001Yeah. Well, so >> I'm ready. >> You ready? Okay. >> All right. Here we go. I'm going to call to order the uh Leaport Community School Corporation Schoolboard meeting. Today is Monday, September 8th, 2025. Um, I'm just going to make a quick a little announcement here before we do our pledge of allegiance. So, we're going to change a little bit the way in which we do the pledge of allegiance tonight and moving forward. Um, the school we're we're every week we're going to have a school spotlight and when we do the school spotlight, the kids are going to come in and the kids are going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Tonight, we're doing the little learners and the little learners are these are little little little folk, right? So, they're getting ready
002for bed and it's late, but they pre-recorded the uh pledge of allegiance. So, they the on the video the kids are going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. So, if you would please silence your devices and stand and join our little learners as they lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I know. >> I also to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. >> So, next item is a roll call. Secretaryquist. Mr. Arnold >> present. >> Mr. King >> here. >> Miss Batty. >> Mrs. Farley >> present. >> I'm present. Vice President Jackson >> here. >> President Seber >> here. >> 61. >> All right. Thank you. Uh so another uh change to uh agendas as in the past. We
003are going to uh have these school spotlights uh be uh immediately after roll call and before public comment moving forward. Um so the first it next item on the agenda is the school spotlight. So turn over you. >> Sure. So we are um working to highlight each of our schools in the district over the course of this next year. So um we're we're starting with our little ones first. And so our very first school spotlight for the 2526 school year is the Little Learners Early Childhood Center. So Mrs. Jeffers is here this evening and she is going to highlight some of the great things happening in our brand new early childhood center. >> Good evening. >> Also like to introduce Janette Raymond. She is our teacher for our transitional kindergarten classroom. >> All right. So,
004as you can see, our picture of the early childhood center, um, this summer was an extremely busy one as we transitioned the previous building into the preschool center. Um, first off, want to thank Leaport U maintenance and custodial staff. They did so much. We had a lot to move over. Um, also the dedication, our teachers, our families, pair of professionals, my jackof all trade husband who did painting and putting together. um we had to combine probably over 600 hours of personal volunteer time to get that building ready for our preschoolers. So um it was a wonderful building. It was really just getting it um set for three, four, and five year olds. So kind of moving forward um the idea behind the Early Childhood Center was to create an all-inclusive preschool program where children feel
005brave, loved, creative, and so much more. Um on August 18th, we open the doors to over 300 um preschool age students. So we currently fill 12 classrooms. We have one transitional kindergarten, one highly um high functioning developmental prek, four prek inclusion classrooms, two special education prek classrooms, two three-year-old preschool classrooms, and then two three-year-old inclusion classrooms. So um those those rooms are full, the halls are busy. Um, but it's really exciting to see the building completely full. So, just kind of looking through some of the classrooms, they've been completely transformed to represent a developmentally appropriate preschool program. So, we have just learning through play. We're continuing to use the high school curriculum which we implemented a few years ago. Also adding in the preschool version of CKLA. They have some thematic units available for preschool
006age children that we were able to tap into. So, we're also integrating that. So, just a few pictures of our classes. Um, the beauty of this program is we are able to have students regardless of their ability, um, age, etc. They're all learning side by side. It's just been really cool to see everyone come together. Um, we have worked as a corporation with our elementary preschool program. So it to be all under one roof to see the teachers being able to have that um partnered collaborate with which they didn't have previously. It's been pretty phenomenal there fishing for looking at colors themes. So we are able to offer a free breakfast or lunch depending on the session that the students are attending. So that's new for all of our preschoolers that previously went to the
007elementary buildings. We only offered lunch for those that were attending the Boston building. Um, this is a fantastic experience where the children get to go through. They're making their own selections. Um, the lunch kitchen staff have helped us a little bit by reducing some of the selections because it does take three and four year olds quite a while to decide which fruit they want or which vegetable they have to put on their plate. So, um, but it's been really fun. Within a week, they've got this process down pat. And so, um, everyone eats in the cafeteria. They follow the cafeteria rules and procedures. So they'll be ready to go by the time they get to kindergarten. We do follow specific guidelines um because of our age group. So we did have to remove chocolate milk
008from the menu this year. So um that did bring forth I think some of the the staff were a little bit more supportive available over at the center. We have our gymnasium. So anytime the we have inclement weather um we are upstairs that's built into every single day gross motor time. We feel it's very important for that gross motor play. So we have bikes and trikes and trampolines and we even have a sensory swing. Um some little tikes climbing units upstairs in the gym. And then outside um there was a fantastic uh playground already on site there from the previous elementary building. So our kiddos have loved utilizing that along with um some other little types furniture and items that we have. So something that we implemented this year is our minds in motion um
009room. So each day our prek and our TK students they go through this obstacle course. It takes about five minutes to get through the entire um obstacle course. Um research has found that specific types of movement strengthens the vestibular system and it builds neural pathways in the brain to stimulate brain development. So, um, this helps with, you know, our focus, our coordination, um, learning with increased ease. So, they pat through this every single day. Thanks to Pam Boardman. She is our physical therapist and she's trained in minds in motion. So, she was able to put our course together for us. You can kind of see. So, they just go through different steps. So, pushing down leap, over items, >> good leaping, sir. Um, working on their vision. So, lots of different opportunities there. >> Melly,
010follow the green arrow. You're on step over the mountain. >> There you go. >> There we go. Um, also something new that we're implementing this school year is our fine motor group. So once a month, our prek and TK students are working with our occupational therapy staff where they're focusing on fine motor skills, whether it be hand strengthening, um scissor skills, um writing, etc. So we just started that group last week and so Leslie Loodie Vogler was working on Matt Man. So we have kiddos learning the song and we're working on how to draw a body. As you can see from that picture, this is our initial where we don't quite have a body and a head. It's all one. So that's very typical for the age group, but by the end of the school
011year, we'll have all those body parts in place. We have library and story time. Um Cassie Eer and the Leaport Public Library, they were so so helpful this summer. They came in uh we had all kinds of books and they looked through everything to make sure that they were appropriate for our age group. She helped organize, sort. Um I was up to my eyeballs in boxes of books when she came in and I'm like, "Help." and the her whole team, they said, "Go do the rest of the building. We've got this." And so, it's been a phenomenal experience having a library with our kiddos where they can check out the books and then we have story time. And along with library, um, we have our motor movement Mondays. So, this was something that we had
012at the Boston site that we're now incorporating for all of our students. I have an occupational therapist and a physical therapist that run this every Monday. Works with all of our students. our three-year-olds and our prek and TK and it's working on fine and gross motor skills. So, they um have different setups. Today was our first motor run day. So, we went through that. that today they were working they tutor and then [Music] so again these activities they provide to strengthen core muscle leg strength improve motor planning encourage bilateral coordination and work on vestibular and proprioceptive input so lots of things happening there the kids love it and that that's the 20 minute segment that takes place of their gross motor recess time on Mondays. Also have music. I think Mrs. Raymond is [Music] development.
013>> Here we're practicing directions moving our instrument back low, high and low. [Music] The best part about coming together um with this group is we we combine classes really. So every time we have coming together um and getting to know each other. So Mrs. Raymond's class might be with Mrs. K's class for library, but she might be with Mrs. Wright's class for music. So, it's a wonderful opportunity for all of our students to be able to engage and work and learn with one another. There we go. All right. So, the next area that we're going to talk about is our transitional kindergarten classroom. So, we're piloting that this year. And I'm going to put Mrs. Raymond on the spot and just give a brief explanation of what that day looks like. I will say before
014she begins, it's been amazing to see these kiddos. They're there all day long and what they're learning and accomplishing in a day. It It's really neat. But I'll let you explain a little bit about what TK looks like. I didn't expect to do this, but I I will go ahead and do my best. Um, so the TK program is the transitional kindergarten program. And what we're trying to do with this for these kiddos is there are those kids that could have gone to kindergarten because of their age, but they weren't quite ready maybe because of their skills or because of their social emotional development. And so they're st staying one more year with us so that it's a little bit of a preschool and kindergarten environment and not just all kindergarten that moves very fast.
015Uh there's not a whole lot of break time for those kiddos. And so what we do in our program is we have them come in the morning to kind of u mimic a kindergarten setting. So they're doing the kindergarten type activities and their day flows much like what you might see in a kindergarten classroom. And then in the afternoon after they've eaten, they've had the recess, eaten lunch, and taken a little bit of a rest time, then we go back to that prek model where it's more high scope. They get to make their plan. They get to choose their activities. They get to review their plan and just kind of be more of a kid again. So, it's really nice to meld the two together. Um, I have to say that the work time part
016in the morning, we've just been blown away with it because they have that work break, work break, work break throughout the morning, yet when it's time to work, they're really interested in the work and they really put forth a lot of effort and then in the afternoon they are really ready to play and they are really ready to have their time. Um, so it's been a phenomenal thing. Um, I've had a couple parents who have come to pick up their kiddos that have said to me, "I just left the elementary school and I was in the kindergarten class and there is no way that I would have been happy with my kiddo in kindergarten. I'm so glad that I did it this year because he just wasn't ready." So, that really makes me feel good
017to know that parents are really acknowledging this and that it's been a really positive thing for them. Um, so their day is a little bit shorter than what a kindergarten day is. They have that time, like I said, to just kind of be a kid again. They get that rest time. I've had a couple kids that have fallen asleep during that 20 minute rest period. So, you know, you know, they really need that downtime and they're really not ready for a full day kindergarten stretch program. But, uh, they are just they're doing phenomenal. And just even the progress that I've seen in three weeks time has been um, amazing. So, we're really excited about all the things that are happening in TK and we're thankful that you gave us the opportunity to get this program
018up and running because it's been super positive for all these kids. Guaranteed you walk into the TK classroom, they've got a little campfire. They'll make you a s'more or a hot dog. As soon as you walk in, they you want to feed the adults. Just a few more pictures of our kiddos hard at work. Um we continue to do those special events. So actually tomorrow night we have popsicles on the playground with our grandparents or special friends. We'll continue to have that throughout the year as well as some parent education opportunities. We're looking forward to having parents come in and working alongside them on what they can be doing in the home setting to continue to encourage their child to learn and grow. And then more opportunities coming soon. So, I have been in communication
019actually since the spring um with the foreign language department at the high school and we spoke again today where I had I had asked if they would be interested in having their um fourth year or their third year um students in the Spanish class come over and teach our prek and TK students some basic words. So, um we're working alongside that. And then after just speaking with Mr. Sullivan last week. We might be partnering and allowing the Leaport County Symphony, Orchestra Symphony, come in and they'll be doing some lessons and so forth and they want to start young. So, they want to work with our four-year-old. So, um, some really nice, neat things that are on the horizon that we're hoping to get started in the next couple of weeks. One last thing, and I
020didn't put the slide in here, I completely forgot. My apologies, but um we have collaborated with the Learning Tree Academy for our child care and they have 40 of our students that are attending. So they're either at childcare in the morning and they come to us or vice versa. It's been a fantastic collaboration. It's gone really, really well. Obviously, you know, couple bumps in the road initially as we're working schedules out, but we've got it down to a tea. And I can't tell you how many parents I've had come in and sign up and tell me if it weren't for child care, my child would not be in school. So, I've heard it time and time again. So, I think that just goes to show and every week I get another email this we we're
021adding another one, we're adding another one. So, I do think that having um the center and having that child care piece has been very beneficial to the community. So that's what I have on the Early Childhood Center. I do invite you all to come over at any time to see it in person. It's it's pretty phenomenal this film. >> Does anybody have any questions? >> You have any questions? >> I want to make sure that we thank Mrs. Jeffers, her entire staff, Mr. Jeffers. A lot, as she alluded to, a lot of hard work went into this um to make this possible. And and I hope that you all recognize what we are we've put together, what Mrs. Jeffers and her team have put together here is something far above what any other group in
022our area is offering for early childhood learning. So, um, just our ability to be able to integrate all of the different components that tie together and and I really want to give a lot of credit to Mrs. Jeffers because she had this vision and and she brought it into reality and and it truly is a phenomenal thing that we're offering to our kiddos and to this community. >> Yeah. I your your passion for the kiddos is very inspiring. >> It's awesome. And so >> my biggest goal since I began in this district 24 years ago was to have children with disabilities working together and we're there and it's really exciting to see. >> It's so awesome. And your and your staff clings to that. They're awesome. you know, your your building just I I haven't
023been a new one. I'm excited to go. But coming here, like it's just it's amazing. And so >> kudos to you and your entire staff. It's super exciting. We're all really proud of what's going on there. >> And this is year one. I just want to say like everything you were sharing, it looks like you guys have been doing this for years and this is we're a month into school, not even. So it's very impressive. >> Unfortunately, my teammates, we all shared the same. And we we wanted it to be I know. And I even talked to Dr. Wood and she said, "It doesn't have to be perfect." And I said, "But it has to be pretty close." >> You know, we really wanted it to be able to offer all of these things out
024of the gate because our kids deserve it. And so, yeah, more more to come, but we're proud of what we have right now. For sure. >> Should be. >> And we really didn't have to make any changes to the building. It was it was ready to walk in. You know, I think they made two quick changes and that was it. So, it was it was a nice setting. >> Great. >> Thank you. I know there's time to leave no comment public right now. >> There isn't. >> But as a parent, it's it's phenomenal for the first year. >> Thank you. >> It you know it is. I know a lot of people were frustrated with it, but as a parent it's phenomenal and Becky really cares and if you have a concern, you can just
025really go in and address it. But just walking through the building, you know, it really is. >> Thank you. >> Phenomenal. It's great. >> Thank you. Okay, moving on to uh next item is public comment. Thank you for that. Uh uh that uh there is no uh public comment signed up. Um the next will be the consent agenda. Um there are eight things on the consent agenda. The approval of minutes of the August 11th, 2025 schoolboard meeting. The approval of minutes of the August 11th, 2025 special executive session meeting. the approval of the minutes of the August 26, 2025 special schoolboard meeting. The financials for ratification approval, treasures report, the ECA summary report for 2425 school year, the Maran University student teacher placement, and the personnel recommendations and travel request. Is there a motion to
026approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> Thank you, Tucker. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jen. All those in favor say I. I I opposed. All right, those pass. So the next item uh we have two public hearings uh tonight. Uh the first one is a public hearing of the Leaport Federation of Teachers and Leaport Community School Corporation. This is required uh keep me in bounds here uh Bill. This is required by law uh for us to have this. And so, uh, it's an opportunity for the public to speak about, uh, the forthcoming, uh, negotiations, uh, with the, uh, school corporation and the, uh, Leaport Federation of Teachers. Um, so at this point, I will open up the public hearing for any public comment that anyone wants to make about those negotiations. Hearing
027no public comment, uh, we will then close the the hearing. Thank you. Uh the next public hearing um that we're having is on the uh Leaport Community School Corporation 2026 budget uh the 2026 through 2028 capital plans and the 2026 through 2030 bus replacement plan. So again, this is required by law for us to have a public hearing. Um those items, the budget, the capital plans, and the bus replacement plan were posted to the appropriate state websites. uh uh by the required deadlines. And so um at this point, we'll open up that public hearing if anybody wants to make any comments about uh uh budget, capital plans, and bus replacement plan. Anyone in the public want to make any comments? Okay, hearing none, then we will close that hearing as well. So moving on uh
028is the financial dashboard uh presentation by Dr. uh Penrod who is joining us via Zoom. Um there he is. Hello Dr. Penrod. >> Good evening. Thanks again for uh having me uh via Zoom here today. Um share my screen and just go over our financial dashboard here. Uh looks like the overall financial health. Uh the box to the upper left there, the total cash position 11.72 million increased in August by almost $300,000 represents about 19.4% of the annual budget. Our August revenue exceeded expenses by $296,000. That same uh that same amount there. Strong performance in the uh education fund offsetting the operations fund deficit. A lot of times it's kind of scary to hear the word deficit when you're talking about funding uh or school finance, but in this case, the operations fund usually has
029a deficit in uh all months except for June and December. So, it's just a cash flow issue of when um when the uh when the county gets our property taxes back to schools, which is typically June and December. And then from a fund allocation standpoint, the education fund holds uh 81.2% 2% of the total cash with operations fund at 13.5 and the rainy day fund at 5.3%. As we get into the total cash balance, we have 11,719544 in these three funds. The operation or the August revenue at 5,58,932 August expenditures at uh 4,76280 and again that's that difference of the 290 u the 296 that we saw up here. And then the cash has presented percent of the budget which again is 19.4. The education fund has a 43.22 million budget and 29.34 million spent
030through August. So that's 67.9%. Uh if you look at August being 2/3 of the budget or 2/3 of the way through the year, uh that 67.9% is kind of right on target there for 2/3 of the budget as well. And then the operations fund has spent 10.96 million of the 17.1 million. So just under twothirds there at 64.1%. From a fund balance standpoint, the uh education fund beginning balance of 8.76 million and ending balance in August at 9.52 million. The operations uh fund again started at 2.04 million, dropped to 1.58 million. And again, that's not uh overly alarming given the uh the cash flow of a typical uh school system where June June and December see a higher rate of revenue for the operations fund. And then the rainy day fund started and ended at
031uh 620,000. From a cash flow perspective, the revenue uh out the we had more revenue in the education fund than we did expenditures by about 75 million or 750,000. Uh the opposite is true for the operations fund. Like I said, we have uh business to take care of. So, we're spending money and not receiving as much as we typically uh or as we would in June and December. So, we have a negative there 46 or 460,000. And then no activity in the rainy day fund. And then the uh cash balance, the monthly cash balance by fund, our education fund at 9.52%, again, 80 or 9.52 million, 81.2%, 2% operations fund at 1.58 13.5 12% and the rainy day fund at 620,000 at 5.3%. And then here's the uh the summary in in numbers instead of
032charts. But we see the education fund began at 8.7 million had revenue of 4.2 million and expenditures of 3.4. So an ending balance there of 9.515 million. The operations fund had a beginning balance of just over $2 million. Spent almost 820 or I'm sorry revenue of almost $823,000 spent 1,281650 for an ending balance of 1,582107 and the rainy day fund again had no activity. So the uh ending balance there at 621463 and then those totals uh the beginning balance 11423 revenue outpaced expenditures by that 296 million we or 296,000 we talked about up at the top of this page 411,719544 is the ending balance uh on August 31 in these three funds questions regarding the financial dashboard. >> Anyone have any questions for Dr. Penrod. So it just appears that we are uh you know
033staying on track for uh within our budget. Is that fair? >> Uh I think that's cut out a little bit. >> Okay. So it looks like we're staying uh within budget. >> Yeah, definitely within budget. And even from a cash flow perspective, like the education fund was pretty good and that's a good month. uh the operations like I said is I know it's a little scary to look at that maybe as a board member or a taxpayer and say what's this what's going on with this deficit but um again just a cash flow standpoint generally in schools the operations fund loses money um from January through May and then gets most of the tax money in June or half the tax money in June and then loses money again from July through November and gets
034the other half of that on December settlement. No other questions and I think uh you're going to hang on hang on with us here for a little while correct uh Dr. Penrod maybe through Dr. Wood's presentation. >> Yes, I am going to be hitting on some financial things. So I think Dr. Penro's going to stay on the Zoom. We'll just kind of minimize him here and then if we need to ask any questions that I can't answer, he can >> Fair enough. >> Um interject. >> So next item is uh the superintendent report. So >> yes, >> drive on it. >> Okay. Um, so this evening, um, we just, uh, held a public hearing for the 25 or I'm sorry, the the 2026 budget, um, as well as our pre-bargaining hearing for the teacher negotiations
035process. Um, so I thought it might be helpful at this point in time to share with the board a brief financial overview to provide some context both to our current budget and our financial status as well as the upcoming negotiations process and where we are headed moving into this 2026 budget year. Um, a lot of legislative changes have come into play that are going to affect our budgeting process um, for 2026. So, I've put together a few slides to highlight some highlevel information um that will help us kind of understand the full picture of our financial our current financial situation um and and where we're headed next through that process. Um so, the first slide here, if you can go one more further for me. Um this is just a an illustration here that I
036I like to include anytime we talk about school finance just as a reminder um that school funding works very differently than in any other sector. Um so we have different funds that are set up for different purposes and receive dollars from different sources. Um, and we do not have the ability without um within state law to just move money around to make sure that we have enough to cover everything. There are certain rules that are established through state law that govern how we can spend money from the education fund, how we can spend money from the operations fund, and how we can spend money from the debt service fund. And then you'll see from the buckets that are pouring the coins into these piles of cash um that there is a different source of revenue
037that feeds into each of these funds. Um so our education fund is um receiving dollars through um state sales tax and uh can you go back please? Through state sales tax and through income tax and then our operations fund and debt service fund is receiving dollars from property taxes. Um, so again, just keeping in mind that these different funds are set up for different reasons and then we'll talk a little bit more in depth about what each of these main funds are. There are more funds than this. These are our three largest funds. Um, we have multiple other funds that get set up if we um get a grant that's approved um and things like that. Um, one other thing to note here is that we are permitted one transfer from education to operations fund
038up to 15%. So the money that's coming in from the sales tax and the income tax dollars up to 15% of that amount can transfer over to operations but not more. Um, so ask a quick question. >> Absolutely. >> So is our education fund is that money tied to the number of kids we have? >> Correct. and and we'll dive into that a little more in depth here in just one second. Um so next slide please. So the education fund um like I mentioned, not only do do the does the revenue for each of these funds come from a different source, but we also have a set of rules for how we can spend the money that comes into the education fund. Um so listed here are the primary expenditures. There are more than you'll
039see on this slide. Um but this is these are the largest expenditure categories that are utilized for the education fund. Um these funds are are named very appropriately. The education fund is generally associated with any expenditure that ties directly to instruction in the classroom. Um so so that's where our largest expenditure category is coming from teacher salaries and benefits. Um so anything that's connected to student learning typically is coming from the education fund. Um so we had our public hearing for um pre-negotiations or or prior to bargaining where we are required to have that public hearing. So when we're talking about the teacher negotiation process and working with the teachers union to establish um that negotiations process, we are specifically looking at the education fund through that process. Um, so what we do when we're
040sitting down with our our teachers union group and and we are looking at all of of the factors that play into how we can move forward through the negotiations process for the upcoming school year is we're going to look at the money that's coming in from the sales tax and income tax that is distributed to us based on the number of students. So, the state establishes a set dollar amount for each school year that one student enrolled in your district basically receives. Um, so we receive a set dollar amount. It's about $7,400 this year per student that we receive per student that's enrolled with us. Um, so when we start through the bargaining process with our teachers association, we're looking to see how much money is available that will be new that we can then
041allocate to um salary increases for the teachers. One thing that I want to point out is that through the um legislative process, the the Indiana state legislature sets the dollar amount that we receive per student. That's part of the state budget. So, the state sets a budget just like we set a budget. Um, and about a little over, I think 50% of the state's budget goes to K through 12 education. Um, that includes public schools, but also includes charters and the voucher program that allows um some students to attend and private schools as and and we received actual information related to the amount of money we're receiving. Um we have um kind of that has kind of uh come down because one of the things the legislature did this year is they looped in the
042curricular materials um dollars that we received to compensate for the fact that we no longer can charge parents for textbooks. So the state gives us $151 per student for textbooks. Um, and so now that money is all looped into the amount of money we're receiving from the state and that was included in that 4% increase that they talked about. So when you take all of that out and actually calculate it, it's actually more like a 1.2% increase. Um, so just one of the factors that we kind of deal with when we're figuring out our budget and and determining how we move forward, um, is that sometimes the information that we receive at the start turns out to not be entirely accurate when the dollars actually show up into our fund. Um, so again, education fund
043dollars are are based on the number of students that we have enrolled. Um, so if you go to the next slide, I want to give you a quick update here on where we are with our ADM, um, which stands for average daily membership, which is basically our student enrollment. So these are the students that are enrolled through our district and attending in our our uh, schools here. Um, so this is just a comparison from our numbers that we reported last year. And um, just for reference, we officially report this number on October 1st. So we have just a little less than a month to go before this is finalized. So this is only an estimate at this time. This number will fluctuate by then um as we finalize our records and then uh send this
044information out to the state in October. So in fall of 24 we were at 5,629 students districtwide. Um, in the spring of 2024, we reported 5,592 students and currently our estimate is 5,597 students. Um, so you can see that we are up five from where we were in the spring. So that is a good piece of news. Um, but comparing to where we were at the start of last school year, we always anticipate that spring number to decrease. We have early graduates. There are a number of other reasons that students exit between October and February when the spring count is submitted. Um so it's very typical to see the number go down in the spring. Um our target would really be we would want to be at or above where we were in the fall
045of 2024, but you will see that we um h have declined from where we were last fall by 32 students. Um, and then one other point that I'll add in as just a point of reference at this point is that um, the demographic study that was done in early 2024 gave us a projection of where they anticipated our enrollment would fall. Um, I think it it projected out 15ish years. Um, so we have data for a number of years where we anticipate what the ADM count will be. that demographic study had anticipated um that we were going to be at 5,620 students for the 2526 school year. So, we're down 23 students from what the demographic study projected. Um just just in dollars, um each student we re we have enrolled here, we received $7,477
046this year. So for the 2526 school year, that is our dollar amount per student. Um, so just doing just a quick math problem between the fall of 2024 number with 5,629 students to where we currently are estimating our numbers right now. That's a difference of about $240,000. Um, so so just wanted to provide a little bit of of context to that. A question that I often hear, you know, when we're managing our personal finances, if we don't have enough money to do the things that we need or want to do, we think about how we can earn more money. So, how can we earn more money for the education fund? The answer is to attract more students um and pull more students into our district. And that's where we've talked a lot over the course
047of the last year about marketing um our district and trying to think about ways that Leaport is different and unique compared to other um educational options that exist out there because it certainly is an environment of school choice in Indiana. And so, um, we we work, um, very hard to to try to enhance our our marketing, um, within our community and you'll continue to see more efforts in that area as well because that is the only way that we can bring more dollars in um, to the education fund. >> Yes. >> So, do we know I don't know I don't want you on the spot, but do we know the number of kids who graduated last year versus the number of uh, kindergarters we have? I do, but don't ask me to do the math.
048Okay. >> 414 graduated last year and 387 are on our books for kindergarten right now. >> All right. >> Can I I know that um our prek kiddos don't count in ADM, but what are our prek numbers or preschool numbers like now versus pre early childhood center? Are they up? Are they equal? Are they about >> I don't have that number off the top of my head because it wasn't on the report I looked at earlier today, but Becky might be able to tell us. It's okay. I don't mean to put anybody on the spot. I'm just wondering if that's, you know, because that could be a pipeline for enrollment. >> So, as far as our prek students right now, what I filtered out, we do have um just so everyone knows, we have 17
049here, 17 attending the center on a district exemption. So, I'm not really sure where they will go when it comes to kindergarten. Um but we are up for prek, we're up six students. For threes, we are up 49 students. >> Wow. Okay. And do the TK students count for our ADM or No, >> not currently. >> Okay. >> Just wondering. >> We're doing some research on that. >> Yep. >> The 27 is the difference between what graduated and what's coming in. So, >> okay. Shifting then to the operations fund. Um so the operations fund um is funded specifically from property taxes and it is the fund that deals with all of the operational expenditures of our district. So this is where building and property maintenance and upkeep come in. Our transportation program runs entirely and
050is paid entirely out of the operations fund. All of our utilities are paid out of the operations fund and then district level staff are paid from um the operations fund as well. Um so with the operations fund as you can see having some of the um items paid out of operations fund like building and property maintenance upkeep utilities these are expenditures that often are very um variable and also can come up unexpectedly. So, this is one of the challenges with the operations fund um in that we don't always know what's going to break before it breaks. We can anticipate through um the logs we keep of of um age of of different facilities and things like that. Um but you're never fully prepared for the things that happen when it comes to um breakage and
051and just things that need to be replaced. And so that is a challenge with the operations fund that we have to manage. Um and also utility costs. I'm sure you're all aware just from your personal um finances that um NIPCO rates have gone up a lot and so a lot of that's out of our control beyond um some of the things we can do like changing over to LED lighting and things like that. But um we have several expenditures that are paid out of the operations fund that that um sometimes can't be anticipated or that increase significantly through inflation. Um so the um levy we set through our budget process. So the hearing that we just had for the 2026 budget um specifically was to set the levy for the amount of money that we
052will be asking the county government to provide to us through property tax collection. And and we'll talk about that a little bit more in just a minute. Um so then moving on to the debt service fund. Um I'll just touch really briefly on this one. This one is also paid out of property taxes. Um, and this is the fund that is set up basically to pay um any loans that we take out for bond projects that are approved by the board for capital improvement. Um so our geo bond process that we have been going through each year to be able to borrow money which we've largely used for um purchase of buses as well as um some of the building enhancements that we've been able to do like the secure vestibial project that allowed us
053to improve um safety and security in all of our buildings. That comes from um the debt service process and so this account exists for us to be able to make the payment on those loans. So, I always just want to make sure that everyone fully understands um how property taxes work because it is a little different from the other taxes that we see specifically like the taxes that are utilized through the education fund revenue process where it's a flat percentage. Property taxes are different. Um so, a property tax is just a tax that you pay on property that you owned which is calculated as a percentage of your property's value. Um, and often times what people don't really think about is that there's one pot of money that gets collected throughout the county or through
054a city. Um, and it has to be distributed to all the different local municipalities that are relying on property tax dollars for funding. Um, so we are just one of several entities that is asking for a share of that that pot of money that gets collected through the property tax process. Um so the county government, township government, cities and towns, libraries, schools, think about police, fire departments, all of that. Um road repairs comes from that same pot of money that is collected through property tax revenue. Um where we see with sales tax or income tax a straight percentage that gets conveyed onto a purchase or on your earnings, with property taxes, they're setting the amount of money they want to collect first. So the result of that is wherever you live in the in the
055county of Leaport or in the state of Indiana, you will have a different percentage that you pay of your home's value because it's all based on the entities that are assigned to your address that are asking for a portion of the money. So they establish how much do we need to collect? That's called the levy. And then that number gets divided by the total assessed value. So they add up all the different homes or businesses within um that area and their their total value. Um and then that division problem then becomes the tax rate for an individual's home or address. Um, so that's important to understand because with a math equation like this and with it working differently, the way the money is collected becomes complicated because we also have other laws that are in
056place to protect property owners to prevent them from having property tax bills that get too high to where they wouldn't be able to afford it if their home value would increase significantly. So if you go to the next slide then um this was the first round of property tax relief. Um probably I shouldn't say the first but in in recent times um the uh legislature passed um in 2010 um the property tax law that limits property tax bills to a percentage of the property's gross assessed value based on what type of um property it is. So, if it's a residential home, 1% of your property is the maximum amount that you would ever own or ever pay in your property taxes. Um, if it's a rental property or farmland, you would pay 2% a maximum
057of 2% and then commercial is maxed out at 3% of the home's gross assessed value. Um, so this was obviously implemented to protect home homeowners, like I said. Um, so just a quick math problem. If you own a home that is assessed at $200,000, you will never pay more than $2,000 or 1% of um that home's of in property taxes for that home. So, the problem that comes in is that because all of the different government groups are coming in and saying, "We need this much. We need this much. We need this much. We need this much." it might come out to more than $2,000 that really needs to be collected off of that home's um property. So, if you say really should be paying $2,500 to get to that that targeted pot of money,
058the property tax cap comes in and says, "Nope, but you don't have to pay more than $2,000." That difference of $500, it just poof goes away. So, we don't collect that. So the amount of money that we we turn in and we say we need to collect from the county government is not necessarily what we actually end up getting. So um I'm talking about this because it's really important to understand this in what's going to happen for the 2026 um budget year. So if you go to the next slide um this is the uh document that is uh put out. It was put out a couple of weeks ago um from the department of local government finance. This is a calculator. So, you can find this online and you can um run the numbers for
059any um government entity within the state of Indiana and see a history of the um circuit breaker loss and what's anticipated then for 2026. Um so, this is ours. So, this is for um Leaport Community Schools. Um so, you can see um from 2021 we were losing just under $2 million, $1.89 89 million um in money that we were not able to collect because homeowners were hitting or or businesses were hitting that um that circuit breaker or that tax cap. Um in 2022 was 2.2 million and across it's pretty steady until unfortunately we get to and it is an increase of 80% where in 2026 we are estimating that we will be losing $4.23 23 million um from the circuit breaker. Um this is due in part to changes that were passed in the 2025
060legislative session um to provide additional relief to um to property owners um as this was a big um push from the legislature and from our governor to be able to provide t property tax relief um to the citizens of Indiana. um that's great for homeowners, but it is uh going to result in significant challenges for all of the entities that rely on that revenue um for operations. So, we are um you know looking here at a difference of about $1.9 million that we will not be able to collect into our operations fund. Um so, if you go to the next slide, I want to highlight one more thing. We talked a little bit about how um it it can be a challenge when we're receiving information from the legislature during a session. Um we often
061receive information um as in the case with the education fund where we thought we were getting a 4% increase. Turned out that included curricular materials so it was much less than that. Um this was a similar um document that was shared out early in the legislative session where they were trying to anticipate for us what our loss would be um through the changes in this law. So we were given this information and it showed that we would be losing the ability to collect about $192,000 of tax dollars that otherwise we would have collected which is bad news. Um but as the reality now has played out, this is far worse. Um the $192,000 loss, I think we would all gladly accept that now compared to the $ 1.9 million which is the reality of the
062loss. Um and then if you go to the next slide, you can see um this is our actual expected levy from from the state. So the numbers in the previous slide that they had shown us um were just simply wrong calculations from the very beginning. Um and so it was uh certainly this is a change from what we had been you know kind of told we would be looking at as far as a shortfall. Um so this is now a much larger shortfall than we had anticipated off by about $5 million here. just the calc the initial number they were using for the calculation was off by about $5 million. So it's no wonder that we were looking at a different uh um amount that we would receive as far as the shortfall. Um so
063the next slide then is just the math. Um so we can see what this means for the operations fund. Um and I want to say one thing quickly, the circuit breaker never affects the debt service fund. So all of this impact is always felt on the operations fund um because in um the the government basically sets the expectation we have to pay back our debt. Um so the debt has to be paid back first. So all the funds we receive automatically basically fill up the pot for the debt service fund first and then what's left goes into operations. So all of that shortfall is experienced by the operations fund. Um, so our 2025 actual levy, that is the amount of revenue that we actually will be receiving through the 2025 calendar year is the $10
064million number on the top circuit breaker at 2.3 million. Um, it means we actually collect about $7.7 million in revenue for the operations fund. In 2026, our maximum levy is allowed and this is part of state law. It may not increase more than 4%. Um, so $10.4 4 million. With that circuit breaker increase to $4.2 million, then we are looking at collecting $6.2 million in um our operations fund. That's a decrease of about 19%. Um so we obviously have work to do. We have about 1.5 million, just under $ 1.5 million that will need to be cut from the budget in order for us to sustain um our operations fund in 2026. This is year one. The property tax reform law is a gradual law that goes into effect, so we should anticipate additional cuts
065for 27 and beyond as well. Um so this is something that is going to um continue to become exasperated as as time goes on. Um so just quickly what's our strategy right now? Um so in October we I'm working with Dr. Oni and with Dr. Penrod um to um move forward with a proposal to start the process to um secure a geo bond um which we've been doing this as mentioned before every year to help us pay for the buses and things. We've already been working to take some of the pressure off of the operations fund because it's always been a a tight fund. Um, so we will be um utilizing the geo bond process to take out um that bond to allow us to hopefully push as many expenditures over to that as we
066can to free up um dollars in the operations fund for 2026. And then beyond that, we are going to have to strategize how we move forward. um because the geo bond process is is essentially um a band-aid that we can utilize to get us through but it's not a long-term solution. Um so we asked I I said earlier that with the education fund I often get asked the question so how do you get more money with the education fund the answer is to bring in more students with with the operations fund because it's funded through property tax dollars the only way to bring more money into the operations fund is through a referendum process. Um so so statutoily that is the only way that we can can build up the revenue of the operations fund
067to support our schools and that's through an additional tax process which is called a referendum. Um otherwise we're going to have to look at significant cuts to account for that $1.4 million shortfall and the additional shortfalls that we would be anticipating in the future. >> Was a lot of information. You open for questions now? >> I'm open for questions. Yes. >> Anyone have any questions or comments? >> Can you just do a quick rundown again now that we understand the operations fund and all of that what those things are that would be potentially up for cuts or you know how what it's going to be what's going to be affected essentially. >> Um so I think one of our largest expenditure categories for the operations fund is transportation. Um it it is that is one
068of the departments that's always been a challenge for us in this district because of the geographic size of our district. Um we have a larger transportation program than other districts that maybe have a similar number of students um just because our our geographic footprint is so much larger. So um so so that's one piece. Obviously um utilities is another huge um component of that and and you know again another area that we anticipate increases. Um so there are are some things that we can look at with that but at the end of the day you know there um we have to pay ours bills so you know that that's um can be a challenge to to figure that out. um operationally, you know, we have building maintenance um pieces that go into play. You know,
069we obviously plan for and try to anticipate any unexpected things, but there are regular maintenance things that go into play as well. Um you know, so so we do as much as we can inhouse to try to um control what we have to do um through contractors and things like that. Like for example, you know, we do all of our own mowing. We do all of our own landscaping, snow removal, all of those things, but that takes staff to do that. So, um there are large expenditures with staff that are associated with operational departments like um maintenance, custodial, and things like that. And so, um I'd be happy to put together a more comprehensive list of, you know, what some of the learning some of that information um so we can kind of have a
070handle on that. Um and with the education fund as well. Um, but I I we can put some some things together and share that as well. >> So, in the past, we were using geo bonds to update lighting, buy new buses, things that are really improving our district, and now we're going to have to use it essentially to pay for the shortfall from the state government. >> Correct. >> That's cool. The do more with less, I think, is how they were saying prove that you need the money. Yes, I >> some of the state leaders were telling schools, >> local cities. So, >> so anyone else any questions, >> comments? >> So, I just want to make sure uh the public understands a couple things, right? So, uh, all spring we were told, we were
071all like people at this table were all watching the the legislature go, legislature go, and, uh, we were told from an an educational fund, we should expect about a 4% increase, right? So, this this spring you're thinking 4% 4% 4%. And then the money actually comes in and it's 1.2%. Right? So, um, I'm really proud of the fact that we were able to present and advertise and publish a a balanced budget, you know, taking that into account, you know, balanced budget living within our means on that educational fund. Um, and then all spring we were being told, um, you're going to get a decrease to the increase. I remember hearing that over and over again, right? That like next, you know, through this property tax, you're going to get less. It's not going to be
072as big of an increase. You're going to get less of an increase implying you were going to get more money. >> Correct. >> And then uh roughly a month ago, we got the real news which is we are getting legit 1.9 less. >> Yes. >> Not a less not a decrease to the increase, just $1.9 million less. >> Correct. >> Right. So I feel like we've driven that off the cliff. Right. And so the budget that we presented, right, that's advertised is a $1.4 million deficit budget, >> right? So fortunately, we've built up cash reserves in our educational fund over the last several years to be able to live off of. Now um for the next year, and we're also going to uh approve some hopefully approve some geo bond money as well. The other
073thing that I think people need to understand too is like this was really hard for me to wrap my mind around, right? As a homeowner and as a business owner, you know, when I pay off debt, I then use that money that I was making for debt payments towards the rest of what I have going on. You cannot do that here. >> No. >> So, if we pay off debt, we can't use those debt payments. >> Correct. >> Like in the operations fund, we can't use those debt payments, you know, towards anything other than more debt. >> Yes. Right. >> Correct. The way the system is designed is that if we were to give up our share of that big portion of property taxes by paying off some debt, they will distribute it to another
074entity within our county. >> So there is absolutely no incentive for us as an organization to not carry debt. >> No, it it's actually highly recommended against. >> Right. So, um, that is, you know, as a, uh, you know, just it it's just warped thinking to me from how you think about your your life. Like, if you pay your mortgage off at your house, >> you then want to use that mortgage payment to, >> you know, go on a vacation or buy a new lawn mower or whatever, you don't go out and take on more debt, like more mortgage all of a sudden. So, um, so anyway, so just that's FYI. Um, and then statutoily, uh, my question is like when could we have a referendum? So like if if that's the only thing that
075we can do to raise more money in this, so when's the next time we could have a referendum? >> So there were, um, a few changes to the law for that as well. So it is now established that a referendum can be held in a general election every two years. So the next opportunity would be November of 2026. It's coming up fast. >> Yes. >> Okay. Well, so I think the the cliff note to this is is we're going to be okay here for a couple years. >> Yes. >> Right. But some some some thing has to give. >> Yes. >> Um in in in the in the coming >> couple years. So >> Yep. >> Um >> I have a good note to end my report on. Okay. So I I couldn't close with
076that. So I want to close on a good note. So I mentioned >> any other questions or comments on >> So I mentioned um earlier in in the slides that in the education fund the only way to increase revenue is to bring in more students. and we talked about that we're working on a comprehensive marketing plan to strategically think about what we do at Leaport that is different and and helps us to stand out amongst the competition when it comes to um preschool through 12th grade education. So, one of these areas is with our teaching staff. We have an amazing staff, amazing educators who are invested deeply in our students and our families and in our community. our teaching staff um exemplify each and every day what it truly means to be a slicer. So
077through our partnership with EES, which is one of the companies we're working with on marketing, we were able to highlight some of the amazing educators who impact our school community in exactly this way. So I want to share now a really quick preview of one of our why I teach videos. Um this is an educator spotlight of our very own Dan Jeffers who happens to be in the audience this evening um with his wife. And so let's take a look. >> One of my favorite things about being a teacher at Leaport High School is the ability to give back to the community that gave to me. all the teachers that I had and coaches that I had all through my life who believed in me before I believed in myself. Uh now I have that
078opportunity to come back to the community that I graduated from and give back to the community that helped raise me. [Music] >> So we have 12 of these videos that they compiled for us and that we will be releasing throughout the year um along with some other promotional things. But um I think it's just really cool and the neat thing about watching these videos is that everyone has a different reason for why they teach and why they teach at Leaport. Um and so it's it's uh a pretty cool thing to to watch and we plan on integrating these videos that are being released to us through um this partnership at each board meeting. So you can look forward to a video segment in each one. That concludes my report. >> Any questions or comments for
079Dr. Wood. >> All right, we'll move on to uh the assistant superintendent student learning report from Dr. Tonagle. >> Yeah, good evening. I want to build on that that positivity, that good news, and I want to recognize Mr. Marty Briggs, who's a great picture of a a once- ina-lifetime educator, and uh we're proud of him. He was a top seven finalist has made it to the top three today. He interviewed with a top education official in the state of Indiana, the Secretary of Education, Dr. Katie Jenner. Believe he did really well and we look forward to hearing uh excellent results of being a top three finalist. So, um this is history right in front of you right here. This doesn't happen very often and we're very very grateful for people like Mr. Briggs and Mr.
080Jeffers. So, wanted to recognize him before I give some more good news. Let's move on. >> When do when do we find when does he find out? Do we know? >> I think we'll definitely know by the end of September is what I was told, but I don't know exactly where within the next few weeks it all plays out. >> So, uh, part of my report tonight was reporting on our iD scores. So, the I read is a literacy assessment that measures reading scores, uh, for third graders, foundational reading scores. And so get a got a bit of good news here uh as well as we look at our scores uh compared to the state. The school corporation was 93.3% proficient uh with the state at 87.3%. Um Mr. Seberg, this would be an increase
081to the increase. We uh scored uh greater than we did last year and greater than the year before. In fact, I think these are our highest scores ever from what I can tell. The score the I reads started somewhere around 2012. I tried to dig back to find a score higher and I couldn't. So, if somebody does, please share that with me. But, um, we had notable gains in almost all our student populations, uh, especially our our, um, at risk population, special education students, black students, free and reduced students, all those student groups went up. So, this represents tremendous work by our stu our students and our staff. And so, I'm really proud of this. So, let's take a look at it from school to school next to see how that 93.3% broke down. Um,
082across the board, we had four schools reached 95% or higher passing rates. Kingsford Heights scored a perfect 100%. Kingsford Height or I'm sorry, Chrisfield was right there at 99%. So, six of our eight schools uh were over 90%. So, just extraordinary results. Um, but even the schools that weren't over 90% still showed great growth and achievement. So, we look at our student populations as I mentioned earlier. We break that down and all student groups were were really doing well. Our only group that didn't surpass last year's percentages were our English learners, but they made such a big jump the year before that I think the data was kind of leveling out a little bit, but still very proud and think they're high achieving and high growth across all areas. So there's your increase to an
083increase. I'd like to end on that positive note. Take any questions from the board about our high read scores. >> Any questions or comments? It's good news. Amazing. All the credit goes to our teachers, our staff, and I'm going to say one last thing with Becky Jeffers being here tonight. Um, you know, literacy at third grade starts in prek. When you're teaching kids how to do school and introducing them to all the things that they do. And so, um, I think this is going to continue and I hope in this direction that we've been going, we've had a strong prek program, but it's gotten stronger. And so, I got to give credit to our educators at the prek level. that really sets our K1 and two teachers up for success. >> Awesome. Hey, good work.
084You too. I do have my >> All right, moving on to the assistant superintendent of operations report. Dr. Oni. >> Yes, I have a few uh updates. Um the final punch list was done last Friday with our director of facilities Ryan Kai for the secure vestibules. So all three of those locations are complete. Uh just some minor things like cocking things like that, but the projects themselves are completed. Um Kingsford Heights and Critchfield both had playgrounds installed. Those are done. Uh they're getting port and play and mulch hopefully this week. So they will be ready for students to play on very soon. Um, we have formed since our last meeting, we formed a committee to discuss the Kuanas field and we've been in uh communication with preserve historic leaport and they will also have representation
085on that committee. And then one final note, I just want to mention that all the schools have submitted their crisis plans. um we didn't want to discuss them publicly because of the sensitive nature of that, but they all have submitted them updating them uh according to Indiana code which included a recent change in the behavioral threat assessment. Each school needs to have a threat assessment team. Um and so those are included in those crisis plans. >> Any questions or comments? >> Yep. >> Are the school playgrounds open on the weekends for the public? free access. >> Yes, they will. These these couple playgrounds have not been. They've been under construction. >> I thought I saw you on a teeter totter. >> No, I I just asked you because a couple schools weekend and people were
086out there party and I wanted to see if that was right. >> Part of our agreement with the health foundation and receiving those grants was to make the uh equipment available throughout the the evenings and weekends. Now, sundown, they close. I think we have signs up that say when it's dark, they close. But yes, weekends. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay, so moving on the new business. Uh the first order of new business is a consideration for recommendation to approve the acceptance of grants, donations, gifts, and bequest. Dr. Wood, >> we have two um donations this evening. The first is a donation of $500 um from the dean of engineering at Valpareza University for the Slicer Tech Robotics team. Um and that is to be used for the advancement of the robotics club. Um
087and the second is another donation for the Lart High School robotics club. This one is a donation of $3,000 um from the Gene House Foundation and that is to be used for costs incurred in building robots and participating in the competition season. >> Any questions from anybody on the gifts? They want to make a motion to approve the acceptance of these gifts. So move. >> Thank you, Justin. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Amy. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Okay, moving on. Next order of business is the consideration for recommendation to approve the Habitat for Humanity building trades agreement. Dr. Wood, >> this is an agreement that we also had with uh the Lepart Habitat for Humanity um last year. So, this is a renewal and extension of the agreement
088into the 2526 school year. Our building trades students have worked with um the Habitat for Humanity program um locally to assist on their sites in building homes and um providing assistance and and it's a learning opportunity as well for them to participate in an actual home build um and learn some of the skills associated with building a home and it also serves as a service project as well for our students that are part of the building trades program. So um this agreement um just establishes the parameters around that partnership. So I would ask for your approval of this agreement for this updated for this school year. >> Anyone have any questions for Dr. Wood? >> Does anyone want to make a motion to approve the Habitat for Humanity building trades agreement? >> So move. >>
089Sorry. >> Thank you, Jen. >> Second. Second. >> Thank you, Jennifer. All in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Next uh is consideration for recommendation to approve service agreement with Cartwheel Health Services. Dr. Tomic. >> Yes, thank you. Cartwheel is a mental health provider that we are looking to supplement our current partnership with the Swanson Center. So we are not able to meet all the needs of our students through the Swanson Center and we have project grant funds that can support this uh additional partnerships. They're a a teleaalth program, so they can do counseling and provide mental health um therapy for kids through video and telephone and that sort of thing. So, we're asking to uh enter into this agreement using Project Aare dollars, which that's an acceptable use of those dollars uh
090for these services for our kids. >> Any questions for Dr. Tomagle? They want to want to make a motion to approve the service agreement with Cartwheel Health Services. Thank you, Jim. Second. Second. >> Thank you, Justin. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Next is consideration for recommendation to approve the Leaport County Public Library libraries 360 agreement. Dr. Tonagle. >> Yes. Thank you. Again, this is uh the second year, I believe, that we have entered into agreement with the public library um to better maximize resources, especially public resources. We just got done talking about the scarcity of of tax dollars and they are a key partner for us that we can uh partner, we share similar goals and missions and and tax uh money. So, um this is an updated
091agreement. Uh we have data after our first year we had over 112,000 books circulated through the libraries 360 program and they do more than just check out books. It does give our kids access to digital and print books. We also do field trips the mobile library. They have the exchange building. Um lots of things within this partnership. So we're very grateful for their resources. It does save us a little bit of money. um the book software company, we no longer have to pay for a subscription. Flet uh we consolidate with them and we use one program across the whole district. So it allows our kids if one library doesn't have a book, they can tap into a library across the district or the public library. We have a um an agreement where books travel throughout
092the corporation using our our maintenance department. So um this is another agreement. I'm just asking that the board approve it similarly to what we did a year ago. I'd be glad to answer any questions about uh the partnership. I was on WIMS with Fond and uh last week we did a an interview and it was really neat on the libraries 360 program. So we got to have a little conversation about how this is benefiting our kids. Um it's been challenging to integrate when you're doing new workflows and that sort of thing, but it's giving our kids more access to resources in our questions for Dr. Ton. Okay. Somebody want to make a motion to approve the Leaport County Library Libraries 360 agreement. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Amy. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you,
093Tucker. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Uh, okay. Next order business is consideration for the recommendation to for approval of change in paraprofessional hours at the early childhood learning center from 6 hours per day to 6.5 hours a day to align with the paraprofessional hours at Kingsbury and Critchfield elementary schools. Dr. Tom. Yeah. So back in 2023 all paraprofessional work hours were increased to 6.5 hours. We had to because of a reduction in our title one grant reduce all title one pair of professionals to six hours. However, when we reopened or when we opened the early childhood learning center, we have the same employee groups at both locations at a non-title location and a title location. With the early childhood learning center being a title location, we need to get
094those employees who are doing the same jobs, the same have the same responsibilities on the same uh work schedule and pay schedule. So, I'm recommending that we uh align both of those to 6.5 hours regardless of it being title. This would be just for this year only. We believe our title budget um supports it. We'll review it at the end of the year because that allocation can change yearly and will change yearly. >> Any questions for Dr. Tom? >> Someone want to make a recommendation to approve the change in the per professional hours laid out. So, move. >> Thank you, Justin. Second. >> Thank you, Jim. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. >> Thank you. >> Next order of business is a consideration for the recommendation to accept and
095award bids for school buses. Dr. Oi. >> Uh yes. This is in compliance with our 5-year uh bus replacement plan. Um we're part of uh the Central Indiana Educational School Cooperative and they provide a service to us where they go out and get the bids for our transportation director to take some of the burden off of him. Um, but we do have uh three bids from different companies and I am recommending that the board accept the bid as presented by Bluebird for two um buses for to use for students with special needs that will have wheelchair lift and air conditioning uh for the total amount of $385,10. >> Anybody have any questions or comments for Dr. >> I did have one question. So, in in there you said that it would be the blue So,
096the Blue Russes were a little bit more expensive, but the reason that you suggest them is because it's like $2,832 roughly for the upgrades we would need for our special needs um busing >> per bus or is that just 28 $2,832? >> Well, the reason we decided to go with them, they also gave us a trade in value for a bus that's no longer usable of $2,000. So the other two companies would not do that >> really a surprise for me. >> Yep. Um so is that per that 28 like are those upgrades per bus or is that individually bus? >> It's uh it's 192505 per bus. >> Okay. I was just curious. Thank you. >> Are these propane buses or are they regular buses? >> I believe they're regular. Okay. >> Yeah. And then
097I think it's worth noting the funding source for this. >> Yes, it's these are going to be used with Medicaid dollars to take some of the stress off the operations fund. >> Thank you for that. >> Any other questions for Yep. >> How many replacement did you say? >> It's a 5-year replacement plan. Uh we keep the buses for 12 years. >> There you go. >> Yeah. So, we want to make a motion to accept the award and award the bids for the school buses. >> Thank you, Jim. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Justin. All those in favor say I. I. >> Opposed? Motion carries. Next order of business is consideration for recommendation for approval of participation in community eligibility eligibility provision C for student breakfast and lunch for the 2025 2026 school year.
098Dr. Uh yes. So this is something we've been a part of um before, but uh our director of food service, Cindy Vantra, applied again, and that gives us another four-year cycle. So this allows all of our students in the corporation to receive free breakfast and lunch. So it is my recommendation that we approve this under the C provision for the 2526 school year. Any questions anyone has? All right. Someone might want to make a recommendation or a motion to approve the participation in the C program. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Jen. Second. >> Second. >> My all in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. >> Uh the next and last order of new business is the consideration for the recommendation for approval and acceptance of the bid for replacement of the
099boiler at the educational service center. Dr. Oie. Uh yes. So currently at this building we have only one working boiler. Um and with the colder weather soon approaching feel it's necessary that we have two in case that one goes down. Um so in the event that that one fails we can have the second one maintain appropriate temperatures for students and staff who occupy uh this building. And precision controls uh they handle our programming and equipment for the HVAC needs. So we have a a bid from them for 103,895 that includes removal of the current boiler that is not functioning um removal and then installation of the new boiler. Any questions for Dr. Onianis? Does anyone want to make a motion to approve the acceptance of the bid for the new boiler? >> So moved. >>
100Thank you, Amy. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jen. All those in favor say I. >> I post. >> Motion carries. Any other business? No. Uh board comment. >> Any board have a comment? >> Okay. >> Oh, go ahead. So, are we um the the schools that uh scored lower on the I read, are we looking into supporting like what we can do to help help them catch up to get their >> Well, all our kids um who don't pass, we would look to see if they have a good cause exemption, if they have a special education program that would exempt them, or if they were an English learner. And um all of our kids except one qualify for that. and all of them would be on an individual learning plan or reading plan. Um
101the one student who didn't, there was some extraordinary circumstances of homeschool and moving around schools and that sort of thing, but all students would get a reading plan who don't pass the test and they have to test through sixth grade. So, um that was a long answer to say yes, we it's still very much a priority of ours to help kids pass even though they get a good cause exemption, we still want them to be able to pass that test. Good cause exemption. Sorry. allows them to go on to fourth grade. So, they're not retained because there is a rule about being retained if you don't pass that test. Throw a lot of acronyms on. I'm sorry to that. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? I'll just point out that uh four
102board members, myself included, are going to the Indiana School Board Association conference, which is a week from today. And so, it's Monday, Tuesday next week, along with Dr. would um so we'll come back with all kinds of pertinent information I'm sure. Um next board meeting is October 13th at 6 pm. >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Thank you, Justin. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jen. All those in favor say I. >> I. You're on.