Board Meeting 8/11/25

001Yeah, I think we're ready. We're >> ready. Yep. >> All right. >> Call to order the uh Port Community School Corporation Schoolboard meeting for Monday, August 11th, 2025. We'd ask you if you would silence your cell phones. Um and if you would please uh stand uh with me uh with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. The next order of business is uh roll call. Secretary home, please. >> Mr. Arnold, >> present. >> Mr. >> Here. Miss Batty >> present. >> Miss Farley >> present. >> I am present. Vice President Jackson >> here. >> President Sber >> here. We are all present. You have a

002quorum. All right. Next item is public comment. There is no public comment tonight. Next item is consent agenda. Uh you have had a chance to review the consent agenda which is consists of approval of the minutes of the July 14th, 2025 schoolboard meeting, financials for ratification and approval, treasures report, superintendent performance compensation, personnel recommendations and travel requests. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So move. >> Thank you, Tucker. A second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Monica. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed. >> Pass 70. There are no special personnel recommendations. So, the next order of business is the 2026 budget workshop. I'm going to leave it up here. >> Yes. Um, so this evening we have Dr. Brandon Penrod who is our consultant um CFO. Um, he is

003joining us via Zoom uh this evening and he is going to give us an overview of the 2026 budget process. Hello. >> Can uh can everybody hear me? Okay, >> can hear you now. Yep. >> Okay. Um first of all, thank you uh thank you for allowing me to attend here virtually. Uh I enjoy working with Dr. Wood and Dr. Dr. Condell. And so um but uh it is uh about 3 hours from my house. I appreciate you. I appreciate you letting me attend uh virtually. Um so we got a kind of high level budget overview here for 2026. Uh some of this is specific to some of this is uh just general for all schools. And then as we get um as we get into September and we'll talk about the next process here,

004but as we get into September and October, uh we get way more specific than this. This is again just a highle overview of of uh what's kind of what's to come or what's expected to come in 2026. So, all right. Sorry. Hang on just a second. I'm going to switch back to a different uh view. Okay. So, sorry my uh my computer locked up a little bit. So, um so first of all, we've got the uh the process here. And so the process is uh is is uh not unique to Leaport. Uh this is the process every school goes through. And uh these dates you'll see here are um are specific to Leaport, but everything else is kind of just general process stuff. So the uh we'll start out with the DGF. There'll be a

005few different uh abbreviations in here. I'll try to explain as we go. The DGF is the Department of Local Government Finance, and they're the ones charged with um with the uh approval of the process of all the budgets. So whether it's schools, counties, townships, libraries, whatever, uh all taxing units go through the DGF for their approval. And so uh we have various communication with them. Some of them are formal, some of it nonformal or informal. And uh that can be um you know, teams meetings, uh could be phone calls, could be emails, and could be text messages. But uh definitely stay in touch with them. Just avoids a lot of surprises at the end or potential surprises at the end. um with the uh if we skip down to the fourth bullet point, we'll see

006a public hearing on uh for the 26th budget on September 15th, which is your board meeting um in September. And so we have to have the second bullet point there. We have to have the public notice uh entered into Gateway, which is kind of the the website where all this goes uh goes to by September 5th, 10 days prior to the September 15th hearing. So, we'll also ask that we'll put the bus replacement plan and the capital projects plan on there as well. And then we'll also ask for the uh for the port's website to host the budget, the bus replacement plan, and the capital projects plan on that same day, September 5th. Uh again, budget hearing then for the for 2026, as well as the capital projects plan and the bus replacement plan on

007September 15th. And by then, we'll get very specific as far as what the budget looks like. Um and then we'll ask for board adoption of those three um those three resolutions on October 13th. So, get a little more specific here. Uh, what you'll see is called form three on September 5th. That's what gets advertised to show what the budget uh the advertised budget and the advertised levy would be. And then on the 13th, you'll uh we'll ask you to pass um what's called form four, which is the resolution for the uh 2026 budget uh uh tax rate and levy for each fund. Uh we'll also ask you to pass a resolution for the capital assets capital projects plan. Then the bus replacement plan and then there are three supporting resolutions that we ask that we'll

008ask you to pass. One is the um the interrun transfer of appropriation. Uh one is the interfund transfer of um of education operations and then one is what's called uh uh the trans or giving permission to the administration to modify line one, line two or line 11. And so line one is the what's remaining of the 2025 budget. Line two is what's uh all proposed 26 budget. And then line 11 is cash balance for 2026 of or December 31 and 26. And so I'll get a little more specific later. I'll get a little more specific later in this presentation as far as cash balance with that line 11. And then uh real specific when we get into September as far as what those uh what those modifications would mean. all all the uh completed budget

009forms then have to be in the gateway by November 1st. So we'll get those upload uploaded shortly after October 13th and then we really don't do much with it um until the DLGF issues what's called a 1782 notice. A lot of times that's in mid uh December and then we've got 10 days from their notice to respond to that. And that's where we'll modify um the remaining 25 budget, cut the 26 budget or cut the operation uh cut cut the operating cash the cash balance. Uh this is the same information just kind of in timeline or visual form instead of uh instead of bullet form. And then um the framework then uh so the framework would be real similar again for every school whether um you know whether it's Leaport or whatever um the state

010prescribed form. So, no matter what school it is that you're going to we're going to complete these same forms through Gateway. Uh we have to advertise the hearing capital assets and bus replacement plan on the website as well as Gateway and then hold that public hearing again in uh in September and then adopt by November 1st and submit to Gateway or to DGF via Gateway. The DGF then um the uh they um review and modify that budget and they set final tax rates and then deliver what's called that 1782 notice. unless that's a 10day age response period is up. They deliver on what's the uh the final budget order. Uh school school budgets uh in general structure the same from year to year. You know the the amounts obviously modified but the structure feels similar.

011One uh one particular um difference this year is going to be that the uh negotiation window opens up in 2025. So September 15th, about a little over a month from today, the uh negotiations opened and because the majority of the of the education fund is um is spent on salary and benefits, the negotiation window is going to have a major impact on um on the uh on the 2026 budget. What's interesting to me is that they continue to push that uh or they leave that window the same, but they push back the ADM date to October. And so, um, so we've got to have a, in this case, we have to have a hearing September 15th, and we haven't even started negotiations yet. So, we don't know what, uh, don't know what we're going to

012settle on with teachers or anybody else that we're negotiating with, but our budget hearing has to happen the day the teacher negotiations open. >> Hey, Dr. SL, >> can I ask you a question? So, our our our board meeting in September is on the 8th of September, I believe. >> Yes. >> What was the eth? >> Yeah. Does that change the does that change that that date of the hearing? >> Yes. So, we'll change the date of the hearing to the back here. We'll change the date of the hearing to the 15th. >> The 8th >> and we'll change the date of the uh notice on gateway to August 28th. >> Okay. So, we got uh that August 28th would still be 10 days prior to September 8th. And then the um and then the

013September 8th would still would obviously be fine as far as the hearing goes, but the October 13th can stay the same. >> Okay. I just want to make sure as we're tossing this out publicly that >> Yeah, I appreciate that. I think I was looking I can't remember if I looked at your website or an email, but I I assumed it was a 15, so I apologize about that. I do know that's ISBA and I assume you're all going to be ISBA. So, um the uh um so I'm going move on here. The education fund, life fund. So, please, you know, feel free to stop me. Um, you know, on if you have questions about any anything, feel free to stop me. But, um, just kind of for for the uh the flow of the

014presentation, there's one slide for each of these. Uh, starting with the education fund. And so, you're you're I'm sure you're familiar, this is not supported by property taxes, uh, supported by state tuition support. Um the foundation amount which is what the what you hear about a lot in the state legislature or the general assembly during their budget sessions. Uh the foundation amount this year is 69.67. So that's 69.67 per ADM and that's a 4.3% increase over last year's 66.81. Some caveats to that though. Um the curricular materials reimbursement was a separate line item state budget last year. And so I want to say schools got about $152 $151 per student. And so that was in addition to whatever this 66.81 was. And so um so that 6681 generated your state tuition support. And then you

015get another dollar figure uh for the uh for the the the curricular materials uh reimbursement. And so let's let's just say in round numbers and this is way too low. So just in round numbers that was $100,000 last year. that $100,000 is now rolled into this 4.3% or the 69.67. And so you're really um you know, if you've got if you've got $100,000 payment last year and you are up $200,000 this year, you're really only up $100,000 before you even start anything because you're not getting any more any more curricular materials. uh in a in a worst in a worst scenario, if you're up $50,000 this year and you lost $100,000 on that curricular materials, now you're down 50,000 before you can go to negotiate with teachers. And and the opposite's true as well. If

016you're up 400,000 and you don't get 100,000, you're really only up 300,000. And so um so that's just kind of some nuance that you know that obviously this math is is correct according to you know according to the state but there is some nuance there that the uh the curricular materials is inflating that uh to that 4.3 um just for information purposes fiscally 27 so the 26 27th uh school year that ADM is going to increase by 1.5%. Again, no tuition support or no uh curricular material support, but that's going to go just over 700 over $7,000 for the first time I think for the first time ever. Actually, I been doing this a while and I don't remember anything in the settlements. So, the budget in 26 based on that information is expected to

017increase over 25, but similar to what we talked about on a couple slides ago, uh the salary benefit items are likely to be increased the most because that's where the majority of the expense is. So, um, supply line supply items is likely to remain similar to last year, maybe even the exact same year depending on what that supply line looks like, but the majority of those increases typically end up in uh in salary and benefits. Uh, revenue, as I mentioned, is based on ADM. And so, that's the uh that's what we're saying here is student enrollment. the rest of this the special ed CTE and then foster foster students SNAP and TANNIF and then the honors diploma that's what's called the uh the categorical grants and so that's 6967 it's multiplied by ADM to get

018your basic tuition support and then the um the other categorical grants are figured on a special ed count a CTE count the direct certification of foster students SNAP and TAM students and then honors diploma students the number of students to your your school uh graduated with honors diploma then generates a dollar figure for for that particular categorical grant. uh as I mentioned student count on October 1. Another count funding count will take place on February 2 and it's important to delineate that is a funding calendar or years in the past that's not been a funding account. It's just been an information only but this year is for funding purposes. And then um on the uh transfer side of things, we have resolution be requested that not to exceed 15%. And that and that's similar to

019the past. 15% is kind of the magic number of um of where the the state wants allows schools to transfer their education fund revenue to the operations fund. Uh the best the best example I can think of there is a custodial salary. So back when there was a general fund if those you've been on the board um prior to 2018 you remember seeing a general fund and then you remember seeing like a capital projects bus replacement and um and transportation fund. Well, the custodian fund, the custodial salary took to to was taken out of the general fund. When they moved that to the education fund, they no longer classified that as the uh as an education fund expense. So, it moved to operations, but there was no revenue that transferred with it. It was just

020simply moved to operations. So the kind of the fix for that was to allow schools to transfer up to 15% of their education fund over to the operations fund to cover things like salaries of of uh of people that used to be paid from general fund and camping. Our uh next slide then is the education fund. You'll see that is 200 the 200 fund on your fund report in Skyward. Uh so we've got a budget expectation of 11,63648. uh we may advertise higher to protect the district, but that's what we expect that number to be or less um when it's all said and done. This includes uh three general or three uh lease rental bond issues. So you've got the lease rental of 16, 17A, and 18 and then four general obligation bonds of 20,

02121, 23, and 24. So you're kind of cyclical on the go bonds. Um, so we've talked to uh we talked to Baker Tilly uh in the past week to kind of determine what what the next geo bond looks like in that succession plan or in that uh that that that cycle. So we've got a number built in for uh you'll see this third bullet here. We've got a number built in for anticipated debt service. That anticipated debt service allows us to uh put a guess in as to what that uh what that bond might require to be repaid in 2026. But it also um is a very high estimate of what um of what the uh the kind of you know worst case scenario is to allow the school maximum flexibility in their repayment of

022that bond. So the school doesn't get kind of pigeon holed into something they don't want to that they don't want as far as like a a levy or a rate that's un unappealing to their board. and the constituents. And so I'll explain that a little more when we get into that uh the hearing in September, but that's kind of what we're looking at with the anticipated debt service. And then the operating balance is that line 11 that I mentioned. Um we're looking at the December 3rd and 2026 operating balance. So during uh during the 1782 period, if the levy or the rate is going to be too high for what the board and the uh for what the board desires, then we can go in and and adjust the uh the rest of the 25

023appropriations, which really can't happen in a debt service fund. We can adjust 26, which really again can't happen a whole lot in a debt service fund. So you adjust the operating balance, which will then lower the levy, which will then lower the rate. So asking for permission how to to to to do that is another um another way that we can help the school to hit the target they want to hit with the rate and the levy or one or the other or both on the 300 fund the operations fund as I mentioned this uh this combines the previous capital projects was replaced with a transportation fund uh like we'll advertise higher than expected for 20 to 26 knowing that we're going to bring that back down um again up to 15% % can be

024funded or transferred from the ED fund to the operations fund and the um uh MLGQ and this and the Senate RO act one is kind of a conversation I wanted to have just to kind of prepare people for what what we're looking at. So, MLGQ is a maximum levy growth portion. And that's figured uh with a formula that's uh a six-year average of a 2-year lag. And so, they um so that generally gets at a a number. It has to be a number and that number is capped at at a certain percentage. And so, um this year, I believe MLGQ is going to be 4%. So, a school or school board can ask for a 24% increase or a 74% increase or a you know, a 5% increase. It doesn't matter. the most you're getting

025is what's on that MLGQ. And so we'll see that on form three with that on gateway. We'll see the maximum levy for the operations fund. And then Senate Rule Act one is another kind of protection for that to um to show uh to to give taxpayers a little bit of a a break on their on their home value, which would in turn um give them a break on some of the other on some of their taxes that the schools, cities, counties, towns, libraries, etc. uh would levy for. So items of note include, like I said, the capital assets and projects plan and then the bus replacement plan. So I've got a couple samples of those here. And so this is kind of what a capital asset plan looks like. Anything we're looking into doing that's

026going to cost more than $10,000 uh that that is going to be acquired in the next 3 years. And so we'll list the description and then we'll take put an estimate down to what it looks like it's going to cost. Uh the capital projects plan is very similar. Uh but now we're talking about projects instead of just pieces of equipment. So again, $10,000 or more in the uh in those three years. And then the bus replacement plan is actually a 5-year document. Even though a bus is expected to last 12 years, uh we've got a 5-year document. And it's going to look something similar to this. We'll have like a bus description. So, you know, 2014 Thomas or you might see a 20 2014 International or something, Bluebird, something like that. The corporation ID number,

027which is unique. Each corporation has their system. Uh this is the type of bus that it is according to DOE and this whether it's owned or leased. And then what you see here is like if this were your school and again this is just a sample but if this were your school you would this this would suggest that that you're going to replace one bus the 2014 Thomas for $150,000 this year a 2013 Thomas for $155,000 the next year 2010 for 160 and so on and so forth until 20 until 2030. And then um the rainy day fund uh rainy day fund right now has an appropriation of $1.8 million and it's funded through uh transfers from other funds. And so that's generally not a regular thing that that schools do, but the money got

028in there somehow from a transfer, you know, in the in the history of the school. And so my point to this is to make sure everybody understands this is not a tax levy. even though it's it's uh you go through it with the tax funds like the operations fund, the education fund, the debt service fund, but this so this gets a budget but it does not have a levy or a rate associated with it. So the rate and the levy on this one will be C. And then finally um the I always try to budget on a slight decrease in ADM just just again to protect the school of a bad bad case scenario. Uh the education fund will likely see an increase as discussed. So that 4.3% increase the operations fund sees an increased

029levy based on the MLGQ. Uh there's some question about what CNAV will do. So CNAV is the certified net assessed value as compared to the gross assessed value. So the gross est value is likely to increase because uh you know as as you know real estate increases particularly right now but the CNAB the certified net AB is is what the uh district in particular gets to use to charge the rate to get the levy uh with all the property in that particular district. And so and the idea of enrollment act one was to decrease the senate the uh CNAV and so there's a chance that AV goes down in 2026. However, there are some laports isn't out yet, but there are some AVs that are being released that are actually going up and so uh

030kind of to be determined on what happens based on what central act one did to Leaport County CNAB. Uh right now we've got a total tax rate of 9254 and our advertised tax rate would be would is to be determined. Um one thing I would point out a lot of times schools manage to tax rates in the past. Uh that might not be so easy nowadays with Senate Ro act one. And so um because Senate rule act one is going to decrease the homestead exemption but increase the supplemental exemption until 2031 where the AV on one particular house is going to be uh lowered by 66.7%. So the homeowner in that case is looking at a third of their property value is what the assessed value is going to be that they're going to be

031taxed on. So, it might be a better uh might be a better talking point to um to maintance to a levy now instead of a rate. Uh however, I did put on here um the advertised rates, the historical advertised rates as we're looking at this because you know, like I said, a lot of times schools are told even by the DLG for the state to advertise high and bring things back down to, you know, where the board is comfortable with uh and their constituents and their community are comfortable. So I wanted to kind of show this just to show that um you know the the the rates are higher when we advertise in this column here. And so what happens there is um sometimes constituents you might hear from your constituents saying you know we

032got a 0.9254 and you just advertised a 1.5 1.15. Why are you raising my taxes by 23 or 23 cents? And I put this on here just to show that every year we every year Leaport advertises high and every year it comes back to the '9s. And so again, I don't have I don't have what we're going to advertise yet or what we're going to ask to advertise yet because um we're not to that point yet. But even if it is, you know, 1.10, 1.11, 1.2, 1.15, it's um it's it's likely going to decrease. Now, with some of what I want, it may not decrease down to 9254. We'll have to see what their AV ends up, but it will likely decrease from what we're going to advertise. And so, I put that in there

033just as an FYI for board members and constituents, so board members don't get hit too hard when their constituents see like a an advertised rate that's quite a bit higher than what than what people are used to paying. So, that uh that kind of wraps up the budget workshop, but I'd be glad to answer any questions. I know that's a lot. Um, and again, we'll get more specific at the hearing in September. >> Okay. Is any uh anybody on the board have any questions for Dr. Penrod about the uh budget uh portion of this? Okay. More good stuff to come. And then I think Dr. Penrod, you're going to go through our uh our financial dashboard. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. So, thank you again. On the financial dashboard, I kind of look at

034overall health. The cash position at 11.42 million uh remains strong 18.9% annual budget. So that's uh that's a good sign. Um a lot of times, you know, if you're at if you're at 8 to 10%, people think you're in good shape. So being almost 19% is a really good shape. Uh July uh spending exceeded revenue by $130,000 primarily due to increased operations fund expenditures. or so when we get down to the uh get down to the operations fund. I'll talk about that a little bit. And then fund allocation. The education fund now holds 76.7% of the total cash with operations fund decreasing to that 17 to 17.9% of total reserves. So that's not uncommon this time of year. And I and again I'll I'll talk about that when we get to this box here. Um

035so on the uh total cash balance we've got $1.4 million. On the July revenue, we see 5.0 055 million expenditures again at $130,000 roughly uh more than the revenue and the cash is a percent at 18.9%. So again healthy there uh the education fund at uh has 25.86 million spent through July on a $43 million budget. So that's at 60% or 59.8%. A lot of times I um kind of look at uh kind of look at 8% per month and so that gives kind of a 4% cushion. So if you take that 4% cushion, you're kind of right where you're supposed to be. And then uh same thing on the operations fund at 56.6% expended on a $17.1 million budget. And so again, if you take that 4%, you're a little less than or little

036less than right where you're supposed to be. uh fund balance on the beginning fund balance of the education fund that increased a little bit this month from uh 8.43 438.76 operations decreased. And so, uh, kind of relative to that last box, operations fund cash will decrease, um, pretty regularly from July through November. And the reason that is is just simply a cash flow issue. Um, uh, property taxes are build in uh, May. Uh, I'm sorry, they're build due in May and then the county turns that around and gets it to their units, including schools, in June. And then property taxes are um build in October, due in November, and then the county does what they do with it and get it back to their units in December, including schools. And so from July to November,

037you really don't have a whole lot of of revenue coming into the operations fund. And so, um, you know, you'll have that transfer every month and you've got maybe some miscellaneous revenue like, uh, you know, maybe as a rental here and there or something like that. But for the most part, your big money, which is property tax money, doesn't arrive until December. So you're going to see decrease decrease in cash balance in the operations fund uh in July, August, September, October, and November before it kind of increases back up to where it's supposed to in December. From a July cash flow standpoint, the uh revenues did outpace expenditures in the education fund, which is good. Difference of.33 uh million, so 330,000. And on the operations side, like I just said, uh expenditures outpaced the uh

038the revenue by uh $460,000. And then month end cash balance. Um so we've got 8.7 million in the education fund, a little over 2 million in the ops fund, and uh 620,000 rainy day fund. And you see how those are broken down here by percentage. And then uh same data here as far as the uh as far as what we've been going over, which is in numerical form. Uh the education fund balance at the beginning was uh 8.4 million. The uh added about 300,000 from the the revenue over expenditures to end up with 8.761 million. Uh the operations fund dropped by about half a million with 833 in revenue and a mill almost a million3 in uh in expenses and then no activity in the rainy day fund. You see the uh cash the total

039cash on hand in those three funds goes down uh by about $130,000. Again, largely based on the uh the deficit and the operations fund. But again, that's to be expected based on uh the cash flow that that the state and certainly the county are are set up with. >> All right. Does anyone have any questions for Dr. Penro? >> All right. Any questions there? >> Yeah, I have one. So, uh, Dr. Penrod, how long have you been doing this? >> Uh, my first business manager's job was 2007. >> Okay. So, coming up on 20 years of doing this, you've been in our books for about two months now. >> Yeah. Yeah. About mid mid June to now what? Mid August. Say about two months. >> How are we doing? Like what are you are you

040anything crazy? Are we What are you What are your thoughts? I think you I think you're I think you're in good shape as far as the uh as far as what I've seen in the um in the in the two months I've been looking, you know, looking around, looking at reporting, talking to Miss Gillo, uh talking to Dr. Wood, I think you're in good shape as far as that kind of stuff goes. I don't see anything, you know, out of the ordinary. I think from a planning perspective, it's admirable that you've got um you've got the uh the the way you've used debt service in the past to um to take take on some larger projects and larger uh kind of capital projects that the operations fund probably couldn't afford. And so I think it's

041admirable that you that you've gone through that planning and that we'll continue to go through that planning. with those rolling geo bonds that you've been doing. Uh look, that that's a really sound um really sound philosophy to to take care of some of the larger stuff while um you know, while uh while also mitigating the uh the the burden to the taxpayer, if you remember, right, we're looking at tax rates and your rate actually uh has gone down from 9659 to 9254 even though you issued a bond in 2024. So, so to be able to do that that kind of stuff uh while holding rates generally the same and actually decreasing from 24 to 25. Um I think that's that's uh outstanding. Um you know I I would never uh I don't think this is

042what you're asking me but I would never say that any public school is flush with cash. So you know if anybody wants to send some more cash to the port schools I think that'd be great. But as far as looking around in your books and and just kind of seeing what's going on I think you're in pretty good shape. >> All right. Thank you. Any other questions? All right, I think we're going to probably have to cut him loose. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Okay. So, uh, moving on to the superintendent report. Dr. Wood. >> All right. Um, so I have several items for my superintendent at this. So, today, as you know, was the official start to the 2526 school year. um teachers and staff returned for

043their first official workday of this school year. Um last week Friday, we welcomed 18 new to our district teachers um at our new teacher orientation and we are very excited to embark upon this school year with a new energy and excitement for the year. Um opening day began this morning with a light breakfast at Leport High School followed by our opening day presentation with all district staff together in the performing arts center. Our district team set the stage for the year to come with our focus on embracing new initiatives and leaning into our goal to become a professional learning community. The PLC model is one that we've dabbled in over the last several years. But as we move forward into this next year, our goal is to identify the areas where we are doing PLC's

044so that we can work to transform our culture to become a PLC. Our emphasis for the year will be to look at the ways we are incorporating the components of the PLC process as somewhat of a checklist and push ourselves towards the integration of components into the PLC so that it becomes embedded as a part of who we are as a district. Um as we move forward into this first week of the school year, we're excited to host our open houses for students and families to meet their teachers and get to know our buildings. Um tonight we open hosted an open house for Leaport online school. Tomorrow will be the open houses for our early childhood center, our elementary schools, and Kesling Intermediate School. And then we continue the open houses on Wednesday with Leaport

045Middle School and Leaport High School. Um Thursday is our first day of school for grades K through 12. We can't wait to welcome all of our students back this year and begin our learning journey together. The first day of school for our preschoolers at the Early Childhood Center is Monday, August 18th. And as a reminder, all of these details are available on our website and on parent square and our back to school guide. Um, so I'd like to take a moment to share with the board something that we shared with our staff this morning during our opening day meeting. Um, so as you know, one of my goals for my first year here at Leaport was to showcase our district and work on telling our story to the community. As a part of this effort,

046we partnered with EEES to work with us on a marketing campaign that we will be rolling out throughout this upcoming school year. As I reflect on my first year here at Leaport, I have been blown away by the amazing things happening in all of our classrooms. We truly have so much to offer here. And as we think about the evolution of our society to really embrace the choice that exists in K through2 education, we wanted to find a way to really highlight why Leaport Community Schools are among the best choices for students and families in our local community. To that end, we debuted this video this morning and I would like to share it with you now. Give me one moment. Sorry. [Music] At Leaport Community Schools, students can choose their ideal path to success.

047From traditional classrooms to our innovative Leaport online school for K12 learners, we believe in providing flexible options that match each students unique learning style. From preschool programming through high school, Leaport Schools is uniquely positioned to meet Indiana's new diploma requirements. We offer students hands-on experiences that enable them to explore their interests. Leaport High School offers dual credit courses that build college credits before graduation, saving families time and money. Our proactive approach to the new Indiana diploma ensures students thrive through pathways in healthcare, engineering, construction technology, criminal justice, business, the arts, and more. Whether students are collegebound, workforce ready, or military focused, our innovative programs align perfectly with all three diploma seals: enrollment, employment, and enlistment. Collaboration is at our core with team-based projects that develop leadership and confidence. Our robust performing arts department inspires creativity

048at every level. And our programs connect students with community partners, shaping futures tailored to their goals. Choose more opportunities. Choose more discovery. Choose more success. Choose Leaport Community Schools. [Music] [Applause] So, this video is just the beginning of many more that will come um that focus on what Leaport has to offer. um and it will help us to tell the story of who we are at Lort Community Schools. So stay tuned and we hope actually to be able to debut a video in each board meeting over the next several months to come. Um so this is actually then a great segue into the next topic that I want to cover as part of my report this evening. Um so Jen Goss is here this evening. She is our director of career and technical education. Um

049she and I have been working over the last several months to develop a strategic plan for Slicer Career and Technical Education. Um so we've prepared some slides this evening. Um and we want to share with the board at this moment in time where we stand with our 3 to 5year strategic plan for CTE. Um, but keep in mind as we go through these slides, our goal from the very beginning of our Slicer CTE initiative has been to ensure that programming we establish here in Leaport is directly connected to the workforce needs of our community. Um, because the workforce in our community is ever changing, this plan is intended to be fluid. Um, so in fact, we've changed um even in the course of the last six months the different pathways that we've included as part

050of this 3 to 5year plan. um just in response to some of the differing things that have happened within our community related to industry and and what's coming and what has potential to um potentially bring uh jobs into this area. So, while this is our plan today, we will be continuing to adjust and refine to ensure that the direction we're headed makes sense for our students in this community. So, we certainly want to make sure that our planning aligns in real time with what students need. So, um, we expect this to change and so, you know, we'll kind of, uh, go through this briefly. I'll I'll I'll kind of go through the first few slides and then I'll let um, Jen share, um, sort of the timeline for implementation that we see as we are

051planning for the school years to come. So, um the the purpose here of our of our plan is to establish a three to five year vision um and a roadmap for expanding CTA opportunities again aligned to workforce needs. the Indiana graduation requirements, which as you know have just shifted and are changing for this year's ninth grade class coming in um that will um be coming in under the new diploma seals and planning for student post-secary readiness and the community job needs. Um so that is the goal of Slicer CTE. That's the goal that we've been working toward as we've dedicated this building to become a CTE hub for our district and that is the vision that we have for the future as we continue to expand the programming that exists here. Um so again you

052can see here on under our vision that the three uh seals that are contained within the Indiana diploma requirements again starting with this year's freshman employment enlistment and enrollment in higher education. Um we embrace those as part of our CTE. Um, one of the great things that, um, we're working toward with all of our, um, CTE programs is that it's not a one onefits-all, um, program for students. Um, there are a variety of students in each of our programs um, that have a variety of goals. Some who intend to go directly into the workforce when they finish the program and graduate with the pathway and the credential that they have. Others are collegebound and will utilize this as the foundation for what they're planning to go study when they go on to college. So, um

053this uh what we are planning as part of our our CTE programming here um really is all-encompassing for all students no matter what their next step is going to be. Um, so as we look toward expansion, so as you know, um, this year marks the first year that this building um, is going to be opened up for full CTE use. Um, so of course we have our administrative offices here still, but with now um, the preschool no longer having presence in this building, we have space available that is going to allow us to really expand um, what we have to offer in CTE. And so, um, that is where this plan comes in because we want to be strategic in planning the different programs that we'll begin integrating into this, um, into this building. Um,

054so as we look toward expansion, we are looking at degree bearing and industry certified programs. Um, we're looking at career focused environments where we're working directly with community partners so that students are experiencing through these programs. Um, an actual experience that's connected to what they'll experience when they are out in the workforce, partnerships with local employers and colleges. Um, and then programming that meets the needs of current and future workforce demands. So, the next slide then shows our um, current pathways that we're building. So, um, you'll be able to see there where we're starting with this 2526 school year and then again in this moment in time our plan for expansion. So, I'll let Jen share just a little bit about this slide and and what our goals are in regard to the new pathways

055that we'll begin to integrate. Sure. Good evening. Um, as we've talked about many times before, we're starting several new pathways. We've been busy. Um, I wanted to just briefly touch on our criminal justice pathway. um we needed something that would kind of incorporate our the enlistment um seal that's coming on and so we did just get some final word that the criminal justice pathway will count towards that enlistment seal. So um we were kind of waiting on some word from that. So that was recent news from the DOE that came out. So, criminal justice pathway, we are starting um phase one of that this school year um with principles of criminal justice and um we have a fantastic teacher that's coming to teach that and his classes are very full like waiting lists and full

056classes. So, that's what we love to see. Um that that pathway aligns with the new um um facility that's being constructed in Westville that's supposed to be open I think in 2028 or nine. I'm not sure on the dates of that, but so we're working towards um getting kids credentialed with uh the dual credits and the certifications that they would need to go straight into um the criminal justice world working as a jailer, different different things like that. Our health careers lab is um open or up and running now in the Boston lab. The students will start here um very soon. They have the first couple days at the high school to go over rules and regulations and where to park and all that good stuff, but then they will be here. Um it's a

057really neat space. uh students can work on their IvyTech dual credits, their CNA license, and then any other certifications that they have they may have in the works. Last year, the class chose to do EKG. Um this year, I'm not sure what they're going to do. Their possibilities are endless because they're just amazing kids. Um our health careers class, uh they do earn a lot of dual credits, enough to earn a technical certificate. So, that means students can walk in an IvyTech graduation, um prior to graduating high school, which is really kind of neat. Um our hope and our goal is to be able to offer an associates of applied science in healthcare within the next year or two. Um again that's a fluid date that you know takes a lot to kind of offer

058that but we could potentially offer um high school students the possibility to earn an associates of applied science while they gra but by the time they graduate high school. >> Yeah. Um we're we are having we have carpentry um right now in our building trades program. We have hopes to expand that into an electrical pathway as well. So either there's um building trades and then there's building trades um carpentry and then building trades electrical. And we're fortunate enough that one of our building trades instructors, our construction um instructors has a background in electrical um I think he was an um I don't know what he was he has he has background in electrical but so um him and I are working on ways to expand that um that pathway to offer more than just carpentry.

059Um then we have a health pathway expansion. So, right now we just offer the CNA pathway, but there's tons of different health pathways out there. There's certified medical assisting, um there's exercise science, there is animal science, there's just all kinds of different ones. So, our hope is in 2627, um we will have at least one other health pathway that students can choose from. Um and then our welding pathway, our welding program expansion, um we are full this year. We will have 32 students completing the advanced level of welding, which is huge. Um, that's a lot of welding students to come out of there and I anticipate that that program will continue to grow. So, we may have to look at adding another lab somewhere sometime maybe. Um, automotive technology. Um, this is a program that

060students really want that students go to AK Smith for um, in Michigan City and they offer a fantastic program. Um, but we want to figure out something that we can offer here in Leaport for students. What that looks like, we're not quite sure yet, but we are are continuously exploring options for that. Um, as you know, Look for is a summer town. We have lots of lakeouses and um, cute little lakes here. So, we really want to tap into the hospitality and tourism management. Um, our family and consumer science teachers do an amazing job at teaching culinary arts right now. Um, but we can expand that that family and consumer science pathway to include hospitality and tourism management. So, that's another thing that we'll be kind of tapping into. Um, as we move forward with

061our criminal justice pathway, we'd like to um, hone in on more of a forensic idea. Uh lots of students really like the CSI kind of model. Um and it ties directly into your PLW courses and your health careers courses. So that's upcoming for the 2728 school school year. Um and then we there's lots of talks of data centers and Amazonmies and all that kinds of stuff. So our thumb is constantly on watching that. And so wea expect to have um an information technology networking sort of pathway um by the 2829 school year to align with all of the new growth that's happening within our county. >> Any questions, comments, concerns, >> I'm I'm very excited. >> Excited to see the fact that they will have a pathway to college if that's what they want or

062not going to college. We're still giving them an avenue for something to do after they graduate. I am very excited. >> Thank you. >> Very exciting. >> It's very important to all of us that we meet the needs of every student regardless of what their situation is. We want to give them the tools and the opportunity to soar after high school. So, I'm hopeful that with all of these programs, that's what we're doing. So, thank you for your support. >> Um, we have a couple more slides here that I'll run through really quickly. Um so just in conjunction with those additional pathways that we'll be offering. Um increasing workbased learning opportunities is a huge goal for us and across the state. The the emphasis is really on that hands-on learning model. And so um we

063are continuously working to expand our opportunities with employers through that so that we can ensure that students are linked up with um partners within our community. Um we are uh participating in pursuing an additional um career coaching grant this year. Um so we were fortunate to have a grant um this past year that allowed us to have some career coaches in our high school working with students. There is another opportunity to renew that grant. So we are hopeful that we'll receive um a renewal of that grant and can move forward with that and that will be a great addition to um the programs that we're offering here in this building as well. and then launching an open concept lab school for o upper classmen. Um and if you go to the next slide, we kind

064of expand on this and this this is a long-term vision. Um we're targeting a full launch in 2728 again that being fluid. Um but really looking to incorporate this building um when it it is up and running in its full capacity um to really be an open campus model that our students in their junior and senior year can come in and have an opportunity to access in more of an open and um college feel atmosphere where um you know with with the new um diploma requirements and as well as with the transition of our high school to block scheduling Our students are required to have 42 credits to graduate. Something in that neighborhood off the top of my head. I can't recall. Um and we have the opportunity for students to graduate with over 60.

065So, when we're thinking about the um the way a student's junior and senior year looks, um a lot of our kids are going to have the opportunity to get through all of those required courses by in some cases the end of their sophomore year. Um, so what we want to be able to establish in this building is really that open concept um, campus that allows students to have a little bit of independence in their junior and senior year to come in and be able to access the programming that they need with the highle um, pathway classes and the capstone courses that they are accessing for um, whichever pathway they're pursuing. Um and then to be able to experience some other um things related to um collaboration with community partners. Um having access to those career

066coaches um we're looking at ways to expand our partnership with IvyTech so that there is some ability for students to also be accessing some of the higher level college courses that they can access. And so as we kind of develop this, this is the overall vision that within the next few years, we'll be able to really offer this as an opportunity for students to access something a little bit non-traditional um that allows them to have a little bit of freedom, a little bit of independence as they are approaching the end of their high school career and really sets them on the right foot for the next step. Um so we're really excited about that as our vision and we're really looking forward to being able to incorporate um the start of some of these pathways

067that are going to lead us down that route. Um the next slide just kind of shows a different version of the same timeline that we already um shared with just a little bit more explanation. So I won't spend a lot of time on that in the interest of time. Um the the sites go on to to look at just measuring success and how we plan to track our progress. Obviously the credential and seal attainment is important um for us as we track the students that are successful in the program. Um but also incorporating some of the other um measure uh measuring um the uh expansion of our workbased learning placement. how many students are able to access um a qualified work-based learning opportunity. Um and then of course tracking also the post-secondary outcomes. Um so

068in conclusion again this is our plan as it stands right now. Um so we're really excited for some of the things that we have coming together. We have a lot of great community partners that are already in place and we're continuing to develop more. Um, so just really looking forward to um how we can continue to work in this area to really meet the needs of both our students as well as the the community of Leaport. >> Anyone have any questions for Dr. Wood? Comments? >> It's very exciting stuff. >> Yep. Good stuff. >> It is. >> Okay, moving on. The next order of business is the assistant superintendent of student learning report, Dr. Tonagle. >> All right, good evening everyone. U Tammyy's going to be pulling up a slideshow and her report to you

069on iAre and iLearn results from the spring and actually uh not ready for ire yet. They're supposed to be released uh later this week. Uh we just found out that the state is uh receiving reports from their test vendors after each testing window and they do a data analysis, a forensics report and they look for testing irregularities and abnormal response times all on technology wise. And so, uh, we were flagged for having some of those responses. I've heard throughout the state that this is a common thing. And so, we did an internal investigation, submitted our findings to the Department of Education. And so, I think that's why the I read scores are not released publicly. Um, I'm pleased to say after a lot of work, a lot of hours, um, basically we found out that

070our teachers do a good job and our kids are learning to read. I mean, essentially is what it came to. They said our scores are valid and there's no other information. So, um, when you do really well, they want you to submit evidence that what you did was was valid. So, I I commend our teachers and our our students for doing a good job. It just pulling the data on the kids that they flagged. I mean, they're looking at response times. They're looking at scores that go from, you know, what they consider low to high. Um, it was incredible what our principles came up with. They showed us data charts of other measures, other metrics that we have. They showed the interventions. They showed the resources that they're doing with their kids. So, I just

071say all that because it gave me a lot of confidence in what happens behind the scenes with our kids. So, we'll have more on the I read results meeting, but let's take a look at the uh iLearn results. So, iLearn is a statewide assessment system uh grades 3 through 8 in math and English language arts. There's also science and social studies. I will not be reporting on that um today. Just want to show you a little bit about ELA and math. This chart on the first slide shows ELA and MA math data grades 3 through eight. Statewide 40.6% of Indiana students are at or above proficiency standards in ELA and 42.1 are proficient in math. So in Leaport across all grades 40% of our students in 2025 were at or above proficiency standards in ELA

072and 48% of students were at or above proficiency in math. So, as you can see, the gray is the state bars and the orange is Leaport. Um, start with the good news. Math Leaport scores increased by 4% in 2024. Went from 44% to 48%. So, our math scores continue to be stronger than our ELA scores across the district. Um, our ELA scores remained flat. Um, one note I want to make about that, our ELA scores, everybody's ELA scores across the state did not um include writing data. So they did not score the writing this year. It was just a separate part of the test, the computer adaptive part of the test was scored. So um kind of hard to compare one year to the next when a big portion of the test uh was scored,

073but I would probably venture to say uh our scores would be very average. Um just looking at the past trends in in previous years, our writing has always been just a hair above state average. So I don't know that it would have thrown that um 40% much higher. So we continue to score above average than in the state. Tim, if you could go to the next slide. I wanted to take a look at this longitudinally because I think it's important to look um at scores since 2021. That's considered the baseline year after CO. Our ELA scores continue to remain flat. They range from 41.9% to 40.2. um they're unchanged essentially if you look over that that period of time. Our average is 41.5%. However, our mass scores, it's a totally different story. Um I told

074you that we went up 4% from 24 to 25. But if you look back from 2021, we're up over 11% since CO. So that tells us that we are making great grounds in math and we need to take a look at things from an ELA perspective. Let's look across uh grades 3 through 8 in mathematics. We mentioned that's a strength of the corporation, up 4% from last year. We're above the state average in seven of the seven tested grades. So that's a celebration. Our highest scores are in third and fourth grade. And as I dug deeper into the data because remember these are scores across the district. I saw some outstanding classroom performances. And I won't give names, but I will share some of those percentages here in couple upcoming slides. What I take from

075this, our math scores being as high as they are, it's a direct reflection of systematic implementation over a period of time and teacher training. Our math curriculum, our math maps, our interventions, our teacher training, that's all been in place for, I believe, 5 years. And so, we're reaping the benefits of that. We have not had that in ELA until this year. I'll talk about that in just a moment. But, as you can see, we are comfortably above the state across all grade levels. In ELA, grades three through eight, we only have scored above the state averages in grade three, four, and eight. Across grades three, and eight in ELA, our scores remain relatively flat, but again, got to remember that writing portion was not scored this year. Um, the data shows that students are not

076making sustained growth in ELA proficiency. I'm happy to report, we've known this, we've been investing in a new program that started last year. Our teacher training started in the spring and today we kicked off the school year with all our teachers from K through 8th grade in training for that new program. So we know that there's an emphasis on getting our scores up. So we're working to ensure that there's alignment from K through 8 in ELA and reading instruction, but it's also building content instruction. Our CQLA program uh really emphasizes vocabulary and teaching reading through content. A lot of standardized testing relies on uh reading complex test text passages and science, social studies, and other subject areas. And so if you lack that content background, you're going to struggle. And so that's one of the

077the strengths of this program. So we put a lot of research into that program and that training has kicked off. And I believe and I hope that within the next four years, we'll start to see those ELA scores do the same thing that our mass scores have been doing. Uh the next few slides show the data by school. to school data uh is in gray. The district average is in orange. In reviewing school performance data compared to the district and English language arts, Critzfield, Hanley, Kingsbury, and Kingsford Heights along with Riley surpassed the district average. And I mentioned a couple outstanding areas of performance. Again, I won't say the name, but at Hanley, we had one teacher score 80%, which is outstanding. And at Kingsbury, one classroom was at 75% at ELA. So um some

078pockets of some excellence. Fourth grade again the data for schools is in gray. District data is in orange and reviewing the school performance in fourth grade. ELA compared to the district uh in math. Critzfield, Hanley and Kingsford Heights surpassed the district and again one Hanley classroom was at 80%. A different classroom. >> Interesting. >> Next slide. Uh third grade uh math. The third grade math data reveals areas of strong performance at Critzfield, Hyman, Hanley, Kingsbury, and Kingsford Heights. Some notable strengths in the classroom, 81% at a Kingsford Heights classroom, 85% Kingsbury, and a 96 uh% benchmark at Highland. So outstanding there. Grade four math. Uh these scores highlight promising promising trends in certain areas as well. Kitchfield had 91% in one fourth grade math classroom. Kingsford Heights 86% and 85% in a handling classroom. So,

079we want to continue to look to leverage uh these areas of strength across the district and that will certainly happen as we pursue becoming a PLC as Dr. Wood. Let's look at grades 5 through 8 next. As you will see on this chart, which shows the state in gray and the Leaport scores in orange, there's a consistent gap in grades 5 through 7 in ELA. We trail the state average by four to six percentage points in these grades. In the next slide, in math, uh, conversely, we're above the state average in all grades. We're outperforming the state by 1 to seven points across grades of 5 through eight. So, next steps, what do we do about it? You know, we're rightfully um wary of the volume of state assessment testing that occurs, but we also

080at the same recognize that it's what happens in education in 2025. Accountability is an important thing and we need to measure uh what it is that we spend our time on. And so, uh we're buying into um digging into this data. We need to look at this number one. We need to look at it at the classroom and the student level to find out where the gaps are to pinpoint where in the standards that we're not performing. Number two, I mentioned the adoption of a new reading program. This is really important that we invest with our teachers so that we can systematically um teach reading through skills and content knowledge from K all the way up through 8th grade and through high school for that matter. Um, number three, students enter uh later grades with

081shared vocabulary and content base in order to um tackle complex text. And last year, we did a pilot year with the iLearn checkpoint test. Did not give us a lot of great information to act on. This year, we're looking to uh jump on that a little bit more with one of our program partners, Adenum. There's an integration um system that they have. we can take your results on your I learn checkpoints and you can build a personalized course of study for the students. And so we're planning on doing that. Again, trying to build the capacity for the kids to develop that that base that they need to succeed on the summitative assessment at the end. And then number five, just uh providing time for our teachers to collaborate. We do a great job of that.

082We started a great job of that last year around data at the school level. We need to provide the time and the support for our teachers to do at the grade level across the district. I mentioned those pockets of excellence that are happening throughout the district district. We need to um help our teachers lean into that with each other and learn from each other. Be glad to answer any questions, but we'll have results for the I read hopefully in September. >> You have any questions or comments for Dr. Tom? I have a question and you may not know the answer but you know with um looking at the state averages I'm just wondering like what is what's a reasonable goal like what is the highest performing district scoring on that test because obviously we're not

083going to go from state average of 40 up to 100%. >> Right. >> And it's okay if you don't know. I'm just wondering >> off the top of my head just I could take a couple guesses. >> I'm sure. Yeah. So could I, but I I just don't know what a realistic goal is. >> There's a pretty strong correlation with demographics, property to to test scores. Um, so I could I could show you that >> we this is an assessment that is focused on growth and achievement. I just showed with showed you achievement data. There's a growth side to this as well and those results aren't out yet. >> I think we need to show growth towards proficiency. So we need to take our scores and find, you know, manageable amounts of increase that we

084can look at each year because we are focusing on the growth aspect. They give you four categories of scoring when you're looking at kids. So it's not just pass or fail. Um there's a category in the middle of approaching proficiency. And so part of that classroom and student level data and number one that I mentioned is digging down and seeing which kids are in that that chunk in the middle and then pinpoint exactly what standards are those kids missing. Uh I'm jumping around a little bit. I don't want to say a number except totally you should have manageable goals based on breaking down the data at the classroom level. It's just this data it's surface level, right? It's 30,000 foot view uh level data. I mentioned there are classrooms scoring in the 80 and 90%,

085right? And so that means there are some classrooms that are probably in the 30s and 40s. And so student makeup and classroom composition can can impact that. But we need to base our goals on the growth and how our kids are progressing towards proficiency. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Good question. >> So, this is just kind of a comment question. So, uh we obviously want to see our scores be better, right? I have a good friend of mine that says like, you know, I'll say like what's the point over there? I don't care about over there. I don't live over there. Care about here, right? So, we want to we want to be better, right? And so, then I think about like what are we doing to achieve that? It sounds like two things actively. one

086is getting into that consistent ELA curriculum, right? That's that we have a strong belief that's going to help. And then and then PLC's like both of those if we lean into those and and and follow those through should help with this. Is that is that a fair? >> Yeah. The number one predictor of student achievement is classroom instruction. The teacher the biggest difference. So you either hire better teachers or you help create better teachers and develop greater teachers. And our PLC model would be in the latter part of that is developing better teachers. >> Okay, cool. Any other questions or comments? Okay, thank you Dr. Tonagle. Next is assistant superintendent operations report. Dr. Oni. >> Yes, thank you. Um just a few updates uh from a facilities and maintenance standpoint. Uh Ryan Kim, our director,

087wanted to give a shout out to the custodial staff and maintenance staff for their hard work over the summer getting our buildings and grounds looking uh really sharp. Everything looks great. Uh for the students on Thursday, um CDL lot's going to be in the black top process this week, so we'll be ready for when Ivytech is ready to have have their CDL program here. Uh roof replacements finishing up its last section at the high school. And we just had a update on the secure vestibules. Those are wrapping up in two of the buildings. Kingsberry is a little delayed. Uh but they should be done by August 25th. So everything's moving right along there. Um from a transportation side of things, all transportation assignments have gone out. So if there's any parents out there that haven't

088gotten word yet, you need to contact transportation department. Um but those assignments have gone out. Food service. Um the new el uh the high school serving area is completed. Um they did a video to help uh students navigate that on the first day of school. So, that's going to be released uh during their SRT so they kind of know what to expect in the new serving area. But we've checked it out today. It looks amazing. Kind of like college feel where you just go through and pick what you want. So, really good job there by our food service department. And then um they are going to be doing operating under the C. Again, this year is uh year two out of four that we have C. Um technology standpoint. Uh Mike and his his group

089of guys uh they finished up distributing the Chromebooks. They're all delivered out to the buildings ready for school, finishing up some last minute changes and scheduling and things like that that may go into the school year depending on student requests and things like that. Um and then navigating the questions that may come in from staff and parents on Parent Square. So that's my update. That's all I have for you guys. >> Any questions or comments for Dr. Let's just say our food service and our uh maintenance crew consistently just knock smack it out of the park. I think they really have great attention to detail. That's all. >> And they they did the move too, right? >> Oh yes, that was in there. I forgot to mention that. Yeah, >> that's a lot of extra

090>> moving all those people through the summer. Yeah, >> it's great. >> Okay, cool. Okay, moving the new business. First order of business uh is a consideration for recommendation to approve and accept acceptance of grants, donations, gifts, and bequest. Dr. Wood, >> so we have two um to approve this evening. So the first is a grant um from how met in the amount of $38,770. Um this grant is called gaming towards a greater future esports grant. Um, and so this is this grant is to be used to continue the advancement and development of Leaport High School esports. Um, so just in case you don't know what esports are, I thought you might not. Um, so esports are organized competitive video gaming events. Um, this is becoming really popular. It's one of the fastest growing um,

091extracurricular opportunities for high school students in the nation. Um, so students play on teams much like traditional sports, but they're in a virtual setting. They give students the opportunity to build teamwork, communication, and problem solving skills while participating in one of the fastest growing school activities in the country. This program will open the door for more students to get involved in extracurricular activities, build valuable skills, and represent Leaport in a growing area of competition where our students can truly shine. Um, so it's a really exciting opportunity. Um, it's an exciting opportunity to engage students that otherwise might not have an extracurricular opportunity that really meets their interest level. Um, I know Jen's worked on this a little bit with with some of our um connection to STEM and CTE and and things like that. And

092so it is a really popular thing, so we're really excited about this grant. Um, the second is a donation from the Leport High School class of 1962 um, in the amount of $1,457 for a bench to be placed in the main commons area of Wort High School. >> They don't have any questions or comments. Make a motion to approve the grants and donations. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Jen. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Tucker. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Okay. Passes 70. Next is consideration for recommendation to approve resolution regarding the use of public records for commercial purposes. Dr. Wood. >> So lately we have seen a rise in public records requests from companies that are outside of our local area. They're actually coming from outside of the

093state. Um and they are asking for large amounts of purchasing and employee directory information. Um which we largely believe is being fed into AI systems and sold to vendors for marketing purposes. Um so state law actually allows us to deny these requests when we identify that they are being made for commercial purposes. Um and we have been doing so. Um but as we work with our attorney on um this area um he has recommended that we pass this resolution um which just formalizes that our practice um for these types of inquiries um is not to um allow them when we know that that data is being sold off to companies that are using it for marketing purposes. And I do want to be clear that this resolution does not in any way impact legitimate local

094requests for information that our community or any other interested parties um might be um requesting information. Um we're target this it targets specifically um these groups that are are trying to sell our our data. >> Any questions or comments for >> Mr. Kaminsky? Wasn't Wasn't that a court decision? Didn't did the court rule on that? Well, the public assets counselor has done done that. Yeah. >> Look, some of these are I mean, as Dr. Wood has said, are very clearly for commercial purposes. There's no other legitimate purpose. This resolution will allow her and us to deny it. And then they have every right to say, "No, this is why we're doing it." And then we can explore whether or not it's legitimate. >> Any other questions or comments? Someone want to make a motion to

095approve the uh passing of the resolution regarding the use of public records for commercial purposes. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Amy. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jen. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Okay. Passes 70. Next is consideration for the recommendation to approve the Boys and Girls Club contracts for Hman, Kingsford Heights, and Kessling Intermediate School for the 2025 2026 school year. Dr. Wood. Um so this um contract or memorandum of understanding is uh between us and the Boys and Girls Club of Leport County. Um this is a contract that we engage in each year with the Boys and Girls Club as they offer programming to our students um in the locations that are named in the contract. Um has been in place for several years now that we have

096been working with them. They are a great organization, offer an amazing opportunity for our students and our families um for structured programming after school. Um it is a great ass asset to our district and so I would request your approval of this continuing contract um with the Boys and Girls Club. Um Boys and Girls Club will be um commencing their programming for this school year next week Monday. So August 18th will be the first day for the club. >> Okay. Does anyone want to make a motion to approve the uh the resolution for the Boys and Girls Clubs? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Monica. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Tucker. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> All right. Pass the 70. Next is consideration for recommendation to approve the

097lease agreement with IvyTech Community College. Dr. Wood. >> So, we are actually going to request that we table this item until next month as we haven't had an opportunity to finalize the contract. Um, so we will revisit this in September. Um, this is in connection with our ongoing partnership with IvyTech as we continue to expand our CTE opportunities. >> Sounds good. That's table. Next is 85 consideration for recommendation to approve amendment to contract with Learning Tree Academy. Dr. Wood. So, a few months back, we approved a contract with Learning Tree Academy to um open three classrooms of daycare at our early childhood center this year. Um that partnership is working extremely well. I'm very excited to get this started for this school year. They have been in setting up their rooms. they are excited and

098ready to go to be able to offer this opportunity to our families to make preschool accessible to those um that work and and need the full day care that they will now be able to offer with our preschool being a half-day program. Um we had operated last year through a grant um an employee child care program um that we are no longer as as a part of this partnership with Learning Tree Academy. Um they are taking on our employee child care program as the benefit we offer to our staff. Um, and so as a result of that, we had a number of items that were utilized in that employee child care room last year that we are now going to rent to Learning Tree Academy to utilize in those three classrooms at our preschool. Um,

099so the items are listed in the contract. It is a variety of of different furniture items and um different items that they will utilize in the classroom in the three classrooms that they are incorporating. and then we will be increasing their rent per month by $75 for the use of those items. So, this is just an amendment to that contract that already exists as we've added this on um as an addition to the initial agreement. >> Anyone have any questions or comments for Dr. Wood? Somebody want to make a motion to approve the recommendation uh for uh to approve the amendment to the contract with Learning Tree Academy. So, move. Thank you, Justin. Second. >> Thank you, Jim. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Okay. Pass 70. Next is a consideration for

100recommendation to approve textbooks for Leaport High School. Dr. Toman. >> Yes. I've have a recommendation here from Mr. Up and Mrs. Goss recommending the six-year adoption of books for principles of healthc care course number 7168 and healthc care specialist law and ethics course 7166. Names of those books are there and I believe you got an update on the CTE portion of this just a little bit ago from Mrs. G's courses are for our career tech and education courses. Okay. Anyone have any questions for Dr. Tonagle? So I want to make a motion to recommend the approval of the textbooks for Leaport High School. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Tucker. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Justin. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> That passes 70. Uh, next is consideration for

101the recommendation to approve resolution in support of military families at Kingsford Heights Elementary. >> Yes. Thank you. So, this is our second. >> Hold on. Sorry. Purple star school application. >> Sorry about that. That's okay. >> Thank you. Uh this is a resolution in support of the Purple Star designation for Kingsford Heights. This would be our second elementary school seeking this special designation. And if you remember right, this honors uh veterans, uh service members and their families, anybody connected to a veteran or a military family. So really proud of the work that they've put into this to make this designation doable at Kingsford Heights just like Indian Trail did. Okay. >> Anyone have any questions or comments? Okay. Does somebody want to make a motion to approve the resolution to support military families at Kingsford

102Heights Elementary Purple Star School application? >> So move. >> Thank you, Jim. >> Second. >> Thank you, Tucker. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> That pass 70. >> Thank you. >> Uh next is consideration for recommendation to approve disposition of surplus food service equipment. Dr. Oni. >> Yes. This uh request comes from our director of food services. Uh in accordance with federal regulations, any equipment that's under current fair market value of $5,000 per unit or less may be retained, sold, or otherwise disposed of. So, uh due to the um upgrades that have been made in the high school serving line in the cafeteria, there are some things that have been replaced by uh updated equipment. You can see those items listed there in the PDF. hot wells and serving lines, cold

103wells, some serving line tables and cashier stands, and then a few items have been sold to um another school corporation for a total of $3,000. Uh, additionally, some milk coolers were also sold through a public auction process. So, I'm requesting the board approval for the disposition and sale of those surplus food service items. Anyone have any questions or comments for Dr. Oi? Hearing none. Is there a recommendation to approve the disposition of surplus food service equipment? >> So, >> thank you, John. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Amy. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. It passes 70. Next is consideration for recommendation to approve 2025 food service department stipen payout. Dr. Oni. >> Yes. Again, this is from our director of food services. Um they would like board approval for the payment

104of a 2025 stipen for the food service staff. This was based on the food service department excess funds balance as of June 30th and the stipen would be paid out on September 5th pay. Anyone have any questions or comments? Uh I have uh just one kind of question and comment. So this is uh money that is left over in the food budget. >> Correct. And we cannot use any of that money for anything other than the food budget. Correct. >> So we can't transfer this over to buy jerseys or >> unfortunately. No. >> Okay. >> It's got to remain with just cafeteria food service. >> Want to be clear. >> Okay. >> And I I'll echo that too with another note just because we talked a little bit earlier about the renovation in Leort High

105School's cafeteria with the serving line and that project is another example of exactly that as well. And that the food service budget is a self- sustaining budget. It's separate from all other budgets within our district. It is um generated through federal dollars and with federal dollars we're required to spend it out and not carry too much of it over. So both of these initiatives, the serving line as well as the stipens are part of a required process to spend down the money in that budget. >> And I just want to say that I think Cindy does a fantastic job of managing her budget. And uh this uh if we approve it, the stipens would total all in about $61,500. So this is a a decent um stipen that uh having spent time with the food

106service folks, they deserve it. They're they're awesome. They're just >> always happy whenever I'm around. I don't know. >> Um so, okay, enough of that. The Anyone want to make a motion uh for the recommendation to approve the 2025 food service department stipen payout? >> Absolutely. Thank you, Tucker. Second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Jim. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. >> Okay. The last order of new business is a consideration for recommendation to approve 2025 2026 school year chrome Chromebook repair fees. Dr. uh this request comes from our technology department. In May, uh the board approved the accidental damage protection coverage for student Chromebooks through Secured Technology Solutions. Um, however, by adopting that company, there are some items like the charger, the case that are not covered. Additionally, if the

107device cannot be found and it's not lost or stolen, um, then there it's also not covered by ADP. So, uh, there's a list of specific items that we would charge students for in the event that it's damaged or stolen. Uh, so the charger listed there, the Chromebook case for different models, and then full cost of replacement if the item can't be found and they don't say that it was lost or stolen. Um, so this should have a net zero financial impact on the technology department. Uh, they would have the expenditures for replacement of chargers, cases, and lost devices. These fees will offset those cost. So, I'm recommending that the board approved this request by the tech department. Any have any questions or comments? Hearing none. Does somebody want to make a recommendation to approve the

1082025 2026 school year Chromebook repair fees? >> So, moved. >> Thank you, Monica. Second. >> Second. Thank you, Justin. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Okay, that passes seven. Uh there is no other business board comment. Anybody have any comments? Jim, >> I've been quiet for a couple months. >> You have. Let's go. Let's have it. >> Three things here. A couple months ago, uh why I got the call, I don't know, but from Terry Scrapley School Board Association introduced me to a doctor from education department that I knew who was doing a I don't know if she's doing a class or a study, a paper or what about the need for school boards to to work and communicate with local governments. So, I did an interview with her for her

109class or whatever, whatever she's doing it for. And I was very honored to and why I was selected, I don't know, but I did contact Dr. Wood to let her know that this was being done. I've heard no more about it, so maybe she's not even teaching anymore. I don't know, but I was on it. It was it was an honor for us to be involved in it. And I would like to think it's because our cooperation work with local government. So, I'm going to use that as an excuse. The second thing is today we had the second Zoom meeting of the Indiana School Board Association nominee committee which our president served on last year or maybe two years. >> two years. >> I don't know if they did interviews but we did interviews of

110all the candidates. Weren't that many >> and one of the votes ended up in a five tie and we went over again ended up in a five tie on July 24th. So we had set another meeting today. Thus I wasn't at meeting today. So now the slots have been filled, the decisions have been made which will be announced at the board at the conference committee. >> Okay. >> So they're all filled. Uh two a new one. We did have we're in district one by the way. >> We did not have a vacancy. Glenn Johnson is still the uh district. So district two next door they had two people one from Pen Pener Madison and the superintendent of South School. So you'll see at the at the conference who was selected that we finally reached a

111decision and after two months we now have all the board places filled. The third thing which I'm really excited about won't mean much to you folks but I'm really excited was I received a letter from Governor Braun today that I've been reappointed to the NITY board. >> Oh congratulations. >> Which is uh Northern Indiana Transportation District. So uh and I get another four-year appointment to that board. So, I'm really big there. So, I encourage you folks, ride the Southshore. When you go to South Shuttle, you know, ride the Southshore and check it out and see. We just finished a $765 million double track from the Michigan City to Chicago. And now we're about wrapping up a $980 million Southshore line from Punster, Indiana to Hammond, which will tie it again. And now we're working on

112finishing the line with the South Pin airport, finishing up the US South airport, which is 112 million, and building some new train station along the line. So, please write a song short and check it out. It's really great. So, I just had to share that because I I had no idea what's going to happen. It happened rather quickly. Honored to get his letter to the point. >> Well, congratulations. >> Anybody else have any comments? Hope everybody has a great school year. Sounds like we have a lot of awesome things happening. So, we're very excited. >> For sure. >> Anybody else? >> So, I I spent the last little bit of time with my son Jay uh driving. We like to go on road trips and he wanted me to make a reminder to everyone that

113school starts on Thursday and to obey the posted uh sign, speed sign, and don't speed through school zones. So, he watches us so he'll appreciate that. >> That's amazing. School buses, too. Stop at those school bus. school bus. Correct. >> Okay. So, uh, anyone want to make a motion to adjurnn? >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Justin. All those in favor say I. >> I. You're