001I 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. Good evening everyone. Um, thank you all for coming to our October 16th school board meeting. Um, first on our agenda though, do we have any public comments? >> Anyone sign it up? >> Uh, no sign up. >> All right. Um, we are moving um, >> we do have some student. >> Let me back up. Yeah. Uh, student recognition. Dr. McCall. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh we do have some recognitions that we would uh like to display on the screen. Uh it is that time of year when we recognize uh national merit uh recognitions and so we have several students who have earned uh
002both commended status as well as semi-final status. the commended uh status students uh rank in roughly the top 3% of all test takers in the nation and for contacts that's uh a little over 1 and a half million. So these these are about the top uh 3% uh in the nation for students who have taken the PSAT. Uh so we'd like to recognize Benjamin Barable, Ken Bartley, and Vincent. Uh moving on, we have seven National Merit semi finalists. National merit semi-finalists uh are the top 1% in the nation. Uh so these seven individuals were in the top 16,000 roughly uh of the one and a half million uh test takers this year. Uh for context uh just within our area the seven of high school students uh is the highest number among schools in the
003Doomland Athletic Conference. Uh BHS also tied Munster and Homestead in Fort Wayne with the eighth highest number of semi-finalists in the state among both public and private schools. Uh in addition along with Munster, BHS outperformed every other school public or private in Lake Porter, Leaport, Newton, Jasper, Stark, and Marshall counties. So recognizing the semi- finalists Desmond Calhoun, Parker Freley, Jonathan Nau, Kira Murphy, Wesley, Elizabeth, and Claire. Um, next of course will be the finalist, which usually comes out in the early spring. So, uh, we will, uh, recognize our finalists, uh, in the spring and hope to have them at the board meeting to properly honor them. So, they be here tonight. Um, thank you. That's such an honor um, for Delo Community Schools. Now that we are moving on, um we know that we do
004not have anyone who has signed up for public comments. We will move on to the consent agenda. Um or has everyone had an opportunity to review that. Uh there are no questions. Um this consent agenda is actually covering our meeting September 24th and uh our executive session on September 30th. And so if there are no discussions, I do Oh, yeah. I just briefly have to recuse from other let's see appendex A B and the ECA rank sheet as well. >> Understood. Um good thing we do still have a form of proceeding. Um so may I have a um motion to accept the consent agenda? So move second please second. >> All those in favor? N. >> Um, any opposes? Seeing there are none, consent agenda has passed. Moving on to our financial reports, um, performance
005of budget funds. Uh, Mr. Jim. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh, each month we present the finance report comparing year-to- date revenue to year-to- date expenditures of our taxed funds. Our year-to- date performance funds report for September 30th shows the following. And the education fund year-to-ate revenue of 41,137237 year to expenditures of 43,91,552 expenditures had exceeded revenue by 4.75%. Uh expenditures do include monthly $645,000 transfers to the operation fund. in debt service year-to- date revenue 2 2,239,195 year expenditures of 3,952664 all debt service payments uh due today have been made for the fiscal year and we have a tax draw in December pension debt your date revenue is 708032 year expenditure is 1,41239 uh $150,000 temporary loan from the rain day fund to the pension debt fund for cash flow purposes will be repaid in
006December and there will also be a tax draw for that fund as well. operations fund. Year-to- date revenue 15,137,716. Year-to- date expenditures are 17,888672. Revenue includes a monthly $645,000 transfer from the education fund. And that will also have a taxdrawn December. The operating referendum year-to- date revenue of 3,147,315 year to date expenditures of 4,294,755 and this fund will also in December capital referendum year-to-ate revenue was 6,172,640. The year-to-ate expenditures are 5,683,500. All debt service payments have been made to date. We get to pay a draw in December for that fund. The rain day fund has had no revenue for the year and the only expenditure is the $150,000 temporary loan to the pension fund. We believe the review of the fund shows positive financial position. If there are no questions, we ask for approval of
007the financial reports for September 2025. If there are no questions for May I have a motion to accept the financial report. >> A second please second. All those in favor. >> Any opposes? Seeing none, this motion also carries. Uh contract considerations. Dr. McCall. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh tonight we have uh two contracts. Uh these are renewals. Uh there's no changes from previous iterations. uh they're with Jialter Design and Skilman Corporation who are long-standing partners and it's really covering uh our upcoming uh bonds projects. Uh and there um although the amount uh may look high it is uh to be remembered this is part of the $23 million bond project and so it is uh a factor of that and also paid out of those bonds as well. So in Gibralar uh for the
008architectural services for the veil edition renovation maintenance IT building project uh as well as the other project $787,000 a skill corporation for construction management services uh $889,650. >> All right, any questions? I I just wanted to ask, you're saying this is sort of an updated version of the the existing or renewal of the existing contract, >> correct? Um when was the last time that we as a district had sort of reviewed that those contracts to double check if this is still meeting your needs? Have there been any concerns or issues raised? Uh the last time we had the renewal of uh of the AIA looking at Mr. Holfield was it >> 17 >> 2017 uh but if when we receive the update look through it still there are no more questions um motion to accept
009the contracts. So move >> second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposes? Uh seeing none, contract considerations have passed. Um no grants. >> Not this evening. Thank you, Dr. Parker. We are moving on now to donations and gifts. Dr. Jim McCau. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh we have at Flint Lake Elementary uh they received shoes, headphones, water bottles, and backpacks for students in need from St. Andrew's Church. And Central Elementary uh received assorted clothing items and body wash for students in need from the Porter County Aging and Community Services. The Parkview PTA donated $1,330 uh to Parkview Elementary School for grades K5 field trips. Ben Franklin Middle School received $150 for their middle school cross country program from Valareerezo Runners Out on the Move. Uh the athletics department received $100 from Bob
010and Beth Hedrick. Sally Case donated $25 Amazon gift card to Science O and Mr. Tom Sanders uh donated three flight kits valued at $140 to the science program at the high school. The choir uh department received $400 from Steuart Megan Summers via PCCF. The homecoming tailgate was quite a success and received several donations uh including 20 large pizzas for concession stand sales from Joel Sasimono's Pizza and Crown Point. sushi provided for concession stand sales from Blue Point Oysters and Sushi's Bar and 125 bottles of 24 ounce baggo soda valued at $110 from Straen Ventil. The homecoming court received gifts valued at $243 from Martin Binder Jeweler. The Interact Club received $411 from Rotary Club of Alparezo. Susan Beni uh donated $100 to the boys tennis team. The Valzo Newon Kuanas Club Foundation donated $1,000 to
011the Unified Sports Program. Little Caesar's Pizza donated 10 large pizzas valued at $84.90 to the International Soccer Fest event. The girls basketball held their trivia night fundraiser. Uh, and to support that, they received a $25 gift card from Stacks, a one day pass and three-month membership valued at $100 from Anytime Fitness. $75 gift card. Uh, the Rolling Stone Maker, $50 gift card for Uncle Meny's Original Greek Pizzeria, $25 gift card from Central Park, $20 gift card, Smoketown Blues, $50 gift card, Healthy Paws, $20 gift card, Radius, a $100 gift card, Burger House, food valued at $1,200 from Catch Table, and Hap, $500 uh from the Valpo Basketball Club LLC, and Family Express donated bottled water and cookies valued at $126.66. Boys basketball held their golf outing uh and received the following donations in support of
012that activity. Family Express donated cookies, donuts, and bottled water valued at $28,258. Brian Hunt donated $100. Clifford Jack $75. Hector Maron Senior $750. Margini is a $25 gift card. Philips Ace Hardware $40 gift card. Balo Parks Foundation, four $50 off gift cards. Rainstorm Car Wash, four $50 gift cards. The Woodies Cheeseboard valued at $75. Shelby Kacharski, three personalized t-shirts valued at $50. Jessica Tone personalized basketball wreath valued at $50. Little Caesar's Pizza, 15 pizzas valued at $127.35. Pestos came through with 10 pizzas and 10 orders of bread sticks valued at $250. Subway donated three sandwich trays valued at $150. Panera, three dozen bagels and cream and cheese valued at $60. Extra Mile, $25 gift card, two shirts and a glass valued at $75. Cinear Theaters, four movie passes valued at $40. Trac's Salon gift basket
013of hair products valued at $120. Pink Stone Massage Swedish massage valued at $70. I did not win that by the way. Uh Prep for Music, two 30inut music lessons valued at $50. Radius, $25 gift certificate. Fluid Coffee Roasters, $25 gift certificate. Blackhead Beer Works, $25 gift certificate. Stacks Bar and Grill, $25 gift certificate. Smoke Town Blues, $25 gift certificate. Uncle Manny's Original Greek Pizzeria, $25 gift certificate. Sports Clips, two gift certificates valued at $32 each. Jimmy John's free sandwich coupons valued at $75. Rainbow Cone buy one get one free cone coupon valued at $5 each. Designer Desserts free cupcake coupons valued at $5 each. Valpo Cart Company, four Chicago Blackhawk Lexus Lounge tickets valued at $800. Chicago Bears, an autographed player array photograph valued at $100. And Valpo Country Club, four free rounds of golf
014valued at $300. Uh for students in need at the veil, they'll find little uh donated assorted clothing items. And the career center received $50 from an anonymous source for its culinary program and $300 from play against sports for the radio TV program. as a district. Uh for our backpacks and snacks program, we received $3,000 from ESW Consulting Group and food donations from Alpha Delta Kappa. Uh for students in need in our district, we received six backpacks and seven supply packs containing folders, notebooks, colored pencils, highlighters, pencils, scissors, erasers, pens, glue, and a ruler from Family Focus Inc. and Valpo Sunrise Kanas donated $500 to food service for negative student loan account balances. >> Oh, that was a long list. Um almost that was a good one. It almost sounds like our our holiday list. You're
015going to need some help in December. So, uh I'm sure this is the favorite part, right? Um any discussion um for those uh donations and gifts? May I have a motion to accept, please? Second. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor? I >> I'm sure there are none. Uh, this motion carries uh for donations and gifts. Thank you, Dr. Hall. We are now moving on to old business. Um, award bid for district playgrounds renovations project, Mr. Holy. We're gonna kick it over to >> How's it going? Good. >> All right. >> Thank you, Madam President, members of the board. Um, I come before you to request for formal approval to accept the bids for the Delparezo Community School Schools District Playground renovations rebid project. Uh, we did receive four bids and one item
016and I'm not sure exactly how you need to take action on it, but we did receive one bid that was significantly lower than the other bids received was from government construction. I've done quite a bit of work with them. They just I received a call immediately following the bid. They indicated that they made an error. They've requested to remove to withdraw their bid without penalty to their bid bond. Uh, so the parent low bidder becomes golf incorporated for basement amount of 765,000. Before I turn over for any questions or action, um, I would like to just remind the group that we did originally bid this project last spring. It was around April. At that time, working with the administration, we determined, let's hit pause. And one of those reasons was it's not just the infrastructure
017work that's happening at the three locations, but there's another another party involved that's going to be providing the actual playground equipment and the soft play service. At that time, there was some uncertainty that we'd be able to complete all the work and procure all the material in time to be completed prior to the start of school. So, we hit pause at that time. Now, mid last week, great news. So now you have between as soon you award this evening between now until the end of May to procure the equipment and soft play surface and you also had lower bid results than you had um last year. That's 65,000 lower than what bids came in in April. So I'll hit pause and answer your questions for you this time. >> Any questions? In the past, whenever
018we've had a situation where there was a calculation error in the submitted bid, the motion has been to uh allow dismissal of the bid and uh accept the um the new low bidder. >> All right. So, we are making >> I would make that motion. >> Okay. All right. We're making a motion to um remove the lower period that came in >> to allow them to reser and to accept at the next lowest bid. >> Can we just do a long? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> One long motion. May I have a second? Second. All right. Um any no further discussion? All those in favor? I >> Any opposes? None. That motion carries. >> Thank you. Very excited to get started. Moving on to the next item. Okay, so the male facility addition renovation and
019maintenance/IT facility project. So last Tuesday when I pulled in here in the morning, I knew there was incredible participation because um working with your administration and opening beds at this facility since 2015, I've never had to park in the back. I had to park in the back. So I think you saw we had 49 bids for 11 bid categories which shows you that the bidding climate is returning to how it used to be a few years ago. You know there's these massive programs that have happened over the past few years and that gobbled up a lot of the resources and contractors. Well the room was packed and contractors are hungry for them and what does that translate for those schools? Better bids, great competition. So it's a it's a it's a beautiful thing. So, um,
020right now I come before you this evening, um, to recommend bid categories 1 through 11 and the contractors listed for the amounts listed. I can read whatever you need me to, along with alternate numbers 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Alternates, just as a reminder, are often items working with the architect and the administration for things you may want but not necessarily need. But if the board budget can afford it, working with the administration a few days after we qualify all the biders and make sure they included everything as far as the scope and drawings are concerned, then we confirm the desire of the administration, the board as far as selecting some of those alternates. So again, that's the recommendation. uh base bid. And again, reminder, alternates 2, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Two things
021I do need to point out that I did indicate on the letter. Uh we did receive a a bid from Trout Glass and Mirror that was received at 10:44. The bid opening was at 10:00. We did not open it. So, we just recommend that we will mail it back to Trout. And then, um I was also contacted by Mr. Hollyfield. indicated that um in the lobby they noted they found two bids for bid category 8 food surface. They were here on time. Um so it was legal council's recommendation to open them. They were not lower than the apparent bidder for food service. So that's just something else that was part of the 49 received. >> So I'll hit pause and answer any questions at this time. Dion, how is these 1 through 11? How does
022this compare with what you had budgeted originally for this project? >> Um, there were there were es and flows in the budget overall. I mean, it started to climb up as we learn more about the scope, but right now we're trending probably, you know, at least $750,000 under. Now, there are contingencies built in there, design contingencies as well, but as I indicated to your administration, that's your money to spend however you direct this to spend it. the competitive climate really allows >> but we're still within what we were thinking and possibly a little bit. >> Okay. >> Um if there's no further discussion um may I have a motion um to accept the uh bids for the bill campus addition and renovations. I would make that motion to accept bid categories 1 through 11 as
023recommended by Dion and also to um accept sending back the trout class bid since it came in late >> and the alternates >> and also including the alternates. Yes, as listed >> for a grand total 11,510,769. >> Yes. >> Second. >> All right. Um, all those in favor? >> Uh, any opposes? None. Motion carries. Um, we are moving on. So, if I may real quick, tomorrow we'll be issuing the notice that proceeds and we'll be developing contracts for all these contractors, setting them out next week. So, we'll be working with the city of Aliso to secure the building permit and don't be surprised if you start seeing equipment on site in early November. So, things will be moving very quickly. Quick. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. U moving on to
024um item three, approval of the responsible dating practices resolution. Mr. Hol. >> Thank you, Madam President. At this time, I'd like to defer to district. >> Thank you, Mr. Holyfield. Um, we had occasion to go through the RBO. Uh, there were some changes that were made. Uh, we believe that that represents the interests of Bal Community Schools and also uh complies with what the intent was uh in the drafting uh of this document. Uh we've had a chance to go through it. We believe it's appropriate and we are requesting the board to uh sign off on the same >> for any discussion. This is the uh extended conversation we had last board meeting that um John had several questions to and assisted with u with Sarkeesian making some of those updates. Are you feeling >>
025I I wanted to report back since I was the one that had to no one's surprise raising questions last night but I I feel like there was some important changes been made. I feel comfortable that I'm I'm intending to go forward >> and and let me say this to you board. It's a collaborative effort on the part of the entire board. Whenever the board has a question or a concern about anything, it behooves us to go through those. And in going through it, there were some changes that were made. Uh, and I think as I said before, this comports with the intent on what was needed. >> Absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you all for working so diligently on that um assignment and getting it back to us on time for this board meeting. I would have
026hated to extend it another another month and so I'm grateful for that. Um if there's no more discussion regarding this RBO, may I have a motion to accept? >> Second, please. >> All those in favor? >> I no opposes. Motion carries. >> Thank you board. >> All right. Moving on to approval of board policy second general call. we should take this up this month or would you like to table it? >> I was going to ask that we have a little bit of opportunity to table it. Uh there's some more sort of investigation and development. I think policy language and feedback is important before we make a decision. Um and just for clarification, there are some policies that are coming up and as a board we um want to spend some time um making sure
027that uh we are reflective of the uh policies and the way they are written and who they will um actually affect. And so we've been having some discussion about that. I'm really grateful for this board and the conversations we continue to have um regarding um not just policies but contracts and the way that we are moving forward and making sure that we are all um uh in agreement. Um we may not always agree on everything but at least we've had some full discussion on how we want to move forward regarding certain policies. Um so we'll table this into um we are ready to come back for further discussion. Moving on to new business. I'm excited about this. Uh Dr. McCall um for the ADM enrollment report. >> Uh it's a report with which you've grown
028familiar. Uh it's how we report our ADM each October to the board public. uh we've uh used color coding in a cascading manner in order to show how students metriculate uh and how different cohorts may add and flow as they move through uh the school system and through the grade levels. Uh the big number, the ADM number 6,285.32 students. Um I'll remind you as I do that we do not have partial students walking through the halls. uh but the decimal points are reflective of uh the students frequently provide music instruction at the proial schools. So you know x number of hours, x days a week uh y number of students all equal a sliver of a of a kill. Uh and so those are reflected there uh in those numbers. Um we are down from
029last year uh you know 6359.4 46 was last year, 6285 this year, about 74 students. Um, but as you can see right there in the top right corner, uh, we have the smallest kindergarten class that we've ever had. It's indicative of birth rates at that time. Um, and so, uh, graduating an average size, uh, senior class, bringing in a below average kindergarten class, you know, that's a 123 student differential between that 515 senior class and 392. Uh, which means what? If we're a difference of 74, but those two classes was a delta of 123, it means we're picking up students in those other uh grade levels. And as you can see, we generally get that bump uh going into ninth grade uh with our parochial students coming over. We also uh did it uh going
030into sixth grade. uh students who have been homeschooled or proto school moving over toward the uh community school uh middle school experience. Um and so you can kind of see how those numbers work as they as they move along. And then you'll see the drop going into senior year because of uh a myriad of reasons. People finishing up uh early uh people uh withdrawing or deciding to go a different path um at that time as well. So, uh 6285.32 uh is our 80th number this year. Uh not the lowest we've had across the board, certainly not the highest, but definitely as we as we say, we monitor it closely in order to make sure we are staying ahead of the >> Very nice. This is always my favorite. I love how you color code it.
031>> My years as an elementary school principal did me well. >> So easy to follow. Any discussion board? >> Not on this one. I think I asked a lot of questions last year. Um appreciating the aesthetic, the muted tones that are starting. I guess um I know that our kindergarten classes have been increasingly decreasing. Um, I guess any any idea of how the impact I know we received an email that there's two two new subdivisions that are being developed. Um, one on west side of town and what I don't I don't remember where the other one was. I think they're still I think they're both on the west side of town. Um, you know, there's, you know, there's a bit of a science to it. Uh, as I remember our demographer talking about the price
032point of the homes, the mortgage rates, uh, will really determine the the type of families uh, that will move in. You know, we know the development in the northwest corner really not geared toward families. It's more uh, on the other side of the spectrum. So young couples or retirees. Um and so that sort of multi-unit uh development is something also to to take note of. So, um, but depending on the price point, depending on what the mortgage rates are, uh, we will help determine will they be younger families moving in, you know, more starter homeish or are they step up homes where they'll be skewed toward upper elementary, middle school, uh, high school kids. So, um you know that that's a a long answer for a shorter question, but it it's it it all depends
033uh is really the point of it. Um you know, as we get into the uh next uh display, uh it kind of extends the answer a bit. So, why do we look at those numbers? Why do we appreciate our partnership with the city? Go ahead and flip it, Chris. um you know the communication with a planning uh department so that we know what kind of developments are going in um and can help determine so that we look at our staffing and not just at the elementary schools but then also at our at our middle schools um and high schools so that we can make sure we stay ahead of them. Uh as a reminder uh this color code uh is really about efficiency. Uh the green is is an efficient use of uh the classrooms
034from not only the size but uh economics as well. Uh the purple is approaching efficiency. Uh the orange is at the caps that we've established and those are locally established caps. There is no state law or anything that mandates size. This is what we've had traditionally. And then the the blue is approaching the castle. And so, you know, we we like this display because you can look at it and know what dominant color is. It's perfect. So, so we have a lot of classrooms that are um approaching efficiency. So, you know, set another way, smaller class sizes, uh, and especially in the kindergarten and first grade, uh, levels is is where you see that dominating. Um, and you see that in the in the ratios as well over on the right hand, second to last
035column, uh, where we have overall 23 U average size uh, take five. Uh, but that is a 19.6 6 in kindergarten, 21.3 in first, 23.4, 23.6, 25, and then 26 in. So, even that certification is is a positive thing that that we're working on and paying attention to. Um from a breakdown perspective, we've got 85% of our uh elementary classrooms of our 117 elementary classrooms are either approaching or at efficiency uh which is tremendous number. We only have three uh classrooms that are at capacity. uh you don't see any orange up there in the classrooms, but buried within the blue uh is a one classroom that is uh that is tapped. And so you'll see that uh in three different places. Um again, this is something that we monitor not just for this October report,
036but we look at it throughout the year, especially in the spring when we start planning for uh staffing. So it's all part of a big process. And then below that uh is our middle school numbers. Um you know in from a BTJ perspective we we do uh pay more attention to capacity than uh equal populations. So um BF's and TJ's capacity is is uh past 900. Uh so there is uh room at BF but uh certainly we look at the individual classes as well uh 267 275 and 281 and we know that as we approach 300 class we have to look at increased staffing um for those fall classes. So, uh, again, this is something that we monitor throughout the year and then make staffing determinations in spring or the fall so that we can
037stay ahead of it. And then the high school, uh, sitting at 06. Um, any questions? I think it's sorry, I think it's really helpful for people to see what the actual numbers are because I'm a I'm a parent. I've got a a fifth grader right now and I know that there's a well why are there so many kids in in my kids's class and it feels like if you're talking to other parents sometimes well classes are really big but then you see it and they're not. And so the question of why are we not doing X Y and Z is because if you look at across the district you can start to see that well right now we're sort of starting to feel that influx of the the co years when birth rates really plummeted.
038Um and so you know there may be the scattered class that's larger especially cohort over at one or two of these elementaryaries that's really large but then you look at the years behind it and some are smaller. it makes a lot more sense. And I think if people have this available, if they want to peruse through it, it can kind of help explain why are we doing the things that we're doing as a district and that it it's not that we're not paying attention to the class sizes getting larger. It's that the class sizes actually aren't getting larger in most places. And so making district-wide decisions about what are we going to do to adjust the class sizes, that's what this data see. So I appreciate that it's laid out so nicely. I also like
039the color coding on this one. It's a fun one. Um, but you know, to the extent that this is going to be up on the the board docs thing, being able to share that somewhere accessible from the the district pages or the the school pages as well, I think that can help people really understand and appreciate what we're doing and why. So, thank you for putting all that together. >> Thank you. >> This is your own personal work, right? >> Correct. And we developed it several years ago. I love it. >> I think I said whatever. But I really do. I'm grateful that we don't see any large even though we're getting close in some areas, but like John said, it doesn't mean that it will remain that way throughout. Um, as you can see
040that the grade level sizes are fluctuating. >> Um, any idea I guess because we don't do open or not open enrollment, what is it called for incoming kindergarters? around the time around. >> Yeah, that will be in the spring though, correct? Okay. Um, I'd be interested to see this year is the babies that were born during co next year. Yeah. I wonder what kind of drops we'll potentially see. Well, >> we get we get a mini preview because of our strong connection and workshopping with our preschool partners, >> but obviously not all preschool age children attend preschool, but we do ask do we have any kind of a preview of what that might >> portend for the the next couple years? at the >> in line I mean with the conversation I mean there's nothing
041that indicates that >> what Dr. references maybe Dr. McCall to do a couple of Tik Toks for Dr. connect our children like kindergarten is a requirement and some people may not >> would that be great >> yeah I can do a good talk where I draw up and down right now. >> Just because I appreciate musical theater doesn't mean I'm going and doing >> I mean we can make it an administration thing to participate right now. >> I feel like that's responsible thing. >> I'm sorry. >> I'm just trying to figure out cuz that's the lowest number that's the lowest in kindergarten numbers that we've seen over the years. And so we want we need that number to be larger. So we need to think about what we're going to do there. Um I'm so
042sorry. Uh now this does require information. >> Okay, great. Good. Um all right, we're moving on to uh ratify the teacher contract which will require some consideration interested in this. >> Absolutely. Uh we did hold our um meeting uh pursuing to Indiana code 2029619. Uh and so I'll just walk through the particulars of the contract and the highlights. Uh but obviously this is rooted in a really strong process uh that is collaborative uh that's based on uh trust um trust and candid conversations uh and working together to get to the very best outcome for our teachers. Uh and so you know we are proud to present and I say we uh because BTA president is here as well. uh and I'm sure he'll have some words to say. Uh but we are are proud to
043present this for board approval, noting of course that uh the teachers have already ratified it a couple of weeks ago now. Uh and that um uh this is just a very strong contract uh this year for uh our teachers. So uh we are considering that all veteran BCS teachers receive $2,000 to their base pay. Uh, and the cap will be $91,300. Teachers who were at the previous top of the scale will receive $800 to their base and the remaining $1,200 of that $2,000 raise in siphons. But we will also be raising the base pay for beginning teachers from 54,300 to 55,300, which will keep us near the top not only Northwest Indiana, but also throughout the state. The $2,000 to veteran teachers represents a 3% increase for teachers on average. And in the past five
044years, we've now been able to provide almost $16,000 in base increases to veteran teachers. And we have increased beginning teacher salaries over $12,000 across the same amount of time. Uh and it's also important to note that all teachers will receive a 1% referendum funded retention stipen at the end of the first semester. Uh we also made some minor changes to extracurricular count positions such as implementing girls flag football, adding an assistant baseball coach, and two more middle school drama sponsors due to the increased participation in those programs. Finally, in order to continue to retain and reward consistency in attendance, we've increased the pool for the benefits for those teachers who have not been covered by the bridge and severance or 401 provisions in the contract whereby teachers who have accumulated over 90 days of sick
045leave and are not in those aforementioned groups will be able to exchange those excess sick days for deposit into their BIBA accounts in the amount of $91 per day. Uh this is a defined limited liability for the district as it is being funded through the investment interest we've received this year. Uh concludes the the changes uh for the contract. Uh I'm happy to answer any questions or turn it over to Mr. Windland. Be curious to inform on the subject. >> No, I don't have anything to say. I'm happy to answer questions from my side of anybody. >> I'm surprised at the microphone. >> Not very often. I don't. >> No. Sure. Uh any discussion board? >> I'm just happy that both sides came to this agreement and it appears to be a good agreement for
046this next year. >> Pray continues. If there's nothing else, may I have a um motion to accept uh the ratifications for the teacher contract? >> I'll move to accept a ratification of teachers contract. >> A second, please. Second. All those in favor? I I No opposes. Okay. Um motion carries um for uh ratification of the teacher contract. Thank you. >> Fantastic. Thank you. >> Um all right, moving on to approval of our 2526. Um all other staff compensation. >> All other staff as we do in Valrazo, we raise all votes. So, uh we are looking at a 2.5% uh raise uh for uh all returning employees hired before January 1st, 2025. Uh that that increase will be to their salary or wages as appropriate. Those employees who were hired after January 1st, 2025 will receive
047a 1.25% increase to their salary or wage. Uh note uh aids will receive a 40 cent increase to their hourly wage which amounts to a little more than two and a half almost 3%. Uh and beginning wage uh for aid will move up to $145. Uh admin will receive uh 2.5% uh however uh it'll be one and a half to their base salary and 1% to an annuity. uh all other positions uh will have the increases as outlined uh two and a half% one% any discussion for >> I just appreciate that we can raise all those >> I always say I'm fighting always fighting for the peer professional um only because uh at 19 that's where I started uh in a special ed classroom and So, it's good to see that. >> Well, it's it's
048important to know that it doesn't happen everywhere that we stand to attention for all employees in every position. And I think it uh hearkens to our beliefs that you know it it takes all of us all 900 employees uh working every day for kids to make this available paradise for kids. >> Absolutely. Um if there are no more uh no other conversation um motion to accept the approval of all other staff compensation a second. >> All those in favor say I. I. Any opposes? There are none. Motion carries. Um moving on to approval of employee handbooks. Dr. Jim Coff. >> Uh thank you. changes are noted in your packets uh highlighted in in green. Uh we have a little bit of language for work from home. Uh we have the teacher handbook uh language to
049uh account for the 6-day buyback and then the uh administer contract for the buyback and annuity. Any conversation there that there is no conversation now have a motion to approve the employee handbooks. So move second. >> All right. All right. Those in favor say I. >> I. I. >> No. Any opposes? None. Um seeing there are none. Motion carries. Um for approval of employee hands. Um we are now moving on to public comment for nonaggenda items. Is there anyone signed up? There are none signed up. I'm moving on to superintendent and board comments. Uh, I don't have any comments this evening. >> Um, anything. We'll just keep working hard and that's exactly what we're doing. Um, hopefully you guys will continue to see the outcome of our great work. I am grateful for the work
050with this board and cannot say it enough to them. I appreciate each and every one of them.