001That one spaces. [Music] Welcome to the June 19th, 2025 board meeting. Thank you everybody for coming. Aliance to the United States of America and to the republic stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all staff and student recognition. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, tonight we have Melanie Phelps with us with Bible Schools Foundation and she's going to talk a little bit about the most valuable biking program and this year's winners. Good evening. Um, like Dr. McCall said, my name is Molly Phelps and I'm executive director of the Buffalo Schools Foundation. Back in 2022, the VSSF launched a staff recognition program to honor outstanding individuals across Valparezo Community Schools. As part of this initiative, we created the most valuable Vikings award. Tonight, I'm proud to present the 2025 recipients. Out of more than 200
002nominations, five staff members were selected by our recognition committee. These individuals were chosen for their dedication, leadership, involvement beyond the classroom, and their positive impact on students, colleagues, and the school community. Each recipient received a $500 award in recognition of their contributions. Please join me in congratulating our 2025 most valuable Vikings as I call them up individually to be recognized and receive a yard sign from BSF board member Mr. Nick Slater. First up we have science teacher at Valareerezo High School, Kristen Fields. And then we'd like them to remain standing up here and then we're going to get a group picture. Yes. Thank you. So you'll remain up here and we'll get a group picture when they come back. All right. Uh next we have recent retiree and my math teacher Mr. Charlie Foster. Um,
003unfortunately our next recipient could not be here with us tonight. Uh, the principal from Thomas Jefferson Elementary, Mr. David Munes. Next, we have custodian from Central Elementary School, Mr. Anthony Norwood. And finally, third grade teacher from Flint Lake Elementary, Miss Stephanie Truit. We are so proud to celebrate your commitment, your energy, and heart. You truly represent the best of Valrazo Community Schools. Congratulations again to our 2025 most valuable Vikings. Good morning. You all just be nice. Stand right there. You're good. Okay. Ready? Right here. Check the lighting. Um, okay. Dr. Bar cannot see you. run over. Okay, that works. I'm the backup one, two. Thank you so much. We mean a lot to me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank everybody. How long is a long Okay, next item is public comment on agenda action items.
004There are none signed. Next thing would be consent agenda. Approval of the consent agenda. You have any discussion with the consent agenda? Seeing there's no discussion motion. Thank you. Do you have a second? Seeing as there's no discussion, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. Thank you board. Okay. Next item is recommendation for employment of candidate pursuant to IC 20-26-5-11.2. Dr. McCall, this is a statuto requirement. The reference sheet was in your packet of the information pertaining to it. Would you recommend approval and employment of this committee for this classified issue? or do we have any discussion for employment of this candidate? Okay, seeing as there is no discussion, uh this item does require action. Do I have a motion? Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Um seeing as there is
005no discussion for employment of this candidate, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. Thank you. Okay. Today, financial reports, Mr. Holofield. Thank you, Mr. President. Each month, we present our financial report comparing the year-to- date revenue to the year-to- date expenditures for our taxported funds. Our year-to- date performance of funds report as of May 31st shows the following. In the education fund, year-to-ate revenue 22,888,121. Year-to- date expenditures 22,894916. expenditure to have slightly exceeded revenue. My expenditures do include the monthly $645,000 transfer to the operation in debt service. No revenue as of May 31st. Year today expenditures of 1,925,781. All debt service payments due to date have been made and we just received our tax last week. So I have some better numbers for you. The pension debt fund yearto date revenue $150,000
006uh the temporary loan rainy day fund for taxable purposes year-to- date expenditures of 76,842 and we did receive a tax draw for this as well. operations year-to- date revenue of4,443,470 yeartoday expenditures of 9,77348. Uh the revenue does include the monthly $645,000 transfer from the education fund and we we received a track tax with that last week as well. The operating referendum year to date revenue $1,784 yeartoday expenditures 2,382,386 received tax for that last week. Capital referendum has no year-to-ate revenue and no year-to-ate expenditures. Uh we did receive a tax drop and we also have payments in the ring a day fund. uh no year-to- date revenue and the expenditure there is $150,000 temporary loan that I mentioned to the pension fund to be repaid in December. We believe a review of the fund shows a
007positive financial position. If there are no questions, we ask for approval of the financial report from May of 2025. Or do you have any discussion from Mr. Holl? Um seeing as there's no discussion, this does require action. Do I have a motion? Thank you. Do I have a second? Thank you. Okay. Seeing none, there's no discussion. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Thank you. Okay. Contract considerations. Dr. McCall. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, we do have several, so allow me the time to go through each one. Uh we have with Ivy Tech Community College and BHS theou for dual credit for math and business classes for this upcoming school year and the athletic department uh has the software package with puddle uh for uh 25 from 28 at
00814,500 uh annual pricing uh Mango networks for uh implicit bias group training uh July 18th uh 2025 for $700. We also have a another annual contract of Monica Evans for our restorative practices uh educator training this year will be June 23rd 14th $2,235. Melissa Duby consulting training obligations and coaching for staff $1,200 per day uh from July 15 through May 15th of next year with PCES. Uh this is ourou with them for the uh lease services agreement uh where uh we will be providing executive director services for PCES uh and they will reimburse 90% of the total cost of employment uh and we will be utilizing Dr. Hawkins in that role uh to provide that executive director service for the 2526 school year. Um we're very excited u to provide those services. Uh and Dr.
009Hawkins obviously is very well respected throughout the county. Uh and so that announcement has been met with uh great fan. Very excited to have her leadership there. Uh I would be remiss if I didn't mention obviously that uh with her focus on PCES uh that it's going to take many hands to make a little lighter work uh on this side of the fence. She'll still have her finger on the pulse of several initiatives. Uh but we'll we'll be doing some heavy looked in exact team uh some principles as well social work uh department chair as well in uh Purdue University Northwest uh the so program teacher candidate prep uh July 5 June 26 and then of course our address for school program the use of space and utilities that fail. So happy to answer any
010questions you may have on any of the contracts like that. I I do just have a question just about Dr. Hawkins and the 10%. Mhm. So, yeah. So, the the 10% is the acknowledgement that, you know, there are still things on on our side of the fence that she has to have her finger on the pulse, has to have uh some bimonthly meetings, you know, has to have some uh level of focus, control, and support. Uh and so as we kind of work through all the all the uh categories uh tasks and uh movements uh and we we were able to get to the reasonleness of you know about half day every two weeks you know that's not going to be an exact science but you know just as a guiding principle it's going to
011be but her focus is really going to be on PCES PC PC PCES now is that 90% from different school districts. How are they set up now? I know they shifted a little bit. What do you mean? Well, so 90% they're going to reimburse us 90% of the total cost of employment. So the so no all seven including us because we paid into local but it is based on a per pupil amount. So rule of thumb would be that the the three big schools are about 25% each and then the four smaller schools make up the last 25% just based on population. How many kids do we have at PCES? Well, when you say PCES, I mean, are you talking about self school? We have um preschool. So that's I believe about 40 the exact
012number for your students fluctuates. It does fluctuate. Yeah. And we have um five each time I believe we serve our students. So we can as well they have case loads of they need students. So there's yeah also students being served in our specialized program. I'm sure you're going to do a good job done everything else but I will say Dr. call told you I did hear some great things about your interview and how they were excited that you were a breath of fresh air and this what I actually quot and so I'm hoping that based off your personality that they'll have great experience these families have such great needs um and having someone with a heart and a post um for that community so to hear better things this year. Thank you. And I'm also
013glad that you're still going to have your fingers activities here at the community schools as well. Thank you. It would be hard to miss you all. Thank you for that as well. I I'm very excited about it. Serving students with special needs has been a common thread through my work and in my educational career. And so this is an exciting opportunity for me. I've I've been able to work alongside a lot of people that have that same drive at Fort County Education Services. And so to come alongside them, be able to collaborate with them, celebrate the things that are going well and think about some innovative ways to try to new things is going to be really great. So thank you for your support in this. Okay, board. Any further discussion for Dr. McCall? Okay,
014seeing as there's no this item does require action motion. Thank you. Second. Okay, there's no further discussion. All those in favor, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed, thank you. Okay, grants. Dr. Barb. Thank you. I have two grants for your consideration this evening. One of them is from Valkyrie University and the engineering department there. They awarded four of our STEM teachers $975 each after they applied for a grant upon completion of a special program that they participated in called the teachers of the future STEM um program. So uh this grant's going to be used to purchase materials for uh STEM classrooms. The four teachers were Shelley Schae, Jillian Guten, Schwagger, uh Jocelyn Schwart, and Cara Dan. So, um, we're pretty excited that they were able to participate in the program and also
015for the opportunity to fund some things for their STEM programs. And the other grant for your consideration this evening is the Indianapolis Colts Club girls flag football grant. That's quite a mouthful, but um the Indianapolis Colts Club together with the ERS family awarded a grant totaling $6,500 to develop a uh Valparezo High School girls flag football team. So the grant will be used to provide funds for equipment and uniforms. Happy to answer any questions, but if there are none, I ask for your approval of these two grants. Discussion for Dr. Brown connect. Girls black football is an emerging sport for the IHSA. So the Colts really obviously is supported program support. the high athletics department uh conducted a survey of the girls high school. They had about 50 that said that they were interested and
016positively applying for it. uh they ran kind of a skill camp uh their name just to have a little brief introduction and uh it's the intention that we're going to have practices team this fall and what the survey showed as well that can apply any of our other sports. So these are new fall athletes interested in being the pioneers flag football. So we're excited about it. Uh we'll have two coaches head coach and assistant coach and uh you know they're going to be our athletes. We're again excited to do what you opportunity. There are a lot of districts in the area. in the book. Uh yes, there are uh not all of them uh but but several uh in our conference and so they'll have a schedule of uh I think they're shooting for about
017seven games um and I think it's a 16 week are there going to be since it is emerging are they also going to be included in the sectionals regional semi-state when they get to that? Okay. Emerging sports gone from wrestling to boys. Right. This item does require motion. Second. I'll second. Thank you. Okay. See, there is no further discussion. Right. Um, all those in favor of their hands, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Thank you for Thank you. Okay. Donations and gifts. Dr. McCall. Thank you. We have four pages of donations and gifts for your considerations. It's a great thing to have. Uh, so we'll start out. Park PPA donated $900 for field trips to Parkfield Elementary School. Casey General's store donating $7.60 classroom program. TJ received $300 uh from their PTO
018for bus fees for field trips and $86 for the fourth grade field trip. Billy Goodman Schwagger donated $30 to elementary to be used at principal's discretion. and the PTO donated $1,000 as a donation to replace school purchase materials that the PTO used throughout the school year. Memorial Elementary School uh received $677.18 and $1,324.92 to be used at principal's discretion from their interstate studio and publishing. Members of the middle school uh received $1,000. 500 of it going to robotics, 500 going into science operation. PCTC received a Ford Escape valued at $500 from Manderson for of course the auto program. Veil from Balf $200 Visa gift card to be used uh at the principal's discretion for students. Valarezo High School girls basketball team received $6,000 from Donald Jr. and Ronald Clark Rhonda Clark in memory of Linda
019Clark. Uh the robotics team received $250 from Lisa Jennings and Timothy Mal uh for the competition registration and the robotics team also received $250 from IDEW local 531. Jos's Pizza donated pre-regional dinner valued at $400 to our varsity baseball team who will be competing at the state championship game on Saturday. Uh so we're excited about that. Cutlers uh donated a sectional championship dinner valued at $800. Boundaries of soccer club donated facility and equipment use valued at $3,150 to the VHS soccer program each summer. Bill Higby of the Porter County Community Foundation donated $1,000 to be used at the principal's discretion for Val and then we get into the teacher appreciation week section. So, uh, so many families and businesses donated to support the teacher appreciation week at Albert High School. From T vintage, Amelia Duts
020donated $25 gift card. Uh, the Angel Lotus family donated gift cards, four of them for $25 each. The Chuck family, three $25 gift cards. Sam, five $50 gift cards. Duckies, $650 gift cards. Spice and Tea Exchange, $625 gift cards. Mind Body Wellness Spa, $550 gift cards. Vand Salon, $550 gift cards. The Howard family, two $25 Target gift cards. The Jeffson family, four $25 gift cards. And the Simpson uh company Incorporated, eight cented science $25 gift cards. The Moore family, two $25 Panda Express gift cards. The Palmer family 122 $25 sort of gift cards. The Reyes family $25 Target gift cards. Lovers next six gallons of ice cream valued at approximately $300. The streets family one $25 pizza gift card. Thor tool molding uh 24 assorted $25 gifts. Serenity salon spa one facial valued at $100.
021And Parlor Donuts donuts uh valued at approximately $300. This is a fantastic uh outdoor supporter. Uh corporation donations. The district received uh $2,000 from the Valerie the schools foundation for our staff appreciation celebrations and family express donated 38 cases of water valued at $13862 for the same cause. Backpacks and snacks program received a anonymous $250 donation as well as a $1,000 donation from Kurt Pat. Uh we received boxes of plastic shipping shopping bags from Strax, Bernard's, and Town Country as well as uh $25 from John and Lan Trust. That same trust donated $25 to school nutrition services as well. Fleming Brothers Oil Company and Michelle giving Pump $14.58 for the superintendent's discretion and Triappa donated $1,800 for the need family club. Turning over to our school nutrition, uh we had 18 donors uh giving a
022total of $85820 for the Hungry Viking Fund food service accommodations. Kylen Sigwin $4.70. Mary Al Henry color $500. Sarah Scha $10.85. Trina Samar 40. Brian and Sandy Mills $11.35. Amarie Mo $1.15. Noel Digs $2765. Na Whan Kristen Slip $15. Kristen Gord Gorder $16. Alia $12.35. Ethan Jones $1825. Christa Hudson $850. Jennifer Lquist $3655 $48.60. Denise Daily $9.55. Sean Plat $23.65. Heather $13.30. That concludes the report discussion. Were those last ones balances in there? Absolutely. Seniors. Seeing as there is no discussion, this item does require action. Do I have a motion? I move acceptations. Second. Thank you. Okay. Um, see as there's no further discussion, please signify by saying I to accept the donations and gifts. I All those opposed. Thank you. Board. Okay. Old business. Board consideration for TQM phase 2 materials determination. Dr. McCall.
023Thank you, Mr. President. This is our quality energy management plan. Uh tonight we have our owner's uh representative, our partner from Strataline, Bob McKenna, make his way into the podium uh to go over uh the administration's recommendation uh for the materials determination uh which will ultimately be to pursue the full federal tax credit. So thank you, Dr. McCall. Good evening, board. Uh my name is Bob McKenna. I'm with Strat Line. We are your owner's rep firm for your quality energy master plan projects. In uh December, the board signed a contract with Bary uh to focus on five energy conservation measures across the school district. Uh those being virtual energy management in all of your facilities. Uh a controls uh replacement project in six of your buildings. Retrocommissioning of the controls and the balance of your
024facilities. Micro turbines at two locations which uh do two things. They reduce your energy use and demand of energy use along with providing fe free heat for summer reheat and also uh for your natorium. And the last piece was solar, which is the primary reason I'm here this evening. I would like to provide a brief update and publicly acknowledge uh some folks that have worked really hard since the contract signing to keep the project on schedule uh primarily Andy Blastic and his staff uh working with Farajy and our project management team uh to get into the facilities to coordinate summer school and also Dr. Paul Jim Bullyfield being president for Strataline when questions arise um especially with regards to the next steps for the solar project. Uh it's been a total team effort and I'm
025really proud of the entire group for the progress that has been made. I will be in in late summer to share a detailed update of all the projects. Uh but today we are on schedule uh currently installing controls virtual energy management and microurbons um at respective facilities. Um so when the contract was signed in December your group DLfield Council and Strataline looked forward. Uh primary reason we had to look forward was uh your lender Bank of America will not release funds on solar until three hurdles are cleared. The first hurdle is having interconnection agreements at all the locations with Nexco. Uh the second hurdle uh that needed to be cleared was needed to have the permits with Indiana Department of Homeland Security state design release. Um both hurdles uh both those hurdles have been cleared.
026The last remaining hurdle where it took a lot of foresight and I want to commend all of you and the leadership team here was uh regarding tax credits for your project. So, the federal government in August of 2022 passed an inflation reduction, which does allow tax exempt entities like school corporations to receive direct deposit tax benefits for renewable energy projects. This particular project had the ability to receive up to $4.1 million in tax credits under the inflation reduction act. However, at contract signing, there's a lot of uncertainty around domestic content, which is you about a 10% bonus if your project receives achieves domestic content milestones percentage of equipment that's installed that is manufactured in the US because of the uncertainty at the time with regards to whether or not those conditions could be met at
027the time that the interconnection agreements and state design releases would be met. We asked Bergy to price the project two ways. One going after full tax credit including the domestic content. Domestic content is a bit more expensive but the benefit is greater for the added tax benefit or what would it look like if we couldn't go or decide not to go after domestic content. And if we elected not to go after domestic content, the the project would lose 10% of the tax credit, but there would be a a deductive change over $71,000. In the last four months, there's been a lot of change. We had a administrative change um at the federal government level where uh the validity of the inflation reduction and food challenge. Uh there also was more clarity given on domestic content
028positive. Uh we are in a good window to pursue domestic content and based on third party council that engaged by bar along with Stratine's uh diligence on this topic as well. We also believe going after domestic content is a smart hedge because the federal government at some point could elect not to award tax credits if you haven't pursued the domestic content requirements. Currently, uh the House has passed a reconciliation bill that would sunset the tax credits that are being made available. The good news for the school is the two requirements to qualify are nearly covered. The one is you you have to have signed contract within 60 days of House and Senate passing the new bill. We already have that in place. And then the project will need to procure 5% of the cost of
029the solar portion of the project. In good faith, ARG has procured as much as they are comfortable, which is up to 3%. Therefore, if the board, however, the board would like to move forward with regards to tax credits, they can timely procure the other 2% therefore qualifying for credits. It is our uh opinion and we don't make legal opinions but it's been our opinion in conversations uh with your administrative staff and it is your staff's opinion that it is in the school's best interest to pursue the full tax credit including domestic content which would be valued at about $4.1 million. The alternative would be to move forward not pursuing domestic content, reducing your contract price by $71,000 and then receiving about 2.8 million in tax credits for benefit. Again, we think there is added risk
030to not pursuing domestic and our project is always to take advantage of domestic contact and therefore we think it is best. Any questions? Mom, um you mentioned something about the this provision still in the new tax bill that's being considered. It is uh so the current uh tax bill that was passed in August of 22 is what is what exists. Um there will be a modification to it. The house uh put forward a reconciliation bill in May. The Senate has modified that uh on June 16th um and they've made modifications that are more beneficial to the tax code. The code doesn't change. It's when it expires is what changes. And so what we're looking at now and what is believed that will be passed is one we'll need to have a contract in place and
0315% of the project procured by the end of 2025 and then if not uh the tax credit will be reduced to 60% of its current current value in 2026 and then to 20% of its current value in 2027. So they're suns setting it about six years ahead of when they originally planned. Well, since this bill is still in the works, there's could be the possibility that the Senate or and or the House could go back and modify the they they could modify. Um they can do anything they want. The the reality is the two pieces of the tax bill that are most impactful to American jobs are what are referred to as section 480, which is what you're you're taking advantage of. Then there's the demand side which is 45 Y which is the manufacturing
032side and while the house wanted to make more dramatic changes they realize that would impact significant investment that has been made and so they shifted to sunseting rather than eliminating. Uh so it is in it's on nobody's radar that they would eliminate or modify uh the language as it's written except for the time frame to which one and you guys are in a really good position because of timing and forward thinking you you will qualify for the tax credit. The question that we anticipated answering when the contract is signed is do you want to pursue the full tax credit domestic content or would you rather just go after the base tax 30%. Is your recommendation to go for the full tax credit anticipating Congress not changing too much our eligibility for for these credits? Correct.
033a lot of people a lot of time looking all the way through this guidance really weighing the options looking at it as a hedge uh that all values as well. So, you know, when we're looking at um risk board analysis and kind of taking it through Pascal's way, we're looking at a point of view of what's going to put the district in the best position for uh of the best and worst cases that are most likely to. So looking at it um pursuing the full tax credit by hitting the 40% benchmark put in that 85% level while also supporting American businesses manufacturers who set up shop uh in anticipation of this as well. So if we if the tax credits fall through, we're still in a good position with the guaranteed energy savings plan. That
034doesn't tax going away to zero is highly. Yeah. I I mean again not impos nothing's impossible but historically a tax credit has never been rescended meaning they've granted it to you and they they take it away and so it is our councils believe tax advisors believe and we're in a policy group that's been in DC a lot meeting with our lawmakers belief and understanding is simply going to end sooner than it was originally. The more likely to be still on the improbable side would be a uh recalibration of an all non tax credit for the domestic content. Correct. that if you might not qualify for any of the credit if you don't get the 40% mark on domestic content. And so again our bet that is aligning our values of assuming the 40% puts us
035in a position of what a more likely uh reconciliation might produce. Right. Correct. The most likely outcome would be what he described which is everything that has been in place continues to be in place but it's sunsets earlier in which case we are in an excellent position because of the time that we entered this spring and started these processes in place. Whereas a lot of other entities are trying to now start what we started long ago and they might not get the sunset provisions to get full partial and there's hoping for the 20 is in as good a position as one can be with different stated tax credits and to be clear I want to reiterate Uh section 48e has had no change other than the timeline to all of the provisions as it was
036written state and are expected to stay in simply uh in our this is personal statement your biggest and sunset could happen in 60 days like the house proposed or 80 days of descent. Can you go back over that you said the 3% you said? Yeah. So I'm sorry. Yeah. So um the tax code um allows a project to qualify based on two conditions. one being a signed contract and two what what is referred to as safe harbors and they ask if what are the standards of the safe harbor a project and that is 5% of the project's value has to be procured has to be purchased by school corporation uh var has procured 3% of it already u just to get ahead of and so regardless of how you vote to move forward tonight uh
037we've met the conditions that bank of America requires So now everybody could procure that other 2% to get you set. So you meet both the contract requirement and the safe harbor requirement to qualify for you. I misunderstood what you were saying the 3% procurement and then we would do the other two but they procured all specifically all the burgers and steel for the project and my question was what use of time is against us? So I guess is there any risk or like supply chain issues or procurement delays that could impact that then? No. Uh none that would uh impact. So there are supply chain concerns and we've been working through those the entire project. So far we've been able to keep the project on track. Um, but with regards to you qualifying, we know
038we can purchase the other 2% to get you to 5% say 60day window. So you'll be you'll be fine. The potential expectation at future meetings is that supply chain guy come here and show you but it has allocated a lot and I I'll also say B's been a tremendous partner uh it was excellent selection through a really good R&D Um and you know rising costs are lowered by them because of when we sign our guaranteed energy savings contract and private contract with them. You know we've had a lot of our firm has had a lot of good but call center on a solar it is a guaranteed maximum price contract. They can't come in here and ask for a change order. But the supply chain has gotten really challenging because a lot of the product
039that is being used even though it's USmade parts come from other countries and are impacted by tariffs and so part of procuring the 3% was self-preservation was also but they they go out risk on their own to buy it. So prices will continue. Who is responsible for filing the tax credit? Does the district do it or does ver do it on a rehab or it's a team effort. So ultimately the owner files the tax credit through your portal but ver is contracted with third party firms review the documents make sure they're proper and assist you some of the filings for the tax credits for some of our other clients. It is not an easy process rather tedious and you have to just work it. We're for the investment tax credit. Yes. Yeah. So if you
040we do so many of them even though we're a CPA firm. We're at the table for every project. You need anything please reach out because it's going to go to waste. Not many people are homeless on it. Our clients please reach out if need. So uh with that again we're recommending that the district pursues the full tax credit and moves forward with domestic content. That would be motion. Yes. So uh call for the contract. The decision point tonight is to meet the final requirement required by Bank of America as written in the contract. Either A to move forward with the originally designed system using domestic content and pursue the full federal tax credit or B elect to not pursue the tax domestic excuse me domestic content tax credit and authorize the use of non-domemestic materials
041resulting in a $71,000. Perfect. So, this item does require action board. Um, do I have a motion to move forward with the domestic tax credit for this project? Okay. Do we have any further discussion? Mr. Seeing as there's no further discussion, all those in favor of moving forward with the domestic tax credit for this project, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed, thank you. Thank you. Okay, new business board consideration for schedule board meeting. Thank you. This is an annual affair. All things subject to change of course uh but the rhythm follows what we need to come and go. Uh July is traditionally uh all meetings are held on the third Thursday. July is usually the fourth Thursday, but because of vacation schedules as they are. Uh, and we need the extra time.
042We're closing up the books for the first half of the year. Wednesday, July 30th is what kind of works for our group. So, that is the we call that the ear regular meeting. Uh, we've got uh the fourth Thursday uh in August as well because that is our budget building uh season. So that enables us to have a bit more time to build the budget uh and then also be able to present it to the city council at their meetings before submitting it to through gateway to PLF. Uh and then we have the regular uh third Thursdays until January where it's the fourth because again closing of the books for the second half of the year from the finance department schedule discussion for Dr. call this item does require action. So do I have a
043motion for the schedule board meetings starting in July? Do I have a second? Okay, see discussion back call. All those in favor of the schedule board meetings, please signify by saying I. All those opposed. Appointment to the Porter County Public Library System board trustee Dr. McDonald. Uh the board received a letter from Jesse Bugs, director of the county public library system indicating that one of their two appointed boards seats the library board was up for reappoint. Uh Bob Granite uh is the representative who has been appointed to the library board two times thus far two more four year terms. So that is the context of this caption and I met for coffee today was Paul off he was fantastic and he also served Mr. It's just fantastic. Um, yeah, this item does require action by
044us. Um, do you have any discussion for that group? you know, just um I'm I'm interested in what the procedures would be in the future and so I love for us there um because last year was very new to me this process and so I know I had some u concerns like you all really walked us through that. I was able to talk to the community and get some information on fall off and the same thing I did with granite. Um and so the feedback was positive and so um that comfort me I think a little concerned about the procedure. I don't even know that this is something that the board would do. Um well last year I did now I'm familiar um that we do have two seats and how large their terms are.
045So that would be my only discussion if it pleases the board for procedure that was used last time for your I believe it was um so that you can look it over and then decide in advance of the cert for your terms being expired uh have that in place that is a protocol for an open so so it's they can do I think clarified this for me last week it's four times four So they could do a total of 16. They're eligible to do. They're eligible to 16. And then if they took a four year break, they could come back and again it does require. So I have a motion grant from the school system. Well, I was just going to say I also had sought input from members of the library board and previous
046presidents and they highly recommended Olga because she has done such a great job and is so forwardlooking. The library has become way more than books at this point. The library is used for so many different things to serve our community and Olga has been very good at that. She's very good with technology which also helps. So, I just like to note we get um periodic emails from Olga updating us on what's going on in the library, which I think is really great that she reaches out to the board and kind of lets us know. And then um my kids, you know, always come home with some reading packets and are so excited to get their own library card. Um which then, you know, gets lost after two months, but they're always really good about the
047book. So, um I do more discussion for Dr. Thank you. So, this item does require action. Do I have a motion? Um I move that we continue I'm sorry. Do I have a second for second? Thank you. Okay. Um the second does require action. So see if there's no further discussion. All those in favor please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Thank you board. Board consideration to award bus replacement bids. Mr. Holy. Thank you Mr. President. Uh, our transportation director, Rich Spicer, had been working with the Central Indiana Educational Service C Center's cooperative purchase program to uh, put together a bid for buses and equipment standards that we requested for community schools. Uh, we will be replacing five buses this year, five buses this year for our plan, plus purchasing an additional activity
048bus. Uh, the total price including tradein is $958,42. We are asking the board to approve the bid this amount to the low bidder Midwest Transit. And these uh buses were all part of our bus replacement plan to be replaced this year. And we're purchasing the smaller buses. So that is that the ones we talked about last year teachers and coaches to drive to worry about. Okay. We have how many buses do we have? Sorry. How many buses do we have? We have a lot. We have about Okay. That's a lot. I feel like buses are on board meetings quite often. Are they mostly from Midwest Transit or do they kind of vary? Over the years, most buses have been Midwest. However, the electric buses, I'm sorry, propane bus purchased recently provided by one bedroom. This
049does require action tonight. Do I have a motion? So, I have a second. Second. Okay. All those in favor of bus replacement bids, please signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Thank you board. Okay. Public employee bond Mr. Thank you, Mr. President. Each year we ask board approve the list of favorable performance bonds uh for those BCS employees in annual BCS bonds. Uh the resolution this been presented lists those positions and personnel covered by these bonds. And so we we are requesting that these bonds be approved to commence on July 1. Any questions for Mr. This item does require action board. I got a motion. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. Okay. Seeing as there is no further discussion from Mr. regarding employment time coverage. All those in favor, please
050signify by saying I. I. All those opposed. Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Okay. Work consideration request to declare debt uncollected Australia. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh if you'll indulge me, I'll read part of policy 6151 which states that efforts to collect an amount due to the corporation have not been successful. and in the opinion of the school corporation treasurer further effort to collect the amount due uh are unlikely to be successful. The staff may submit a recommendation that the board find that the debt is uncollectible. This recommendation shall be supported by a brief statement which I'll second that summarizes the efforts to collect the debt to date and the reasons why further efforts to collect the debt are not likely to be successful and the board shall act upon the recommendation. Uh what you've been
051received is a a listing of debt owed developing community schools from 2015 and before uh the prior years uh totaling $16,696.50. Efforts to collect these debt by BCS and through two different collection agencies uh have been unsuccessful. We are requesting that the board declare these debts uncollectible uh with the number of years passing since these debts were incurred, the numerous collection efforts that have been unsuccessful and also uh these debts being really undefined due to a software change over 2015. Uh it's unlikely that any further collection efforts will result in a payment. The administration requests that the board declare the submitted list of deaths from year 2015 and prior to someone that said that the list of names were those students were they like maybe book that's the problem when we had a change over
052from one uh computer system to another it carried the debt over but they that started learning necessarily fair over what it was for. My guess is most of them were probably they could have been lost uh technology or damage. Do we have anything in place uh for future transition? Actually much more success collecting debt. Uh our career agency has done a fantastic job. Um keep in mind apartments been um presumably So those are now for damage or lost items. So that begins. So most of these go back to maybe 15. Oh, pre and description of it. Any further questions? Seeing as there's no further questions, this item does require action. Do I have a motion? So move to declare the death presented as unfortunify by saying I regarding declaring the debt uncollected. I all those
053opposed. Thank you board. Thank you. Okay. Consideration for resource adoption business textbook edition update. Dr. Thank you. I have two books for your consideration this evening. Um these are being brought before you uh not because of any kind of overhaul of material but because the uh books we're using are out of circulation. Um we've had this problem before where we're continuing the use of good uh curricular tools um that were unable to order the um that particular uh copyright. So these are updated copyrights. Um there was a review that was done to make sure that there was not any significant differences in the content in those new additions and indeed there was not. So um these are the two materials before you this evening marketing dynamics and the principles of business marketing and finance. I'm
054happy to answer any questions if you have any, but otherwise ask for your approval of these two uh curricular tools to be used in the business department. Do you have any questions for Dr. Far Connect? Okay, this item does require action. I have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, guys. Okay, thank you very much. So, seeing as there's no further discussion, all those in favor of business textbook edition update, please signify by stand. All those opposed. Thank you, board. Okay. Dr. McCall public comment on agenda items. Mr. Senator. Sure. I'm switching on. All right. Before the three minutes. Oh, okay. All right. All right. We look forward to hearing from you during our public comment times and we recognize the value of public comments on educational issues and school matters. Just
055a few reminders. Please come to the podium. Speak to the board. Please announce your name. Keep your statements to three minutes or less. and discussions involving personnel litigation student discipline will not be permitted. Thank you. Who would like? I guess we have a list. We do. Uh we have two speakers. Good evening. first start with I guess Tom and I'm a little surprised that there's a school board meeting for a public school district and a federal holiday. Um but happy Junth. I'm here to ask the board in person a question I sent via email earlier this month on June 2nd 2025. The president of this board made social media comments. President of this board commented that quote the Dems want more lowincome housing. Below is a great place that could change very rapidly into not
056such a great place. We don't want murderers, robbers, and more drugs infiltrating our city. He continued, and I quote, "They have already infiltrated our school system. As a citizen of this city and district, I have questions for all members. One, who exactly is infiltrating our schools? Two, when the VCS board president writes this, is he speaking for all of VCS? Certainly that could be said. Three, do all the board members feel quote they have already infiltrated our school system. Four, please define who is they. I know this is public comment and not public conversation, but I really feel like if the president of the board is saying publicly from his position of power, quote, they have infiltrated on a post about a murderer about quote low-income housing. Someone should define they. Five, the post disparaging
057low-income housing was removed but seemingly not publicly addressed. Will it be addressed by any member of this district? And last, I end sincerely with a question, another six question. Am I an infiltrator? I grew up in another state in a pre-Ivil War house with square nail built without indoor plumbing. My husband grew up in the same very small town, Wisconsin, in a house without inside walls. I could go on, but my husband really does not enjoy when I talk about it. Clearly, we are outsiders. Clearly, we grew up in lowincome housing. When I read about the president of the school district disparaging lowincome housing and infiltrating the school district, are you talking to me? Because comments like that with board silence makes it. Thank you. Uh Shanny W. Last Friday, I wrote a letter to
058the school board. I presume that you all received it. I did not receive a response from you and I'm disappointed. The board formally I'm asking I won't go through and read the letter but I would I did ask for some requests and I want to put them on record that the board formally review and revise the Valkyrie of community schools bylaws specifically regarding residency requirements for board members and clear procedures for removal of a board member and expectations and accountability for public and social media conduct by your schoolboard members. ers. I also asked and I'm hoping will happen this evening that Mr. Baron's comments be publicly addressed at the next school board meeting, not by Dr. Baron himself, but by the current board. Thank you. Thank you for your service on our school board as
059well. That concludes public health. I have a comment. First and foremost, I would like to say that I am thankful to Rob Baron for his many years of service to the Valko community schools and the Valko community in general. But with that being said, I realize the following. Free speech is granted by the first to all by the first amendment to the US Constitution. Recent statements posted on the social media on social media reflect the opinions of one individual board member. Opinions expressed on social media do not necessarily reflect the collective opinion of this board as a whole. The opinions recently expressed on social media do not reflect my personal opinions. While each individual is free to express his or her thoughts, it is important to remember that the perspective of one individual does not
060automatically reflect the views of the entire board. In an effort to maintain individual integrity as well as integrity of the board, I feel that I must state that my personal viewpoint differs from the aforementioned social media posts. I respectfully disagree with those posts made by our board presidents. President Kindness and civility are needed at this time to work toward a peaceful environment for all. Politics has no place in schoolboard makeup or the policies enacted therein. I can go ahead and go next. Um, I'm speaking as a private citizen about Brazil and I realize that each of us has the first amendment right to speak and post statements on social media. Um my hope would be that when we do this because it's a really a great opportunity in our country that we can speak freely
061that we should be able to engage uh with each other but do it respectful, responsible and thoughtful manner if we want to build relationships um with others in our community and work in collaborative ways. With that being said, I also do not agree with the comments that posted several weeks ago by Dr. Baron and I believe that our valo community schools are open to all persons regardless of social economic, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation or political backgrounds for all those who call Valrazo home. And I think we do the utmost to provide a really excellent education and prepare all of our students for their future endeavors. All right. So tonight I want to share a few thoughts about the role we hold as schoolboard members um and the example we set for our leadership. The recent
062public comments have been obviously troubling not only to us as a board but to our community as well. And they don't reflect the values I believe this board or the community should stand for. As individuals who have been chosen to serve. I know we are not elected. We have been chosen. Um we do carry responsibility to lead with care to speak with intention and to represent all members of our district with fairness and respect. whether we're at this table or speaking in the community as well. One of the things that I've truly valued since joining this board is how we have been able to work together without allowing partisansship to take over. And I know that that kind of collaboration isn't guaranteed. And I think that's something that we all want to make sure that
063we protect moving forward, especially in today's climate. I mean socially, politically and economically, people are looking to the local leaders to be steady, civil, and focused on what matters. I remain committed to ensuring that our work here stays centered by students and community and not politics. I've said in past meetings that I try really hard to reflect before speaking. Um, and that's especially true now. Leadership to me begins with being intentional. It means thinking before we speak or in this case post. It means asking does this reflect the kind of leader I want to be. Does this still trust or chip away at it? We've talked in this very room about students using social media responsibly. And I believe those expectations apply to us too. We set the tone and we can't ask others to
064be respectful or responsible if we're unwilling to love ourselves. And when we talk about accountability, it has to be real. I talk to my kids often about what it means to take responsibility for your actions, even when it's hard and even no one else is doing it. A few years ago, I attended a leadership training with um Jack Wilnik. Not sure if I'm pronouncing his name correctly, but he's a former Navy Seal. He has a book called History and Ownership, which I've read and I would recommend to everyone. But I remember when he was speaking, he said something that's really stuck with me personally. He said, "Leaders own everything in their world. There's no excuses, no blame, just responsibility." And that quote has shaped how I lead at home, at work, and here on this
065board as well. And real leadership, success, successful leadership means owning your impact, showing up with humility, and doing the hard work of growing even when it's uncomfortable. Right now, we're living in a time where political discourse is increasingly driven by fear, anger, and misinformation. And too often, our national conversations are framed in extremes with little room for nuance, collaboration, or common ground. And as local leaders, we have a responsibility to push back against that trend. We can and must show that it's possible to disagree without demeaning, to speak honestly without dividing, and to lead without politicizing everyone. At graduation, Dr. McCall did something that kind of stuck with me as well. He shared a moment where he had the students cheer um all of their elementary schools and there was a lot of chaos, a
066lot of different names they cheered and then he asked them to shout out their middle schools and there was a little bit more cohesion, a little bit more togetherness. And then he asked, "Where are you all graduating from?" And they all said High School. Well, I think they had to do it twice just to make sure they were all saying the same thing. But then he said, "That's what unity sounds like. Sounds like it's not sameness, it's unity. And we don't have to erase our differences to find common ground. In fact, those differences are what make the common ground real and substantial. And I find that that message really captures the kind of leadership I believe in. We don't all have to agree, but we do need to show up with respect. And this moment
067has made clear that we as a board must reflect on how we communicate publicly and the standards we hold ourselves to. And this is an opportunity for us to raise the bar together for ourselves and the community we serve. And as we prepare to welcome John to the board in July and looking ahead, we have an opportunity to move forward. And I appreciate you guys bringing forward. I'm going to take a slightly different approach. Um it's very um but I did not finish my notes because I really love to speak from where I am right now and I really don't try to calculate everything um most things but not everything. Um I said when searching for the comment on the Facebook page I search for Dr. Baron's comments as a standalone comment just his his
068post. Um, even though I had gotten or received text messages, I still went back to look for threads that may have um been created from the comment. Um, but to be honest, I never was able to locate it. I later learned that it was deleted from the thread um, regarding the community's concern about an incident that happened in an apartment complex. Now I remember that post, the post where I saw lights um a caution tape and then I started to look at the thread comments and in those comments I found the words from a girlfriend of victim who let everyone know that was my boyfriend who lost his life. Never once at that moment did I think about anyone living in subsidized housing. Never once did I think about low income, race, religion, sexual orientation,
069the reason for the crime. Never once did I think it was drug related. Um, none of that ever crossed my mind because of who I am. The first thing that I thought about someone just lost their lives. Someone's son is gone. someone's father is gone because now um the young lady is expecting and now the father won't be there. And so these are the things that I thought about because it impacted me. So so much that last Saturday I drove back and forth to South Bend twice because I wanted to celebrate the baseball team. I drove to East Chicago to send my best friend off back to Atlanta. But I could not shake that I knew that his his being Javon Javon triplets funeral was in Michigan City that I looked at in my I
070wanted to be there because what I wanted to experience was the voices of the people who were talking about his life. And so I didn't want to spend time really and I apologize since most I try to call or email because um in conversation I decided that I would communicate to the emails and to the community because we said um with Brian is functioning can we communicate a little bit more. So, in instances, I either emailed or picked up the phone to call us. But I want to know more about the young man who lost his life in our community more so than me being fully right in Dr. Barry's comments because those comments were awesome. They hurt um they hurt for those of us who so I've met so many great people in this
071community. people. Not everybody that I met have been born and raised here. Many of us have moved here for various reasons. So if in fact this is the veil, how can we make that for all people who move here and make people feel as if they belong? How can we educate? How can I love when we chant we are about folk, but how can we do that beyond the athletic walls, beyond the academic walls and make people in our community really feel like they belong? Because what we could do, we could really set the president of being a community that has welcomed all people regardless of our race, um, regardless of our religion, regardless of our sexual orientation, regardless of our faith. I had a lot of scriptures and I said, "Wait, here you're not
072preaching a sermon today." But what I wanted to do is be mindful of the things that we say. I said, "Everything that I do in life, I try to figure out what is the lesson that Erica needs to learn because everything that happens there is a lesson, but it's what lesson you choose to take away from. One, words are once they're out cannot take. Two is to reflect before I speak because once it's printed, I cannot take it back no matter if I delete it or not. Three, not to let my good bees be spoken evil. And that's why I wanted this. I wish we had done these comments before instead of now because I don't want Dr. there to have to leave after serving eight years and being such a great school board member
073and this be what he has to walk away from. And so I've decided to just look at this a different way. And no matter how wealthy we are, how poor we are, money cannot save us and allow us to live eternally. Money cannot kill us. There is a common ground. That common ground is we're all going to leave here one day. Grandpa always said to me, what's on the headstone is your birthday and your death. Let your dash be impacted. Let your fingerprint on this world be the conversation that people have you. So I'm really concerned about my dash. I really really am because right now I know my birthday is July 5th. I was born 1975. I do not know when the Lord will call me home. But what I do know is that
074the things that I do are important and how I impact and touch lives are important. And it doesn't matter where you are financially. People are coming to the veil because they want better. What this community has done is what is attracting those of us from the outside coming in. Let's make it special. If it really is the veil of paradise, how can I help you feel comfortable? How can I educate you? See, everybody's not like me. That I just show up in rooms where I know I don't look like anybody in the room, where I know my conversation may be different, where I may have to adjust my dialect. And most times if you catch your very comfortable, I'm like, "Hey girl, how you doing?" That kind of thing, right? People aren't like me to
075surround themselves around people who are better so that they can be better. They don't know how to do that. They don't know how to But I think she said sometimes you have to be uncomfortable in uncomfortable situations. And so let's hope our community grow. Let's let's show the true kindness. Let's be concerned about how people feel. And what I didn't want to do is walk away from this community or walk away from this family not thinking about the hurt and pain that they experienced that day because now they have to go on with a life. They passed around the football because he loved football. I just to know who he was. I know they probably want but I also took a card and I also signed it because I think this love I want to
076be concerned about being people and not be caught up in how this community could change or be affected by drugs or have been how do we educate how stop people. How do we protect ourselves, protect our community so that it continued to be about praise? And so when I chant it, it will sound different. I took time to learn the school song because that's how much I this community and how I get to serve my daughter me and I keep this one little part and I need them to go down the temple. So I be saying too bad. But that's how much I love this community. And I will continue to say even I don't know what my future has for me. But what I do, I care about people. I want us all to
077care about people because when we begin to empathize because one day we all will feel greedy. One day we all will hurt and one day we all will feel bad. What we have to do is embrace people and differences so that we are better and we build a better community because Valzo is just that special and we are able to do that. Thank you. Just want to make one personal statement um and then I'm going to go on with some of the great things that have happened years. The board of education in Valer Community Schools has done a great job preparing our children to become productive members of society and donation that for 152 years Valer High School has been doing it well. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But of course, we
078can always feel very strongly that the five members of the school board have the final say in all things of the school district. Examples of this are the health and safety of the center township kids. We certainly found that out throughout co hiring the superintendent and then the fiduciary responsibility and occasionally handling discipline issues if they cannot be resolved with the administration. That is the function of the school board. The beauty of an appointed board is it is politically neutral. This allows the board to make independent decisions in the best interest of the kids, all kids. The strength of Alrazo Community School starts with the independence of its school board. Politics must stay out of the schoolhouse. We have the best public school system in the northern part of the state. Personally, I am for
079an appointed board that gives independence to the board fundamentally of politics, which has always been the strength of our school system. In the future, when I'm off the board, I will invest my time and energy to continuing to help our community and the school system. This is not the time and place to have these discussions. Several right things have happened over the years. There have been some great board accomplishments because first of all the school system was in an absolute disaster situation when Dr. Pasha and Jim Sarkeesian took over and a new school board was appointed by terrific smart bipartisan city council led by President Casey Schmidt, Jack Pillo, Peter Anderson, mayors John Kaspas and Mayor Matt Murphy. And it was a bipartisan city council. Tremendous mismanagement and lack of accountability is now behind us.
080Things are doing very well now because of these individuals. The center township texting three referendums, two in first time, one lifetime. Dr. Fasha, Hall of Fame superintendent in the state of Indiana. Boy, did we need him at the time we got. Sharon Quacenbush, extremely key person in cleaning up the budget shortly. It was a mess left to her by the previous C CFO Jim Sarkeesian. Nobody, and I mean nobody, cares more about the kids than about this man. Thank you for always looking out for the board. Jim, Dr. Allison, thanks for always being so kind to my kids and my family. Dr. Hawkins, thank you for doing so much for the kids at BCS schools, especially the kids that have less and need help. Your heart and passion are awesome. Mr. Holyfield, thanks for being
081such a steady hand, putting VCS in the terrific financial shape we are currently in. Mr. Clifford, thank you for always being helping people like me who are so unsophisticated with technology and always doing what's best for the kids. Charlie Foster, you played a critical role in not only being my friend and sounding board during co also helping us hire a new superintendent. Thank you. Past board members I served with Sue Hoffman. I refer to her as nobody was better and nobody cared more than Sue Hoffman. Incredibly prepared school board. Pauloff, Jennifer Bagner, Kurt Minko. This man saved the school system $25 million over 10 years. One man saved the school system 25 million over 10 years because of his expertise in energy management. Carl Cinder, you've been such an asset for 16 years when your
082term is finally out. This is a brilliant nice man. Interim superintendent Mike Bur played a critical and I mean critical component of our current success. We learned so much as board members during the hiring process from Mike which led to hiring current valo legend Dr. Jim McCall. Michael Abs, Indiana School Board Association helped us get through a very tough time during CO to find a new leader, superintendent for Val. I'm thankful to Mike and many phone conversations with him on Sunday afternoons to make sure we hired the right person. Community members that were crucial to our success. I start with our elected reps, Ed Solid and Ed Sharpen. They are always looking out for kids. No one has done more for the district than Ed Sal. And that statement comes from others around the state
083of Indiana. Rob and Nathan has given so much of their time, treasure, and talent to the Val school system. Rick Ursel and the entire Ursel family helped us pass the referendums by giving their time treasure and talent to passing the ref to getting the first referendum pass. I raised $83,000 in three weeks to fund all those yard signs we put up in 2015. The Ursel family donated about half that money. Sue and Mark Hoffman incredible leaders that are sorely missed in this community today. George and Julie Douglas, Deb An was working for the Times at the time, really helped us out. Kevin Cornet, another tremendous volunteer that helped us get unity in the community. Anna Hurt, Anna got her pool that she wanted. She was door knockocking every single day for eight 10 weeks. Rain,
084snow, whatever. Anna was out there doing answering phones and door to die. Out there knocking on doors. I was out there doing it with her a lot of times. Kelly Jones, a teacher in our system, helped out tremendously. Annie Shva, what a tremendous person for the teachers association to bridge the gap when Mr. foster sector. Completely reasonable person to work with. We do it differently in Val. Dave Rhodess, president of Horizon Bank, was our treasur for the first campaign. Stu Summers, Deb Fred, retired teacher of Valera Community Schools, spent a tremendous amount of time for what you see today. There were people that put a lot of time and effort to get this stuff passed. Jocelyn Short, she helped out a lot. Jen Bogner, she was there every day helping. Again, a city council that
085wasn't even the same party as her. Easily reelected her and reappointed her. Aaron Hawkins helped us tremendously and continues to help the school system. is always there to step up and do the right thing for the kids. Katasha, one of the finest leaders this community's ever had. She's involved in everything in this community. Everything valuable is Katasha. Countless educators both past and present. I feel so lucky to be part of such an incredible team. A few examples, if I may, of significant changes by the board over the last eight years. I think this is really important. We fixed Dr. Fert's compensation immediately in 2017 when Sue and I got on the board with the other three board members. Dr. Fasha was actually hired for less money at Valparezo than what he made at Poris. She
086took the job. That's how much the guy cared about him. He still took the challenge of fixing Val. What an incredible human being that love Val. We actually had a board meeting early on in my tenure where we were going to stay in school on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I voiced my opposition to this. We tabled it immediately. Gave the board members three weeks or four weeks to think about it. We came back and the school system is closed for all students on Martin Luther King Day and that's the way it should have been from day one. The board that day, believe it or not, was going to pass. I said, "Nope, we're not doing it." Instead of doing what was right and easiest, we did what was right by table. Brian, you were
087at that meeting, I'm sure. One of the most proud things I am of what boards have done over the last eight years is we've raised the starting teacher pay from $37,000 in 2017 to $54,000 in 2024. That's fantastic. And yes, that is above the rate of inflation. I checked the CPI index by about 8%. We do our best to end the semester before Christmas break. The final exams before 2017, final exams were taken in January. So truly, the kids couldn't rest during Christmas break because they were stressed out about having to study throughout Christmas break. Believe it or not, that was a debate. Sounds logical now, but at that time it was a big debate. It took it took a conversation, took discussion, it took parties willing to work together for the common good of
088the kids. We hired Jim Sarkeesian as a school board attorney. Best move the school board's ever made. 17 lawsuits when I got on this board. 17 lawsuits. I'll never forget coming to a meeting with a previous schoolboard attorney and he had to stand this tall to talk to us in our executive session of a lawsuit. We have zero move to Saturday. Sounds crazy, right? That should be an easy thing, right? Then kids play baseball on Saturday, can go to prom Saturday night. We have double letters on Saturday. Springs boards. We got it done. That was a request to the community. We made one year board president instead of multi-year. Again, in 2017, it was a multi-year deal. Some guys who were president for 4, 8, 12 years. Now we have one year president. It gives
089more board members an opportunity to be president. The nice thing is you learn a lot as the president and the vice president is you can have private conversations with this guy and he can explain things to you which is great. I think Erica would agree with me. We learned a lot at those pre-board meetings. That's not how it was in 2017. We do our best to end the school year before Memorial Day when possible was ending June 6th, June 7th. Kids were going back to school for the whole week after the week after Memorial Day. Some years the caliber doesn't allow that. Got Park View DLI restored. Point of pride. I'm really proud of this. And at that time it was against our superintendent's wishes. But the board stepped up and did what we thought
090was right. Children, we helped get middle school foreign language so kids got six years design so they could start foreign language in sixth, seventh grade. So they'd have six years before they graduated. Kids are pretty fluent in Spanish, by the way. They graduate from our high school. Softball fields for the girls in the lights all turf extended flex field using funds we got created from the building corporation. Half million dollars. I'll never forget during CO suck and I literally climbed the fence and walked the grass field where the tennis courts are to see if there'd be enough room for the softball field literally with our feet. We had no tape measure. I think we called you. Maybe you came out with a wheel or something. Came out with my little trick. Yeah, we called two
091or three college coaches around the country to see if we had enough room for the catcher behind there to make darn certain. We highlighted the girls sports. So when you came down that hill at the high school, you were seeing the girls. We weren't going to hide way in the back like we were being demanded at the time from the current leadership. We didn't want that. New locker rooms for both boys and girls. They're fantastic. Nobody's changing in their cars anymore. Nobody's changing up at the high school. There's bathrooms. The girls didn't even have a bathroom. They had to run all the way to the fieldhouse to use the bathroom. Baseball field and lights all turn. So proud of my friend, Coach Todd Evans, and happy for the baseball program, which I played to see
092the success that many people for years never thought was possible. I'm a firm believer if you build it, they will come. We found that out twice this year. Boys and girls swimming program. Now we're finding it out with the boys baseball program. Outdoor lights at VHS. The front of the building. When we when we did the project, we didn't do anything to highlight the new addition we put on the front. I put at that time Superintendent Landscape, but now we got beautiful landscape plants. When you drive by the high school, it looks really sharp. Simple fix. It wasn't very expensive. Basic maintenance and brand new parking lot. I highly suggest anybody drives through that parking lot at night. We have more light in the high school parking lot at night than most car dealerships do.
093It's fantastic. It really was nice. I went through again last night and just marvel at that. It's beautiful. We redid the contract for superintendent. We added an evaluation clause. Can you believe we didn't have an evaluation clause forever in the superintendent's contract? I remember sitting at VU with Jim Sarkeesian, just the two of us doing this, writing the new contract that we still use today. New performance, weight room, lab, and we redid existing fieldhouse with much better lighting. So no kids taking a baseball to the face now that you can actually see in there. The toughest time clearly was during co no push. We kept kids in school four out of five days per week during a pandemic when every other school closed down for remote only. We accomplished this through trust in the community.
094myself and Jim Sarkeesian on the phone with the best county commissioner this county has ever had, Lauren, almost daily monitoring the situation. This was only the time I voted in disagreement with my other board members as I have always felt as a school board member, our number one responsibility was to the kids. So getting the kids back in school all five days and not having me learning on Wednesdays was what I felt at the time was in the best interest of the kids. That's my example of independence. We hired a new superintendent through community process with an advisory committee with community input. Our third superintendent in four years plus we had an interim Mike Not only did we hire a superintendent, we hired the best superintendent in the state of Indiana. National and state rankings
095of our schools have increased under this board over the last eight years. We went from being unranked in US News to 13th in the state of Indiana. Personally, I spent lots of time calling US News in Washington DC to find out what we could do to improve our ranking. We should be very proud of this flight simulators. Dr. Macar talks about exposure and opportunity all the time. I believe we have four of them flight simulators now. Three. We have what 50 kids that want to be in that class. It's wildly popular. It came just from an idea from a retiree from Val who went to a school in Florida. Dr. Tom K presented a great idea and he reaches out to me. I go immediately to McCall and pretty soon Mr. Algard's running with the
096idea and now we don't have enough seats in the class to fill it. There's so many kids that want to do it and there's a shortage of pilots nationally. It's a great thing for kids. School board had VCS switch banks in 2023. We earned nearly $2 million in interest. We earned 2.5 million in interest in 2024. This was not as easy as people get very set in their ways and we were told no at first not by Mr. Holy and first and we kept pushing forward with the idea. We were earning 0,000 in our previous payouts. That's 4.5 million over the last two years. Passed three referendums all while maintaining a very low certified tax rate on the residents of Center Township. actually the second lowest in the county with the third lowest first I'm
097sorry with the first lowest not even half it never happened he's poured out never pass board led by Kurt MO saved our school system $25 million over 10 years in energy savings and because the board acted when it did and Bob said this earlier today thank you for saying this the savings and future savings most likely will be grandfathered in in that some of our other districts around the country and the state won't enjoy. Timing is everything, guys. We have over $10 million in the rainy day fund. It was 0 to3 million 2015 2016. The school system is in the best financial shape it's ever been in. We are actually cat potty for the first time in a long time. Dr. McCall and this school administration is so respected by their peers that they are
098being asked to run our entire special education department for Porter County. People from all around the state and all over the country look to Valera for best practices. We are only second to one school in the state that had over 30% free and reduced lunch for this only happens when you have great leadership and a great team behind that leader. I want to give thanks. I personally want to give thanks to my wife Karen and my kids for allowing me to put my best efforts forward with the countless hours of time and energy it takes to be a school board member who wants to make a difference. Thank you to Valpel Schools for my education. Most importantly, thank you to the countless hours and friendships that Valpel schools have given to help raise and educate
099my children. Balo Community School System is an incredible place to educate and grow as a person. As the esteemed hall of famer Dr. Rickasha famously stated, Balo is simply different than every other place he has ever worked as an educator or administrator. I will really miss this opportunity to serve our kids. It has been the honor of my lifetime serving the children of Alzo. Thank you and good night. Um before we end, um I did not have the chance we had for addressing some other comments. I just want to thank you, Rob, for your last eight years on the school board. I've had the opportunity to serve seven of those eight years and you've just shown us your passion here for how much you care about our schools as well as our community. and um
100with all the things that you've helped spearhead, I've just had the great pleasure of working with you and I just want to thank you so much for all that you've done over these years and um I even worked with you on the new creation men center purchased building next door to your dental office. you welcomed us and were very supportive and not everyone would have done that, you know, invited the Ben Center to be next door. So, thank you for that. You've always been willing to take my calls and always there when we address many of these matters concerning our schools over the years. So, I just again want to thank you for your service to our schools and our community on this board and you'll be missed. So, thank you. I can't like to
101say that your energy and passion and enthusiasm for every kid in Balo is it bleeds through uh with every impassion speech and every pointed question try to accept the challenges time so that we can live up to the promises. we are uh I don't think anyone means it more when they say it than you do. Uh and truly uh you want everyone in the state and country to know how great a place BO is and that it's all the special people that make it that great place. So thank you for really the the tireless uh energy. I don't know where you get it from, but it has been exceptional. I don't expect you to go away. I'm sure we can call you. Not done yet. He'll take off. Yeah, I know. As I share, things
102stick in my mind. And in my seventh grade math class, Mr. Roman had this poster with a kitty cat and a daisy and it said, "When I do good, no one remembers. And when I do bad, no one forgets." And, you know, I know that was quite a spirited recap of, you know, the good things in your tenure on this board, but I do think that it's good to remember that. And I want you to know how appreciative not only myself but I feel the community is of those efforts. I know it is a combined effort. It's not easy sitting on this board sometimes um especially with community feedback and having some hard decisions and choices and you know as Jim said we always appreciated your spirited uh discussion and you know answering. I know
103I have a lot of questions a lot of the time and you were the first person who reached out to me on the board and you know I think we sat in a coffee shop for like three hours and I just peppered you with questions. So um I've appreciated my time serving with you. So thank you and I have to say thank you as well. We're all the same. But I want to say thank you to you from Rick because you work so closely with him. He valued your opinion, your support as he began to get sick. you were there, you helped him through that. But I think together you through the rights during that time and the things the school school system was in a big mess at that time as you know and
104thank you for all you did during those years. We really appreciate it. So with all of that great feedback, um I really wanted your farewell gift to be something special. Uh, and then we'll go. So, we we talked a lot, believe it or not. It's hard to talk without you. Um, but we we talked about a tree. We wanted to plant a tree in your honor. Um, but yeah. Um and but we have uh finalized on another brick um going out and it's going to have your name in your years of service and PCS um school board because um we did want to make sure that we made note of the great work that you've done and you you detailed it out. I'm like can I have those four years those four years we served
105together so that when I leave I can use those four on four more then I don't have to recap this far. But um thank you. Next meeting is July 6th.