001uh normal stuff and then >> okay good evening everybody >> well maybe a >> okay all right good evening everybody welcome uh it's customary for us to have a voluntary prayer if Rick would lead us in that >> dear Lord dear Lord we thank this another day that you've given us, dear Lord, another year, dear Lord. Now, be with us and direct us to this meeting. Be with Jack as he recovers and be with us. Make us safe during this next storm we come up. Amen. >> All right. Uh at this time, Mr. Cazelle, would you like to introduce our two young men that are leading the pledge tonight? >> Fine gentlemen joining us tonight to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. We have Luca Clemens and Ashford Clemens with mother and dad is.
002So if you guys would do this, we would be grateful for that 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. >> Thank you. recognize. Come over here. appet. [applause] >> You ready? >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Uh Just remember your mic. >> All right. Welcome everyone. I'd like to call the 2026 Board of Finance meeting to order. Uh the first item on the agenda is a request to approve the January 23rd, 2025 minutes. Do have a motion in that. >> Move to approve. >> Second and Derek. Any discussion? Uh, do we need to do roll call vote? >> We'll do a roll call vote. >> Jack, >> Liz, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >>
003Derek, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. That's six yeses. That passes. Now we'll do the election of the officers for this year's board of finance. Is there anyone especially ambitious that wants to vi to take this job from me in any way, shape or form? >> I I make a motion that we I I Chad >> Chad was Mr. Cooper was secretary. Yes. uh that we keep the same slate of Mark Rogers as president and Chad Cooper because he's not here as secretary. So, uh he can't speak in against it. So, uh that's my motion is to have uh Mark and Chad serve as president and secretary for another year. >> All right. [clears throat] Do I have a second to that motion? >> Second. >> Any discussion? Uh, no.
004Uh, all those uh will do the roll call. Jack, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. Six to zero. And we'd ask for the 2025 investment report. >> Uh, yes. For the board, your investment report was included in your board packet. You will notice there uh the uh the interest rates that we were afforded for each of our investments with Owen County State Bank as our primary uh bank institution. You'll also see uh for public notice our total 20 our 2025 total interest earned was $457,316.73. Uh from that the total also excuse me 2025 total bond interest earned from the construction bonds were $47,872.15 for total interest of 55,188.88. Those monies were again then repurposed in the education fund
005to continue paying for salaries and wages and benefits. Um the $47,000 of bond interest stayed just with that the bond so it helped pay for projects. So um [clears throat] the board is able to see the interest rates that were afforded to us. Uh will not share those with the public so that we maintain the privacy of the bank and the lending institutions uh and what they are offering us. Is there any questions on the investment income report or the amount the investment? Yes, the investment report. >> Okay. No questions. Do we need to accept that officially or just hear it? >> Uh, I would ask you to accept it. Yes. >> All right. Do I have a motion to accept that investment report? >> Uh, I move that we accept the investment report. >>
006Thank you, Derek. Do I have a second? >> Second, Rick. Thank you. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Jack, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. Passes six to zero for acceptance. You've received a list of the voided checks from 2025. Those are for yourformational purposes only. Any questions or discussion on about any of that that you saw? Okay. Finally, the uh 2025 financial school corporation report. Switch over here. All right. And the board packet and then we'll we get this to work on the front one. Is it being broadcast? Okay, let's I'm sorry if you turn your attention to that screen and then we'll come back to that. But the corporation financial condition for 2024, you're always looking at
007the year behind. So our requirements here uh these are fiscal and qualitative indicators report for the district and we'll be looking at uh a handful of pieces here but background information on this this is required by house enrolled act 1315 which was enacted in 2018 uh should be through a public hearing. Uh, also the DAB, which is the the distressed unit appeals board, reviews indicators on a yearly basis, and they began so in 2019. Spencer own Community Schools has never had to meet with DUAB for any distressed unit appeals. Uh, which basically would say to all of you to the public, we are not spending our money improperly and we are not in a financial crisis. So, but we will look at uh the different pieces that are required by public here. that drive our
008funding mechanisms. So the first item there is you look at the [clears throat] average daily memberships. Uh it is an item that we look at on a yearly basis and we monitor uh very closely those items there. You can see in the last several the last three school years 24 25 23 24 22 23 that we have stabilized our enrollment. Uh we did end the school enrollment in 2025 of 250 students enrolled in the spring. Uh right, excuse me. Our first enrollment count for this school year 2526 was at 258. Uh I am glad to report as we look at the next count which will be in February here in about a week and a half we are right now hovering at 25051 students which is a good indicator for our district because we are
009closing the gap of students coming and going from fall to spring compared to our previous years. Um partly many factors. We've had uh new enrollment since the second semester started. We had a smaller uh number of midterm graduates compared to last year. Had just 11 this year compared to was it 16 last year Mr. Bolting House that number. So uh to me that's a good sign we are stabilizing our enrollment. So that becomes important because you are well aware the board is and the public that the enrollment drives the funding mechanism for uh membership dollars for each of our students. So questions on that. All right. Next indicator on our [clears throat] fund balances. Um get to my cheat sheet here. There we go. Uh our fund balances. These look at the end of the
010year balances uh for a various sunundry of funds uh whether it be education operation, rainy day, uh debt service. You can see uh that we are maintaining in yellow that is our education fund. and we are maintaining a strong cash balance through 2024 um with the goal of always trying to maintain at least an 18 to 20% balance cash balance of our appropriation for a state budget. So we have a state budget for education of roughly $18 million. So we want to try and maintain at least an 18 to 20% balance in the event of catastrophe whether we don't have money distributed from the state uh something happens that way we can maintain our payroll for at least two pay cycles without disrupting those things. So uh the other information I put up on there
011uh education balances will decrease as our federal and state funds have decreased moving into the new 2026 budget cycle. So we have exhausted all of the er funds that you were accustomed to in 24 and uh part of 25. Uh we are also beginning to see a deduction or a reduction in distribution of title one, title two and title four funds from the federal government. Uh we're monitoring that closely. So this chart when I do this next year is going to look a little different. We're going to see a little bit smaller cash balance uh in education and we will see a smaller cash balance in operations because of potential impact with Senate enrolled act one and the changes that are becoming from that with how property tax is assessed and then collected. So any
012questions on that? All right. uh annual deficit surplus. You can see on our uh the chart here, the green rep, excuse me, the green represents revenue, the blue represents expenditure, uh and the yellow represents a deficit surplus. So, what we want to see is the green is always outpacing the blue. Our revenues are higher than our expenditures. And in 2024, we finished with uh building cash balance a little bit at the end of that year with a small debt uh um surplus affecting that. That is always going to be the goal to maintain our surplus. Again, when I go back to trying to maintain that 20% balance that we need to have in in times of a catastrophe or something unknown. So, we are again being good stewards of our money. Um, one of the
013things we will watch is our, as I allude to the the minutes or the notes up there, we're going to look at our operational costs going forward into this year, uh, with again increased utility cost uh, bringing on a transportation building with increased with new utility cost uh, as well. So, questions on deficit surplus. All right. Fund balances as a percentage of our expenditures. Again, We want to make sure that we're [clears throat] trying to maintain the uh an 8.3 fund balance on a monthly basis. So board members, when I give you our cash flow analysis and I say we want to spend every month, we want to spend 8.3% of our total budget allowed every month. So this shows that we've been able to do that. that we've maintained at least a minimum 20%
014balance. Uh again, our six-year average for having a balance over 30% uh our six-year average for so SOC balance over 30% is considered a sign of excellent financial health and we will continue moving towards the 20% with reduced we will continue we will move forward to a reduced 20% due to the Senate Bill one impacting us as well. So, we'll be good stewards of the money, but we're not getting as much. So, we're going to have to again watch that as we uh pro proceed forward. Questions on that? All right. Uh revenue types. This gives you an overall picture of our revenue uh sources. You look at the local tax revenue, which is the bottom pink. that has remained consistent which says that's kudos to the county and our our makeup of the county that
015we've been able to maintain a constant or uh level tax rate. You also see in green the debt revenue. So the money we have borrowed for bonds in order to finish the football field. when I came in 20 what was it 2020 20 I don't know 2021 we finished that project up just as I walked in the door here then we talk about new uh chillers and HVAC at the middle school high school we talk about three phases of improvement at Spencer Elementary we talk about um the renovations in the improvement at the middle school that we just finished you see that that green uh in the middle represents what I talked about first. The green on the end is going to represent the debt revenue that shows that we have gotten with the middle
016school projects finishing or the middle school and Spencer Elementary and the bus barn projects being put in place and taken care of. Uh the other local revenue services other local new other local revenue sources the purple those have remained pretty static. You can see it's not gotten wide or or narrow as we've gone through time. So, those will become a concern to the board when we get to 2027 and local income tax with Senate Bill One in its present form will go away. Uh, and I'm hoping that changes here in the next several weeks, but that would be a $450,000 loss to the district in local income tax. that becomes important. As I've said this to the board and I'm saying it to the public because that $450,000 that we've gotten, I've put it towards
017debt service to pay off our bonds, to pay off construction in order to maintain the tax rate for property tax so I don't have to go out to John Q public and say, "I need to raise your rate a nickel or a dime." We've been able to use that money to keep it level and keep it flat. when that money goes away. And I've said this to the board and I'll say it to the public. I'm going to have to say to the board we're going to have to raise our rate. So, uh, I want to explain that just so everybody knows what's coming if some changes aren't done by our legislators at the state house. Your blue area that shows your state revenue. So again, those are dollars generated by our student enrollment. Those
018are dollars generated by special education funding. No, excuse me, that's incorrect. That's dollars rep by our student enrollment, CTE, diploma type, graduation type. That's those dollars. That's that source. So, you can see we've been pretty consistent uh in that 1817 million range over the last five, six years. That's our funding source. Uh and we're good in that respect. [snorts] Uh the federal revenue in yellow or mustered. Again, you can see it's been somewhat uh even killed. We had a little bit of an increase there in 2022. That again was at the tail end of COVID when additional federal dollars and Medicare or Medicaid dollars were uh pushed out. Uh those are beginning to disappear a bit. And then again the last one at the very top, the federal stimulus revenue that has been spent and
019expended. So we that will disappear as this uh progresses through time. Uh, any questions on those? All right. Uh, we do not have an operating referendum, so I leave this blank on purpose. Uh, to my knowledge, the corporation has never had an operating referendum for operational costs or salary costs. Um, at this point, I I it might be something to think about in the future, but right now, I don't believe it is. So, uh, you have schools surrounding us that are doing it in order to maintain salaries and then maintain services. And, you know, I we may have to ask that question at some point in the future. Do we do that in order to maintain salaries and maintain services? And again, that would go to the public for a vote in a referendum, but
020as of right now, we do not have a referendum revenue source. All right. Any other questions? Okay, that is the report. Then let me get out of this and get Mr. White back up here. >> Jack, did you have any questions? >> No. >> All right. Motion to adjourn. Then >> I motion that we adjourn our board of finance meeting. >> Second Dina. Uh, we'll do a voice vote. Jack, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Derek, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. Meetings adjourned. I now call to order our regular session meeting uh for January 22nd, 2026. Uh we will begin uh with a roll call real quick. Uh just for the record, we have Mark >> here, >> Dena here, >> Rick here, >>
021Liz here, >> Jack is here and let the minutes >> yeah let the uh minutes reflect that Jack is here virtually and uh that Chad Cooper is absent this evening. So we have six members present for this evening's meeting. Uh next up on our agenda is recognition of visitors patrons uh comments. Uh the members of the public are afforded two opportunities uh to speak at every board meeting. The first is as it pertains to any agenda item and the second opportunity is after we adjourn on any item. Uh does anybody wish to make any public comment this evening on any specific agenda item? Okay. None. And then you can if anybody wants to speak after uh the meeting is adjourned, you are free to do that at that time. Okay. Next on the agenda is
022additions to the regular agenda. Uh there are no additions to the agenda this evening. >> Okay. >> Uh next on our agenda is the consent agenda. [clears throat] >> I would ask the board to approve the consent agenda as presented including your minutes from the January 8th reorganization meeting and your executive session uh and your principal and director reports. >> Okay. You've heard the request. Is there a motion uh to approve or is there a motion on the consent agenda? >> Move to approve. Thank you, Mark. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I got Liz by nose. Uh, all right. Um, any discussion on the consent agenda? I just have one comment. Uh, since we have some administrators present tonight for the principal and director reports. I appreciate time you guys take to
023write those. I know it's probably not another thing added to your workload to send those in, but I appreciate the perspective that we get by getting your uh principal and director reports. Um, not here, but Jeff's is my favorite. Uh, I love seeing uh the list of all of the things that break in the corporation in a given month. Uh, is is kind of a a good read every month. Um, and he's there to fix them. So, I appreciate uh you the effort that people put, our administrators and directors on those reports. Okay. All right. Uh it's been properly moved and seconded. Is uh we'll proceed to a roll call vote. Start down with Mark. >> Yes. >> Dena, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Jack, >> yes. >> Derek
024is a yes. Motion passes. Six to zero. >> Okay. Next up is uh recognition presentation of awards. >> I'd like to start first to see with the you make a difference nominee and uh Mr. Tragasser if you would uh take the floor. >> Oh, and uh please step up to the mic. Make sure that the microphone is on. >> All right. All right, for the you make a difference award tonight, I've got a little speech written here. So, it starts out, how do you measure an impact of a life of impact? Is it measured in school years, in IEPs written and revised, and lessons planned long after the bell? Or is it measured in moments, quiet victories, patient guidance, and the steady belief that every student matters? Today we celebrate Kelly Helms. 35 years, 35
025seasons of learning, adapting, advocating, and leading. That's 180 school days each year. About 360 minutes a day, adding up to more than 2,268,000 minutes spent teaching, guiding, supporting, and believing in students. Over two million minutes of showing up, of listening, of explaining things. one more time of never giving up on a student who needed someone to stay. As a special education teacher at Owen Valley High School, Kelly stood beside students when learning felt hard, when voices needed amplifying, and when persistence mattered more than perfection. As department chair, she's led with clarity and compassion, guiding colleagues, mentoring teachers, and keeping students at the center of every discussion. And when work became more complex because of our uh leaders at the state, when systems demanded more precision and patience, Kelly didn't step back, she stepped forward. She
026helped create Power School special programs guides, turning confusion into clarity and making sure compliance never replaced care. That's the difference she makes. It's not loud. It's not flashy, but it is lasting. Because the true measure of a career isn't found in numbers or documents. It's found in the confidence of a student who felt seen, the relief of a family who felt supported, and the strength of a team who felt guided. So today, we don't just count the years. We count minutes. Minutes filled with patience, minutes filled with advocacy, and minutes filled with hearts. Through every season, through more than two million minutes, Kelly showed up. And because she did, our staff, our students, and our school are better. Kelly, you truly make a difference. [applause] >> Did Kelly know this is why she's here? [laughter]
027>> How did he get you here? >> He told me that he had to do a report. [laughter] >> Congratulations, Thank you very much for our kids. It's very much Sometimes our award recipients don't stay around. Does anybody wish to make any comment while she's >> Well, just congratulations. We always say nice things, but you might have gone home. Thank you. Thank you for your work. This has been a great week for Kelly, by the way. >> Yeah, >> her beloved Hoosiers. >> Living the dream and you make a difference award to cap off for week. So, a great week. But, Kelly, having worked in the building with you, I I I know that you make a huge difference in the lives of the students that that you work with. Um, you you're there to
028celebrate them every step of the way and and to make and lift them up. and I appreciate all of your hard work. >> Okay. Okay. Next on our agenda uh is the legislative update. I will be brief. Um you have in front of you a uh legislative update. I'm not going to go through bill by bill here, but um do want the public and the board to be aware, especially Senate Bill 78 is working its way through the process. Um so few years or a year, however long, >> year ago, um the Indiana legislature passed a ban on cell phones during instructional time uh in classrooms. they are back at it to um and the way that the bill reads right now is that the cell phones would be banned from school buildings. Uh students
029would not be allowed to have them uh in the building or they would have to have them locked up and potentially in a special electronic lockbox uh system. Um th this is uh I I don't disagree with them that uh cell phones are a problem for for learning uh and getting in the way of that. Uh there are some concerns here locally uh because implementation of this might cost us some money to implement uh proper lock boxes uh if we don't just outright take the choice not to just outright ban them from the buildings. Um, so that's working its way through. It it passed the Senate. It will be on its way over to the to the House. Uh, but that's kind of one of the more uh uh impactful bills. Uh, just a few
030others. Um, several pieces of legislation that don't impact SOCS directly, but are really stateovers. The Senate Bill 248 ended up being pulled by the bill author. Uh it would have um replaced the way that the Southbend Community School Corporation's board was um it would have be an appointed board instead of an elected board. Uh several pieces of legislation this session related to issues like that. Um House Bill 104 is going to um um is a deregulation bill that uh has several good things in it to to remove some requirements from the state. Um, I will finish by mentioning one other piece of legislation that um I am blanking on the the the number, but a House bill that uh will get heard in committee on Monday. Uh that just they released a schedule today, so
031it didn't make it into the report that would require every school building and library and every school in the state to display a durable laminated or framed copy of the Ten Commandments. Um, so that is a bill that I'm sure will be well debated um on Monday in committee. Um, other than that, this legislative session is uh actually nearing its midpoint. Um, the because they started early with the uh debate on redistricting. Uh, it is nearing the midpoint and they're trying to be done um sooner rather than later. The benefit of that is in the past uh I think five years it is like hundreds of laws that have been passed that impact K12 education. Um this year it would be a lot fewer. So a lot fewer changes uh to state law as it
032pertains to K12 education in the state which is not a bad thing I think uh to kind of catch our breath a little bit of all the changes that they make. Um the I have sent out something to my fellow board members. I'll remind you that uh the state house day, the school boards association state house day is coming up on February 17th. Uh as your board president and your legislative liaison um and actually as an ISBA staff member, I will already be there. Um so two board members are welcome to attend that. Um, if you want to come up, uh, hear about legislative issues, have lunch, uh, make a trip over to the state house to visit with our legislators, uh, please let me know so we can get you and superintendent Klein so
033we can get you registered for that. Uh and this weekend, weather permitting, uh is the Owen Valley Christian Fellowship uh or the Chamber of Commerce at Owen Valley Christian Fellowship is uh hosting a legislative breakfast uh where Representative Heaton rep uh Senator Bray and Senator Bassler will be in attendance to uh hear from constituents. And so I encourage the public, I encourage board members to attend and speak out on legislative issues. Um I will be there. I will be there. >> Superintendent Klein um will be there to represent us, but uh please attend if you can. >> Okay. Next up is an update from Robert Baldinghouse. Correct. >> Yep. >> All right. On the high school proposed cosmetology program, please step up to the mic, sir. >> You want this? Sorry. All right, I'll try
034to not put you to sleep. Um, as you know, we talk pathways a lot at the high school and so we're always looking um for different opportunities for our students. And one of the ways the state's not finalized the A tof accountability model yet. Um it was supposed to be finished in December. I know you're shocked that that's not happened. Um but I'm pretty confident a portion of that that will not change is the requirement to provide students with industry certifications. So, as we look at pathways and opportunities for kids, we're looking at those programs that they can get certified in to be work ready. Um, it was about three years ago, Hooser Hills had a cosmetology program and right at the start of the year that program was nixed. Um, they did away with
035it. So, at the time we had about 10 or 12 students who um who participated. And to give you an idea, the way the program is supposed to work, so as students finish their 1500 hours, take their exam, they come out of there fully licensed as cosmetologist. If they're to pay an organization um to go to school for that, again, same requirement, 1,500 hours, same test, etc. Depending on the school, that's anywhere from 22 to $25,000. So essentially this program can provide our students with the exact same lensure training etc. Obviously without spending $25,000 so it's kind of a bonus for both in terms of kids. So what the proposal here is for you. We would like to bring cosmetology to the high school. In doing so, it's not just a program. We essentially would
036become a licensed training. So, we we've identified an obvious license. So, we've had to find someone with that instructor's license. say she is eager would be an understatement. Our inboxes were blowing up with different updates and things she was finding. She's very personal just as a licensed instructor. The way the program function work out to you very session session. The way we're thinking is juniors and seniors obviously kids and vice versa. There are some Saturday requirements because this is why Hill students were not getting certified. They were not getting certified because you can't the time they were there. So there needed to be some additional time again. So we would need to add some instructors aware of that. As you can see there, I sent out a survey students pretty high interest in that survey.
037include cost of a kit and Saturday requirements still there. So those art class exterior exit entrance brushes. So really in terms of that Saturday washly Jeff felt like his hand included in there some of those supplies were She listed everything that should be in there for you. Couple things to remember. Couple things to also keep in mind. There are ways to generate revenue that she can take up to 20 students at a time. So let's say we're running 10 of those remaining spots are open that pretty quickly. I wouldn't charge that much. >> We back on now. >> We could we could still charge um a reasonable amount and generate some pretty decent funds. An additional way that that the program can can generate some revenue because our instructor would be licensed. other cosmetologists that
038just have the base license that want to become the instructor, they're going to pay any school to do that, to get trained because we would be a licensed facility. Um, our teacher could actually be their instructor and they could pay us for the schooling. That would also open the door because now you would have two instructors. We could go above that 20 student limit at that time if need be. So in other words, the opportunity for growth is here depending on how the how the program is received and the interest level. Um so again, not not to bore you and not to read what's already in front of you. Um but that's that's kind of the meat and potatoes of the program. So I guess I would ask if there's any any questions that you
039would have for me. >> Yeah, I wanted to clarify. So the only cost to students would be Um >> those kids >> just those kids. >> Yes. Yes. So >> those were >> so when they were attending Hooser Hills, those kits were around $600. Um >> talking talking to our instructor here, she was thinking that price could be beat. Um and we've looked at it a couple different ways, too. Like you can buy these prefab kits and some of the things in the kit like clipped program. [cough] materials for that. Just like textual class >> and if it is several hundred for the kit, would there be an avenue to some kind of grants or funding >> so that >> they don't get to take the class because they can't >> Yeah, I would think
040we would need to >> figure that out. And I think there's enough um support in this community that it's there like you said through through grants or or whatever. Um those sources are out there. We just got to tap into them. >> Well, you said it's going to generate some revenue, correct? So even there maybe there could be a process. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. People that need financial assistance. >> The other question once they get so many hours in and they start having needing people to go in and counter style then would they would you be able to charge? >> Yes. Yep. >> Then that would be a way to offset >> Absolutely. >> Okay. >> Yep. Does that um does that include nails? >> Yeah. See, I I got schooled on this as well,
041right? I heard cosmetology. That's >> Yeah. >> I noticed on there's not station or >> there should be >> is there >> she I know she provided that for me. >> Oh >> I think even some general basic massage and you have to have a >> that's fine. I just wondered if they're going to be taught that Are you signing up to be the first? >> Uh, >> you know what? I'm finding >> my uh my biggest limitation is time. And so if I can walk down the hallway and get a haircut, I I really don't care what it looks like. Sign me up. >> Um, >> so yeah, I'll have no problem going down there. I told Chad Smith today that we've got to come up with a punch card or something for this
042coffee shop because it's about to break me. >> It's It's daily that I'm buying something. So, >> um if and I think uh Chris we can get a picture of him with cucumbers on his eyes and you know be great great uh social media content. So, um any other questions? Oh, that being said, how would you um use social media or anything to let the public know that this space is there and available for customers to come in? >> We would honestly advertise like business. >> Okay. >> Saturday expert on it, but it's so many hours in the next hours. We would need to advertise that set up that appointment. >> And once this program would start, it would it would only be available to those that were going into their junior year. Seniors couldn't
043do it. Correct. Do you have to have that two years >> we were? Yeah. So like the goal would be to start this in August >> and we kicked that around. You know what would that first year look like? typically your CTE like so we talked about obviously juniors next year [snorts] but knowing that there are some seniors that are hard I'm getting asked almost monthly are we going to be able to do this so Mr. has found an instructor out that my understanding say a kid put in 700 hours with us rather than having to redo a whole program for all of that they would completed. So they're transferable and charge hourly rate. So we'll try to get more information on that like we let some seniors in. We also like Andy said grads
044get to where a lot of seniors need government. So they have a big block schedule that's open there. But if somebody's going to pick up the back they can So, we're kicking that around. But then our plan would be after >> any other questions, sir. My only other comment would be I wanted you to hear this so you have some additional time to digest this because I've asked Robert to come back in February to ask for official approval for this and that gives us some additional time to uh make sure the finances are proper and you know we we got to pay for an instructor and uh with anticipated retirements and uh people shuffling and all that I I will be able to do that, but I want I want to give you time to
045digest this as well. So, >> I appreciate your time, Robert. Uh, could you bring that microphone up here? And Liz, I think you need to replace and yours. >> All right, >> these microphones drain the battery real quick. Throw these two. All right. Thank you, M. Okay. Next on our agenda is old business. Is are there any old business items? >> Uh there are no old business items this evening. Okay. >> Next is new business. Uh first up is item number one. Item one is a request before you to approve the transportation director's 2026 wage compensation as outlined in your board packet. This would be uh uh an increase of $2,521 uh which he has not received any uh increases prior to this uh in comparison to all the other increases we've done for other
046certified and classified staff. >> Okay, you've heard the request. We have a motion on that request. [snorts] Second, >> Liz and Rick as a second. Any discussion? >> Okay. Hearing none, we'll proceed to a roll call vote. Uh, we have Mark, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Sorry. >> Get Jack back. >> Come on. >> Too many. >> Hi, Jack. What's your vote? >> Yep. All right. Uh, >> [laughter] >> Uh Derek is a yes. Motion passes 6 to zero. Okay. Next item two request to approve corporation nurse 2026 wage compensation. >> Yes. Again I would ask the board to approve uh an increase to nurse Sarah Wall's hourly compensation uh for a one-step increment which would equate to a $520 increase. Uh this is to
047uh acknowledge her successful completion of the national board certification for school nurses. Uh just as we've uh acknowledged degree changes with uh teachers and with our administrators. Uh I would ask that we do the same for her and uh this is a reasonable amount to take on for the district. >> All right. You've heard the request. I have a motion on that request. >> Thank you, Mark. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I got Rick by nose. Any discussion? Okay. Hearing none, we'll proceed to a roll call vote. Mark, >> yes. >> Dena, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Jack, >> yes. >> Derek is a yes. Motion passes six to zero. >> Okay. Next on the agenda is personnel. >> Uh, under personnel, if it's the pleasure
048of the body, I would ask you to take letters ABC in one motion. We have had a request from Mr. White uh to do uh employment letter C number four as an individual item. So is there any request for further uh individual items before proceeding? >> Okay. So is there any objection to taking items A, B, C except for item four? >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Four. No objection. Uh >> any objection to taking all of those in one motion? Okay. No objection. >> Okay. Uh so you've heard the request to approve items under personnel item uh item A resignations, B retirement, C employment except for number four under employment. Uh do I have a motion on that request? >> Mark and Liz as a second. All right. Is there any discussion? Okay, hearing none,
049we'll proceed to a roll call vote. Uh, got Mark, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Jack, >> yes. >> Derek is a yes. Motion passes six to zero. Okay. At this time, does anybody want to make a motion on uh employment uh under employment item C number four, Amanda Huntington uh as parttime special needs instructional assistant for PES? >> Okay, got Dena. And do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mark. Is there any discussion? Okay, hearing none, we'll proceed to a roll call vote. Mark, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Derek, is a yes. Jack, >> abstension. >> Okay. Nope. Gotcha. All right. Motion passes. 601 with one abstension. >> Oh, or five 501.
050Sorry, can't subtract one. 501. Uh, motion passes. Okay. Okay, at this time we will move on to uh board comments. We'll start down with uh Liz this evening. Make sure your mic is on. >> Kelly, you're awesome. You deserve that award. That was a beautiful speech. >> It was. It was very eloquent. I enjoyed it. [laughter] Did you get a copy of it? Oh, [laughter] good. >> Um, Troy, >> welcome to the family. >> I'm excited to see what you do to the football program here. And, uh, that's all I got. >> Okay. Uh, Rick, >> same. Congratulations, award winner. Congratulations for Troy. >> Okay. Thank you, Rick. Dina, >> congratulations. Kelly known Kelly a long time and I know she is very passionate, always happy and kids have a lot of love and respect
051for her. >> Welcome. >> Thank you, Dina. Mark, >> this is Kelly State. I'll congratulate her again. >> Yeah. >> Thank you so much for your work, >> Jack. better and Chad out there travel safe. >> Okay. Uh Jack, any comment? I I know your your voice is struggling, but [laughter] >> I'd like to thank and for us in the pledge today. I'd also like to thank all the newers coach purchase all [laughter] of that support and we sincerely thank Congratulations. You deserve this. >> Thanks, Jack. >> I know this is a little bit controversial, but I think our superintendent showed it to >> Monday, Tuesday, Tuesday. >> That's all I got to say. Go get him, coach. >> Thank you, Jack. Um, yeah, Kelly, thank you again. Um, and, uh, Troy, welcome. Welcome back.
052Uh, and may your run be as stellar as Coach Sigs. I mean, it's, you know, we have high expectations for football in these in this neck of the woods these days. Um I I you know this time of year I always um I appreciate all the work that our transportation people >> [snorts] >> uh maintenance folks, Superintendent Klene, who as Jack uh pointed out was at school and at school at 400 a.m. on Tuesday after this diehard IU fan was probably I don't Did he sleep that night? that I don't >> I close my door a couple of times on Tuesday. So, [laughter] >> uh but uh I appreciate everybody's dedication to student safety this time of year. Um it's not an easy time of year as we've got another storm fast approaching here, but
053uh I appreciate everybody's effort in trying to get kids to school safely. Uh at this time, we will move on to administrator comments. Uh, we're live on on YouTube, so you got to step up to the mic if you got comments. So, if Robert can do it, so can everybody else. Matt, >> I'm good. >> Okay. No, [laughter] Robert. [laughter] Make sure it's green. >> There we go. So, Kelly, I mean, she's I get to see it every day. She's awesome. Um, real quick, a story. Kelly has a student. Um, so Kelly's intending to retire next year and she has a student pretty independent. He's down in the cafeteria cafeteria a lot when I'm down there and he walks up very very confidently and he he's always talking and telling stories and the other day
054he comes up and he said, "You know what?" He said, "Mrs. Helms is retiring next year." He's like, "Think I'm going to hang it up and go out when she does." [laughter] So, uh, she's Kelly's great. Troy, I'm I'm ready. Um, let's get it done. That's all. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, we will move on down here to Brady. >> I gave my speech. >> Congratulations. >> Okay. >> All right. Um, we got uh Chris Sam. a happy 100th day of school. So, we had lots of elderly people in the corporation, I guess, students and and it was lots of gray hair and canes and things. So, and also um Matt was a great sport when he was coach Sig the other day. So, he he nailed it. Yeah. >> It's hard to
055have a scout like that. >> But you nailed it. It was awesome. So, [laughter] yeah. Thank you. And congratulations, Kelly. My mom always said very wonderful things about you and she she always spoke highly. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I just I'm happy for you and you certainly deserve it. I've never heard anything but wonderful about you. >> Uh next up, Matt Taylor. >> Uh congratulations, Mrs. Helms. That's wonderful. Um, I again I know lots of great things have been shared. So, um, I appreciate all the hard work that you do for our students and the families that you serve. Mr. Burgess, welcome. Uh, looking forward to getting to know you as well. So, um, staff's been working hard the last week or two completing our checkpoint 2. um that will provide data for their instruction
056and intervention practices. Um and so they'll be digging into that data here uh soon. Elementary staff completed their unit three uh reading common benchmark assessment. So, at an upcoming PLC meeting, they're going to meet as a grade level and talk about both of those. Um, kind of digging into that data, um, sharing that information with their colleagues, um, and looking to see how we can, uh, continue to, um, help our students as, as they're making improvements related to language arts. We additionally sent a teacher survey um to all of our certified staff asking them about uh summer PD and PLC preferences for this summer. So um again, we've been fortunate enough to um be able to use some title grants and federal grants to help provide stipens uh for those teachers that would like to
057meet and collaborate in the summer. And so we wanted to uh gather some data on that. So teachers are working hard um and and students are as well as we're using these data points um to help uh guide our instruction uh in preparing for those summitive tests that are coming up in in March and April. >> Thank you, Mr. Taylor. Uh next on our agenda is the superintendent reports. Uh a couple of updates. Um I'm glad to or proud to announce we received information today from the West Central Education School Service Center. Uh WCISC. I am the presiding president this year. Uh call it dumb luck or I was the only one willing to do it. But um we did receive announcement today and I've shared this with Robert that we did receive a grant
058for the service center in the amount of $450,000 that will be used across all of the participating schools to purchase the software necessary for high school counselors and administrators to begin tracking much more easily all of the or degree all of the diploma requirements for seals workbased learning all of those pieces that are really moving pieces. is so um I printed the 30page memo of understanding uh before this meeting and we'll start going through that. But very proud that we did that. Uh hats off to Tim McRoberts who is our director uh for West Central and then also the rest of the presiding officers as we worked on that grant uh early in the school year. Um we're getting a little nervous because we hadn't heard anything from the state and they finally notified us
059uh just a few days ago. So that is kudos for our schools and the other uh participating service center schools. So [clears throat] uh secondly also I want to acknowledge our board. This is national schoolboard appreciation month and uh just a small token of our appreciation. Again a certificate. Sorry I didn't I didn't tell my wife to get extra cookies this time. So I'll I'll do that next time. But again I appreciate everything you do. Uh you're very levelheaded and uh open to the board or open to the public rather and uh take uh take your time to understand the things that are in front of you uh before you make a decision. And again uh I appreciate that very much and I know our administrators do as well and I would hope that our
060public does does also. So uh thank you for that. Um, my last item, I wasn't going to say anything, but since Jack brought it up, uh, I appreciate those words that you said because that was uh, weighed on me a little bit. Uh, but I have to say, and some of the administrators know, uh, you probably have to blame my daughter a little bit because she works in the marketing office at IU and, uh, around the football team and, um, she's all business. And like she said, dad, they're all business. after the Peach Bowl, they got on a plane as soon as the game was over and they flew back that night to get ready for playing in this national championship. And it's like, you got to go to work and you got to do
061the schoolwork. And uh kind of leaned on that and uh I'll tell on the kids a little bit because miraculously I didn't get any complaints from the public or at least not to me. Uh but uh I give I got tickled with our high school students who sent me some very polite emails saying, "Hey, would you consider this?" And the only problem was they sent it to me at 11:30 at night or 10 after 11 or a quarter till 12:00 and I was still up working. And it's like if you're up at 11:30 or a quarter till 12 on a Wednesday night and a Thursday night, you probably will be up be able to get up on a the next morning after the ball game. So, uh, if this ever occurs again, I I saw
062a couple of them in the hallway and I said, "You better tell your compadres not to email me at 11:30 or quarter till midnight asking for a two-hour delay." So, but uh again, appreciate that very much. And then, uh, congratulations to all of our new hires, Coach Burgess and, uh, Kelly, congratulations. And uh uh like I said, you put on your heavy coat and brave the winter the winter uh weather here uh on Saturday and go to the celebration for Indiana football. So, as I've been told by my daughter, it's going to be a lot of surprises and really exciting. So, there there's my public announcement for whoever's watching as well. So, but that is all I have. >> Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Klein. This time, I'd entertain a motion on >> adjournment.journ. Rick and
063I got Jack. Any discussion? Okay, hearing none, we'll proceed to a roll call vote. We have Mark, >> yes. >> Dena, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> Liz, >> yes. >> Jack, >> yes. >> Derek is a yes. Motion passes six to zero. We are now adjourned. Uh, at this time, does anybody wish to make any public comment on any non-aggenda item this evening? >> Okay. All right. Uh, >> what? >> Stay home. All right. >> All right. Uh, so we are no public comment. Our next um, uh, regular session meeting is on February 12th. uh here at central office at 7 pm. Have a safe night everybody.