All right, it's still quiet. So, we're going to go ahead and call this governing board meeting to order. It is Wednesday, April 22nd. It is 6:30. Lisa, could you please do the roll call? Patty Cuchary. Present. >> Carolyn Lopez. Lisa Garcia. Ben Owens. Present. Shontae Rothschild. Present. Thank you. And Mr.
pledge of a I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the ability to come together and discuss the important business of education in our community. We thank you, Lord, for all the blessings and thank you for the upcoming graduation. We certainly are proud of what you're bringing about in our community. We thank you, Lord, in your name. Amen. Thank you. I'd like to welcome you all to the Connersville School Corporation Board of School Trustees April 22nd, board meeting. Roll call. Mr. Spurgeon. Greg Bevington. Here. Mr. Graham Spurgeon. Alan Wilson. Here. >> [clears throat] >> Tim White. >> Here. Tim White here. Robert Here. Thank you. Additions and deletions to the agenda item 1.2.
Welcome to Boston Marathon 2026. >> Oh, team. >> Hi everybody. We're here with Sergeant Durant, Connecticut. >> Ngatuck, Connecticut. >> That's a mouthful. >> Oh my goodness. Well, first off, thank you so much for being up here for the Boston Marathon. And I see you have a part, you're working with a partner today. >> Yep. K9 Indie. >> And what does K9 Indie do here? >> So, Indie is our wellness dog. So, we're actually stationed down at the medical tent over here. Um, so he's here to support runners, get everybody excited, comfort anybody that needs it, that's maybe a little stressed, running jitters and stuff like that. So, we're actually down right over there and there's actually a whole team of canines down there specifically for the good vibes and all the puppy love that we could give today. >> That's amazing. charge it. Is this your first Boston Marathon or have you and you and Parker have been up here before?
say, "Welcome, Superintendent Jim Adams. Thanks for sitting down with me today to talk about the proposed override." >> Yeah, you're welcome. Looking forward to the conversation. >> Great. So, I've got a few questions for you this this morning. Um, first off, and I think maybe the most important, what's driving this need? Uh, how did the district get into this position? How did we get here, Jim? >> Yeah. Well, it's a good question, right? And it's it's something that I think many districts uh across the Commonwealth are dealing with uh today. If you if you notice in the in the newspapers, there's many more communities looking to override situations. Um the Proposition 2 and a half certainly has limited uh communities in terms of tax revenue to be raised um to support local um government and schools. Uh so this is for me I think you know I've been here 16 years 17 I guess now and this has been in the making that long right in terms of we've been able to structure our our budgets um fortunately because the town has had some growth over a period of time and there was an adjustment to the chapter 70 funding.
>> Any opposed? same sign. Motion passes. >> Is Kayla on? >> Kayla's not on yet. She just texted me and said she was just going to be a few minutes late. So, once she is able to hop on here, um I was our understanding was I thought she was going to hop on here, but when I just talked to her, she said she was running a few minutes late. So, I don't mean I don't know if that means she's going to come in person or if it's here, but I'll let you guys know once she's on. Okay. Okay. >> So, um, item number three is the football field lights. >> Okay. So, before we get started on this, I just wanted to kind of make sure we're all together on the same page. So, we have a couple of items here with the football lights that we currently have.
Yeah. Okay. So, are we still are we still on? >> Yeah. You want to go back? >> Hello. Oh, well the live stream is >> All right. Tell me when you want me to put them back on. >> Yeah. Tell me when we go live. Here they come. Here they come, Robbie. Here they come. Oh my goodness. You guys made it all the way here. >> Perfect. >> Thank you guys for coming. >> Of course. Of course. We're so excited to see all these films tonight. >> Oh yeah. >> Can't wait. They're going to be >> You guys better be running here, too. >> Be on your way. We got here really fast, so can you. It's not too late. Okay, we're good. >> Okay. All right. You guys want more? Oh, Robbie. Oh, hi guys. So, we're we're still here. We're waiting for a few more of our producers to get here so we go ahead and get those interviews started for you guys.
fan. >> That's awesome. I don't have to stand in one place. That's really lovely. So, thank you for letting me come here this morning and join you or or being forced to listen to me for a little while, however you want to perceive it. Um I I wanted to start by um checking in with how many people had an opportunity to either be at watch live via the stream or review the board meeting from last Tuesday night. So if I could trouble you for a show of hands. Okay. So I I kind of suspect this is not like a guilt trip. I don't do guilt trips, right? Um, so the reason I wanted to do that is to make sure that what I was about to talk about was worthwhile because I think it's important for this team to know. So, um, our governing board, um, actually had an item on their board meeting last Tuesday night to basically give any additional guidance they felt they needed after reviewing um, sort of the progress of meet and confer thus far.
Sotomayor, would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Thank you. And you guys did amazing. I could hear you all reciting it. Thank you. I love when we have the kids here. All right, uh adoption of the agenda. Do I have any motions or amendments? I move that we accept the agenda as presented. I'll second. Lisa, we have a motion and a second. Shontae Rothschild. Aye. Ben Owens. Aye. Patty Cuchary. Aye. All right, superintendent's report. Dr. Lotman. Thank you very much, President Cuchary. 40 students from Maricopa and Desert Sunrise High Schools, along with their parents, took part in a behind-the-scenes field trip with our neighbors at the Nissan Technical Technical Center in Stanfield. Through the Nissan Next Gen Driver event, students got a first-hand look at engineering innovation and automotive careers in action. Students observed high-speed runs on the nearly 6-mile oval, riding alongside Nissan engineers at speeds exceeding 130 mph.
No, sir. Okay. Hearing none, I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda as given. So moved. Second. >> Second. Any discussions, comments on the agenda? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, same sign. Brings up the item 2.1, student Rotarian. Yes, if Evelyn Cline steps up here with me. I'll coach her up a little bit so she knows exactly what to do, right? Okay. All right, I'm going to read a little bit about you so I wrote it down. Get ready. Get ready. Get embarrassed, okay? Uh this this month's student Rotarian is Evelyn Cline. She uh has excelled in her academics and extracurricular activities all four years of high school. Academic honors uh that she's received include uh outstanding performance in honors English, chemistry, honors algebra two, dual credit English, environmental science, ACP dual credit US history. In addition to these awards, uh she has received an academic M patch signifying her dedication to her education and the ICC, Indiana College Core.
>> Nope. This is our very first Boston Marathon. We're super excited to be up here. >> Wow. How exciting is this? >> Very exciting. Welcome everybody to our 2026 coverage of the Boston Marathon right here in WACA >> in lovely Ashlin, Massachusetts. I'm Jerry Hindi. And who are you? I'm Nikita Keegan and we're going to be taking you through this race today. Uh talking to some great people, doing some great interviews, watching some incredible feats of athletic paral. So, and we're glad that you're joining us. >> The weather's great. I think it's somewhere around 45 degrees, which is perfect for the runners. And now, you've run before. Would this be great? >> You know, this is perfect running weather, Jerry. You know, it's not too hot. It's not too cold. you know, people. It's not great for spectating because I I can barely feel my hands at this point.
We're here today because Prop Two and a half just doesn't raise enough funds locally. Uh, and the state has sort of leveled off. Uh, we don't have the federal funding anymore um that we can rely on. And so when Proposition 2 and a half comes about, I think Ashlin raises probably about 1 2 million a year in the levy that could go up somewhere around there. It's it's not a tremendous amount. um we have, you know, 400 plus employees. Our salaries alone go up 1.5 million just in our educators, uh just in the teachers. Um so eating that up, if you will, uh just in the prop two and a half. So we're in a situation now where I think it's the time that we try to figure out how to fix a structural deficit that's just inherent in um budgeting for for public schools and for a community.
They are a safety risk with the football uh the poles that are there. Um, you guys have, I'm sure, have seen those. Um, we reinforced those over the past few years. and um just has some major concerns on what those are going to look like and how long those are going to be able to stay up. Also, another component of that of that is the lights themselves. Um they're so old that the ballasts are starting to go out on those lights. Can't replace we can't find those ballast. So, if it gets to a point where those ballast completely go out, we're not going to have lights on that field. So, um, with that being said, we have some safety concerns, but also some concerns where we've got to try to get this done in a timely manner, um, for our kiddos in our community as well.
Um, let's let's go ahead and start explaining the theme for this hole. Just in case you aren't here yet and you still want to dress up, Robbie, what's our theme? So, it's a summer theme as you could tell the ladies and I'm celebrating the birthday of this country in July. >> Happy birthday to me, Uncle Sam. >> And you know, I'm just summer vibes. My my capri shorts, the red Converse America. Fist bump. Boom. Um there's also a little bit of High School Musical if you want to show up as Gabriella or >> That one guy. Trey Bolton. If you want to be him too and come in as a basketball, be our guest. Um, and yeah, that's really what's going on right now. >> So, you better be here like right now. Like, we're waiting. >> Oh, like you should be coming through that door right now.
Right. So they took a look at the and I can't remember the number 15 16 options whatever it is that you know you're currently working through and I know in past years there have been times where there's been like a little bit of agitation because the board you know has maybe come back and said well we have concerns of some of the things you're working on which can be very frustrating when you're meet and confer team because uh we're being streamed so I won't use a curse word you've worked your butts off right, for months trying to come up with the best recommendations that you can make in the best interest of our teachers, our staff, our district, right? Like our kids, our families. And so then to have a group review that maybe not maybe be at odds to some extent with the work you've done can be very frustrating.
They participated in drifting and skid demonstrations, tested handling on real-world real-world road simulations, took part in safety demonstrations, and explored Nissan's latest models. Experiences like this one connect learning to real-world application. For some students, it sparked a new interest. For others, this day reinforced a clear direction. All of this close to home. MUSD Day at the Capitol highlighted the importance of parent advocacy. Members of our legislative committee and governing board came prepared to speak to the real impact that legislation has on our schools, especially when a one-size-fits-all policy might limit decision-making and affect our ability to meet student needs. I'm especially proud of our parents who showed up informed, engaged, and committed to keeping Maricopa students at the center of this conversation. The Desert Sunrise High School EMS HOSA students delivered [clears throat] an outstanding performance at the Arizona State Leadership Conference. Nine students represented Desert Sunrise, contributing to a gold chapter award, and earning multiple individual recognitions for leadership and dedication.
I don't know what that is. So, she'll almost have her freshman year done when she graduates. So, that's that's good. As extracurricular activities, Evelyn was a member of the girls tennis team, the same marching band, and held positions as a saxophone section leader. She also performed at at basketball games with the pep band and earned district, state solo and ensemble awards. Outside of school, Evelyn is active in her community participating >> [clears throat] >> in in community band performances including Peru Circus City Parade and the Bunker Hill Community Parade. Evelyn's plans after high school are to to attend Indiana University. Did you catch that? Yes, good. Indiana University, Kelley School of Business. Studying in business exploratory program. Evelyn Cline. Thank you. >> [applause] >> WELCOME BACK. THANK YOU. THANKS. THANK YOU. CONGRATULATIONS, EVELYN. CONGRATS. Thank you. Proud of you. Thank you. Additionally, uh under excellence, uh our board attended the ISBA um semi-annual meeting uh and were recognized as a level one commendable board, which means uh all of you have received at least some additional training uh up to level four.
But when you're out there running and you know, your adrenaline's pumping and you're doing the thing, it's it just keeps you on a nice even keel, you know. So, you're absolutely right about >> Well, when you're cheering for people and watching them go by and enjoying it, you don't even think about the cold. >> This is true. You're you're having a good time and you're especially going to be having a good time with us because we're, like I said, we're going to be taking you around. You're going to be talking to some of your friends and neighbors right here in Ashland about the race and all that good stuff. >> Oh, there's no runners yet. The only thing running right now is my nose. >> Well, my Well, I my nose was running and I I barely caught it, but um we did see some of the wheelchair athletes go by earlier.
And uh we've relied so heavily on our um school choice one-time funds, building revolving funds, charging families fees for for busing, uh charging families fees for athletics. Um all of these things have have just come to the point where um there's not enough revenue. Um, my intent with the asking the override in the community, and I get it, it's a really hard ask right now. $2.75 million and increase in taxes, um, is is really difficult and challenging, and what we're trying to accomplish, however, I think is critically important for the next 5 to 10 years. Um, and an override for the schools will assist in reducing our need for those onetime use of one-time funds. school choice funding, for instance, uh to fund salaries, operating expenses. We spend $1.1 million a year out of school choice money to fund eight teacher salaries in addition to $400,000 worth of of operating expenses.
So, uh, was able to reach out to a few companies that we've talked with in the past just to get u numbers um, and I wanted to share those with you guys. Those are uploaded to the board document, but I want to spend a little bit of time going through them as well. So, the first one is Game Day Lighting. They are out of Kansas City, Missouri. Um, the bid is attached. So, we did go ahead and have them include a price for a 25-year standard warranty. Um, and that's reflected on their quote. They had a 10-year warranty on that and try to do our best to compare apples to apples. We tried to get it to where it was a 25 year year um warranty or what they had that would be comparable to that. So, um, that is an added expense that was not on the old one that's on this one.
>> Got my watch now. Right here. Tick tock. The clock is ticking. >> Yeah. See? See? >> It's almost time for you to arrive. >> So, you should get started on that now. >> Immediately. Stat ASAP. You guys are good. >> You guys a lot of energy. I like it. Um, if if there's anything else that you guys could do that would just like keep thinking of stuff like just keep saying stuff. You guys should interview this hustler. >> Give Miss the shots. Come on, Miss Huster. All right. All right. Tell me when you're ready. Oh, well, hey guys. You see right here, Miss Hustley, this is CHS's cast one teacher and also communications and public speaking teacher. If you haven't done your schedules yet, go get in her class. It's really good. Hey, Miss Hester. >> Hey. Do you have anything you want to tell us about the film festival?