001i want to call to order the brownsburg community school corporation board of school trustees regular meeting of april 12 2021 please stand for the pledge of allegiance 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 join me for a moment of reflection thank you um consent items dr snap first approval of minutes of the march 8th 2021 business meeting yeah so uh request approval just of letter a at this point in time please i think it was just me matt and tiffany at that we're at that meeting so can i get a motion on those minutes so moved well second motion in a second any questions or comments hearing that all in
002favor signify by saying aye all right all opposed Passes. And then B, claims. Yes. Request approval of the claims and also superintendent's report under consent. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. Second. Motion is second. Any questions or comments? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. Communications, introduction of new administrators, Dr. Snap. Thank you, Mr. Hilton. We just approved two new administrators, but before I introduce them, if you're a teacher here to welcome our two administrators, could you just raise your hand? Because I see a number of English department people out there and a number of people from West. First of all, parents, thank you for coming. If you're a parent that served on the interview committee, raise your hand. There we go. Thank you very much.
003Thank you so much for coming to welcome these new administrators to Brownsburg. Our new administrator, our secondary department chair for English language arts is Tania Thompson. Tania, would you please stand and wave to the group? Thank you very much. Welcome to Brownsburg. We're glad you're here. And then the new principal at West Middle School is Nicole Walker. Nicole? Don't sit down, Nicole. You have some special guests with you, so if you wouldn't mind introducing them. Well, welcome to you and your entire family. Thank you. Thanks for showing. Operations update, Mr. Voigt. Couple quick updates. First of all, we've been tracking free and reduced meal participation. This is the same graph I shared with you back in January. It's been updated. Jordan takes this on the first Wednesday of every month, so we have consistent data.
004You can see the dip that we saw in December. We believe that that's associated with quarantined students, fewer students in school because of quarantine. Pardon me, Mr. Voigt. I'm sorry to interrupt. I neglected a duty. I think that the West teachers... that are here. I saw a couple Phyllis don't leave. Um, if we could take, Vicki's gonna take a picture of you with Nicole. So if you guys could slip out, that's fine. I'm sorry. That's all right. I'll keep on going. All right. So the dip that's in the center is in December. We think that's due to quarantine. The good news is we really picked up over the last two or three months and you can see the difference that we're really most concerned about. is the difference between the green dotted line, which is
005last year, and where we are this year, which is the orange and red line up there. So we've seen a big, big change there. And then last time the question was asked, well, how much is the waiver program saving our students and families? It's about $1.5 million up through the first week in March, March the 3rd. So that's where we are on free and reduced. We have seen participation increase overall, whether it's free, reduced, or paid students. The other thing I wanted to mention real quickly because these are things that are happening in our buildings over the next several weeks. First of all, the Hendricks County Health Department is having a COVID vaccination clinic. That is not, we are only serving as the site. We're not involved in any other way and I just want
006to make that distinction. That is happening this weekend and then again in May. That is scheduled just as you would any other vaccine, COVID vaccine through the state of Indiana, either through 211 or the health department, the Indiana Health Department. hrh our partners in our school clinics have been also offering student vaccination clinics this is a non-covid vaccination clinic it's really targeted at fifth and eleventh graders because they're the ones that get caught when they move up a year the vaccination requirement changes and frequently we'll find that's where kids get caught in that because they've not been keeping current with their vaccines hrh has set up three different dates at avon brownsburg and plainfield because this issue happens in all school districts not just ours And you can see the dates and times. Those parents
007that have had that concern with their students, they've been notified directly by our school nurses. And then Jennifer Wright mentioned to me that they're also looking at running some clinics later on this summer. All of this is targeted at making sure that our kids are able to stay in school in the fall when that state exclusion piece comes up. And then last but not least, some quick updates on TAFs. These are pictures I took today. The building is really moving along very, very well. All the carpet is down for the most part. Here you can see it's actually protected so they can continue to do work without damaging the floor. And then this is the school bus I mentioned and the world's largest purple car wash, bus wash, is down there on the right-hand side.
008It's really coming along well. We are planning on having an open house. That's interesting. It's not advancing. Open house sometime the last week of school. And so we're working on getting that taken care of, get that scheduled, and have people join us for the opening of the building. There it is. There's the maintenance space. So contractors are working feverishly to get done. We expect them to actually be done with most of their work by early May. And that is the update. Any questions for Mr. Boyd? That was great. Yeah. Sorry, I had to turn that on the where are we at as far as in the lunch stuff that you showed as far as revenue coming in? I know that each of the savings are we pretty with we are now to the point where
009the. Cash flow loan that we were able that actually at the end of February if I remember right they had actually cleared enough in their cash flow to be able to Reimburse the district for that cash flow loan from last spring. Okay, and then there's some other things that we were working on So there it's working out well, okay recovering from a really really challenging year. The families are saving money But we're still making enough to help correct. Okay. Good. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. Mr. Boyd Brownsburg Education Foundation report Mrs. Dierman okay first of all thank you everyone who participated in our rally for kids gala my glasses are fogging up sorry and helped raise fifty five thousand dollars which is huge more than we've raised before and we had COVID and we didn't
010have get to have a real gala so that was amazing all the people that participated and all the different opportunities to donate to the Education Foundation. So thank you so much for that. We will have the chip in for the kids golf outing again. That's June 11th at West Chase Golf Course with shotgun start of 830. You can still sign up online on the website if you're interested in participating or volunteering. It's a really fun event and it is presented by Summers Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. The bricks can still be ordered for the graduation bricks for your graduate, but they won't be placed in the walk before graduation because the March 19th deadline has come and gone, but still an amazing, awesome gift for your graduate to have a brick. Grants and scholarships. Scholarship applications
011were due before spring break, and the grant scholarship committee will meet to determine who the 48 recipients of $1,000 scholarships that BEF will award. to the class of 2021 and 21 of the scholarships are thanks to the generosity of the staff and the payroll deduction program. So thank you for that. And then there's the district elect excellence awards grants. They were submitted by grade level and department heads before spring break. And announcements will be made at the beginning of May. Incredible award grant applications will be available in the middle of May and due to the office by august 15th for the incredible grant so thank you thank you mrs dearman COVID pre-planning for 2021-22, Dr. Snap. Well, we continue to watch things develop. Since our last meeting, the governor made the mask advisory. We also
012have started vaccinating 16-year-olds and up, and we also understand that the Pfizer vaccine is being asked for, requested for approval for 12-year-olds and on up. And so, We're just being patient. We've got another really month and a half before we really come to you, start preparing for the June 15th. I think many of the issues will be resolved by the time that we get there and make our decision-making process much easier. We do have a meeting coming up and then another one scheduled closer to that time with Enders County Health Commissioner. So I think there'll be some things. will be our decision to make here locally and then i think there will be others that will want to follow his direction as we go forward but a lot is happening each month and i think
013we'll we're hoping for a more normal opening of the 21-22 school year so happy to answer any questions or any thoughts that you'd like as we approach that june 14th kind of deadline for us to make some decisions about the upcoming school year okay thank you Questions for Dr. Snapp? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Snapp. Equity definitions, Mrs. Webb. So, ready? So, what I want to initially do is just go over these definitions. And to start, these have been through our community equity leadership team group and our district equity leadership team group. That's 15 people made of administrators and certified and support staff have gone over these definitions to Ensure that they are in alignment with where the school is heading. So I can read them aloud or I'll give you an opportunity to read them,
014whichever one you prefer. Okay. So, racism is an intentional or internal external prejudice or discriminatory behavior against a person or group of people based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group. Institutional racism in education is racism that is embedded within the structure of education, which can impact the achievement and advancement of students of color. Anti-racism is actively opposing racism through intentional action. Equity is providing resources based on need, providing more for those who need it. Inclusion is fostering an environment that welcomes all to fully participate, regardless of their level of influence or perceived power. Diversity is the existence of differences. Microaggressions are intentional or unintentional words and behaviors towards marginalized groups or individuals, which are experienced as hostile, derogatory, or negative. Macroaggressions are large scale or overt acts of aggression, prejudice, or
015discrimination towards a marginalized group and are experienced as hostile, dangerous, derogatory, or negative. Intersectionality, the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. So with those again those were initially created by the community group when I got here I looked at those Worked with them presented them back to the community group got their feedback and approval And then we moved to the Delt group and they have also approved these definitions So kind of this is what we're moving forward What is the kind of the use of these definitions and how will they be used kind of moving forward? Good question so our goal is to be able to speak a common language.
016I think a part of the efforts for diversity and equity, they go awry. When I'm saying racism, and we mean two different things, or I'm saying diversity, we mean two different things. So having a common language allows us to start off on a strong and solid foundation. eliminating some gray areas that can cause misinterpretation or offense because we're not speaking the same language. So as we move forward, everyone will have these and they'll know when we say racism, this is what we mean. When we say microaggressions, this is what we mean. So having a set of guidelines so you can move forward, is what you're trying to say. Guidelines. A set of terms in which you can implement guidelines or policies. I'll say yes. Okay. Could you give an example of how intersectionality might be
017applied or used or what would be the purpose for that term? Intersectionality is you as a black female. So both groups could be considered marginal and you could be mistreated because you are black or because you are female or because you're both. And so intersectionality removes the weight of having to pick an identity in which you'll present or having to say, or having to diminish an identity because you don't want it to show up and potentially be something that causes you to be marginalized. Can you give me a specific example of how that term would be applied in creating a guideline or I guess addressing maybe a situation with a student or staff or I'm just it seems really vague to me like exactly how it would be used or applied. Yeah, so let's say
018we have a student who is a black female and they have a disability. So when we talk about equity, I can't just talk about it from a racial perspective for you. I can't talk about it from a gender perspective for you. I have to talk about it from also a disability standpoint for you. And if we ignore the disability identity and just go to black or female, we're not fully involving that person in the conversation. So it's allowing each identity that you have to be present in the conversation and accounted for. Under microaggressions and macroaggressions, you put in there the word marginalized groups. Does it have to be a marginalized group or individual? Or could it be any group or individual? I think that is... So is marginalized just put in there? Because really, if
019we're treating everyone like all, I mean, groups or individuals is what should be part of that definition versus having marginalized in there. I disagree. I think that we can all experience microaggressions, but in terms of racial equity, gender equity, whatever we want to talk about, it is against the marginalized group by definition. Now we can decide if we want to take that word out, but I think if we take the word out, we're watering down what we mean to say. And I don't want to start us off by watering down what we mean to say. And kind of to speak on it being for all of us, I do believe that equity is for all of us, absolutely. It's not just for... this group versus that group it's not this group needs to apologize to
020this group it's for all of us and it's not agenda based for me i'm not seeking to push an agenda or an idea my goal is to have everyone understand that we need to treat one another with respect and dignity regardless of how we feel about a characteristic concerning you and so as we well thank you wow but as we move forward i want that to be very clear to you all as the board that you don't have to be concerned with us fighting a specific fight because I'm not going to change anyone's beliefs because I'm not going to change mine, right? But regardless of my beliefs, my convictions, my values. I don't have the right to disrespect anyone. I don't have the right to treat someone as if they are lesser than I am
021because they're different than I am. And so I think if that's a lesson that we all take from talking about diversity, our differences in equity, meaning that we still can come together and support one another in those differences, we'll be much better off. Okay, but you still agree that all should be treated the same, correct? Yes, but I don't think that that applies to the definition of a microaggression. So who determines what is a microaggression versus a macroaggression? Who will be making that decision in a specific instance? I think it's up to personal interpretation. And I say that because I'm not the arbiter of people's feelings, right? You could say something to me that might be a microaggression and I'm offended. And you could say it to Tania and she could care less, right? So
022I think the environment that I want to create is where I can say, hey, Tiffany, you offended me. And let me tell you why. And then you say, that wasn't my intention. I apologize. And we move on slate clean because we're never going to be in a world where we can't. and don't offend one another because we don't know everything about one another, right? But to have these terminologies and to know and to work to steer clear of them, there are some very clear microaggressions that we all know fall under that category, but really to create a system of communication and not... Holding things against one another or not creating an offense that's long-lasting is really my goal. Definitions are a must because if we're not speaking the same language, we can't address situations effectively
023because you spend 10 minutes saying, oh, well, I meant this as a microaggression versus I meant this. But with like terminology, we can get right to the point of offense, discuss that, and move on. So since you mentioned that it can be very subjective. Absolutely. In terms of a microaggression, then how do we define being anti-racist if someone says something to me that doesn't offend me, but, or does offend me, a person who hears that, if I'm understanding what anti-racism is, that you need to speak up? Is that true? Is that right? Understanding correctly that you need to do something or speak up if you observe what is perceived to be racist behavior. Yes, it's not incorrect, but to me when I think about anti-racism, I think about the way we make automatic assumptions about
024things. When you have thoughts and ideas and stereotypes embedded in the way that you think, when we have unconscious bias embedded in the way that we think, to me to be anti-racist is to address those unconscious biases within us so that they don't continue to creep up into our decision making or into the way that we interact with people or the way that we make assumptions about people. So anti-racism is an individual's capacity to overcome the things that have created a thought line for people. So whatever that looks like for them, it's a personal journey, absolutely. But I think that creating the pathway for people to have those conversations, if no one ever tells you that the way you're thinking about something is incorrect, you'll go on thinking that way. And not only will you
025go on thinking that way, people will go on thinking that you're terrible instead of just saying, hey, the way you're approaching this is incorrect. We change the thinking and we change the behavior and we repair the relationship. And you don't feel like with the character traits that we have now, respect and honesty and all of, you don't believe those cover these behaviors well enough as we interact with different people that we need to create separate terms that apply specifically to ethnicity. They apply specifically to? Ethnicity. I think that they apply, but I don't think that they're direct enough. And to me, we want to be direct. And direct doesn't mean anti-a group. It just means when we say respect in terms of diversity and equity, here's what we mean. Because again, if it's never been
026discussed, and if people were applying respect and acceptance and all these things to these topics, we wouldn't be here. but they're not. So we have to bring these topics into the language that we already know, merge them and show people that there's something we're missing within our conversation and then add that into the conversation. We're embedding equity into our conversation. Do you believe that there's any race of people that don't have bias? No. I think that we all do. Everyone does. And with providing equity, resources based on need, providing more for those who need it. So with limited resources as a school corporation, how do we make sure everybody gets what they need without leaving anyone out? And then if someone gets left out, how do we decide who does? I think part of your
027question is a little above my pay grade, but I think the other half that I can address is sometimes people feel stereotyped and marginalized and won't say that they need something else. Think about the numbers that John just discussed with school lunch. We have more people eating a free school lunch now than did before. Could there have been some kind of... embarrassment or pride or stigma attached to free lunch that stop people from allowing their children to have that. So now that it's removed because it's just free for everyone, there's no stigma attached to having an application and eating all these things, we have opened up a door for more people to have the nutritional resources that they need. And so I think that when we step back a little bit and yes, when we
028talk about diversity and equity, we're gonna talk about race, just period. But when we talk about diversity and equity, that's not all. And so when we talk about resources, I don't allocate resources, and that's for the best. But when I think about creating pathways for people to say, without shame, I need help with this, that is something that I have my hand on, and I think that that's something that when we do that, we can properly allocate resources. So you're not in favor of allocating resources based on ethnicity? including or excluding based on ethnicity. That is one of the definitions of equity that I'm familiar with, but you're not saying you support that. No, and I yeah very when I wrote it I was clear to make sure I was I wanted to be clear
029that nothing I wrote could be misinterpreted I don't believe that we should be doing anything on the basis of race It's illegal to hire on the basis of race even if you're trying to hire a black person, right? So I don't believe we do anything on the basis of race. I believe that we remove barriers so that we all can succeed and Whether that's removing it from a person of a different race gender ethnicity national origin, whatever it is We have to be able to remove the barriers, but if we never create a culture where people can tell us what the barriers are, we won't know them. So if not doing anything by race, an institutional racism, the very end is put of color. Why don't you just take the of color part and just
030leave it with students? So that way it's not based off race. Because it is institutional racism, it's based off of race. I think the hang up could potentially be that we feel as though you, well not we, you feel as though we are creating an us versus them mentality. And I'll tell you that I think that is the wrong way to do this work because if, I know how many black teachers we have. If the 27, 28 black teachers decided that it was us versus them, we're gonna lose the fight. It's not us versus them, it's all of us coming together to ensure that all of us have what we need in whatever capacity in which we need it. And so to talk about institutional racism, the education system hasn't been skewed against students who
031aren't of color. It's been skewed against students of color. So just because we have to be firm in our standard and definition of certain things like racism and institutional racism, that doesn't mean we're only focused on racism. That doesn't mean we're only focused on race. It means that's also an important segment of what we're doing. And to leave that out waters down the entire thing. I really think that it makes it... not worth doing because it doesn't advance people who need the advancement. It doesn't spotlight the people who need the spotlight. But just because we shine a spotlight on someone doesn't mean that everyone else is in the shadow. It means we get to look at everyone now versus just a smaller population of the people. How's it looking at everyone when you just said
032you're putting a highlight on just one particular people? Because there's people already standing in the light. In the light on everyone anyway? I can't hear you. In the light on everyone anyway? So you're trying to do it for all? our goal is to put the light on everyone. Right now, it's not, because if it was, I wouldn't have this job, right? It wouldn't be, if the light was on all of us, there wouldn't be institutional racism. Because when we realized something was going wrong in this education system, we would have said, uh-oh, let's fix that, let's address that. But because it was working for the majority, the minority just had to go along with it. Now, I have two brothers, PhD scientists. It worked for us. I'm an attorney, it worked for me, but I
033know a lot of people who worked very hard and it didn't work for them, regardless of their race. But they were definitely students of color. Now, are we gonna look at things like poverty and test scores? We're gonna care, we care about that stuff too. But that doesn't mean that we have to forsake these definitions because they're bothersome to the people already in the light. We can all be in the light. So would you say that you support equal opportunity or you feel there needs to be equality of outcome? Both. Equality of outcome? And equal opportunity. I think that because we have unconscious biases in whatever direction, we don't always create equal opportunity. And that affects our equality of outcome. Well, I absolutely agree there's not always equal opportunity, and that is why it is
034absolutely necessary for us to be always looking at offering that. But I'm not sure you can assure equality of outcome. Just because there are so many different factors that go into how people live their lives and where they end up besides just race Absolutely, it's about decisions turn off. Yeah, so I mean I think equal opportunity we can absolutely should absolutely be a priority. But equality of outcome, that scares me. I would never say that this job is going to change the trajectory of generations per se. I mean, do I want it to? Yes. But what I will say is that me being in this position, having these definitions and doing this work will remove us as a barrier from people having inequality of outcome. They can't say they came through Brownsburg School Corporation and
035were treated with such disdain that they didn't want to come back to class. because no one understood them, they never saw themselves reflected in the classroom, they won't be able to say that. Now you made poor decisions, that's on you. But they can't put the onus back on us because of the work that we're doing to remove ourselves as a barrier. So it sounds like you do realize that regardless of what we do, and I think it is important again that we do everything in our power to make sure that Brownsburg has unity in our community. and that every single student, teacher, staff member feels like they belong here, we're going to say this is their school. With that, we also know that people have the freedom to have whatever perceptions they want to have.
036Absolutely. And we may not be able to immediately or long-term affect how somebody else might impact somebody else because it's a personal relationship thing. Yeah, I am mindful of the scope. of this position because I'm not going to, and that's why I say I'm not changing feelings. I'm not changing hearts and minds. I'm telling you that regardless of how you feel, you're not going to disrespect anyone or treat them with contempt because of how you feel about them. That's not the right way to show up. And so you can go your whole life not liking me because I'm a black female, but don't come up and call me a derogatory name. Just go about your way, right? And so to me, The mistake people make in this role is thinking that they're going to change
037everyone to just become these anti-racist champions of diversity. I don't know if that's possible. I like to work with the Coalition of the Willing, number one, and I like to understand that people have the opportunity, they've had so many opportunities to learn before now. Whether or not they capitalized on them is just not my responsibility. But what I will say is, regardless of how you feel, You're going to treat people with respect, and then we're going to help you understand them better, because maybe that will change how you feel. Maybe you have a fear based on lack of knowledge, and I'm not changing your beliefs, but I'm changing the way you see people. I'm re-humanizing them to you. I just have maybe two more questions, and then I'm done. I don't see critical race theory
038up there anywhere. Do you feel that fits into the whole intersectionality? And I'll just say my understanding of intersectionality is that of course we all intersect at different points but in society there are the oppressed and the oppressors and at the top of the oppressed scale is the white male Protestant and then it goes down from there as different levels of oppression that happen and so if you're a white male Protestant you're automatically an oppressor. I didn't know if this fits into that or the critical race theory? No, because I think that your concern with making people feel like the villain because people are victims, I think that would buy right into that. Because I don't think that we have villains. I think that we have people who are byproducts of the system that was
039created. And they have privileges that they didn't ask for, but they have. And now we have to figure out how we can all have an opportunity to succeed. So I don't want to have anything on paper that's going to villainize anyone because that's going to immediately turn people off to the conversation that we're wanting to have. So I don't think that it would be helpful. Or immediately victimize anyone who may not feel like a victim? Do you feel like we have people that we don't want to victimize any more than we want to villainize? From talking with a lot of people, probably over 200 people since I've been here, I have not heard a lot of the victim mentality. And I have had a lot of people feel like the villain that I've had to
040personally tell you are not the villain. You're here you're having this conversation with me you didn't have to because you want to learn how to do better because you realize you unintentionally didn't do the best you could and that's for all of us and so I don't think that we have People who are saying well with me I think we have people who are saying am I the problem and my answer to you is No, we're all the problem and we're all gonna work to become the solution together any more questions for I can just say that I'm really happy to have you here. I think you're doing a great job. I think any time that you put more concentration around anything, people are going to learn and grow. And that in itself is probably,
041it will result in different behaviors and different outcomes. So I appreciate everything you're doing. Thank you. Any other questions for Mrs. Webb? I guess that goes back to, you know, it's a hard position no matter who you're talking to. It really is. So I appreciate you getting up there and talking. Conversation is a good way to start no matter what way it goes. Appreciate that. Thank you, Mrs. Mudd. Student growth report. Dr. Jessup. Hopefully we'll have less questions for this one. No, I'm counting on many, many questions. So Mr. Boyd is pulling up our slide for tonight. This is in line with the information that we shared at the last several meetings. High ability information, the discipline information. And this is information that would typically be shared by our counselors. But because we haven't started
042the work yet, I'm going to tell you where we're going with our work so that we can get started on that. So I meet quarterly. Jim and I meet quarterly with our counselors. And we've really been talking about our character education lessons. And so when Mrs. Yearman talked about our character education lessons, what we realized when we really started digging into them is that while we all teach the same character trait each month, we're really not completely on the same page. And we do that in every other subject. So if we go into a first grade classroom during math period, all of our first grade students are going to be learning the same math topic. But these, for some reason, we've kind of gotten off where we were with those. Didn't show up? No. We
043didn't have those as streamlined as they have been, as we wanted them to be. So we're going to begin our work in making sure that we're similar to identical. And that's something that we've talked about with all of you before when we think about our curriculum work with staff is that we're going to be similar to identical. And on this situation, we're going to be at the identical end of that continuum. So we do know that our counselors are going to need some training. You know, we talked earlier about what microaggressions are. Right now, our counselors do not feel that they have the training that they need to talk with students confidently about some of the feelings that deal with microaggressions. And so we want to be able to provide that training to them. We
044don't know what that's going to be yet. We just know that that's something that we're going to need to do. From there, we're also going to work with our students on the instruction that goes along with those character traits. So from there, we're going to begin planning these character lessons. So when we think about what their kids are learning in sixth grade at East is going to be the same thing our kids are learning in sixth grade at West. So we begin our working with our counselors tomorrow. We meet with high school. Wednesday is elementary and then Thursday is our middle school staff. So we will work with our counselors on the character traits. We will work with them on restorative practices as we figure out what that's going to look like for us. They
045will become a part of what their role is going to be in educating students about the impact of their behaviors on others. And then finally, Shayla and I are actually going to meet with counselors monthly to make sure that the character trait lessons that we've done have been well received, what went well, what didn't go well, so that we can tweak those. What we don't want to do is we don't want to wait until May and talk about lessons that happened back in August and September because nobody remembers those. And so that's how we're going to turn this into monthly check-ins with them about these lessons. So that's where we are. Any questions for Dr. Jessup? Could you just give an example, Kat, of the restorative? I'm not sure if everybody understands what that is.
046So when we think about restorative consequences, it really makes sure that you're doing a piece where you're rebuilding the relationship. So if you have a student whose behavior in class is the student stands up, yells something, throws a book across the classroom, and leaves. We can certainly give a consequence. We're going to be done in a minute. You don't have to do that. That's okay. While we can give a consequence where we're going to have you spend, if it's an elementary student, where we can have you spend recess in the office, the important piece is really talking about why did that behavior happen? What can we do differently when we have those feelings the next time? And what's my relationship? with the teacher if I'm the student. Okay, so this happens in a classroom. A
047teacher acts quickly to send that child to the office. As the assistant principal, I'm going to deal with that child, and then the next day that child's going to show up in the classroom again. If we don't take the time to rebuild that relationship between the child and the teacher, There's a problem there. We need to rebuild that relationship. And so that's one of the things that restorative justice does is really works on restoring the relationship, but also looking at what we can do to prevent those behaviors from happening in the future. So it's not just punitive. It is designed to bring unity. And what has happened is in the heat of moments, we give a consequence and we move forward, and it's done. You know, I think back to being an assistant principal. I
048knew that my relationship was going to be fine with the child the next day, but I didn't take the time to make sure that the child's relationship with their teacher was. And I think that that's a piece we want to make sure that we do. So there'll be some specific counseling for teachers on how to have those conversations with students so that they don't feel... And again, we're still really investigating what that looks like. We don't believe that that is... that practice is something that we can do with every single thing. You know, we mentioned before, if a child is in possession of illegal substances, yeah, we're going to want to rebuild a relationship at some point, but there's going to be a pretty significant consequence that's going to go along with that. So I
049guess I was thinking that this was just more or less related to the diversity equity, but is this restorative going to be broad sweeping? This is for everybody. This is broad sweeping because it's all about the relationships. You answered my question, so thank you. any other questions for dr joseph thank you dr joseph first reading of the 2021-22 school handbooks dr joseph thank you it is that time of year for handbooks everybody's very excited about that um this year there are not um a lot of changes to the handbooks um the the typical changing the dates changing um the page numbers those of course are are part of the the handbooks. There are some operation changes, so things from food services that have changed. That has to do with non-sufficient funds. We've updated the link
050to immunizations for health services, some transportation things. For instance, if the bus is equipped with seat belts, students will wear the seat belts. We've mentioned restorative practice here. So if we get to the point where we're going to use it, we have it in the handbook. Not that we're 100% sure because, like I said, we're still investigating. BECC, we mentioned that there's not a nurse on staff. And then there were some changes with dress codes at the middle school and high school that keep those in line with one another. So this would just being the first reading. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer those or to be able to review and get back to you on those. But that's where we are with handbooks. So the disciplinary actions and restorative process, are you
051just throwing that definition in more particular? So there is a section in the handbook that lists all of the different types of disciplinary actions that we can take. Detention, suspensions, expulsions, loss of privilege, those type of things. This has just been added as a potential. And if we get to the point where we do choose to use that. That it's already in there is something that we have on the table. So everybody understands what it is. Correct. Okay Any other questions on the 2021-22 school handbooks for Dr. Jessup? let's see i think mine's on board policy so good good one okay uh thank you dr jessup now we'll go to the first reading of board policies dr jessup yes so um presented three different policies for you anti-harassment bullying and staffing student networking internet acceptable
052use and safety i know there were two different parts that had been commented on that i did want to address very quickly the first was that wrong and or victimized section in 5517 and said it was a little bit too wordy. My recommendation would be we just change it to victimized. And then there was a part where you, there was a recommendation to add a ledge to in front of the problems. I'm fine to do that. The reason I hadn't is because the very next sentence says the board will investigate all allegations of harassment. And this is the reason why I actually asked for the allegations because that way, you know, you're innocent until proven guilty thought process. Okay. I thought you'd go the other way, Ashley, instead of putting victimized, but the wrongdoing or
053wronged. Okay. I personally rather think that sounds better than victimized. Because even when I think when Shayla was talking earlier, that was not a good term to actually go with. Okay. Okay, so we'll have those. And then the other one was a question about in bullying and 5517.01, who we is, we'll change that to school board so it's clear. Okay, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. is that all your questions i'm happy okay good all right any other questions about the board policies okay and then finally uh first reading of 2022-23 school calendar oh that's actually thank you dr jess if you're done with that part i guess uh the reading of the school calendar is dr snap thank you uh you have the proposed Calendar for the 22-23 school year. It's very similar to the calendar
054that we've had for over a decade, just to just a day or two here or there. So this would be the first reading, and then we bring it back in May for approval. Any questions about the 20-22-23 school calendar? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Snapp. Old business, public hearing on Eighth Amendment to lease. Mr. Hacker. And so, Mr. Hilton, we'll need you to go ahead and suspend the regular board meeting and then open up the public hearing for this particular. Okay, I'm going to suspend the regular board meeting. Now we'll do the public hearing on the Eighth Amendment to lease, Mr. Hacker. Very good. Thank you. And so tonight we bring to you the next step in our 2021 project for West Middle School. And so we. advertised this public hearing in the Republican End School
055website on March 11th. Essentially, any time that we are opening up a project and using lease financing like we have used for the last several years, we are subject to this particular step in the legal process. And so we are funding this project in through lease financing, but the building is currently under a lease, and so therefore that's why you will see the term amendment. And so ultimately we are just adjusting the current lease that is in place. And so this particular lease, what it essentially is a financing agreement, is essentially describing the project outline. and the financing terms. And as a binding agreement, essentially it's just like between when you pay your mortgage to the bank, this is the agreement that says we're going to pay our bond payments to the bondholders out of
056our debt service plan. And so in a way that will ensure that does not, again, raise the tax rate as we so discussed and approved, I believe, in December when this project was approved. But one of the opportunities for the lease is the public hearing, and so at this point in time. i will open that up to public comment who has any questions or concerns about the eighth amendment to the lease for our 2021 bond project at west middle school do any members of the public wish to make comments on mr hacker's presentation or the eighth amendment to lease hearing none any comments or questions from board members and then i now close the public hearing I give back to the regular board meeting with recommendation to approve resolution authorizing execution of eighth amendment to
057lease and sale of real estate, Mr. Hacker. Yes. And so the exact lease I was just discussing for the public hearing, this time we bring that to you for approval so we can get a move forward with the project financing of our 2021 West Middle School renovation and addition. Do I have a motion? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. Do I have a motion and second? Any questions or comments for Mr. Hacker? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. Recommendation to approve the following resolutions. Mr. Hacker. we're going again this time we have two resolutions again we can do it with one resolution approval just for to be fairly efficient here this evening the first one is resolution assigning construction bids and contracts as you
058know mr voight has been bringing i believe we're tonight will be round number three of the construction bids and since the project is technically leased through the brownsburg 1999 school building corporation Ultimately, we are making the payments on behalf of the holding corp. And so this particular resolution just ensures that we can assign the bids to them, but in turn allows us to make those payments on behalf of the school corporation. And then the second one is just the approving 10th supplement to amend and restate the master continuing disclosure undertaking and issuing bonds. And so ultimately, that's just a highly. Very legal terminology. It just says federal requirement to provide the bondholders some information about school corporation including any recent audit a form 9 information updated enrollment and taxpayer information that we will make available
059to the bondholders When taking our project to the sale and so asking for your approval for both of those resolutions at this time so move Motion is second on both resolutions presented by mr. Hacker. Are there any questions or comments from mr. Hacker? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Hacker. Thank you, guys. New business, recommendation to award construction contracts for West Middle School, release number three, Mr. Voigt. As Mr. Hacker mentioned, all the financial things that he's been working on, this is the third set of... bids that we've awarded we're recommending bid package seven site work be awarded to millennium contractors and bid package eight roofing be awarded to corellis both contractors have worked on brownsburg schools before successfully included in the packet
060was a notation that we are not awarding alternates one two three and four in the roofing project if we are able to take those later on once we've opened up bids on release number five this summer then we'll go ahead and add those into the contract by change order And the description of why we're doing that is included in the board packet. So unless there's any questions, we recommend approval of these two contracts. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments from Mr. Voigt? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. Thank you, Mr. Voigt. Recommendation to approve out-of-district student transfers. Dr. Snap. Thank you, Mr. Hilton. Request approval to approve out-of-district student transfers. The details
061there, and I appreciate Dr. Jessup's work on this, would be approximately 10 students per grade, K through 12. We'd accept those out-of-district students May 3rd through the 28th if there were more than allowed that we would have a lottery to pick those. It says on here the guidelines. And I think it's important to accept in accordance with Indiana Code 20-2611-32, there are state laws about taking out-of-district students. And so these guidelines comply with following all those state laws. So at this time, I would request approval to accept out-of-district students beginning with the 21-22 school year. Do I have a motion? So moved. Second. I have a motion and a second. Any questions or comments for Dr. Snapp? Hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? I opposed. You opposed? So
062we have four in favor, one opposing. Motion passes. Superintendent comments, Dr. Snap. I do have, she's left, but we did have one of the authors in our presence today. A book published, Arrows, a systems-based approach to school leadership was just recently published. by Sarah Henry, who is our current secondary department head for science, and Carrie Rosebrock, who used to be our secondary department head for English, who now works as a professional developer. So this is our story. It is a quick read, but for many years we talked about, well, somebody should just write a book, and these two did. And so I'd encourage you, if you get a chance to... take a look at it they they did i think an excellent job of capturing what we've been doing in brownsburg um i was told
063that it is a final uh it's in the final three for a statewide book study by the indiana department of education so i think that's quite an honor and i hope that they're able to secure that so a copy at your desk i'm sorry i didn't get to you for spring break because i've been perfect spring break reading but there'll be other times to read that as well thank you that's all i have board member comments mr wills I just, I want to go back to Mrs. Webb and just say I really appreciate the effort and the work you put in in this new role. I'm looking forward to seeing how it transitions into the schools going forward. I am 100% behind this, so thank you very much. Mrs. Dermott. Congratulations, but I think she
064left to our new principal and her family. And I just wanted to say thank you to Renee for all you do, the BEF and all the money that we were able to raise and how much they support our kids. And I want to say thank you to Mrs. Webb for standing there and answering all those questions. I know that's not easy and really appreciate that. Dr. Freedman. Yes, thank you for all the speakers getting up there because that is never easy no matter who you are. It really isn't. Just a couple things. My goal, of course, always is to ensure all students and staff are being treated equally without prejudice or bias for any reason. That's why having those conversations we had today was a good thing. We should continue to have those conversations. I
065do recommend that we do take the information that was provided today and for review as a school board prior to distributing it amongst the students and staff because there was some questions that still need to be asked and are possibly addressed. Especially if this is to be used in future trainings. Because we do approve and disapprove things generally for guidelines, policies. We found out definitions in the handbook like restorative practices to be implemented by the superintendent and staff. And we should get a consensus of the board before we actually do that. So more conversation that I believe is merited at this time prior to use at a future date. Number three, the only way we can grow is realizing we do have differences that make us unique, but reinforcing that we are more alike than
066different is also a good thing, too. Focusing on differences only creates more division, and unity is what we should always strive to be and have. So, thank you. Thank you, Dr. Friedrich. any yeah just i wanted to congratulate all the the new employees the new administrators welcome so um congratulations to laurie johnson for your new role as well so lots of exciting changes and moves i think it's going to be great for everybody so appreciate everyone thank you i have no additional comments tonight uh do i have a motion to adjourn to move motion to have a second second all in favor signify by saying aye aye aye all opposed motion passes we are adjourned thank you everybody