Brian Gumm introduces each era of service mr. gum I'll be introducing the veterans by era of service as the banner for World War one advances please remain silent to remember the Fallen thank you and now the veterans of World War two and the veterans of Korea [Applause] the veterans of Vietnam [Applause] those veterans who served in times of peace veterans of the Persian Gulf Iraq and Afghanistan and the members of the brown county honor guard thank you so much for being here I would invite you all this morning to please stand at this time our Boy Scout Troop 190 will be posting the colors once the colors have been posted this will be immediately followed by our national anthem that will be performed by the Brown County High School combined choirs and then we will immediately go into the Pledge of Allegiance led by the president of the Brown County High School history Club Tanner Bowman Boy Scouts please post the colors [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ladies and gentlemen please remain standing and if you are able please rise and join me in during the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance thank you may you may all be seated we have some special recognitions that we would like to honor before we officially begin our program first up we are delighted to be able to welcome the widows of any veterans who are with us here this morning if you are a widow of a veteran would you please stand as we honor you thank you I'd also like to recognize some of our visitors and honored guests who are joining us today I'd like to present our Indiana State Senator and great friend of Brown County senator Eric cook I'd also like to present to you all today's keynote speaker Lieutenant Colonel David Andrus we are blessed to be joined by members of the Indy Honor Flight team this morning would please thank those individuals who are here with us this morning we are so grateful to be joined by our school board members we are to apply all of them today thank you to board president Stephanie kreitzer vice president Judy Hardwick secretary Carol Bowden and members Steve Miller jr.
and Marlene Barnett could we please put them at this time so we are just blessed to have senator Eric cook join us today senator cook has been an active supporter of Brown County in general and Brown County Schools specifically through his countless efforts of legislative service on our behalf senator cook is a sincere friend Brown County Schools and we are honored to have him share a few words of encouragement with us today senator cook well thank you superintendent hammock distinguished veterans Phyllis T's students community members and honored guests I'm very grateful for the invitation to be with you today and it's my honor and privilege to serve you in the Indiana Senate on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 in France an armistice that is a very cessation of hostilities was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the first world war then known as Great War the war thought by many to be the war that would end all wars one year later on the first anniversary of the Armistice President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the first Armistice Day to honor the service of the troops in World War two Armistice Day became a federal legal holiday in the United States in 1938 and following World War two in the Korean War in 1954 Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day a holiday dedicated to all American veterans so today across the nation in schools churches community centers and parks people are gathering together as we are here this morning in one of our state's most beautiful ceremonies to say thank you to those who serve and pay our respects to those who have gone Veterans Day is a unique holiday and there is no other group of people who we as a nation pause together and honor in this way none no other group only our nation's veterans and today Indiana is home to over half a million veterans to those here today to those now serving and to those enlistees about to begin their service thank you and your families for your service your sacrifice and your dedication we must also never forget a very special group of veterans symbolized by the empty chair in front of me draped with a black and white flag those Americans still missing and unaccounted for and a veterans organization based right here in Brown County elder heart raises awareness that as a nation we lose over 20 veterans a day to suicide a reminder that for many the battle does not end when coming home nor should our obligation to them Brown County is a special place natural beauty great schools wonderful art and when thinking about that today I'm reminded of the words of President John Adams during the Revolutionary War in the letter to his wife Abigail on may 12 1780 he wrote I must study politics and war so that my sons may have Liberty to study mathematics and philosophy my sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy geography Natural History naval architecture navigation Commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting poetry music architecture statuary tapestry and porcelain Brown County has sent many of her sons and daughters to as John Adams put it study war some never to return to these hills fortunately so many of them are still with us today as friends as neighbors and colleagues they are America's veterans and they are still the pride of our nation they fought our Wars defended our shores and kept us free may God keep us ever grateful for their service thank you god bless you all and God bless america Thank You senator cook next I would like to welcome two members of our local VFW Post 6195 Don burden and Bill Hamilton who will introduce the finalists and the winners of the voice of democracy and Patriot Penn essay contests after the awards are given the winner of the voice of democracy contest will read his or her essay welcome mr.
Burdon and mr. Hamilton when everybody to know that when we grade all the essays we have no idea who they are their sight unseen and so we try to make it a lot more honest if you want to call it that but we have no idea who we are reading and who we are judging this year on Patriot's pen we only had two entries which we had a lot more but there sa was America's gift to my generation and when I call your name down please come down and immediately after the program I will need you to come back down so we can take picture where your entry will be sent on to our district and hopefully we'll get some winners like we did last year from district and from district you go to the state from state they go to national a national winner for patrons pin wins a thousand dollars as well as all-expense-paid trip to Washington DC for their parents as well as the winner voice of democracy winner goes the same way they will earn at last year they earned a $30,000 scholarship so it behooves all high school students if you're interested in going to college to participate and maybe win one of the scholarships so Patriot pin I will hand out our certificate my senior vice be off Hamilton is going to hand out the medals that goes along with these so second place for Patriot pin is Kylie burger first place Patriots pin goes to Savannah Poli might also say there was only one point difference in their scoring our voice of democracy the essay was to be our hope for the future and some of them were very very good our third-place winner who will receive a certificate a medal and a check from post 6195 as well as being in then into our victory contest for hopefully more money third place that Lena Rose Hobbs certainly excuse me goes through Alison our stubs do first place I know he's been sitting up here beside me that's why I wanted to let everybody know I had no idea when we graded who was gonna win but first place goes to Tanner Bobo thank you and bear with me in 1776 our founding father set a precedent in world history breaking free from the persecution of England and signing the most famous document in world history the Declaration of Independence in the hopes of trying to better the future of their new country these elite gentlemen created a government unlike any other from the new government to contain a bicameral legislature an executive leader elected by the people for the people and the supreme court balanced the power between the other two branches the founders hoped by creating this new democratic republic that the children would be able to grow up in a country equal to his fellow man to have the opportunities to better themselves to receive representation for their taxation and for each man woman and child to have the rights to life liberty in the pursuit of happiness 85 years later an attorney from the state of illinois was hoping abraham lincoln 16th president of the united states was fighting a civil war stating that a house divided against itself cannot stand Lincoln hoped to reunite the country and to settle his country men's differences for the greater good we can also hope to accomplish a feat deemed impossible at the time of the founders free the slaves through his hope Lincoln was able to lead the Union Army to victory emancipate the slaves and reunite the country Lincoln was able to end the war and reunite the Union and she's been hopeful to rebuild the country he loved like and looked forward to the future however assassination led the great Emancipator to his grave on April 15 1865 saddened by the murder of their president the people had no the people had one thing Lincoln left them hope and the drive to reunite and reconstruct themselves and to become better than the nation had ever been before 1932 the newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggles to come up with a solution to the Great Depression his country struggles with with half of the nation's banks closed at an employment close to 30% Roosevelt looked to his fate and his country and instituted a plan he hoped would help the New Deal by investing in his country Roosevelt is able to pull his country out of the greatest depression the United States had ever known with the country and recovery rose vote looks ahead and hopes to further the extent of recovery however a surprise attack on the nation's anchored Pacific Fleet forced those plans to be abandoned killing 2400 - Americans now faced by an empire of ruthless might Roosevelt began strengthening the united states armed forces commissioning American companies to build the vital equipment needed for war knowing he was facing an uphill battle Roosevelt hoped I looked toward his faith in the countrymen to defend their nation and to rid the world of evil although Roosevelt never lived to see the end of the war all his hopeful vision became a reality the Americans were able to defeat the autocratic government of Nazi Germany and destroy the Empire of Japan as an added bonus due to the war effort and limited work for stateside America's economy had recovered from the depression with an unemployment rate of 1.9 percent Franklin Roosevelt's hope became a reality it was the calm morning this guy was a bright blue it was not a cloud in sight as commuters were bustling to their jobs they turned their heads to the sky to the sound of roaring jet engines and deafening explosions the World Trade Center had been attacked meanwhile unbeknownst the rest of the country another hijacked plane was enroute to the Northeast United flight 91 aware of the hijackers plans several brave Americans attacked hijackers an effort to retake control of the plane unfortunately the plane its passengers all perished America grieved after 9/11 and vowed to kill the men that planned bloodiest attack on American soil that killed 2977 innocent men women and children once America learned the story of United 93 it billed Americans with a sense of hope that you may knock us down we will get right back up again within a few years plans were presented for a new tower called one World Trade Center standing 1770s speed call a symbol of America's hope for the future and our resilience to stand right back up again today year's 2017 I'm a 16 year old male growing up in the United States of America as we stand now by hope for America is to once again stand as one United I hope for an america that treats its veterans with respect and honor they deserve to fight for our rights and freedoms i hope for an America that can work together for the common good of the people I hope we're strong in America an America that has the power to defend itself from all enemies foreign and domestic I hope for an America that is not scared to work for what it wants and to work for a better greater future for ourselves and for our young thank you and God bless the United States of America [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] next is a very special time in our ceremony because this is the time we get to recognize our high school students who have made the very important decision to enlist in the military we are very proud of these three students that we will recognize in just a moment we're proud of all of our boys and girls that's for sure but the decision to enter the military as the next step in your career is a brave one and it is one for which we are extraordinarily proud students please stand as I read your names and we recognize you Keegan Daniels the United States Army [Applause] Zachary kuzma the United States Army Seth Matlock the Army National Guard [Applause] thank you so much for your service next we have one of our favorite parts of our program our Wind Ensemble will play one of our favorite tunes and our junior high school and high school choirs will sing the pride of America veterans when you hear the song that represents your military branch we invite you to stand as we celebrate your branch of service [Music] the United States Army [Music] the United States Marines [Music] the United States Navy [Music] [Laughter] the United States Coast Guard [Music] the United States Air Force [Music] I heard our friends from the Marine Corps cheer quite loudly on that one it's fitting since today November the 10th is the official birthday of the Marine Corps happy birthday I'd like to take a moment to thank the outstanding musicians who are assisting with our program today we sincerely appreciate our Brown County High School Wind Ensemble led by their director mr.
Matthew Finley as well as our junior high school choir led by Miss Mary Pierson and our high school choir led by Miss Christi Billings thank you to these talented students and their director we have a very special Club at Brown County High School it is our Brown County High School history Club I would like to introduce the sponsors of this club Ms Lisha Adams and mrs. up mrs. Alicia Adams and mrs. Emily Llewellyn who will tell you a little bit about the activities of this club and they will also introduce you to several of their members who will be telling you about a very special project that we will be sharing with you today mrs. Adams and mrs. Llewellyn my name is Emily Llewellyn and this is my colleague Alicia Adams last year marked the inaugural year Brown County High School's history Club and it's been an exciting year for us Brown County students met authors at the Indiana author fair visited the Air Force Museum the Underground Railroad Freedom Center attended the high Renaissance Festival and that the first lady of Indiana mrs.
Janet Holcomb to name a few things that we've done our club members have accomplished quite a bit likely two of our proudest accomplishes accomplishments though included many sitting right here in this room one year ago today we sat here at this veteran's ceremony and announced that our club was sponsoring what we called Brown County jeans for genes for Brown County vets campaign this club raised five hundred and sixty dollars for our local VFW posts because our employees donated money in order to wear jeans for one week at school those dollars supported the improvements to the Veterans Memorial adjacent to the courthouse this year we like to extend these efforts to all of you here in the gym lobby after the ceremony our club members will be shakin some canisters trying to collect funds for our local VFW post those funds support our local scholarships and any improvements to veterans memorials or anything else that are supporting our local veterans 100 percent of those dollars are going to stay right here in Brown County and so Brown County let's do our part and support those who have sacrificed for our freedoms additionally over the past year history club students interviewed over a dozen local veterans and submitted their stories to the Library of Congress in Washington DC preserving our local history on a national level isn't that amazing the veterans sitting before you and many others in the community told their stories to our students leaving lasting legacies and unforgettable memories for our students we had kids that were crying kids that were super excited to be a part of this and they were very happy to take part in preserving your history this preservation of local history led to club members to their latest project I would like to introduce you to Mackenzie Zdenek and faith Eadie this year marks the 50th anniversary since Larry C banks paid since Larry C banks paid the ultimate sacrifice to commemorate this event faith and I were tasked with researching his story in creating a piece that cut might come close to bringing Larry C Bank story to life and therefore helping us understand who he was and his importance to Brown County's history so many of us have played volleyball or basketball or even taking a gym class right here in this gym the lyrics Ebanks Oriole gymnasium overall we think Larry's story could be summarized in a simple phrase he was just a kid from Brown County like you and me yet he felt a calling to serve his country Brown County High School's Larry C bank's Memorial gymnasium plays a larger role in our community than just being an M it's a place where ice takes basketball games are played in one where volleyball players challenge each other where we cheer where we compete we're ready get pumped for big games and where we learned valuable lessons from others this is a place where students embark on the next stage of their life and where we celebrate those who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms all of these important and memorable moments took place and will continue to take place in the Larry C bank's Memorial gymnasium but who was Larry C banks [Music] Larry was born on September 21st 1948 in Brown County Indiana he grew up doing the things to kids in Brown County they do enjoying sports like baseball as well as hunting and fishing as a teenager he spent his entire education in Brown County Schools and was a member of the first graduating class from Brown County High School in 1966 while in school he was known as a type of person with whom everyone could get along he was friendly and a happy kid everyone liked including the ladies who found him to eat white and his sister Sammy summers described him as being a big header and someone who made everyone feel important no matter who you were his uplifting spirit put others at ease favorite classes were woodshop and metal shop where he helped many other students hone their craft and even lobby the principal to allow girls to enroll horses as it weren't allowed during this time a mechanically minded student larry has natural ability to maintain and rebuild automobiles which enjoy doing with his father who put a major influence in his life the Vietnam conflict was an ongoing war taking place eight thousand five hundred sixty-six miles for Brown County Indiana on the other side of the world Larry believes strongly in the ideals of the United States and was a true patriot which is why he did not hesitate to join the effort when it came time for the United States to enter this conflict Larry's father volunteered in World War two and was enlisted in the 26th Infantry known as the blues faders inspiring Larry to volunteer in the same division in the conflict of his Jenner Larry left for Vietnam the day before his 19th birthday after only 28 days in Vietnam Larry was killed in an ambush while on patrol and a rubber tree plantation that was located northwest of Saigon during his patrol private first class Banks was with a machine gunner and an assistant machine gunner carrying extra ammunition when the machine gunner was taken out Larry and a fellow soldier John Young did not hesitate to act with no regard for their personal safety they stayed out in the open and picked up the gun continuing to fire at the enemy allowing their fellow squad members to escape and melting the barrel out of the gun before being overrun both men were killed during the battle and were posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for valor for their efforts as Larry's award of the Bronze Star Medal statement reads his bold initiative and dauntless courage significantly contributed to withdrawal of the other members of his squad first class Banks is outstanding display of aggressiveness devotion to duty and personal bravery is in keeping with the finest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself although Larry's service was cut short the war continued until 1973 when American troops were withdrawn Larry was the only soldier from Brown County to perish in the conflict in 1994 at Larry's high school classmates Michael O'Hara Gus Schroeder George Miller and Lee Maggard submitted a proposal with the support of the community to name the gymnasium in Larry's honor Jim was dedicated on Veterans Day of same year in another effort to memorialize Larry and other Brown County veterans it was decided that every year the flags in Nashville would lowered to half-mast from November 7 until November 11 each day commemorating one of the five major conflicts of the 20th century Larry C Banks's legacy extends not only to the gymnasium at Brown County High School but also did the Larry C Bank scholarship funds Brown County graduates going into vocational training as that is likely what Larry would have done students who received the scholarship pursue careers as dental hygienists veterinary assistants diesel mechanics and more to this day a little more than 20 thousand dollars has been awarded to over seventeen individuals fifty years ago Larry banks bravely paid the ultimate sacrifice Larry was not a celebrity he wasn't anyone famous he was just a boy from Brown County yet he died defending our country and upholding the beliefs of democracy and patriotism today his memory lives on every day as students enter Brown County High School's gymnasium it will continue to live on long after current students graduate pursue their dreams and fill their life goals as long as the Larry C bank's Memorial gymnasium stands so - Oh Larry's legacy because this someone once said no one has ever really dead until they are forgotten [Music] I had the opportunity to watch that video before it was shown and I'm struck by the incredible ability of our students that was put together by our Brown County History Club and it was magnificent thank you so much in continuing with our 50th commemoration of the ultimate sacrifice of Larry C banks I'd like to ask mr.
Michael O'Hara to please come up to the stage mr. Killinger could you help me out sir I am confident that across the world today there is no better best friend than you you have stood as a champion for your best friend for the past 50 years and there is no greater honor than that Brown County school stands in awe of work that you have done to ensure that the memory of your best friend Larry C banks is forever remembered treasured and honored for generations to come as we mentioned at the beginning of today's program just a few days ago on November 7th 2017 we had the occasion of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ultimate sacrifice of your best friend Larry C banks in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary we wanted to share with all who pass through Brown County that this is the Larry C bank's Memorial gymnasium and as you can now see from State Road 46 we raise new signage shows the world that this is brown county high school and even more important this is the Larry C bank's Memorial gymnasium Mr O'Hara you have insured through countless actions that Larry's name is never forgotten to illustrate this I wanted to tell you a story about how this sign is already making an impact I was walking out of church this past Sunday and a gentleman came up to me and he shared that he had helped raise the sign on our gymnasium and I thanked him and I said that it looked great because it does and he immediately asked who is Larry C banks and I was then able to tell him Larry's story we have so many folks who passed through our community who will be asking the very same question and we will be ready with an answer Mr O'Hara we hope you enjoy that sign that will now face to Road 46 well into the future as well mr.
Killinger has something to give you right now - remember the 50th commemoration with us today we have another gift of remembrance this morning we're joined this morning by two very special guests Larry seed banks had three sisters and we are blessed to be joined by two this morning mrs. Sandra Sommers and mrs. Lintz append toga ladies do you mind to join us up on stage please welcome them yep we're gonna make you do this as well I would like to ask to Brown County High School students Emma Somers and Riley arnholt who are also family members of Larry banks to come up to the stage to help us make the special presentation [Music] hello my name is Emma Somers and this is my cousin Riley our home Larry C banks was our great-uncle his sister Sandra summers is our grandmother our grandma's interview was incredibly important in creating documentary that you just watched she provided many of the references regarding Larry's character Larry's memory is kept alive through stories told by our grandmother as well as her sisters Linda and Cathy and those who knew Larry grandma and aunt Linda are here with us today and we would like to thank them for sharing their memories of Larry with us and help keeping help keep his legacy alive now we aren't with you guys yet one last thing very important piece to this celebration so Mr O'Hara and the family has worked tirelessly in order to ensure that the Larry C bank's Memorial Scholarship is given to students who are in need the scholarship has touched the lives of 19 young people 19 young people that is just magnificent we have invited the recipients of this scholarship to celebrate in the fiftieth commemoration with us today I'd like to invite those recipients up to the stage if you don't mind please stand come on friends these young people have been blessed because of the scholarship in Larry's name congratulations I don't know much but I'm pretty confident about one thing I do believe that Larry banks is smiling down on all of you from heaven right now thank you so every year we are honored to be joined by a veteran who has served our country and is willing to share with us some of his or her testimony today we will be hearing from our keynote speaker Lieutenant Colonel Dave Andrus Lieutenant Colonel David J Andrus entered service with the United States Army in 1985 as a private with echo company 10th engineers in Kitts engine Germany I hope I said that right he joined the Indiana Army National Guard in 1995 he attended OCS Officer Candidate School and was commissioned in 1996 as a field artillery officer he holds a baccalaureate degree in telecommunications from Indiana University his military institutional training includes Officer Candidate School field art field artillery officer basic course field artillery officer advanced course and command and General Staff Officer course his duty assignments include battery fire support team chief battery fire direction officer company s1 personnel officer company s3 Operations Officer company commander battalion s3 operations officer battalion XO executive officer Maycomb s1 personnel officer and is currently serving as the 81st troop command g3 Operations Officer his overseas assignment was as the operations officer for the 219th ADT in Afghanistan Lieutenant Colonel Andres has been awarded numerous awards to include the Bronze Star meritorious service medal 3d award army commendation medal fourth award army Achievement Medal 2d award and the combat action badge to name a few Lieutenant Colonel Andres and his wife Lucy reside in Frank in Indiana they have three children grace William Philip and one granddaughter Heidi please join me in welcoming Lieutenant Colonel Andres good morning and thank you for the nice introduction and before I get with my remarks I just want to tell a quick story of how I started my military career as you heard back in 1985 I was dating at the time my now wife Lucy and I said you know I would like to join the military what do you think she said well go check it out so I got a hold of the local army recruiter he showed me this great video of Engineers they were wearing a hard hat building buildings and I thought well that'd be kind of neat I could use that skill later in my life so I joined went to basic training found out it was a combat engineer nothing like the video and then I also found out that they were gonna send me to Germany so I had to make a phone call to my girlfriend and said hey I just found out I'm going to Germany for two years we can either get married or probably never see each other again so she dropped out of college married me and went to Germany and I think finally after 31 years of marriage your families let me out of the doghouse and accepted me now so but that's how I started my military career it's an honor to be here today and to be part of your Veterans Day program when your principal mr.
Killinger asked me to be a guest speaker I wanted to come up with you know a topic that would cover all veterans and all branches of service so instead of talking about my career or my deployment I came up with the topic that would be more appropriate for Veterans Day and what would be more appropriate than talk about the history of veterans today so I hope you take away something new from this that you didn't know before so who is a veteran veterans are people who served in the military the US Army the Army Navy Air Force Marines and Coast Guard during times of war and peace so how did Veterans Day originated back in World War one it started in 1914 with the Allied powers of Great Britain France Russia Italy Japan and eventually to the u.s. in 1917 fighting the Central Powers of Germany austria-hungary and the Ottoman Empire on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 the Allied powers and the Central Powers agreed to an armistice World War one is known as the Great War for its devastation and the massive loss of lives it lasted from 1914 to 1919 an armistice ceasing of hostilities was set for November 11th 1918 at 11:00 a.m.
that is eleventh day of the eleventh month you can see on the picture the last two minutes of fighting in France is pictured at 2:58 a.m. a year later in 1919 President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation proclaiming the first Armistice Day originally he envisioned a two-minute period of silence nationwide he also envisioned there be parades and celebrations to honor commemorate our fallen war heroes President Wilson announced to us in America the reflection of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country service and with gratitude for the victory both because of the things from which it has freed us and because the opportunity has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the council's of the nations a year later the u.s. is not only a nation to commemorate Armistice Day in 1920 France created a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a way to honor those who were buried in nameless grave he was a picture of that there it lies beneath the arc in Paris and this type of tradition began in Denmark in 1858 it was also done after the civil war in the US on November 11th 1920 the United Kingdom also created - the Unknown Soldier and it lies within Westminster Abbey a famous cathedral in the fall of 1921 the United States Congress passed legislating creating our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery like the memorials in France and the United Kingdom this is a way to recognize and honor our fallen heroes of war whose bodies were buried without being identified that same fall Congress passed another law it declared November 11th 1921 illegal federal holiday to honor all those who had participated in the war both living and dead pictured is present with Grille Wilson on Armistice Day in 1921 in 1926 yet another resolution Congress authorized the president crane to proclaim annually the servants of Armistice Day but our Constitution allows States the right to determine what holidays they observe in the 20s and 30s most days States observed November 11th as a holiday and the pictured is President Calvin Coolidge speaking on Armistice Day in 1926 at Arlington National Cemetery Raymond weeks of Birmingham Alabama organized Veterans Day Parade for that city on November 11th 1947 to honor all of Americans veterans for their loyal service later US Representative Edward Reese of Kansas proposed legislation changing the name Armistice Day Veterans Day to honor all who have served in America's armed forces on June 1st 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower signed a law that called for a name change US War veterans had served not only in World War one but also World War two and the Korean War and the new observance would now be called Veterans Day in 1968 Congress passed a Monday holiday law holidays like Veterans Day Memorial Day and Presidents Day would be celebrated on Monday from then on Veterans Day was changed to be the fourth Monday in October being at beginning in 1971 initially from 1971 to 1975 almost all 50 states adopted the Monday holiday in 1972 Louisiana and Wisconsin reverted to the November eleventh day in 1974 Kentucky was the first of many states particularly in the south to follow suit and change Veterans Day back to November 11th one by one it's a common embrace and by 1975 so many states reverted to the November 11th date that the US Congress changed the national law and starting in 1978 Veterans Day returned to November 11th up Pickard now are just America's foreign wars World War One World War two the Korean War Vietnam War the Gulf War and the war on terrorism next slide not too many people know that Indianapolis devotes more acreage than any other US city to honoring our nation's fallen and the second only to Washington DC in the number of war memorials and if you have the opportunity there is just north of the circle up in Indianapolis a place called the Indiana War Museum if you have the opportunity to get up there check that out in the basement they have a museum that shows every single conflict every single war in our history from the Civil War to present and then also upstairs there is a shrine that's unbelievable to see to honor all the fallen soldiers so if you have an opportunity get up to Indianapolis to check out all the monuments honoring all the veterans and what can you do on Veterans Day so what I say to you is to take the time to talk to a veteran because as of now there are no more World War one veteran's so take the opportunity to reach out and learn from the World War two veterans the Vietnam veterans the Korean Conflict veterans and Veterans Day is a time to honor all who are willing to sacrifice their lives to serve and how can you show your gratitude just some of the questions to think about going forward on Veterans Day thank you thank you so much lieutenant colonel Andres great history lesson it's one of our final presentations our history Club has been working together to find a way to show our veterans in a tangible way how thankful we are for your service several representatives from the history Club would like to make a presentation to you at this time I'd like to introduce Kara Adams Delaney Hobbs Ashley Messer and Chloe Robison good morning as we pause to honor all Americans who have served in our armed forces especially those who gave their last full measure of devotion to our great country words escaped us we owe them and their families the simple grace of saying thank you we wanted a tangible way to express our thanks Brown County High School junior high and Intermediate School students would like to present to you this banner additionally all the elementary schools created thank you cards please accept these gifts from Brown County Schools although these are small gifts of gratitude they represent our appreciation for your service and your sacrifice at this time we'll be moving into all of our favorite parts of our program this is where we will hear god bless the USA [Music] if tomorrow all the things were gone I'd worked for all my life and I had to start again with just my children and my wife I think my lectures to be living here today cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that way and I grab to be a boy and I won't forget that and God bless 'listen [Music] from the lakes of Minnesota to the hills of Tennessee across the plains of Texas from sea to shining sea from Detroit down to Houston and New York to LA father's pride in every American part and it's time we time to say and I'm proud to be free and I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me and I please mix you in her still today cause there ain't no doubt [Music] that was outstanding thank you so much veterans we hope that we communicated to you today how grateful we are for your service and how much we love you I came across the prayer that seemed like a fitting way to close out our program today it's called the soldiers prayer and it's by John ich Lehman dear lord please bless our soldiers protectors of our land servants called to battle when our country takes a stand please give them strength and courage and hearts that will forgive with peace and understanding in a world for all to live our country's prayers are with them no matter where they roam please with listen when they're lonely and return them safely home god bless you all god bless the United States of America and at this time I would like to invite the Boy Scouts from Troop 190 up to formally retire our colors go attention got salute those are you're not gonna uniform please place your right hand Oh you may be seated boys and girls I would like to take a moment to thank all of you your behavior today has been absolutely outstanding veterans when the music begins our students will greet you and they will dismiss you by rows to the auxiliary gym where you will have your picture taken all veterans widows and your families are all invited to stay for a luncheon provided by Brown County Schools which will take place in the auxilary gymnasium thank you so much for being here today thank you so much for your service god bless you all [Music]
[Music] good evening everyone thanks for joining us if you would please stand and join me thank you so much for taking your time to join us we would like to start with item number two which are on our agenda which is a presentation on school finance which are members of the board members of public welcome we're delighted to have so many of you here this evening and as well as those that are watching us online my name is dr. Maggie Horniman I'm just super Intendant of Avon Community Schools and this is the first in a series of community engagement meetings our meeting is being live streamed and recorded for later viewing so if there's information that you want to go back and review at a later time that should be relatively easy to do our next meeting will be Monday November 27th at 5:30 in this room the purpose of our meeting tonight is to hear from those of you here in the audience but prior to listening to your input we will explain how school funding works and the significant funding challenges we face we'll review the ways we've become more efficient save money and generate an additional revenue for our school district in order to cope with these financial challenges and finally we will receive input from you about our priorities and our next steps in order to explain where we are it's a it's important to understand how schools are funded we have two main funding sources the first source is described on the left-hand side of the screen and this is the money that the state of Indiana provides to public schools on a per student basis it's called the general fund the general fund pays for salaries benefits supplies substitutes in other words the general fund from the state of Indiana a place or pays for a lot of our operational costs the second funding is described on the right-hand side of those of the screen and this is the funds that we receive from local property taxes that we all pay if we own property these funds allow us to pay our debt specifically our mortgages and we have some high mortgages because we grew very quickly as a school Corporation and built many buildings for our students to accommodate our 9,500 students this is the same fund that supports capital projects things like technology which as you know is growing and changing more quickly than we can keep with capital projects funds also help us maintain our 2.1 million square feet under roof and our 712 acres of land you know as homeowners that it's wiser to maintain our property rather than to allow it to fall into disrepair because it will be much more costly to correct we use our local property taxes also to pay for transportation we offer transportation to 100% of our students because it's simply not feasible for them to walk to school while the number of sidewalks in Avon has increased in recent years we are certainly not what anyone would describe as a walking School District some districts require any student who lives within a mile to provide his or her own transportation we don't do that and that's the reason we have a hundred and forty six buses 99 of which are on the roads every single day and we drive over 1 million miles a year you can imagine the cost of fuel and keeping our buses in good repair for the safety of our students this will sum up the challenge that Avon Community Schools is facing we are getting hit hard on both sides of this slide we are getting hit hard on both sides of the budget well the general fund and the local property taxes now this slide is an actual page from the state's budget we don't want you to read through the 300 page state budget we just want you to know where our numbers come from and I'd like to call your attention to the two numbers that are circled in red because these numbers represent the percent in crease that the state of Indiana is providing to our general fund that was the fund that pays for the salaries and all the operational costs these two circles represent the percent increase for 2018 and 2019 so you can see them in 2018 our school system will receive 1.3 percent more money than we did in 2017 then looking forward to 2019 you can see that will receive 1.4 percent more money so you might be thinking wow great more funds that's that's great or money than last year unfortunately no it isn't great because these funds don't begin to keep pace with inflation inflation was 2.1 percent in 2016 yet we are receiving 1.3 percent in 2018 that's the story the story is we have not been able to keep pace with inflation we call this our what-if slide this slide shows you that the moment the state took over funding of the general fund which happened back in 2009 this shows us in the left-hand column or the second column rather exactly how many dollars we received from every one of the students in our school system that's represented by that middle column so you might look down that middle column and you might say well okay their funding didn't decline every year for six years but at least it's going up now so that's good right it's going up now no because that funding has never kept pace with inflation so what is this what what if slide the what if slide shows you in the far right column what would the situation be for community schools that the state had kept pace with inflation well can see at the bottom we would be receiving five hundred fifty eight dollars more per student or 5.3 million dollars more in 2018 and we certainly would not be faced with this financial situation now we recognize the importance of all of us living within our means I'm sure your incomes didn't keep pace with inflation either during the recession and for maybe even a year before or after and that's why we know that it was important for us to take significant steps to contain our costs and to generate additional revenue for our school system but living within our means is not possible if the cost of doing business goes up every year and the revenue reasons we've received does not keep pace with those cost-of-living increases imagine in your home budgets if your income went down six years in a row and even when it started to go up it did not keep pace with inflation that's the situation we find ourselves in right now so when you think about well if the state isn't keeping pace with inflation what have you done how have we kept the doors open how have we succeeded so far well just like you have at home we've tightened our belts in every way possible but especially with fewer staff members on this graph you see several blue bars and you can see that on the far left in 2009 those blue bars represent the number of students and how our enrollment has increased on the far right the blue bar says for those of you that cannot see this it says that we currently have 9527 students that's how many we serve today compared to 81 84 back in 2009 the red line represents the number of teachers we have in our school system so you can see that compared to 2009 from 2010 we have eight and a half fewer teachers six fewer administrators twenty few 24 custodians yet 1343 more students it isn't just custodians and administrators and teachers who's been cut we also have fewer teaching fewer teaching assistants fewer clerical staff here are bus aides fewer food service workers those are just a little more difficult to quantify because they are our and the employees and so it's a little more difficult to be completely clear about the number of hours that we have less and support staff suffice it to say we are as lean as leaning to be over the last five and a half years that I've been superintendent I have repeatedly said if you see a place that we can be more efficient or way that we can be more lean tell me and I'm grateful that many of our staff members and many of our community members have given us some excellent ideas many of which we've implemented but I don't think we can cut anymore when it comes to personality here to discuss those all-important teachers is our associate superintendent dr.
Johnny thank you doctor the next two slides contain information on your salaries from local school districts in districts we like to compare ourselves to why is this information important because in Avon schools it's a priority for us to attract and retain top tech this is not only important to us it's also important to our parents we know they want their children to have great teachers it's critically important to our students we know the quality of the learning in the classroom is directly related to the quality of teaching attracting and retaining top talent is a sound business principle of high quality organization so the data on this screen concerns us there's a well documented teacher shortage in our state and as you can see our beginning teachers make less than in every district about one at the start of their careers but what keeps us up at night is that the gap whities for veteran teachers these are the teachers who are committed to our mission our district our community and our students these are the teachers our parents and students love teachers we've invested in with professional development and training I would ask for you to pause for just a moment close your eyes think of a great teacher take a moment and picture that teacher and reflect on what that teacher has meant to you now imagine if you've never had that teacher I know for me it would be devastating now look at the screen our teachers are loyal but they're only human if they can do the same job in a similar district and make more money than you they have to consider in 10 years they can make fifty two hundred and ten percent more lifetime earnings in one of those districts and just like that great teacher you were thinking about moments ago if they choose to leave our district it will be devastating we must find a way to stay competitive with our teacher compensation now dr.
Scott Windham is going to come up to the podium go a little deeper to school finance thank you doctor think back to one of the first slide that dr. Horniman reviewed she compared the different funding sources in Indiana for public schools one being the general fund which was state funding that's what we've spent most of our time so far in the presentation but we're going to shift down to the other side of that first slide which was property tax funding can't really talk about property tax funding in Indiana without talking about the impact of property tax caps as Hoosiers we voted for tax caps to be included in the state constitution so there's no doubt when tax caps are here to stay tax caps began in 2009 with partial implementation and in 2010 began being fully implemented what tax caps mean is that as homeowners we know no matter where we live in the state of Indiana we won't ever pay more than 1% of the value of our home in local property taxes same thing if you're a farmer an own farm Lee you'll never pay more than 2% of the value of your farm property in local property taxes you're a business owner and own property for your business you won't pay more than 3% so let's think about a hundred thousand dollar example just for so if I'm a homeowner and my home is valued at $100,000 I know that I won't ever pay more than $1,000 1% in my local property tax bill each year if I'm a business owner I know I'll never pay more than $3,000 in local property taxes so right there in that equation you can see how the makeup of your community is a significant factor in the impact of tax caps in Avon we're over 70 percent residential so the vast majority of our tax base in Avon is capped at 1% drive down the road to Plainfield and it's a completely different story Plainfield is about 30 to 40 percent residential so the vast majority of their tax base is commercial and is taxed at 3% so in Plainfield tax caps just aren't as much of an issue as they are for us your name on so let's go back to that hundred thousand dollar example it could be for the purposes of this equation let's just say that these four tax caps I was paying $1200 in my property tax bill for my hundred thousand dollar home tax caps come along and now I'm captured a thousand dollars so as the tax payer I just saved $200 in my tax bill and we all loved that in 2010 we love getting to to keep that additional property tax money but we didn't take into account was that that $200 then doesn't get passed along to the different taxing entities we didn't account for the level of which that would not get Haskell's so it's taxpayers we saved that funding we got to keep that funding but it impacted the fire department the police department the schools the public library so that $200 and my example is the impact the negative impact of tax caps and that's just for this one property imagine if you multiply that across the entire community and that's what this slide shows for 2009 the first year of partial implementation of property tax caps the impact to avan schools was 1.6 million so we did not collect 1.6 million in local property tax revenue you can see that absence flows over the course of each year to 2017 since that's the year we're currently in that's an estimate that's provided to us by the state county auditor they estimate that we will have a six point nine million dollar negative impact of property tax caps 2018 is even worse at over 10 million dollars in uncollected funds due to property tax caps the cumulative impact since 2009 is over 64 million dollars so what does that mean 64 million dollars that means we're not able to keep pace samples that dr.
Horniman shared at the level that we think our students and our staff deserve so things like pulling into the parking lot to drop off your child of school and being frustrated with the condition of the parking lot or the driveway into the school we're simply not able to keep pace with that maintenance things such as technology that we're not able to maintain and refreshed at the level that we think our students deserve not being able to keep play keep pace with replacing buses at the level that we would like and older buses are more expensive to maintain and then finally the repairs that we just cannot keep pace with as dr. Horniman described out of our capital projects fund building repairs carpet wall coverings rug all those things that require funding to maintain and we just simply can't do it but the impact events so it's not enough just to talk about the hits that we have taken both on the general fund side and the property tax funding side we also wanted to highlight for you areas that we have been efficient and that we have helped ourselves by seeking additional resources for our students first example there are several examples on the next two slides and I'll just highlight a few of them the efficiency task force that in 2015 and this was a 28 member committee that came up with recommendations for the school board that was three $50,000 of savings and we continue to implement those recommendations our health insurance premiums for our staff have not increased in the last two years as a result of our effective management of our medical insurance program unfortunately this year 2018 there is a 3% increase but if you followed the news that's pretty low compared to industry averages so we're pleased with the level of support that we've been able to provide to our staff through effective management of our health insurance dr.
Harmon mentioned our debt we recently refinanced our debt to get a better interest rate a lower interest rate without extending the life of the debt beyond that which would which what it was issued we have recently entered into partnerships with Henri's Regional Health and handy more for sponsorships to provide additional funding to support our students and on the curricular side the math science partnership grant provides $250,000 to benefit our students and our staff as we focus on those important areas in the curriculum of math and science one thing that we have done in the last two years and specifically more so this year is open enrollment and open enrollment is a bit counterintuitive because with open enrollment we have accepted students who apply to attend school in Avon even though they don't reside within the boundaries of Avon or Washington Township so we accepted 63 students this year as open enrollment with those students comes that state funding that dr.
Horniman talked about earlier so those 63 students brought with them almost three hundred and fifty thousand dollars to support their education in the general fund we were able to strategically place those students at our smallest schools that were able to welcome them and support them with minimal impact to our staffing so actually increasing 63 open enrollment students was a key factor in allowing us to reduce our class sizes at the elementary level in our kindergarten through fourth grade classrooms most recently we were awarded the very competitive lilly grant almost $800,000 Matt grant will be used to add counseling staff and support additional resources to focus on the social-emotional health and mental health of our students those are the things that we would not be able to do to the level that we want to without this funding with that I'll hand it off to dr.
Miriam and our assistant superintendent good evening everyone I would like to take a few moments to connect why the previous slide are relevant to our mission of providing an 21st century quality education to our students in Avon schools I believe we can all agree that the world has changed significantly in the past 15 years first and foremost technology has been and continues to be employing influencing about every aspect of our lives technology is now a natural part of our classrooms including how educators and students access and process information additionally economic shifts since the recession as a result our work has expanded to have both academic rigor and to increase our students ability to be innovative collaborative and strong and technical skills this first slide represents a traditional classroom in the type of educational experience most of us had growing up typically the teacher role in this setting is to impart knowledge to students the teachers considered the expert are viewed as the sage on the stage the student in a traditional classroom setting spends the majority of his or her time listening to lectures and responding to the teacher only when called upon we know that students of today the more that traditional style of Education our students need authentic experiences to become the collaborative and innovative problem solvers needed in today's job market they also need to be proficient and academic content as well as the technical and soft skills over the past several years we have been shifting our classrooms function to prepare students to be successful for life after high school our classrooms now look more like this these pictures represent a significant shift from the sage on the stage approach more and more in our classrooms you will see teachers working side-by-side with students and small collaborative groups these small groups allow students conversation increasing participation while building academic language and content knowledge teachers are able to ask higher-level questions in real-time while allowing the processing of information is aggrieved smaller constructions significantly increases teacher-student relationships we know having students listen and regurgitate information is not good enough anymore not only do we want our students to be problem solvers innovators and collaborators we also want them to have an educational experience that has rigor relevance positive relationships these are the classrooms our students and Families this is the experience we want to provide at the highest level possible and in order to do that we need to keep and retain our speaking of great teachers we have quite a few of you here tonight and I am absolutely delighted to have you with us you've heard a lot from administrators tonight and we want to make sure that at every community engagement session you get the opportunity to hear from at least one of our teachers tonight mr.
Dean Westman who is the Performing Arts Department shared a bond high school and one of those veteran teachers we never want to lose to another district is here to share some thoughts with us at our meeting two weeks from tonight we'll be hearing from a general education elementary teacher and at future meetings from some other teachers please welcome mr. Weston so I have been geeking out lately learning about the history of our community it's something that's kind of always fascinated me looking up different articles that talk about how the settlers came here in the 1830s all the different names that the community has had write some funny ones along the way and then even some whether it's factored more I love it the lore that it was the railroaders that looked and gave it a mon and what they put is a do and they called it a valley of neighbors as a way to mark this community when I saw that I don't even care if it's true that is so amazing to me I also found an article in the flyer from a couple few years ago it was called the history of a bond and it was a fascinating article it's just reading this the other night I came across a paragraph that made me lol parents that's laugh out loud this is the paragraph this is in a newspaper article the Avon consolidated school was built in 1917 the first graduating class consisted of Russell Blair and Mary Davis classes averaged from 10 to 20 per graduating class from the 1920s until about 1955 sex that time the school enrolment has expanded rapidly understatement of the article I want to take a few moments to share my story and a unique view that I've had over the past 1012 years as a member of this community my wife and I we moved here to the valley of neighbours in 2005 we were both teachers down in Houston Texas in the suburbs of Houston Texas and I had accepted a position for an organization called music for all as their director of education and my wife Adriana so by the way left Wayne Township to come be part of this valley of neighbors because she wanted to be part of teaching the kids in the community where she lives that was more important to her than the data out there and when we moved here she was going to be working in Decatur Township and I was going to be working downtown had music for all but the only thing that mattered to us when we were community shopping was we wanted to be in a place where we believed in the schools our daughter was going into the first grade at the time she is now a freshman art education major at Indiana State University we looked in Carmel we lived in Greenwood we went out and Lawrence ultimately we looked here and I can't lie when you drive into the top you see a sign that says welcome to Avon home of Champions and you're a music geek like me you noticed that but there was just something about this place that's forward to the spring of 2007 I'm still working at music feralas the director of education and I have a conversation with Maddy ornament I believe and that time was in an assistant superintendent role and she was wondering about starting an orchestra program I'm quite sure after several years of Ric Wagner asking her why doesn't anyone have an orchestra program Ric is one of the incredible advocates for all of our students and we had that conversation and our message was actually really clear and simple if we're to be a truly comprehensive school system we should offer it all and I'm sure that's a message that you have shared many times on many fronts whether it's creating a dance program whether it's creating a robotics program I could go on and on and on but the message was if we want to be this canvas valley of neighbors this community let's have it all and offer it all for our kids so in the fall of 2007 I became the lucky guy that was able to found the Avon Orchestra program we started with 38 sixth grade beginners those kids are all now seniors in college I'd love to tell the story how over the past decade we grew from those 38 to a program that serves hundreds and hundreds of students grades 6 through 12 and five buildings I'd love to talk about the growth of the program the excellence of the program I love to talk about the fact that the largest arts organization in our state the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra shows a bond as the community become partner with when they have their three-one-seven series I love talking about being named the state runner-up last year this for state fliers there's a story I don't tell enough and that's why I really appreciate this opportunity I don't get to tell the story of the people that I've gotten to know and work with over this 10 year plus journey there's probably not another teacher in this community that can say that they've got to be a part of the family in five different schools in Avon as we grew I was able to be part of the educational experience at intermediate East intermediate West this building what it was just a Vaughn middle school and then when we had a by middle school north and ultimately an Avon high school I've been able to work with and get to know the teachers the custodians be aides the cafeteria workers the administrators the parents so many of them who are sitting here right now out of all of these places along the way I got to build those relationships as mr.
Chapin metallian I even coached the girls golf team for two years and a little spoon salad firsthand folks I've seen the miracles that these schools that work in the hearts and in the minds of our students I've seen it in my own kid I've seen it during good times and I've seen it during times that have become tough I've taught in two other states and in my role as educational director at music for Allen I really was able to visit with schools from all over the United States but there's something about this place this valley of neighbors in this community a custodian like Victor Mormon can make the exact same positive impact on a kid that a world-class physics teacher like mr. Hyde who makes I've sat with a bus driver like lars Larson who uses John not only is getting the Symphony Orchestra safely to state finals but making sure that every single Avon kid that performed an act state finals feels valued and loved I've seen teachers all over this district were used to compromise their committee - creating life-changing experiences for our kids even though the student population has grown extensively we take pride in the fact that as a community we've been able to do so well with an ever tightening belt but when you tighten the belt all the way it's no longer a belt it's a knot I've seen the physical and emotional toll that has taken on so many people that I have come to know and love on my journey here in Avon yet they still filled up every single day inspired to use education as a mean that changed the lives of our children our children tonight I'm here to say that I believe we can do even more for our kids I know we can but we need help I believe in this valley of neighbors the Avon schools are the epicenter of this community whether it's a football game a holiday concert you name it these schools are who we are as a community through academics athletics and the arts we teach the mind body and soul of these kids in this valley of neighbors no part of the child should ever be left behind I believe in this place called Avon and I believe we have a really bright future if we can all come together and simply do what is best for our kids the Orioles nobody could have said it better and you know each and every one of you stood to applaud mr.
Westman and his message you were standing to applaud every teacher he represents we want to conclude by reiterating what we believe are the main concerns number one large class sizes we definitely made some progress this year with our cake for classes becoming reasonably sized but had no change at the 5th and 6th grade where all of our classes are over 30 at the middle and high school level we have some classes of 35 and even higher but please don't think I'm only talking about the class sizes into social studies and science and math and language arts we're concerned about the caseloads of our special education teachers we're concerned about the caseloads of our counselors at grades 5 through 12 which will not be impacted by the lily grant and we're dealing with more and more social emotional issues with students every day we're unhappy with the student-teacher ratio in the arts in general music physical education building super sciences technology education and all the other important subjects we know that our students to succeed they have to have a relationship with their teachers and it's much harder to develop relationships with students and with parents when we have teaching loads and caseloads that are incredibly high ultimately or not achievement and so the second main concern we have has to do with our academic performance as our class sizes have grown larger our performance slipped on many standardized tests finally we know that we are not right now able to offer everything our students deserve from a curriculum standpoint a extracurricular and athletic standpoint specifically we've heard loudly and clearly from our band choir and orchestra staff and parents that have not had any daily instruction for our beginning level students is taking its toll on their progress we offer some fabulous electives like anatomy and physiology forensics etymology studio art creative writing all of which we must maintain and I say expand schools are not solely about what we offer during the day there are also about extracurriculars and athletics from an ECA standpoint we have lots and lots of clubs but in many cases teachers are volunteering their time not getting paid to sponsor those important clubs or if they do receive a small stipend for Student Council or an academic team that stuff that hasn't changed since 2009 from essa from that Lubbock standpoint we lost a great deal when we moved from one large to two medium sized Middle School's we did so to expand opportunities for our students unfortunately our plan to have things like mills will baseball and no school softball they've never even got off the ground in other sports there are no B teams there are no C teams so middle school kids often get cut and don't get to make the team this is a time in their lives when they should be able to experiment and try out all sorts of different things and find out what they're good at of what they love but because lack of coaches we have to cut them we have a lot of volunteer coaches don't get me wrong we have boatloads of volunteer coaches but when you think about keeping kids safe 50 or 60 kids on a track team and keeping them safe you can't have everybody out there at high school we know that every single one of our coaches our sponsors our music directors are all the lowest-paid and our conference recall that keeping kids involved outside of the classroom is one of the best ways to dramatically increase the graduation rate it's time for us to not only restore what we want that but to expand it we're very proud of our newest state champions in volleyball and our marching band placing third this year this weekend in Grand Nationals the 11th time 11th consecutive year they've done that our thespians won their first regional this weekend maples Blue Ribbon School no it isn't all doom and gloom and sometimes people say oh thank you know there's so many great things have in there how can you say that this is a problem well our community is thrilled about these types of accomplishments but these accomplishments should not be the exception we have gaps in many many programs and we need your help to fill those gaps when people move to a new community the first thing they ask their realtor is what are the schools like they know their home's value is directly correlated to the quality of the school system in conclusion as your superintendent I promised back in 2012 when the board entrusted me with this position to do every I could to become lean and efficient to be good stewards of the money that you pay and that our community pays I remain optimistic about the school corporation but I also know that the erosion of quality can happen slowly and almost imperceptibly until one day we wake up and find out where average I don't think we are average I don't think this community's average and I don't think the school system should be ever thought of as average I'd like to work with you to make this the school system that our students deserved now's the time that we want to hear from you word president mrs.
Woodward will provide some instructions but we're open to questions were anxious to hear your feedback and I'll remind you that this is not the one only opportunity you have to speak up for those who prefer to ask a question or make a comment privately and in writing we've set some index cards at your places and you can certainly feel free to put some notes on that and leave them in the basket as you leave and we'll gladly collect those and review those very carefully with that I'd like to turn the meeting over to mrs. Woodward thank you doctor dr. hunt dr. McMahon dr. wisdom and mr.