001Okay. >> Good evening. Welcome to our April 28th schoolboard meeting. Um, I would like to start the meeting with the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America to the stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. >> Thank you. And now a moment of silence. Thank you. Um we are going to start tonight with recognitions. Dr. Hy. >> All right. Thank you board and good evening everyone. Great to see all of you here with us tonight. This is a a fun time of year. We have quite a few rec recognitions tonight. So let's uh let's get started. I would first like to invite up to the podium um Dave Nicholson and Levi Buyers to talk to us about middle school wrestling. I got nervous that I was going
002to have to make up something about middle school wrestling there for a minute. I'm glad you're here. Okay. We are thankful to be here tonight. Glad to be with you. Um I'm coach Dave Nicholson at East. >> I am Coach Levi Buyers over at West. >> We coach the wrestling teams. And so uh we had four county champions at East. our 75 pounder Gavin Cooper who's a sixth grader unable to be here because he is at a freestyle qualifying tournament. 113 Jack Young. Jack stepped forward just a step there buddy. Jack is unusual in a number of ways. However, especially because he's a two-time county champion. So, we're very proud of him for that. That was an awesome job. Thank you, Jack. Colin Hargus, an eighth grader at one. Yeah, you can clap for Jack.
003[applause] Colin Harus, an eighth grader at 175. He's at a baseball game tonight. And then our 245 pounder, Rayanne Aljun, another eighth grader. So, uh, these kids worked hard along with everybody else, our assistant coaches at East are Willie Young, Brett Kinsey, Will Bontrager, and of course, most of you would know Rick Fields as our athletic director. They work hard. I will admit that we have uh three females in our our team and uh if everybody in the room worked as hard as these guys and our three females, uh we'd have more up here. Those young ladies work awfully hard and I I'm hoping that someday we'll get to see a whole team at middle school for the lady wrestlers. So that's East. >> Uh so like I said, I'm Levi Buyers, coach at West.
004Um, we were able to go over as a team to Westfield uh, middle school on March 14th and we won a county champ a team championship. Uh, and we also had six individual champions. I'm going to call those guys out now. Uh, and they can just step forward. Uh, Gage Yates is our 80 pounder. Uh, he is a two-time county champion, seventh grader. Uh, Owen Aloio is an 85pound, two-time county champion, uh, seventh grader. Uh we had Eli Bailey. He is a 106 pound two-time county champion. Uh we had Gabriel Plunkett. He is a two-time 120lb county champion. Uh we had Morgan Abernathy who was unable to beat here tonight. He is a one-time champion at 132 pounds. And Jaden Thatford is a 138-lb one-time county champion. Um like coach said, I'd like to thank
005Rick Fields. Thank you to the board for having us all here tonight. Um, and like he said, if everybody worked as hard as these guys, we'd have a whole lot more up here. Congrats, guys. [applause] All right. Next, we're going to hear about middle school show choir. So, I'd like to invite Jordan Rat Ratenberry and Alex Axom up to speak to us. All right. Hi, good evening everyone. Um, my name is Jordan Ratenbury and I am the director at Noblesville East Middle School. Um, so we have here tonight uh the East Middle School Show Choir Vocal Revolution. Um, along with the West Show Choir. >> Hello, my name is Alex Saxom. I'm the choir director and show choir director at Noblesville West. Um and then I'll have Miss Ratenbury continue on. >> Um so both
006show choirs tonight are here because in their respective showquoire competition seasons, each group won four out of their respective five competitions each, which is school records. Neither group has won more than three in a single season prior to now. Um, Noblesville East Vocal Revolution has been in creation and competing since 2011 and Westside Sound started a couple years later in 2013. Um, so we wanted to recognize all of these students for that amazing achievement. Um, just a little bit more about the East uh, Showquoire season. So, [snorts] we started at uh, Edgewood where we had a first runnerup um, placement which was our first and only loss of the season. Uh we then competed at Fischer Silver Spotlight where we won grand champions as well as best visuals. Pike Music Fest where we got grand
007champions as well as best vocals. Franklin Central who's your show Choir Classic where we were grand champions including best vocals, best visuals and best show design. And we finished up at the New Palestine uh Clash of the Choirs where we got grand champions along with best vocals and best visuals. Um our show theme this year was face off. Um, so our group was kind of divided in half and we were against each other at the beginning of our set and then we discovered that together is better and so and that was the theme of our show this season. [applause] >> Um, so uh, West the Westside Sound Show Choir um, as stated earlier we won four out of our respective five contests. Uh our our contest theme this year was uh basically titled a day
008at the fair and started with them all getting together at the fair and then enjoying some food and riding the rides and just enjoying time with with people was kind of the theme. Um at our at our contest uh we went to the Anderson a town showdown where we were grand champions best vocals went best visuals. Uh we then went to the Southmont Show Choir Invitational. Um and we were grand champions with best visuals, best vocals, best show concept, and best male soloist was Nash Seislove. Um we went to the Homestead Classic in Fort Wayne and we got second runner up. That's so very Fort Wayne of them. Um just kidding. Um then we went to the Lafayette Jefferson Extreme Show Choir Showdown. Uh we were named grand champions with best vocals, best visuals, best
009band, and then best soloist in a show uh Charlie Ecker. And we rounded out our season um at the Pendleton Heights Arabian Spectacular where we were named grand champions with best visuals. Um I think one of the things that both both groups really strive for is we do most of our stuff is is studentled. Many we try to put uh students in the band, student run crew. If you ever gone to a show choir contest, you'll see armies of parents and all of that. And that is very important. But we try to be one of the only groups in the middle school level that run it with pretty much only middle schoolers, a couple adults here and there uh just to wrangle. Um but the we have a a wonderful team of people that help
010do these things. Um on our end, I have Stacy White uh runs the show choir band. Um, and we have kids um, like our show choir crew kids are up here too and some of the band kids also. So, it's not just um, the kids up there on stage. It's all all the kids behind the stage and that work all throughout the year to do that. So, thank you very much. And kids is when you shake hands, but I'm not sure how we're going to do that back row. [applause] All right. Sorry. All right. Next, we are going to hear about Neville West Middle School robotics. So, if Jeff uh Estus and Gregory Claus could please come on up. >> Good evening, Dr. Hy and uh school board. Thanks so much for having us in
011tonight. I would like to introduce uh team M from Noblesville Middle School West uh robotics club. Uh it was a uh very busy season. We started in September and uh six months and uh lots of hard work. I would just like to comment that they along the way at three different competitions before the state tournament. Uh they received an excellence award at a competition, earned a teamwork championship award and a skills championship award. Also, uh there is a brief that exemplifies a high quality competitive robotics program and the ethos of the Wreck Foundation. The Excellence Award recognizes the team's ability to document and explain their engineering design process via an engineering notebook and team interview. The team also demonstrates outstanding competition performance by being among the top performing teams at the event. This team is
012a strong contender in numerous reward categories and exemplifies dedication, devotion, hard work, and teamwork. This team is committed to quality in everything they do and they did. See, also I'd like to mention that at the state tournament, uh, they did qualify for the final round, the top 30 teams of the top 100 teams that were invited of the 478 teams registered in Indiana. And uh, they did join up with another team to finish 16th in the state tournament. Thank you so much for having us. I apologize. I'm Jeff Fistas. This is Mr. Claus, Greg Klaus, fellow coach, and the MVV, our most valuable volunteer, Miss Rebecca Madson. [applause] All right. Next, uh, to talk to us about high school journalism, we're going to hear from Mr. Joe Acres. Long walk. Hello everyone. I'm Joe Acres.
013As Dr. said, I'm one of the journalism adviserss at the high school. And you'd think I'd know how to use a microphone a little better. Uh, I advise the broadcast and the newspaper staff and I'm going to brag about uh some of our uh incredible student journalists. They're hiding out in the back. So, uh when I say your name, uh come up come on up front. Um I'm going to talk about three of our contests uh that we entered uh this semester. Um start with our uh contest at the Indiana High School Press Association, which is our our state um high school journalism organization. Um, I'm gonna have our editors come up front. Our broadcast editors, um, Aaron McMahon, Quinn Matthews, Laca Cross, Aiden Colart, uh, Jacob Tracy, and Jordan Kmire, if you guys want
014to come up front, uh, while they're making their way up here. So, I I had them come up front uh, up first because, uh, the first thing we were going to talk about was our cover. The IHSP gives coverage awards of how well you cover uh, various subjects. Um, and in the clubs and organization section, uh, or category, our NHS news broadcast staff, uh, came in third in the state. These are kind of like our state championships. Um, in the academics category, uh, coverage category, our, uh, Milstream newspaper staff came in third and our NHS news broadcast staff came in second. In the sports category, our, uh, Milstream newspaper staff won the whole thing. Uh, best in the state. uh and then they came in second in the opinion category and uh the milstream also
015won the news and current events category. So uh that's a really big deal and uh we have some individual awards as well. I forgot to uh call up our newspaper advisors or our editors sorry uh Alice Burlock and Evelyn Summers Mean Event and um Aelia Evans if any of them are here. Um so in individual awards um in the editorial writing category uh mean event won the whole thing first place. Uh in the column writing category Elizabeth Johnson came in third and mean event won the whole thing again. She also won that category. Uh in the broadcast multimedia category um Jacob Tracy and Lily Frazzy came in second and Lilaya Cross and Adrien Degarte won it the entire uh contest. Uh, in the single page design, Anna Aglesen came in second. And in the, uh,
016sports writing category, um, Max Arnold, Aiden Cadell, Becca Garber, and Jude Neville came in second. Um, and in addition, um, the IHSP also, IHSPA also awards, hooser stars, which are for general excellence in high school journalism. Uh, it's the highest honors that you can receive in Indiana high school journalism. uh they don't have like a fixed number every year like they don't give out five or six. It's uh they give them to the organizations that best exemplify what high school journalism is supposed to be all about. And our milstream newspaper uh our NHS news broadcast program and our joint uh website, our Miller Media Now, uh all earned who's your stars in addition to our yearbook staff, they also got a star. So we picked up four. Um there was only one other school in
017the state that had that many. Um, so I think we're running the best journalism program around or at least one of them. Um, and also real quick, let's talk about uh the Women's Press Club of Indiana contest. These results were just announced um Thursday night. In the editorial writing category, Aelia Evans came in second. Uh, in the opinion writing category, um, Maria Mora and Elizabeth Johnson both earned honorable mentions. In the feature story category, Morgan Trobridge and Main Event came in second. Uh, in the sports story category, Max Arnold, Aiden Cadell, Rebecca Garber, and Jud Neville won the whole thing. And Billy Newion came in third. Come on up, Billy. Uh, in the single page layout category, uh, Maria Moira, and Miriam Yildram came in first. They won the whole thing. Miriam's here. Come on
018up. Uh, in the multi-page layout category, um, Aelia Evans, Lily Ferzy, Rebecca Garber, Adam Morz, and Alice Burlock all earned honorable mentions. Uh and then in the best newscast category, um we kind of won everything that they had there. Um we sent in a couple of our uh NHS news around the county programs and we got first place and we also tied for second place two of our um uh entries in into that. Everybody was behind us on that. And in the video feature story category, um Luke Conrad and Khloe Thomas got an honorable mention. Uh Aiden Cadell and Jessica Lawrence earned an honorable mention. Uh Josie Kelly and Jay Patel um came in third and Llaya Cross and Drake Lockwood came in second. Uh and in the video sports uh story category, um Amelia
019Don, Colin Howard, and Addie Long earned honorable mentions. Uh Drake Lockwood, Lucy Meyers came in second, and Jacob Tracy and Lily Frazzy came in uh tied for second as well. And then finally, um, we just Friday, uh, took a bunch of our student journalists to Ball State for JD, which is kind of the biggest state journalism conference around. And in the JD awards, um, the Cardinal Award for um, overall um, program excellence, Ball State doesn't do first, second, or third. They do superior, excellent, and honorable mention. Um and in the overall print category, the Milstream was in um one of the finalists for that with an honorable mention and our broadcast staff um was in the excellent category. They were runners up for the Cardinal award this year. Um news cate news story uh category
020uh Liz Johnson, Lily Miller, and Miriam Yilder came earned honorable mentions in the staff editorial. Uh Aelia Evans and Evelyn Summers both picked up honorable mentions. Uh, in the opinion uh opinion writing category, uh, Mo Miriam Yelram earned an honorable mention. In the front page design, uh, Kyla McDonald earned an honorable mention. In the sports photo category, Jacob Tracy picked up uh, like a ton of awards. He won he got a superior in a couple of honorable mentions. And Ador uh, picked up an excellent uh, in that category. Uh, man, I'm running out of breath here. In the broadcast feature story category, uh Josie Kelly and Jay Patel uh earned the highest superior rating and so did uh Laca Cross and Drake Lockwood. In the broadcast sports package category, uh Jacob Tracy, Tyler Var Varville
021picked up honorable mentions. Uh Amelia Don, Colin Howard, Addie Long picked up honorable mentions. And Jordan Colemire and Jane Brown were in the excellent category. And in the nature photo category, which is a new category for Ball State, uh Quinn Matthews picked up an honorable mention and Jacob Tracy picked up yet another superior. And then finally, um our our last bit of bragging here, um the Indiana High School Press Association, um every year they award an Indiana student journalist of the year. And um the Milstream and NHS News's own Laya Cross was one of the runners up. She's one of the top four uh student high school student journalists in the state. It's a huge huge accomplishment. So, congrats to her. [applause] So, thank you for coming out. Thank you for having us. Um like
022I said, we're super proud of our student journalists. I think we have um one of the best programs anywhere in the country, and it's all because of these guys. They're great. So, thank you very much. All right. Uh, next up is our high school jazz program and I'd like to invite up Raina Campbell to talk to us. All right, good ne good evening everybody. My name is uh Raina Campbell. I am one of the band directors at Noblesville East Middle School and I also serve as the assistant high school jazz band director. So uh Mr. Peter Lutro really wanted to make it tonight and he had something come up. So, um I am thankful to be joined by two of our Jazz One students, Abby Flint and Hunter Do. Um most of our kids in
023including them have a big concert tonight. Um as many of our students do a lot of things. So, thank you guys for taking time out of your busy evening to be here tonight. Um I'm just going to read something Mr. Leel wrote about our students. We're here tonight being recognized for making it to um the Indiana State School Music Association Jazz State Finals. Um which is a really big deal for our students and um in our historical program. Really exciting for them. So um there were 53 bands across the state competing for nine spots. So we are we're honored to be recognized in that top group. The students have worked very hard this year and have successfully performed some of the most challenging music in the art form. After Christmas, we had clinicians in from
024IU Jacobs School of Music come out to work with the kids and they talked about how our students um they were so impressed with them because IU's top jazz band had been working on the exact same music. Our jazz band and the music departments across the district are just a small part of what makes our community healthy and vibrant. Every day we get to work with kids who are very different from each other, but because of their common interests, passion, and goals put aside differences to relentlessly pursue beauty. In doing so, they make the world a better place. And I think that is probably the greatest lesson they learn. Being a state finalist in a nationally recognized jazz program is certainly a way to define success. What we see as the true success, though, is
025our kids coming together, pushing themselves, maturing, and learning to care for one another. As teachers, we so badly want our students to grow and produce fruit. But in reality, we can't really make that happen. All we can do is create and foster an environment where growth is possible. We're very grateful for all of the music teachers in our district who have done that for these students. We recognize that we probably get to see the end result of many others hard work with these kids. Um so thank you to all the music teachers who have helped us achieve this honor. Jazz is a music that perpetuates joy, gratitude, humility, and hope. It is from that place of gratitude and hope that on behalf of myself, Mr. Electrol, and the kids, we say thank you for supporting
026us. Um thank you to the school board for inviting us out tonight. Thank you to administration, all of the music teachers for Noblesville schools, and all of our families for the support of our music program, and that makes this community special. Thank you. [applause] All right, next is high school gymnastics. So, I'd like to invite Erica Eer up to the podium. Good evening. I'm Erikica Eater. I'm the head gymnastics coach for Noblesville High School. And this is Kayla Biddles. She's my assistant. We have another assistant who couldn't be here tonight as well. Um fun fact, Noblesville has a gymnastics team if you if you didn't know that. Um this is your for the most part the team. We're missing one of them, but um I am recognizing them today because this is the first time
027this team has qualified for state since 2008 and none of these kids were alive in 2008. So um I will recognize some of them individually. So the four of you that competed at state, go ahead and step forward. So from left to my left, Valerie Biddles, Vera Dykeman, Haley Knob Nabi, look at that. And Emerson Lacron. Um these four competed all four events at state this year. Um and Vera is just a freshman. The other three are juniors. So um we want to recognize them for that. [applause] Um this team did an incredible job this year. They set a record. Um the previous school record was set in 2001. They broke it this year. Um it was a 10655. They broke the record of 10645. So it they still broke it. Um Haley, go ahead
028and step forward again. Haley also broke three records this year. So Haley got a 9.6 on beam, which was a record. She then got a 9.425 on floor and then decided to break her own floor record again later in the season with a 9.5. So Haley had an incredible year this year. [applause] This team got all conference. They won the HCCCC conference or whatever um that's called. Gymnastics technically isn't recognized as a conference sport, but we we say that they are. Um so they they won the whole conference this year. They got second in their sectional which then sent them to regional um where they got third place which then sent them to state. And Haley again won vault at sectional. So she's a sectional champion on vault this year as well. So we just
029want to say congratulations to this team and thank you to the board and for all the parents for putting up with this season and hopefully we'll be back here next year. [applause] All right. And our last student group we're going to acknowledge this evening um and and hear about is high school swim and dive. So I'd like to invite Jess Preston up to the podium. Hello, my name is Jess Preston and I'm the head girls and boys swimming and diving coach at Noblesville High School. Our swim teams have been recognized for their participation in the IHSA swimming diving state finals which took place in February. At this time, I would like to acknowledge the members of our team who participated in the state finals. Our girls team finished 18th overall with Aaron McMahon leading the
030team to a team high finish in diving, placing third overall. Our boys team finished 12th overall, which was the highest finish in our boys team history. Over the course of the state tournament, these young men established five new school records. Congrats to everyone associated with our swimming diving team. Thank you to the Noblesville High School administration for their continued support. And thank you to Dr. Ohio and the rest of the school board for the recognition tonight. Thank you. [applause] All right, congratulations again to all of our students. What a what a great group to recognize. So, at this time, I'd like to invite up Miss Emz, who's going to speak to us about our hair teacher spotlight this this evening. >> All right. Hi. This is my favorite night of the year where I get
031to talk about and brag about some of our teachers. We have a school building full of them, but tonight I'm going to highlight these three ladies. And oh, in a different order. Perfect. First up is Mrs. Hwitt. Beth Hwitt is our fantastic gym teacher at White River and she has been teaching for 30 years. Um Beth became a teacher because she wants students to know what they're learning is learning for life. She wants them to build a foundation for a healthy lifestyle. And I will say she's really energetic and contagious in that. I will be in her um gym sometimes in high heels and I will too participate. She really wants you and encourages you to get motivated. Um, she enjoys spending time with her family. They are big Purdue basketball fans. And one reason
032why she thinks Noblesville schools is so special is because there are so many opportunities for our students to grow and explore physically. Thank you, Beth. Wonderful. And next up is Susan Higgin Botham, who we all refer to as Miss Higgy around school. Susan has been teaching for 30 years. She taught first grade and second grade before Oh, 33 years. Sorry. I apologize. Um before recently switching over to be a special education resource teacher. And she has done a fantastic job at switching over to that um to that role. She wants her students to know that they are important and that they can achieve anything. And she wants them to work to their potential. Her advice for parents would be that they should be actively present in their child's life and not sweat the small stuff,
033which I think is advice we could all take. Um, and she thinks Noblesville Schools is important and a special place to be because we truly balance that small town feeling with a commitment to providing exceptional education. And that's Miss Vicki. Okay. And last but not least is Mrs. Renee Rex. And Renee has a special connection to White River as well. Oh, I didn't mention it. We have some original teachers that opened the building when they opened in 1999. Yep. Um Renee has been teaching for 33 years and before White River, she was at Forest Hill Elementary. and she became a teacher because she has always loved helping children. Her goal for her students is that they will always believe in themselves. She enjoys spending time with her family. She has three children of her own
034and now three grandchildren to add to that. And she enjoys um Noblesville Schools is special because of the community that's built in and out of the school. Mrs. next. [applause] >> Wonderful. >> Thank you, ladies. >> And before we go past that, I do want to highlight that the board got a chance to visit White River today and there in the gym, they got to learn some new skills >> and it was equally entertaining and terrifying at the same time if I'm being very honest. But it went great. Had some great some great stuff. So, great job board and thanks for making us feel so welcome today, White River. Yes. All right. So, at this time, we're going to invite uh Miss Vandermark to come up and the rest of her team that's going to
035talk to us tonight uh for our building spotlight for White River. >> Goodness, what it was a fun day having the board visit. Thank you for giving us an opportunity to share a glimpse of what we do at White River. Um and it was so fun for all of the achievement recognitions tonight. There were a lot of former Eagles there, so it was it was great to see them grow and do wonderful things in Noblesville. Um my name is Cali Vandermark and I am the principal at White River. And tonight we're going to highlight a simple idea that guides so much of what we do and that is it's the small things that make the biggest impact. that's from schoolwide celebrations to community partnership and shared traditions. Um it's those things that bring people together
036and really deeply impact and connect our school community. So I'm going to invite Jamie Harris up. She's our um teacher librarian and she's going to get us started sharing some specific things that we do that are small things that make a big impact. Jamie might have a little short. Sorry. should have wore heels. Um, okay. Well, I do want to start off tonight with our very first um slide that you see because this kicked off our school year and our district-wide theme of um schoolwide sports and it was super high energy, memorable, and it's our BMX bikers and it couldn't have gone off any better. Um, they talked about bullying, gave a great positive message to our kids and we were so thankful to our PTO. they were able to donate two bikes that we
037were able to give away to two of our eagles. And I still see Sammy. He lives in my neighborhood right around on that bike. So, it's it's touched me a little bit. So, um the next slide, this was one of those things that just kind of manifested when we um heard the kids say 67. We also have 67 for our bus. So we also have that bus number that I hear every day as I have bus duty. But this was an awesome thing that we did with our students and teachers alike. So that was the word of the year this year and we celebrated and embraced it in a huge way. Um it gave us this shared language across the building and it was just a simple idea that we created and it gave purpose
038to our kids. Um I do think most of the students now despise that word because we all love it. So we don't hear it anymore because we're not cool. So, the next slide that you can see was also one of my favorites this year. Um, we invited for our kindergarten and first grade. I was feeling really bad and I talked to Miss B and we talked to the other teacher librarians and we were like, "Okay, what can we do?" Because we had an author visit and the author was just a little too much for our kindergarten first graders. So, on the day off for some high school students, they came this year and read to our students. And so these high school athletes came to read with kindergarten first. Um each high school student received
039um the book that they read to the class as a gift and it totally built relationships with our high school students especially at White River because we're so close. So we asked them to kindly come back because the kids wanted to come back for recess now. Yeah. >> Um it was fun because a couple of those friends are football players. So I read them, they read to them good night football, dino football and also soccer. So um another thing that we also worked on this year um with our literacy grant that we received through United Way um I was able to do a book club with all second graders at um White River and this was a great opportunity. We culminated a book club with Zach and Zoe books. um they were provided through the
040grant and it gave students access to books. We had a huge shared reading experience. Miss B and Miss Timenez came and we had a great time of welcoming them every day in the library because every morning during our kickoff we would um oh it was it was the theme song to Space Jam. So we got to listen to that every day to kick it off as they read some chapters with us. So, um, the next slide is probably my personal favorite just because, um, I know Dr. Hy, you were able to come to one of these last year. We now have this as an annual event. It's, um, called Rise and Read, and every we're going to try to every quarter, but we it's hard to get in. But what they do is they come
041on the late start Wednesday, and all parents are invited with their student. They come in, we just open the doors to the media center and they literally just come in and pull a book off the shelf and read. Um, we serve donuts, we have coffee. It definitely strengthened our homeschool connections, I feel like, just by a simple, meaningful way. Again, small things, but it makes a big difference for our community. The last, but I only think I have two more. Sorry. Um, with our new CQLA curriculum, it's been really fun for me because this is my 21st year teaching. Um, but to go into a new curriculum like this and so I get to be like the fun police or I say I'm like the grandparent. I get to do all the culminating activities when
042they finish the curriculum. So we had a celebration of the American Revolution, but what we figured out was first and fourth grade were both learning about it at the same time a little bit differently. So, what we did was we threw um cornhole bags like we were throwing tea from the Boston Tea Party and then we celebrated 250 years of America and had cupcakes in our courtyard. Um the very last slide is um one that we loved. It was celebrating a hundth day of school, but we also had neon day and it was simple fun. It built like a schoolwide energy and participation. I think the secretaries watched the cameras in the LGI all day. One may have went home with a migraine from the strobe lights. Fine. Um, but the sign said it all
043for us and it said, "I've never been happier than this." And it was again a simple act that we did with our staff so and students. Um, but I do want to turn it over to Megan Thomas. She's our social worker and how she has done so many small things that make the biggest impact in our community. Thank you, Jamie. Um, as she shared, so much of our work focuses on building community within our school. My role as the school's social worker extends that further. Working with community partners to support our families, build trust, and strengthen those connections beyond the classroom. You'll notice fewer student and family photos in my presentation. as much as this work happens in settings where we just don't take photos um for various reasons. But you may be looking at
044the slide going, "Well, okay, what is this photo of random large black bags?" This is actually our winter season of support program, which um offers families toys and clothing for the winter holiday months. And um the little guy that is on the bicycle was an extension to that with a new community partner who contacted me and had already had the relationship with North but said we want to extend to White River as well and they provided bicycles for several of our students that could make it out to their organization. Um for our winter support seasonal support program we at White River help all children in the family. So, if it's an infant all the way through high school, they receive assistance through White River if they're connected to a White River family or student. And
045that means that we help support over a hundred, typically 100 to 175 children every year. Traditionally, the seasonal support program was called winter or Christmas assistance, but the district Okay, you're going to kill me. six, seven years ago um decided to change that to the term seasonal support to help support the families who may have not celebrated that time of year and just to support the diverse needs of our community. And so that with us at White River um we take that to mean it support happens throughout the entire school year, not just in our winter months. And so we um our one of the big things our district is amazing at is providing backpacks and school supplies for our students. And so we were like, okay, how can we extend our seasonal support program
046to support that initiative? And we decided to reach out to many of the community partners who support our winter seasonal support program and ask if they would provide clothing and shoes for our students to help start the school back in style. And we were able to that just accumulate um that started this year and we were able to help 35 students start this school year with new clothes and shoes and we're hoping to continue that program again this year. this slide you'll see many of our major community partners who do help with our winter seasonal support program but um they also were some of as I mentioned some of the partners who helped with our back to school in style program but I don't want to not mention that not only do we have large
047community partners but we have school departments district departments we have student groups like at the high school who will help us we have individuals, small groups and um yeah um and they all contribute in meaningful ways. This slide you'll see one of our longest community partners for Noblesville First United Methodist Church. They are right down the road from us and they support our seasonal sport efforts as well as an ongoing mentoring program which is what the picture shows and they also provide summer lunches for student for our students as well and they extended that support just this year to North Elementary as well. What is neat about them providing summer lunches is that many of the students you see there um often see their mentors at the program and then it's a way for them
048to reconnect and go beyond the school day. Look at these smiles. They're just so great. Um this slide shows students receiving a new pair of shoes which comes at a very timely point in the year. You've heard me say we give shoes. Um, but kids are hard on their clothing and they grow so fast. So, um, through the support of Shoes That Fit, which is a national program, and Nordstrom, um, we're able to provide 30 students with a new pair of shoes in November, which is also helps reduce some stress right before the winter months. And then this slide highlights many of our community partners who provide support beyond clothing and shoes. Many partners you see here also help students access vision, glasses and dental care, extracurricular activities, housing support, medical care and food support.
049And lastly, I'd like to share a personal example from a family that I've worked with since their child entered kindergarten. Over time, I've built a very strong relationship through ongoing support with this family. As and he is a fifth grader. So, as we planned for the transition to middle school, the parent who does experience some extreme anxiety around change became very concerned very when her son um went home and said, "Guess what, mom? I'm going to middle school and I am going to play the trumpet." And he was so excited. And then she got an email, I believe, that said there was a significant cost to providing trumpet for band and I know the cost. My daughter is in band at middle school and um she became very anxious that her son wasn't going to
050be able to participate in band. So with the help of this very generous donor, we were able to get a trumpet, get it tuned, and relieve some of that stress for that student and that parent. And so this is um our partnerships are just one way um there are so many that we build trust with families and that trust is what drives everything else we do for students. It may seem like a little thing but it does make a big difference. I truly appreciate the opportunity to show this to share this work with you and I'll I'll now turn it back to Miss B. There are so many small things that happen in the school day. And I don't want to I want to make sure that I shout out Jamie and Megan because while
051I keep saying that they're small things, all of their work centers around doing extra and going above and beyond to care for our students and our families. And so I really do want to recognize them tonight. Um I we went a little long tonight, but there's lots of small things happening. Um but there is one very important thing that I would like to do um tonight, and that is to recognize our PTO president, Mrs. Ari Hale. I'm going to have you come stand right next to me because I know how much you love that. Um, okay. And I am going to read because I want to make sure I do this well for my friend and our PTO president. So, she has served White River with dedication, heart, and steady leadership. Throughout her time as
052president, Arya has given countless hours to support our students, staff, and families. And much of what she does happens behind the scenes. And what stands out most about Ari is that she brings people together. Her actions may seem small in the moment, but over time they build something lasting for our school. Ari has helped strengthen the partnership between families and our schools in ways that will continue to benefit our students for years to come. Her leadership has made White River stronger, more connected, and more supportive for everyone who walks through our doors. So on behalf of White River Elementary, I want to thank Ari for service with this goat trophy. So this trophy was passed throughout the halls of White River staff last year and Ari had commented on this goat trophy. Um and we
053would like its final recipient to be Ari who is our greatest of all time. So I want if you would all think thank thank you for the time. I know we went a little long tonight, but please join me in a round of applause for Ari. >> Thank you all very much. Thank you. Yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. A picture. >> Yeah. >> Get it. Yeah. That is so awesome. >> Thank you. Yes, thank you. >> I may say it's easy when I get to work with people like that. My enthusiasm is a direct leadership. So, thank you all. Doing great, guys. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um, we really enjoyed our our tour today. Um, when we sat with our fifth grade class, um, I sat with a young lady that she said her favorite
054thing or favorite memory was the BMX event. So, that's very cool. Yes. Yes. All right. Um, on to strategic planning. Um, starting last year, we with our strategic plan, each board meeting, we highlight one of our pillars, our goals. And this month we have Dr. Rich. >> Okay. Good evening board. Uh excited to talk about where we're at with academic excellence this evening. Um over about the last three years or so we have talked about um previous to tonight two pretty systemic shifts in structure and accountability in the state of Indiana around academics. The first uh was the graduates prepared to succeed act or excuse me, graduates prepared to succeed platform um that established new criteria that um would be reported on annually by the state of Indiana to kind of give parents, community members
055insight into how that um school district was performing. um after graduates prepared to succeed, then the next to follow um more recently was the new Indiana diploma requirements. And I did a presentation um earlier this year to the board on those new requirements as well. So between graduates prepared to succeed and then new diploma requirements collectively expectations around academics and academic performance look very different now in Indiana than they did uh pre-COVID. So the third and final kind of big systemic shift um that aligns all three of those systems together is the one I'm going to talk to you about tonight and that's the new Indiana accountability model. So when we think about academic excellence in Noblesville, we also have to think about how we are aligning our structures, our practices, and our expectations to
056what the state says um we are held accountable to here um as students move through grade levels from elementary to middle to high school. So, this last piece really kind of ties everything together and um so we wanted to spend a little bit of time tonight educating the board on what that means statewide and then also how we are making our adjustments to align our structures, practices, systems, resources, etc. uh to these new accountability expectations in Indiana. So, uh why is accountability changing in Indiana? There was a law that was passed back in 2025 that mandated that a new school performance rating system be built. Again, this was after COVID. Um the specific language from the statute is right there. So, basically, Indiana Department of Education was tasked with building out a model that they
057would bring to the state board of education for approval. And again, like I already mentioned, this new system, it was required to be aligned to the GPS dashboard and those metrics that are included. So, lifting those up, highlighting those metrics, and then also the new Indiana diploma requirements as well. So, as a quick crash course reminder, GPS is basically centered around five different um key metrics. academic mastery, career and post-secary readiness, communication, collaboration skills, work ethic, and then civic, financial, and digital literacy. So, um, just a couple of important considerations. It's hard to believe this, but Indiana schools last received a state letter grade all the way back in early 2020. And remember, it's always going to be the year after uh because it takes about that full year to get done and then collection
058of data and then reporting out on the grade. So that early 2020 grade, that last one that we received, um was for the 1819 school year. So obviously we're in 2526. So quite a bit of time has passed. Um so what happened in the interim state basically went through a series of years of hold harmless where that same letter grade was carried forward. Noblesville schools was a school and had been for a number of years. Couple of other important considerations. This new model that you're going to learn about tonight. This A throughF model is entirely different than previous versions of the letter grade system here in Indiana. As a matter of fact, about the only thing that is the same is that schools will receive a traditional letter grade. But how that grade is calculated,
059you're going to see it's very, very different and much more complex than what we had under previous models. The other important thing I want the board to understand is the board um Indiana State Board of Education just approved of this final model and all of its rules last month. However, it is effective immediately and all data from the 2526 school year will be used to calculate the letter grade for this school year. We will receive that letter ga letter grade um they are projecting right now very late in first semester next school year. So, in other words, um we are going to be held accountable to metrics um that we really were not certain uh were going to be put into place. However, I think what you will see is that because we knew it
060would align whatever the final version would be to the GPS model and also to the new diploma requirements. Um, we were still thinking ahead proactively about the decisions we make about how we allocate resources and make decisions to really um prepare ourselves. So, I feel pretty good about it even though and I think our team does well as well even though it was pretty late in the game that we learned about the final final rule um for the new model. So, couple things to consider. So, what the state has done is they have identified key milestones and areas of focus in grade level bands. And these do make sense and there are a lot of things um that I think I just personally as an educator do appreciate um around this model. I think it's
061it's a good model and it lends a lot of clarity across the state in terms of at early elementary, late elementary, middle school and then at high school and both at early high school and later in the high school career. What are those key metrics? What are those key milestones? What is its purpose? And so this does really articulate that pretty well in K through three. Pretty obvious early on it's literacy, numeracy or literacy and math. Those essential building blocks and so metrics in the model are going to be around those key pieces. Then when we move into grades four through eight, it's about foundational knowledge and skill development. moving into high school in grades nine and 10. Making sure that now we're moving from knowledge and skill development to career engagement so that then
062in grades 11 and 12, we can really focus in on credentials and experiences that students need so they are ready for whatever is next for them after graduation from high school. Now along the way when you see how this works itself out um there are kind of key assessed grade levels within these grade level bands. So for the K through three it will be at grade three. So we will get an assessment at grade three. We will get one in then grades four, five, six, seven, eight. All of those grades individually then again at grade 10 and again at grade 12. So that's the way this will work. That'll probably make a little bit more sense when you see how um this all um is structured. So within each one of those grade level bands
063and at those key assessed grade levels, this is one of the key differences between this model and previous models. Every single student will earn points towards this model. So instead of the school collectively earning points as a school, every single school that is en every single student that is enrolled in the school will receive or earn points that then will be accumulated and then will go into a calculation that will then uh eventually result in that school's letter grade and then eventually the district's letter grade. So you can think about for each student there's really a two-part process. The first of the two is students will earn initial points based upon academic mastery and then they will have an opportunity to earn additional points based upon success indicators that are met for that particular um
064grade level band. The total possible that each student will be able to earn is 100 points. And so what I want to do is I want to walk through and show you what those academic mastery initial points are based on for each grade level and then also a better understanding of what those success indicators look like that allow students to earn those additional points based upon at each grade level band as well. Okay. So, we're going to take a look. We're just going to go in order. We're going to take a look at the grade K through three first. [snorts] So, again, remember K through three, the focus is on essential building blocks in literacy in math. And that happens, they calculate at grade three. So the initial points academic mastery for grade three that
065is based upon the proficiency level that a student scores on iLearn. Now I didn't put this on the slide but there is one exception and that is for students that would be in our applied program who take the I am alternative assessment that will be their level or excuse me their assessment that will be used to determine academic mastery. So that's number one. then a student. So that's how they'll earn their initial points. They'll get a number of points based upon what level of proficiency they are at. Now I don't want to get too far into the weeds because um we're going to keep it high level. This entire 29page document which is very small font and single spaced um is the entirety of the rule. We could spend two hours on this. But one
066thing I do want you to also understand is we talk about proficiency as at or above approaching or below. They have taken those proficiency levels and in the final rule they use slightly different terminology. So this is a lot to digest. So it is different but there's a lot of um translation that has to occur. So I just wanted to point that out. So, let's say we have uh a third grader. They've received their iLearn score, English, language arts, and math. They're going to receive initial initial points. Then the next success indicator is whether or not they are proficient on iD. That is the next success indicator. Then after that, students can earn an additional success indicator for additional points based upon whether or not they met the criteria for what the state calls accelerated
067literacy. So what that means is that the student did not maybe pass the second grade test but then did pass the third grade test. They could also earn additional points by meeting regular school attendance which is under this rule 94%. 94%. Or if a student is an English language learner and they have met their proficiency goal on the WEDA assessment which is um our EEL assessment. So again, academic mastery initial points and then additional success points are added based upon I read and then if they meet one of these other success criteria for a max total of 100 um that is how the grade three is calculated again by student. All right. So, moving on to the grade level bands of grades four through six. We're now shift to a focus on foundational knowledge and
068skill development. Academic mastery is exactly the same. It's still I learn or I am. That is no different. But now you'll notice on the additional success indicators, the list is longer and they are different. So for students in grades four through eight, I'm going to try to move through these as quickly um as I can but explain them. Adolescent reading proficiency. So if we had a student that didn't pass I read but now in subsequent retakes has passed that then they meet that success indicator they get additional points. If they uh scored as proficient in I learn science or I learn social studies. Again, if it's an EL learner and they have met their WEDA goal, if a student has met regular school attendance of 94%. And then also if the student has one year
069of academic progress based on iLearn and what that means is every year when a student scores on iLearn, the state calculates a projected level in which that student will grow from one year to the next. If they meet that growth target then they can score that success indicator. Then there is also an accelerated level of progress that is also calculated by the state. If a student has met accelerated uh growth on I learn from one year to the next they can earn that success criteria. And then finally excellence and academic progress. So that would be a student that wasn't proficient in the previous year on iLearn but then became proficient on iLearn. So more success indicators the students in grades four through eight can earn up to three additional success indicators. At the lower grade
070level it's two. So after that first the grades K through three it's two after that they they will earn up to three or have the opportunity to earn up to three. All right. So, last two years of middle school for Noblesville, grades seven through eight. Again, academic mastery. I learn initial points same as before. That's no different. You'll notice the success indicators. Um, those su success indicators are mostly the same. However, there are a couple of key differences. So, I'll point those out. The first one would be completing a graduation plan at grade seven. Um that is something that we do not currently have but we will have it. We pivoted quickly with the thanks of Dr. Thacker and her team and our school teams to put that together so that students will have the
071opportunity um to earn that success indicator. So that was a quick quick pivot and that was a great team effort to get that done. Also you'll notice high school level coursework for credit which is calculated in eighth grade. So we already have algebra and geometry as opportunities for students to earn credit and this year we also moved computer science to middle school so that students would have the opportunity to earn credit there. So that was a great move for us early on and then we have also made the decision moving forward that we will begin next year offering PE1 credit um at the middle school level. So students will now earn that PE credit. So that's been a collaboration between our middle school and high school leadership. Um and we have just recently met with
072our PE teachers to let them know about that change um for next school year so that students will begin earning those additional credits as well in middle school. The remainder of those success indicators are the same as the previous grade level band. All right. Now moving into uh high school now you're going to see a academic mastery is different. That's because we no longer take iLearn in high school. So academic mastery flips from iLearn to now students earning credits and making sure that they have met the minimum level of credits that the state has established for them to be considered on track and in good standing for graduation. So the initial points per student will be earned based upon them earning the credits that they should be earning um in nth grade to be on
073track. Then you'll notice the success indicators are very different now starting in high school. So now we're looking at students can earn additional success indicators based upon being enrolled in college and career coursework. So, AP, CTE, dual credit courses. Also, students can earn success indicators by being in um CTE coursework. And um there's some details in there that gets a little bit into the weeds, but it has to do with the way pathways are structured for career technical ed at the high school level. Also, students take the I learned biology ECA. So if they score a proficiency on that assessment, students can earn a success indicator by meeting the established benchmark on PSAT, regular school attendance, which again is 94% or again like in previous grade levels, meeting the WEDA um proficiency goal. And then
074last but not least in grades 11 through 12. So now shifting towards credentials and experiences, we're going to be looking at students earning the new Indiana diploma diploma seals. So those would be your honors or your honors plus seals for enrollment um enlistment or employment. And then also you'll see differences in success indicators for grades 11 and 12. Really shifting to align to the idea of credentials and experiences. Well, now students will have an opportunity to earn um points for success indicators in being in a work-based learning um experience. Currently at the high school, we have about 400 students already in work-based learning and there are plans in the works to increase those opportunities to capture more work-based learning hours over the summer and on breaks for our students. Um we also have um in
075CTE right now about 50 5800 individual enrollments in CTE courses. We now offer 33 different pathways that are available to our students. So we're doing really really well on that front. We've been working as you all well know over the past several years to build up those opportunities for our students. So, those are all things that will provide students an opportunity to earn success indicators. Um, something new, we just learned about this in March. Um, a success indicator will be proficiency on the iLearn US government ECA. Yes, that does exist. It has existed. Um, but most districts never gave it because it wasn't required and we test our students already so much. But honestly, now that it is an opportunity um for as a success indicator, we like many districts in the area, we are
076adding that to our suite of assessments for next year. So students will take that next year. Through government, we've been working closely with our high school uh folks to make sure we're ready to go for that. Attendance is still the same as a success criteria, 94% still I learn biology. Um and then if you meet the benchmark on the ACT or CLT which is a classic learning test um or math ACT CLT and then again meeting the proficiency language proficiency goal on WEDA. So this comes directly from DOE. Couple of just uh uh important points um that I just I took directly from the presentation. I thought that would be the easiest way to present this in the most understandable way. um they're talking about this year, this current year will be year zero. Um
077and so it'll set the baseline. We don't know how schools are going to fare um because um if you think about all of the combinations of success factors across all of the different grade levels, we don't really have an internal system nor does anyone across the dis or across the state have an internal system for calculating those metrics in a way that we would be able to determine what our grade will actually be. And so that was a pretty big concern that was voiced consistently early on. Um, and it's just so different than anything that we've ever been quote unquote graded on in past years because these seals, new diplomas, all of these things are just so new. Um, and so the state has recognized that, which is very much appreciated. they have looked at
078other places, other states that have done something similar and said, you know what, understanding that this is a transition and it's going to take some time um is something to be considered. So, because of that, um I don't know if it's the right term or not, but I kind of call it they're going to grade us on a curve uh this year, going a little bit old school, I guess. Um where typically a grading scale would be 90 to 100 would be an A. So, what they've said for next year, it's instead going to be an 85 to 100. So, granting a little bit of um a leniency and grace. And uh I won't get into the weeds again, but they have some metrics, some key benchmarks that they've established where they'll look at how
079schools fare and districts across the state. And based upon how they fare, that will determine how quickly they level up the grade scale to get us eventually to that 90 to 100 is an A, 80 to 89 is a B, and so on and so forth. So, um I know that was a lot and I I took the 29 pages and tried to boil it down to the essence and also really just wanted um to assure the board that when it comes to the key metrics, the success indicators um if we didn't already have all the pieces in place, we've been pivoting pretty quickly to work to put those pieces in place. things like moving the PE credit, things like the new graduation plan, um you know, those the ILR uh government assessment, uh continuing
080to think about how we make sure we get more kids into work-based learning, providing opportunities to earn more hours outside of the school uh traditional school day so students can earn that success criteria. These are just moves we're making because at the end of the day, um, academic excellence when it comes to how we're being assessed by the state is pretty clearly defined through this new model. Um, and so it's our responsibility to to meet those expectations. So questions. >> Um, I I do have a question. So you you said you um we don't you know we don't have a way to measure students right now but how is the state going to do it? How's the state going to compile it and then give us a grade? >> Yeah. So to clarify, we have
081ways to to we know what our metrics are on each one of those individual things, right? But how they assign those points to those things and in those combinations. So we will submit reports or they will pull data from our system through data exchange and then they will have their system at the state level. They will take the data that has been gathered from our district and they will place that into the system that they have built so that it in essence gives them a letter grade. Um there are a lot of when you look at the calculations I didn't get into it but there are levels and orders in which there are calculations and so it starts step one is how many initial points each student gets and then how many additional points will
082they earn and that will give them a total out of 100 >> but then they have to aggregate that across all the students and then across English and math. and then eventually across all schools to get us a district grade. So, >> yeah. So, that's a question we've had all along and we've been assured that those pieces will be in place. We will see how it goes. >> Yeah. If they have the system in place. Okay. >> What kind of time administratively does it take on our end at Noblesville schools to plug this into what the state needs? >> Yeah. So it is really nice that we have I mean we have a robust um set of systems through our technology that are in place for a lot of this already. But there is no
083doubt that some of these things we have also had to to pivot um and build new systems that we've not had before. I think a good example would be the graduation plan and to meet its requirements we had to build out a new essentially a new form through within our platform through powers school through parent through our parent portal. Um you know when it comes to tracking things like workbased learning hours these are systems we have to build to do that. So, we do a lot of um there's a lot of great collaboration and communication across districts and the Indiana Association of School Principles and the Superintendent Association have done a really nice job of building out some things and sharing them, sharing ideas. Um it was really great at Noblesville High School. Um over
084the summer they hosted um a a meeting um through the principles association and it was right there at Noblesville High School. We had schools from all over the state coming to learn more about how we were navigating some of these things. And so there's a lot of idea idea sharing that's going on as well. And so yeah. >> Great. All right. Any other questions? >> Well, I mean just that makes your head spin. >> It makes your head spin and and it's going to be one of those things that I think it's just you have to live it and when you live it, you'll start to learn it more. But the key is just making sure and we're I do believe we're doing a nice job of really making sure that the things that need
085to be in place in terms of opportunities for our students are in place. >> So only in an effort to provide as much education on this new accountability model to the parents, to the families, everyone in the community. Um, will we like as parents will we know what our own individual child scored out of that hundred points? >> You know, that's a great question. I've not personally seen um any way in which that would be communicated if if that's something that's in the works. I've not seen that yet through any of the communications or updates we've seen from DOE. Um, but we have to remember again the state board just approved this last month and so um I think there's going to be more updates to come. We're going to get more guidance over time
086from DOE. I think it would be beneficial in a way if you will um if parents could know those points because I mean they do have some influence on attendance depending on the age and you know grade of the child of course >> but it it helps encourage their student you know to focus more to do better to try harder to get to school that sort of thing >> it would be on our side it would be our benefit for that to happen >> y >> um and I love that they actually assign points every individual student is contributing towards our grade, towards our accountability, >> but it really bothers me that they are pushing more standardized testing and enforcing more emphasis on that. >> Well, yes. I mean they've said that um the idea
087behind the you know you can earn up to three success indicators but there's more than three you can earn from is is kind of the idea to recognize that there are many different things that students are involved in and can do and there's different ways in which um they can they can demonstrate that. The one thing I will tell you that's I just personally I I have to get used to and I'm struggling still with how to best articulate is students are students. They're people. They're not points. And I just want us to be careful about um talking about individual students as points. And that's something I know that all educators share some concern with because we're going to do what's best for our students as individuals. And that's what we're always going to put
088first is is that >> as you should as we should. >> I don't any anybody else. >> Yes, I'll go. So, thank you Dr. Rich for for this. This is really a lot. Fire hose, right? Um yeah, if you could walk me through like grades nine and 10, academic mastery, what actually um points coming out of out of that box and the success indicators, we're looking at 100 points, right? >> Yeah. >> Possible. >> Yeah. >> What would academic mastery be? You've got a a child that's uh taking advanced math and grades nine, they're up top. Um, you know, it says 10 plus high school, two in English, science, social studies. I'm not sure how we're going to get enough points to get it up to a student getting 90. >> Yeah. So, the way
089again trying to stay kind of high level, but if a little bit further in the weeds on this one. So, for academic mastery, they'll award a level of points to a student based upon number of credits. And um there is 10 as the baseline, but then 14 the student would earn additional points if they're at 14 instead of just 10 credits. And so um they've leveled it in terms of if you're at this number of credits, you get this many initial points. If you're at this number of credits, you get this many. So maybe it's 65, but if you're at 14, maybe it's 75. And then the additional success indicators may be worth each of them five or 10 points depending on what they get. And across an opportunity to earn three total could get
090them to a total of 100 points. Does that help? >> A little. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> I'm trying I'm trying to convert a letter grade to, you know, a class to No. >> No. It's not about letter. It's just about credits earned. >> You get to 100 points. >> Yeah. It's just about credits earned. If you earn in this many credits, it doesn't matter what the grade was as long as you've earned the credit. >> How many uh success indicators are they allowed in high school? >> Three. >> 12. Okay. >> Three. >> So, it's three throughout. There's one that's got four. >> Um it's always three after the initial K through three grade level band. Yeah. >> Okay. The last thing is um how students are going to decide to be in one of
091these amazing programs that we had come here tonight. >> That's so much success as well. >> Yeah. >> So is this going to empty out >> extracurriculars? >> Yeah, extracurricular is going to seems like that's going to be really damaged. I don't know. >> Your your your point is exactly what I meant a few moments ago about. We are not going to devolve into students or points. The first goal is making sure that we know which diploma we're shooting for for each individual student. We're going to plan backwards from that, allowing for those students to meet the goals that they've established for themselves. That's part of why it's important to do the graduation plan, which we're adding in. And it's also why it's important to make sure we continue to have really solid practices, which
092we already have, when it comes to educating kids and families when they prepare to schedule for their high school career starting in 8th grade. And so making sure that students understand what opportunities exist at the high school relative to what their goals and interests are, that will remain a priority for us. This accountability system will not change that. And so, um, continuing to make sure that we have robust, successful performing arts programs, continuing to make sure that students can engage in the types of electives that they want and need to engage in. Um, that will still be a priority for us. >> Okay. >> All right. Stephanie, one more question. When you mention benchmarks, established benchmark on PSAT or English benchmark, but how are the benchmarks established? >> Through the college board and through the
093DOE. Yes, because those Yes, because remember for SAT that is our um accountability measure already for high school. And so that's the college career level, excuse me, college readiness benchmark for SAT that is set. And then PSAT has a similar benchmark that is also set. So it's a scale score that is set and established. >> Kind of like we have a scale score for iLearn. Yeah, I I like how you said that it's not going to be a number and we're just going to get this. We're just going to make sure that we present kids with enough opportunities. So, >> our letter grade will hopefully reflect >> that, right? >> Yeah. We, for lack of a better way of saying it, we don't want the tail to wag the dog, if that makes sense. We
094want to make sure that we still are maintaining our expectations and maintaining the opportunities that we have for our students. And like I said at the outset of the presentation, we really feel like we've done a nice job of so when it comes to calculating the grade, we have the opportunities available to our students that >> we will be okay. >> We are lucky that we have so many of those career and technical education like opportunities that are going to help the diploma. Like >> yes, >> to all of your credit like >> yeah, >> we're in a pretty good spot. >> We are. I feel I feel pretty goodly about pretty good about that and I think our our high school team does as well. So >> So props to you. Thanks for all
095your work on taking this >> crazy [laughter] a lot. >> Yes. And we're excited that new diploma, GPS, new accountability. It's all set and established. It all aligns >> and now we can move forward. So that is it's nice to have that in place. >> I hope the date is calculated correctly. That's going to double check that my not the right number. That's why I'm worried about the data. >> Yeah. >> Really? How are we going to know >> or are they going to build this system? >> We will all find out together. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> All right. Um next up we have public comment on a agenda topic and we did not have anyone sign up tonight. Um consent items. Um by
096a single motion, the board approves and adopts um items or action which reflect application of board policy in the Indiana code. Those items are claims, donations, minutes from our March meeting, overnight out of state trips, and personnel listing. May I have a motion to approve the consent items as listed? >> Move. >> Joe, >> Second by Brett. Um any further discussion? >> Yes. Uh the estate of John J. Kinley to be used for student scholarships gave us $100,000 and I always appreciate what our town does for us. So, I know you're all asking what where did this come from? Well, I did some digging today and we had discussed this and we were having our little tour today. I said hold everybody hold tight. I got two pages worth of Google not Google I had
097to research this out. Okay. John Jackson Kinley, born in 1928, passed in 25 at the age of 95. John moved to Noblesville in 1940 with his father Howard Senior Kinley to open a supermarket called Kinley's Market. Uh at the age of 12, which would have been he when he left, he was born in Teroot, came to Noblesville, the age of 12, he began working, which I'm convinced that in addition to all the education we do, Dr. rich. I think working, you know, working outside of that always helps us get a boost, too. So, he went to work at the age of 12 uh in the supermarket and worked there for uh 32 years until his retirement. Well, he became a partner with his brother, which would have been a Howard Kennley Jr., which we know
098as Luke Kinley's father, and uh and Bill Kley's grandfather >> and Bill Kennley's father. So Jack would have been Bill's greatgrandfather. Jack graduated from Noblesville in 1946, married Nancy Lee Whitzell uh in 51. And we want to mention that because she's a part of this donation, too, which it didn't show on the thing there. And they were married for 74 years. So I called Bill Kinley today to get a little more background on this information and and to get a quote for him. Well, here is his quote on his on his uh great uncle. He was a dignified man who valued education and reason and his baby blue Ford Mustang which he maintained meticulously all of his life. And Bill wanted me also to mention that the wife Nancy of 74 years was was a
099they were a real team together and so this money would have been coming from her also. So for you folks that are so young out there, I came to town, we still had Kinley's Market and I did any of you remember Kinley's Market? Okay. Well, it lasted >> had some good fried chicken. >> They did. And they were known for their meats, okay, and a good market. Well, they lasted for 50 years until the big boxes, Walmart, Meyer, and the other ones. And I remember Luke always having a little bit of issue with that whole thing. So, it was here for 50 years. Uh, and they've the family's been great to our schools, but I we need to talk a little bit extra since it was $100,000 a night. And I want to end it
100with you have to love our Noblesville school community for what happens in our Noblesville school. >> Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. All right. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. All right. On to action items. The first item up is the district's property and casualty insurance runs on May 1st through April 30th renewal year and the annual quoting process has concluded with another favorable re re have a motion to accept the insurance quote for the 2627 plan as provided. Misty second Joe. All right. Um Mr. Hortmiller, would you like to >> Yeah, sure. I think uh it's worth mentioning a few comments tonight uh especially because this year's renewal it actually uh we experienced a decrease which uh as you guys recall from from past years we've had favorable renewals
101but never a decrease and particularly in in school world uh we know that this is an area where a lot of schools are experiencing high increases and uh sure there's some work done in the business office but uh there's a few other areas that I think are important to call out tonight for all the work that they're doing. I'd say first and foremost that the maintenance department as it relates to the the property insurance uh very nominal increase uh the the work that they do to manage and maintain our our our buildings as well as uh um mitigate uh damage. So for example uh when there was a water main break at Hazel over spring break we had three individuals literally spend the entire night there until 7 a.m. until they could shut off the
102water mitigating the amount of damage that goes into the building so we didn't have to file a claim. So since my time here we've not filed a property insurance claim a deductible of 50,000. And so I think again it goes to the testament to our to our maintenance team and the work that they do. We filed the uh the the cyber insurance and uh claim and credit to Andy's team. We check every box as it relates to the best practices for for cyber insurance. And so uh again we typically have favorable renewals on that front. And then of course when you saw the uh the chart on here you noticed that the biggest uh decrease was in uh the workers comp. So, uh, much credit to to Heather and her team for all the, uh,
103workplace safety measures that they've been, uh, working on the past year to bring down our workers comp claims and ultimately experienced a decrease there, bringing in uh, uh, safety presentations during professional development days for bus drivers, custodial maintenance, food service, uh, those areas where we tend to see higher claims. So, again, a lot of credit all around for such a favorable renewal this year on this. And, uh, lastly, I'll just close by saying that uh, again, it's just over $1 million in total. What was the total price here? Yeah, actually almost $1.4 million. So again, a very large portion of our overall budget. And I'd like to think that in the in the very near future, we can continue to bring uh proposals and strategies to you uh to continue to bring down that expense.
104>> Thank you. And thanks to you and your team for working on, you know, getting those those rates lowered. For sure. >> Wow. >> Any further discussion? Anyone else? All right. Um all those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. All right. Um on to meal prices. Um we are looking at the meal proposed meal prices for next school goal year 2026 2027. May I have a motion to approve the school breakfast and lunch prices effective 2026 and 2027 school year. >> So move >> Joe second. Second by Stephanie. >> Mr. Hartmiller. >> Yeah. Uh I'll speak briefly on this to to say that uh this uh this increase this year certainly is a little bit higher than than prior years and it's really a direct result of the financial situation within the the lunch account.
105Uh some history is important to note here as it relates to us coming out of COVID. We acrewed a relatively high balance a little bit higher than what is considered the the standard from the uh USDA standpoint. So we were required to spend that balance down. Again, that balance was acred because we were getting all lunches reimbured at that 100% rate. And uh in spending on that balance, not all of it could go to just one-time expenses. Some of it had to get plugged into operational expenses, creating for us really a deficit over the last couple years. Um and and we believe that with this increase the that we will of course rightsize the deficit, but we'll also be in really uh better standing with USDA in terms of how they look at the uh
106the lunch price compared to the reimbursement. So, for example, the reimbursement that they give for the the free amount is $469. The amount that we're proposing tonight is $3. And then when you add in the reimbursement amount that they give for every lunch, whether it's free or reduced, it's 53. So, the difference between the 353 and the 469, they like to see that closer together. So, that helps us close that gap. And the reason they like to see that is because they believe that uh if that's not close very close then it's assumed that the reimbursement for free and reduced is subsidizing your lunch prices. So in other words they want you to be reinvesting back into the program raising wages making sure you have updated equipment. But then also uh the other thing that
107we're able to do with this increase is to fund some of what's called the indirect cost of the program. That's the utilities uh such as electric, water, uh sewer and trash, things like that that were allowed to reimburse the district. So part of the increase would then fund those uh reimbursements back to the district helping our deficit on the the operational side of the budget. So so that u is a little bit of of the overview in terms of the the increase this year. I don't have a crystal ball, but I would like to think that next year uh if there was an increase, it'd be very nominal if if at all. So just helps to right size the financials there. >> Okay. Thank you. I guess um for me I would like to see
108um the free and reduced meal plans explained more um we you know I know it's out in power school but maybe to make sure that um you know families that may need it are aware of that it's there and how to apply and how to how to get that service. All right, any other comments? >> Um I just just to make sure that it's pointed out that we do participate in the purchasing cooperative for food too, right? for in our um food purchasing. >> Right. >> That's next. Yeah. >> Right. Right. Well, but I mean that's just another effort to keep our costs down and the food service program is self-funded. So the salaries for our cafeteria staff are paid out of this account, too. So it's not like we're just spending money to be
109spending it. It actually is self- sustaining. >> Yeah. And you know, just like everybody, the cost of food is going up for for in every area. All right. Um um all those in favor I >> opposed. Motion carried. >> All right. On to the next item which is what Misty was referring to. Um we are an administrator is requesting the continuation of the food to school purchasing cooperative. May I have a um a motion to approve bids recommended by the foodtoschool purchasing cooperative for the 2627 school year? Motion Misty. >> I'll second. >> Second. Brett, any further discussion at all? >> Uh, I just wanted to point out something that I was informed of today when I asked about this. Um, for anyone else wondering, this does not cost us anything to participate. So, there
110is no money going out for this contract. >> Good. Okay. All right. Um, all those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. All right. Next up, we have public comment um for a non-aggenda topic. and we did not have anyone sign up for that. So, next we have superintendent remarks. Dr. Hy. >> All right. Thank you, board. And to our two audience members that have made it and one's probably getting paid to be here, so you know, but hey, thank glad you're here anyway. Hey, so just a few quick things board um and community if you're watching at home. Um first off, I'm going to start with a with a huge celebration and and a congratulations to this school board. Um because uh community, if you're not aware of this already, our school board has
111been named uh for the second year in a row one of the very few exemplary school boards by the Indiana uh school board association. In fact, last year and this year, they are one of only five to have put in the work and the efforts and intentionality that that comes with that. So huge congratulation. Um that that award does not happen by happen by accident. Um the board has to do a lot of very specific things to achieve that. And on that note, I'm super happy to also point out for those here in the room with us that um we were able to get all of our award plaques for the board uh relocated here into the room. So, we've moved some things around. So, if you are still here tonight, uh make sure you
112take a peek at those on your way on your way out um because very proud of those accomplishments for our board. Uh something else that's coming up next week is teacher recognition week. So, we're looking forward to celebrating all of our hardworking educators uh next week here at Noel Schools. And the last item is actually kind of a look forward a little bit. Um, so as we've talked about quite a few times over the last few years, um, especially since I've been here as your superintendent, um, our current operating referendum is going to automatically expire at the end of this calendar year, at the end of 2026. Um, so just a quick piece of information on that for those who don't know, referenda in the state of Indiana cannot last longer than eight years. Um,
113this referendum was passed in 2018 and so it this is year eight. Um, so by law, it has to sunset and and end at the end of this time. And so again, we've spoken all about this a lot, but just for the sake of tonight, um our current referendum provides about 20% of our operational funding here at Noblesville Schools and the money that it takes just to run this district dayto-day. Um and so right now, uh Mr. Horde Miller and I have been analyzing our historical and our future finances, just kind of looking at the last few years of what's been going on at Noval Schools financially and also what's coming. Um and in this in the sake of this conversation, we have to look at least eight years out um as we think about
114this um and we we think about what what this might mean. And so um this is a very big a very important consideration for our board but also for the community. Um this is not a decision to be taken lightly and something to just you know make a decision on a whim. Um so next month at at this meeting next month I'll be presenting uh information about this topic to the board and also to our community. Uh I'm going to share our financial analysis that we've been working on um as well as some initial thoughts uh just for discussion and consideration and and some things to think through board um that we can talk about then. Um and looking ahead and and for full transparency for the community, uh the board if if they did
115decide um that they wanted to place a referendum question on the ballot, that decision would have to be made um at the June board meeting. And so I'm anticipate having a lot more conversation again at that June meeting as well. So I look forward to sharing a lot more about this next month and having this conversation together um as we start planning for the future of the district. And of course, there will be a lot of additional communications on this topic in the weeks and months ahead. And that's all I have tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Committee reports. Attendance review. Misty. >> Okay. Um. All right. So, the attendance review committee. Um, a common theme that I hear at every one of these meetings is how much each and every building admin
116team across the district works so hard and they do a great job with thinking outside the box to be creative for each student as needed. Uh there are several unique situations that require different efforts not only on behalf of the family but for our team as well and this is something we do well and our attendance numbers actually do reflect that. Um there are they have all sorts of Julie and her team has all sorts of charts and graphs and studies and um everything else they use when tracking attendance for students uh by building, by grade for the district as a whole. Um, and as a little bit of information, if you're someone who likes to look at the um the Indiana Department of Education website to look at attendance rates, I'm not sure who
117enjoys that, but someone probably does. Um, keep in mind that the site um for the public view only shows the prior year's attendance rates. So, it's um not this school year. So, it's last year. Um, and then something else to keep in mind is that um, the public data does not, which I learned, use the same data that is used for the accountability model. Correct. >> Okay. Um, I'm sure the state can make it a little more confusing because it's not quite confusing enough. >> Um, they're pretty good at that. Um, I had some other other details written down, but it's um I don't know that the major portion of the audience really um is interested in that. I started geeking out when I was making my notes, so I'll skip over some of it.
118Um, but something that does play a role in our attendance efforts um is a program called Cartwheel, which we have. Has anybody heard of cartwheel? Um, it's a virtual teaalth service that is covered under the project aware grant for specific needs. And we also have a wonderful mental health reimbursement program. If a family doesn't have insurance nor Medicaid and if they do have Medicaid, then the cartwheel services are completely covered. So that is something that is of great use um especially when you're talking about attendance issues because a lot of students um will need have some mental health needs which does prevent them like anxiety and sorts of things. Um attendance is a very real issue and it looks different for each student and each family and we've got a great team who's tackling these
119um issues from various viewpoints with very real success. And Julie, thank you um for you and your team for all your work on what you do. >> More than just attendance. I know you [laughter] a lot more than that. >> Thank you, Misty. Um ISB legislative show >> Dan mentioned we attended the spring regional meeting, spring regional meeting in Cookamo. And and during those meetings, we we kind of wrap up the legislative uh action legal issues. There were 28 new eight new K12 education policy or child related laws this year which is really down from most years but still a lot of things that we didn't have to write policy for and do new things. Uh a couple of highlights are the wireless communications which everybody knows bellto bell ban on cell phones. Another one
120was schoolboard candidates as we run for election next time that's been changed and and and that was reviewed. Uh and and House Ha uh 1004 they reduced some of the the language in the uh in the rule book that we all live by at the school board superintendent level uh by 24 statute, but there's still a gazillion statutes left in there that they they still leave us with. Uh, second thing Dan mentioned the highlight that our that our board was recognized. What I'd also like to point out additionally that Christy Crosser, Stephanie Lambert, and Misty Ray were have come up to exempl exempl >> exemplary. >> Yeah, exemplary. Hard to say that >> individual status uh on the boards and Brett being the newbie on the board. You got to you got to be at
121this thing a few years like this, okay, to get at Brett being a newbie. He will be there in the next year around when we when we do this. So I'm proud of my point which you're already there Joe. >> I'm already there but I'm proud of our teammates because there was a time when only I went to these meetings in the first years I was on this school board and now this whole group and Dr. House shows up at every one of these regional meetings which is one way to to see what other schools are doing and we particularly have coffee with those folks to find out that wow does Noblesville so far ahead of everybody else. we sometimes have to keep our mouth shut uh at these things because we do things well
122with Dan's leadership and and and my teammates up here. Uh in addition to that, that that's it for that. We all work well together. >> Yes. Well, and just to kind of um piggyback on what you said, there have been a lot of seminars um that I have gone to for various topics for our district, and I come out of it thinking, wow, we already do a lot of that stuff, you know, and it's just I'm like, you don't know what you don't know. If you don't have anything to compare it to, then you don't realize how good you have it. So, we have a phenomenal team across the district, for sure. All right, I'm going to report on No Bubblesville School's Education Foundation. Um, we met on March 16th. Um, grants awarded this school
123year have been 73 to date for $97,000 and that's students and teachers. Um, the scholarship review committee met. Um, 20 scholarships are decided within that group, the NSCF group. Um, and awards night is May 13th at the high school. Uh, the kindergarten club is now open. that is a club where if you have an incoming kindergartener um you can sign up on the website and also think a miller is open. So this is open to teachers, anybody that's a Miller and that is also on the website and we also have the date for next year's Miller Palooa. It will actually be in February um February 19th at Embassy Suites. All right, Joe. Parks board. >> All right, parks board. >> [laughter] >> entry. So, take it to the entry and how to get, you know,
124how to get yourself signed up to run this 5K for all you runners out there. Uh, >> can we walk? Can we walk? >> You can walk it. Okay. Uh, just show up. It's [laughter] It's going to be It's going to be nice. We got great big gigantic beautiful It's be called It's going to be called the uh the Parks and Pedals 5K because we're in conjunction with the PNA Festival. So, we got this great big metal. is just a big old beautiful flower that you can just put around your neck and walk all over town feeling good about it. And then we got this really keen looking t-shirts that have been designed very nicely that you can wear the rest of the year to promote the penny festival in the 5K here. Uh May
12517th at 8:30. Well, I want to say 8 in the morning. It's a beautiful course. I know the well I know the guy designed it. He put a lot of thought into this. Walked it many times to make sure that was Joe. >> It was okay. But it's it's ready to go. So, it's going to be nice. Now, in addition to that, the parks are open. Uh the trails are all open. Everything's looking good. Uh the other day for Arbor Day, I met with the mayor and a whole bunch of tree loving people and we planted we we planted a whole bunch of trees at the park. Okay. So, as you walk down the trail there uh by shelter by shelter three, look to your right and you'll see a whole bunch of new trees
126with the big old ones kind of blew down in the last couple years. >> 100 years ago, I learned a new factoid. 100 years ago, the parks were started and the parks department planted 12,000 trees. So, I think all those old guys that have been blowing down lately in the parks were part were planted 100 years ago by the parks department. A whole bunch of darn trees up and down the river there. All right. >> There should be a tree named after you at the park. >> Well, I'm going to carve my name in one of those big old beach trees before it falls down because I think they planted beach trees originally. Okay, >> we'll get a bench for you. >> We just last thing. We we did a five-year master plan, which I'm
127not going to go into, but we we did all the surveys of the of the of the city, of the youth, of the adults, and things we needed in the park over the next five years. So, go to the website and check out that. We've uh it just involves a lot of good activities, both the young and old in the parks, but we love our parks department. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Joe. Noblesville Youth Sports Alliance, Misty. >> Okay. Um so we heard updates from each of the participating youth sports programs in our community among some operational and budget information for the programs. Um the Hamilton County Sports Authority has generously provided funds to help the various youth sports programs for any internal needs or projects that they may have. So they donate
128it to NYSA and then each individual sports program if they have a need they apply um to NYSA for any assistance or grants for things that they may need. Um and we do have a firm date now for the CPR skills on May 21st but we need at least 10 participants. Um, Noblesville Youth Sports helps cover part of the cost for those involved in the various youth sports programs from an operational or coaching standpoint. So, if you are one of these people involved in one of these uh youth groups um and you're interested in being CPR certified, please uh just let me know and I'll get the uh registration link sent to you if you need it. And as always, if you are a parent with a child in our community who wants to participate
129in sports, but you're struggling with registering them due to financial reasons, please reach out to the individual sports program directly, or you may contact nya at noblesvilleports.com and make the request there. Our next meeting is May 20th right here. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, cabinet reports, we always um appreciate the cabinet reports. We always um read them and get just so much so much much good information. Does anybody have any comments about those? >> Looks like a neat visit to the airport, the Noblesville airport. >> That's very neat. I just had one other question about an ISL, something that middle schools are using, an exL digital thing that helps them see if they learned what was taught during math. And is that something you know about or could comment on? Sounds pretty
130cool. Okay, thank you. That was all. >> Thank you. All right. Anything else? Okay. Our next school board meeting will be here Tuesday, May 19th, 6 pm. Um, may I have a motion to adjurnn, >> Joe? Second, Misty. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried. We are adjourned. >> Thanks everyone.