001All right, welcome to tonight's board meeting and thank you all for coming. First item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. Please stand and join me as we recite the pledge. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next up is adoption of the agenda. I'll entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Slaughter, second by Mr. Vote. >> Are there any comments or questions? All those in favor say I. I. >> Motion approved. And seeing as we have no public comment. Next up is the consent agenda. So 3.01. It is recommended that the minutes from the August 18th, 2025 regular meeting of the board of
002school trustees be approved as presented. 3.02. It is recommended that the claims and payroll subject to audit be approved as presented. 3.03. It is recommended that homebound request be approved as presented. 3.04. It is recommended that the extended opportunity field trip request be approved as presented. 3.05. It is recommended that the field trip request be approved as presented and um 3.06. It is recommended the board of school trustees approve the consent agenda as presented. So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Chaffy. Uh second by Mr. Vote. All those in favor say I. >> I. Motion approved. Next up is superintendent report with Mr. Barker. Good evening, President Hathway, members of the board. Uh tonight, uh Dr. Bidding will be presenting information, uh to you on um an update for the programming and the design
003progress that we've made toward the career and technical education facility. So, a presentation was done to for you um some time ago with Mr. Millian uh and that is being updated tonight. um you'll see with the programming that we're actually um considering including into the CTE facility. So he'll share that with you along with some updates on the design. So at this time, Dr. Bidding. >> Thank you, Mr. Barker. Yeah, as we kind of looked through where we were at with the CT space, um some conversations came up just about we've been using the term CT now for a couple of years, if not more. And it's always good to go back and kind of revisit what is CT because I know from our perspective we can throw around these terms and it it makes
004it like everybody should know what this stuff is. And so just take a little bit of time here and kind of go back and revisit um CT as a whole. We know it stands for career technical education, but I think in that next sentence you see on the screen there, I think the key with CT is it's evolved to so much more. It is truly about career exploration. It is about um potentially obtaining certifications. It's about career coaching. And so I think we don't want to sell it short just by saying it's just career in teched. Um it truly is and we're going to talk about the fact an opportunity for students to really immerse themselves into a potential career. And as we've talked about, they might find out they don't like it, which is
005a good learning experience as well. And so um CT is a lot more than just teched. As we look at CTE, I think it's important to understand kind of how we got here because it's a term that is, I would say, fairly recent in the in the vernacular of education. And so, um, just a brief history lesson of diploma types. So, if you look at the diplomas prior to 2018, it's all about credits. And if you got so many credits, you got a high school diploma. It's been like that for quite some time. In 2007, the core 40 diploma was introduced, technical honors, academic honors, but even prior to that, it truly was just about credit attainment. Now, of course, it was in math and science and and and English. Um, so there were different
006curriculum that you had to get. Yet, we understand that, but it still was just about mastering credits. Now, for the class of, excuse me, in 2017, the state board of education changed diploma types. And at that time it was this it it what being in the high school at that time it was this earthshattering kind of moment that everybody had a little bit of panic associated with. But really what it boiled down to was they introduced kind of a three box approach. And so you still had the academic box that you had to tick and that was your credit attainment but then you had these other two boxes and you the employability skills and there were three ways to do that. project-based learning, work-based learning, service-based learning, and there was also the post-secondary um skills.
007And there were nine different ways you could obtain and and check that box. One of them was this term called pathways. And so really, this was the first this whole term pathway kind of came into uh the language of the diploma. Now, moving forward with this current um freshman class, the redesign occurred again. Now, if you look back, we haven't really been on that old diploma that long. When you think about four years to to push a student through a a high school path of of their diploma, just when I think people kind of had that old diploma figured out, they're going to redesign it again. And really, this new redesign was meant to give more flexibility. There's a lot of traits from the previous diploma I think you would see in this. But again,
008the goal from the start of this was to kind of give some flexibility for schools. As you can see, they've kind of gotten away from the technical honors, academic honors. They want to talk about having one base diploma. And then they talk about these seals. And these seals are for employment, enlistment, and enrollment. And so all of them circle back around to pathways and work-based learning kind of opportunities that they want to see students get. So again, the diploma is kind of morphed into a different look um that all kind of circles around the idea that we still want to give children the opportunity to explore some careers. So key part of that pathways and credentials again play a role. When you talk about the the seals, the employment seal, you can have an employment
009plus, so kind of an honors kind of employment seal, an honors kind of enlistment seal. And so all of them have a couple different levels to them. The pathway and credentials are ways to obtain those plus seals. And so a pathway, you can see it's a sequence of three courses. And credentials, I'm going use both these terms and we've used them a lot. I just kind of define them for you. Again, it's that industry recognized certification. So, as we talk through those two different things, um I'll reference them a little bit more as we move forward. Just wanted to define them there for you. So, if you look at the DOE, they've got pathways are now called next level programs of study. And I've I put the list on there. There's 14 different career clusters.
010And as you can see, each of those career clusters have a number attached to it. And that's actually the number of le programs of study inside of that career cluster. And so again, 14 different career clusters. If you add all of that up, it's 70 different programs of studies right now is what the state's recognizing. Now, currently at Carol High School, we have about 13 of these programs of study. And I put an example there just so you kind of could see what it would be like. You can see that these programs of studies have a principal class and then there's two concentrator classes and then there's a capstone class. And so the idea is that the principal's class is taken that freshman or sophomore year to introduce students to a really overview of that
011career cluster. Then the idea behind again what we're doing with the CT building is students would spend a half day kind of immersed in and check off those two concentrator courses their junior year and then their senior year if they want to dive back into that they can take the capstone course which could be attached to some work-based learning or internship type of a program. So that in in essence is what we were going to use the term pathway. It's really a program of study. So again, that's just one example um of a program of study. Currently, Carol High School has about 13 of them. Like I said, the state recognizes about 70 of those pathways. So, a little bit about credentials. Again, the Indiana Department of Work um force development. There's there's over a
012hundred um credentials that are kind of recognized. You can see right there that they talk about they got to be valued and recognized by the industry. there are credentials out there that when we talk to uh industry partners like it really doesn't do much on our side of things. And so we want to make sure as we approach the CT structure, the CT building, our CT programming that we are offering credentials that mean something for these students as they move out into the world. And so I just listed three examples there for you. Um whether it's our CCMA certification, OSHA 10 or certified well. Again, just three real general examples of potential credentials or certifications that we hope to have our students when they leave Carol High School, they can be equipped with those. So,
013if you look at kind of what we've talked about with the CT building, we've talked about hoping to offer 21 programs in that space. Now, if you kind of I broke it down a little bit for you. So, six of those programs would move from Carol High School. We would bring two programs and I'll show you the list here, this next slide, but we bring two programs like the local 166 and our current CNA partnership that our students are going to St. Francis. Both of those could potentially come back into the building and and we could eliminate some travel barriers for our students. And so we would add then 13 more to get to that 21. And we would actually continue to have seven um programs at the CHS main building campus. Um so we
014would offer again remember there's 70 total. we'd come back to 28. We'd be able to offer 28 on the Carol High School campus. So excited about the the opportunity. I've I've shown this list before, but again, just to kind of give you the 21 programs. The green are the six the excuse me, the ones highlighted in green are the six that would move from the building the current building into that space. The two are the again local 166 and the one the CNA program that's currently at uh St. Francis right now. So again, just kind of show you um what the 21 programs would be. So all of that then to kind of I'm going to show you some imaging as far as the design process. I'll kind of talk about that through this. Um
015has been going really well. Appreciate um the just the partnership we've had. Um, I will tell you that our last design meeting we had a couple weeks ago, we walked through the every space of that building and it truly the CMC process really shone to light because we had our architect partners there, our engineering partners there, our our contractor partner there, and we would go into a space and somebody from Want would say, "Have you thought about this?" And then we'd go into another space and somebody from primary engineering would talk about, "Have you talked have you thought about this?" this and we'd go into another space and and ANZ engineering our civil partners would say have you thought so it tr I mean it was a very intense meeting but the end of it
016I was I even told the group this is exactly what this was supposed to be about is that collaborative partnership on examining the spaces through the different filters of our design team so very excited about where we're at with the design of this building um just some images there some outdoor images of you can see our early childhood space in that upper right hand corner um the you can see the greenhouse for our a spaces our precision a and our landscape um for the greenhouse there on the side of the building and then just kind of an overall campus view of of where the design's at right now. Inside you can see there's kind of inside the main doors um there's collaborative spaces. We're trying to make some as flexible spaces as possible with classrooms
017that can open up and um I'll talk about that on this next slide. There's our culinary classrooms, right? And so again, we're bolstering our culinary kitchen because we're going to offer not just culinary, we're going to offer, um, nutrition sciences and hospitality management. And so, um, we're going to be able to maybe have that cafe running by our hospitality management kids. Our nutrition science students are going to be working as a as a offshoot of the dietetics of our early childhood. And so, there's some collaborative efforts there. And that bottom right picture, you can see that classroom that's got a a partition that will open up into the hallway because we know our culinary and hospitality management students um along with our fashion and design students off do some different really neat programs that we
018can open these spaces up and have those programs and kind of have some um gallery type of areas for to offer on those you know weekend culinary fashion shows kind of thing. And so trying to make the spaces as flexible as possible in our in our culinary area, some of our highbased spaces, you know, we're excited to be able to offer fire and rescue and EMT. Um you so and and again, I know Chief Bourne's here tonight. We've been he's been a great partner with us. What you don't see in this is we, you know, one of the things that he suggested was, hey, ladder skills is something we do and and so we that wall just on the other side of the fire truck there, um we've we've bolstered that wall up to where
019we can do mock ladder um drills with it. And so again, that would have that came directly from our partnerships and having our our feedback with with folks like Chief Bourne. So appreciate that. On the left there's our a mechanics bays. Um and so again, just the ability to have some working stations there. very excited about the construction lab. And again, it it looks like a massive lab, but again, this is going to house our construction carpentry, our construction facility maintenance, and our construction electrical. And so, just to point out a couple things in the top right hand corner, it might be hard to see, but against that back wall, it kind of looks like a storefront. Um, we took a tour down to the Carpenters Union in Warsaw and got a great idea. If
020you picture that storefront as being able to be broken down into different quote unquote rooms, um an instructor could literally assign a group of kids and say, "Okay, you have a 10 x10 bathroom, you have a 10 x10 kitchen, you have a 10 x10 living room. Now work on it." Because carpentry is so much more. It's flooring. It's it's putting doors in. And so just to give a space and that's actually can be two-tiered. And so you could put um six, seven, eight different groups in a very visual area and design different rooms and have them build different spaces and practice different skills whether it's plumbing in um you know you know kitchen sinks or bathroom sinks or toilets and so and of course in the middle there you can see that that space is
021big enough to build a small house where your electrical students then can follow up and do wiring in that space or your facility maintenance team can come in and plum in that space. And so again, three or four different programs can utilize this area. Couple of images there for our early childhood. I'm very excited about what this opportunity is going to do um for those students as well. Now, couple questions may come up. Well, wait a second. If you're moving them out of the out of the high school, I thought we're touching those areas. And so, I thought I just wanted to circle back around and and address kind of what we're doing within this current spaces at Carol High School. So what you're looking at is the construction space that is the new looking
022construction space. That bottom rectangle was broken up into a small classroom, a small finishing room, and a small lab. And we basically are completely opening that space up. And then we took the PLTW space and moved that into the upper left quadrant. And so what we're doing is the goal is the princ remember remember we talked about the pathways the principal's class is what we need to offer our freshman and sophomores and we need to get a lot of students in those classes and so what we've done is we've been able to now have a nice big space to run six principal classes through and you know if it's 120 kids can take principal classes during a school day their freshman sophomore year and now of those 120 kids the beautiful thing is principles of
023carpent excuse me principles of constru construction is the principal's class for civil construction, carpentry, electrical instruction, facility maintenance. So literally those 120 kids then can choose choose one of those four concentrator areas in the CT building. So the space at Carol High School can be utilized still in a very uh beneficial way to get the principal's classes offered to more students. I apologize about the that that is not a diagonal wall running through with the color change there. That's just the print I um snipped it off of. So, don't let that uh don't let that confuse there. We we do not have an architectural malfunction. Um this is the old wait room. And so, the old wait room is being turned into three spaces. Um it is a bigger space for radio and TV. That
024is a pathway, that is a program of study. And then two spaces for computer science that is equipped to do collaborative type of things. One of them is going to be geared more towards cyber security. The other is going to be geared more towards just general computer science programming kind of things. And so um I will say those walls are up. Uh we toured last week the walls are up. It's crazy to see those spaces really take shape. And then of course for you doing radio TV there what are we doing with the old radio TV? If you remember correctly, that is what we attached that bu that that room will link back to our a spaces where again principles of agriculture will be able to offer more students, but we're also putting a horiculture
025um grouping into this. And we got a little grow lab that the radio TV studio is a perfect space to do a grow lab with the power and flooring that it has in it. And so again, just a real kind of brief overview of CT in general, kind of why it's such a big deal right now. I would dare say most high schools in the state of Indiana are looking for ways to get more work-based internship career opportunities for students because of the new diploma requirements. U I'll be happy to field any questions I can. >> Um if a student starts down a certain path like trades and decides they don't like it and then wants to go culinary does that affect their way to get through these four path this four systems? It can
026from a sense if it is an extreme like they're going they you know they were if they took principles of construction their freshman or sophomore year and they go I don't want to do this. I want to get into culinary. The the nice part about this is in a worst case scenario they could take the principal class of culinary principles of of culinary their junior year and then jump into this space their senior year. So it's not an impossible movement. um the states really tried to, you know, allow the opportunities for students to be able to bounce from one another. But in the essence, they still have to get those three courses in place to be considered um you know, a completion of that program of study. But again, that's why we talk about the
027goal is to kind of gear juniors towards this because if there is that change of heart, there's still time to get those experiences. >> Okay. Okay. >> Yeah. I just have a question. When we visited the different facilities, I remember the construction area. They had an outside area that the, you know, students could work at. Is that something that we're looking at too, like that overhang so they could build outside? >> That is a great question. Uh, yes to all of that. Um, so we are doing on the whole back side of the and I'm going to go quick so hopefully everybody's watching, they're not getting too um, if you look at that bottom picture there of the site layout, the side of the building be the east side facing the woods that has an
028overhang running down all of our high bay areas. And so even the students from like fire and rescue or a mechanics will have an overhead area that they can get outside and do work in. Um, we also have the we call it the outdoor sandbox for our civil construction kids. And one of the things I think we talked about and I think you saw it on one of our tours that just basic 24x 24 slab that was just a great idea. And so, um, our our our civil engineer partners have built that area in and so yes to all of that. And it's going to actually incorporate into some areas for our fire and rescue as well because we need some of those outdoor spaces to work on some of that fire and rescue. So
029there's a little bit of um combined service there as well for that outdoor space. >> And then for the child care, would there be a separate entrance? I know in some facilities we saw there's a separate entrance for the parents to bring the students in versus the rest of the students. Is that >> Yeah. No, that's another great question. So again, if you look at the bottom picture of the site, it would be that front right corner, the front west corner. um it would actually have its own dedicated entrance into those two early childhood rooms. And so um that would be the area that's specified for those uh parents to drop their children off in that one designated area. So yes, it will have its own controlled entrance. >> And then I have a question
030about the restaurant for the hospitality. Is that something that we're looking at having the public come in as like a restaurant so the students can serve them so it's available type of thing? That is the goal is that the hospitality management students, we've built a and I I I have got an image. I don't have it up for this, but we do have a little cafe area um that we, you know, again, as we get to that place, I know a lot of the places we visited that run that cafe said it's been very successful to run that two or three days a week from that, you know, 10 to one range and and just kind of offer some menu items. And so, uh, we we are building that in as a possibility. I think,
031you know, talking with Renee at the high school, I think that's a great experience for those um hospitality management students and our culinary kids to partner together. So, that is a that is definitely an item that we are looking to do. >> Okay, thank you. >> Yeah, >> she asked my question. >> Um, first, can I can we make sure I understand what we're calling them? Are we calling pathways or next level studies of programs of study? What's what's the official >> that? >> Well, the official term is programs of studies, >> but that everybody in the state is so anchored on this pathway thing, it's going to be hard to wean some people off that. But if you look if you Google in Indiana program of studies, that's what'll get you. But they still
032are throwing pathways out. But we're I'm going to try to work on calling them programs of study. >> It doesn't matter me what we call it. I just want figure out what we're going to do with and then um >> we've got 20 what we should see number 27. We're gonna if with 21 in the new building and seven in the campus, we'll we'll hope to have 28 at Carol High School campus. >> Okay. And there's 70 options. I guess what I want to make the comment of is make sure that there are 70 that are available that we're evaluating on a regular basis. What's successful? What's not successful? What's what's I'll say trending that we may need to bring in that our kids may need to from a pathway standpoint. See, I use pathway
033there. Uh from a job experience standpoint down the road, things are going to change. Technology changes. We want to make sure that we're fluid enough that sometimes the program this program may may need to end for this reason. This is now taken over for that. So, I just want to make sure we're thinking through that. >> That's a that's a very good observation and that is something we've talked about a lot during design when I I use a hib area like um I'll use the a mechanic space. The key with that a mechanic space is, you know, do I think that'll be around for a long time? I do. But if it isn't, that facility has great ventilation, great power. You can put anything in that space. and and and and so those high bay
034areas, we really are trying to make them good power requirements, good ventilation requirements, and they can evolve to what? And then in the rest of the building, I would want to say the more traditional classroom settings. We've got two or three rooms that are set up as computer labs. Right now, there are engineering classes, but they have computer lab capabilities. So, again, as computer labs change, we can utilize them. We also have a couple spaces that I would say qualify more as a science kind of lab. again, we can use those. You know, right now, one of them is landscape. Well, that can evolve into something. And then we've got some base classrooms. And so, I'm I'm excited. I agree with you. And it's really been kind of our focus to be able to have
035spaces. We keep talking about flexible spaces because we don't know what's going to be around in 20 years, but we want this space to be able to adapt to that. >> And one more sandbox we should have, and that's with the uh construction. I'd love to see us have a place where kids can actually get on equipment, learn to use equipment, and use it actually in a digging aging a hole, doing whatever they need to do with it on site. That would be phenomenal. >> So, that is the civil construction program is exactly what you're talking about, and that's why we want to offer that. >> And we're going to have space to get on those big >> programs that are being offered um at 28. Is that a number that we think we'll stay
036at if there are 70 offered or is the goal to try to expand that or is relatively speaking to other area districts in our area with CTE is 28 a large number out of 70? >> I think 28 is a very good number to start with. Okay, is how I'll say that. Again, we're making this building with the capability of one of the one of the biggest reasons why this building is in the location is the opportunity to potentially add on. We can add on to the south or we can add on to the west. And so I think, you know, now is that 10 years, 20 years, we don't know. But we're >> the goal for us is to set this building up so it will be good for the future. And so, you
037know, if if we if we get into this programming opportunity and it goes as well as we hope, does that mean we can go to 30 32? It's just it'll allow us to add on as we go and that's the goal. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I do have a question. Sorry. So, if all of the Carol students are placed in the in the the classes that are offered, there's still some open possibilities for more students. Will we open it for other schools to come in to take part? Like our kids now go to Anthos? No, I think that's a great question and I think that's a definitely a bigger question for our for our um community superintendent partners, but I think part of what if if we're being good stewards for our kids and
038we have these opportunities and we get to the point where, you know, some of our students are going to East Allen because they're offering a really cool program and East Allen is sending a couple kids our way because we're often really that's good for kids. And so I I think we would owe it to our kids to be able to explore those partnerships and explore those relations we can have. If it's good for all these kids involved, why wouldn't we? So that absolutely I think we'd be open for there's a lot of that I'll let this guy deal with that. There's a lot of things we have to work through, but in my opinion, I think we would we would be good for kids to do it that way. >> I have one last question.
039Um to staff the building, would this be like another elementary or high school? like would we have like a so-called principal, guidance counselor, what what is the overall scheme of that? >> You guys are asking great questions. I keep me on my toes. Um, so one of the things that you would have in this as you build this program out because as this is the culmination of the high, you know, you say it's attached to Carol High School. If we are truly doing these programs of study, any justice, this is a K12 initiative. we're starting to give opportunities and and all of these places we visited, they were bringing middle school students into these at least to give them a day in these experiences, right? And so, um, this would require, I think, to do
040it right, a CT director. And if you go back to our our Knax the next decade staffing plan for this building, a CT director I think would be critical because again you're you're talking to business partners, you're talking to industry, you're talking, you know, all of these partnerships. Plus, you're also looking at programming and getting middle school kids here. And even, you know, the local 166, we've seen this last couple years. They do something that I think all of our programs should do. You know, they spend a day and they go and they teach a third grade at at one of our elementaryaries and they do a cool project. I would love to see all of these programs take a bite and and you know give all of our elementaryaries those experiences. Well, that needs
041to be coordinated. And so there's your CT director. You're also going to have a guidance counselor to really meet the needs of these kids. You can call it a career coach, a career counselor, but they're really going to, you know, the goal is we're making a big school feel small in this, right? And so it's getting to know those kids and working with them on especially if they're juniors getting them what do you really want to be placed and working with those students on their their goals and their dreams and try to get them that next step. So you know a CT director you're going to have you're going to put a nurse out there because it's just safe and you're going to want a nurse. You're going to have a counselor and then you're
042probably going to have a general administrator because you also remember this are alternative school and so you're going to have our alternative school kiddos theirs as well. So, you know, I not that they're not going to misbehave because they're going to love what they're what they're doing and where they're at, but I think you're going to want a general administrator there on a day-to-day basis as well. So, uh, plus you got there's there's money going through here. There's a treasur, there's a secretary, so you're going to have an office staff. So, you know, I think I there's about six people there that we talked about that you're going to need staffing for this building. >> Okay. Do you have another question? >> I I have more of a comment. I just want to share that
043as you were sharing your presentation and all the flexibility with different spaces being able to be opened up or partition walls being able to utilize that space in different ways. I love that. So I think some of the facilities we saw that's something that stood out and I really value that being incorporated into our plan too. >> Well, our design team's amazing. So it's hats off to them. >> Okay. Anything else? Okay. Thank you, Dr. Whitting. Um next up is the personnel report with Mr. Dreo. Thank you, President Hathway. Appreciate that. Um, I'll be uh, as indicated, I'll be referencing the personnel section of your packet today. Uh, it's fairly straightforward this evening. Uh, recommended highlights for this evening's meeting include 21 classified positions. It is recommended that items 5.01 through 5.08 in the personnel
044report be approved as presented. >> Do I have a motion? So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Jameson, second by Miss Slaughter. Are there any questions or comments? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion approved. Um, thank you, Mr. Dumio. Next up is curriculum, instruction, and technology with Dr. Tuller. >> Yeah, thank you, President Hathaway. Um, with the school year is in full swing now. Our our list of professional learning and training activity requests have gotten much longer. Um, so we have several this evening. Uh the one I want to point out is the OG IMSE training. For once, it's not very self-explanatory when you take a look at the title. Uh OG is Orton Gillingham. That is um some literacy training. Um if you recall, we used to see these
045a lot in the past and we we've kind of moved away from this training for the most part for our general education teachers. Um however, this is still very applicable to what our special education teachers do for interventions. And we have a grant um that we actually the grant's going to end this fall and we're going to use this grant to to get our special ed teachers trained hopefully. So um again these all of these teachers requesting these training are special education teachers. This is um directly related to the literacy instruction and intervention. Um and we have a grant to cover the cost. We want to get these folks trained while we have that opportunity. Um it is recommended that the professional learning and training activities be approved as presented. I'll entertain a motion. >>
046So move. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Vote. Second by Miss Chaffy. Are there any comments or questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Motion approved. >> And then secondly this evening, uh we have our fundraiser request as we do every year at the beginning of the school year. Um looking through all of these requests, um everything appears to be very much in line with our past practices and and and the fundraisers our schools and PTOs have done in the past. And it is recommended that the fundraiser request be approved as presented. >> I'll entertain a motion. So move. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Slatter. Slatter. Second by Mr. Vote. Are there any comments or questions? >> I just want to thank our PTO and our staff. When I was looking
047over the list, first I thought I ought to count those up, but there are so many. It's just remarkable how many people contribute through the fundraising efforts at our schools. So I just want to thank our PTOs and staff for that. All right, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor say I. I. >> Motion approved. Thank you. Um, next up is business report with Mr. Basham. >> Thank you. Uh, up first tonight, we do have our Cola roof architect services. Um, the AR our Cola roof was actually due to start beginning um a phased replacement in 2024. We were able to push that off. The roof was in good condition, but we are at the time where we need to get going with that. Um, we've actually even since we we posted this
048discussed whether or not that will be a multi-phase or a single phase. So, we're actually hopeful to do this in a single phase. Um, but regardless, Barton Co. uh has been the Barton Co. Villa has been the architect that we've uh have enlisted to have those discussions and support us on that on that project as we get started. And the concept for this funding wise will be uh as we wrap up these projects from 2024 uh that we had we we had again good bids and quality things happen and good prices come through this. So, this is the kind of the first use that we're going to use with some of those funds. We're not going to do anything else at this time with those. We're going to continue to see how every all the
049other projects end, but we are um well within our our budget to go ahead and and utilize those for the Arch Colola roof. So, we do recommend, excuse me, um the architect services agreement with Bart and Co Villa for the Arc Colola roof replacement be approved as presented. >> So, moved. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Vote, second by Miss Ladder. Are there any comments or questions? All those in favor say I. I. >> Any opposed? Motion approved. >> Thank you. Um up next we do have the Northwest Fire District lease agreement. Um this is a lease that we've had and Dr. Bidding spoke about this several meetings ago. Um but this was with Huntertown Fire and the agreement was over 50 years old. So over the last several months, uh we've been working with them
050and our lawyers to just re re-examine the agreement and it seemed like a great time uh certainly with the the change in the name of to Northwest Fire District. Um so again, both legal councils review this document and there are not significant changes. It is just an update. So I do recommend the amended lease agreement with the Northwest Fire District be approved as presented. >> I'll entertain a motion. So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Chaffy, second by Mr. Vote. Are there any comments or questions? All those in favor say I. I. Motion approved. >> Thank you. Uh up next, I do have a recommendation for our ins insurance brokerage services. Um as I stated previously, we did send that out to three companies and uh we had been working with a company for
051several years and this has been one of our highest rising costs and felt like it was time to do our due diligence on on uh any ways that we could mitigate that. In the end, our committee was really looking for somebody that was going to be uh progressive, think outside of the box, and come alongside of us to try to figure out um what are some ways to mitigate these these increases and strategies that we can look at moving forward. Uh we all came away um pleased with all three of the respondents, but in the end, um USI was was definitely our our clear-cut decision. So, uh I am excited uh to recommend uh that we engage with USI for insurance brokerage services for next year. Uh be approved as presented. >> I'll entertain a
052motion. >> So move. >> Second. Motion by Mr. Vote. Second by Miss Jameson. Are there any comments or questions? I just wanted to make sure that there's an office nearby, a local office. Is that correct? >> Yeah, within five minute drive. So, yep. Actually, very very close. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. All those in favor say I. I. >> Motion approved. >> All right. Thank you. Up next, I do have the budget report for 2026 and uh I will kind of go through quite a few items here agenda for this, go through the calendar. We'll discuss each of the funds that we have and give a summary and then kind of talk about what that means as as we move forward from tonight. So, up first um tonight we'll do this presentation. We
053will cover the overall budget, include a snippet on capital projects and the bus replacement plans. And that will conclude for tonight. As we go into next meeting, then we'll have a separate hearing for each one of the items. So there'll be a hearing for bus replacement, hearing for capital projects, and then the actual budget. And then if approved, uh we'll bring an approval, I should say, to the October 6 meeting that will then complete uh the budget process for this year. So up first, uh education fund. Um again u appropriation is listed there $65,935,680. I do want to uh point out immediately again this is the this is a a budget appropriation for a calendar year and this is a tricky part of this is we've really functioned with our teachers and and things that
054happen on the fiscal year but when we do this we're looking at the calendar year. So when I am discussing a 26 budget I'm actually talking about half a year of 26 and half of 27 um 27 budget. So that's where it gets tricky. You're projecting out next year and the year and the year after essentially. So what expenses does it cover? Uh the major component of this is salary, wages, and benefits for the people that are in the classroom um or in the buildings I should say. So those are your your teachers, your principles, your instructional assistants, your nursing staff, guidance counselors, all the folks that are impacting um our students on a daily basis. Uh also again wanted to point out we had a great year as we know on our health insurance
055premiums. 1%. Uh just wanted to give a a good shout out to the committee that works on it and the entire staff that's on that. Uh the hard work that they do throughout the year to utilize the clinic services and the other things that we've had allowed us to to save some money essentially in this in this fund. Uh this also covers the classroom supplies and materials. So the things that the students are using on a regular basis. And you can see I had a line down there. Just as a reminder, this appropriation does include the curricular material reimbursement. Um, so there is a number in there and we I'll you'll see in another slide there's there's a jump from 23 to 20 excuse me from 24 to 25 when that got put into place
056here and there's another little nuance on the way that it looks now. So uh again uh this year some considerations that were important to look at certified staff change um I I'll give it a little more detail on this in a moment um but we did actually decrease our certified staff this year by eight in the education fund. Uh, of we look at staff retirements and resignations. How we did that was basically there were some people that left and we did not refill those positions. And then I again I'll elaborate on that in a moment. Uh, we continue to grow in special education. I don't have updated numbers but again there was an impact from last year. So as we grew last year we still had to make some adjustments into the the this current
057year's budget that we're getting into. And of course the major component of this budget in terms of the education fund uh certainly Willow Creek as we begin to start considering bringing on uh folks and that we've got to start planning to pay them inside of this appropriation because again this will be six months of the 26 uh 26 school year. Uh so again this is funded by the state basic grants. So this is what the state um legislation Senate Senate Bill 1 sea 1 has determined they we are going to pay uh get get paid reimburse for students. This is not property taxes. So this has nothing to do uh with what any levies that we would have from from our taxpayers in terms of our property tax. Again wanted to point out um curricular
058material reimbursement currently is set at that's no increase there. There was no change. Um it's just under $158 is what you are reimbursed per student. And this again is is based on of our our enrollment, our average daily membership. Uh this is where I'll say the decrease in staff. Um as you can see last year uh we were at 8369 in our enrollment. We're actually seeing a loss of of 69 students um in our enrollment at the time that we did this. Now that continue to fluctuate um as time will pass but at that time uh we were looking at around 8,300 students. Um majority of that change and again we'll report on this later but at that time was in the kindergarten to senior kind of transfer big senior class smaller smaller kindergarten class
059coming in. Uh other factors to this so again uh components are you you get your per pupil amount but there are also different uh support areas. So, special education uh that that is funded based on our enrollment in special education and then varies by the different uh different components or departments inside the special education um have different amounts that you are paid for for the student. Uh special education, excuse me, um ENL, our non-English-speaking program. This was moved over uh to the education fund in in 23. Uh we'll continue to leave that on there because again this was something that used to be its own grant. So a lot of people still kind of look at it that way, but that is now funded again in here. Um our ENL students have different levels. Level
060one and two are bunched together. Level three and four are bunched together. So you get reimbursed based on on the support that they they need at those two two different levels. Uh career and teched. Um that's another one that uh fluctuates based on the program. Uh so for example a a so to speak an intro course u such as the careers class that all our eighth graders take that's funded at the lowest possible funding for CTE and then as Dr. Bidding mentioned you know there are capstones a construction stu a student completing the construction capstone uh would actually get we would get funding to help support the teachers and things that we need in that program at a much higher rate than you do that that that introductory course. The honors diploma is is the
061most tricky um and they call it that, but there's really several components that go into that. The academic performance, you have your honors diploma, um associates, associates degree, college core, and dual credits. Some of those things that we know and some of those things you actually are getting paid two years in retro. So, kids can go ahead and finish an associates degree, they can finish um some of those uh Indiana College core things, and you actually are in the retro. So this is a number that can really fluctuate and is really tricky to project. Um so try to really that's actually I just utilize the same number from the year before and we kind of just then look at where we're at the following year. Um the only thing that we can really plug in
062is is our early grads and so that that gets to be a tricky one to uh to to deal with. Uh so small to see up there. Uh some things that really would want to point out here on the education fund. So looking at the appropriation um we again do enrollment and the increase the increase that we have from the state is approximately you 2% 2% in this bianium. So, looking at that, um, some things that I really wanted to point out here. A, I'm going to jump all the way down to the second to the last row, 25500. This is your curricular materials. You can see I have an appropriation there. And in the past, there's been zeros. So, again, we put that in there, but that was spread out over multiple categories last
063year. Uh, the state board of accounts has now said, "We're going to move all of that to its own fund." And so that's that's impacted every category up here really in some way, shape, or form. Some more than others, but it makes it tricky this year to really compare apples to apples. 26 is just going to have a lot of nuances that other years have not had. Um, but looking at that, um, again, wanted to point out, as we said, there was a decrease. Well, kindergarten groups a little smaller between the supplies and a decrease in and staffing there. You can see that that appropriation has has decreased. We also over time have been trying, as we know, to bring Willow Creek on been trying to make sure that we maintain a little bit of
064flexibility in those areas for potential growth, new hires, and we're able to shift some of that um towards the middle school and high school. So, you'll see an increase in the middle school appropriation knowing that we're going to be bringing on uh Willow Creek. Again, as um special education has continued to grow, you're seeing an increase there um as well. The other notable decrease is on 22 excuse me 22300 that is our our computer uh technology instruction. Uh we are as we discussed in the geo bond moving some computer purchases out uh with the impact of sea1. Uh we've been able to make some some strong decisions to salvage some things but also our ability to not make cuts was was supported by our ability to pay for some computers out of the geo bond.
065So that has helped bring on some of these costs and mitigate some of the loss that we've had there. Okay. Um let's any questions on the education fund. Okay. And as a reminder to you all too, we'll go through this again. So certainly any questions if you have between now and next week um you can let me know and I can try to address at the at the next meeting as well. All right, heading to the operations fund. Um, so operations fund, again, this is property tax based. So we do have a 4% as you can see to the right here, a 4% levy increase from last year to this year. And so last year's levy was 13.4. We're allowed to levy 13.9. But I do want to pause there. You can see the next
066line here. Our property tax cap loss though in the operations fund alone is $1.585 million for 2026. So when you look at that growth of 4% and you see um about 540 approximately of new funds that we would be able to collect, we're actually going to lose um six over 690,000 in our tax cap loss. So we're actually in the in the negative here in what we're going to be able to collect. Um, combining that with lower than what was expected levies in some of the other areas, we're looking at approximately $300,000 decrease in what we're actually collecting from property tax and then uh license CVET tax. So again, pointing out uh if you look at this budget number, you'll see this later, it's very very similar to last year's number. There was essentially no
067growth here. And uh I'll I'll show you some of the levers we were again able to pull to make this work. And um it's it tricky um this year and if we weren't able to make some of the decisions that we made, we'd be looking at significant cuts between these two funds this year. Uh so we were able to maneuver through that uh right now. But uh again, we've we were we have a few strategies to pull. Uh so what expenses this cover? Just as a reminder, these are general operations. So things that are happening in the buildings, your supplies, your custodial staff, all your utilities, and and then district level staff as well. So again looking at the categories here in the operations fund you'll see again very similar numbers um in some of
068these areas and some of them like central services we were actually cut a position uh so so to mitigate some of that growth and then what's really interesting here in the middle it's 266 uh 2600 and 2700 you can see a significant decrease in transportation and again that was one of the levers we were able to pull our ability to maneuver the buses over there is allowing us to really mitigate some of the high increases in the in uh insurance uh school uh excuse me also then bringing on the the utility increases that we're having and also Willow Creek which is as you can imagine that's that's our significant increase here as well. So if you look at that it really um you can see 25 is appropriation um 16.8 and you're about 16.8 again.
069Uh so we really just kind of shifted those those transportation funds to that being able to purchase our buses differently and and again as a reminder because we discussed this when we talked about those projects. Uh schools our size have been doing that for years. We've we've kind of held that back and um we were at the time where we were again you're looking at significant cuts potentially in the operations fund which then has your impact on on your education fund as well. Uh so this was our our strategy to survive SEA1 and bring on Willow Creek at the same time because those two things combined has made for a very very tricky process um with this impact. So again here at the bottom you can see very similar numbers actually a slight decrease in
070in appropriation uh from 25 to 26. So any questions on the operations fund? One one quick question. Um, do you know this may be usually I like to know the answer to questions I'm going to ask, but I don't know this one. Um, the 4% set by the state. When was that set um in legislation? >> So, it actually it it was actually a status quo. So, it was set in SEA 1 that it would maintain and actually I think it was in two different components if I'm if I'm not mistaken. Um, but this actually it's been 4% for the last this will be the third year in a row. next year the fourth that it will be capped at 4%. Prior to that, um you were able to go above the maximum levy growth
071quotient and for example for us, our three-year average prior to that was 7.42. And so we were we were able to collect dollars as we as we grew uh in our district, we would be able to collect more. That's that's no longer the case. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Um continuing with operations fund, just more specific. um looking at bus replacement plan. So again, uh this is a five-year plan. We're seeing this cost right now and we're hopeful that we're actually we got some good news that this actually might end up coming in less, which is great. Um we're going to continue to work on that. Uh but replace bus every 12 years. Uh this cycle has eight buses. The past several years, we've added buses. We're not going to do that this
072year. This would be 678 passenger buses and two 54 passenger buses. And again uh we are not using the operations fund this year to do this. We are going to move those to the geo bond 25 to purchase those and allow us to uh get through uh some of this circuit breaker loss and impact of of sea1 capital projects plan. U again very very similar overall. The big shift here is is the technology purchase. Um, we did mitigate some of we we still have projects that we have to do and we so we still need things that are done in the buildings on a day-to-day basis that are are slightly greater than 10,000 and slightly less than 10,000. Those repairs are vital. Uh, we did use utilize some of the growth needed in this fund
073um by again mitigating the computers and that impact is on the education fund. We actually used the capital projects fund cover that in the education fund. Um so you that's where some of that loss and savings was for our capital projects. Uh capital projects planning breaking down the categories. Again these are very similar numbers to last year other than this technology instruction that I pointed out in the education fund. U these fluctuate based on on need. For example, you might see a higher year in sports facility because we've got a gate to fix and we know that our gate to replace. And on those years, you might have a lower amount um in your building acquisition, which those are your typical things that are happening. So those are your uh HVAC repairs, um small equipment
074that you might be purchasing and in that capacity. Any questions on bus or capital projects? Okay. um a new one to the the project and I want to point out u up front before I even go to the next slide when you're creating your budget you have to plan for anything that you would have next year. So, in the past, you've seen debt service, and you'll see it again this year with the the leases that we have coming. Um, we have a placeholder for repayment. We don't anticipate it to be that, but you have to put a safety net. You cannot increase it. And so, uh, the DLGF will come back once we know and we settle those things. So, when we sell the geo bomb 25, they'll make that adjustment. And so, you'll see
075we'll see that. I share all that because that's typical for us. You're going to see that in a moment. But I we do have to we have the operating referendum that will be voted on by the public in November. We do have to create a placeholder and a budget for that as well. Um so for my work on that, we we have to basically go and create accounts for potential things that we may or may not do and start setting up account numbers. So this is a a fairly quick one in terms of a repeat of what we've been discussing about the referendum um for for quite a while. So again, um, if this fund were to be approved, I have a budget appropriation of of $9,996,891. And that's because, again, the levy would be
076$10 million. Not saying that we would spend that, but you have to appropriate something and and show that that's why you're levying 10 million. We know, as we've stated in the previous meeting, uh, we don't expect to expend all of that immediately, um, because that's not the plan. That's not the need immediately. So, what does this cover? As a reminder, uh, salaries, wages, and benefits for our academic programs, operating expenses. Um, we've continued to talk about the five five kind of categories or buckets, so to speak, attracting retaining staff, the ability to uh bring on CTE and alternate uh education staff at that building, the safety and well-being of of our students, and then instructional support. Uh the one that I left off is just again we kind of have that other category of of
077there's kind of some random things throughout the district that don't fit in one of those buckets. So we kind of have a district overall group that would also be hit by that. Uh the considerations and the reason why we have this as as we've discussed education and operations funding uh we are already at you know $8 million below the state average in 24. U again with our starting point in operations to back to Mr. Vot's question about the 4% that gap continues to grow. We're starting lower and we can only go 4%. Those other districts that are higher are growing, excuse me, their their growth on that 4% is going to be larger. So that gap for us is only going to continue to grow as we continue to get 25 and and 26 data.
078Um the other reason again we talked about increased circuit breaker loss and um the the alt ed and and SRO staff uh for the debt funds again. So same same concept as we talked about there. Um, these are I I I heard this phrase a long time ago and I loved it and I'll continue to use it. These are decisions that we've already made. Um, so these are things that the board has already approved um in previous years and and in some cases several years ago. These are all of the lease payments that we have. Um, exciting that we we are getting really close to to uh series 2014 coming off. We've got, as you can see, one payment left. Um, so we'll have one payment in 26 and then that will come off. uh
079series 26 we've got a couple of payment h excuse me uh 2020 we have a few payments and also kind the same in in 2016. So we have some things coming off in the next four to five years uh which again continues to help us do some of the things that we're doing now as we make our decisions now we're looking at those years and what kind of payments that we can make at those times. Uh, one thing I do want to point out on this page that is important to note right now on my form B, which is the is what I have to turn in the budget, it shows uh, 5.9 million. An unintended impact of of sea1 is that these funds were not protected and there's been a lot of discussion at
080the the legislative level on on how that will play out. So, we're going to we we have potential that we're going to see uh that cash that cash flow drop in in the levy. Um, I hope for some other districts that they are able to make their debt service payments because if you are not able to make your debt service payments, then that's another hit on your operations fund. We're at a spot now and we've got great partners that we work with that uh have helped us navigate and get through that. Um, if that were to not be protected, that'll be something that will be very significant very quick for us. Um, as a as a very negative impact, three to four years and that would be something that could really um hit the operations
081fund. So that'll be something that as we go into the next leg legislative session, we anticipate we hear that that's going to be a topic and that will be something that u we will we will want to discuss about potentially advocating for because that is a fund that we want to make sure that there there is a a reserve there, a balance in case something were to happen. Um as that way you can make those payments and really truly not impact the operations fund as we know that we're already funded extremely low there and any significant hit there would be very detrimental to us. So that will be a piece of legislation that we will follow very closely in in the in the coming sessions. >> Exactly. What do you mean by not protected? >>
082So in the past you had to collect that. So you would this is really getting in the weeds but it is truly a great question. Um I 2014 and 2016 those are older issuances. you actually are the the previous rule was you should have 50% of your payment in cash balance remaining left over as you budget for the next year because you make payments on twice a year, right? So, you were supposed to have that those funds in case you were to collect late. There was something that happened in your county and they they didn't get it on time. You knew that you were protected. >> Uh issuances that we have, so 2020 and beyond are now 15%. And so you were supposed So my 5.9 is based on that that premise 50% of that
083next payment for those two older ones, 15% of the other ones that we would have. And also I I failed to point out that placeholder there for that 6 million for CTE and the geo bond. Those are a placeholder number that we don't intend to hit, but still there. So you would you would budget based on that for your cash balance. What they're saying is I can I can report 5.9 all I want, but we're going to have a circuit breaker loss to that. You didn't have a circuit breaker loss. that was protected and you would collect that no matter what. So 5.9 our circuit breaker loss is probably going to be in the neighborhood potentially of a million dollars. So I could ask for five 5.9 to stay in reserve. We won't collect a
084million dollars of that potentially. And that is not an exact number. We don't know that one yet, but it is definitely looking like it could be somewhere in that neighborhood. And so again, you can see very quickly if that's a million dollar cap loss for us that can that that cash balance can dwindle. And I think it's concerning because again if you can't make that payment it will come out. We're not again we're not at a cause for concern for the next couple of years but that is something that will eventually catch up to everybody who who has a debt service payment. So it's a great great question and again it was I do want to point that out from all accounts from anybody that you talked to that was not something that anybody anticipated.
085So we're we're we're hearing that there's good conversations u may not necessarily be in the next session. um and it might be in the next bianium, but still we'll take that one that change what if it were to happen whenever it would. >> One quick point I want to make is there obviously you guys have probably heard there's talk of a special session and one of the topics that might come up are some of the fixes to SEA1. So we need to be paying very close attention if there's a special session. It may not just be about redistricting. It may be about other things that are out there. So we just want to keep our ear the ground ground as we go forward with that special session if it happens. >> No, absolutely. that that
086that will be great and we will definitely take part in that because that's one that really impacts everybody. So yeah, and we appreciate all the legislators working on that because I think they heard heard everybody pretty quick on that one which is great. >> Um next one uh referendum debt. So again this is quick one very similar uh this is for the Aspo project. So again this is just continuing to make our payments. So you can see here I actually spelled that out because there's a little more room on this one. This shows again that balance is 15% of the funds for 2027. So um was able to show that here. Uh again point out whenever you have a referendum you do set a maximum rate that you can collect. Um for that project it
087was uh.1275 and again we're we're not anywhere close to that to be able to make our payments. Uh the 2025 rate was was just over 5 cents. So I'm happy that that's continued to be a good thing for us. So, in in summary, again, this is a tricky one to look at. Um, you can see it just try to put what we're going to advertise um if approved by the board, but this is what will go out for our advertisements. Again, education, operations, debt service referendum, and then um operating referendum. Again, for for the public or anybody listening, this has not been approved, but it has to be something that I I post um uh when we create this budget because we cannot go back and add that in later. So, it's got to be
088there as a placeholder. Simply put, um, after that vote, if if it passes, we have an appropriation. If it were to not pass, then that that this number here would be decreased by the 9.9 million. And then in summary, the levies. So, again, uh, what I showed there was our our budget and our appropriation. What this is is what we are ask actually asking to collect. And at that point, you see the education fund drops off of here. That's not here because education fund and what we pay our teacher salaries is not property tax based. It is not levied. So again you can see operations a 4% growth. The debt service has increased to for that cash balance purpose. Um the referendum debt service was Aspo and then the operating referendum and again same concept
089that number would change based on on potentially the vote. Um certified assessed value. Um I always like to report on that. tonight. Unfortunately, Allen County has is not released theirs. Um I I present or put this up at 9:3, but as today I was hoping to get in there and make that change. And I was on a call with our partners for the geo bond issuance today and everybody was laughing like that. We've all just hit refresh 30 times trying to see if we can get what that that is. So, we're hopeful that will be another solid growth. Um but again, we'll we'll we'll report that hopefully out to you at the the next board meeting. I do want to point out um as of right now uh for this issuance we had said that
090we were going to continue to look at maintaining that that flat rate. Uh we'll continue to talk about the rate sea 1 has really kind of changed that that concept on on uh on what a flat rate looks like um and and the just in in general the whole concept of a rate is going to be looked at different and we'll we'll approach that in the future. But for right now 26 uh do expect the rate to be at 8797 without a referendum. Uh so again operations debt service refer uh ex uh excuse me the referendum debt fund for asp um looking at that rat rat the rate maintaining and then next steps u again uh just reiteration at at the beginning public hearings will happen for each one of those we'll have a presentation
091similar to this with any adjustments that might need to be made after any discussions or any new information between now and then uh capital project plan and bus replacement plan And then we will look to if approved by the board and no questions uh we will look to bring to the October meeting um and approval for the adoptions of those. Any final questions? >> Anyone have questions? >> Thank you so much. >> One thing I would point out, uh Mr. Basham, I appreciate your report and a very thorough presentation on the budget. uh obviously not very exciting maybe uh for everyone but uh I appreciate your ability to to make a a a really complex budget uh simple for us to understand uh and for our community to be able to understand. One thing I
092want to point out that he mentioned in the referendum exempt operating, he shows a budget appropriation there of 9.996 million and that that corresponds to what that's the really the evidence to what we talked about where in the first year we would only take out the $10 million amount. So even though the property tax calculator would show um that we're running an operating referendum for $12 million in this first year, it's our intention to only take out that 10 million. So the impact would would would be less in the first year at least. Uh so uh at least there's some evidence for our our plan to do just that. >> I I do have one other question, Mr. Basham. Um when you go through the different funds, um I think there could be some misunderstanding
093or miscommunication within the community about um the pool expenses. So when we talk about referendum or any of these funds, there's no nothing at all related to a new pool. Is that correct? >> Correct. There's nothing in in any of the planning for this that would have anything to do with with a pool. We have our current expenses that are part part of the operations fund and those continue to be um but no, there's nothing for uh there's really nothing elsewhere at all. In fact, even when you look at this um looking at CTE andor new transportation, there's no added cost in this budget for those either because they wouldn't be online during that 26th time that we wouldn't be using project funds for those projects. So, there's actually not anything in there. This would
094only be current buildings that we have and then the addition of Willow Creek coming online. Carol High School project still there. Um administration center still there of course. Um, but Willow Creek is the only additional thing that we're we're adding into this budget. I I do want to add one thing to Mr. Barker's statement too. And again, that 10 million, we take the 10 million, we don't spend it. We we will look at that balance and determine what we need the next year. Um, each year that's going to be a look at with the board on what do we need to do? What are we going to add? We gave options for what those things could be. Um but certainly a that could fluctuate based on the need that the board decides but also um
095does not mean that we will need a full 10 million even the next year. That'll be what whatever the board decides that we need to do as well. So >> Okay. Okay. Thank you so much. All right. Next up is operations and safety with Dr. Vidding. >> Yeah. Before I jump into the operations part of this, I do want to talk about uh had an opportunity to help with a safety drill today at an elementary. And I think I think it should be stated how great of a job our educators do in those buildings. Um I usually have to play the intruder. And it always amazes me and especially in an elementary school how well our staff whether it's instructional assistance out on the playground or how teachers I mean a teacher initiated it and
096the the what they do with those young kids never ceases to amaze me and I know I say you know I've been in the high school most of my career. So I've just I think we just a big thank you to what our staff does as we get started back into the school year. But again just helping with that safety drill today. You know, we had Brad Height with the Northwest Fire District there kind of offering his services and opinions, and we had Officer Beta and Officer Dietrich, our two of our SRO's there. And again, how they helped out interacting with kids, teaching kids about what things to do. Uh, just I can't thank them enough and our partnerships. And I I know I say we have a great relationship with the Allen County Sheriff's
097Department, Northwest Fire District, but today was just a great example of of what they offer and just a great example of how hard our staff works in all aspects, not just educating our kids, but truly trying to take care of them um when it comes to those safety drills. So, just a hats off to our educators on that. As far as the operations report on our projects go, all of them are trending very well. Um just the two current ones, the high school project, as I showed you some images. Um when you look at the three major spaces of renovation that are going on right now, the high school library on the 10 to 12 side, the library on the west side, the old freshman library, and the the old wait room. Those spaces have
098walls up. Um the the freshman library side, the west side, there's paint on walls. I mean, the the the finishing product of what they're they're flying through never ceases to amaze me. Um, they had a great summer. They got a lot of things done. Um, but like I said, there's paint on the walls. The case work is going to be those are two science rooms and a multi-purpose room on that side of the building. Case works coming in the next couple weeks. Um, and and like I said, the wait room, those two computer science rooms and the radio TV lab, that's brick. Uh, that's block walls. That's up. Like those spaces are defined. You walk in there and you're like, "Oh, yeah. That's that's the that's the TV studio right there." And so, um, they're
099making great progress. They're excited about where they're at. um you know, most of those spaces we're going to have back by the second semester. And so, um they're just again continuing to do good job, good work there. Same thing with Willow Creek. In our next meeting, I'm hoping to have drone footage because, um most of the seating is going to be done on the the fields outside. And so, it's really going to change the dynamic and the landscape of that that facility. uh because they've really worked a lot. Fox has worked a lot on on just the overall the the grading of the current uh the competitive football soccer fields, the practice fields, and just that overall grading. And so, um the outside structures are really taking shape there. We got great weather for it.
100And so, uh hopefully some drone footage at our next meeting will show you that inside. Again, they continue to do an amazing job and just watching that that place take shape. And so, very excited about the two current projects. I already talked about the CT, but the transportation facility, that design team has done a great job to where we are in a very good place to be ready to go out for bid there in November. Um the design team again sitting down there going through some finishes and we're in the meeting. Engineer partners are there. Um CMC partners are there and and it's just again that collaborative effort of when they talk about some of the flooring options and you got our folks from FCI going, "Hey, have you thought about this type of flooring?
101It might be it'll hold up just as well, a little more economical." And so again, the true process of what you want from that CMC, I think, is is doing a good job for us as a district in both of these projects. And so everything's maintaining flowing well. >> Awesome. >> President Hathway, if you uh if we could, we need to go back and revisit item 7.04 and take a recommendation from Mr. Basham uh for a board vote. >> Okay. I'm sorry. That I will entertain a motion. >> So moved. Second >> motion by Miss Slaughter, second by Miss Chaffy. Are there any comments or questions? All those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Motion approved. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you, Dr. Bidding. Um, next up is closing items. Are
102there any board comments? >> I just have one question for Dr. Bidding. um in terms of the referendum and the safety and so forth just for the general public and as a mom with everything that goes on in the world. Um what safety are we going to be having with the referendum like SRO officers and so forth I just just for each of the buildings and so forth. >> Sure. I'll I'll jump in on this but Mr. Bash can also jump in. The biggest chunk of the dollars associated with this would be to obtain some more SRO's. Um, we obviously right now we currently have two SRO's at the stationed at the high school and one stationed at each middle school. And I say stationed because again, just like today, Officer Bait, Officer Dietrich, um,
103we're at an elementary school helping out there. And so, their home base may be at two at the high school, one at each middle school. Um, I've already put in a request, Allen County, for an additional SRO for Willow Creek. So, we've got a third one there. But ideally then we've got them stationed at those buildings and we we have a couple more assigned to elementary schools as well. And so the you know I think for us we really see the benefit of those SR the SRO program and and that interaction they have with students. And so to be able to get students at a younger age involved and interacting with with the law enforcement we really feel like it's going to benefit us as a whole. So, you know, we need to add one
104at Willow Creek and then we'd like to in an ideal setting, we'd have two or three more at the elementary levels. So, again, that's going to be your largest dollar amount assigned is for the SRO's um for this the true safety aspect of this. >> So, how many SRO's at the elementary schools like to go back and forth with? Is that >> Mr. Bashma? I don't want to misspe, but I thought we said three. Four. Four. Four. Four. I apologize. >> Yeah. And just to add to that too, the the other concept of safety is is at the student, right? So, um, increasing our support social worker because there's safety in the building and safety outside of the building. So, that's definitely a component there that we wanted to add. And then a district safety
105specialist right now, we kind of all take a little piece of it and really to have somebody that can hone in and work on that. So, that's a potential position that we would we would request um in in the process of this. Uh, some other things in that nature, too. Um, as time has passed, the the needs of our students with nursing coverage has changed dramatically. It used to be some buildings might not have an it's been a long time since then, but there would be days where they didn't have one. And even now, hardly any of our buildings are covered for the full day. And so, this would uh one of the things that we put in there was to allow support in the building um for the duration that the students are inside
106the building. So, so the other things besides just the you know security safety, but the other components of safety as well. >> Okay. So in each elementary school would you say like a guidance counselor, social worker, nurse for each one and then the SRO the floating SRO officers am I understanding that right? >> Not looking for guidance counselor per se and social workers would cover multiple buildings. Our need right now isn't such that you need somebody in each building each day. Um but certainly would would be able to support m multiple buildings. We currently have three. So we're looking to again expand that by doubling that fleet essentially. >> All right. Thank you. Yeah, if I could jump in real quickly. Our our social my mic on our social workers um we have two that
107share all eight buildings right now. And so those two people are busy like all the time. Their schedule I mean >> they're they're they can't get to every kid unfortunately. So um and they they just all of them have been great at their jobs. They're anytime we have a crisis in the district or we have a family in crisis, they're a huge support and help us in responding. Um even with our our PD day coming up next week, um our counselors are going to participate in su suicide intervention training for two days and that was arranged by one of our social workers. And so from the school school safety aspect, the social workers I and you know to be honest before we had them I I didn't realize how important they were. So now after
108living with them and having them on our staff um just just to even add to so that they're not sharing or splitting four buildings, it's it's going to be a big support for for everyone. Okay. So, we'll double the social amount of social workers. >> That's what we're looking for. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Awesome. >> Any other comments? Board comments. Okay. Next up is superintendent comments. >> Just want to uh talk very briefly about um two items. one uh we had an incredible experience for our girls volleyball team and really entire school community with the turf takeover that happened between Carol High School and Homestead High School. Want to give a big uh congratulations to Mr. Gender and the athletic department. Thank the generous sponsors who made that happen. We had 4,500 fans in
109attendance. Uh this was an event that really went national. it it was covered by the Indianapolis Star and then we heard from folks across the country who uh were just amazed by what a great event that was and uh very proud of our girls for how they handled that evening and and really just everyone. It was a great event for both of our schools uh and we just want to congratulate everybody who was a part of that. And then secondly, u going to be working with our principles later this week to schedule some schoolboard tours for the board again, much like we did last year at the end of the school year where we can uh take some more school board tours uh here maybe in the next month. >> Great. All right. Thank you
110so much. Um next, our regular board meeting is currently scheduled for Monday, September 21st, 6 p.m. at the Ronald D. Felgger Boardroom and the administration center. I will entertain a motion for adjournment. So move >> second. >> Motion by Mr. Vote, second by Miss Chaffy. All those in favor say I. I. >> We are adjourned. Thank you so much and have a great evening.