our internal stakeholders some folks who still have a little bit of a misunderstanding about some historical positions and the one that I saw that came up a little bit was in reference to just um there over the last 10 years has been an increase in administration oh yeah and it's actually been completely the opposite and when I dug into it uh the history I found is that um right around the transition uh of the two previous superintendents um prior board I don't think any of you were on that board had issued a directive to Dr Hitchens uh to take a look at carving back administrative positions which she did so if you take a look at the nine-year look back which was all under Dr hitch's time the district did reduce nine administrative positions it went from 39 to 30 administrators and I just wanted to make sure that whatever I could rectify for the for the public I wanted to make that really clear that Administration has not been added that is I was there and that is I think Brad and Steve you know this that that's been a long held fallacy that I I hear that all the time okay and we've told the public that okay all the time yeah and we can show them numbers they still don't believe us okay I don't know what that's all right I mean so I just thought it'd be worth noting coming from you with fresh eyes yeah I did a little bit of digging and the team was very helpful we got all thatal but in this report you're right like it's a really digestible format right because you can see all the years lining up to each other um and then uh one of the notable things um I do believe Tony highlighted this back in the fall but the interest on investments actually came back a little bit stronger than even what he was predicting at the time so one of the things that we want to make you aware of is it's higher than what we thought it would be but at the same time with what the board approved for our capital projects plan for The Five-Year Plan in December those funds that were invested are going to be withdrawn for our capital projects so when you see next year you can anticipate we will not have nearly if any the amount of interest that the the district has been able to gain from that because we need to invest those into our buildings uh capital projects so that's a big thing and then if you see any areas of surplus part of that is because we have been trying to actively staff certain openings and we've remained keeping we've kept continued to keep those positions open uh such as our classroom pair professionals so there's earmarked funds for that but that should hopefully help explain any of those things and then if anyone's interested uh page 63 and Page 66 will give you imrf and TRS nine-year look backs on um some of the financial details and uh I'm gonna give CED to Tony he's as he likes to put it the numbers tell a story so and Tony has a funny way of reading stories through the thumbers through the data right um which is great so and to uh board member kilberg point the EA report is posted on our website and if anyone is interested in finding it all you have to do is go to the business department Tab and then look under Financial reports and then you'll see uh there are actually I believe several years of reports lined up there with links all right and I just have one more uh summer school and I don't remember um was summer school offered for all of our schools or is it only a certain number we utilize mid Valley's esy program for special education we run an online teacher connected to student e program in the summer and then we run credit recovery at the high school but we don't run a very big Su school program that was all I had thanks hon right the only thing I wanted to add is I noticed that for once in a while the staff hiring is more than the other two sections so the there's appreciate whatever efforts are bringing people in right now so thank you Steve and others all right let's keep it going yeah no kidding um I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenta as presented so so moved so moved by Sue second by Aaron Cindy please lead us in a roll call Vote Yes yes yes yes yes yes Thomas yes thank you motion passes reports Tom is there anything you'd like to share uh foas for this month's uh board to review are presented I don't know if there's any questions but any questions no I have none okay okay and treasur reports did you already do that already um so in in discussing with Tony there are no um outliers that the Board needs their attention drawn to in terms of they being other than just typical monthly business that the board is being presented with if you do have any specific questions please feel free to direct them my way and I'll make sure you get answers great thank you any questions send them to Tom all right so we have a couple items on for Action today so item 7.1 is approve purchase of the cyber security platform and considering my office nearly got hecked twice over the holiday and successfully rebutted it I'm interested in hearing this one so Tom you're leading this one I understand yes okay um so as been indicated in the memo to the board this is an endpoint detection and Response Security platform um and it creates just another layer of protection on our devices both for students and for staff um this particular product is a a little more newer and updated version it has a little more it has more support than what we've been using um it it provides more of a 247 wraparound support for us the customer service uh we've been using um the pre the pre previous product we're going to replace has been with the district for approximately 5 years um and I know uh Dave and his team has spent a lot of time taking a look at what the best option is right now for us to move to um the the one of the things that strengths that Dave has pointed to with this with this product is that the response time will allow us to actually try and slightly be ahead of the game and proactive to situations rather than reactive at times um I think that's that that's it and the customer service with anything with technology related is always a big thing so 247 is really nice too and as you probably can sense like our teams middle night something's happening from home they can get in and then start using our systems to do what they got to do right any questions on that one do we know how much we were paying for carbon black um what we were paying for carbon black I do the one that we're replacing yeah no I do not have that but we can get that but a question I always have is was this anticipated and is it within budget that we had allocated for this yeah yes yes my only comment is one bad day is totally worth $52,000 for what is happening to people they the the ransomware type stuff which I understand this is one of those things that would fight are usually asking for that amount at minimum minimum so and the implications to the school district are vast if this isn't handled correctly so I have great faith placed in Dave and his team and everyone else all right um if there are no other questions I will entertain a motion to approve purchase of crowd strike in the amount of 52,900 second by Danielle I think we're doing a roll call on this yep Cindy please lead us in a roll call Vote Yes Thomas yes yes yes Meadows yes sler yes okay thank you motion passes item 7.2 approve purchase of data center storage Tom y all right so this particular item um if you hear the word data you probably can sense this is critical um this is going to be a shift to uh not only store but protect all of the data that is backed up it resides in our servers and obviously there are layers of how it is stored that are layers of security and protocols um we are shifting away from our current uh product because it's actually ran to the end of its life and usage so again Dave and team spent a lot of time taking a look as to what would be a best product for us to protect our data and store it um knowing that this is a service that needs to be replaced at this point so at a cost of $47,900 um and we are looking at replacing something we've been using for seven years when we started with our current product we're moving away from it was on a 5year agreement we were able to get it extended for two more years so we had used it for seven years but now it's run to its end of its life with this new product in group we are looking for a fiveyear agreement or asking to approve a five-year agreement because they have uh not they will not be any end in any service life to anything we are going to be getting out of this package so we are guaranteed for minimum five years that they'll be able to support and update anything that we're using and we will be replacing Hardware hence why it's a little bit more of a expensive cost when you come to this kind of data storage um and I think previously we were hovering at approximately $390,000 with our previous product so this is a little bit more but as you all know in the world of technology with inflation and just Rising costs um this was a the very fair market value that David to would recommend and Aaron he's starting alert he's writing it right in there in the sentence down so is this a um onetime fee for the five years is that how that works like and we pay it up front um I believe it's actually dispersed over time I don't think we just cut the big check right up front but part of that yeah it it is it is the chunk there's a 390,000 was in total over seven years and um again as their services were declining it's kind of a hard to call it Apples to Apples but uh with this agreement at the price that we're ask that we were able to secure this gives us a good bang for our buck with the customer service support as well and the Hardware switch outs any other questions okay with um no other questions I will entertain a motion to approve the purchase of HP Electra storage arrays in the amount of $47,900 yeser yes yes Thomas yes motion passes thank you very much send along our appreciation to DAV uh staff and board comments Administration comments Tom anything yeah so uh just a couple start out with a few General business items uh beefy was discussed this evening one of the other things is that beefy is looking for anyone who's interested in becoming an active board M um to support the leadership of the beefy group I can promise you any War's a camer ey anybody who's interested it's a fun group there are really good baked goods homemade and uh Todd you can attest this right we have a lot of laughs lot of good work lot of cting B Goods Todd March no March kidding me yeah March she's the best um citizen of the year that's right that's right oh citizen of the year that's right and you know it's really good because if you put it on a napkin it's saturated afterwards um um the other thing I had mentioned earlier we do have our pava intergovernmental Council this Saturday uh one thing I wanted to note for the public please support your pto's if you cannot serve as an officer please just try and volunteer for any of their events I'm trying to look at the camera because I know this is me but anyway because we have Amy and Todd um but uh there there are they're great people great leaders putting in time for a kids experience we also have partnership groups like bspn beefy all these other groups that come and also be are part of this conversation um what I will say is they have had awesome conversations supporting each other it's an idea exchange that morning um new presidents of pto's are asking veteran PTO for ideas how to engage how did you run your bingo what business businesses are more friendly and more apt to donate more of the proceeds um there are some of our businesses in our community that won't take any of cut and they won't they'll just cover cost on the meal and the drinks and they give everything right back to that building which is so commendable it kind of goes back to it why it's great Community local businesses so I say support your local businesses um and then the restaurants know I like to and then uh the other update is strategic plan uh we were able to uh accomplish our first major phase or or second if you think about the survey but we had on January 8th our Institute day we were able to uh have our Bulldog ambassadors lead the sessions at the high school want to thank everybody in this district for being a part of that um for being just amazing and how they handled the situation our students were amazing the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so excited and now we'll enter into the next stages and phas phases where we're going to engage some of our partnership groups um and get more voices you know and then you know as the plan was enumerated back in September you know by April we hope to have a good draft to present publicly and then bring back to that other Institute day on April 26th get more feedback on what has been synthesized then by the May board meeting we hope that you as a board are able to take a look at that full product and you too have a conversation about all the p that are being um presented to you um in the meantime we did have our first steering committee we'll have one at the end of this month I'm about to prepare my final report to them on how our stages have gone so far with the survey and with round one and then they will get that from me and we meet next week so I want to thank everybody who's on the steering committee as well it's one more night and one more thing some of these people have to be a part of um and if you looked at the names they're pretty much names you've seen on other stuff so so I just want to say thanks to everybody who's been a part of that work um and I think the the last thing I just want to do is thank as has been noted all of our operations teams and operations Personnel um typically just for all the work they do just to keep us in school right normal under normal conditions but under the last two weeks we've certainly undergone challenging situations beyond the norm um and I I just say this I when I see them I think of a quote that I've shared with our leadership team back this past summer when we talk about uh Simon synic has a saying that out of his book Leaders Eat Last and it talks about um how we choose to do anything is how we're going to do everything and that team has come together they worked as a team they all stepped up people were going to other places that they weren't necessarily assigned to because there was just heavy needs and different spots um and I really appreciate that and what I am also trying to hopefully move us into the next stage is just about our general communication transparency and being proactive about identif sharing what's going on right so if you notice you know we wanted to make sure we shared that the high school issues were not due to any type of negligence or error or you know we could have replaced basically really bad weather hit spots in a on a wing of our building those heating systems have been replaced and maintained over the years and as anyone knows with metal when you continue fix or solder or replace Parts the metal just compromises the Integrity of that structure starts to compromise and with the freezing temperatures you had all these bad situations come together at once but our teams did an amazing job so just wanted to say thanks to them Tom would you mind and not we've gone over this year after year but just for new people in the district with kindergarten parents maybe go over the procedure of how to determine whether to close school determine if it's an e-learning date you know what your procedure is because there is it's what I so it's an early morning yes well well yeah I know and but I know that you know that a lot of us know that you especially know that but if you could just maybe give some clarity to sure people out there who may not know it's not just your you do not just make the call we don't make that call no no no it's much much more intricate than that it is uh you know depending on what the weather situation or uh you know whatever is coming our way uh if we can get ahead of it typically um we as a team will internally check with each other start gauging what we're thinking and seeing um then I belong to a few threads of superintendence uh one in particular that we regularly communicate with these kind of conditions is the Cane County group we talk we meet and then we decide like where the validity not validity uh what we what we're anticipating from the reporting we're seeing right so we'll jump on a national weather service call which is what I did um last week when we decided to move to e-learning at a very early time right the Thursday before and we were able to do that because the National Weather Service was very clear about things and indicators that were coming um collaboration with our County uh superintendents and school districts and then in collaboration with the administration and Mark and his Ops teams and then sometimes uh oh and we do also I communicate with certain partnership leadership groups such as the city of bavia um you know I I'll keep in touch with our Park District friends uh making sure because we have programming that occurs you know in the buildings with them so we try and make sure we got full communication going on including Mid Valley Co-op uh and Lisa py and I also maintain communication there and I always try and give them the heads UPS too um you know I reached out to Todd and Mara you know like for for example like today's situation want to gauge what they're thinking so just trying to get all this feedback from all these stakeholders and then if we're if it's if we determine it's too early we will agree the superintendent we agree that we'll meet at 4:00 a.m.

okay I would like to call this meeting to order and it is 18:30 military time 630 p.m. regular central standard time today is Tuesday January 23rd 2024 and this is the creek Moni regular school board meeting Creek mon 20 you and can I have a roll call please Madam Secretary sure Mr Al here Mr gyos here M rup is here Mr swales here miss site stus here Dr Hall here president Brown here let us stand to be led by the Pledge of Allegiance by Mr gagos followed by our mission statement by Dr Hall I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisual with liberty and justice for all our mission statement is to ower each student to positively impact the world for a bright new future thank you both do we have any public comments thank you we have any board updates uh yeah so I went to the uh myself and uh Dr Hall here uh went to the uh legislative breakfast in Juliet uh this weekend uh we met some State reps and some state senators um we spoke about uh funding uh evidence-based funding uh for our schools and um they were brainstorming ways to um get more Revenue uh to our schools and um but uh I think there was a I think it was a Senator Senator Bennett who um really wanted to focus on the uh migrant situation and there were there were some uh school districts there that didn't have a lot and then there were some districts like ours that that had a whole bunch so um it was a lot uh like one one school district has nine and she like the superintendent was there and she says if we get like five more I don't know what we'll do and so uh it was kind of I didn't want to Snicker but it was kind of funny because we have a lot and we're dealing with a lot and so um but yeah the the uh the breakfast had uh a lot to do with funding and uh tax revenue and things like that so anything to share Dr Brown Dr uh Paul sorry um no it was a nice breakfast all right I I appreciate the teamwork and it's always positive that you can scrap scrapp scrapp the information out of these events and Benchmark and bring back the good things so I appreciate both of you for attending that event well the one good thing we brought back was ourselves it was cold out there yeah and you we at the storm so can ask so much more appreciate it anyone else uh yeah on Saturday uh I don't know Bill were you there at the concert the the preview concert oh yeah you you were uh um in the front there you were the greeter uh but uh our show choir uh gave a presentation um gave a performance on Saturday uh which was awesome fantastic uh there was another school that uh I don't recall the name Mother mcau Mother m yeah uh who also um was there and I saw Jamie there that's right yeah uh it was it was fantastic they did a really good job it was it was a a lot of talent just a lot of talent so okay thank you and three cheers to the Jazz combo that plays behind is that your son that plays an instrument as well okay Kudos thank you Alex yeah excellent I mean I think that's why they call you miss a district dead right I think so all over the place I think so all righty uh anything else last last call for board updates if not we're going to kick it right over to our superintendent for administrative updates great thank you Mr Brown um really excited to share some highlights from our uh students um on Sunday January 21st our Creek Monon special athletic high school team participated in the Special Olympics of Illinois at the Regional High School and it was for basketball at the tournament at thornway high school our Warriors played two games one was against the Lincoln Way uh special recreational Association and the together was against Joliet Township High School both of the games were really neck to neck for the first half of our Warriors continue to work with the team with great passing and pressing and shouting these games were hard fought but they were able to pull off a win for both games there were only three teams in this division so it was a round robin format but they were able to finish in first place winning the gold and qualifying for the state competition at Illinois State University the weekend of March 8th and 9th so congratulations to our Warriors and we wish them luck coming up so we're excited about that um the other piece I wanted to draw your attention to if you can turn around there's a white flag that I've just displayed there um so we have have we've been working on branding and highlighting some of our uh District we now will have these um creep Monon Flags now at each of our buildings and the Donovan group that we work with helped uh with our communication team to design those so we'll be putting it up as soon as it gets a little bit warmer um and those will fly next to our flag in each of our buildings so certainly wanted to highlight where it says Unity so excellent glad about that why why white well because I think the one thing we were looking at is making sure that it didn't fade in the sun cuz I was just thinking about it getting dirty and that was yeah we we looked at various colors but we thought that white anything with a lot of color is going to get bleached out after time and we don't want to to look raggy you want to spend money buying new ones huh after five or six years well okay you know you can talk to Ken about that oh yes so that's all I have sir okay thank you outstanding for the good news appreciate it I can go on to the next one strategic plan yes okay yes all right the next on our agenda is a strategic plan as you recall last uh board meeting uh Miss Perkins gave uh kind of our our finale for our strategic plan that we completed and so we're ready to start the next step uh we have been working with the Donovan group as part of our communication team Dr Lori Mueller heads up many of those um conversations and so she's here tonight to really uh work with us to talk about starting off our next strategic plan they have been a FB fabulous organization to work with they know our district very very well they've been behind the scenes helping us with our our branding our coordination our newsletters and so they're very familiar with our district and they're the perfect uh organization to help lead this charge so I'm going to have uh Dr Mueller introduce herself and talk about the next steps well thank you I'm very grateful to be here and uh I can tell I knew this already coming in that this is a great group to be with but being here in person and to see you all and see how you'll interact with each other it's just very welcoming so thank you uh a little bit about myself and I I was actually a superintendent myself about three years ago I was a superintendent for six years for a school district just north of Madison Wisconsin I don't know if any of you are familiar with the beo School District uh it's where the rling brothers started the circus world all that great stuff uh Double's Lake if you like hiking uh but prior to that I've had 26 years of educational experience as a middle school teacher then as a director of teaching and learning and then as superintendent for the past few years I have been serving as a partner for the Donovan group and as Dr Cara shared uh we've been working with the well we've been working with cre Moni for prior to even my arrival at the Donovan group Joe Donovan who's the founder of our group has a a strong relationship with you all and uh we're just really thankful to be able to provide services for you so the dant group we are a K12 Public School Communications firm we only work with Public Schools across the entire country and we have been again in this partnership with all of you for a number of years our principles I won't read them to you but this is our why why we exist as a group and myself and my other partners we all are are deep and experience with education and you'll see here when you look at our principles that we are about each and every student that we believe public education is always changing and improving and we really truly believe in that honesty and being forthright and transparent with everything that we do here's just a list of all the services that we provide and you can see that over the years you've been receiving lots of supports with all these things but where we're headed tonight is strategic planning so let's talk about cre Moni and your District strategic plan so a lot of times uh I'd like to start out with just saying why why do we do strategic planning um you know I think there's a cliche that we all you know whether a business or a school district will go through a process of developing a strategic plan and it just kind of sits and we really are trying to to make sure that every plan that we put together is operationalized and so why do we do this it's an opportunity to get some collective engagement around why do we exist as a school district so when we say Collective engagement we're trying to bring in good representation from all across the communities that you serve both internally and externally we want to provide intention and focus for your continuous Improvement your current plan which there's a nice you know visual over there on the wall where it says future forward that's the plan that you've been operating under for the past few years that provides intention and gives us a pathway to move forward and that's what we are looking to do is to update what you currently have and take us forward for the next five years um that plan will help decision making as boards I've seen often and this is desired that when you're dealing with something as a question maybe deciding if you're going to approve something how does it relate and align to your strategic plan is a great question to leave with so it should guide your decisions that's where your priorities are that's what your community is saying this is what we prioritize for continuous Improvement so lining your decisions around that is really important as well and the funding that goes with that um it definitely sets specific actions for progress and then that allows us to monitor evaluate and make sure that we're reaching our goals and sometimes we have to adjust goals right we saw that with the pandemic um a lot of school districts across this country including yourselves had a strategic plan in place and the pandemic shifts your focus for a little bit right so we want to make sure we develop a plan that we can adjust and and uh be smart with so here's our launching Point as I said this is the plan that you have been working under for the past years and I'm hearing from the feedback those of you that did a survey for us um still 10 I'm sure all of us did the survey right um uh just many did we had four but it's not too late you can still do it okay I promise um but tonight I'm going to highlight the four responses uh but please please do because it helps us move forward but what I'm hearing from you is that this plan that you've been under um has served you well and I'm Al so Gathering from you that you've thought about this some of you have really thought about where do you want to go next so that's what we're here to do and I want to start by just talking about your mission and vision and being clear about what each of these are I mean really the mission and vision guides the work of the plan and our mission focuses on what we're doing today why do we exist today right this is our why and the vision is where we're going tomorrow what are we what do we want for our students in the future so going back to the survey that we asked you all to do if you look at your current Mission which you you led your meeting with with tonight right we Empower each student to positively impact the world for a bright new future that's your why that's why you exist and asked about that some themes that came from the for that complete the survey is that maybe it's a little too broad but it definitely captures your why some some of you indic it might be nice to see educate or growth within that mission because that's what you are about um or a dedication to the you know to the educator excellence and achievement and then uh someone suggested our primary mission is really to successfully educate our students so that came that came out strong as a theme when you look at your vision where we're heading where we want our kids to be down the road um what we heard is we think that that captures what we we want for our future students and that we're definitely making progress towards that we're on the right path right but maybe we need to incorporate an academic component and that that academic component came out in you know the feedback on the mission statement as well so it's something for us to think about as we enter this plan and then you have had six goals to guide this last plan and when asked to reflect on that really the overall response from the group is you're making progress in all of your goal areas you've particularly had significant success with addressing your facilities and also prioritizing your financial resources to accomplish short-term and long-term student goals so you're feeling pretty strong in those areas and when asked to think about are there some priorities that should be new that we're not focused on right now or maybe they just need a new refresh look and and maybe go deeper here are some things that came out the first one one was really about sustaining what we're doing is we're doing some things really well around building relationships getting in place good processes and procedures let's not let go of that okay the other one was a focus on Workforce Development for our students uh another person suggested continuing education Multicultural Society with the differing values that we have in our community and Safety and Security came up which isn't a shock like that's that's on the Forefront of everyone's Minds across the country and then we asked you to identify the top five goal areas heading into this next strategic planning process including any new ones that you'd like to see so here's kind of how that played out you can see that there are three that really Rose to the Top If You Will um looking at the the representation that we have but safe and respectable and inclusive learning environments was one of your top priorities going into this next plan as as well as ensuring a high quality diverse staff to support your students and also continue with the financial resources to meet short-term long-term goals for our students you can see that that people really feel strongly still about the importance of having Equity reflected in the work that we do in educating our students and providing that safety and well-maintained facilities for all what does this do for us as we move forward this incorporated into the overall planning process as we start to gather and work with many members of your community but we wanted to start here and it was important to do care to get a sense of how are you all feeling at this point with our progress so here's the proposed process that we're going to use for this planning process and um I'm just going to kind of talk through it in terms of phases so the first phase is planning and the planning is really done internally with your team here and we've created a road map which I'll share with you in in a few moments we are developing a brand you know and you look at your last strategic plan you had future forward that was a brand for that plan we're creating a new brand based on the feedback that this board has provided through that survey and we're leaning towards something that that um follows Unity like the you in in and this has been a theme for your desert now for a while so there were thoughts about you know moving forward as stronger together that there needs to be a focus on our students that was some of your feedback and so we're thinking about you know um unified for Student Success or unified for our Student Success as a brand so our production team is I'm a former superintendent not a graphic design person I have people that work for me they are going to put together some options for us and that becomes part of our plan moving forward okay um the other that we're doing right now is the planning process is gathering materials and data from a lot of the people over here from the cabinet um they probably have are like giving me some dirty eyes because it's a lot of work it's a lot of work I know um but we're gathering this so that we can present a State of the State in terms of your District so that when we pull our group together we can assess the scene how are things truly going looking at some data points to help guide decision making and prioritization moving forward so we're also in the state right now where we're creating a lot of announcements and alerting everybody within your communities that this is starting to happen we're about to launch the strategic planning process and you know just an example of what that looks like you know we we've done some social media content and graphics for your team already and tomorrow we're starting with focus groups and so we have a day here in this build in this building this room exactly tomorrow where we're meeting with different groups um that repres sent different different audiences across the community and School District to talk to them about what they perceive as strengths what's going really well in the district where do we think we have some opportunities to grow um and also what are some things that we would we want to be mindful of as we move forward you know what does the next five years look like um for schools in the country and what what do we want to make sure that we're mindful of as we're planning forward for our students so uh the purpose of these is really to gather their feedback to help inform decision- making moving forward the other piece that's going on at the same time is we're starting to establish who is our work group the work group is that Collective engagement group that I keep talking about it's going to include representation from communities um internal external it's going to include students um it's going to include families include one of you or a couple of you right so right now we're working on inviting and confirming who's going to participate in two different groups we have one that's internal that will help facilitate along with me when I come in to meet with your teams and then the external Collective group that we were just talking about is the called the Strategic planed work group we're going to launch a survey in February that is designed to gather additional feedback so we have we're Gathering feedback from Focus grou or gathering feedback from a survey so everybody's voice can be included in this process so that survey will go out in the month of February It'll ask a lot of the same things that we're asking our focus groups and then that information is collected and gathered into a summer report that you'll have access to and will be provided for the strategic planning work group along with that to support the internal team I will be hosting an orientation planning meeting with those internal people that are going to help facilitate the process with me we're doing that uh February 21st and to give you an example of what a state of the district report looks like here's one that we've created for a school district up in Way North Wisconsin um but what I wanted to do is just kind of give you visual because sometimes people just it's hard to wrap your mindor what is that about um if I talk historically strategic planning and maybe some of you participated in these kind of processes you get this big binder and had all this information and it was just overwhelming for participants and I don't know if anybody ever truly read through all that maybe the most dedicated but not everybody and so our idea here with something like like this state of the district report is a synthesized report that's highly visual that just gives that high level overview of really key data points of the district what this team is working together for us right now and then we'll put our production team will put it together and that's what we'll be used with the Planning Group and quite frankly it's something that you can use with your entire Community as a as a type of report um then the real the real meat and potatoes happen right we do the planning meetings and that's with the strategic planning group that's representing your entire Community we typically can accomplish our planning work within four to five meetings so we are kind of mapped out at this time where need to be here two days a month to make sure I'm working both internally and externally um through these discussions and you can see here just a sample list of some of the actions that we we take at each of these meetings but really from a high level we start each meeting with providing some type of information or presentation about the district based on what our work group participants are asking from us and then we engage them in the work in terms of of identifying what are going to be our priorities as we move forward as directions every meeting ends with some type of what we call it an exit slip it's a QR code where everybody's asked with their cell phones to scan it ask three to five questions that information helps us plan forward for the the following session the internal team um my group of facilitators when I come in on those two days I will meet with them prior to the nighttime meeting and uh that will be an opportunity for us to just check in on how are things going debrief you know the thing that I've noticed in doing this work with other districts is that um you can kind of have a process outline but you want to be adaptive to what the needs are of the group and so sometimes we we find we have to Pivot for example um I'm working with a large District in Wisconsin right now and um they they're like we really really want to hear from our middle school students and our high school students and what's the best way to do that so the superintendent and I decided that we were going to go and and do focus groups at the schools so we went to every middle and high school and we talked to kids for days and we brought all that information back to the group so that they could incorporate that into their their work so again we want to fible um and so part of the process with the facilitators is understanding what those needs are as they come up and making sure that we respond accordingly and then we come back to you okay so this Collective engagement group that's coming together and doing all this work at some point they're going to come to you and we think it'll be like in June like June 18th we'll be coming back to you and presenting their work for you to adopt and to essentially a approval on um that this is the direction that you want to see this District move forward with based on the feedback from this entire community so again we're targeting June 18th for that and then the hard workare comes right I I actually feel like the Strategic time process is is the easier and fun part um the real hard part comes in rolling it out and operate operating with that plan so some of the things that you know is the benefit of working with the diamond is because we're a Communications firm we have a lot of expertise in developing those materials that help you roll that out with your community um an example you know here's some examples I try to pick ones here from the region like Wisconson um so this one's South Shore School District you can see an example of like a visual poster which isn't going to accomplish the plan right but it's being transparent with your plan with all of your audiences and then also an example of their brochure um here's an example from the Berlin Area School District that we put together you'll see here key performance objectives and the objectives are those measures or key success indicators that we kind of we've developed with other districts and then um here's a recent one that we've been working on for a district in the D County area to but I just think it's important to show you examples so you can kind of wrap your head around how does this look and you do have a good example with your current plan as well so again the hard work comes in operating the plan and making sure that we Monitor and that we come back and report to you on a regular basis are we making the progress that your community is so Desiring and do we have to make adjustments along the way and again be transparent about that with your entire community that we reported out in your newsletters um and social media and news releases and celebrating the great work of your students and staff often I get a question like what's the board's goal in this whole process and we really just want your commitment to the process that you get behind us as a group in in a unified way right and uh that you ensure that your voice is is represented but also that we're not a certain voice that needs to be part of the process so being mindful of who are all those audiences out there in our commune that we want to make sure are at the table um participation in planning meetings you know we love your participation to be a critical listener you know and to seek understanding as we start to engage all these different audiences essentially approve the plan and then an act the plan as that guy the decision moving forward so we've been at this for a little while planning forward uh Dr we were going to do strategic planning early on in the start of the school you're here so um this is our tentative timeline and I'll make sure by the way that you have access to the slide deck so that you can come back and review it um what you're seeing here is on the left hand side the process phases that I just went through with you and the actions and then you see the timeline that we've we've targeted and who's responsible I do the resp because a lot of times we'll get from districts well how much work does the district team need to do versus what the daker going to do you'll see here that we we try to to take the priority load of everything here and you'll see uh links to things that are are completed but I wanted to share this in your just to give you a sense that really um tomorrow we start with focus groups February is the survey that will help us put together that state of the district report and then um we will start with our first meeting on February 22nd with the planning work group um we'll come back then and you'll see each time that I come to the district I'm here for two days the first day is always to meet with your internal facilitators and maybe do additional focus groups as needed and then always the evening the next day to work with your community Planning Group see goes through April and May and by the time we get to hopefully by May 23rd here um I'll be meeting with an internal team to kind of put the final touches on the Strategic plan and talk about those key performance indicators or key success indicators moving forward by the 18th we'll be prepared visually to come with a beautiful plan that you all think is is really critical for your future moving forward um and then we'll have an official roll out from the start of next year so that that is the process that's a little bit about myself group but more importantly it's about what kind of questions that you have going into this process and making sure that you all feel comfortable with the direction that we're going how are uh community members selected to participate great question great question so it depends on the district um and we've done this two ways and I think my preference is somewhere in the middle um we can be really strategic and Target individuals that we want to participate to make sure that we have good representation from all the different audiences within our communities um we've also done it where we've done an all call and through social media news release and emails to staff and families we do an all call to say who's interested and we'll do like a QR code in those where people can scan and insert you know their email and contact information um right now we did that most recently where we kind of combined the two approaches and said let's do an all call see what we get but we know we need representation from these different um audiences and so we made sure that those those representation slots got filled and then we still went out and strategically talked to individuals like City officials um the police department we really want you know representation at this group so my preferen is doing something you know kind of in the middle um and if we don't have good representation from the all call to to reach out to some individuals that really just may a little extra conversation say we really need you in this process now I'll tell you that the district that I'm working in um right now in Wisconsin is a large district and they had 85 individuals come forward and say you want to be a part of this process and initially we were going to cap it at 50 and after we looked at the list we're like no it's really important to have everybody and we were able to that and it's been a very engaging process and everybody's been feeling that they've had their voice so we can we can accomodate as large of a group as we need to but ultimately we want to do what you all think is fast for your context and your community okay excellent anybody else have any questions well I was glad for one question for me or more of a statement I was glad as you were were presenting a there and I was looking at that I said wow I think we do not have to invent the will when it comes up to our doct our superintendent Dr Cogan coming up with some key indicators key performance indicators I said wow I said this is a good place we can get them and then sure enough you came and wow there it is okay made your job easy huh but you got a good one here you know yeah that was good knocking out two birds of one St Stone so to speak but I can see already a lot of effort a lot of thought has went into this got a plan and you are starting to work the plan already so I I really look forward to seeing the final product product and I'm sure you're going to just kind of keep us a breast as progress is made along the way so did we have board members participate in the last one we did and so it's really up to we'll give the dates and time to see who is available some will be during the day I think there's a few that the evening to try to accomodate I think we I think we know those two U we had three did not submit back to survey so two of those three who did not submit about you know who they are it may be me I don't know yeah there you go but uh thank you thank you so much just one one other question is when you develop the metrics and then evaluation Beyond how can you structure those so that the achievement or the progress towards those goals are increments increments or I mean the our last plan worked and but you know as we saw as we get progress reports was really the administration telling us uh we're 50% the way there but but how how is it verifiable for the board and the community and and more transparent to know yeah we've definitely hit this Mark yeah it's a great question so I definitely have my thoughts about what that could look like but I want to work with your team to decide what's going to work best but um some ideas of what that could look like is I do like and you already have this with ecra you have your electronic dashboard on your website to keep track of progress um that's for those people to go really deep into what what's really going on with each tool um I think that there's a lot of Promise in doing regular report updates that look like a newsletter around each of your goals to the overall community and board um particularly for the board like doing that maybe on a monthly basis focusing the shift like maybe if I looked at your your current plan like maybe one meeting we're going to give an update on our progress on goal one this meeting next time we together we're going to look at progress on fly um but in terms of making that visible for you all and making an opportunity to make adjustments I like it sound it's very simple but I like to color code the progress right like green were really hitting this where we want to be right now um yellow we're making some strides but we're not we're not quite there and red is we're we're falling behind and when you have the red you have to ask your question why why are we behind on these there are certain barriers in place that we need to address right yeah so um really just Gathering the right individuals around the right information to make sure that it's a living process that you're not letting just sit and just a name you possibly could use when you're talking about colors to indicate where we are U on my corporate job we use what we call a Beyond green Beyond green and so we have these other colors green is where we want to be we have yellow red and so on dark I would so beyond green beond just that's just back pocket information I like it I like it but ultimately we want we want that feedback from the team because they're the ones that have to operationalize the plan and it's got to be something that they can WRA their heads around and be successful in okay excellent excellent all right you guys you guys been I like to use this phrase knocking it out the park you guys have really formed a good partnership with us I really appreciate all you guys do appreciate you guys you're one of our favorites I everyone okay all right we got we we have this captured it's in public right okay and we'll see you tomorrow with our focus groups okay sounds good than you guys anything else no okay all right I would like a motion to approve the consent agenda as there's yeah first of all yeah I would go ahead and make the motion so move move by Dr Hall second by board member Mr gagos is there anything we like to scrap aate or take out okay and our superintendent will not read out every step it away on this so however you want to do it superintendent any nothing you good we're not reading anything not not tonight not tonight right okay okay so any questions on the consent agenda all right if not broll call please all right Mr gyos I Mr Al I Mr rson I Mr swales I miss Z stum I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry leads us to action reports eight a alpha business like a motion to approve to to approve and accept the base bid of $1,998 $998,000 and Alternate bids 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 in the amount of 1,422 455 for a total contract amount of 3,421 78 from Reed Construction Corporation of Chicago Illinois of the 2024 renovation work at the early Learning Center and tala elementary school so move by Dr Hall second by Mr gyos no was that second I'm sorry any questions comments the only question I have Ken or Jason items one through four that'll be the same question are we going to be able to do anything with the colors in the school being Elementary and ELC I didn't see any Chang es if I missed it if you sent it but I didn't I looked through it again on the FYI I didn't see any changes but are we going to be able to at least do it so it's not monotone so yeah there's there's a couple things we are talking to the contractor about that we can't change the contract or the bid itself so we're talking to them to see if we can do additional colors if it'll be an additional cost to that if it's going to be an additional cost or if we change that we're going to have to put a change order in so that we can change color so we are keth has already begun those discussions after the last board meeting done now the other thing I will share is also uh after the last board meeting to on the Lockers in this facility um I am getting cost from the contractor to see if we can paint them electrostatically I think that's word because you have to paint them a certain way so uh I'm getting a cost on that also to to paint the lockers um if we do that that'll be a change order I'll just see what the cost comes in um we normally we don't have to bring the change it'll be just a change ERS we don't have to bring the change orders to the board but I'll let the board know if we're doing okay and like I said nothing extravagant but if you're going down a hallway right maybe it's blue and other one's yellow or green or just it's an elementary setting so we want to make sure yep so we're checking with them okay so would we get the staff involvement on that as far as choosing the colors we'll probably have to I don't know if we'll get the staff involved we may get the administrators involved it's just it's you know it's difficult just getting staff involved because you know I want blue you want pink I want I I I agree if you have a principal and assistant principle at that level should have that kind of input I I think I and I agree and I think the other thing is I I want to be consistent also amongst our building especially our elementaries I like to be consistent with that you know ELC is is kind of separate from that so um again we'll talk to administrators we have a principal meeting actually tomorrow that uh I'm going to share some of this information so we'll talk about yeah having a meeting with just the principles of the four would be okay okay any further questions if not roll call please Madam Secretary all right Miss s sters i Mr swales I rson I Mr gyos I Mr Al I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry second item under 8 a alpha number two I'd like a motion to accept and approve the base bid of 1,272 78 and Alternate bid one in the amount of $13,988 for a total contract amount of 1,39 96,6 from reconstruction Corporation of Chicago Illinois for the 20124 renovation work at ketta Scott King magnet school so second by Dr Hall second by Mr guy Hegel any questions comments if none roll call please Madam Secretary all right Mr gagos hi rson I Mr Al I miss s stus i Mr swales I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry item number three under eight Alpha I would like a motion to approve the base bid of $778,000 any the alternate bid one in the amount of $37,800 for a total contract amount of $85,900 I Mr gigos I uh Miss RS and I Mr swales I miss s stus i Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry continue on with action report under eight Alpha number four like a motion to approve the base bid of $665,000 and the alternate bid one in the amount of 22 $2,000 for a total contract amount of $687,000 from reconstruction Corporation of Chicago Illinois for the 2024 renovation work at the Bal marrow Elementary School some moved second moved by mros second by Dr Hall questions comments if not roll call please madam secretary Miss s sters i Mr swales hi M RS and I Mr gyos I Mr Al I Dr Hall I president Brown I and the last item for action and approving is under 8 Alpha number five approve I like a motion to approve the low responsible bid of $225,800 from tiles and style LLC for the removal and replacement of flooring at Creek mon middle school so move second move by Dr Hall second by Mr gyos questions or comments if not like a motion or roll call please hi Miss somus hi RS and I Mr gyos hi Mr I Dr Hall I president Brown I motion carry it takes us right into Old business do we have any old business yeah um so I was looking at our website uh our our my my students a freshman and she's uh looking to classes uh for next year and the description of the classes they're either they're they're missing or they're um they're not complete the the uh coursework um so our catalog is a little out of date um so if I don't know uh is it on the high school website yeah okay yeah all right take show me where that is and we'll take a look at that all right I can do that sure so the description of of the course is is not adequate yeah I think I think if we had like um this the department heads of you know all the Departments like just double check what's on their website uh and see if it's up to date if it makes sense uh if they could you know double check the website because uh it's it's tough to figure out what classes you want to take and if the descriptions not right you know okay I will follow up that makes a lot of sense awesome good catch I had one item if no one else does any other old business Dr K have one prior to her okay say the best so I just wanted to just bring this the board's uh awareness I think we had talked about that a little bit earlier about uh MEC and where we want to go with that um last I recall you know The Bard was going in the direction to close that building as you recall we did three uh hearings last time and then we decided we needed to extend it um in talking with Mr Gleason um if we want to continue to P pursue that we'll need to have those three hearings um you know um again uh sequentially so we'll have to have it back toback so I wanted to make sure that that's the direction you wanted to go because then we will start putting that on we'll just repeat those presentations and put those back on to the board packets coming up soon so I just want wanted to throw that out too is that still where we want to go Y is that a consensus move forward on that everyone if we have to do it we have to do it okay is that just is that H Bill H H Bill H Bill say that 1875 for that do you know I don't want to put you up under the radar yeah okay but I think it's it's a house it's a house it's a house house bill that tells us that we have to have three as long as our attorney's present let's all agree that we follow the law yeah that's right I would put it out there and then Mr leis and I think I was asking you a little bit so after we do the hearings what is the next step after that can you kind of walk us through that right so then you're going to have to the board's going to have to determine how it want if it wants to get rid of the asset it wants it Clos to the school so do you want to maintain the property do you want to sell it do you want to give it or allow other people you have to figure out what you want to do with it once you take the hearing steps then you'll have the lawful authority to no longer use it as an educational center but you could still hold on to it and use it for other purposes or you can to the asset find that's not your best interest to have it and there's different procedures and processes into each of those things okay okay and so I think it's prun for us to even not say what we want to do with it right now until we hear have a three meetings is that right so the the Comm the purpose of the meetings essentially to give the community the ability to have inut into whether or not you shouldn't use it as an Attendance Center any long so they want to say no we you should or there's other ideas but that's those hearings are just asign to decide whether or not you're going to continue to use it as an attend Center for students okay but we can we publicly State as a board how we F what we want to do with the building during the hearing oh just during the hearing don't don't discuss all of that now we shouldn't be talking about that now we can't take any votes now talking about it okay so so we'll have that on the next few board packets we'll start getting that started okay okay thank you thank you thanks B any other new business I mean old business I was looking at the um actually I was just looking at the website this evening um before the meeting about the um salary uh like uh everybody everybody in exactly yes uh and I think it's for last year I think I I saw there that it's the 2223 school year and not this current one and we'll take a look at that because it should have been updated yeah yeah that came out a couple months ago yeah yeah get it on there and yeah I'll take a look at that you give an update yeah all right definitely good catch Alex that's how it's reported that's how the previous year that's yeah it's always that's what I thought it's a year behind so we okay always are we okay that's the law okay so it's the previous year it's money that's paid right you could have a million doll salary and leave in October we' only paid you a part of that you can't so you can't determine it until you complete year how much people were okay okay it's always a year behind Okay I was just yeah yeah yeah excellent did not know that good any other old business no any other new business new business okay if not we do have a reason to go into close session and that is for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employee I have a motion to go into close session for those reason stated so second move by Dr Hall second by mros this side of the table's really working it I know I'm like I'm I'm hearing I'm hearing I'm like over here all right uh roll call Please Mr Al I Mr gigos i m rubson i Mr soes I miss stus I Dr Hall I Mr Browns I all right moot motion uh motion pass and we are going to be in Clos session we will not take any further action after we come out of Clos session and we should be in closed session no longer than a half hour no longer yeah thank you