June Board Meeting

001He's just every single time. >> Don't finish. Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Gary Community School Board meeting for tonight, Thursday, June 11th. Would you please stand with me for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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. I'd like to have roll call so we can confirm that we have quum and a legal meeting. >> Mr. Sug present. >> Dr. Woods >> present. >> Attorney >> present. >> Glenn Johnson is present. Mr. Chair, we have five members present. Thank you, sir. We have a legal meeting now. Item number two, I'll entertain a motion to accept tonight's agenda. Mr. Chair, move to accept

002the agenda for tonight's board meeting, June, 2026. >> Second. It's been moved properly second. Discussion on the agenda. >> Um, yeah. I I move that we take item 5.5 off. >> I move we take item 5.5 off the consent agenda. >> Let the record show that item 5.5 has been removed from the consent agenda. to >> not have to be a motion. It's just a request request to remove, not a motion. I request that we move item 5.5. Now you have a motion to approve the agenda with that request. May I have that motion to approve the agenda with the noted of the request? >> You have the motion before. You just have >> even though it's roll call, please. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> here. Attorney Black.

003>> Yes. >> And I've been with Mr. Yes. Father item number three on our agenda. Gary ready snapshots. Good. Good afternoon, Mr. SS, members of the board, Dr. Stokes, and this amazing community. My name is Chelsea Woodson, and I proudly serve as your chief of public and community relations for the Gary Community School Corporation. It's that time again for us to recognize our Gary Ray snapshots as our opportunity to highlight some of the great things happening in the district. Although it may be summer, we have some great things to report. The first thing I'd like to give a quick update on is our knowledge seekers program. An initiative instituted by our superintendent has officially kicked off with two cohorts of 15 participants totaling 30 individuals, community members who are learning the ins and outs of

004the of the Gary Community School Corporation. That meeting was held on Wednesday, May 19th here at the Gary Area Career Center. The first one was 11 to 1:00 p.m. and the second one was 4:45 to 6:45 p.m. The topics were board governance and finance. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 17th at those same times. Those meetings are being recorded in case we need to for posterity and for information to be shared with the public as needed. We've also hosted a series of school tours and registration events. As we know in the district, registration takes place 365 days of the year. We're inviting parents to come into our buildings. While they are being cleaned, there are still opportunities for them to meet the principles, to find out the courses that we offer, the

005extracurricular activities, and just get a glimpse into the buildings as we register our young people for the 26 27th school year. I'd like to thank our face liaison and Crystal O'Brien and team for putting together these events. There are more to come and we invite you to visit our website and social media sites for the dates and times of these upcoming events. Our insource family engagement certification will be presented by my colleague Jamila Adams, assistant director of curriculum and instruction. Miss Adams. Chelsea. Um, good evening Dr. President members of the board and members of the community. My name is Jamola Adams. I am the assistant director of curriculum and assessment. And I'm going to quickly um highlight something great happening at our district when it comes to family engagement. If you go to the next

006slide. Um, in addition to being assistant director, I'm the coordinator um for our statewide family engagement centers grant um through insource and this year they launched a family engagement certification. Um there are five levels to that certification. Um but most schools attempted to get level one since they just launched across the state. 70 schools applied and only 17 were awarded statewide and two of those schools were from Gary Community School Corporation. And so we are very proud because level one was all about listening. It says that our school is recognized for intentionally listening to families and honoring their voices. You go to the next slide. And so the very first school that attained that level one certification, I'll have Dr. the banks come up is Beverage Elementary School completed a survey um and push for

007our parents. Um the the threshold is 10% of our families and 70% of our staff to complete that survey so that we can really center parent voice and then they receive all of the data. Um, and Beverage received uh 14% of their families responding to the survey as well as 81% of their staff. And they went up from last year on both of those. And so they received level one certifications as well as they get yard signs, they get uh graphics for their signature lines for all of their staff. and they will also be included on the um Indiana's state statewide family engagement central website and they were in Dr. Jenner, the secretary of education, her uh email that she goes out every Friday as well. And our second school, if we can go to

008the next slide, is Frankie Woodella Academy. We have this dedicated principal in here um to accept their award and they receive 12% family uh member participation and 85% staff member participation. And if I can just quickly say, both of them have really um worked on family engagement this year. They've always been doing this, but Beverage has um Beverage has all Goad um which is an organization where the men come out um to really mentor and and come up with solutions for the schools. And uh McCulla has dogs which is dads of great students and they have over a hundred men out twice um at their school and ongoing program. So they have really stepped up in their communities when it comes to family engagement. Um if you go to the next slide. So we know

009that they both I know especially Dr. Banks calls the emails she's level two. Um and so level two is partnering. So the academic department requires that every school has a parent advisory council. And so once they have theirs established and they have at least half of their membership be parents, they can move on to level two and continue on up all the way through five. So if you're interested as a parent in joining the parent partnership council at your school um please reach out to your administration team or your face leaison and we also have a parent partnership council at the district and the website or the email address is pbcgarcsc12.in us email us and we'll get you all the information you need. So, I just want to give one more round of applause to

010us. Thank you, Miss Adams, and congratulations, Beverage and Makulla. More good news follows. Recently, the Gary Community School Corporation was awarded a dollar general literacy foundation grant for the 2627 school year to expand family literacy and engagement opportunities across the district. The grant will support our face liaison in promoting literacy focused programs, family learning experiences, and supporting literary literacy resources designed to strengthen reading skills and encourage learning beyond the classroom. Um, I also want to acknowledge my team member, Crystal O'Brien, who wrote that grant. It was her very first time writing a grant, and she knocked it out the park for $10,000 for literacy. I'd also like to share briefly about our rooted collaborative school garden initiative which continues to expand opportunities for students and families to engage in that pack time that Miss Adams

011spoke of through hands-on learning in the school gardens across the district. We have partnerships with local organizations and volunteers including the Miller Garden Club, the Gary Food Council, Master Gardeners from Purdue Extension, Faith Farms and other local community farmers, and we're inviting families to participate in our gardening workshops, stop by the schools, learn about nutrition, and more as we continue to beautify our schools and educate our children. And last but well, our final portion of our Gary snapshots. If you were not at Westside Leadership Academy on Sunday, June 7th, you missed a treat. We graduated 205 scholars from Westside Leadership Academy. Our validictorian and Saludiatoran were invited to join us. But the good news is that they are both at work. They both reached out and our valad Victorian was Jamie Jones and our solictorian

012is Kayn Wars. But Jamie did send a video of quick remarks that I'd like to share as I close my presentation. Jamie. >> Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jamie Jones for the class of 2026. I want to thank the school board and the superintendent for allowing me to say my final goodbyes. um as a student on behalf of the class of 2026. As I said in my speech, the class of 2026 is extremely resilient. No matter what we go through, we always find a way to make it work. And that comes from the incredible leadership of our administration that was led by principal Carl Scott. He really came in the year we did and lit a fire in this and we are extremely grateful for him. Um the teachers as well, you know, I

013can name so many teachers, but I want to thank my band director, Mr. Deandre Teamer lighting a fire in me for music and academics cuz he's also had the last three count three validictorians myself Bennett and Davon Taylor as well as this year's salator is Kaylin Corals and she had five students in the top 20 me Kayn two major and another band member so he really you know cared about leadership um uh where I'm going uh I will be attending Morehouse College um in August majoring in theater performance trying to become an actor actor and my final words for class 2 2026 is for everyone to go be great keep God of your life first he is the author of finisher of our strength and don't let anyone tell you what to do because we've

014shown time and time again that we beat the odds so Westside Leadership Academy thank you for your greatness for seven long years I'll be back soon thank y'all >> that I'll turn it back over to you if there aren't any questions >> thank Thank you. Any questions? Appreciate your presentation. >> Thank you. >> We'll move on to item four, public comment on our agenda. Um, Mr. Jones, I'm sorry. Would you please uh read the public comment information? >> Sure. Pursuant to Indiana code 5-14-1.5-3, the Gary Community School Corporation Board of Trustees welcomes companies from community. As a result, the agenda for each regular meeting provides time for public expression. The period of public expression is limited to three minutes per individual and 30 minutes total discussion of items on the agenda or to express concerns

015relative to the operation of school city school board actions and other items of general educational interest. There are many people wishing to address the board may limit the amount of time the person may speak. Comments should be directed to the board not to individual board members. Statements shall not be abusive or argumentative. Persons making comments should not debate statements made by other persons. Shall not be permissible to orally present or discuss complaints against individual employees of the Gary Community School Corporation at any board school trustees meetings. Issues relating to personnel, individual circumstances, or an individual school will be referred to the building principal or an appropriate administrator and attempt to resolve the issue prior to an appeal before the board speaker and not transfer their remaining time to another person. The board president will enforce

016these rules and may take actions necessary to maintain order at the meeting. Such actions may include but are not limited to interrupting the speaker if the statement is too lengthy, unduly repetitive or otherwise violates the rules. President may terminate the address. I think the speaker violates these rules or limit to amount of time to public if there's a large number of people wishing to address the board or if there's a large. >> Thank you, Vice President Johnson. John Allen. >> Good afternoon everyone. My name is John Allen. Uh recently I became an Indiana state delegate and a precent committee person. Uh so for whatever reason I got an opportunity to go out and help and ask uh people to vote participate. Mike was in light of uh the heal that's in front of November but

017uh in asking people to vote I had a gentleman tell me that uh he went to McDonald's and didn't like his sandwich and I thought that was weird. He said I went back I didn't like my burger either and now you knock on my door and ask me to eat more of it. And so he was trying to say something about the idea of voting and uh the morale is down in our community and this board can actually help them around directly and indirectly. Uh some of the things that I gripe about. I actually believe we have some problems that we can work together where they will be bigger than my writers. However, the community is bringing to my attention that we do pay 40% of our tax bill to our board. And for that

018reason, we're concerned about the increases in rent. We're concerned about the effects of Senate Bill one on the board's funding. We're concerned about additional referendum if rent is going to go up because of that referendum because the landlords are just going to roll it down to the tenants and the tenants don't have much money already. Many of the parents of the school children rent. So, is going to affect them directly. So, I'm proposing that we set some time aside, myself and some citizens that I believe are rational civil people, and we get opportunity to talk to the board so the board can see what it can do to uh weigh in and consider some of these issues that they may normally uh weigh in on that may indirect affect. I think it would be crucial

019if they did this because in alternative I'm being asked to make constitutional arguments about us not having elected board. I do like them arguments but because I personally like them don't mean that if we get elected board we're going to be wise enough to poke people in to know what they're doing. So, it's a double-edged sword and I think we should sit down and have a talk together before uh I reach a fork in the road and unknowingly um being looked at as someone that's a lead on issue I can create more harm and help or vice versa. So, that was my purpose in coming today to ask the board for set aside some time to talk to me and some of the constituents uh about those issues. Thank you, >> Dr. Bangleberg. >> Good

020evening. I'm Spain Education Coalition. Um, first of all, I want to say thanks because I think this is the first meeting where we've had any of the documents uploaded ahead of time. I don't even know how far ahead of time. I was pleasantly shocked today um into board docs for people to review. Now, not everything was there um but at least there was something. So, I I was very grateful for that. Uh one thing that wasn't there was the financial presentation. But even looking at what was publicly available from the state and hearing some of what was said last meeting, I was already a little alarmed. Last meeting, uh, and you can look at this on YouTube if you're at home. uh the recording for last meeting. I think it's right around like an hour

021and 40 minutes in uh during some portion of the financial presentation, a statement was made about trying to get uh in advance in our levy to pay down our common school loans. And when I heard that as a little, you know, just taken back like I I couldn't understand it. Um, and the only thing I could make sense of was, okay, it sounds like we're talking about the tax anticipation award, but the issue was that the individual said that they requested this. So, the board actually has to approve that. It is not something that can be uh just requested because a tax anticipation weren't assuming this is what was being referenced is something that you have to determine there's an emergency that exists to demonstrate a need for it. Now given that between 2023 and

022now apparently we have due in terms of interest and principal this year uh the amount has increased by a I guess it's $39 million. I guess I could see that as an emergency, but my question is why wasn't this ever addressed previously? Because the bulk of that is from last year. So, this isn't just something that was produced um within, you know, the time between now and and when you made your last report. I think only additional three million or so was that. Um, the other concern too was we had an item that thankfully one of the board members asked to be pulled out which was put under the personnel report. It was not part of the personnel report. Had she not done that, that would have been an ODL complaint. It was a request

023to hand over authority to hire, not even seemingly to the superintendent, although that's how it was titled. And this was never uploaded, by the way. So, nobody knows what this agreement actually consisted of, but that's illegal because the board actually supposed to do all that for Indian code. You can't hand that fully over. Just hold more meetings if you have a timeline that you need to meet. Thank you. >> We will move now to item five on our agenda. Um, I would like to do consent items 5.1 through 5.4. I'll entertain a motion. >> I'll make that motion, Mr. President. everything except for 5.5 at this time. >> If you could just reenounce that motion for me. >> Um, Mr. President, >> I move that we approve consent agenda items 5.1 through 6 minus 5.4

024>> 5.5. Okay. >> May I have a second? >> Second. It's been moved and properly second. Discussion on this motion. May we have roll call, please? >> Dr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Attorney. Yes. Did you ask me? >> Attorney. >> Yes. >> I vote. Yes. John and Mr. S. >> Yes, please. >> Five to zero. >> With a vote of five yes and zero against, the consent agenda items have been approved. I will now entertain a motion for the item 5.5 on our agenda. >> Mr. President, I move that we approve item 5.5 on the agenda. >> There is a motion on the floor. May I have a second? Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Discussion on this motion. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um item 5.5 is field experience and conference experience. I

025ask that these be removed because um I just have some questions here. Um I see that there is mindful practices administration retreat. Um I just want to hear more about what that is. I think it sounds good, but I'd like to hear more about it. >> Good evening board members community. So the mindful practices retreat was a one-day retreat provided by uh mindful practices for the principles and assistant principles um where they went away um just really to uh spend some time on leadership development. Um so it was focused on um looking at their leadership practices um and really to to build some additional skills to effectively lead into the next school year. >> Oh okay. I and see when I read that in my mind I was thinking this was something that they learned

026to pass on to the children in terms of >> no mindful prank. Okay. >> So that's the name of the organization. >> Oh thank you. See I um didn't know about that. Okay. I just had a question what that was. And then I also see on here that Westside Leadership Academy band is going to be in is this a couple parades? >> Yes. So, there are two parades um this summer that they will be participating in. So, those are what's listed. >> Okay. So, what's listed is July 2nd, 2026, they're going to be in the city and Gary Fourth of July parade. And on July the 4th of July, 2026, they are going to participate in Crown Points parade. Is that what that is? >> It says Crown Point High School. That's their parade. >>

027Yes. >> Okay. I think that's wonderful. Thank you. >> Any other discussion? Roll call for approval, please. >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Johnson, votes yes. President, >> yes, please. >> Vot. >> With a vote of five yes and zero against, item 5.5 has been approved. We'll now move to item number six on our agenda. Misski, >> Good evening, Gary Community School Board members, Dr. Stokes, and community members. I am requesting approval of the student fees and technology replacement costs for 2627 school year as presented in your board documents. I will entertain a motion on item >> 6.1 on our agenda. >> I move we approve item 6.1. >> May I have a second? >> Second. >> Been moved and properly second. Discussion on this motion. >>

028Yeah. Um, how many students are getting iPads versus Chromebooks? >> That would be a Mr. Richards question. >> Right. >> So, most of the uh students in the elementary schools are getting the um iPads. The middle schools are getting Chromebooks and the high schools are getting Chromebooks. >> Um, what it says here, laptops 250. Is that something different from a Chromebook or iPad? >> The the laptops are what the teachers use. >> Okay. >> And administrators as well. >> How are you all keeping track? >> Followed. Our tracking system is followed. Also, we have our own personal spreadsheets and things like that and databases that we use within it. >> I'm not going to lie, I have a Chromebook at home from >> 2018. >> Unfortunately, I wasn't here in 2018. >> Okay. >> But

029but >> I just like I need to give this back to somebody. But so you all will be tracking this. >> Absolutely. And >> and I can give it back. I still want >> to definitely. >> Okay. But to your point, uh, some people have been calling us telling us that they, uh, have these Chromebooks and we're asking them to send it back to the district. >> Okay. Yeah. But that's just it. Um, it didn't appear that it was being tracked at all. So, but it will be tracking up. >> Absolutely. And I can guarantee you this, if we hadn't got to gotten to it, we would have gotten to you within, you know, a month or two from now. So, >> Okay. I'm glad to hear that. Now you said that the iPads which

030are 9th generation 400 Apple 11789 are for elementary. So you're giving these really expensive items to the elementary schools while the high schoolers are getting Chromebooks. >> Yeah. Well, the thing is the uh elementary schools are using the iPads in the classroom and the um the uh high school and middle schools are taking the Chromebooks home doing e-learning days and things like that. >> Okay. Okay. So, these iPads are going to stay in the building. >> Yeah, they're going to use them unless it's an e-learning day and the um principal determines that they need to take these iPads home, but most more than likely the iPads are staying in the building. >> Okay. And um was there a reason that I'm just curious, was it just money why um I know that most of these

031students like Apple products better. Um is it just money that everybody get? No, it wasn't money actually. It was that the uh the HPs work better for the uh students and for the internet for goardian for u tracking the students activity within the class and things like that. >> So that's that's uh these are top of the line better than Apple. >> Okay. Thank you. Also, just as a um well, I don't know the question, but um with them not having their devices allowed in class and now they'll just have these um Chromebooks, I I take it you can check where they're at online, >> but where where the Chromebooks are? >> I'm saying when they they're only going to have their Chromebooks now in class because they're not allowed to have their phones anymore.

032So, I'm assuming they'll still want to t text and do everything else they might do on their phone now that they can't have it on a Chromebook. I'm assuming that you all can track where they're at online when they're in class. >> Absolutely. So, so what happens is the Go Guardian application that we uses, the teacher has a administrative portion of that and the student is is logged on every uh Chromebook that students are using. So, if the student goes off to a a site that they shouldn't be on, the teacher gets a signal, we get we get a signal, and then we have a tracking system where we block certain sites. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Any other discussion of this motion? >> Roll call, please. >> Dr.

033Williams. >> Yes. >> Attorney. >> Yes. Attorney, >> yes. >> Glenn Johnson. >> President, >> yes. >> Vote is five to zero. >> The vote of five yes and zero against. The request for approval for student fees for technology replacement cost has been repl >> please. Thank you. >> Good evening board members, Dr. Stokes and the community here in person and watching online. I respectfully asked for ask for the board to approve the for special education legal representation as presented in the board documents. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion. >> So moved. >> I second. >> There's a motion on the floor that has been properly second. Any discussion on this motion? >> Yes. >> Was this an out to bid or anything? >> No, ma'am. We had uh a previous special education

034firm representing us and when we are making decisions for which firm is going to represent us, we're looking for who is going to represent the district to the best of their ability. >> Okay. So, this is for a legal matter for what exactly? Isn't there already an attorney representing the school board? Well, she's representing the school, but isn't there also? So, Miss Pillar is the labor attorney. Previous to this request in front of you today, Lewis and Capus was our firm supporting special education. However, uh the attorney who was supporting us has decided to go in another direction which caused us to have to look for uh the best in the area. So, we have decided on Church in Atlanta. Um, did you look for attorneys within the city of Gary? >> We looked for

035the best special education uh, representation in the state and if there was someone in within Gary, Indiana that was known to have specialization in special education, we certainly would have considered it. >> But you didn't put out a request. So, would they even know that you were looking for them? >> We did not put out a request. >> Okay. And this contract has no limit. It would it we are covered under insurance and so you cannot put a limit on what can be covered because if we get sued through due process you can't put a limit on what you mean to represent your school and that's why we have insurance coverage to support that process as well. >> Okay. Okay, so the hourly fees for partner is 345 and then associates 275 to 300 and

036parallegal is 175. And this is a firm um it looks like they're out of Noblesville, Fisers, Typton, Marville, Zanville. No Gary, >> they do not have an office location in Gary. You are correct. >> Okay. And so what what is their role going to be? They will support special education legal matters. >> Could you tell me like what type of legal matters come up with special education? >> I sure can. That's my specialty for sure. So oftent times we um have to support parents who might be concerned about what's happening within our district and they might file a complaint with the Indiana Department of Education through ICAM and that complaint could also rise to the level of due process. We oftentimes also have um advocates who represent parents and at times because they're being represented

037by an advocate, we of course have to make sure that our district is protected and supported by legal representation as well. And it is very important to be supported by someone who specializes in special education. >> Does that happen often? >> Uh no, not in our district, but I can tell you as a director of special education, it can happen at any time. Well, um I'm going to be voting no. And the reason why is I I really feel like it this should have went out. Um other people should have heard about it. We don't know if there's anybody within our city who would has the knowledge set to do this. I know you say the best. Um but again, I know that um attorneys are competent and you know, the best is always subjective.

038So, if I may respond to that for one moment, being that I'm a director of special education and have been representing school districts in five different areas, specifically in special education, I can tell you that we are very familiar as directors for the attorneys who often represent school districts as well as parent attorneys. So, I can tell you that when a school district is looking to have someone who's representing them, if there was someone in Gary that had that specialization, I would know about it. >> Yeah. And as an attorney, I can tell you it's kind of hard to break into certain areas, especially when you're doing them and you're not known to people like yourself who's director and you're trying to get in and it's a small little circle that's been shut out to

039you because people use the exact same people over and over again. Don't let others in. So just for the fact that it wasn't put out, we don't know. I understand what you're saying who you know to be the best. But again, I'll be fing >> I appreciate your input. >> All right. Any additional communication? May we have roll call, please? >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> no. >> Glenn Johnson votes yes. >> President Subs, >> yes. >> Vote is 41. >> With a vote of four yes and one against, the motion carries. specialou for special education legal representation. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Craig. Please. >> Good evening, Dr. Sts. Good evening, Dr. S. Mr. son and school board and community members. I uh would like to uh discuss

040bring before you today the middle school ELA curriculum adoption review. You have received the board presentation in your board docs and I would like to direct you to go to slide 13. Per the middle school ELOA adoption, we have decided as a committee and as an academic team to go with in wisdom through great minds for the total cost of $126,25.81. As you see on slide 13, it breaks down the cost of the materials as well as the implementation which is professional development provided to our middle school teachers and our middle school leaders. And that concludes our report. >> I will entertain a motion on this item. >> So >> there's a motion on the floor for the approval of the middle school ELA ELA adoption. May I have a second? >> I'll second. >>

041It's been moved properly second. Discussion on this motion. >> Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. >> Please. >> Thanks. Um I'm looking presentation. I'm sorry, I just can't follow it that well. What What's going on in here? >> Absolutely. This presentation is showing the process in which the academic team took both of our middle schools through in order for them to vote on the best curriculum to adopt for the ELA, English language arts program. >> So, I'm sorry. So, you said we took them through this is for the teachers to vote. >> That is correct. >> Okay. Go on. Mhm. Our teachers and our uh leaders, middle school leaders had an opportunity to review uh two curriculum. One of them was great minds with wisdom. Another one was McGra Hill study site which is their current ELA

042program which has an updated version which we needed to review. Upon that review, we did some debrief activities and other things in which we were able to break down and talk about the different tenants of the program and how they would best meet the needs of our students. Based upon that and some activities that we did together, we the teachers voted that great minds with wisdom is the best program for our middle school students. >> Okay. And um were these the only two things available when you say that it was between the McRA Hill study sink and great minds with wisdom? >> Those were the only two programs that we presented to our ELA teachers. >> Okay. Um because how long had McGra Hill was still in the running? What I'm saying is that when

043I'm looking at this um the current reality, it says over 50% of students approximately 415 are performing three or more grade levels below reading. Less than 25% are on or above grade level and that have been using the bra hill. That is correct. >> But they were the were these the only options? What I'm saying is why are they even optioned? there is so poor already. >> So let me speak to that for just a minute. >> Thank you. >> Um curriculum resources are just that resources. You know you hear me say all the time it takes you and it takes me it and takes all of us. How a kid shows up and how they perform academically. It's a it's a multiaceted experience. You can't just blame it particular curriculum. But curriculums do need

044to be used with fidelity. And we do have to use curriculums that align with the science of reading which is a state requirement. So it's not so much I don't want to for appear as if we're saying that any company's curriculum is bad. How we utilize it might be have to be looked at. The craft and skills of the teacher might have to be looked at. The child's attendance if the child is attentive. There are so many factors that go into academics. So I just want to say that u do you know the factors that went into the illiteracy gaps of over 50% are performing three or more grade levels below reading and less than 25% on or above grade level. >> Has it been looked at? I mean you're telling that it's >> Yes,

045it has. >> Could you speak to like what is it? Is it environment? Is it the curriculum since it's not the curriculum? >> There are are multiple reasons but just as Dr. Dr. spoke spoke about um a lot of things do in fact have to deal with the curriculum but the previous curriculum was out of date and we have to ensure Mcgra Hill had a new version so we needed to look at that new version in addition our students are multiple levels below grade level as far as their reading is concerned and so we have to look at a curriculum that is going to provide them with the best resources in order to provide prevention intervention support and grade level support to get them to where they need. >> No, I understand what you're saying.

046I'm just saying that um were these the only two options. >> There are a plethora of curriculum that are available, but looking at the state mandates, these were the top two that we decided to look at for our district to meet our needs based upon state mandates. >> Right? So, what I'm saying is there are state mandates, right? And so then there are several companies or you know people who could do this I'm assuming. And so what I'm saying is if one was performing so poorly but they still were put in to be looked at and I understand what she's saying. So when the adoption um was brought to the teachers attention, they wanted to see it and so we wanted to do our due diligence to allow them to take a look at the

047curriculum. Um during this process, the vendors actually came out to present to the teachers where there may have been changes, where there may have not been changes. And what they found in that process is that the curriculum had not changed as much as it was articulated by the vendors. Um and so that's how we ended up with Wisdom um being the curriculum of choice because they knew that there were some gaps in the curriculum at it in its current state and without many of those changes being um realized in updated curriculum aligned to the science of reading, we knew we needed to do something different. And so they requested to see all aspects. And so yes, the state recommended a few um that you can choose from, but they also give you a rubric to

048really look at which one would best be suited for your district. And so we have to analyze is it uh culturally relevant for our students, is it robust, will it provide supports? Um and so although many of them attest to do these things, when we take a look at it as a curriculum department, they all did not. And so um those are the two that were presented to the teachers. Thank you for that. Um, with the materials 57,000, what are the materials? >> Those materials include the the physical textbooks that the students will receive, the novels, the literature set, all of those things for Bailey, for GMS, and for the virtual academy students to receive their own documents. and the information >> that is the professional development that is offered to our teachers and our

049leaders. >> I I think that the staff has sufficiently addressed why they chose this particular company. So I respectfully call the question. >> It's been it's been noted that the question has been called for. At that point we will just move to the vote. >> Um I'm sorry. I don't think I was I I had a couple more questions. What are you talking about? >> Understand what uh Robert Rules for order says after there's been ample time and opportunity. >> Who decides if there's ample time or opportunity? >> The chair. >> Okay. >> May we have roll call, please? Be >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> no. Johnson, yes. President subs. >> Yes. >> Vot is four and one. >> So the vote of four yes and one against. The motion carries

050for the support of middle school ELA adoption. Dr. Craig. >> The next presentation before you review the 2026 2027 assessment calendar. This presentation walks you through what the assessments look like for the entire year for all of our students from preK all the way through high school. There are various assessments that our students will be taking throughout the year. Uh providing them with benchmark assessments essentially diagnosting diagn diagnosing where they are per the beginning of the year, the middle of the year and the end of the year as well as additional assessments throughout the year. Um it also shows the Ivory 3 which is our uh reading assessment that our second and third grade students take every year. And if students do not pass that test, uh students who are in third grade, if they

051are retained will retake it. And students who are able to pass on but still did not pass it, they will continue to take that test fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. Excuse me. It also includes assessments such as the uh PSAT, the SAT assessments for our preK students. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion for approval of item 6.4 on our agenda. >> Some motion on the floor. May I have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved properly second. Discussion on this motion. Well, um I don't want to offend the chair and get to asking questions and then not be able to. So maybe I should just not ask any. Thanks. >> May we have roll call, please? >> Dr. Wood, >> yes. >> Attorney, yes. >> Attorney, >> no. Johnson. President, >> yes.

052is four. >> With a vote of four yes and one against item number 6.4, the 2026 27 assessment calendar has been approved. Thank you, Dr. Craig. >> Thank you. >> Let's move on to item 6.5 on our agenda. Mr. Richards, >> good evening members of in the community. Um I wanted to bring before you the technology instructure modernization initiative for um uh projects 2026 and 2027. So the first thing I want to show um is the uh issues that we have within our labs around the district. And if you can just um if you take a look at the pictures that I have, it will show you the broken um uh network uh cables. It will show you how the piping and all of the other uh jacks are kind of busted and things like

053that. And this is this is coming from aging and from years and years of um usage and no repair. So we are looking into upgrading all of these labs. >> Okay. Next please. So uh the district has approximately 10 functioning buildings um and each building has approximately 30 uh three labs uh totaling to about 30 labs uh within the district and we want to upgrade those labs from legacy labs to uh convert them to more updated STEM labs. So if you al also if you can look I just took a picture of some of the labs and as you see the equipment is kind of aging and outdated and we're looking to upgrade those things. Next please. Also within the uh lab has what is called a category one and category 2. Category one is

054what they use for the internet and WAN and phone services. Category 2 is what they use for cabling and infrastructure. So we're looking had uh doing our category two uh for the ports and the um switches and the infrastructure of the district. So 30 ports per lab totaling to approximately maybe 900 to a,000 ports uh where we have laser printers and 3D printers, laptops, desktops and a lot of the some of the labs are disconnected from the new infrastructure that we have set up. Next one. Um, and why this is needed? So, this is needed to improve reliability for the classrooms, connectivity, wireless access, cyber security, readiness, and for future um needs. Next, please. Also, just looking at the infrastructure uh portion where we have our switches and our caplings, we want to improve those

055areas. As you can see uh through the pictures, we have that is hanging uh out of the wall uh things that are uh disconnected and halfway connected and then we have some places where we need better cable management. So um these pictures are to bring you a view of what is happening inside of those labs. All right, next please. All right, so the project cost is for the network in infrastructure uh 546975.42 42 cabling and connectivity is 444 10.17 totaling to close to a million dollars. Okay, next please. But with the -ate funding um is going to cover 85% of that funding. The district will only have to cover 15%. And so out of that um that n that that approximately a million dollars we'll only have to do uh 148 73784. Okay. So, I'm

056requesting approval for FY2026 2027 - projects contingent upon um board approval and the EA um e-ray funding in conjunction. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion for item number 6.5 of our agenda, the - funding and upgraded lamps and switches. So, >> there's a motion on the floor. May I have a second? >> Second. >> Been moved properly second. discussion on this motion. >> Yeah. How much? >> How much? >> Yeah. What's the cost? >> Okay. We go back so she can see that. >> Thanks. >> Covering 85% of that which is the 8428475. The law cover 1487. 7.84. >> Could you What is >> E- rate is a educational uh funding for um for uh WANs for our wide area network for they provide funding for schools and uh mainly for schools and

057districts to help them with their um infrastructure. And as again as I said category category one - helps funding with our land telephones and internet. Category two is where they provide funding for our infrastructure cablings and all that stuff that you saw that was loose within the district and the labs. >> Where does that money come from? >> Money comes from the government. >> Um the state federal money. >> Okay. I think that's wonderful. Thank you. >> Any additional questions? >> Roll call for approval, please. >> Dr. Williams. >> Yes. >> Attorney. >> I say yes. >> Attorney. >> Yes. >> Johnson. President. >> Yes. >> Vote is five. With a vote of five yes and zero against the request for approval of e-ra funding of upgrade can of labs and switches has been approved.

058Thank you. Thank you. Moving on are on in our agenda to item number sevenformational items. Item 7.1 Mr. Johnson. >> Yes. So uh as you know uh G community school corporation has three appointees to the Gary Library Board. And this year we have one whose uh appointment is expiring uh at the end of July. And so, you know, we would need to reappoint that person or um entertain um applications for other appointees. Uh but this person's been doing a good job and so um the we we will vote on that next month during uh our next board meeting. Thank you sir. Item 7.5 amendment of Gary School Corporation behavior matrix. Adams >> I'm sorry. >> Shorter than everybody else. All right. Hello everyone again. So I am going to present on the behavior majors updates.

059Um we have some updated codes and formats for uh preK all the way up through 12. And we can go to the next slide. So I just wanted to give a quick overview um about where we started. So last year in August 2025, we updated our student code of conduct um and introduced that brand new behavior matrix because we wanted to ensure that there was some consistency across consequences. Um we had a high rate of exclusionary practices and we wanted to reduce that. And then there was also a need for more behavioral health support and interventions in our district um because we have a varying you know uh range of students dealing with trauma on a day-to-day basis. Next slide. So I am very proud of our district and to announce about where we are

060now. So our staff has made great strides when it comes to adopting a more restorative concept. um they have actively worked to identify root causes behind student behavior and not just uh address the behavior. Um they have referred students at a great rate for behavioral health supports to ensure that they get what they need. And we have partnered with families around discipline. Um we brought in new community partnerships um that support that behavioral health support including Edgewater, Flourish Community Hub, Touch of Coldness. Um because if you don't know, we don't have counselors at our elementary schools. So we've made sure that they've gotten behavioral support at the elementary level as well. We provided consistent staff training and so we've had um mindful practices like you discussed earlier as well as new group come in to

061provide training for not only our staff but also our administrators um to ensure that they get that quality professional development and that we've increased student staff and parent voice. Um, we talked about the surveys earlier with the family engagement, but we've also made sure that we've had all of our stakeholders in focus groups, um, completing surveys and other forms where their voices were heard around concerns about discipline in the district. Um, one of the biggest things that we focused on was moving from that primitive discipline to a more restorative mindset around discipline. So we wanted to move from um ensuring that we don't have our students doing things out of fear but there's a level of respect in the building um when it comes to every staff member that they encounter and their fellow students.

062Um we want to make sure that we are providing discipline not out of anger but coming from a place of understanding. Um and we also wanted to move from punishment to consequence. So punishment is generally for an adult. Um you said something to me I didn't like I want to punish you. Whereas consequence is teaching the student what they did wrong and why they should not do that again. Um we see it's the same as recidivism rates. You can go I can send you somewhere I can give you that punishment but if you didn't learn from that behavior and what you should do differently you'll do it again. Next slide. And so I'm extremely proud to bring this information um to the board meeting. So if we look from last school year to this school

063year, we have had a 72% decrease in inschool suspension since implementing our behavior measures in our new policy. Um we went from 2,666 last year to 751 this year. We have reduced our out of school suspension um by 34%. We've reduced lunch detention by 53% and overall all of our reported incidents and skyrocket reduced by 49%. So that is amazing in one year's time. Next slide. But the biggest accomplishment I think is we have increased our restorative practices. Um if we didn't know what else to do besides punitive discipline then that's all we did right. Um, but we've made sure that systems and structures are in place so that our staff have alternatives to punitive and exclusionary practices. And so from last year we had 33 reported incidents of restorative practices whereas this year we

064have 602. And some of so that's a 1,724% increase over one year. Um, some of those restorative practices include referrals to behavioral health teams. We ask every school to have a behavioral health team for tier 2 and tier three. um students and supports. Um real counseling sessions are taking place, referrals to outside agencies such as Edgewater restorative circles where students and staff can kind of talk out what the situation is and take ownus of their own situations and then re-entry meetings which are required after any exclusionary discipline. So out of school suspensions um we have re-entry meetings with their families upon return to the building. Next slide. So if we have all of this great data and it's working well, why do we want to update the matrix? So I have the privilege of having

065our discipline leads across all of our schools every month in a professional learning community. And something that they brought up and other teachers have also brought up is that they were seeing behaviors in the classroom that were not currently included um in our behavior matrix. And so we wanted to make sure that we were responsive to what they were seeing on a daily in their classrooms and in the hallways and the buildings. We also wanted to be consistent across buildings. So there were um elementary schools stating that there were behaviors they see in the 9 through 12 behavior matrix that were not in the 3 through 8. And so we wanted to make sure that it was uh there was some alignment across grade bands. In addition, we wanted to make it easier to use.

066So instead of having three matrices, um we wanted to kind of dwindle that down to two. And then we want to make sure we're having continued success. So we want to continue to be adaptive and flexible for our schools. Um but making sure that our behaviors are clear um that the responses will be appropriately and that the documentation will be consistent. Next slide. So, everyone contributed and um like I said, we pull our discipline leads and that's all of our discipline leads across the district on the bottom picture. Um and Dr. Stokes and so that's our deans, our inchool suspension coordinators, our behavior specialists, our social workers, and our city connects coordinators. They meet once a month and go very deep on what um restorative practice is and what needs to be done when it

067comes to discipline. So they identified a list of behaviors that they didn't see in the matrix and then from that list we took those behaviors out to different stakeholders. So you can see westside students including our validictorian um came over and did a focus group on our behaviors. We did a focus group with our administrators during one of our monthly meetings with them. Um and we also spoke to teachers to gain some additional insight about whether those behaviors should be adopted into the behavior matrix. Next slide. We also provided um just to be able to reach more folks, we provided a Google form survey about those same behaviors to our parents where we were able to receive 60, uh responses. Um we also sent it out to our security staff because they're seeing those behaviors

068as well. And so, um the parent survey was a little bit different because I wanted to gauge some some additional information. And two of those items were how important is it that schools clearly define behaviors and consequences for students and 84% said extremely important. And the other question was in your opinion what should be the primary goal of school discipline. Um those choices were teaching students to make better choices, maintaining safe learning environments, holding students accountable, and restoring harm when others are impacted. And 78% of our parents said all of the above. So, that tells us we're on the right path when it comes to how we're handling student discipline. Um, but we really wanted to make sure that everybody's voice was at the table in one way or another when it came to these

069updates. Next slide. So, finally, after gathering all of that information, our academic department came together and literally so our administrators, our students, everyone they wrote at what they felt the consequences should be to match the behaviors once we decided which behaviors were going to end. Um, and we literally wrote consequence by consequence on postits, put it up, and then went through all of that data to analyze. Um, and so we were able to come up No, she didn't. >> 7.3 summer. >> You left. >> Okay. Yes. This one is just very quick. We just wanted to highlight that we are having our second annual summer institute for our teachers. Um speaking of equipping them, uh this will be something that we're doing again this summer on July 14th and July 16th. Mrs. Flores and I

070from the academic department will be training our teachers. Um and we were open to all teachers coming. We will have a full day from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That AM session will be around beyond management building culture and climate through trauma sensitive and restorative practices. um they will be able to have lunch on their own and they'll come back when Mrs. Flores will really dive deep into mathematics and making rigor visible which also is something that she's been working on our administrators with the last few months. And so we we really want everyone to get the same um training and so that we can be most effective for our students. So session um or seats are still available and teachers will be getting paid for that day and it'll be at the Boys and

071Girls Club the brand boys and girls club on Northwest Indiana. Any questions? >> Yes, we'll make sure they have. >> Thank you. >> So, item 7.4 Dr. scopes for spring community school corporation policies. >> All right. Thank you. So, as always, and um I'm going to be honest with you guys, we are excited. I had a song, but I forgot it. So, anyway, we won't sing it. But we are excited because as you know, we've done a twoyear journey of trying to get up over probably 500 policies to the district. This is the last large batch. But having said that, I do know that a June new policy dropped. Some June policies dropped. I don't know how many, but I do know some dropped in June. So, what I want to say to you is

072that if you recall, our policies are one of four categories. They're either legal alerts, they're either revised policies, resended policies, or replaced policies. So the board you have these policies but I do want to highlight a few. First and foremost I want to highlight two legal alerts. There is a legal alert about the contracts for teachers on emergency permits. And that legal alert basically says that we have to have a separate contract a separate type of contract for teachers on emergency permits. Typically um our um state will guide us on what those contracts may look like. you know, a kind of a template if you will, but we do have to have a separate contract for teachers on emergency permits. Another legal alert is that our regular teacher contracts for those particular contracts, we cannot

073put hours on those contracts. So, right now they have like teachers would work seven or 7.5 hours, we cannot put hours on those contracts. Those are legal alerts. Um something else that I wanted to um talk about I wanted to talk about policy 0151 which deals with the organizational meeting for board members. So basically it used to say that annually on or before January 15th it has been revised to say within 30 days after the commencement date of the member's terms of office that basically the board has to organize have a president a vice president and a secretary and at that time guess who gets to be in charge. those superintendent gets to be in charge. I'm just kidding. But yeah, that's what the policy says for that. Another policy that I actually wanted to

074highlight and Jamila talked about it a little bit is policy um 65600. Let me go to that policy real quick. 5600 is about student discipline and that policy was revised ever so slightly. Um originally it said that the board believes that the best discipline is self-imposed. it has been changed to say that the board believes that students should learn to assume responsibility for their own behavior and consequences for their actions. So it's it's giving a little more teeth to some of the expectations and it gives other things under there that should be expected. I'll do just one more which is very important. There is a policy 5540. 5540. Um, and it's very important that you all hear me as I say this policy 5540 is one that deals with schools and law enforcement agencies. If

075you recall, uh, we used to talk about like ICE and things of that nature, but there is there have been drafting notes that talk about federal agents may include immigration and customs enforcement, which we call ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, HSSE, or Customs and Border Protection, which we call CBF, or Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is the FBI, etc. Those particular agencies can have access to our buildings, but we able to decide what types of things we would want them to do. We still require them to sign in upon arrival and in many districts they just kind of went in. We're requiring them to sign in upon require um arrival. Um that they when they do arrive that we are notified that they have addressed in their uniform so that we know who they are. We

076don't want to be you know fooled and think that you are law enforcement agency or ICE and you really aren't. So for our protection there are some things that we are requiring them to do and those are just some that I wanted to highlight. As I said you do have them all. With that I give it back to you Mr. S. >> Thank you Dr. Stokes. Appreciate the presentation. Any questions for Dr. Stokes? Let's move on to item eight administrative report. Miss Evoski. Good evening again. Um I would like to provide you with a financial update for through May of 2026. Um, this first slide of course is our total approved budget appropriations as well as just kind of a snapshot of January through May, what our expenses were for our three major funds. Next

077slide, please. This um is a dashboard of our operations fund. Um operations fund revenue received is 7.2 million year to date. Expenses year to date 9.07 million. The projected ending balance at the end of 2026 is 6.7 million. Um I do want to point out um the projected cash fund balances that you see in October that kind of dipped. That is because it is a three pay month. And this is just kind of uh this is just the detail. I tried to give you a snapshot, you know, for a visual effect on the first one. And then this is the actual detail. Next slide, please. Then we have the education fund revenue received year to date 14.59 million. Expenses yearto date 16.97. Our projected ending balance is 20.53 million. Now, this is including if we

078receive enough in property tax money to repay back the education fund. So, you're going to see um in the monthly receipts versus expenditures. You'll see that I have adjusted it hoping that we would receive enough property tax money to repay the education. So you see that green bar um where it's elevated in receipts hoping that we receive it and then same in December hoping we receive enough and then of course October is a threeay month as well you know which is reflected in the projected cash fund balance. Um I was conservative with my anticipated uh tuition funding as well. Next slide please. And this is just um the details supporting uh the dashboard. Next, referendum fund. Referendum fund received 1.66 million year to date. Uh we have transfers of 4 million year to date. Again,

079I was conservative in what we would receive in property tax money. Um and then you'll see in the projected cash fund balance, um the dip is just because transfers will continue until we receive money um at the end of the year. We receive in June and December, but I do always request an early tax draw. I do that in May and I do that in November. And that is money that has been collected that the county the assessor's office is holding on to. And we are allowed to request an early tax draw for what they've collected. Now they never give us the full amount that they have but they do give us a portion. I do want to share that we um so we collected um we collected in May um an early tax drop

080of property taxes of 3.947 million and how that was dispersed was referendum received 1.6 Debt service received 1.5 and the operations fund received only 777,000. We will receive a good portion in June to help support making our debt payments. Um and I'll go over that once we get to the next slides. Um next. And then this is just the uh detail to support um the dashboard. and I was very conservative with what we would receive. Next, so this leads me into the debt service levy. Um, in 2025, um, our tax rate was 4618. In 26, the Department of Local Government, um, changed our tax rate to try to help support the repayments of those common school loans. So it was changed to 5830. So this is just kind of leading into my next slide, please.

081Here are the debt balances. This is as of December. We make payments twice a year in June and December. Um in what we owe in 2026 is 11.354 million. The levy says we can collect 15 million. We never collect all of the money. Um the common school loan payments um that we are not that we cannot pay back um for the first half in June is 6.3 million. Um, and the regular debt payments, the bond payments is 4.05 million. So, and I I do want to share that I did compare what we received in May of 2025 versus what we received in in May of this year, and we were shy 1.6 million in our early tax drop. And I believe that was due to the portion that is shared with the charter schools. Any

082questions? I know it's a lot of information, a lot of different numbers. >> The cash flow is a continuous evolving thing. For example, the IDE says we have to adopt a curriculum that maybe I didn't write in the budget because we didn't know of it at when we were doing the budget. This these are things that I have to add to it now. So, it's continuous, you know, it's ever evolving. >> So, I'm sorry when you said um it was shy I think you said 1.6 6 million. Um, we had previously had to give the money to the charter schools. We we started giving money to the charter schools in December of 25, I believe. And then now we're continuously sharing, but the Department of Local Government is is setting aside money that they believe

083we will have to share. Any additional questions? >> Yeah. What's our um involvement trend, our daily numbers? >> So, right now we have 3,969 students, >> we're right at 4,2. >> How does that compare to your part? Um, I think we were down 300 students and of course that that does affect our state aid that we receive of course, but we are continuously looking for state grants or anything, you know, to help support all of these programs. Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Moving on. Item number nine on our agenda, the opportunity for board reports and communication from individual board members. I'd like to open up the floor for board members to make reports or com comments. Mr. Chair. >> Yes, please. >> I just want to u thank Dr. Stokes,

084her administrative team, teachers, and students and parents for a great school year this year. U I think uh things went well and I just want to say kudos to and graduation was went very well also. I'll say kudos to them for that as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. Any other questions or comments? >> Yes, >> please. >> Thank you. Um >> I just want to say that uh congratulations to the students who graduated 8th grade, sixth grade, high school. um on your continued educational um journey. I hope wish you all luck. Um I also want to say that uh when I was speaking before but I was not allowed to finish um because of the grounder rules of order with the ample time and opportunity. Um I think that it's important that this board,

085you know, we're not tasked with being the educators. we're tasked with being the financial um fiduciary. So looking at how the district spends their money. And so my question was going to be which I was not allowed to continue and I don't know maybe the other board members aren't curious as to what is in place to track this new system that they are putting in because they were using the McCra Hill one prior. Um I was going to ask how long were they using it? Um, and if you know when we're talking about you're going again looking for you know somebody to help with the reading levels of the kids and you're um looking at a company again um putting them in the running where you have uh 50% at third 50% of the students

086sixth to eighth graders reading at third grade or below three grade levels or below. So basically you have an eighth grader that reads on the fourth grade level and you've been using McGra Hill. And so my question was going to be how are we going to track this new system that's being put in? Um how often is it going to be tracked? Is it going to be reported here? But again my fellow board members did not want to hear about that. Um and so I was uh had ample time and opportunity according to them for these questions but I don't think I had ample time or opportunity and my question was um you know I just wanted to know what is going to be done to track this um because I don't know how much

087was tracking was done before again when you have so many students who are below their re their grade reading level. And so, um, you know, it was funny to me when, um, she's gone now, and that's the shame, but I'll address some other stuff I wanted to say say to my fellow board member, but she's not here, so I'll save that for later. But I will say that there was a board retreat, a board training that happened um, yesterday, June 10th. And so I was traveling um with my son. He did a basketball camp. Uh this was a pre-planned trip. So that's why I missed the graduation. Also um May 13th, they came and they asked, "Oh, what dates can you do?" And I say, "I can't do June 10th. I'm literally going to be

088driving down the street home from um Alabama." So that was the date that was chosen. And based on how my fellow board member couldn't wait to say um uh Mr. Mr. President, um I think she's had ample time and opportunity. It must have been discussed that this um attorney did it. I'm sorry when you're discussing things with other I'm sorry. It must have been my I'm not talking about what was discussed. I wasn't there. I don't know what was discussed. So, I'm saying that how it appeared that just couldn't wait to pull that on me that that was discussed. Um but I will say that and again um attorney Tolbert is trying to do it to me right here and now but I don't believe that the uh ample time and opportunity rules applies to

089my statement that I am you know this is me discussing this is my individual board member communication reports what I'd like to say and I'd like I'd like to say is the way that um she couldn't wait to say it I'm sure it was discussed again I wasn't there. This is just speculation. Um, but I will say that to be cut off when you're asking a question pertinent to this district and how we are spending our money as a financial fiduciary, I found it improper, just as improper as I suppose attorney to find what I'm saying right now. Um, so I'd just like to say that I would also like to say that if we are losing members, I just would like to hear the plan for and when I say members, I mean students

090uh for bringing them back. That's all. Thank you. >> Any additional comments from board members? I certainly uh want to take advantage of the opportunity to share a few thoughts and hopefully not be redundant um on what I share but just observations from my perspective. Number one, I want to just echo these comments that were made by some of my fellow fellow board members about the excellent um ex excellent effort that I see that we're making as a district. I don't want to confuse that effort with being satisfied. Um we have such a uh important effort, important uh opportunity to build and give our students the opportunity to have lives they can only dream of. And so thank you for your efforts and I'm just going to ask what I'm asking for myself just what

091else can I do? How can I do more? And I'm just totally excited about the new techniques and and training to try to make us be more available to support our students. I want to thank the students for their efforts and today's environment is simply to amazing what our students have to deal with every day and I want to encourage them to keep trying their best and the families and parents try their best. I'm totally excited about the opportunity to have uh community members come to our meeting and share their thoughts. I think that that's important to get that feedback. I do want to make sure that when you have that opportunity that you use that time responsibly and you make sure that what you share is factual. To take that opportunity to get in

092front of our community and share information that you haven't taken the opportunity to research is just simply unfortunate. So, I'm always a half full kind of guy. So, I want to leave this meeting with all the positives that I feel, but I certainly know that there's some accountability that we all have on all levels. And to uh Attorney Lockett's point, yes, there was a board retreat and I just simply say I am certainly proud to be affiliated and associated with the group of professionals that were in the room. Any additional comments? I'd like to move on to item number 10 on our agenda, superintendent report. Dr. Stokes. >> Thank you, President. I'm going to be very brief. I just wanted to say hello summer. We are glad that you are here, but do know that

093we have some summer activities for our students. Please look at our website. Um, regarding some of the things we have um summer school going on, of course, for literacy purposes. Irene, we have some summer school things going on for credit recovery or classes for students. We also have professional development opportunities going on throughout the summer. So, we want to let you know even though it is summer and we're happy that it's here, we have supports for staff and students. And I want to leave with this one last thing before we go over the draft. Parents, as such, please be reminded, please be reminded that our students are not always aware of where they are, place in time, when they're playing. We, if students are out on the street, you need to make sure that you

094are cognizant and careful as you're driving down the road. We've already been informed of various things that are going on. We don't want near accident with our children. So, please just be careful as you are driving through the neighborhoods because our children are at play. with that if we can um go ahead and talk about um some of the other things. And Miss Chelsea, you were trying to share something. >> Swimming. You said swimming. >> Oh, yeah. The swimming. Um with the swimming, please make sure water safety. Water safety is very important. I'm an avid swimmer myself and I know how important water safety is. We don't want to lose any of our loved ones to accidents that could have been, you know, foreseen. So with that being said, um just know safety is paramount.

095Our draft agenda, the only two items that I know for sure we will have on our agenda is next next time we will talk about the board board's person that they decide to be on the library board. That appointment will be an action item. We will also have our policies the second read as an action item. With that, I turn it back over to you, Mr. Stokes. >> Thank you, Dr. Stokes, for your comments and leadership. I will enter entertain a motion for adjournment. >> So moved. >> There's a motion. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you. Thank you for your participation.