I love you guys. Around a month ago, one of my best friends and I were saying goodbye at the end of my driveway. And while standing there, we witnessed something truly spectacular. A bright yellow and orange light erupted across the night sky above us. A shooting star. I turned to her and yelled, "Make a wish." But that feels a bit silly in retrospect considering my wish was standing right beside me. And that's what I want to emphasize tonight. There have been and there will be many chapters of your life. You will go places you've never been and have new experiences you never imagined. They will be beautiful and chaotic and confusing and profound. High school was one of those experiences. Your most recent shooting star. It appeared almost out of the blue. It sparkled and burned. It was beautiful and chaotic. And then just as suddenly as it came, it was gone.
What's the bathroom policy for, you know, trans students? Are there going to be any genderneutral bathrooms at the new BPA campus? >> Um, I can answer that if that's helpful. Um, so starting with the Kraton Academy, our last three rebuilds have been the Kraton Academy, Kennedy, and um, obviously Builtmore is the one that's currently being worked on. Um, when we redesigned the Kraton Academy, it was a bit of a challenge at the time because we were kind of early in the field with this in the education space, but we took a cue from the restaurant industry that had gone to monolithic stalls for restrooms and shared sinks. And so that that we um put that in at the Kraton Academy and it was very successful. Um, and so we we did repeat that at Larry C. Kennedy and Evans probably the best person to speak to how well that's working or not working for Kennedy and that is the current um design plan for Builtmore.
Fantastic. Thank you very much. Ron Burton for finance, Mr. Finance. Need I say more? Thank you very much. Personnel, Stephanie Duckman has been doing this in personnel for a while. You know all the ins and outs. Do you mind? I'd gladly do that. Perfect. Thank you so much. And that leads us Tina Garrett for policy, our policy queen. I love it. for the last year, so keep on keeping on. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you very much, everybody. Um next we have the appointment of board representatives. Um again, I'm going to kind of do a quick rundown of what that is and then we'll um talk about what we want to do. Um I ASB North Cook, um that is the professional family group that we belong to. Um and we also have our IASB legislative delegate who votes for us when we have our conference um in the fall.
And so finding those spaces where actually they no one knows, but that our C triple S has that information so that when they interact with those students, they can have that in mind. >> Okay, great. The one The one thing I'll point out in that that our team was actually pretty intrigued and surprised by is some of the students who listed zero or one relationships with staff, we actually know really well as being very high-achieving students, very connected in their community, very connected maybe with like Girl Scouts or community organization or something along those lines. And so knowing that they at least appear as a very high-achieving, well-connected kid, we had some pause on us determining how problematic it was for a student to be on that list, even though our goal is for every student to have a trusted adult. And do we only do this once a year?
You know, so um they obviously will still do their diagnostics and stuff like that, but you know, it might give them that that insight right away. Um we talked about how we're going to communicate this to families. Um I we do recognize that this is a shift. Almost all of us here work traditional grades and that is a big shift for parents and community members alike. Um we talked about creating a companion guide that goes along with the report card for next fall that kind of walks parents through a little bit more in scenarios and pushing that out in the fall when it's closer to report card time than trying to do anything now and then, you know, not doing anything else in the fall. Um How much more time will this require for teachers? I actually it'll save our third through fifth grade a lot of time.
So, we were very excited that the students are branching out on their flavors and and enjoyed those items. We do taste testing with student groups also to get their feedback. We've had a number of those this year. Uh our district, we also participate in farm to school program. We do purchase locally grown produce from local farmers and then our milk is purchased directly from Indiana farmers. We also work with two different chefs to help us develop some of the new recipes if the students are asking for different things. This year um these are just some photos of some of our new offerings. We did try to focus on like main entree salads for the students this year. Uh some of those include BLT salad. That's my favorite because bacon, why not? Um southwest cobb salad, a barbecue chicken salad. We did a couple new breakfast entrees.
The the balsa wood airframe. So we took a balsa wood and created kind of an airship airframe kind of like what you guys have probably seen on when you've seen blimps before. And so we just took balsa and 2P-10 which is super glue and activator and connected them all at points in kind of a shape we really wanted to. And it worked it is what we ended up going with and it worked really good. Other options that we decided or tried to use was carbon fiber rods or foam but carbon fiber is very expensive and what we what we could afford was a little too flimsy so it's like flat under its own own weight and stuff and same thing with the foam is lightweight, cheap, what we wanted but it just wasn't strong enough. >> All right, so then here are our 3D models and this is where I primarily work.
But literally, kids are going to have to leave them out of sight and can't be using them during the school day. Um and that's it's now Indiana code, so there really ain't a choice. We have to We have to follow that. And as I told you, I I think our kids will be I think our kids will actually be uh many ways easier to monitor that than sometimes where folks want to get a hold of their kids at 2:30 in the afternoon. They're going to have to leave them out of sight. They're going to have to leave them after school's out. Okay. Anything else? Uh recommendation to approve second reading of ISBA policy updates. May I have a motion? I'll make a motion. Second? >> I'll second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes 5-0. Recommendation to approve first reading of ISBA policy updates. May I have a motion?
Backnack, who is absolutely amazing. And we also have um coach Scott McFarland, who is not here this evening, correct? Um So, we have students in in uh Business Professionals of America who are outstanding, hardworking, and amazing at everything they do. But it would also not be possible without an amazing coach putting in all of the hard work. And this is a program that we've had up here a number of times. It feels like um sometimes a couple times a year because it is such an accomplished program, but I like to remember not to take that for granted as something that we just expect and also continue to remember how much hard work is put into that. So thank you so much coach back. If we could all have our employee finalists and teachers of the year please step If you're a finalist or winner, I do need you up front, front to center.
>> Yep. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay, we will move forward to continued business. >> Yeah, so I will start. We've got several things. The first is looking forward to um this week's commencements. We'll have eight of those. Over 1,500 students. It's always a fun time. We're going to cross our fingers for weather. Hoping that we have dry Wednesday and Friday for sure so we can be outside for commencement. This week we also last week we recognized our retirees in a celebration after school. Human Resources did a great job and um in total our retirees had 629 years of service. So that's a lot of expertise leaving the district and we certainly wish them well. I think the range of experience with us was 12 years to 41. So some really good people and we're excited for their next stage. We have We're gearing up for summer school.
Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I carries. I think the last year it was pretty >> Yeah, I was going to say not not too long. >> In the time period that um that we do the gap, it affects the least amount of employees. It's only the salaried employees. We don't have any hourly employees during that time period. So, it affects a very minimal amount of the staff. [clears throat] >> Yes. Yeah. >> All right. Uh next up, the new line air displays. >> Yeah. So, in your packet, you have a recommendation for uh new line uh interactive uh panels or display uh boards. essentially um many of our uh projectors in our middle school, high school classrooms are 10 to 12 years old. Um it's getting more difficult to get bulbs or the lamps to uh to replace them. Certainly you there was also point in time you worry about the projectors um themselves dying.
Had lead lead paint in it, so. I would be careful. And plastics degrade over time. I mean, if you think about I you know, I had stored some like like Halloween costumes in plastic bags in my attic and you know, you you go back to the attic a couple years later and the plastic bag has disintegrated around it because of the heat, you know, in the attic. Um you same kind of thing happens to Tupperware like old Tupperware containers and you know, other This is much older than than Tupperware. It's it's it seems like a more solid uh plastic, but >> plastic but it's plastic. the version that they were making uh back to your comment about the other restaurants switching to cardboard. Um if they're lined so they're waterproof, that's PFAS that's lining it. So, if we have to it has to be reusable, it has to be more sustainable stuff.
Correct. Yes. And both also known as DNAPL. That's something that that people may be familiar with in Ashland. Um yeah, it's uh we haven't detected any DNAPL, uh you know, which is dense, non-aqueous phase liquids on on the site. You know, that would be like a free phase of They are the same compounds, but a DNAPL is a free phase um, solvent. So, we haven't seen that on the site. But but but you're saying that um, TCE and PCE are forms of DNAPL, correct? Uh, in in its pure form. Absolutely. Yes, it in its in like If you had the solvent itself, you know, it could it could sink, you know, and you can have DNAPL, but the concentrations that we've seen are not DNAPL. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you. That's beyond my expertise. >> So, um, no problem. We're happy We're here to answer your questions tonight.
Were you able was this um the composting your interest or was that sort of where you landed in terms of deciding uh which leadership group you were in? Mrs. Goodman had the idea of the composting and we all just kind of had that like we all kind of liked that that idea so we kind of just followed in it and we loved it. [laughter] >> Fabulous. Great job. Thank you.
And I And I wish that those seniors who graduated will continue to play. And, you know, um And it was great to see children who I bought them drumsticks for the pandemic up on stage. You know, so I think but there were so many people there and we're getting back to where it was standing room only. I mean, I feel like we sort of faded away and I really the honor Hannah for the work that she has done to make our band come alive again. And I think that was I know one of the pushes when I decided to step up for school committee was what's happening with music, what's happening with band. It's a conscious rebuild. >> It has. I mean, and it's been a conscious like pulling >> to rebuild theater. Yes, drama, man. We used to have plays in each school. It was fun to dress them up as frog and toad.
But, I think that anything that we can do to help kids find success in the general education classroom um is is a priority. Yeah, that's why we spend um a lot of time coming back to the student You don't teach kids how to uh fish how to swim by taking them out of the pool or kids how to swim by taking them out of the pool. A fish doesn't learn how to swim by coming out of the pond. You know, that that mentality. And um you know, the uh co-teaching is often um one teach, one observe or one teach, one help the student the identified kids um and perhaps over support. And um with the best intentions. And so, that's the kind of place that we try to uh spend more time on uh working with Robin and and Christina. Um you know, and and those guys obviously weren't general education teachers either, but we're really good at supporting our special education staff at what do you What's your role in the room?
So. >> have a lot of students going into finance in college? We do. We have finance, uh, accounting, but there's um, economics. Uh, I think I think we inspire students in many different ways, but those those are just three areas. There's so there's so many, you know, there's so many careers that are out there now and so many careers to be discovered um, with the shift in um, the shift in our our world today. So. Those are just some of the things that we do. All right. Um, going forward, goals that we would like to accomplish when it comes to professional development is we would like to we do need to learn a lot I think everybody does a lot more about AI and how to incorporate AI into our curriculum instruction and assessment. Uh, we need to learn how to teach students ethical and responsible um, and productive use of AI.
Jocelyn Withers. >> [applause] >> Jocelyn was on the high honor roll and will receive an academic letter. Jocelyn is most proud of her improvements in wrestling. Samantha Wright. >> [applause] >> Samantha is most proud of making new friends. And our final eighth grader, Garrett Ziegler. >> [applause] >> Garrett is most proud of being on the high honor roll. Before presenting the class of 2030, just a reminder for all students who received the individual recognition at the beginning of tonight, please meet here behind the podium. The staff of Burlington Middle School would like to thank you for the legacy that you have left on BMS and wishes you all a great summer and the very best of luck. Your future is bright and we're happy and excited to see where it takes you. Staff, family, friends, I proudly present to you the class of 2030. Thank you for joining us tonight and we hope you have a great summer.
Uh and uh moving forward, if anyone has any questions and you want to ask me, you can call me at at the office. I give everybody my cell phone. I can explain all this. It's It's really not you know, it's not difficult. It's It's just a It's a numbers thing and it always has been and I've been saying that for a very long time and unfortunately, I think this has been a Garfield issue for years and I think we're the first administration and now board, I guess, to actually say we're going to make these cuts and stay financially stable and you know, that maybe it hasn't happened that way. So, um so, that's the explanation.
But it granted us one of the best wishes. Friendship. the people who stood beside us while we watched it go by. So, while I hope you see the most stunning places and have the grandest experiences, my true hope for you is that along the way you meet the people who will stand by you through the ugly. Those who call to just see how you're doing. Those who make light out of horrible situations, but hug you really tight when it still sucks. Those who will dance it out with you. And those who will wish on you when they see a shooting star. Because experiences begin and end in the blink of an eye. It's the memories that last in the people you share them with. Congratulations, class of 2026. Thanks for the memories. >> [applause] >> And now I would like to call up our validictorian, Anukica Peterson.