001Allegiance flagisible. And now a moment of silence. All right. Uh, first up we have recognitions Dr. Hy. >> All right. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thanks for being here with us tonight. At this time I would like to invite Eric Thornberry up to the podium and we have quite a few um band students that we're going to recognize this evening. >> Thank you. We're going to start with uh we were remiss or I was remiss in the fall of recognizing our state finalist marching band. So I'd like to call up our drum majors, Abby Flint, Asher Pullman, and Ilio Mangano. Um these are the drum majors of the marching miller. So they're representing all 156 students. Um and this past year, uh the marching millers placed sixth in the state, uh which is the highest
002placement that we have had to date. So you just come up here. Um and um yeah, we're we're very proud of that. It is very competitive in the state of Indiana. Uh the um group continued to make uh once again make super regional finals. So there's nine states that were competing. Uh there were 64 uhish bands and they take the top 14. Um and so we were one of the top 14 in nationals as well. So we're proud of our marching millers. We're going to have them stay up here and we're because they might be coming up again. Anyway, we want to recognize um three students who made the All State um honor band or the All State band. That is a um rigorous audition to get into this. Um let's bring up Hunter Do,
003Nathan Fundenburgger, and Hi Marts. Um yes, these are some of the best students um musicians in the state of Indiana. It is um it's a two-part audition where you have to audition live and then they actually record the audition and they send that audition to um like college directors who then listen to the students blind and pick the the most outstanding students. So these students will be representing using us at uh Purdue University in March um as part of the all state band. And then we have uh students from the IMEA, which is the music educators association concert band. Uh Na Gelfo, Anukica V, and Quinn Melton. Come on up. These these students performed at our state music convention. Um this is also a statewide honor band uh that students have to have a resume
004to get into. So they apply through resume. Um and I got a chance to listen to them perform and they were outstanding. That was in January. And then also we have uh some of our all-state jazz band students, Owen Stitcher, Logan Heield, and Sam Diaz. Are any of the Yeah, Logan's here. Come on up. And um also, let's do Aiden Shamo. Is he here for junior all state? These uh the All State Jazz Band also performs at the Indiana Music Educators Association convention. Um and Noblesville was well represented. I got a chance to listen to them as well. And then we're going to bring up Julia Hurststein on flute in Picolia. Julia was Yes, Julia made the junior all state band. She is a freshman and an outstanding flute player. And then we also want
005to recognize um Na Gelfo and Asher Pullman. Um I think I don't think they she's already up here. They represented Noblesville in the it's called the future music educator colloquium. And so that is an application process and the students get to spend the state convention uh learning what it's like to be a music educator. And so uh we were proud to have two students representing Noblesville. Um so let's uh appreciate all of you guys. Uh as we say in the band world of often uh one student uh makes a difference for the whole group. And so these students are making a huge difference for our program. And uh we thank them and we we thank the school board for this opportunity to recognize them. All right. And at this time, I would like to invite
006Principal Angie Gingrich from North Elementary to come up and talk to about our hair teachers of the month. And while she's while they're making their way up here, I always like to share a little bit about this program. The hair Chevrolet teacher spotlight program highlights three teachers each month and provides $1,000 to their school for student academic and extracurricular achievement. So with that, turn it over to you. >> Tonight, we are proud to recognize three outstanding educators whose dedication and heart make a lasting difference in our school. Um, first I have Aaron Garbay, a kindergarten teacher who has devoted nine years to shaping our young learners at North. She is a caring and thoughtful teacher who creates a warm, nurturing classroom where every student feels valued and supported. Next, we recognize Jamie Gersande who taught
007in Florida for 15 years before bringing her talents to Noblesville, where she has served for the past six years. as the grade level lead. She is not only a fun and engaging teacher, but also a trusted leader who supports her colleagues and inspires her students every day. And then finally, we honor Abigail Wilkinson, a dedicated special education teacher with eight years of experience who is thoughtful in her practice and consistently goes above and beyond for her students. Her commitment, energy, and willingness to do whatever it takes truly sets her apart. You guys want to come stand up here? Good evening. Um, tonight we'll be highlighting how strengthening our school community through shared experiences become the foundation for both academic excellence and a vibrant school culture. At North Elementary, we believe that strengthening our school community
008happens when we create meaningful, shared experiences for our students and families. These experiences do more than bring people together. They improve student success, build a strong and connected school community, and expand learning beyond the classroom walls. These efforts align directly with our core values at Noblesville schools, especially our commitment to celebrated school culture. We know that culture is not built by chance. It is built intentionally through opportunities that unite students, families, and staff around learning, creativity, and connection. Tonight, our teacher librarian, Courtney Chamberlain, will share examples of how these shared experiences are strengthening our school community. The school library plays a vital role in this work. It is more than a place for books. It is a hub for connection, collaboration, and discovery for our students and families. Hi. So, we accomplish this in a
009multitude of ways involving almost all of our staff members in some capacity. This is just an overview when you look kind of at a glance of the ways we foster a strong school community. and between our family nights, afterchool clubs, schoolwide events, and home book clubs. So, tonight we're just going to highlight four of these to kind of round it out. I wanted to include the bigger picture because there's so much more than goes that goes into it than just these four events. We are going to begin with one of our annual events and one of my personal favorites, grandparents and games night. Um, years ago, we celebrated grandparents in we celebrated grandparents day during the school day. However, with increasing security measures and varying schedules, we made the decision to move the event to
010an afterchool setting. This actually became a much more inclusive event for our families, seeing as how any family member or family friend can attend with their student, not just a grandparent. And moving to an afterchool setting also allowed for more participation with work schedules as well. It's an evening where families can attend for free, spend quality time together, and engage with our school staff in incredibly positive ways. As we do with family literacy night, which is what we highlighted last year, we do a school transformation depending on the theme. Last year the theme was Candyland. As you can see, we had a giant starting line as people entered. Um had a few experiences where we moved it outside and then it almost blew away. So if you ever need a good laugh, there's I think
011school video footage of that blowing away and a few people toppling on top of it to keep it steady. Um, and then we have game squares leading around the school, a giant candy bar where families could make their own bag of mixed candy, which was quite a hit. Along the way were sweet talk spots where families could stop and discover a question or statement that encouraged conversation and connection. Each grade level hosts their own game in their classrooms. The library becomes a giant ice spy. A book fair set up in the gym and a local company bring life-size games for families to enjoy. Pop the Penguin is an especially popular choice. Families have shared they love the light-hearted fun of the evening and that this event offers an interactive experience for their students with little
012to no cost. The night also gives one of our clubs a chance to shine, which you got to experience today, just a little taste of board game design club. Students in fourth grade have the opportunity to participate in this club. It is an afterchool group that meets weekly leading up to grandparents and games night where they get to debut their newly created games. I'd like to give you a little backstory. So, this club began um four years ago and it's grown into a really awesome experience for our students. We began the first five sessions um the weekly sessions with learning about various board games and many that students have not heard of or played before. In fact, most of them end up, one of them told me today, they're like, "My family's on the hunt
013for Goon Nuts for Donuts because I loved it so much and won't stop talking about it." Um, we discuss the theme, the mechanics of the games, students play them, record their observations, their likes and dislikes until we're ready to begin developing our own. After learning about how many games function and play, members then spend weeks developing and creating their board games. We've had amazing games, as you got to see just those three today. Um, they're unique in theme and design. Students are thoughtful, imaginative, and dedicated to not just designing, but also play testing, revising, and offering feedback to the other members of the club. We celebrate each year with showcase nights, one of which happens at grandparents and games night where they get to show off their game, play with guests, and receive real-time feedback.
014And we it's another great way just to celebrate their hard work. And then we've also had showcase nights at Moonshot Games, um, which is another way we've been able to connect with the community. This club gives students a creative outlet and an alternative way to shine outside of the traditional school setting. Another event that I hold near and dear to my heart is the north to north is the book flood. Um, this past December marked the third annual book flood that we hosted. Based on the Icelandic tradition of giving each other books as gifts in the holiday season, we host a flood of books on the day before winter break. Um, prior to the event, students learn all about the history behind the book flood, which if you don't know, takes kind of started in
015World War II when everything was rationed and when it came time for the holiday season, it was very difficult to find meaningful gifts to give one another. But paper was not. And so, publishing companies kind of really zoned in on that. And they published all of their new books starting in October. So, there really was a flood of books on the market. And then they would send out a magazine and people would choose select books for each other and give them to each other on the holidays and then they would stay up late reading and eating chocolate and drinking a warm drink. And I that's right up my alley. So um I thought how can I bring this to north and bring that alive for our students. So our book flood happens like I said
016the day before uh winter break all classes are invited to come to the library and swap books. So, we ask if they can bring in a book that they have read or they're finished with and they want to share and then we add them to the tables and then students get to come in, find a book that they want to read, and then they head back to the classroom to curl up with hot cocoa and enjoy that book. The last two years it has snowed on that day. So, naturally now I expect it every I'm going to be really disappointed next year if it doesn't snow. Um, this event not only involves our students, our families, but our community as well. I begin asking for donations in August to bulk up the options for the
017book flood. High interest books are key in this. As you can see, there's just a ton of selection on our tables. Um, and some of our students don't have extra books at home to bring in. So, we always make sure that there are a lot available that they can go in the hallways in the morning, grab one to bring with them, and still completely participate. And we've had so many donations um in years past that we've been able to allow students to take two books home sometimes, which is amazing. I just I love that. And then, as I mentioned, after they have selected their books, they head back to their classrooms where a hot cocoa bar comes and delivers hot chocolate to every student with all the toppings. They get to decide if they want
018whipped cream, sprinkles, marshmallows, a candy cane. Um and then they get to do my favorite part. They just curl up and read with their hot cocoa. Many teachers, it's already a PJ day usually that day, so teachers allow them to bring in blankets and stuffies, and it's just a really, really cozy um setting for them. And again, this provides them with reading material over winter break. So, they're going home with books. This event would not be possible without so many helpers in our school that volunteer to support that day. Our learning specialist, instructional coach, counselor, social worker, ML teacher, and more take rotations to deliver the cocoa to help sort the books when they're brought in and to support students finding books that they want. My original vision couldn't have come to life without all
019of their support and the teachers willingness to participate. So, it truly is the magical day and it has become one of my absolute new favorite traditions at North. And then the last thing I want to talk about is our at home book clubs. So, these strengthen our home to school connection and encourage students to share with their family a story. Um, thanks to the district-wide United Way grant the elementary librarians secured this year, we were able to partner with Noblesville Boom and provide an at home book club for all second graders leading up to the field trip to a game last week. And if you did not hear, it was amazing. It was incredibly loud. They gave, you know, every second grader got to attend. They gave us boomsticks. Um, so they were I mean
020they were pumped. It was so much fun to watch their excitement. Um, but students also read the Zach and Zoe mysteries, the Halfcourt Hero, and they completed various activities all about the book and aligned to second grade phonics standards. Um, so I think that is fantastic. And then I'm planning, this is still in the works, um, but a third through fifth grade at home book club with Katherine Applegate's newest book, Pocket Bear. Um, and it will lead up to a virtual author visit in May with Katherine Applegate. So, that'll again strengthen that connection. And she's an incredibly popular author in our library. So, I'm very excited and looking forward to it. >> All right. So, like Courtney said, this is just a glimpse of all the things that are done at North. Being new, I've
021just been so amazed at all the amazing things that they do at the school. Um, but we always want to focus on students success, powerful family partnerships, and enhancing learning. and that's what the staff at North is all about. We would love to invite you to our future events so you can experience the magic as well. Um, you can always stop by for our grandparents and games night on April 30th. And there's a hint, it'll be a major sports theme. So, if you're into sports, come and join us on April 30th. We'd love to have you. Or the book flood next December. We'd love to have you there as well. >> Thank you very much. Um we the board visited today with Dr. Hyle and we really we really enjoyed our visit. We got to
022see some of the games and talk to students that were had completed their games and students that um are working on their games. So it was it was just a great visit. Anyone else? Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, next up we have our strategic planning presentation. At each of our board meetings, um, we rotate and we have an update on a strategic strategic plan pillar. So, Heather. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um, yes, I'm going to be giving our strategic plan update. Um, we're going to be focusing on the area of exceptional staffing tonight. Do I have control over the Yep, there we go. Okay. So the items in red here are what I'm going to really be um focusing on this evening that you can see. Um with this next
023slide, I really want to talk about and highlight a critical component of our human resource department is um a dedicated system of purposeful meetings um staff check-in meetings that we have. And it's really, you'll see here designed to ensure that all employees feel valued, supported, and celebrated here at Noblesville Schools. So, um, kind of the why behind why we have these meetings. Um, you can see we want staff truly to enjoy working for Noblesville schools. I love the image on this slide. Um, I found this and I thought, gosh, we need to, Marne, we need to put this outside our schools. True happiness at work comes from feeling valued, not just employed. And I really want all of our employees here at Noblesville to feel that way, that they're not just an employee, um, that
024they're valued um, personnel to us. Uh the next thing is we want staff who feel heard and supported because they're going to be more likely to stay with us. If staff are happy in their role, they can better focus on their primary mission, which is student success. And then lastly, our our last why is the check-in meetings provide a great deal of uh qualitative data to improve our overall district processes when we're looking at operations and onboarding and our our mentor programs. All of the feedback that we get from these check-in meetings is going to help us to improve all of those things. So, here's some of the different types of check-in meetings that we have. Um, the first one is is actually one of my favorite. Uh, we actually have check-in meetings with our
025first year teacher. So, that's any first year first year teacher coming right out of college to us or their first year educators to us maybe coming from a different entity or a different district. And of course, we onboard all of these individuals when they first are hired and then we set them free and off they go. Um, and this is a chance for our HR team to reconnect with them, see how things are going. Um, so these these meetings I really look forward to each year. We hold these in the first semester of the the year and touch base with them um before the first semester is out. The second meeting um type is actually new this year. This is something that we um because the first year u check-in meetings were so valuable and
026we found those so productive, we decided why aren't we doing this with our classified staff? So, our custodial, food service, instructional assistance, all of them. And so, our HR team now um at the 90-day mark. So, after they've met that 90day of employment, we are now doing a check-in meeting with them as well. And um I'll I'll kind of go over some of the information that we've gleaned from that. And then lastly, we have check-in meetings with our student teachers. Obviously, our student teachers are ones that we're looking to to hopefully hire down the road. And so, we want to make sure that their experience here at Noblesville Schools is um is a great one because we want them to continue on with us. And I'll I'll talk a little bit more about what those
027look like. So, with all of the meetings, um we're really looking at these things here. Um we're looking at highlights and celebrations, maybe some of the challenges that they've encountered during their time with us or any barriers that they've had. Um support their professional and personal growth and then um really highlighting that positive work life balance. So kind of the feel of the check-in meetings with all of the different check-in meetings that we have. Um we these are kind of our our principles of um of how we conduct these. So questions being asked during the meetings are actually provided to our employees ahead of time. We learned this that after I don't know doing the first year check-in meetings for a few years. Um you know not everyone is spontaneous. They want time to process
028how their experience has been. And so we started to send the the questions ahead of time and um they don't have to prepare anything but sometimes it allows them some time to process of how their experience has been. And so we always send the questions out to them ahead of our meeting. Um, and then our HR team, we actually go out and conduct these meetings in the buildings. You know, we want to make sure that that's we're in their space and maybe a more comfortable environment. Um, so we come to them and and that allows a little bit more flexibility with their schedule as well. And then the last two, these meetings are non-evaluative. We make sure that they know that upfront. This isn't a performance, you know, review or anything like that. These are
029just informal um conversations. And then lastly, our HR team members who are conducting the meetings are demonstrating active listening. So during that time, we want to make sure that, you know, they're taking the time to share with us what their experience has been, and we want to make sure that we're capturing, you know, those ideas and notes um for future use. So for our first year um check-in meetings, our first year teacher check-in meetings, you can see those are the the questions that we asked them. Um, again, really looking at the highlights. What things have gone well for them? Maybe some of the the challenges or barriers that they've had um to kind of work through. My favorite question is, um, what do you what things do you wish you would have known prior to
030the start of the school year? We learn a whole lot of things. They're like, "Oh my gosh, we didn't tell them this." Or, you know, so that really helps us, especially, I think, with a mentor program with from our learning department, you know, oh, we need to add this to the list of things that our mentors can share with their mentees. So um we always uh glean a lot of information from that. And then for those classified meetings, we also ask about their onboarding experience that is really um you know useful information to us as the HR department that we can then share back with the supervisors of how that that was, how their current workload is, do they feel comfortable talking to the supervisor, all of those things. So, some of the overall trends
031for our first year teacher check-ins, you can see there um strong culture and peer support. So, the most consistent um trend that we saw was just a high level of satisfaction. People are really happy here and that's why I think I love these these meetings um is that we get a lot of really, you know, positive feedback and their joy for working for Noblesville schools. Um you can see there I put a quote um with this one because it just really resonated with me. Um one of our individuals first year um to Noblesville. It's evident that teachers are valued at Noblesville. And I remember this this uh individual came from another district and they just really felt that here at our district they felt valued. And I thought oh you know that's our our goal
032for like I said from the beginning and so um to hear that and that people feel that way um is what we want to hear in these meetings. And then we got a lot of feedback. I won't read all of these things to you, but you can kind of peruse through them as you as you um wish. But the professional development training um and we learned they said while PD days are generally praised for networking, there's a clear trend regarding the timing and format. And so, you know, some of the training that we try to do over the summer before our first year teachers get started with us, they um really appreciate that, but some things they learned after the fact. And so, you know, especially with like in the technology team, Andy and I
033are working of like how can we coordinate this? We've tried all different kinds of ways of frontloading information, trying to spread it out throughout the year, not to overwhelm them. But, you know, some of those things were great feedback items for our teams to to work collaboratively on. Um, and then continuing operation and logistics stressors. You can see it says new teachers mentioned the need for additional resources for building procedures, resource management, and then that work life balance. Again, every single check-in meeting that we're having, we're stressing that we want people to have a life outside of here. And I think often with our first year teachers, you can see there um some of that first year perfectionism of wanting to do such a good job. That's a real thing. And so, you know, just
034stressing to our first year teachers, it's okay. you know, the first year you if you don't get it all down, it's okay and it it will get better. But, you know, try to maintain that work life balance because they're going to be happier, you know, if they can do that. And that that last quote again was one from one of our first year teachers. I feel like there is a good work life balance due to the strong processes in place and the many team supports. And I thought, wow. Again, they feel like because of our strong systems that we have in place and all the supports that they have that they're able to, you know, have that strong work life balance, which is our our goal for them. So, here's some of our overall trends.
035Um, this is just for first semester so far for our classified check-ins. You can see we had 49 of those um that were conducted. Um, some of the highlights, our employees overwhelmingly highlight the enjoyment of just interacting with the kids. I think a lot of that's what you know a lot of our support staff that's what they um you know that's why they come here that's their reward is and is working with the kids and so I'm glad that they felt that way um and then just the helpfulness of colleagues the feeling of working as a team those were noted as positives um you can see some of the challenges there um some prior knowledge that they wish they had you know had prior to starting the job um and then on this second um
036page here too building level support needs and additional support and then onboarding experience. Those were some other things that we were also um commented on as well. So again, those classified um meetings have been really great. We're learning a lot of of good information um so we can better support our classified staff members. And then um we also have our check-in meetings with student teachers. And as I said before, this is a group that we really we want to, you know, we're kind of just as much as we're kind of interviewing them throughout their experience, they're interviewing us because they're looking at all different sorts of districts of where they want to land and we hope that they're going to land with us. And so we want to make sure that we're, you know, doing
037a check-in just to see how their experiences. Um, so those are the questions that we ask. and um kind of unique to the student teacher is we also want to make sure that then when they're done with our exp their experience with us that we're the setting them up for success as far as getting their teaching license. So, we're like, "Hey, where are you with your CPR AED certification and your suicide prevention certification and your practice lens or exams?" Because they have to have all of that to get their teaching license. And so, we're trying to help them if they haven't gotten that from the university side of things. And we're going to set them up so that they can get all of those things taken care of and be ready to to launch once
038they get their their student teaching done. And here's some of those overall trends for our student teaching um check-in meetings. So, you know, our our kids here love it. They feel like we treat them as employees. You know, they they get all the technology our employees do. They get they get a badge so they can come and and plan and and do all the things that our our teachers do, which I think that they really enjoy. Um the one comment, I would love to come back to Noblesville schools. That's our hope, right? That's what we're working towards. So, we love to to hear those types of things. So, um, lastly, I'll I'll kind of wrap up with a different type of check-in meeting. So, you can see here, obviously, we do exit interviews. So, when
039someone resigns or retires from Noblesville schools, we're doing exit interviews. Um, but about three years ago, yeah, this is our third year. We just got done doing our stay interviews. Um, that is a different type of meeting and we have found that those have been really beneficial. Um, that is more of a proactive approach of of trying to to see why people stay. Uh, Dr. Hy shaking his head because he got to to do one of our stay interviews. It's all random and so it was his name came up this year and I thought, well, it's randomized. We'll we'll let him do it. >> And I decided to stay. How about that? All right. >> We see those results. >> Yes. >> I'm kidding. >> Well, and actually, we I will put out a report.
040We just got our last day interview done last Thursday. I mean nothing is connected to any name or any building or anything like that but I will share with you um kind of the overall trends that we heard and saw which is great. So the stay interviews this is kind of the purpose you know what is a stay interview and it's really you know that that question at the top there why wait until employees leave to ask what they think and I think that the stay interviews really give us a good glimpse of that of you know why do people stay? We choose people um you know that have been here is like zero to five years, five to 10 and then 10 plus. And so each different um you know category people have different
041experiences and then we try to get a good cross-section across our district of people from different um buildings, different CA job categories, that type of thing, which is great. Here's the questions that we asked them during that. Again, um you can see that last question. How would you rate your work life balance? How can it be improved? Again, we're honing in on, you know, making sure that people have a good a good balance. And then lastly is our exit interviews. Um, with all of our individuals that are retiring, we almost always have a in-person interview with with those individuals. Um, we do offer for all Lexa interviews. If they're resigning, we offer them um an in-person. A lot of people will opt to do, you know, an electronic Google form, which is fine, but they
042have that option. If they if they want to come in and meet with myself and a member of our HR team, they can do that. Or if they prefer just to submit the Google form, um that's okay, too. And these are some of the questions that we we ask them during that. So, with all of that information, all of those purposeful check-in meetings, um some of the action items just based on on some of the things that we heard, you can see here, um you know, is perhaps we need to establish some training for elementary substitute teachers on how to teach CKLA. That was something that we heard um quite a bit that it's it's hard for them to take a day. It's hard for some of our staff to take a day um because
043it's, you know, this is just such a a new and different reading curriculum than what they've been exposed to and and our subs are no different, you know, so they're coming in, they're trying to, you know, have that that continuation, but that has been a little tricky. So, we're trying to think what can we do on the flip side of that to make sure that our our subs feel comfortable and confident in carrying out those lesson plans. Um, another thing that came from that is have each building create a resource web page of important documents or information. Some of our buildings are doing that, some are not. So, just trying to create that consistency. Um, Andy and I have talked about the next one providing more hands-on training with P school for classroom teachers. One
044of the comments from um our meetings was they didn't when they had the training about P school, they didn't have their class yet. And so because it was offered in the summer and so maybe offering a a session where they actually have their class, they can get in there and mess, you know, with the their students and and all of that would be more helpful to them. Um create a sheet that tells new teachers what they need to buy and what's supplied to them. I mean, you think as a first year teacher, you you definitely may not know that. So that was a great suggestion. Um something that we hadn't thought of, obviously. um include e-haw passes and summer technology um training. And that is something that's used at both the secondary um the middle
045schools and the high school. And so that was something that a lot of the teachers said, "Hey, the first day of school this kids bring me their iPad and we have no idea what the e-haw pass is or how to use it." And so Andy and his team have already added that onto their their list. Um and then those last couple um the front-loading technology training I already spoke to. And then the last one, um, this one we heard quite a bit, um, throughout our classified check-in meetings, and that is to create a more enhanced and consistent training for instructional assistance. I think that's the one, um, job group that we have found that they just feel like we we've kind of thrown them in there, and if they've never been in a school before
046or never been in education, they just, you know, they don't have the intuition always to know exactly how to help support our students. And so, um, we're really working with Amy and Aaron, um, because a lot of our instructional assistants are working with our identified, um, students with special needs and how what does that training look like and and how can we make that better so that that transition into those positions is a little bit smoother. So, again, it kind of goes back to our why. You know, we just we want to make sure that our employees that they feel valued and supported in in every way uh, here at Noblesville School. So, we hope that these check-in meetings are are doing that. We hope that people feel feel valued and they we hope that
047the the feedback that they're providing us, we're able to make some really great changes. Um, with that questions? >> Oh, thank you very much. I I mean, I think everyone loves to feel hurt. It's it's important. And the question about work life balance, I think, is is great. I mean, it it touches so many things and mental health and >> absolutely. >> Yes. Yes. Anything. My my thoughts too was the work life balance and I think it's it's important for everybody but you guys also need to remember it also applies to you. >> So don't forget that. >> Thanks for that reminder. I I often need that. >> We need to we need to model that is what you're saying. Yes. >> Practice what you preach. >> Uhu. I just appreciate how your presentation gave
048areas for growth and you didn't just tell us all the positive things that you heard during these interviews. And as I was listening, I wrote down I was going to say, okay, well, I noticed there are some places for growth. Are there action items that So, I also love then you had specific action items. So, that's great. You've listened and things are going to you're going to make changes and implement that. So, kudos to you. Great job. Thank you. Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Heather. >> Thank you. All right. Um, next up on the agenda is public comment for agenda items. and we did not have anyone um sign up this evening to speak. So we will move to consent items. By a single motion, the board approves and
049adopts the following items and actions uh mark consent. And this this is an application of board policy and Indiana code. Those items are claims, donations, minutes from our last January meeting, overnight out of state trips, and personnel listings. May I have a motion to approve the consent items as listed? >> So move. >> Joe, may I have a second? >> Second. >> Misty. Although I'm sorry. Uh any further discussion? >> Yes. I always like to thank people that help us out in our in our financial uh area. And we have the Society of Plastics Engineers who gave Noblesville High School uh $1,250 for 3D printer material. Tyler Trust Systems uh gave us $300 for NHS gymnastics. Jason Casper uh gave Noblesville High School uh money for 3D printer and and things that regard for $300
050and invest in Hamilton County gave Noblesville schools $1,000 to invest in and food vendors and volunteers of Hamilton County Disability Resource Fair, which we're going to talk about a little later. >> Okay. Thank you, Joe. Anything else? All right. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. All right. Next up, we have action items. Um, in accordance with the Indiana State Law, we are required to utilize a more comprehensive expanded history background checks for employment. May I have a motion to approve the separate personnel list as related to additional background check information? >> Motion, Stephanie. Second. Second, Joe. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried. Alrighty. Uh, resolution authorizing emergency paid leave. Um, and this applies to Monday, January 26, when we had a weather event. May I have a
051motion to approve the resolution authorizing emergency paid leave due to a weather event on March on Monday, January 26, 2026? >> Joe, second. Second, Misty, any further discussion? Dr. Hy, would you like to add anything? >> Sure thing. So, as everyone probably remembers, we had quite a storm a few weeks ago where that was a unexpected snow that we received and it really kind of shut the county down for a little while. And so, um, due to the travel advisories that we were under that day, um, we made the decision, I made the decision to close the entire district and ask staff not to come in. But because of that, that that is of course extremely disruptive and can really negatively affect our employees um, and their pay. So, um, board, this is just seeking
052your permission to make sure everyone is made whole for that day since it was completely beyond the control of any of our employees that day. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else? All right. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. >> All right. Next up, we have It's coming. uh special education uh secondary 2026 summer program and administration is requesting the secondary jump start program continues to be offered as a select group of students who have IEPs in order to um help them in their new school environments. May I have a motion to approve the 2026 special education summer programming for secondary students? Motion >> Brett Joe. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. Okay. Calendar. School calendars. Uh administration is requesting the approval of school calendars which are created by
053a calendar committee comprising of parents, teachers, and administrators and a schoolboard member. The committee met to discuss and develop the calendar calendar uh models to present it. Uh may I have a motion to approve the calendars for the 2026 to 27 27 to 28 28 to 29 school years? Motion Stephanie second Joe. Any further discussion? All right. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion carried. Okay. On to umou. So, administration is requesting the approval of anou with Aspire. Um, uh, let's see. May I have a TheOU will be for mental health agencies and our licenses providers on our school-based mental health services. May I have a motion to approve the memorandum of understanding between Aspire and Noblesville schools? >> Misty second. >> Joe, any further discussion and questions on this? I know that we have
054members um from Aspire that can help answer questions that we may have. Are there any questions? >> Yeah. So, I Okay. >> Oh, you want >> Would you like to have them? >> That'd be great. >> Would you just come in maybe up to the to the podium? >> That would be great. Thank you. >> Good evening. I'm Diana Huddleston. I serve as the vice president of community partnerships for Aspire Indiana Health. I am Amanda Vota. I'm our senior director of our youth and family services. >> I'm Nate Lingo. I'm schoolbased manager. >> Thank you. Um before we proceed, Dr. H, would you like to kind of comment on how why we were asking for anou um for the service? >> Absolutely. So, the short short version is uh for the last few years, uh
055community health has provided these services for no schools and quite a few schools in this area. Um but they they announced a couple of months ago that they were going to be ending that that service um at the end of this school year at the end of June. And so this is such a critical resource for so many of our kids now that we immediately decided we need to we need to um see see who was out there that could that could fill this for us. So I want to give a lot of credit to Julie. She she immediately was on top of this um put together an RFP and put that out. And that kind of brings us uh to tonight and this recommendation here. And so definitely wanted to have the team from
056Aspire here in case board. you have any questions or want to hear a little bit about how they provide services but I will leave that >> okay >> that to you >> okay Stephanie um yeah so most of mine are logistic question so we have social workers counselors that are in our school that were originally through community um no they okay okay so those were and that is who will now be aspire individ. Okay. Okay. Okay. Are those housed in our buildings or those individ Okay. Those therapists are housed in our Okay. Okay. Um and then those are referrals from our like the you said the social workers or the counselors they get referred to the therapists. Okay. Now will those individuals change depending on well I mean they were associated with community and then
057well you guys will be hiring or you will be how's that going to work? >> They will have the option to interview with us if they come over. >> Okay. Great. >> That's great. Okay. Do you know how many we have approximately? That's great. That's great. Yeah. I think it's really hard sometimes for students to be able to go offsite for their that's a big, you know, burden. So, I like that if they need referral that that can happen in in house. So, that's great. Thank you for offering to Yes. And you do this for other schools in in the area, I'm assuming. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Wow. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> It's huge. >> Any other Anybody else have any questions? >> No. >> Um not necessarily for you per se, but
058um and how many bids did we receive for these services? Two. >> I'm guessing it would be not a lot of individuals like could offer this level of mental health services. >> We sent it out to more than that. I don't remember the exact number, but those were the two that felt >> potentially offer what we what we needed because again um Dr. put a lot of thought into specifically what we were expect. >> I didn't realize how large you guys are. So, I mean that's great that you're in other school districts as well. So staffing's not going to be an issue or any concern of that. >> We can't tell you that staffing is never an issue. >> Oh, sure. Right. >> Workers do not grow on trees. Right. >> We work really hard
059um to make sure that we also have work life balance for our team and that we take really good care of them. I just wanted to mention that our corporate headquarters is right here in um and then our one of our largest clinics is right down the street. Um which is also where uh we have our newly center our crisis stabilization. um and uh psychiatric emergency and so I think we are very natural right >> thank you for opening that was much needed in this county for sure >> crisis center >> yes >> anything else >> great for thank you for being here and sitting through all this the meeting so far yes All right. All those in favor? I >> opposed. Motion carried. >> All right. Next up, we have anotherou. Noblesville Youth Baseball
060um is requesting anou to expand its baseball facilities uh for youth in Noblesville. So, come on up. U may I have a motion to approve the NYB memorandum of understanding outlining the improvement plan for the baseball complex? >> Joe, second. Second, >> Stephanie. All right. Any questions? Would you introduce yourself, please? >> Um, my name is Adrienne Colola. I've been here before. Um, the last time I was here was getting approval for a different um, building that we were thinking about and we dove into that project and thought, "Oh, this is going to be a lot of work and time and money and let's just go big or go home." So, here's the presentate. Here's the go bigger go home presentation. Um, so let me just flip through this and then you guys can >>
061So did the other building not happen then? >> The other building did not happen. We squashed it. >> Okay. >> Um, and we basically have started from scratch because that is that is a thought of the past and it is not happening. >> So um I don't know if I know how to work this but just click it. Okay. So hopefully most of you know who Noblesville Youth Baseball is. um started in 1998. In our spring wreck league, we have about,00 kids that play. And in our fall wreck league, we have between six and 700. So, we're serving a lot of families in and around Noblesville. Um we're a very popular program even for kids right in Noblesville. We have kids coming from Lebanon, Lapel, Indianapolis just because they want to play at NYB, which
062is great. Um and so we also host travel tournaments. Um, so that's bringing families from pretty much all over the Midwest actually. Um, and then we also rent our facilities a lot of times to different softball um, organizations that hold softball tournaments there. We've got a big uh, foot uh, footprint over there um, behind Hazel Elementary. >> I don't know how to work this. Sorry. Oh, okay. Got it. Thank you. Um, so history of us, uh, started in 1998 by Bobby Mills. Um, we did have, you know, we started with four dirt fields, went to eight dirt fields, went to turf on all of them. Um, and then in 2024, we were able to replace all of the scoreboards. So, if you've had any kids or grandkids or cousins or neighbors that you've been out
063to watch, um my son is now 13 and he started there at three and he'd never had a working scoreboard until his last year there. Um so, we got that done and they're great. They run off of Wi-Fi. They're on an app. Any parent can go and log in and start scoring the game and the families are loving it. So, that was awesome. Um and then this is going to kind of be the next phase of that. So, our challenges are we're at capacity and Bobby Mills's vision was to never have to turn any child away from from playing baseball. Um, we opened our registration middle December and six weeks later we were on a wait list for our 5-year-olds. So, 5-year-olds are not the kids, we don't want to turn anyone away, but you
064know, those little kids just trying the sport, like that's the heart of our program. Um, and those five-year-olds are already on a weight list. So um besides that um you know Joan Lawrence works her magic for us with the um practice spaces but we are just too big. So our practice space is really constrained and we are sending our youngest kids just to green spaces where we can find them. So lots of um teams not practicing on any baseball field actually. And lastly, um our youngest age group, which is the biggest age group, three, four, five in kindergarten, they often are playing on our bigger sized fields because of space um constraints. So they're playing on the wrong size field, which you know can kind of it'd be better if they were on their own
065field. So I'll let you digest this um picture here. You can see the school and our eight fields. And in the red outline is the area of the school's property. um that we could possibly grow into. So our vision um started even before COVID they um the executive board at that time kind of went down this path and so twice now we have partnered with the landscape and architecture design department at Ball State University who have run basically a class project for us. One was an undergraduate and one was a graduate to come up with a highle concept. Um, so it got, you know, kind of got killed in, you know, during COVID and all of that. And then we, um, would like to bring this dream, you know, back to the table if we
066can. So, we would like more fields, obviously, um, and in that far part, we would want to add, uh, concessions and restrooms. We'd love to have a playground over there to draw those kiddos away from Hazel Playground, um, elementary playground, because that's a sore subject sometimes. Um, so that's kind of the area we're looking at. Can everybody kind of understand where that is? Okay. So, these next pictures, just think of them as very pretty pictures. These are not at all like what is going to happen. I mean, it's a idea of what could happen. So, um this one is showing three new fields. Um the ba little baseballs are the playground, some concessions, some restrooms, some storage, that sort of thing. And then, so this was the most recent Ball State project. These are the
067first Ball State project and they came up with a couple of different designs. Again, just a pretty picture. So, where we're at right now is that uh because of our license agreement with the schools, we need the school board approval to make any changes on the property obviously. Um so, that's why I'm here. But, um to even get started to know what we're working with on that property, we have to go through the due diligence stuff. We have to have a survey of the property. We have to drainage analysis and there is no historical data or very little for us to use. So on you know NYB will be paying for all of this um to have all of that done so that we know what can we do if anything um can it be
068three fields? Can it be four? Is it only two? We we really have no idea um because none of that historical data exists for those kind of technical pieces of the land and the property. So obviously we would get all of the benefits that I mentioned where we're where we're currently challenged and um you know the schools would have additional infrastructure and I hope you all agree we're we're a good partner and so would be wellmaintained, well managed um and then you all or the schools would all get those reports um of the property. So that's just something we're going to give to you guys if approved to go ahead and and check that out and figure out what's going on out there. Um so I mentioned the license agreement. you guys have theou. Um,
069and I think other than that, like I said, we would be taking all of this through the city ourselves. Um, all of the approval process and all of that. Um, we'd be we have hired a um, engineer. We're going to be working with HWC and we have also partnered with an architect. We're going to be working with Darren Peterson. Um, so we have those people lined up. Um, but we're again we're waiting for that go ahead. And then the other um portion. I should mention mention my counterpart Lindsay Fipps, which I think some of you know, she's my board secretary. She's my like project manager. So, she would have been able to give you a lot more technical terms. I'm like the cheerleader of this and I am going to be running the fundraising campaign.
070So, once we get approval, I'll go ahead and start a quiet phase um fundraising and then at some point when we get through the city public hearings and all of that, we'll go public with it. Um, so other than that, I want to answer your questions. >> Okay. Um, oh, okay. Yes. Yes, we do have. Um, so what's your timeline? >> So, if we were able, if we got approved tonight, we're ready to get on the schedule for the due diligence items. So, as soon as HWC can put us on their calendar and then, you know, basically from there, it would be awesome if we could have it open for in a year or two or three from now. It's really going to depend on money coming in fundraising and then um how quickly we
071can get on everybody's calendar when we have those when we have the money. >> Okay. So you have no idea how much money you want to need to raise. >> Um I am estimating based on research and other similar projects. My guess is 7 to 10 million. >> Okay. and seven to 10 and and you think that that's doable in a year's time to get this done in a year? >> Yeah, I would say likely it's going to take longer than a year. I mean, that would be a dream. So, no, it's probably going to be on more of that three-year timeline, I think. But I'm not a professional in any of this. You know, this is my volunteer role. So, okay. >> I'm just learning as I go. >> That's just like individual donors.
0727 to 10 million. >> No, no, no, no. you have maybe people that might be okay. >> Yeah. So, the the quiet phase will be and and then also um we're researching some grants and some different things. Um I should throw that out there. But yeah, I'm I'm learning as I go and our quiet phase will be sort of this list of what I'll call heavy hitters. And so we'll see is there any good partners there? Can we find a matching donor? Can we you know this is all exploratory. So, >> and and are you a 501c3? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Other other questions? >> Yeah. So, I've had two uh boys go through the program. Um so, and I know parking has always been a sore spot. Yes. So, and I'm not seeing, unless
073I'm not looking at it correctly, I'm not seeing any additional parking spaces out there, but you're adding more fields to attract more people. >> Okay. So, the gravel parking lot, you know which one that is? Okay. So that will part of this um project that will be paved. Um so that will create actually a lot more spaces because when people can just go in there willy-nilly they do and so that will actually create a lot more spaces. And then um the schools we have talked with um just briefly because you know we have shut off the Hazel bus lot. We do not allow our families to park in there anymore because there was some grass issues and whatever and we just said no just close the gates. So, but their front parking lot um we
074would probably continue to utilize on those really busy tournament weekends where we have, you know, however many teams from out of states and whatever. Sometimes those those parents will park up there and walk back. Um but based on all of it, it should work out fine with the numbers for parking. >> Yep. >> And you're thinking approximately three new fields is or you're not sure? >> No idea. We really don't know until we get the drainage analysis and the survey. Um there is a dry retention pond on the property already um on the souththeast corner. David, is that right? >> Yeah. Um and so we have to figure out the capacity for that. All of it is just unknown and because there's no historical data for us to even reference, we have to really start
075from ground zero and get all of that information. So really thisou that you're bringing to us I think for me is a little bit I don't I don't know misleading because it's really anou to start exploring right not to really do this yet. Yeah, I mean I think we want the overall um feel from the school board of whether this is um possible, right? So we we wouldn't want to go through the exploratory if you all already know like this is a no for us. So um if we have to do that first and come back for a different approval, we're open to anything, but we we can't even we just can't continue down any path until we do more of that due diligence. What um so you you had made reference to different size
076fields for the different size kiddos. Um what size are the proposed fields? >> So um oh it's likeund and well so if you can if you could look at the picture the I'll tell you field >> let me rephrase the question. What age group? Oh the size to me means group. Yeah it'll be the three fours the fives and the kids. the little kids are going to get more fields because those are our biggest eight those are our biggest groups of kids within the 1100 it's however many hundred of those and then you know as they get older like our fifth and sixth graders is such a small number of kids because so many go do different things right they figure out baseball is not their thing or whatever. >> Yeah. So is the organization
077and forgive me for not knowing the organization open for um athletes for baseball players outside of Noblesville? >> Yes. Um, our wreck programs are our travel teams are a Noblesville address, but our wreck programs, um, yeah, like I said, they we have kids come driving from, we've even had kids drive from Tipton. Um, so we have kids from all over come and a lot of our wreck kids do come from out of Noblesville because we're the only fall wreck league. >> Okay. Now, do you also have um I guess now it and this don't let this reflect back on the other organization at all. This is just me thinking out loud. Do you have an agreement with NGSA to use your fields? Because I feel honestly I feel kind of bad. They're looking for a
078home and here we are trying to expand yours. >> That's going to be my question. >> Yeah, absolutely. So, um I have been in this position as board president for three years. And so since I've been in I I've just been saying to like Dave Lida like and whoever, we've even had a couple meetings with softball of like how like like how can we help be the solution, right? we can't be a solution here for them because we again we will have to start turning kids away and that was not Bobby Mills we're trying to fulfill that mission right so we will have to turn our own kids away >> in order to to do that for them but we have talked to them about you know how else can we help you like we're
079willing we're willing to help just tell us where you need help and we haven't figured that out yet um but I don't particularly see that just because of our if we weren't at capacity and then be like, "Yeah, why don't you guys put some softball fields here, but we're out of space and we don't want to have to turn kids away." >> Right. Right. Yeah. And I know NGSA doesn't want to either. It's I I mean, I don't know what you do with that. >> So, they still don't have a home. >> They still don't have a home. >> Okay. >> Not a permanent one. Now, there has been some discussion, I think, um, out at the new Finch Creek Park area out there, but I don't believe that's finalized or >> I think there's
080some new, um, there are some new things happening out there, so I'm not sure the update with that, but they have also been exploring um, some of their own purchasing of their own property. Um, softball is, and um, trying to figure that out. but it has to be within a certain it has to be within the township the Nolesville township lines instead of the city lines to use the money that they have been given. Um so I don't know where they're at in that um in that development. The other thing that we talked about as a partner and possibly doing at NYB and I'm sorry this isn't on here. I'm just throwing this out at you guys is that we really feel at NYB that there needs to be a place in Noblesville that is
081um a place to play baseball for any kid of any uh you know an accessible field basically. And so we are toying with do we convert one of our fields closest to the parking lot into an accessible field. Can we do it? We have we have done some research with the Miracle League. Um, we're just trying, we're still trying to figure that out. And that was one thing we talked about with softball is in our fundraising because we're both going to have to fund raise likely. So, in our fundraising endeavors, if we can figure this out, why don't we both fundra for that so that it gets done. Is it on NYB's property? Is it on the new NGSA property? Is it I don't know. This is all kind of, you know, out there. But
082that has been another one of our um things with softball to talk about. So if this gets approved, will you come back to us with specifics like Okay. Okay. >> I mean, as soon as we get the analysis done, if you guys want to know about that, I would come back and tell you what we found. Um, we'll come back, you know, once we would have a final design. Um, we would come back with dates once we can get that far down the process. Um, but you know, it was a long time ago that I came for that other building and it was since then that we have been like, okay, it's taken that long for us to get to this point, >> right? And I and I I I think that we would probably
083want that because I think none of us knew. I mean, maybe some did that that didn't happen, you know, that nothing happened there. So, it would be good, I think, to have updates. Sure. >> You know, after you have the plan, you know, we need to raise x amount of money. this is kind of a timeline. Um because I think that's important for for us for us to know. >> Well, yeah. And I think once you narrow down the plan and decide which one you want to go with, I think that should be revisited so that we can see, okay, you you you know, which one of these plans are you going with before I can give my approval? >> Yeah, absolutely. And like I said, I I don't know what it's going to be.
084It could be a two field expansion. It could be a four. >> We just have no idea. Right. So that's why those pretty pictures don't right. They're just >> Right. Right. But this area is part of the lease agreement that you have with Right. Like this area. >> The lease agreement does not does not spell out like >> oh boundary >> specific. Yeah. It's just like that's Hazel property. >> Hazel the school's property. >> School property. >> The school property that Hazel is. >> Okay. So, your lease doesn't necessarily say this is the specific area that you guys get. No. >> Oh, interesting. >> Yeah. >> It's a land usage agreement. It's not a lease. So, um and I wasn't around when that started. >> Well, I don't know. >> Well, and you mentioned, um
085kind of a sticky situation with the playground. Can you elaborate? Well, we just know that the the kids of families who are playing there like they will go over and play and you know on the playground and sometimes I think um Hazel Elementary doesn't love that and you know are they going to get hurt? Are they whatever and they're they're not their students necessarily there are players in their families. So be nice to like take some of that. >> We're never going to get rid of it completely because you put a down there and kids are going to go. Um, but we would love to add some features at our facility. >> Sure. >> Question on the um everything within the red. So, you've been working with Ball State, is that correct? >> Yeah. >>
086Okay. Did they do a preliminary site? >> They did nothing. Like I said, those pictures are just conceptual and we know nothing about that land until we go forward. >> All right. So, that's that's a biggie, right? >> That's that's the biggest >> that's even feasible. >> Yeah. There's also a to the east of the Midland Trace Trail. >> Yep. >> Which it what is that area there? It looks like 30% of the >> in red. Can you use that? >> I part >> to the east. >> That is not Noblesville schools property. As far as I know, Noblesville schools has everything inside the Midland Trace. So, also I should mention that southeast of the prop I'm sorry >> on the southwest Oh, is it? Yeah. >> On the southwest corner of our property of
087the school's property. Um there is a residential 24 acres um right there and that is privately owned but he has we have met with him and the city because we had questions for the city um and he is um on board to be like a good neighbor to us while we do this analysis and he actually told us in a meeting and um David I don't know if this is something to be investigated further but he said that the schools have an easement down on his property that drains into the ditch So anyways, again like nobody knows. So we're going to do the survey so that we can know um if you guys allow us to do that. >> So I adding more facilities attracts more people, which is great, but do you fear being
088in the same situation as Noville United Soccer? They've only got one exit or one entrance in and out and there's so many people and traffic and >> Okay. Um, I can answer that, but this is like off the record. >> I mean, it is recorded and live streamed, so >> No, I'm kidding. I know. >> Officially unofficial. >> Yeah. Yeah, exactly. There. Um so that so the norththeast corner of the property that we're looking at so that all of that undeveloped land that is not the schools on the corner of Hazel and 32 that eventually is going to be developed. >> Yeah. >> The city along who is working with those developers would like to punch an entrance from Hazel in. So that would be helpful to the schools and helpful. That would be very
089>> Yeah. Are you talking about the field directly to the east of the high school or the >> right by the gravel parking lot? >> Yeah, the gravel. >> Oh, there you Oh, that is MI homes now. >> Um, >> are those all homes within there? >> The one above it. >> Oh, wow. >> That's available for you. >> It is. That feels like a pretty critical thing for >> not to develop that. We can't develop that. But the punch through. >> Okay. >> And that is going to be hand that's not going to be handled by us. The city will >> Yeah. And I I know that was a um a very big topic for Nolesville United um with their >> soccer. >> Yeah. For soccer. >> Yeah. >> Um with their one entrance.
090>> Um I don't I don't know. I'm honestly I'm kind of torn because we don't know any I mean what is it that we would be approving because we don't have plans. We don't even let can even be done. >> Well, I think that's what we're approving is we're giving her the ability to do that research. Right. >> Go ahead and see if you can do it. >> We want to know if we can have the approval to do the due diligence on the property that needs to be done in order to even tell us if we can do anything. This is great. It's a dream, right? It's a It would be a dream for me to be able to open up three more fields. I don't even know if it can be done. >>
091So, the next meeting you would come to us and present pretty much firm plans. That might be >> I think I would come back to say here's what the survey results >> yes >> showed us. And here's what we think we can do. Do we have approval now to move on to the next step of design uh a more concrete design? you know, we don't want to spend money that we don't have to spend. So, and we have also NYB has the money to get us started. Like, we are financially very sound as an organization. So, we have the money to get started. >> And just to confirm, 100% of this project is funded 100% by NYB. Correct. >> You mean yes. With fundraising. >> However you pay for it as it's just from NYB.
092Yep. >> Not Noblesville schools. Correct. >> Okay. >> Yeah, we have we're not asking for anything. >> Yeah. I guess I guess for me it's important for you to keep us updated. >> Um even you know even along the way just come and you know let let let Dr. H know you know I need to come and talk to the board because I think this is something that's important for us to be updated on you know along the way. Um so >> if it if it helps or um I think it's probably worth mentioning everyone out in the audience if you have four below you can see this too. Um that ultimately it says it does say on the front page number two letter B um that even though if MIB does send up developing
093a field expansion plan and all that it it must come before this board for actual. >> So this board still does have the final say on the design and heck and you know give feedback and input >> concerns. Okay. Okay. >> Um, so essentially what you're asking for tonight is is this board comfortable and might might be spending some money to see what is this feasible or not. >> Correct. >> We don't want to put people out on the >> still will have to approve anything or anything actually happen. >> Yeah. No, I I our plan is to come back here continuously once we have more information. This is as much information as I have right now. I have like the vision, the dream, the excitement, but I don't have anything more until we can
094actually do some work. But we don't want to send surveyors out on the property without, you know, we sure can't do >> Sure. And and and I think we would ask too if it's not going to happen that you let us know that also. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yep. Okay. All right. So, any other? >> No. All right. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carried. >> Thanks, guys. >> Thank you very much. Okay, last up under this um area we have lease refunds. May I have a motion to adopt the resolutions for the refunding of the 2018 bonds and the 2018b bonds? May I have a motion? Joe >> second. >> Rat. Um Dr. I always call you doctor, Mr. Hortmiller. Would you like to you can Yeah. Give us a just that
095it's not actually a refund. That's that's a big I know it's not, but >> very Yeah, I guess that's a good place to start uh to to clarify in bond terms. We use refund, but uh I guess to to relate it's it's refinancing. And so we work with Steifold, that's the underwriter that we uh sell our bonds through. Uh they they help track when our bonds become collable. And so these two bonds from 2018, issued in 2018, recently became callable. And so when they run the analysis as to whether or not we could actually, you know, just like you kind of say when you refinance your house, uh this is a similar situation, right? So the the interest rate is more favorable now than what it was in 2018. And so they've estimated that by
096refunding both of these bonds, depending on the day of the market, anywhere between 1.4 $1.6 million saved in interest costs. So, uh, that's what we're ultimately bringing, uh, before you tonight is the refunding or refinancing of of two bonds that were issued in 2018, uh, and then would be reissued in essence when we refinance those in the market in the next uh, two or three months by the time all the approvals are set. >> There are there any fees associated with doing something like this? >> Yeah, there there's always going to be fees anytime you take something to the market. So, just to enter the bond market. So, in fact, we'll we'll also go through another ratings process with S&P. So, I'll have a call with them. Of course, just steel being the underwriter. There's
097always there's an underwriter's fee. And then just the legal to make sure that all the documents are are um that's involved as well. I would estimate anywhere estimate anywhere between maybe $60 to $80,000 total. But again, in the $ 1.5 million savings, that's all. Okay. Actually, net of the fees is is the savings estimate. >> Okay. Can you briefly explain what it means that we approve the appointment of two individuals as members of the high school building corporation along with the third what what is that? >> Yeah. So we needed to um we had one member of the building corporation uh one to to resign roll off and so we need to always have three members on that building corporations. whether it's the high school or the multi-building school corporation, we have technically have two
098different building corporations. Uh so I'll just generally say building corporation and and so we always need to have three members because the building corporation is an entity and uh that entity of course is needed because that is just based on how Indiana has structured its uh ability for local units to issue debt in the state of Indiana. We have that building corporation and so in order to be an entity, a building corporation, you need to have individuals as part of the board. So in essence then we're we're having the school board as uh really kind of the overseer of that entity reappoint or not reappoint but appoint new members then to that that board. We always have three voting members on the board >> and they're community members that >> Yeah, these are strictly volunteers
099uh that that just volunteer. Uh there's there's really no power because in essence they're they're enacting the the will of the school board and then ensuring that ultimately uh um the the will of then the building corporation is is fulfilled by what they call the lesser representative. So because the building corporation issues leases uh it's instead of technically a bond, right? So the lesser representative as a um as outlined in the bond documents is the the superintendent and the CFO. And in essence then what we're doing then is again ultimately fulfilling the will of the school board by um releasing uh payments for construction projects when we have those bond proceeds at hand. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Right. Any anything else? >> Um I just so in the last paragraph of these it states
100that um any officer of the school corporation has full complete authority to execute any and all documents necessary to accomplish the 2026 A&B refunding, which I'm just going to put it out there, the verbiage in this for me, for my background, refunding is very confusing because it's just it's a refinance, not actually a refund, right? >> Yeah. And and that's why, you know, I'm here to, you know, answer that question for you because I think at the end of the day, the it's the the legal counsel that ultimately needs to draft this so that way it's um accepted by the bond market, which is where we go. And so I think they just really use the yes, it's legal ease, but I think it's so it's ultimately accepted by where we need to to get
101to the end result there. >> Sure. And then so as far as these individuals um that states that they have full and complete authority to execute any and all documents. Can you talk about that a little bit? What's that? >> That's that's these three individuals sitting to your left. >> They're they're the officers of the school corporation. >> Oh, from the Okay, so this is I thought we were talking about Okay. >> with the other >> Tell me if I'm I'm misreading this, but I believe this is just saying that any of the officers can sign off on this once the board approves it. I think is what this is saying. >> Okay. >> Says if you look the signature lines of for secretary and president on the one I'm looking >> so >> because
102you are the only officers >> of the school corporation section >> Joe Stephanie >> on the second right second line any officers of the school corporation >> uh have the full and complete authority to execute any of the documents. And so they they word it like that to make sure that in case there were absences at this meeting because of the timing to execute this deal that they they word it like that that any school board member could sign it. >> Excuse this document. >> Okay. Just wanted to make sure because in other areas it just says the board of trustees of the school corporation and then we've got those other three individuals and then it wasn't worded the same. So I was confused. >> Thanks for keeping your eye on this. >> Yeah, that's
103that's Thank you. That's great. That's great. It's a lot of money. >> Great savings. Thank you, David. All right. Anything else? No. >> All right. All those in favor? I I >> opposed. Motion carried. Um, next we have public comment for a non-aggenda topic and no one signed up this evening. So, we will move on to superintendent remarks. Dr. Hy. >> All right. Thank you, board. And as I always say, thanks to our brave community members who stuck with us to the end. Thank you for being here. Uh, I want to speak just for a quick minute about um some news that we shared out with the community a couple of weeks ago. So, by now I would assume everyone is aware that we put out um kind of a news update out um to
104talk about the fact that we were going to need to make some budget adjustments as we look to to next school year. Um and this was this should not really have been new because we actually had talked about this in the prior month here in here in this meeting. Um you know, when David gave his update on the school finances, he talked about that we anticipate a deficit um just due to several changes both in legislative action and a few other factors that we talked about that night. But um you know, one of the things that we that we take a lot of pride in here at Noblesville Schools is being very open and transparent with our community. Um we we want to make sure that our community knows um the good and the bad
105and the things that we're dealing with and most per perhaps more importantly what we're doing to deal with them. Um because we like I say, we take we have a very big commitment to that transparency, but also to make sure we're always showing that we're being good stewards of our tax dollars because we are responsible for a lot of public dollars and funds and we want to make sure to do that. And so we we felt it was time to just share some of this a little more publicly because we know not everyone attends schoolboard meetings or watches the the things we talk about here. And we wanted our community to know that because of those factors that we mentioned in the article, you know, enrollment um sea1, a few other factors that that went
106into that that our revenue um has has decreased and we anticipate that will be the case for the remainder of this year. And so being being those good stewards, we we will adjust our budget accordingly to live within to live within the budget that we have. So, um, we did talk about that and as I shared in that article, um, and again, we talk about it often here in the board meeting, our number one expense, as it should be, is staff. Um, we are, I I always say we're a people business. We hire and employ and retain the best big people to serve the little people. And so, um, but the trade-off is, of course, when a budget deficit shows up, that is the biggest. So, it's unavoidable if we're going to if we're going
107to make adjustments make adjustments to the budget to not address staff as part of that. There's no way around that because staffing makes up of our operational budget about 87% of the money that we spend here at Noblesville Schools. Um so we have we have been working the last few weeks um to to make very strategic adjustments to staffing and the overall goal with that um truly is to minimize um any negative impact on student opportunities and outcomes and academic programming of course and to also make sure that we don't um make anything that you know unintentionally makes makes this a um less desirable place to work. work. I mean, we this was actually perfect timing that Heather just talked about how hard we work to make this a great place to work. And so,
108we're being very cognizant of that, too, that we don't do something that then suddenly makes it more stressful to work here or harder for our employees to remain. So, um all that to say, uh we are making great progress on that. Um we anticipate having getting that wrapped up very very soon. I should have another update for you on that soon. And while I'm on this topic though, I did want to share um perhaps for the benefit of the community and of course the board that um I just want to reminder, put another plug in for our dollars and cents financial website that we put um out for the community about uh eight months ago now. Um and some new content that we're actually going to promote tomorrow, I believe, to make it easier for
109everyone to go find is we've been working for a few months on some new videos on there that will um takes again some complicated topics and make them a little easier to understand. So, we kind of set these these first two video ups and videos up in kind of like an FAQ format where we're answering questions that are very common that we hear very often because we know not everyone likes to read things. So, sometimes people prefer to watch a video. So, we're trying to make the website um as user friendly as possible. So, sneak peek there are site if you want to go there. They're already on there waiting for you. They're waiting for you. But again, tomorrow we're going to actually actively promote them so that to kind of drive people to to
110take a look at that. Um in case people are wondering, we were able to produce these videos for free. Um we have great partnerships with the Central Indiana Educational Service Center and so they provide us a certain amount of video uh work every year and so we were able to use that and so we did these videos at no cost. So again be on the lookout for that tomorrow that will that will go out uh very soon. And then a positive update board that I did want to share very quickly. Um I you know that we do um by law we have to uh do our student count twice a year. The first count day is October 1 and then the second count day is February 1. And typically um most schools see a decrease
111in February because um we have early grads and just the way things happen, we almost always see a decrease. I think most schools almost always see a decrease, but this year um we just certified our numbers last week and we found out that we did not see a decrease this year for the first time since David or I can remember. Um and so a little a little look into that. I did want to share with you um the high schools still did go down slightly and it again is because they have midterm grads although we had a smaller number of midterm grads than than we usually do. However, a few schools of note um East Middle School's enrollment um actually went up 21 students from fall count to spring. Uh North had an increase of
112about or exactly 15 students. Um interestingly, most of those were in fourth grade. Don't know why, but that's good news. Um, Hazel had an increase of 13 with kindergarten be being the the grade that had the biggest increase. And then Promise Road had an increase of eight. Um, with again kindergarten being being their number one level that experienced an increase. So, um, very interesting. We're very thankful for that. Of course, that is not enough of a shift to undo what I just said about the budget deficit, in case you're wondering, but it is certainly good news for the district because as everyone knows, um, the majority of our money does come from the student count. That that's how schools are funded in Indiana. Um, and so we we watch those enrollment trends very carefully and
113and closely as we make decisions. So, uh, with that, I think that's everything I was going to update you on tonight. >> Okay. Thank you very much. On to committee reports, starting with calendar committee. Stephanie. >> Yes. The calendar committee met on February 4th to approve PD days, late arrival days, parent teacher conferences, homecoming, and the SAT to the 26 27 calendar. We also approved the 2829 calendar which is very similar to our current calendar keeping with two weeks of fall break and two weeks at spring break. Some things to note positive or negative however you might see that are that the 2620 will end before Memorial Day and the 272728 2829 calendar will have the first student day in August instead of July. So that's >> Thank you. All right. ISBA legislative committee Joe.
114>> All right. I attended the uh ISBA state legislative day today and and and we are our normal speakers. We had the the lead uh people on the education committees from both the Senate and the House, Republican and Democrat, and kind of knocked around the the four big bills. There's not quite as much going on because it's not a funding year. Uh but the the bills that we're we're tracking kind of is is Senate Bill 78, which is wireless communication, Senate Bill 199, which is special media accounts for children. House Bill 1098, workbased learning liability, and House Bill 1266 were among the bills discussed. And and we'll fill you in more next time because if you don't understand, all this stuff happens the last two weeks that the legislature as they amend things have been
115passed out of one house or the other house. So, uh, keeping your breath. I will come back next month and kind of tell you what the, uh, state legislators did. And it's always it always I always learned something going down there about the the legislative process. I didn't learn that in government many years ago and it is an interesting thing if you want to hang out for a while down there. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I would like to report on the education foundation. Um we met on January 22nd. Um the education foundation has changed accounting firms. Um the firm specializes in nonprofit work. So that's really good. Um coming up uh is Miller Palooa on March 13th. It's a It's the biggest fundraiser for the education foundation. The layout will be a basketball game.
116So, there's going to be quarters, halftime. Lots and lots of fun things are going to be happening. Um, tickets are live on the website as well as sponsorships and donations. If you'd like to put together a basket, donate tickets. Um, hope everybody can come. Uh the next big thing is uh Millers for Life which is another um fundraising um thing that the education foundation is doing and that's online where you can join at different levels and there are 170 Millers for life that have that have joined and our next meeting is this Thursday February 18th. All right Joe back to you. Noblesville Parks Board >> Noblesville Parks Board meeting last week and we finished reviewing a five-year master plan that was put together by pros consulting and we do this every five or six years
117at the parks department to kind of see what we need and and this plan is put together by consulting schools community bases uh about 800 people were surveyed. We had public meetings, private meetings, staff interviews, and what came came out of the finding was the number one request was more adult fitness and wellness, uh more special events like we have at Federal Hill and other places and nature programs. Uh as a need for facilities, uh more walking trails, but we also are looking at a large community uh center is in the offing. Now, where's the money? That'll be another that'll be another thing we'll talk about. >> U and more more community parks and and wildlife areas. Princess Ball which is going to happen March 14th and you've never seen so much pink as if
118you go to the Princess Ball. All 68 tickets are sold out and it's it's a it's in high demand takes place out at Embassy Suites. Summer camps we currently are sold out just about of summer camps. 2,000 kids have already registered for the summer camps with the 180 kids coming to camp per week. Still looking for camp employees and if you got young adults that'd like to work, the sparks department's looking for them. And our first ever Penny 5K race is going to take place Sunday, May 17th at uh at going through Forest Park and down along the river. Uh a Noblesville noted Noblesville runner has put the course together and I can guarantee it's got nice views along the way. So everybody sign up. >> No, that for the game. >> You put that
119track together. >> Put it together. We we're have fun with that. Go to the website and check it all out. Thank you. >> All right. Uh Noblesville Redevelopment Commission. Stephanie, >> the redevelopment commission met on February 12th. The meeting included the election which they all stayed the same and and a contract and expenditure request from Cronin Associates Policy Analytics and Rei Financial Group. Uh the resolution was approved to transfer 0.5 annual TIFF revenue to the 500 fund in order to pay these professional services. Last, the commission approved a consent and subordination agreement between KDles Lake City Bank and the commission for a construction loan for the new KDles Furniture and Design Center. >> Thank you. Noblesville Youth Sports Alliance, Misty. >> Okay. We met on January 21st, went over our finances and different board positions
120for the year. Um, Live Golf is coming up again this year. Anybody heard about that yet? >> Anybody go last year? >> Okay. Well, now's your chance. It's coming August 20th through the 23rd and once again at Chattam Hills. Um, we are also running another session of CPR training for those individuals involved in one of our many youth sports programs such as coaches, board members, etc. Um, so that someone will always be present during games, practices, and um, youth sports events that is CPR AED trained. And we're hoping to get that in before spring break. We will announce those dates um soon. And has anyone heard of paddle? P A D E. >> Yes. It's a combination sport. >> Yeah. Pickle ball and tennis. >> New sport coming up. Uh it's gaining some momentum. It's
121described as a combination of tennis, squash, and raetball. So if you like any of those sports, you can jump on northpoint paddle.com, which is p a dl. >> Parks need to take that up. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> So there isn't currently there's no not necessarily a push for a youth league, but that's just something that came across our radar. So we're trying to keep an eye out on that. Um to see a full list of all of our youth programs, you can visit noblesvilleports.com. Our next meeting is February 25th. >> Thank you. Wellness Committee. >> Commercial. >> Wellness Committee. Correct. >> Save the best for last. Right. So, I had my first meeting since I was um appointed to the wellness committee on January 22nd. Our chair is Aaron Bratton, who's in charge of
122nutrition and food services for Noble Zone. Um a new program under creation is a wellness passport. That is going to run from uh winter break to spring break. that'll that'll actually go out next year. We'll roll it out next fall. Uh the purpose to keep the staff engaged in a holistic wellness activities. Um during the time between winter and spring break, we all know about burnout. Uh immunity drop, your immunity drops and your morale can flag during the long haul. So this would include the program would include healthy habits for physical, mental and emotional well-being and also foster friendly competition. So the wellness passport would be a card that you could get um each week the staff would participate in this and it would have uh three different categories. Diet, exercise, and mental health. Uh
123diet would have a variety of picks. I'll give you a few here. Uh try a new vegetable or vegetable recipe. track your sugar intake for a day. Eat at least three different colored color colors of fruit or vegetables in a day or have a specific water consumption. Uh exercise would be average 12 steps, 12k steps for the week. Uh per day. Uh I'd rather do it for the week, right? So, uh take the stairs, not the elevator. Do 20 push-ups each day for a week or join a yoga exercise class. There are a number of other ones. Mental health, sleep an additional 30 minutes per day for a week, go on a nature walk, try a new breathing technique or journaling. So, there'll be a teaser uh happen in May to see how this rolls
124out. We have another meeting on March 4th. Uh it looks like a great program. The Ed Foundation is going to partner. Adrienne has her hands and everything, you know. So, she's gonna provide uh some Miller swag and also some gift cards for those winning. Uh the winners will be picked by uh drawing on the paydays. So, who wants to get involved in that, right? >> Yeah. All right. >> Thank you. Uh cabinet reports. Anybody have any comments or questions? >> Yes. I said I'd get back with you Amy on the uh Hamilton County disability. Can you give us you and Aaron give us a little what's up for uh March 4th 5:30. And where in the in the gymnasium or the big gym? >> Good. >> Wow. Fantastic. >> That's a lot. That's amazing. How
125is this being promoted or pushed out to or is it being pushed out to families? Oh, perfect. >> Yeah, that's great. >> Anybody anything? Oh, keep going. Arie, I I noticed reading your thing that after we put our our budgeting information last week, you had a sevenfold increase on dollars and cents. I mean, back to saving maybe David some telephone time and Dan some telephone time that people are actually have have found that and and are using. I was tickled to see that. >> Yes. And and maybe with our videos adding, you know, that you're going to promote this week. Maybe you said >> should increase. >> And and and are we adding more? Did you say you're adding other videos beside those first two? >> Yes. >> As we work through >> Yes. No.
126Good. Good job. I David and Dan and you all good. I just that's that's always a question that's kind of out there but people sometimes don't ask or don't understand how to ask. I'm just tickled that people have you we've gotten a driven It came up. It came up when I was at the state house today. I mean, with with some other schoolboard people must have some ways found their way to our website and were tickled how the how the thing was. You know, I brought up that that it had a sevenfold increase once we've had some information publicly that needs to be looked at by constituents that they we got them to the right place. We've we've had several districts reach out um a couple that have had zooms with us to learn about
127it or that want to copy it or create their own because you know they see that it could help their community too. >> It's always fun to go to these meetings and have people come to us which happens quite frequently. You people got this thing figured out. You got that thing. I'm always stick my >> I guess there's about all you folks. Okay. >> That's one way to drive traffic to your website. Right. I mean, it's not necessarily ideal, but it's okay >> because it was asked at ISBA if we bought a software program or we bought a platform and like what money we spent on that and we didn't created it from >> that didn't cost anything. >> It didn't cost anything because you guys did it, right? >> Just our time that that
128website is >> no cost. >> So like other districts can do it if they have the ability to >> where are the questions going like from the website if it says for more information? Are they going directly to Dr. Kyle or David or >> Yeah. >> Okay. Are you getting a lot of volume, David? >> My bad. Okay. >> Sure. >> That means the site's working. He's not getting a lot of direct emails. So, that's >> Yeah, it's really good. Thanks for >> Okay, I had a Department of Learning question. Doc Dr. Rich, I'm not sure if you can answer this or not. the advanced math auto enrollment. We are working with grade five and middle schools on finalizing a process for supporting the advanced math auto enrollment process. Okay. Awesome. Interesting. Thank you. Thank
129Thank you. And I had one other question. I think um this was maybe in yours, Dr. Hendrick, about the um employee handbook. Is there you have a committee now that is working Great. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, that was awesome. >> All right. Anything else? Okay. Our next school board meeting will be Tuesday, March 17th here at 6 PM. May I have a motion to adjurnn? Joe >> second. Any further discussion? >> All right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Motion carried. We are adjourned. Thank you everyone.