All right, one more final round of applause as we recognize and celebrate these amazing staff members for all they do. Honores, please proceed out into the hall, gathering at the landing of the stairs for a group photo. Thank you to those families and colleagues who were here tonight to support our winners. Our final round of Pride Awards for the 2025 2026 school year will be open for nominations starting April 9th. >> Again, we want to thank you Mr. Francis and Teresa and the communications team for your leadership in really preparing such a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our students um and more importantly uh our staff who really lead and support our students in that. It's really always such a joy to be able to recognize the hard work and really remind us why we are all here which is the success of our students and these dedicated educators, staff and really the diversity of staff members who represent always reminds us that it really does take a village.
So they were able to open up a couple science rooms that they could get started in and room 525, which is that classroom right before you go into the gym. Uh so that's what these classrooms look they were also gutted over spring break. If you remember, this would be our phase of HVAC work that is coming from the auxiliary gym, weight room, uh main gym, up the science corridor, and then down that science hall. That'll be the last phase in that building will be able to be uh controlled from computer computer as well. How were you able to do that? I mean, did everybody fit in the other rooms you have? So the one [snorts] was a special ed room, he relocated. One was a Eagle seminar room and they relocated that one as well. Now like we don't have any extra They were they were like "Hey, can we get a third one?" I was like "No.
We'll start your 3 minutes. Sure. My name is Diana Harbison. My address 2162 Estelle Lane here in Crown Point. Thank you. As I just mentioned, I'm Diana Harbison. Um I'm the mother of a child at Lake Street. I'm here to ask what the corporation does to help schools identify struggling learners and to improve student academic performance. There are at least five student assessments I can count. NWEA, I-Ready, classroom grades, Insight, and RTI monitoring if the student is getting that support. That generates an overwhelming amount of data. For a class of 19 students, that's over 70 reports with multiple graphs. Does the corporation review that data? Do they help schools identify struggling learners? Who ensures schools are moving students from struggling to progressing? Who ensures schools are taking action based on data, particularly that of RTI data? RTI measures student progress frequently, sometimes every 2 weeks, generating more data.
Are there any questions? Thank you, Mrs. Babcock. Any questions for Mrs. Babcock? Then I'll entertain a motion uh reference approval of these. Uh Mr. President, I recommend approval of the February 2026 financial reports as presented. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Ken.
It's a four-year agreement. It's four years. If it's two-year, >> right? So, but these step increases h have had they been given within this contract? >> I assume so. They are part of the language. They should have been and if they weren't, the HSTA I'm sure would have filed a grievance. >> Okay. Well, we'll ask them on that. Okay.
Favorite subject is math. Yes. And play oh likes to play outside, do arts and crafts, and wants to be a veterinarian. Congratulations. Mom and dad, do you want to come forward? Mom and dad. >> Good job. And next up from Smallley School, we have Miss Morgan. It's your turn. All right. So, for Smallley School, our fourth grade student of the month is Abigail Eldana Hernandez. Abigail has a brother and a sister. Her favorite subject is art because it's peaceful. She likes to bring her art supplies to the park and do painting because it's relaxing. Her favorite hobby is playing basketball. She likes to do that with her big brother. And when she grows up, she wants to be a teacher because she likes kids and wants to help teach them. Congratulations, Congratulations. >> And our fifth grade student of the month is Avance Meis Vargas.
Um without all of you, I wouldn't be here today standing here accepting this award. So, thank you guys so much. And thank you guys for taking the time to recognize me. Have a good night, everyone. >> [applause] >> Congratulations. Excellent job. Mr. DeMicco, National Honor Society? Oh, perfect. Okay. I'm sorry I didn't have your names on here, but Oh, and a guest appearance. That's it. Start them young. There you go. Um Mrs. Marino are and I are extraordinarily proud to present these scholarships tonight. Dea Musolari and Amelia Wallace, seniors at Garfield High School and current NHS members, have been selected as semifinalists for the National Honor Society Scholarship chosen from nearly 16,000 applicants nationwide. Dea and Amelia are two of just 575 semifinalists nationwide who will each be receiving $3,200 from the National Honor Society Fund in recognition of their leadership and service. As far as Mrs.
um to make this work. So, thank you for that. >> Section five, 5.1, our strategic plan updates board. This is part of our quarterly uh commitment we are bringing to you this month really just a a little bit of a preamble of what's to come in April. we'll be bringing more thorough full analysis as we start to move towards our planning for next year. It's hard to think that we're already there, but we are. And so, I want to thank the team um all of our staff who participate in the preparation of this uh report this evening. I'll turn it over now to the team working. There we go. >> Okay. So we're going to start off by just kind of reentering ourselves around what the strategic vision components are. So again, we this is really centered around our portrait of a learner attribute and then it's four areas of work.
We'll give you two and we'll give you 525 um and then they'll get these. So their goal is that they'll get these flipped over before the end of the school year. Um and then if anybody just needs to go into these rooms and then we'll start in the other science rooms. And you'll do those during the summer? Yeah. So, this is what the auxiliary gym currently looks like. So, outside kind of in that bowl area between the high school auxiliary gym and the walk that goes around is kind of that bowl area. That's where the new HVAC massive unit will sit that will feed the air into all of these new spaces. So, there there are two big units on either side of auxiliary gym. There's another look at that one. They are getting started on removing and getting that down. It will go back with one system with a pipe down the middle that will feed the whole gym.
Who reviews that information to make sure schools are moving students in and out of RTI or putting other interventions into place? All of this data should be used to establish clear decision points, communication with parents, and defined actions. The corporation has demonstrated it can move quickly when systems are prioritized and data's put to use. For example, Crown Point implemented a process for tracking and reporting student absences within a year of Indiana legislation passing. Measuring learning and ensuring students who are struggling are identified and supported should be treated as an equally actionable priority. This cannot be solely the teacher's responsibility. Teachers are overwhelmed, they're under-resourced, and often undervalued, but that's a discussion for another meeting. As a parent, I assure you that parent advocacy is not the answer. I have been raising concerns for 3 years and I have been dismissed and deflected. The corporation has extensive data that can be viewed in a myriad of different ways.
Any questions or discussion prior to voting? Hearing none, let's vote on the motion. Motion passes 7-0. Move on to C2, award of E-rate bids for category two network refresh, Mr. Clausing. Thank you. Before you guys, you have two contracts to award uh for the category two network refresh. This refresh is part of the E-rate program, and so we get to qualify for a discount uh through the FCC. This year, we are in an 80% discount. So, this is a great opportunity for us to replace in mass most of our networking equipment um and save the district quite a bit of money. Um these bids before you, they come out to about 113,000 spend out of pocket. Um MSRP is well over a quarter or over half of a million dollars. And so, we really want to be able to take advantage of this opportunity and uh this cycle of E-rate, which comes up every five years.
>> Members, any questions for the chief negotiator? Okay. Any other further follow-up questions for any Madam Chair? You had a request HSDA. >> Okay. So, yeah, that can you respond to what was said? J said. So, we're talking about the automatic step increases and the the bill specifically says if negotiated into um a collective bargaining agreement. So, we are aware that the contracts can change from time to time. And in our current contract, the one that's 2023 to 2027, this one in page 66, it does say that the state and the um HST have agreed to automatic step increases subject to funding. This is where the funding needs to come in through the legislature. um that part of the contract has not been um moving through so far. Um as far as the automatic steps are concerned, there are negotiations with the state when it comes to like salary increases.
Oh, there you are. Avance has two big sisters. His favorite subject is math because he feels that he's good at it. Uh his favorite hobby is playing Minecraft with his friends and other video games. I thought Minecraft was the best for him to play. Um and he wants to join the military unit when he grows up and be in the Air Force. Congratulations, Mike. Mike, >> mom and dad, come on up. And our sixth grade student of the month is Perez Phipe. Come on up. He has one big sister. His favorite subject is art because he likes to paint. His favorite hobby is to go on the computer and watch YouTube. And he wants to be a builder when he grows up to build big houses and tall buildings. Congratulations And next up from Community Middle School, we have Dr. Santa Surma. Hello everyone. First up for the Community Middle School, our seventh grade student of the month, Diana Alonzo Reyes.
Marino and I are aware, this is the first time members of the Garfield chapter have received this scholarship. Uh as NHS officers, they organized and led initiatives such as the NHS Homework Club Heroes Tutoring Center and the NHS Giving Tree donations benefiting the Valley Hospital Pediatric Unit. As our chapter's president and vice president, respectively, Dea and Amelia have worked hard to expand academic support, promote service-driven leadership, and strengthen connections between the school and the greater Garfield community. We are proud to present Dea and Amelia with these scholarships. >> [applause] [applause] >> Dr. Tomko, can we get the correct names for the students, please? The names. Good evening. We would like to thank you for taking the time to recognize us. This honor inspires us as National Honor Society officers to continue making meaningful contributions to our community. We would also like to extend our appreciation to our incredible advisors, Miss Marino and Miss Casey, for their kind words and for their ongoing guidance, support, and encouragement.
We call those our pillars and then for each of our five priorities, all four pillars have objectives for each of the three years. So the visual that you're seeing up there on the bottom right side is really kind of the visual component for help helping us understand what it is that um our plan is covering in each of those four pillars of work. This is another way of viewing it. So within this wheel, each of the topics that you see, the yellow ones and two are really the work that we do and the gray areas are really how we accomplish those. So the four pillars being the academic and student success, educational access and supportive environment, partnerships and collaboration, and then the resource allocation to help bring all of that to fruition. So that's another visual that helps you center that. And this is just a reminder.
Auxiliary gym, and then it'll also come in up above, and there'll be four trucks that go down the middle. Kind of throughout the the main gym. We worked with them. We told them that they could have half the gym, but we needed the half of the gym that had the drop-down batting cage in case we get inclement weather and softball baseball needs to come inside. We wanted to make sure that they could still come in and hit and do some indoors. So, we kind of worked with them. So, that's the core. This is why it it's kind of weirdly sectioned off like this. Eventually, they'll need to touch all of it uh this summer because all the lighting will get updated as well to LED lighting. So, one thing to remember is anytime a ceiling comes down, we always go back with new lighting. Like, it's just cost effective.
As a parent, I perceive charts only when requested, often without a key, context, or explanation. Even with that limited information, it doesn't take long to identify who's thriving and who is not. It's difficult to see how the school corporation has prioritized learning. In fact, I've received more communication and more frequently about my child's medically excused absences than I have about her academic progress. That confirms that the system is more focused on whether students are in the building rather than whether they are learning while they are there. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Ms. Harbison. We appreciate your comments. Although we can't have a dialogue and a conversation, sometimes people you're welcome to stay around at the end of the meeting and have conversations with the board members and administrators, okay? Thank you. Moving on to item 4.01, uh the consent agenda. 4.01, the uh February 23rd, 2026 regular business meeting public hearing minutes.
And we really uh hope to award this and be able to move forward this summer to get it all installed before the fall of next year. Thank you, Mr. Clausing. Any thing for Mr. Clausing to ask before we move on? These are E-rates through reduced billing, correct? Correct. These are the reduced billing. Cool. I'll entertain a motion reference this request. Make a motion to approve the award letter award of E-rate bids for category two networking refresh as presented. Thank you, Mr. Wall. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Melcher. Any further questions for Russ Foley? Like bells on us.
Maybe it could be across the board increase of like say hypothetically 3 or 4%. There could be a step increase if it's negotiated or they could negotiate and change the salary schedule as well. As you can see here, this is what our salary schedule looks like under the current 2026 2027 school year. You can see different classes and different schedules. And these are what teachers will make across the board. But what we're looking at really is just automatic step increases. This is something that would help with the retention and recruitment of teachers. And you can also see too um I think it was provided to many of you on the committee. The Department of Education actually committed a study and in this study it did say that automatic step increases the number one way to help retain and recruit teachers um in Hawaii. And it's a best practice that's usually done um in many other states.
Diana was nominated by her teacher, Miss Gold Rosen, uh is an only child and favorite subject in school is art. When Diana uh her favorite hobbies are volleyball and listening to music and when Diana grows up wants to become an astronomer. Next up for the community middle school, our eighth grade student of the month, Sophia Vasquez. >> You have to smile though. Sophia was nominated by her teacher, Mr. Crowley, who's here tonight. Uh Sophia has an older brother, Manny, who's a senior at our high school. Favorite subjects are my favorite subjects, PE and lunch. Loves playing sports. And when uh Sophia grows up, wants to either go into cosmetology or become a teacher. Last, but certainly not least, we have Mr. Smith from the high school. Good evening. Bound Brook High School's uh Crusader Citizen of the Month Award. Our first recipient is Zoe Esavdo.