Excellent. Thank you for that. So it will be busy this summer. All right. So we'll move on now to the Lawrence Township School Foundation. Dr. Mhalland. Okay. Well, Lawrence Township School Foundation just finished their Apples for Excellence that you may have seen, honor an educator. And then in May, there are two events coming up. Uh May 17th is the Prairie Dash. Come out and support the kids as they do their run. Um and on May 29th is the for the kids golf tournament. Very good. Thank you for the committee uh reports board. It's been I know a busy time. I did want to acknowledge uh one thing Dr. Smith uh with to go with the ISBA. Uh we found out that through the Indiana School Board Association, our board is going to be honored or recognized next Tuesday uh for an EGA award. It's an exemplary governance award.
Right now in the aggregate we're looking about 122,000 over in private out of district special education. Uh but we've got adequate circuit breaker to cover that. Um by the next report there is that odd encumbrance. So if you look at the notes uh on the first page there's that odd encumbrance that I've talked about a number of times about $2.4 million. um 924 of it seems to be intended to be coming from school choice. Um so that leaves us so when you look at the $5.7 million balance that we have right now that leaves us with another about $1.3 million of sort of encumbered funds that um is mystery encumbered funds. I'll probably just clear out that encumbrance um before the next report so we see where things are at the end of the year. doesn't bother me to have some extra conferences in. It just means we're being a little more honest.
It's every year the people in Sweden um an organization in my case it's a it's a it's a university the Karolinsky Institute and what happened was I don't know how long ago this guy named Alfred Nobel who was a rich man in Sweden he died and he had written his will and in his will he said uh each year uh we want to celebrate scientific discoveries and the people associ associated with those discoveries and there'll be a prize and then they'll and it'll be like in the newspapers and you didn't there was no TV then but then it's going to be on TV now and so it's a way to it's a way that the Swedish country celebrates science right so you may hear about the Nobel Prize in medicine Nobel Prize in chemistry and physics there's a Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in economics you see it's all trying to sort of raise the world's attention to the importance of scientific discovery and scientific research.
So I'm just going to pause there and show it to you. Um it talks about um uh screenings need to be done um at you know at certain entry levels or eight grade levels into the district. Um and again goes over exactly what those screenings entail. Um continuing on uh the vision screenings are provided um at our elementary grade levels in kindergarten first, third, fourth and fifth. Um and again that is uh language that is recommended in statutory requirements. We also do hearing screenings at the elementary level. Um this pastoral screenings is really your scoliosis screening. Um and that is done um at grades uh five and seven for male no I got that wrong. Five and seven for females and eight and nine for males. Um and here we just added the language if not previously completed by the child's physical examination. oftentimes many of our students will have that as part of their regular physical if it has already been done by their physician.
We reached out to I don't know around 100 or so people um to try to garner an advisory committee. We gathered them. Um we met three times. um we had lengthy meetings and discussions and you know that's when we kind of we're we're at a crossroads right is it new is it remodel what do we do um from that advisory committee we were we came to the conclusion with them and the board um to move forward with new construction at that point then we had a town hall meeting we asked the public to come get more information um we sent out a survey we wanted to get public feedback and input put on that also. Um it was a process where we you know were involved in the public right um and then from the survey results committee the town hall um is where we were guided by the public to move forward with the new and go on.
But comparing apples to apples, we're at about 265 for Sharky Construction. And then for um Scott Christian's construction, we were at 256. So pretty comparable on both prices um for both both jobs. Um, it's my understanding that Shiite did the concrete at Hollywood. Is that right? Like the parking lot? No, that was Suki. Okay. Suki Construction. The parking lot at Hollywood. Suki Construction or was it Sugi? Well, Suki and Sharky. They used to work together. Now it's just Shark, right? But back then it was Suki. Yeah, both of these companies are really, really busy this summer, but both of them said that they could squeeze the project in. Um, they said, you know, estimate about a week to get it done. Um, so when they did the previous Well, that's been a while. That's a parking lot. That was the parking lot one. Yeah, that's been a while.
But the least um restrictive is obviously the general education classroom. Then there's inclusion. Inclusion is where a certified teacher goes into the general education classroom and works with special needs students in the classroom. Then we have resource. These are students who typically have an average to above average IQ but they have a specific learning disability or other health impairment which is usually ADHD to where they are having difficulty learning in a larger environment. So they go into a resource room with the special education teacher in smaller groups and they're then instructed at their level as well as grade level. Extended resource. This is the in between between resource and self-contained. So it um I'm going to jump to self-contained real quick. So self-contained is for students who have more severe learning or severe disabilities. You may examples may be um they may have a brain injury.
Yeah. Yeah. Because because then the beauty of Vector is not only do you like have a way to deliver it, but you also have a record that the employee received the training. And we we've had a couple of instances this year where, you know, issues related to employees were tied back to policy around training that they needed to receive. And then one of the questions that's come up is, well, did they in fact take the training? And so because of the way Vector works, not only were we able to determine, yes, indeed they did, but we're even able to go back and see their score on the quiz, right? So indicating, so somebody tells you, well, I didn't, you know, I didn't know this, but they got 100% on the quiz. It's like, well, you may have forgotten it, but clearly you were able to answer the quiz questions correctly back on September 12th, you know, 2024 or whatever.
Uh, anybody any questions on the April employment report with the additions? Okay, please have a motion to approve the April employment recommendation report with additions. Motion second. Ash and Joe, yes. Yes. Yes. We accepted a retirement from Miriam Wallace Elementary Perah effective May 30th. Uh we accepted a resignation from Kristen Wilhelm, fourth grade teacher, effective at the end of the school year. We accept a resignation from Vanessa Gutierrez Parah effective May 30th. Uh we accept a resignation from Robin Celah effective at the end of the school year.
The next thing if we need to bump it up a little more than that, we do have the ability to issue ordinance violation tickets. Uh that is a small financial penalty that um uh stays within the village. That's something we'll talk about here in just a little bit about how we deal with ordinance violation tickets. The third thing could be a referral to our Kendall County Juvenile Probations Department. That is technically an arrest and we would be charging the student. I just when we go through some numbers later, I want you guys to understand what a referral really is and what it means when we make the decision to arrest a student. Number one, we don't take that lightly. We don't like to charge students, but ultimately when it has to happen, this referral process is not putting people in handcuffs. This is not removing kids from the schools.
I think he's already signed on for it. Also, have a new ventilation for the welding area. We got a welding area that um I've been concerned about since I get here. It does not meet code. Um, the ventilation is not not appropriate for it. So, a company called Lindy out of Help me. Williamsport. Yeah. Williamsport um is going to come and visit me next Tuesday, next Monday morning, um with Ross and I, and we're going to get a good idea on what we have to do to get that up to date. Um the air handlers have to be fixed in the annex. We have new um heating and air conditioning units in that building. both those buildings, but the air handlers are not practicing. In the winter time, if we hear this loud whistling noise, that's what it is. It's coming from the air handlers.
Uh, six families or 11 students had special transportation request. Five of the families, 10 students were displaced across district lines. So with our limited extra buses that anybody can drive in the current state of a couple of them really we're just looking um for approval to this company to help us fill in some gaps so at some point in time we've been able to work magic throughout this year but we get to the point where we can't we Um, one of the things that is um that even when families bring their students to the school, the school still has to reimburse them for mileage and so that can become costly as well. Um this program uh would allow us to it it does charge by the mile but it includes um it's not a contract but we can engage with them when we need them and disengage with them as we see fit.
So you can be talking to like one of your friends that acts so happy, but you don't know what can be going on in their lives for even in their alone times. They are struggling, maybe even wishing they were not alive. That's amazing. It's powerful. Wow. Anybody else? So, what I learned in High Hopes, like first off, I'm gonna say I took part in the uh suicide prevention program, which I would never have actually done if I was not in high hopes. And it helped me realize I'm not alone in my struggles because I've I have a lot going on. And it just helps me realize people are there. And if not, just in my home life at school, I have people I can talk to. Thank you, board. I don't want to control the questions. Jay, Mr. Tri, what I'd like to do is Meg with your group uh before you leave to have a group photo and maybe the board come up and surround this group right of uh our Huntington youth leadership team uh with Meg to to get a group photo before before they u leave tonight.
And basically, the EGA program annually honors both school boards and board members who have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to continued improvement, professional learning, and student outcomes. So um our board will be recognized as a commendable board and I just want it for the 2024 year. So thank you board for your work um involvement. PD happens for all of us at all levels. So thank you for participating. Okay. At that point we will move on to our action items. Action item 4.01. Approval for the bids for Forest Glenn. Mr. Roger Smith. Madame President. Dr. Smith, members of the board, recommend a board approve the bid and the GMP contract to Core and Garcia for the Forest Glenn Elementary as presumed. I'll entertain a motion to approve. So moved. Second. That's it, Miss. All right. Properly moved in Miss Pucket and seconded, Miss Lawrence. All right. All in favor?
I don't argue with that. Um other than that, um there this report does include one of the things we didn't realize when when we came in and took over uh earlier this year is there is a bus um that is dedicated to taking uh Boilston's vocational students to Asabet uh Valley uh uh uh uh tech um the tech school. So, we've been paying that out of the general fund, not knowing that that's what it was for. Um, so Boilston called us and said, "Hey, are we going to get bills for this?" Uh, so we went through and we found all of those bills. We've given them to Boilston. They're going to be giving us uh a check for about $43,000 to cover um that amount. So, you know, little bit of help on the transportation side.
That was the vision of this guy Alfred Nobel who basically he he um invented dynamite. Okay. So he's known for two things. Number one, inventing dynamite and number two the Nobel Prize which is based on all the money he made making dynamite. You know another one. Let's do this. So, is micro RNA basically just the on and off switch for other genes? Yeah. Oh, cool. Yeah, exactly. Right. So, and what's cool there? So, microns are on and off switch for other genes. And what's cool about them is that um the microna doesn't have to match the gene very much, just a few of these nucleotides, right? And so evolution can contrive to make a gene become a migron target or to now lose its migron target. So lots of the variation amongst animals and speciation stuff can be attributed to microRNAs uh you know rewiring themselves basically.
It does not need to be repeated in the school environment but this is meant for any student that has not had that scoliosis screening and of course a parent um or school staff member and then we would reach out to a parent if there was any signs or suspicions that something was wrong. We could of course do the screening at another time or grade level. Um the tuberculosis testing is another um thing that and we really recommend here and this was based on our um school medical advisor that the alternative language here is used. Um, and this really defines who would need a TB test. And there are certain risk factors um that then would um require someone to uh have a TB screening test um in order to be just like it's required to have vaccinations, the TB test would be required for entry into the school environment.
Um it didn't happen. the public, you know, have voted and that was great because um we work for you, right? You have elected us to represent the people. Um and so if that is not the direction that the public wants to go, then we will regroup and we'll come up with a new plan. Um, I I hope that we'll get more input and feedback and involvement from the public in, you know, whatever we plan next because we do have to do something, right? There are some needs um that we've got to fix. And so, again, I just want to thank everybody that was involved with that. Um, and and then for my next thing, I just I want to thank all of you tonight for all of your comments for coming in. um especially our students like and I'm going to get teary like like Aaron said um when we can have students young women especially come and stand up don't um in front of a board of adults and and speak from their hearts.
It looks good. Both of them come highly recommended from anybody that I've talked to. So, do you recommend adding the in between, you know, at that estimated $10,000? I mean, we talked about, you know, the ability down the line to maybe add it. We also talked about, Miss Oer talked about doing some landscaping in between maybe to try to prevent some of that drainage. Um, we have to Yeah. Would you prefer? I'm trying to get trying to get where they can get across from one spot to the other without breaking through mud, but we can come up with, you know, you do pavers or something in between there. We don't do concrete. Do you have a preference between concrete and something different? Would you rather it be solid? Yep. Does Scott know anything about that in between? No, we didn't talk to him. I don't think Jane, we didn't visit with Scott about putting that mentioned the other one.
They may have um uh lower well lower functioning autism, uh down syndrome, things like that. And then they need to be in a classroom the majority of the time with more adults in the room to support them. So we have kids that are in between. They don't need to be in self-contained. They don't need to be in resource. It's not appropriate for them. uh maybe their their academics are low enough to be in the self-contained classroom, but they their social skills are too high. And so we have extended resource to work with those kids who are kind of in the middle to give them their little niche to help them. Then we have special schools, um EDP, which I'll explain a little bit in a minute, and residential treatment centers. We have homebound and homebased and then our most restrictive hospitals and institutions. Okay. So, what we do, our philosophy is um we really focus hard on using the general education curriculum and the teachers have been told that we need to really get these kids to where they're the gaps in their um learning are closed.