While teacher credentiing programs set the basic requirements to teach in each state, comp completion of national board certification signifies the teachers had developed and demonstrated advanced skills, knowledge and practices required of an accomplished education professional. The following teachers have earned the national board certification. And when I call your name, why don't you come on up? Hy [Applause] Ariano. Hasty is a curriculum specialist for ethnic studies. She has been a teacher with the district for since 2013. Mitric Kokair. [Applause] Midrich is a science teacher at Kennedy High School. He has been a teacher with the district since 2005. A couple people are not here, I believe, but I will read their names. Russell Day. Russell is a CTE teacher at Lexington Junior High School, and he has been a teacher with the district since [Applause] 1997. David Ang. David is a math teacher at Savannah High School.
He attended BBC and was awarded the young alumni award from them for the impact that he in turn made in this community. Today he serves as a battalion chief for the fire department, a testament to the hard work, determination, and support he received along the way from his teachers. The sense of hometown pride is what keeps us anchored in this community. Our educators are not just instructors. They are mentors, role models, and the backbone of our society. They invest their time and energy to nurture the minds of our children, laying the groundwork for future generations. However, it is concerning to see that many talented teachers are considering leaving our community for better pay elsewhere. They chose to be a part of this district and somehow somehow are here to plead for a decent wage. This highlights the critical importance of negotiating fair salaries for our educators as it reflects not only their worth but also their commitment to quality education.
Those class sizes are recommended to be approximately 15 to 21. Many of our multilingual learner classes are 25 and above. And preschool is required to grow to meet what they call 90% of our universe. So about 117 kids. That does not include our preschool disabled population. That is just general education preschoolers. And those class sizes also requiring full-size classrooms are capped at 15. And every year in the recent years, we have had over 15 waivers put in for dual use or multi-use space. So all of this information put together informed the decision-making process for the proposed use of the new leased property. We clearly need space. Our local data shows that we're over capacity in a lot of places, but especially at the middle schools. Our district survey of grades span options showed middle school followed by high school to be the greatest priority. And this professional demographic study revealed that that middle school and high school area is where we have the largest amount of red.
And uh before we end on this one, at least my portion, I just like to say thank you so much to Mr. Price for having us here today and for inviting us. Welcome. You guys are always welcome up here. This is great. I'm very selfish and I love this uh concert so much because I get to see my old students perform and they do such a great job. We're so proud of all of you guys in the high school. So, thank you. And on the flip side, we like to see everybody that's working so hard down the middle school and eventually come up and be working with us. And it's great for these guys to see like where they started, came from, and worked their way up. So, all around this is just such a really fun and exciting event to be part of. I have to tell you, it kind of scared them a little bit.
I'll forever be grateful to the team at PAL for all the support and care they that we received during his time there and all of the efforts on his the part of his team at Quail Run. In the midst of all of the things that happened and all of the struggles that went alongside that, I am ever so grateful for our team of people here in MSD and all the efforts that are put in for our students uh that of varying needs and neurody divergence. Um in a time when words like diversity and equity and inclusion seem to be questionable by some folks. Um, I encourage this district to continue to support and come alongside those parts of our community and our students who need our services and need our help and to continue to to provide that excellent five-star service that we have been known to for for those students.
Uh, and each of those different pit stops, each of those different activities has allowed me an avenue to grow as a leader. and and that is the the thing I think is most unique about Crawfordville High School through athletics. I get a chance to meet and uh you know associate with a lot of different student athletes, a lot of different leaders, captains from other schools and I have yet to find a school with such dedicated leaders, such people so dedicated to their sport and to their teammates and I think that culture here at CHS has really shaped who I am as as a young man and who I I know I will be uh through the next four years. Um, I plan to go to Wabash and study uh premed uh and with a minor in Spanish uh and hopefully you at the end of my four years enter into an MD/PhD program to help with drug development.
So if anyone is interested, they can call central office um 8123464483. We'll move on. If we get done with softball, we'll be here. Very impressive. Why does she not? No. Okay. All right, everyone. So, uh, we are from the middle school. I'm, uh, Kevin Schultz. I'm the principal there, and I've got Mrs. Garrett, one of our social studies teachers. Whitney Barber, eighth grade student, and Aiden Chen, eighth grade student. Um, earlier in the seme or in the school year, Mrs. Garrett had asked me if our kiddos would be able to compete in what they called National History Day. Um, we started competing at the regional level at handover college. Uh, for anyone wanting to know what National History Day is, think of a science fair but for history. So, our kiddos were able to dive a little bit deeper into a lot of different uh, historical topics as well as so they they've conducted their own research and they had to figure out how are they going to present that research and so we have a couple kiddos here to share with you what they brought up.
My Okay. I thought I had sent something to you. I received some comments. Yes. Yeah. received the com but I don't not sure if Peter got to it or that anyone got to it. So um so that still needs to be done. I it's not a I you know we talked to John Truff last um week he said it wasn't a rush. So, um, now that, well, I'm not say that I don't say that think the dust is settling, but, um, now that we've gotten through that first week, got some other things taken care of, we'll I'll look at that or we'll look at that again this week on the list. Um, and I guess the easiest way will be if you have any comments, you can put to me and I can kind of like squeeze them all together. Yep. And then from there, we can whoever want to start with this version.
Um, and I'm here to say that I put my support behind uh, Superintendent Patnode because I wouldn't be here without her taking a chance on me in this district. And I think I've tried to work really hard to honor that. Um, and I know that she knows what these schools are like. She's not It's not just that she knows like, oh, the buildings and like this is the schedule and all that. Like she knows the kids, she knows the teachers. She's our representative in this district. and I do believe she's doing the best possible job she can given the situations of the country we're in. Um, and I just think she's someone and so is um, Mr. Sullivan who really understand what is in our district and they understand like everything that goes on with like where are teachers place like these are real lives that are involved and teachers who work a lot and it's like it's it's difficult when you don't know what it's going to be next year to really put in your best work.
A well-earned honor for a truly extraordinary coach and mentor. [Applause] Uh, I'd like to thank everyone here for coming out and supporting um all of the teams that are here and all the athletes. You all have done a wonderful job. I'd also like to um thank not only my team here, but also my coaches. Any coach who has coached for a long time knows that you don't do this alone. It is a joint effort and I am blessed to have uh three assistant coaches who really strive to work together and fulfill the same uh dream that we all are searching for. And that's to make our athletes not only the best athlete that they can be, the best version of themselves, but also an all-around athlete. um someone who gives back to their community, who recognizes other who volunteers and grows within their athletic career at the same time.
He has been a teacher with the district since [Applause] 2015. Helen Goldsmith. Helen is an English teacher at Magnolia High School and she has been a teacher with the district since 2006. Okay. Shelley Hawkins. [Applause] Shelley's a health teacher at Cypress High School. She has been a teacher with the district since 2007. And the next three I don't believe are here, but I will read about them. Jellyico Jerry Cow. Jerry is a mild moderate teacher at Anaheim High School. He has been a teacher with the district since 2017. Cassie Spencer. Cassie is a teacher since at Cambridge Virtual Academy. She has been a teacher with the district since 2002. And the last is Taylor Thorne. Taylor is an English teacher at Magnolia High School. She's been a teacher of the district since 2018. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I don't know. Okay. That's quicker than I thought it was going to be.
We cannot afford to lose these dedicated professionals who shape the paths of our children and help instill the values that guide them. Teachers deserve better comp compensation for their unwavering commitment and their incredible influence on our community. Supporting salary negotiations is a vital step to ensuring that our schools remain vibrant and that our children continue to receive a quality education. We must advocate for a fair salary, not just as a matter of justice, but as a meaningful investment in our future. They have dedicated their lives to our children and our community, and it's time that we return the favor. Thank you. [Applause] Karen and after Karen will be I think it's good. Anyway, go ahead. We're okay. Good evening Superintendent Nelson, board members, cabinet, and audience. My name is Karen Sabers and I stand before you representing the Abuda members as their president. We were able to ratify theou for health and welfare with the understanding that we will open health and welfare back up after May reise to hopefully enhance what is in theou.
But there was an awful lot of red on that capacity page, wasn't there? Um the decision-making process included looking at the enrollment and capacity, at the socioeconomic demographics of the city, at the projected growth by school, the current and future enrollment, and then the sending schools all across the district were analyzed to look at schools that were projected to keep Woodrow and Columbus in balance and are projected to grow at similar rates. Meaning, if we're going to take students out of both schools, we need to pick school students from schools that are going to also be projected to grow at similar rates and not create a numerical imbalance. So now what we looked at was the economically disadvantaged students. This is different from that previous slide that spoke to the census poverty rate. This slide speaks to at each and every one of our schools, what percentage of students receive free and reduced lunch, which then leads to those schools being either categorized as title one or non-title one.
They heard their songs, they're like, "Oh my goodness, we have to play that kind of stuff." But they're going to be ready. And I can't wait to hear them on that side. So, thank you very much. And here is Save the Last Dance. [Applause] [Music] You can dance every dance with a girl who let her hold you tight. You can smile every smile for this and your while you meet the pale moonlight. But don't forget who's taking you home and it'll hurt your blood. So darling, sing the last for me. Oh, I know that the music's fine. like sparkling like wine. Go and have your fun. Laugh and sing. But while we're aart, don't give your heart to anyone. And don't forget who's taking you home. My little arms are me. So darling, see the last dance for me. Baby, don't you know? Can't you feel it when we touch?
So I urge this board and and the administration of this district to do as much as possible as those things such as inclusion are become questionable to protect them for our students, for our staff, and for our community. Thank you. Association. Good evening, Vice President Mcronis, members of the board, Dr. Strereer, senior staff, and community members. My name is Chelsea, and I'm the vice president of the Miranda Education Association. As we approach the end of the school year, MEA would like to take a moment to recognize the incredible work happening across the district, not as a formality, but as a sincere acknowledgement of the daily effort and care our educators, administrators, and support staff pour into our students. Our schools are not winding down, they're sprinting to the finish line. Teachers are guiding students through state tests, final projects, and major transitions. Counselors are helping students cope with anxiety, trauma, and planning for the future.
That's my my passion and CHS has been such a wonderful place to grow that passion to explore my interests. Uh and I I could not be happier with my four years here. Thank you all for your time. Here we go. Sorry. Sorry. I want to thank each of you for your testimony here. I would say and I think I speak for the entire board. Your testimony today reminds us why we serve as school board members and the the success stories that you all share. We really appreciate hearing. So, thank you very much. Thank you. I want to thank you guys. [Music] Good luck. Old to young or young to old. Young old. [Music] All right. So, I had a spiel, but after that, like I mean, if I get to walk in the doors, first of all, 25 years. If you count 26, cuz I student taught for Larry Pile in the exact room that I'm in.
So it's kind of like set the scene because Whitney's gonna explain what she did, but they have choices and every year's a like theme. So rights and responsibilities in history was a theme this year. So the challenge for the kids is to like find something that they're passionate about that fits within that theme. So no matter what they did, it had to be an event earn a person that fits within rights and responsibilities within history, but it would be world history. They have awards for Indiana history. They um have then US history of course. So um they could do several different things. They could do a documentary, which is what Winnie did, but she's not going to hold her laptop up for all of you to do her documentary, but she had to make a 9-minute documentary. Um, Aiden did a paper, which was a very long paper.
Yeah. the format that we had from the last one. Yeah. I mean, so you sent com you sent the document you were working on in the meeting. You sent it to Peter and El Do you have it? Yes, he did. Okay. Do we want to go through it and just see if Deepa has other comment? Like I would Well, in the interest of time since we went through this once before, what I would what I would suggest is I know we didn't get to it this week that um Elro and or I take a pass at it, send it back out to the board, and then comments would go to Elro and then comments can go back to Elro. Um that's why we don't. Okay. Just to be efficient. Um, but yeah, I was actually looking at that. I was re-watching that meeting this afternoon, so to kind of remember where we were with it.
And I know um I kind of want to just put that out there that I believe these two really believe that they know what's going on. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, I'm Rose Scroff. Uh I live on Lyndon Avenue. I teach fifth grade math and science at the middle school. Um, and in wake of the uncertainty on where fifth grade is going and the possibility that fifth grade is going to stay, I really wanted to speak and voice for the family. Similar to what Eric was saying, I think there's a lot of negative perceptions around what fifth grade is like at the middle school. Um, this is my first year teaching fifth grade. Um, I've taught eighth grade in the past. I was a math interventionist and um in all of my years of teaching, this is the first year of teaching where I look forward to going to school every day.
Um one of the things I'm most proud of as um a coach through all my years, I have had teams that have included nationally ranked athletes that have competed alongside and with special needs athletes. I have a no cup policy. I accept all athletes on my team and I strive to make each of those athletes a better person and a better athlete. And I am always proud of the fact that both my athletes who are nationally ranked have worked side by side and alongside with those special needs athletes and they've all grown together and worked together. Um, I'm really proud of the athletes that I've had and how hard they work, how much they work together, support each other, and my captains this year, um, have just been phenomenal. Bri, Cam, Aubrey, um, and they are, you know, the athletes that I have this year, the athletes that I've had all over all the years, they're the reason why I come back year after year.