All in favor of accepting that, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. E3 consider approval of a 10-hour work days, 40-hour work week starting May 28th, 2026 through July 31st, 2026. I'll make a motion to consider approval of the 10-hour work days, 40 hours per week starting on May 28th, 2026 through July 31st, 2026. I'll second. Motion and a second.
I would just rather go faster rather than slower. So, that's up to you folks as to whether you set those or not. >> [snorts] [clears throat] >> I say we set them. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> I'm good with Monday. >> 27th, that's a week from tonight. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> We just set a date. >> Yeah. >> And then the only reason I would suggest setting a date on another week you know is cancel it, but just for advertising purposes if you pick another day and Jamie can actually advertise those together. They need to be hours. So, if you wait till next Monday to set at the earliest you can do would be Thursday and we'd have to actually advertise it Monday night. Which we could do. >> Do you want another public works session or just another meeting? >> Or you just want to Yeah, that's a good question.
Any questions? Any other discussion? Well, we've got a motion out there. Any other discussion? All right, let's vote. All those in favor of accepting the Harmony quote for student information system vendor, say I. I. I. Opposed? I. Motion passes 5-1. Next would be consideration and approval for communications platform. Yeah, so again, look, this is more of a consolidating services for our families, also for our teachers and staff. Right now, I don't know Mrs. or Mrs. Golden, you guys can probably speak to this more because of the variety of platforms used, whether it's Smore, Dojo, School Messenger, Remind. What else is out there? Class Me, maybe Class Tag. >> Yeah, I mean, and then we have we all obviously have the Vet link in there. We have Sports You in there. We have a lot of these. So, Parent Square would consolidate all of those things into one.
Call it kindergarten, even before kindergarten. Mhm. Not all. There are kids who move here in high school. Mhm. But generally speaking, I'm just wondering about the numbers. Is it the uh Are the kids going to be weighted toward elementary school? And with some kids aging out and also fewer kids moving in. Okay. Yeah. So, our elementary numbers are very, very high right now at 150. We've got 16 at the middle school, 14 at the high school currently in services. >> But the I'm just thinking that those numbers will probably stay Mhm. at least proportionally the same. >> Correct. Because the >> Because of exactly what you said. >> Okay, got it. That's all. And also, the other piece to this is if kiddos move to our district in the early elementary grades, it takes years to acquire the language. So, those numbers at the elementary level tend to be higher.
But I wouldn't have experienced the full impact of their support if I hadn't spoken up and asked for it. Because of these supports, I've been able to grow in my confidence, become a leader in my communities, and develop the communication skills that I'll carry into the future. After high school, I plan to attend college and continue growing both creativity and academically. And I hope to carry these lessons into my career and into the personal and professional relationships that I'll build along the way. One things my parents have always told me is to find your own way of learning. And I believe that applies to life as well. Everyone has their own path and their own strengths. There are countless resources at Stevenson, more than I could possibly list today. But what I do know is that they they exist. They exist and they are here to help.
Denberg and his staff can't manage what they don't know. So if you don't tell them, they cannot respond and protect you. So please be cautious and careful. I thank you. Um, and then also thank you for all this information, especially with the AI initiatives and what what is going on.
Um, one thing that we've talked about is that self-regulation piece and how it's important it is to build that habit because a lot of students are going um to their post-secary plans and it's really important for them to have that self-regulation piece and to be able to um monitor theirelves and their usage. Um, we had state testing last week and based on how it went, I know the test was a little difficult asking some underassman but other than that the way that it was broken up was really beneficial and everyone had great things to say about that. I know I did with my two days off. um scanning in system continues u to support accountability and consistency. Um students physically tracking uh or checking and reinforcing that idea of attendance in it being their responsibility um is a really is a key point. It also reduced confusion and helps create stronger everyday culture around being present and on time.
I just if whatever happens, but um I would just want that I'm thinking about policy. I know it says 48 hours. Um I would just want it written into the policy that that is that would be changed if the day changed as well. I wouldn't recommend changing policy because there are times that we have emergency meetings and things like that that if we put in policy that it's 72 hours or something else, then every meeting would have to back up to 72 hours to to be in compliance with our policy. So I would keep the 48 for the agenda being posted cuz that's in alliance with the open meetings act, but the fact that we have it out earlier is still okay. Okay. Well, we've we've I only hesitate because we have been um told that we would get the schedule sooner and for a while we were getting them on Thursdays and then it it just went back to the 48 hours and um I don't know.
So moved. Mervich. And roll call, please. Ward? Yes. Dogan? Yes. Gorman? Yes. Hurst? Yes. Mervich? Yes. Pappas? Yes. Watson? Yes. Motion passes. We will be moving into an executive session now.
Any questions? Discussion? It's pretty standard for the summer, right? >> Yeah. They've been doing this several years and it seems to work out pretty well. >> It was when Ross was here we started it. >> Yeah. >> [laughter] >> That's how long ago. That's been a while. I mean, I would like to have Fridays off if I was doing that same job. I think it's great.
Is is Monday Do you want that to be the the public works session or do you want that to be a uh board meeting where you would just have that topic being at the top? >> Well, it sounds like we just need to have a meeting. >> I think so. >> From the feedback that I'm hearing. >> Yeah. >> Does that work for you, one of those? >> We can have a kind of meeting where we can discuss it amongst ourselves as well. >> Okay. >> We can do a meeting like that and just talk over things. Like what, you know, we didn't close, what would happen to the school. Uh you know, some things like that. I think it's it's not just voting on the school. >> [clears throat] >> We let that building go to somebody for a dollar or what's the what's the plan for the building if we close >> What does the new state law allow us to do?
It allows everything from a classroom newsletter to school messages for two-hour delays. I don't know, there was a lot of different pieces from from the elementary perspective that you guys liked. If you want to jump in there. At the high school level, it's we don't typically do the newsletter and things like that, but I don't know if you guys want to jump in there at all. I just I really liked it from the piece of if this a parent would have the same experience if you would have had multiple kids in multiple grade levels. We've gone to like Smore for our newsletters and mandated that school wide, and that was a huge help. But, Parent Square would be from administrator all the way down to a little Bulldogs teacher all the way up to the athletic director using the same platform. So, you know that it's important when you get a message and you can really customize it a whole lot better than we can now, too.
Um if we've done what we've needed to do as far as supports and high quality instructional practices and curriculum, you tend to see kids exiting out as they move across our grade level bands and into the high school. So, these numbers here tell that story as well. >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, from a family communication perspective, um one of the biggest things I think that we learned, not just from our own experiences, but from our data, was that it's not engagement that's the issue, but the access. And if we're able to ensure that the communication is accessible and in the home language, then the engagement follows. And I think that as a district, we've really done like a good job at decreasing some of the language barriers that have presented themselves over the years and through some of the tools that we've been utilizing um such as ParentSquare's translation um options and the language line solutions, um we've really been able to again provide access to families and we're trying to make that adjustment from them just being informed to truly becoming a connected partner in their child's education.
So my message to the Patriot community is this. Advocate for yourself. Take advantage of the supports around you. It's often closer than you think. Because the moment when you feel like you don't have a space to speak is exactly when you should start reaching out. High school is often overlooked as a stepping stone, but it is a critical time for self-discovery. It's where you begin to understand who you are and build the skills that will guide you into your next chapter. And just as easily as you might go to the ILC for acade academic help, you can start a conversation with the teacher or a staff member nearby. Thank you. I don't know. >> Just picture. >> Oh, sorry. >> I'll do it. >> Sorry. >> That was amazing. By the way, >> they're for you. >> Great job. You need one money. We're gonna squish you with our >> So, we're gonna do one picture with the >> in the middle.
Um, I don't have any questions except to Thank you and your staff for everything that they do to protect everyone here. >> Thank you so much. I This is all such a nuance topic because there's so much concern behind it that's valid, right? And how to do this, right? So, um I don't know if all the board members here know or the audience knows or the guests. I'm not sure how I'm sorry about that, but uh we did request to see some of the contracts because what a couple of us are really worried about is our students data being sold. So, um, if you you did a really great job with one of the contracts we had talked about, we just have to be mindful of our contracts. We just it's scary being our kids are using this, this could be sold, um, and it's not appropriate.
Um one thing that we've been doing is security checks around the school. um if a student hasn't scanned in, security will um come and look for you. And that's been a great resource because 99.99% of the time, the person just forgot to scan in. The person was late and the teacher said, "Hold on, I'll update your attendance." And they come down the corner and the teacher's already doing it. So, in every single case, there really hasn't been an issue with security coming in. But that is just something to be aware of. Um and there's still continue there's still continued um attention and correction attendance errors quickly. Um, so when I've asked my peers if they've had attendance issues, um, they kind of just email the office, email their teacher, um, and those get fixed really quickly. Um, moving to student ownership and accountability across classrooms, expectations feel clearer and more consistent and students are seeing more follow-through from adults, which makes systems feel more real and fair.
I was I was thinking, well, if the board is expecting this, then the expectations are written out in policy and that's why I thought well, we should look at policy just to make sure that our expectations are met and that all of us have the same understanding of what to expect, especially because we're having some changes around here. New leadership. I trust you when you say you would get it to us, but Yeah, I'm just thinking like we had a lot of extra meetings for the board, a lot of closed sessions with the superintendent search and things like that. Sometimes we didn't know until 48 hours ahead when those were going to be exactly taking place and so things got posted in pretty rapid succession and we would have been violating board policy probably multiple times with special meetings for things like that. We're not expecting to be doing a superintendent search next year, of course, but you just never know what types of things the board might need to meet about in a special meeting of some sort.
Uh All in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries. E4 consider approval to award the 2026 bus bid to Midwest Transit, IC/Combs. I'll make a motion to approve the award to the 2026 bus bid to Midwest Transit, IC Combs. I'll second. Motion and a second.
>> So the state law affects us to the best of my understanding, the state law is that if we don't use 50% of it for something uh that we have to make it available for $1 to I think the word is interested parties and interested parties are already existing charter schools or public institutions like universities and colleges. And what I um we've had a neighboring district do that. They you have to wait you have to you have to tell the state of Indiana within 30 days that you are closing it for non-educational purposes. But if you use it for storage and support staff and things like that and you use 50% of it, you don't have to sell it you don't have to even list it. You just tell the state it's closed. If you don't use 50% of it, then people can come in and and and make a bid on it but it has to be only those two groups of people.
So you're not blasting it out. If for example, if first grade Girl Scouts sign up, I can click on first grade and girls and it will just go to those contacts like very quickly. Or now I'm having to comb through and find all my girls and click their names and it takes a a lot longer. So um there's a couple of really neat features that made us excited and at back to school night it wasn't oh well I use Class Dojo and then for my son in this grade level then we use Remind. It's just one thing. So the common commonality I think will be huge for the elementary perspective. Is this something that's going to be used with the athletic department too? Cuz I know they just moved to the sports year and have all the coaches using it. Yeah, I think the nice thing about Parent Square from that angle is there there is an app that you can download and so like you can have a one central piece.