Um, in third grade they went from 35% to 51%. And again, this is um assessing for reading fluency. So now we're hoping that with them having that much fluency that now we can move into that comprehension and hope that they are now understanding what they are reading. So schoolwide we went from 30% reading at grade level to 40% reading at grade level. And now you can play the video C A one. 57. Let's give a round of applause. [Music] Thank you so much, Miss Enriquez.
um as you know, you know, restricted because of uh some of the legislation that is out there to refrain from any um reference to Native Americans in any way. So, we are playing around with what a warrior looks like. Um we did share some costume designs with you. Uh we shared um a little I think he looks like a Spartan actually and then we had the wolf. So, we I know some of you kind of wanted to kind of discuss that a little bit as we move forward to see if we're going in the right direction or if you want to maybe tweak it a little bit. Um, so I open it up for some thoughts on that before we move forward. I did not like the designs. We're not the Spartans. Okay. Uh, we're not the wolves. We're the Warriors. Yeah. So, I do like the blue skin though.
He was refusing to listen, take a nap. So, you know what I did? What' you do? I called the police. That seems extreme. I don't think so. I called our fine the f Bluffton's finest has to come down. I called the police. You know why? Why? He was clearly resisting arrest. Arrest. Yeah, I get that's a that's pretty good. Arrest. Arrest. Yeah, that's why I called the police. Yep. Resisting arrest. That would have been better with if you were doing this with officer Karut who did it last week as police officer. That would have been good. Yeah. Any comments from our 1.2 million? Just cheering on the Cyber Tigers. Okay. Well, I guess that's okay. That's good. That's nice. Andrew Cook. Yes. Yeah, I know him. Do I know that guy? Yep. He's got a pie symbol up there as our math teacher. Uh where is he?
There's going to be the relationships with towns. there's going to be relationships with the community, things like that. But I mean, in terms of handling the regional aspect of the budget, I don't see that as a non-starter. Yeah. I mean, I think also like the size of the budget they've dealt with like so maybe not regional, but like you know, was there deficits? Was it how many millions of dollars like you know, right? Any other specific budget questions different than that or is that cover the budget question or any other questions you'd like to add to this list? Mr. Chair, it does sound that there you might also be sort of working your way towards potentially a question specifically about relationships with the municipalities. And this partly it is listed in the strong relationships question but and again obviously this is entirely your decision but it did feel like there was a yeah part of that question right it is in terms of address your experience with regional district if applicable.
Cindy, what did you want to add? Well, I'm not sure if it makes sense with what you just added. Can you say it again? Address barriers to aid in greater participation by aid. Yeah. Oh, to aid in participation. To aid in greater participation. Yeah. Yeah. Press movements. Okay. And I I was just saying like participation of what or in what? I don't know if that needs to be added. I know they need to be kind of broad in general, but to participation in what exactly in cultural enrichment opportunity, but I don't know what it's supposed to say. what what might be the opportunities to be able to qualify what engagement looks like. So, how do we know that our kids are engaged in a lot of things? You see kids who do a lot of stuff. What does that actually look like? And one of the big one of the largest predictors of a good school environment and um student performance is that a kid feels well known by a trusted adult within within a community.
What what is what does this what does OSI or the city need and what and and how can citizen groups like the Wolfpack as we've heard who are who are doing some of this but also what might they need and and what do those groups together need to pull this stuff together and and do that work to organize it to make sense of it to clarify sort of what those decision needs are and really match the information in a way that is salient. and accessible and and and allows it to really move forward. I mean because that seems to be coming up I think as a as a broader theme and this you know this this occurs across sort of the whole climate space typically but I think particularly here you're dealing with technical knowledge uncertainty around the sort of economic trade-offs um there's a variet you know just just peer demonstration um and and whether or not is someone next to me doing it um is is its own sort of hurdle as well and barrier.
According to the Department of Education, a 2% annual levy is what the Department of Education recommends, and we spent years not taking advantage of that. Clifton staff members are already doing a lot with the little that we have. The last two years, the board of education recognized this need and provided resources which benefited the welfare of our students. This is more than just reorganizing the allocation of funds. We need sufficient resources to support our school community. While I understand the importance of wisely managing taxpayer money, we also need to ask ourselves, are we investing in our future when we short change our children's education? Our students are counting on us. If we reduce funding, these students will be the ones who suffer. They will lose access to the programs that help them become well-rounded individuals and responsible citizens. We owe it to them to ensure they have the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.
However, we've also now at that point designed ourselves the 40% that the state covers as a portion of what you would get going out to bond referendum. So my question is maybe there's some consider not really a question but but point I guess is maybe there's some considerations as to the strategy and trying to think about you know what timeline we think we could accomplish based on our annual expenses how much they grow by on top of you know whether you know the special bond would you know take care of that in of itself. Aiden, I I'm thinking along the same lines, like maybe take some to get us through, but sounds like we're going to need a lot of money and then we're again, like you said, leaving that 40% match from the state and no guarantee next year and the year after that this 7 and a half million is actually going to be put towards, you know, capital improvements, right?
Uh, any questions to the report? Uh, I just wanted to go back and reiterate our promotion dates at the end of the year are at the bottom of the principal's report. I don't know if I can pick it. Um, so those are still the same. The 16th is our kinder step up. The 19th is third grade promotion. And then our prek promotion is the 21st. All happening in May. Excellent. Thank you again, Miss Enriquez. Now, please help me welcome Miss Vigay Lewis for her monthly report at the intermediate campus. Please give her a warm round of applause. Good evening um board members and all the people who are listening. So, we have uh our promotion on May 22nd at 9:00. So, make sure you come. You're invited. And I turned in my board report. I hope you had a chance to read it. But I would like to add that our attendance did go up from 89% to 92%.
Yeah, the blue skin is something we can work with. Yeah, because we trying to think of something that's very um uh neutral. Yeah. You know, so Okay. So, that's something we can work with. I mean, there's always the option of going an amorphous creature like Big Red where it's just a costume, nothing very specific about what it is. Nebraska big red. It's just like a a face, but like moving away from any human representation would probably be good, but then additionally some most of the animals don't make a lot of sense because then you'll be like we've already got a hus like the a wolf then your mascot is the wolf or like if it's a dog then it's like a husky, a saluki, a bulldog. a bulldog or I don't know a shiu like I don't I don't know if anybody is one of those but the designs are kind of the ones we have are kind of the ones that we saw don't make a ton of sense but also I don't know what does so so I guess so I think the we need to get narrowed down because what we're going to do eventually is we're going to have get two ideas that you guys are comfortable with and then send it out to the students at the high school and the middle school and let them vote on it.
Is he next door? I don't know where. He could be in Fort Wayne. He could be next door. He could be listening to us. Well, if he's on here, he is. Hey, I want to give a shout out to Andrew Cook. Teacher of the year. Teacher of the year, Bluffton High School uh uh this year 2024 2025. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Uh a lot of people don't know this, but at uh the uh package prize that comes with it is $1.2 million. 1.2 million. $1.2 million. Now, that's good money if you can get it. Good money if you can get it. That's why uh uh he uh somebody uh he's on a run right now. Is that is that Andrew Cook is on a run? I don't know. Okay. All right. I don't know if people are going to call me, you know, call me on that one, but he really did win 1.2 million.
I didn't know if you wanted to home directly in on that question of the superintendent as as part of the um relationship builder and sustainer with um municipal the municipal side. Yeah. Give me examples of how you build relationships with the municip municipalities. Yeah, I feel like if there's any bases that are not covered in the questions we have Tracy Yeah. I mean the first question the fourth question on the list does include parents, teachers, admin team, the town board members and the town board members and school committee. Do we want to adjust it, make it stronger, take it out, make it separate, specific? The town board members meant to be I think I started writing the town fin select board and then I was like uh that's too much. So then I I only the permacult for our Yeah. For our community. Yeah. Do you want to just add those?
So, I would keep it broad and then be able to ask for evidence of what we're doing to be able to get to that. I I I agree with Cindy that I I think that's one that we got to look back to what the overarching goal is and the overarching goal is to create an inclusive and cultural responsible learning environment. So we go to age, how are we doing that relative to to the goal, right? So I think you're 100% accurate, but I think we have it up above too. Okay. and I organize schoolwide events and activities that celebrate and honor the diverse cultures, traditions, and backgrounds of the school community. I think that could be another one where it says continue because we do that now, which is continue to organize. Yes. Okay. Is everybody okay with that? Okay. Okay. Okay. So, we'll make these changes and we'll see them uh back in our our May uh meeting with Mr.
And so how how do we are are there missing needs there in terms of how we're coordinating, how we're collaborating? Um what do we need to do better? You want to take a stab at that first? If not, I can. Uh yeah, I mean I I think it's it's really just as we've said in every kind of meeting like it's all hands on deck at the end of the day. like, you know, there's we're constantly looking for things like this and trying to find things and we have, you know, fairly solid networks for for doing that, but at the end of the day, like, you know, we're only a couple people and there's no way we could possibly know every single thing that's happening across the country or the Midwest or even Michigan, you know. Um, so really just as many folks as possible that are looking into these things because you never know where you're going to find this happening, you know.
I implore the board of education to consider at least a 4% levy. Thank you for your time and consideration. I trust you will make a decision that reflects the best interests of our students, our community, and the future of Clifton. Good evening, uh, board commissioners, Dr. Central Administration. Thank you for having us here, uh, this evening. I definitely will not need this alarm clock. Uh, my my bedtime alarm is going to ring in about 3 minutes. So, um, with that being said, uh, when I first arrived in September of 2022, and I was right here at this very podium thanking you. Excuse me, one moment. Could you please I'm sorry. I'm Steven Vienna. My apologies. Stephen Vienna, supervisor of health and phys. Um, so like I was saying, when I first arrived in in September of uh September 1st of 2022 and I was given the fizzed schedule, um, one eyepopping stat came to mind and I saw it and, uh, we're going to talk a lot this evening about dollars and cents, but the first thing that I saw was relationships.
So, I'm worried about that part as well. And um everybody says, "Well, it's not going to pass. It's not going to pass." You don't know that. Look, Cherry Hill got it. Lenipe Regional got it. You know, if you work hard and and get people on board with it, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to fail, right? I'm going to third that because and I mean we're just going to spitball and and talk about where our heads are, but for me I feel like if we take the full tax levy now, there's no way a bond referendum is going to pass because people can't afford it. And then where are we when what we've taken is not enough to cover what we need. So, do we take some and save what we can now and put that out to bond and take advantage of that extra 40%.
So, we're really excited about that. And that we received our beneficiary donation of $42,615. So, super excited for our students who will be getting to wear all their RCA gear soon. So, we will be ordering those as soon as we can. And that's it. ready. [Music] Next one. N as in white. [Music] Thank you, Mr. Vik Lewis.
Um, so I think we've got whether we want to go to a person, whether it's, you know, if you think about the locals, we've got knights, uh, spark, well, warriors. I think you have to change a name. If you're going to do a mascot, you have to change the name. A warrior is everything about what you think about Native American. Think about everything you think of history. And I understand they've taken that, you know, they've taken that in a negative light, but honestly, you know, and I know the sports teams were honoring that, right? So you have a guy out there and he's dressed in something and it always reminds him of history of a warrior, but to be honest with you, we can't use it. So at that point, you cannot come up with a warrior. Let's not go changing the name of My point is you can't come up with a with a mascot without changing it is a warrior, right?
Okay. I want to be honest. All right. It was two million million. $2 million. Nope. Nope. That ain't that ain't it? Oh, Cook's on a run. Oh, yeah. He's always out. He's running. That guy runs all the time after school. Mr. Meyer. And he's he's watching esports and running at the same time. Yeah. You know, somebody came to my door the other day. Okay. Asked me if my uh refrigerator's is running. I go, "Right running?" Yeah, I think it is. Why? He goes, "Well, I saw it. You better catch us going down the street. Refrigerator running. That works with like three-year-olds." Yeah. Four year olds. Yeah. Baker loves it. Baker loved that one. Yep. Wish we get the camera on him over here. He's He's rolling on the floor lap. Yeah, he is. He is. You need to calm down, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So for the Cyber Tigers, I know the push that we that was on our last last map, we tend to not that's not our best.
Sure. Reorder that one, Tracy. It's the one, two, three, fourth question. Parents, teachers, your admin team instead of the town board members. Uh maybe town select boards, finance committees, capital committees. Any others? Sounds like we have our questions then. Okay, another vote. Should we vote on these questions? And these will be the only questions being asked. Are we allowed follow-up questions on the on the followup as long as they're within the bounds of the original question? Yeah. The and the only reason that I say that is um because making sure that your interviews are parallel is pretty important in terms of running a a process that is equitable. All right. Should we vote on this list then? That would be last. All right. So, may I have a motion, please, to approve the eight questions that we just covered. Tracy, should you read them? Sure.