001I aliance 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. [Music] >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to our school board meeting this evening. Um our first item um on the agenda [Music] is any public comments >> coming out. Okay, we have uh no one signed up for action items and uh seven people signed up for the We'll save those. It's okay. Let's go on. The next item on our agenda is to approve the consent agenda in the conversation. >> Um I personel report Are you all [Music] >> from personal report? [Music] >> Any other discussion? Board see discussion. May I have a motion, please? So now I have a second. >> Second. >> Thank you. All
002those in favor? I >> I. Any opposes? [Music] Seeing none, the consent um it passes. Next on the agenda, we're moving to our financial reports. Uh performance of budget funds. Mr. Jim Holyfield. Thank you, Madam President. Uh each month we present our finance report comparing year-to- date revenue. [Music] >> Here we go. >> Each month we present our financial report comparing year-to-ate revenue to year-to-ate expenditures for tax supported funds. Our year-to-ate performance of funds report as of August 31st shows the following. In the education fund, year-to- date revenue of 36,530,428. Year to date expenditures at 37,757697. Expenditures have exceeded revenue by 3.36%. Uh expenditures include the monthly $645,000 transfers to the operation fund. And uh also please note that August had three pays. The debt service fund year-to-ate revenue 2,239,195 year to date expenditures of
0033,952664. [Music] All debt service payments due to date have been made for the fiscal year. In the pension debt fund, year-to-ate revenue, $78,32 yeartoate expenditures, $1,412,39. There's a $150,000 temporary loan from the ring gate fund to the pension debt fund to be repaid in December and there will be a tax on December as well. The operations fund has year-to-ate revenue of 14,349122, [Music] year-to-ate expenditures of 16,37,169. [Music] Uh the revenue does include the monthly $645,000 transfer to the education fund that I mentioned and operation does have a December tax as well. In the operating referendum, year-to- date revenue of 3,147,315, year-to-ate expenditures 3,846,896 and it does have a tax draw coming up in December. The capital referendum year-to-ate revenue 6,172,640 year expenditures 5,683,500. All debt service payments due to today have been made for the
004fiscal year. In the renegade fund, no yearly revenue expenditures $150,000 temporary loan to dimension to the pension debt fund. We believe review of the fund shows a positive financial position. If there are no questions, we ask for approval of the financial reports for August of 2025. >> Thank you, Mr. Bill. Any questions for >> I do have a couple. Um, I believe we've covered this in the past, but for everyone's benefit, um, >> sure. >> I was saying I believe we've covered something similar in the past, but I want to make sure everybody's on the same page here. So, to the extent that a lot of these funds show a lower cash balance now at the start of the year, um, do we expect to make up the the difference over the course of the
005year as additional revenues are coming in? We do since our funding is six months past our spending. So we receive our money in June and December. So we get our money in June, spend it down and then December goes back up. So yes, we do expect that to go back up by the new year. >> So essentially this is a normal process that historically we are on track for hitting the projected budgets. >> That is correct. Yes. Um I believe that that was the main issue that clear. >> Thank you John. Any other questions for there are no more questions. This item does take action. May I have a motion please? >> Salute. >> Second. Seeing that is on first and second. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposes? Seeing there
006are none. This motion also carries. >> Thank you, Mr. Um now that we move on to contract considerations. Dr. McCall. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh we have a couple handfuls of contracts and for your consideration. Thomas Jefferson Middle School contract with light touch for three years for student portraits and a day of pictures for clubs include photos. There's no charge there. Alzo High School contract with Isaiah Lewis Hastings for music arrangement for use of original music in an unnamed 2025 upcoming musical $200. American Factory u high school prom. That's where Crown will be for May of 26. Uh $34,200. Crown Rentals will be setting up decorations for homecoming dance October 4th, 2025 for $721.70. IU and Ivy Tech, we have our dual credit enrollment that we use. Lake County Athletics Officials Association uh has
007an agreement for assigning athletic officials for football for the next three years, $825. Policy analytics will be performing a property tax base and revenue analysis on a plot by plot basis for $12,000 annually. And then we have ourou with county sheriff's office for situational access to district security cameras mirroring the same that we have with operator police department. Happy to answer any questions. Recommend approval of these contracts and >> prom. I know um the monitory amount on that is significantly higher than what you were used to seeing in the past. that affected the ticket price. >> Ticket prices will go up. Uh but the experiences will also go up as a result. We had one of the lowest if not the lowest prompt u ticket at $20 and now the price will be $40 which
008still is on the lower side of our area. >> Correct. >> Um my other question I'm sorry. Can you guys hear me? Um, has to do with for County Sheriff's Office. I just want to make sure that we're also following the same login and auditing processes. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate that. Any other questions for it? No questions. May I have a motion to second? >> Second. >> We have a first and a second. All those in favor say I. I >> any opposes? No opposition. So, this motion also carries. Thank you, board. We are now moving on to grants. >> Yes, I do have a few grants for you this evening to consider for. Thank you, Madam President. There are four this evening. The first one is the title one basic
009grant. Uh this grant for the 26 2526 uh year has a total allocation of $657,27.99. The title one grant is a federally funded grant used to supplement state and local funds to more evenly provide programming and support to meet the academic needs of students within our schools. The funds are awarded based on a formula that takes into consideration the socioeconomic status of students within each of our schools. The funds are used to support salary and benefits for staff to carry out said programming and academic support for our students. We have four title one schools in our district. Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Flint Lake Elementary, Park View Elementary, and Central Elementary. The next grant is the K to2 robotics competition grant. Uh this is a state managed grant with a total allocation of 52,368.97 for the 2526
010cycle. The K to2 robotics competition grant is designed to support state accredited schools in either establishing or maintaining robotics competition programs. We plan to use the grant to offset the cost of robotics competition registrations as well as materials associated with the competitions so that we can continue to grow um this particular program. The next grant is the secured school safety grant. Uh this grant for this uh grant period 2526 has a total allocation of 92,500. This grant is used to supplement the BCS portion of salary and benefits for our school resource officers. And the last grant this evening is the formative assessment grant for the 2526 grant period. It has a total allocation of $40,181.76. This grant is used um to manage assessments such as PSAT and SAT. It is also a state funed grant.
011Happy to answer any questions, but if you have none, I ask for your approval this evening of all four of these grants. >> Any questions for >> the secure school safety grant? The entirety of that goes towards school resource officers. >> Correct. This one is for that specific purpose. >> Do we also receive the cops grant? Do you know? We use part of another federal grant, the secured schools grant. That one does not support um school resource officers. You are not permitted as a doctor. That grant for that. This one does have that as a sle. Any other questions? Now have a motion to approve the grants. >> So move a second, please. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I. >> Any opposes? Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. Now we move on
012to donations and gifts. Dr. Jim McCall. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh He Elementary from their PTO received $290 for the second grade field trip, $8250 for third grade field trip, and $77 for the kindergarten field trip. TJ received $500 from Norman and Patricia Homers to be used at the principal's discretion. Thomas Jefferson Middle School received photo profits valued at $1,63053 for photography to be used for athletics. And the orchestra program received a milling violin valued at $300 from William and Cynthia. And Franklin received a trumpet valued at $500 for the band program, Jack Vasco. He also received $25 for athletics from Nicholas Risinger. Alzo High School received from Ron Cochran $935.20 to cover hotel room costs during the Hall of Fame golf tournament for the girls golf team. Boy tennis program received $200 from
013Mr. and Mrs. Stew Summers via the PCCF robotics club received $500 from the BE School of Engineering, Dr. Togo. Boys golf team received $1,000 from Catherine Whitenberger. The boys tennis team received $100 from Bry. Girls volleyball team received a slew of donations, uh, including Sarah Baker, $50, Ben Bradley, $30. Tim Brooks $25. William Carlson $25. Sarah Desmet $50. Heidi Eckert $10. Fouser $20. Alyssa Goldberg $10. Morgan Hood $25. Andrew Markworth $50. Stephanie Matthews $20. Jessica McInley $15. Carol Murphy $110. Alterski $5. And Such $50. At the district level, the backpacks and snacks program received $300 from the dead family. Jialter Design via public schools foundation donated $300 for superintendent discretion and Chick-fil-A restaurant donated 86 free kids meal gift cards for the prizes for the 2025 popcorn festival coloring. recommend approval of these donation. >>
014Thank you. Any comments, questions. >> Thank you everybody. >> Just grateful as always to our community for the generous donations. I move for acceptance. Second and second. All those in favor? >> I. Any opposes? None. Motion carries. Now we move on to uh old business uh approval of the 2025 bus replacement plan resolution. Mr. Hill. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh at the August 25th, 2025 DCS board meeting, a public hearing was held through the presentation of the 2026 to 2030 bus replacement plan. The plan has been advertised on the top community website community schools website as required by law. Uh we're requesting that the board adopt the budget replacement plan as presented for the 2026 budget year. >> Any uh discussion additions from last month? May I have a motion, please? Second. >> Second.
015>> All those in favor. >> Any opposes? None. Motion carries. >> Thank you. Um, next on the agenda, approval of the 2025 capital project plan resolution, Mr. Hob. >> Thank you, Ken, Madam President. Uh, also at the August 25th BCS board meeting, a public hearing was held for the presentation of the 2025 to 2028 capital assets capital projects plan. The plan has also been advertised on the Valer community schools website as required by law. Uh we are requesting that the board adopt the capital assets capital projects plan uh as presented for the 2026 budget year6. Any other conversation with the board? May I have a motion please? >> So move the capital projects money. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposes? None. Motion carries.
016>> Thank you. board policy second reading Dr. This is an annual review of our attendance policy second reading and I know that there was some copy pasting since last make sure it was for >> any questions for it. May I have a motion, please? Have a second. >> Second. >> All those in favor. >> Any opposes? Motion carries. Uh thank you board. Moving on to new business. Uh board policies first reading. Dr. McCall, >> we have three policies uh for your review. This is first reading only. No action required. Uh those policies are 401.1 educational opportunities for military children 8200 public defense and concerns and 441 search and seizure. Again, no action required. Any changes, suggestions, amendments, please let me know in our public meeting. >> Um, next on the agenda, approval of the pension
017bond neutrality resolution. Mr. >> Thank you, Madam President. I promise this will be the last time I ask you to question this. Uh the Valkyrie Community Schools is permitted to levy taxes for funds to pay our pension debt payments. These funds, however, must be offset by reducing the same amount from our operations fund levy. Each year, the board must pass a resolution to do so. We are requesting that the board pass a resolution to neutralize the pension debt levy by reducing the levy for our operations fund by the same amount for 2026. And as I've mentioned before, we just have one payment January this debt is paid off. We're almost there. Any other uh any conversation? >> All right. Um you're my first motion. I have a second. >> Second. >> All right. All those
018in favor. >> Any opposes? Motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Moving on to approval of the responsible bidding practices resolution. And I think this is the last time we'll hear this. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, in 2015, the BCS board approved a resolution spelling out the responsible bidding practices for awarding capital improvement contracts as an updated RBO has been provided for your consideration. Uh, the main changes pertaining pertaining to biders showing evidence of apprenticeship training programs. Uh with our upcoming construction project, we're requesting that the board approve the updated RBO resolution for awarding capital improvement contract. >> Any questions in discussion board? >> I do have a couple questions on this one. Um so the first hope is here. Um section six under certified payroll the last paragraph um seems to be comprised of two
019sentences that say the exact opposite thing. I was hoping that maybe we could shed some light on that. So this would be on page five section six. Um the first sentence is the district may withhold payment due for work performed by successful bidder or subcontractor for failure to timely submit the respective certified payroll reports until such time as the reports are submitted. Very next sentence says the district shall not withhold payment to successful bidder or subcontractor etc etc. What's going on? I know that does appear to contradict itself. I did speak with um our uh construction manager and we just discussed that it's it's not they're not exactly opposite from each other. I don't have an answer for you right now, but I'm more than happy to go back and look at my notes and
020answer that question. >> Okay. Yeah, I think that there may be some language issues there that might want to get clarified so it doesn't look like we're stepping on our own toes. Um section nine, this is usually boilerplate language. Any resolution or provision of any resolution in conflict with provisions of this resolution is hereby repeat. Are we anticipating that there are any that we're repealing and declare? No, we do not participate. We don't do that. >> Um, we have section 8 dealing with the penalties for a false, deceptive, or fraudulent statement. Um, I was surprised by this. It says that any bitter subcontractor that willfully makes or causes to be made a false deceptive deceptive or statement, the only consequence is that we Don't we disqualify them from bidding for three years? Is that is
021there a reason for that? That there's not something a little bit more stringent than if somebody's purposefully deceiving us willing to submit something that there's not a liquidate damage clause or anything. I mean, not inviting to the next party doesn't seem like a whole lot of consequence for that. I don't know anything. >> Well, I understand the question, but uh the three-year requirement to be uh disqualified in the standard language and it was in the previous agreement as well. >> And uh it doesn't exclude them from penalties on the job that they have just from being able to bid and be considered a responsible responsive bidder on future projects. >> Understood. They just That's a high bar to hit. Somebody is willfully deceived the district. It seems like it's not going to dissuade anybody that's,
022you know, on the fence between good and proper behavior. This is we're all the way over on purposely doing something wrong. I just that seems like a fairly weak approach to that. I don't know if there's a reason for it. Uh that's been vetted somewhere else, but This is for getting opport [Music] I don't I wouldn't think you could put liquidated damages when we haven't awarded them a contract except to the extent that it's caused you to do additional work to try and review things to the extent that they're causing us problems. And while we're while we're on the job, I mean, there are there are mechanisms for restitution on those problems that are created, whether it's willful or not willful. We've gone through this process many times as things come up. All right. Um
023there also seems to be a little bit of a [Music] gap here in 1C. Um, [Music] this is we're we're requiring disclosure of any any previous determinations that there have been improper contract violations, antitrust laws, etc. Um, there are other provisions where they have to disclose their any previous business names. And it doesn't appear that they're required to disclose whether or not previously under a different DBA or different as a principle of different business they've had any of those issues. And I didn't know if there's any discussion of requiring any potential bidder here to make sure that they're affirming that neither they nor in any past incarnation have done it. Otherwise, what you can end up with is somebody does something, they mess around, they're misleading, they change their business name, they come in and
024say, "No, we as this new company name have never done any problem and they're not in violation of any." this would catch that earlier but it's requiring them to tie it back to if they or any previous you know entity to which they've been principled and there's a disclosure so we can sort of cross but I don't know if that that's something that is been done there's a problem with doing that that you're aware of >> well like to think that when we have the bid and they're evaluated by our construction manager that they have enough knowledge of the business that we don't have that that to take that were to take place that they would know that company A is the same as company B the same principal agent and that we would not
025select them as being the most responsive >> maybe but is there is there a reason not to require that disclosure >> I don't I think we could agree >> that that would be something that I would be looking for but what we're really trying to do is make sure that the people that are submitting their bids are are doing so appropriately and are not engaged in anything inappropriate. They're disclosing everything. Then I mean my line of work, we're looking for loophole right there. So >> John, those are those aren't all great questions. Do you have any more? >> I think I'm pretty um I think that's in all fairness. to our partic um allows him to um look at these contracts in a much more detailed fashion than probably the average I would look at.
026And so I think your questions are absolutely fair um and to be considered. Um so my question would be is because we have some uh questions for unanswered doses. I'm not sure if there's any that would cause that delay. Uh, in your expertise, would that phrasing and designation be appropriate on the aformentioned form designated by the district? >> So, I am not here representing the district as attorney. So, might not be able to give legal advice ethically to the board on that. Um, but I I would be looking for some discussion of between now and the next meeting if there's something that I'm missing here, if there's some other provision that that covers things that I'm I'm looking at. There's a couple other minor things, but I I can address those later. If it ends
027up that there's something that I think needs to be included, I can make that clear at the next meeting that people would like to vote for anyways. Everybody's free to vote. I can vote on it is that we rather push it out one more month. Is there does that start to get into a problem for the bidding submission process coming up? >> No, we can proceed under the guise of the 2015 resolution. >> Okay. would suggest let's hold this over till our October meeting and and have our board attorney with John to kind of review his concerns and see if we should make any changes. >> This is an acceptable response. We had a conversation regarding this. >> Okay. Um we will now thank you John for your detailed questions. Um thank you um Mr.
028Holyfield as well for responding to those questions as best as you could. Um we are now moving on to public comments uh for non-aggenda orformational agenda items. >> Thank you. And I I will say that I see that many of the people who signed up signed up to speak on the issue of former employees social media post. that former employee has resigned from her position in Colorado schools. That position has been posted. And so as you uh your name is called, please step up to the podium, state your address, and we'll pause for the preamble from our [Music] Sorry. Okay. We look forward to hearing from you during our public comment. We recognize the value of public comment on educational issues and school matters. Just a few reminders. Please come up to the podium to
029speak to the board. Please keep your statements to 3 minutes or less. I will give a warning at 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Discussions involving personnel, litigation, and student discipline will not be permitted. Thank you. >> We have Paul Shriner followed by Brett Miller and then James. My name is Paul Shriner. My address is 1755 Wanddale Drive. Uh all my kids graduated from Valrazel Schools. They can all read and write and compute. I was a school teacher um for 10 years. I taught high school and social studies uh in Munster. Uh it was the hardest job I ever had. I want to speak to you respectfully because I think you have a difficult job also. When I was teaching, um, if some kind of traumatic event happened in the public news, I would start every
030class with, "Well, what do you think?" And the hands went up and people leaned forward on their desk to on their desks. And that was the best experience I ever had when I was a high school teacher. I get the sense, and I could be dead wrong about this, that there is developing an atmosphere of fear to talk about things that are controversial. And I don't know if that statement is relevant to what happened to this individual that has resigned, but I would I would find that outcome to be a dreadful loss for for for students in Valerie to not feel for the teachers not to feel comfortable to entertain controversial subjects in the classroom. Thank you. Mr. Miller, James Brett Miller, 49 Dr. McCall and President, the winds have just been taken by for
031a teacher who designed based on her first amendment right. Now I may not agree with her post but at the end of the day what makes the United States of America the United States America is free to switch your first amendment. So you have a teacher who in her own home says something then again we have the right to agree to disagree. That is the whole part of this country. the ability to debate and to be able to have that ability to do that and your boilerplate statement that came out earlier this week. Um I happened to scroll through and see the teacher's position posted. So my initial thought was that she had either taken an FMLA or just stepped away and had not resigned. Um I just I I shake my head. Um, it's
032just we get to a point where you have teachers in this high school that have done far worse, that have been arrested by Bob police department. And for a teacher to have her resign based on a social media post that again we have the the right to disagree and to agree to disagree. But at the end of the day that is your first amendment right as a is as an educator. And to be frankly honest with you that is an educator where I want to be able to debate with. I want students to be able to have that opportunity to raise their hand and question what's happened in this country. What happened to to to Charlie Kirk is a horrible thing. But at the same point in time, there was a school shooting that same
033day that is getting zero press because it's it's what has become the norm in this country. And as a school board, I you know, I applaud you for the the SRO's and what you have in this community to keep it safe and keep our school safe. But at the end of the day, it's just frustrating. It's frustrating as as a parent. It's frustrating as a as a as as a resident that we potentially are losing a good teacher because of what is not the status quo and the fear of speaking up or allowing critical thinking out for that. Thank you. We'll have Walt Nord and Brian. All right. I don't know if this goes up to uh James Mano. Address is 2052. I was bored. Dr. McCall, I didn't want to be here tonight. I
034don't envy the spotlight or I am here nonetheless. I was born in Belareo and been a lifelong resident and I'm the father of student at the school. came to my attention last week that Velo educator who was my teacher, my mentor when I was a student at the school some 20 years ago was being targeted for her speech online. Her character, guidance, and ability as an educator were unimpeachable at that time and remain so today. She had no time for nonsense in the classroom. But she'd be mortified that all of us are here tonight still having to discuss this. Her beliefs and self-expression off the clock to her peers, regardless of what a mob of online zealots might suggest, have harmed no one. Her departure from the school, however, has done and will continue to
035do irreparable harm to our students. The identity politics warfare on display here serves only to further divide and stifle us. And this district's capitulation has robbed our students of valued educator. Trying to silence critical thought, Miss Folly. You cannot kill an idea. By choosing this hill to die on, her critics have already lost. What's happening here tonight is wrong and we are all diminished by it. Then we'll finish with Mr. Car. >> Thank you very much. Uh my name is Walt Grindinger. I live in the corner park academy downtown of Valo and uh I'm the father of three sons. uh all of whom graduated from uh Valo school system including high school all honor students and um I will try to keep this very brief and that is that um I wanted to encourage the
036school board to respect and adhere to every aspect of the first amendment and particularly the clause protecting the right to free speech without government interference. parents. Um there is some sort of hotline. I've heard there's a hotline that's been established for uh people to report teachers that may have written or said something that is objectionable that the um purpose of the hotline is not for political debate or to just chastise someone for making political comments. However, I suspect it's exactly the opposite of that. Um, and even though I don't know all the details of the hotline, I get the impression that it could be used um for other purposes. I just wanted to um thank you for the opportunity to make that statement and encourage you be very careful um about supporting that particular issue.
037Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [Applause] and Mr. Williams. >> Good evening. My name is George Terrell. I live at 408 Lafayette Street, Belo. As I said, I have two children who graduated from operation schools. It's the compliance of cowards that give autocrats and dictators their only power. And often that comes prior to the demand. I think what has happened here is appalling. The people who spoken before me have have laid that out, especially the men and this person as a teacher and she was forced out. It's u it's a situation where in the federal government and even in the state government we have people fired for speaking their minds or for doing things that are totally appropriate. And the first amendment says government shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or
038the right of people to assemble to redress their government. And through the 14th amendment that applies to the states and local entities and even to boards like the school board. You have the power of the state. It's an awesome power. And it ought to be exercised very carefully. And I noticed that you allow other folks to speak their mind and you should do the same for teachers. And whoever did this should be ashamed of themselves. In my opinion, we don't need to be compliant with the kind of brutality that's going on in this country. And I implore you to make this work. Thank you. Where's Mr. Car? Changing changing the subject just a bit. When and on first on the lighter side, when are we finally going to find out what this High School Musical
039is? Do we have a date? >> We're building suspense. >> Okay. Um on more ser and the reason I >> you'll find out about a week before >> about a week before. Um I just again wanted to um acknowledge and thank the students who are here for assignment in class. That's fine. They are here taking part in this. This is government in action. I'm so happy that you guys are here watching this. Um I forget the name. They told me the name of the teacher. I applaud her too for doing this. Um I think all teachers should do this. We should have a lot more students coming to meetings like this. Um, and if uh other teachers could en encourage students through what they do with extra credit or assignments or whatever, I I would
040urge that. But um you guys are doing a great job. I appreciate it. And u these these meetings are important because as I said, it's government in action. They are never boring. Um and so please come on back even if you're not assigned to come. Thank you. >> Mr. Car, my name is Andrew Carr. I live on Okalaga Drive in Indiana. I'd simply like to add a counterpoint to the speakers who have spoken before me. How far does speech free speech go? We are not and should not be free speech absolutists. Yes, you can have free speech, but that doesn't mean you can say simply anything you want about consequences. For example, you cannot make death threats, bomb threats, or defame and slander people. No matter how much free speech we want to declare, you
041cannot have a decent and flourishing society that approves of such speech under the guise of free speech. The public approval and seemingly endorsement of a killing of people who you disagree with should also fall under this category of unacceptable discourse. I am not concerned that this person should be removed simply because they have different political opinions from me. I am concerned that you cannot have free speech if you tolerate the kind of speech that was exercised by this individual. That is my concern. It's not that they have different opinions. It's simply that that kind of speech is unacceptable because it deters free speech as a whole. So I simply just wanted to make that point to you all that I am um I am happy this person was removed on that basis not because she
042has different beliefs from me but because if we want to have an environment of free speech you must get rid of the kind of speech that gets rid of that environment. That concludes public comment. >> Sure. Uh and just as a little redirect, uh I know he promised this was the last year of him, but I'm going to call back CFO Bulletfield to give a brief report on our recent bond sales. for the refunding of the 2015 bonds. >> We uh had a very successful bond sale yesterday. Uh in fact, the underwriter, I quote them, saying that we couldn't have timed it any better. They were even surprised by how well it did. uh by re the $ 103 million bonds that we still had outstanding for the 2015 and 2016 uh construction project. Uh
043the interest rates became more favorable and because it's within 10 years of their payoff date 2035, we were able to refund those bonds and resulted in a uh a saving of uh nearly $13 million to the taxpayers over the next 10 years. So, uh, very pleased with that. >> Excellent. Thanks. >> Carl was quiet. >> Carl, you want to follow that up? Uh, from a topical perspective, >> I think Mr. Holyfield filled in very well. um having almost a $13 million savings in interest is um real savings uh to the school and to all the taxpayers here in in Valzo. And um I know we had several years ago we had different underwriters who were wanting us to refinance earlier which would have resulted in a fraction of the savings and um in conversation with
044Mr. fully filled and superintendent and a call uh we were able to say, "Hey, let's just be patient. Wait till we get closer to the 10-year call and we'll see where interest rates are." And um and that is where we're at. And so having closer to a 3% net interest cost on the bond is is a lot better than where we were when we sold the bonds and it was still at a good that time. So, um I'm thankful for the finance team and both of you for carrying through with this and um I know we have some other bonds later this year we'll be looking to sell and so hopefully we'll get some good interest rates then as well. So, congratulations to the school and and to the taxpayers. >> Were you going to
045add something else? >> Thank you. >> Okay. I was just confirming that he didn't have any other uh superintendent uh comments. Um but uh I'm actually shocked that this conversation did not come up this evening. Um and is the conversation that has been held from the city council and so I thank many of the council men and women who are in the room uh on this evening. uh and we had not said uh but we are sharing tonight that we have already had discussion last week on coming together for an executive session. We have that date already set um for September 30th but we will continue that conversation. Um but I do uh thank you uh even for being here um and probably awaiting uh just some of that that uh maybe the SRO may
046come up and I was actually shocked that there were no comments. I always say we welcome comments uh from the community. So I'm always grateful u when people come. I appreciate uh Mr. car. You know, we may not always agree on everything, but I think that there is uh value in making sure that we learn to hear each other. Um, the last two weeks I've been reflective of our our our motto. We always say we are BLO. And I've really been breaking down um and I'm not complete with that thought of what does that really mean? because we chant that at times when we appear to be unified. You know, we are Balco, especially in those football uh stands, any athletic stands. I hear it. Um and then I' I've been hearing it chanted uh
047throughout the community in many instances. And so, what does that really mean for our community when we say we are Valpo? Are we only Valpo when it b and it fits us? Are we only helpful when we hear the things um that are are more lenient or more apt to be on our side? You know, what does that really mean? And so I just share with our community that if that is something that we are going to continue to say, you know, there's a big difference in uh agreement and unity. You know, we could learn to agree to disagree. And I always jokingly say I've been married 25 years. the only way to get here. You got to learn to agree to disagree sometimes as difficult as that may be. Um, but we stay married
048because we are in unity. And what does that mean? So, I can say we are Watkins because we continue. Um, but I'm I'm really saddened by the things that I hear um that I see. Um it's it's unfortunate because if if we are really the veil of paradise um I look for it sometimes because we come to situations that are really difficult and we sit on opposing sides and I hate that there arguing those type of oppositions. When does there become a gray area? When do we really start to listen to one another? You know when do we really start to listen without waiting to respond? We listen but surely when someone is talking we are ready to respond to something that they've said. I want to caution all of us in hopes that we
049will really begin to listen to one another regardless of our faith regardless of our political affiliations um regardless of the color of our skin regardless of those things. but that we would begin to see each other for who we really are. And should we be so brash um with things that we decide must we be that aggressive about every single thing that comes to these podiums? My hope is that we will really be able to freely and willfully say we are valuable and it really means what it means. And not just at athletic events, but throughout our community that we begin to surely listen to each other in a way to not just fully respond, but in a way that we are taking your thoughts and really being considerate of that and being okay to
050debate and being okay to have conversations that are uncomfortable. We grow from uncomfortable conversations. We grow from uncomfortable situations. We cannot get better if we're not willing to at least continue to sit in rooms, have difficult conversations, listen to each other, not sides, but listen to each other. And hopefully we can freely really chat those words. We are both um and so hopefully next month we'll have more conversation about the uh fifth SRO where we are. Um we have had a lot of conversation about um that. So, I don't I know the community always says they're they're quiet. They have they haven't said anything, but you can rest assured that we have been calling and talking um and really trying to make sure um that we move uh in the right direction. I'm thankful for
051the council and their comments. Um even those who even shared in the city council meeting, I heard you and I'm listening. Do I agree to all of it? Probably not. Um, but that's just life. We're not gonna agree on everything. It just it just it's never going to be a perfect world. Even now, I calculate my comments because someone is going to take something from what I said, they are going to twist it. They are going to blast it. And what I have settled on at night time when I go to sleep, I've done my absolute best. And that's all that I can say. And so, um, we're never going to make everybody happy. That is the the period at the end of the sentence. We are never going to make everyone happy. Um, but
052we do our best um and making the decisions that we think um are right for BCS. So, I thank you all for coming tonight. I'm sure some of our board members may have some other comments and I'm welcome to do that. I um I just want to take a moment to acknowledge our teachers and staff. I cannot imagine what the past few weeks have been like for them. Um and I just really want them to know that they're supportive that in all of the conversations we've had our our teachers and our staff and ensuring their well-being um and their happiness, right? We want we want them to be happy at work too has been at the core of our discussions. Um, no one should feel fear or retribution in the workplace. Not from students, not
053from parents, and not from our community. We need to Erica's point everyone's partnership in making sure that we can keep the phenomenal educators that we have. Um, you know, and if anything from the past few weeks from there's been obviously multiple items that have come before the board has taught me is that um, you know, in the community there's not always a clear understanding of process or procedures of school board um, and the administration, how we work with Dr. McCall um, what our responsibilities are versus what the district responsibilities are. So I have taken that kind of as a takeaway that we as a board potentially need to do better as um you know just community outreach for them to understand what the government's portion looks like and what we are responsible for and how
054the community needs to interact with us. Um but again you know really looking to the community to make sure that our teachers feel supported um because we want to keep them we have some great great teachers and you know we appreciate that and appreciate all you guys. >> Okay, I would echo what both Erica and Ashley said, but I don't need to repeat it or duplicate it. I I have been sitting not only for the past two weeks but for several months listening to debate to argue back and forth and back and forth and I it's very very difficult and each morning we do verses in our house and try to start our days off on the right foot and the verse today just really hit me very strongly while it's from the Bible it's
055also from history and it said a House divided cannot stand and if we are not able to listen to each other on both sides and come toward the center and maybe argue vehemently but shake hands in the end. If we can't come to the center and compromise sometimes I don't know how to stand. So I would echo what Erica said, what Ashley said. We need you as a community. We want to hear all of your voices on both sides. Please bring those to us. We want to hear those and we want to listen. We would encourage you to do the same to speak to each other and to listen and try to find a middle ground sometimes. It doesn't always have to be one side or the other. And that's just my personal opinion. I'm
056not speaking for the board or anyone else, but it's just something that I feel we need to do if we're going to pull out of this difficult time. I would just say I look forward to continuing the conversations on some of these important topics that have been outlined especially on the SRO and and school safety. I know each of us and including Dr. call our own administrative team. We want to do the best we can to keep our schools safe and our and our students safe. And so this doesn't fall in deaf ears. Um but there is a process uh and we want to follow that process and make sure that we're spending money wisely on the right things. And so I look forward to future conversations. I want to echo what people said. I
057appreciate the respectful dialogue that we had tonight, the commentary. Um I know it's not easy to come forward and make your voice heard all the time. None of this works without the community sharing their perspective. We need that. I'm glad that we're able to hear that in a respectful manner tonight. and I hope that continues going forward regardless of the time. Um, you heard it echoed earlier prior to the public comment period that we don't engage in discussion of personnel matters. And I think sometimes it is helpful for everyone to understand that we don't sit up here as individuals. We sit up here as representatives of the community. And so that regardless of what we might want to say and if we were in our own homes and we had an opinion, we were talking
058to a family member, we would probably respond. But as a school board, it is not our place to bring that perspective into play, particularly when it deals with personnel matters. Um the role of the school board is distinct from the role of the superintendent and it's really difficult sometimes to to get across how that comes into play. But for example, there is a a set of board policies that we are required to follow. And as part of those policies, the authority to manage day-to-day operations, including personnel decisions, is delegated to the superintendent and the people that are appointed. To the extent that there are concerns, questions, complaints, there's a specific set of rules that the board is required to follow. We are not able to be a under these these policies a robing HR committee
059to to just decide things on a whim. We can't do that. Um and I know that there's some frustration over not understanding why we are either saying one thing or not saying anything. And a lot of that is just by law we're only allowed to talk about certain things. By policy, we are required to delegate some decisions. And it's there are legal reasons and practical reasons why you under the existing policies why we don't want the board to be involved in those discussions until they've gone through the process that we've already set out by policy. Um, if you noticed earlier in the meeting, there was a section of new business about reviewing policy. While we don't go into specific personnel matters, one of the things that we are doing is reviewing all of our policies
060to make sure that they are in line and addressing the needs that we have under our current world as we live in it. I encourage all of you take a look at what those are. bring the public comment about what those policies are because how those policies are framed and or rewritten determines how any future personnel decisions are made. If there's a complaint, we're not going to talk about how that policy is being applied to this particular case until it has come all the way up through the policy that we've adopted that says, "Hey, it's gone through these these steps and it's been appealed or it's been objected to and now it's in your lap." At that point in time, we're empowered to have something to say about that. Until that, we're not allowed to
061to jump into the middle. Not because we don't have any opinion on it. Not because we don't feel passionately about what's going on. That's not our role at that point in time. It is frustrating. I understand that. But I want the people that are concerned about it to get involved in the way that we're allowed to get involved. So, we are opening that up. We're saying, "Hey, regardless of how we got there, there's some concerns over complaints. Let's make sure that we have a process that's fair that everybody follows so that when there are complaints from whatever side of the aisle, from whatever position, for whatever reason, there's a way to deal with those that everybody knows and understands and agrees. That's the way that our our elected representatives chose to appoint these people. We
062chose to create this policy and that's how it gets handled the same way every time. Um, if there's confusion over that, if there's concern over that, that's the way the public gets involved. Make your voice heard on that. Here's how we should be handling it. Here's why we don't handle it that way. >> You can look through, there's a whole series of steps that get gone through and the school board doesn't comment on personnel because we don't know about them by design until it gets to our step in that process. Um there is that distinction of what our job is. It's not to manage the school. It's to appoint a superintendent that does the job of managing the school. And if the superintendent is not following the policy, that's when the board could get involved
063if that's happened. But the way that we would know about that is to go through that complaint process. That's why we have that process. If somebody it looks through that and says, "Hey, there's a problem with that. There's a flaw." Let us know. That's what we can do as a board. We can change the way that we approach the problems, not put our thumb on the scale in any given set of problem. Um, lastly, and I feel most importantly, um, I want to re-echo what was said about our school community needing to be a community and act as a community. Um, I know that this past I don't want to limit to the past couple weeks, the past couple years, but especially the last couple weeks have been incredibly difficult for every single teacher in
064this district. Doesn't matter what their perspective is. It's hard to hear things said about them as a whole, to be made to feel that the community doesn't support them as a whole, doesn't value them. I I don't think that that's actually true. I don't think that was even necessarily the point that everybody was trying to make. People are allowed to express their opinion however they want to within the bounds of the law. We can also choose how we respond and what we choose to engage in and what message we put out. And the message that I want to put out and I I hope that other people feel free to put out is when they see a teacher doing something well, they will also remember to take the same time and energy to communicate that
065so that people know we do care about our teachers. You can't educate students without teachers. You can't have a good result in a school district without excellent teachers. So to the extent that we've not been able to say much about any particular situation, I want to tell all the teachers out there, thank you. I know that this is hard. I know that you don't feel that you you're allowed to be heard, that you're allowed to have a voice in this, that you're concerned. Um, I I do think that this community values you. I know that the people that are involved in the school district value you. So, even if you don't hear it as much as you should, thank you. We care about you. We want to help make this whole process better so that
066you can get back to teaching students and so that students can feel supported. So, thank you. [Applause] Thank you all for your comments. Thank you all again for coming. Hopefully you'll join us at our next school board meeting. Please pay attention to that date. >> October 16th. So hopefully you'll join us then. We all have tonight meeting a journ.