001Oh, thank you. Good evening. I'd like to call the meeting for the community Gary Community School Board to order. It's Thursday, November 13th, 4:30. May we stand 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. In order to confirm we have a legal meeting, let's have roll call to confirm qual. >> Mr. S >> present, >> Dr. Woods, >> present, >> attorney Irvin, attorney Lacket, and Mr. Johnson present. With three members here, we have quorum and a legal meeting. Item number two on our agenda is the approval of tonight's agenda. I'll entertain a motion, please. >> So move. >> Second. >> Been moved and properly
002second. Any discussion on this motion? >> Hearing none. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? The agenda has passed. Let's move to item number three on our agenda. Uh, Miss Winningington. Uh, Gary, ready? >> Snapshots. Good evening, Dr. Stokes, members of the board in this amazing community. those who are tuned in virtually as well as those who are in our presence. My name is Chelsea Whittington and I proudly serve as your chief of public and community relations for the Gary Community School Corporation. This is always a great part of our agenda titled Gary Ready Snapshots where we get the opportunity to share a lot of exciting things that have occurred and are poised to happen across the district. Shall we begin? We first want to let you know that we have been
003interfacing with our new food service provider, Chartwells. And that interface also involves having our students to have a say. So coming up, they're going to be doing some taste tests with our young people to let them vote it up or vote it down, love it or lose it. And we'll also be having other opportunities to interface with Chartwell. But we wanted to make that official announcement to say that our young people have a say in what their menu items will be for the remainder of the school year. And we want to thank Chartwell for affording us the opportunity to partner with them and to get some feedback from our young people because our board president often says that feedback is a gift. Next, we have implemented a series of parental involvement and community engagement initiatives
004across the district. And so going forward with our Gary Ready snapshots, I will give a recap of activities and opportunities for our parents and families. Starting with our upcoming parent advisory council meeting that's coming up Tuesday, November 18th in the parent room at Westside Leadership Academy. We also have a career day coming up that will be hosted by our partners over at GAPS. And we're looking for parents and families who have careers, who'd like to share their careers with our young people to please sign up to speak with them on career day, which is coming up November 20th. And then there are more opportunities February 19th and 20th in 2026. And we also would like to call to the community's attention the Gary Middle School's fall festival that's taking place on November 19th. Um, it's
005going to feature music and games and light refreshments. And we're always inviting the community to come by any of our schools for their special events. Reminder that every school has its own individual Facebook page. So, there are more events and activities hosted individually on every school's page as well as on our website. I'd also like to add that we recently had family and community engagement week which was covered by the local media. Some of our parents and families appear in the paper. So, I just want to re-emphasize to the board that we are definitely putting an extra push on community and family engagement to ensure that our parents and our guardians know what's going on in the schools and how they can get involved, get the resources that we're offering them so that their scholars
006thrive in a well-rounded environment. Next, we'd like to share another partnership that's coming up. Please mark your calendars for December 5th and 6th. The Lakeshore Classic in partnership with the Gary Chamber of Commerce is coming up at Westside Leadership Academy. I'd like to also call to your attention the change in date and that we are no longer having it Thanksgiving weekend which often caused a problem for some as far as being able to attend as we are away with families and doing things personally. So we it has been moved to the following weekend. So, our students will be squaring off against local other schools, both our boys and girls varsity basketball teams. And the game nights are Friday and Saturday, tickets are only $7. They have represent night where they're asking on Friday that you
007either wear your guard from your high school or college days. And then on Saturday, for those who are members of the divine nine, we ask that you wear your paraphernalia for your sororities or fraternities. But most important, we ask that parents and the community come out and support our young people as they love to see us in the stands in support of any types of contests taking place in the schools. Next up, what a time we had on Thursday, October 30th. The eyes of the nation were on Gary, Indiana as we saluted Dana Evans, who is a twotime WNBA champion who hails right here from Gary, Indiana. and a former player for Westside Leadership Academy. She received the key to the city from our mayor as well as a salute from our superintendent and a
008host of elected officials. It was a proud day and more than 20,000 individuals have tuned in to the Gary Community School Corporation Facebook page to witness history taking place. Can we give Miss Evans a round of applause? And finally, I would like to close out Gary Ready snapshots with a celebration of excellence. Excellence. E X C E L L E N C E. If you read some of our school news, you know that Gary Middle School was victorious, taking first place in the spell ball. And certainly we want to honor them. They just won last week. I extended the invitation for team members to come out. And we do have one of our team members who is here. And I'm going to read all the names. and I'm going to ask that he and his
009parents please come up and um receive our special token for this great accomplishment because we know spelling can be tricky sometimes and but our scholars came in first place and so I will read to you the winners and they are as follows. Janica Brewer, JDiana Brewer, Kaylee Johnson, Katie Mukes, Destiny Kelly, Tristan Favors, Evan Clayton, Prew Hope, Jaylen Harris, and here tonight is Miguel Chs. Come on up, Miguel. The coaches of this kind of team were Mrs. Jonte Winters and Mrs. Nikita Glover Pry. And what we have for them or for Miguel and superintendent or Mr. SS if you'd like to do the honors, we have a medal of excellence because that is exactly what you embody, Miguel, as an excellent speller and a scholar at our middle school level. And you'll do the presentation
010and I'll take the photos. Did you want to say anything, Miguel, about your experience as a speller? Keep the letters to himself. >> Yeah. Right. >> All right. Yeah. >> And mom is here as well videoing. >> Hey, mom. >> Congratulations. >> Yes. >> Okay, we sure can. Come on over. And here we go. >> Thank you so much. Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> Every student will receive one of these medals as well as our coaches. I will make sure that they get delivered over to Gary Middle School. And in addition to that, Gary Middle School was also victorious in the square off against Bailey at their basketball game on Thursday at Westside. They had the opportunity to play on the big kids floor and Gary Middle School was victorious with that as well. So,
011a lot of things are happening across the district. And I think I see Mr. Bugs here. He had indicated why don't you give the children anything, Mr. Bugs? They have their medals tonight. So that was for you so that they can remember how much they are appreciated and they are. This concludes my report for this evening. Thank you for the opportunity. I will turn it back over to you, Mr. Sh. >> Thank you, Mrs. Wington. I would like to move on to item number four, public comments, Mr. Johnson. Uh, pursuant to Indiana Code 5-14-1.5-3, the Gary Community School Corporation Board of Trustees welcomes comments from the 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
012minutes total discussion time of items on the agenda or to express concerns relative to the operation of the school city schoolboard actions and other items of general educational interest. If there are many people wishing to address the board, we may limit the amount of time a person may speak. Comments shall be directed to the board, not to individual board members. Statements shall not be abusive or argumentative. Persons making comments shall not debate statements made by other persons. It shall not be permissible to orally present or discuss complaints against individual employees of the deer community school corporation at any board of school trustees meetings. Issues relating to personnel, individual circumstances, or an individual school will be referred to the building principal or an appropriate administrator in an attempt to resolve the issue prior to an appeal
013before the board. speaker cannot transfer their remaining time to another person. The board president will enforce these 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. The president may terminate the address of any speaker who violates these rules or limit the total amount of time devoted to public comment if there's a large number of people wishing to address the board or if there's a large agenda of other business before the board. >> Thank you, Mr. Johnson. We may begin with Mr. Robert Bugs. Good evening board uh general public. I'm going to speak very fast. The last time I was up here, I was on ceremony uh removed
014from the library board and I had several questions of the chairman, Mr. sons. Why? >> Uh here's the question. He answered saying that he was informed in December of 2024. He got information from Miss Maro, Dr. Washington, Miss White, and a key McCain that I was removed from the library meeting in 2022 in handcuffs and other dis. Now this I just got the other day. >> May we pause? >> Attorney is speaking. Yes, attorney. >> Uh this matter that Mr. Bugs is speaking on does not appear to be on the agenda as well as there are other items that he has already sent in a legal fashion. So this is not considered public time. >> I can't hear what she's saying. She's stating that the information that you're sharing has been uh already been shared
015and it's not on the agenda for tonight. So, it's not considered public comment for today. >> Okay. This is this is a public meeting. >> This is a public meeting. I think I thought anything had to do with the school corporations. The public can speak on it. But the other thing I move on to something else. >> Thank you, sir. >> The other thing I want to move on to is that >> he's moving on attorney to another topic. my grandson. I got a call from baby school to come pick him up. Said he had assaulted the teacher. When I got there, they said he pushed the teacher down. Uh I asked I took him home with me, but I asked them to give me some writing of what he alleged to have done. You
016know, right up when a child can't come back to school, you got to give him some writing and send them home. Uh I have not gotten that. The principal, Miss Garson, has not gotten back to me. Yesterday she given too messages. today. She had given two messages and I was told that I would receive a call from Miss Williams from Westside. I called Miss Williams. She was unavailable. In the meantime, you got a child that's out of school. Don't know why he's out. I don't know. The parents don't know why he's out. Uh, and that is unacceptable. Anytime a child is not allowed to return to school, he should be given a written document at that time staying wise. They won't give it to me. They give didn't give it to the mother. and the
017child doesn't know he's out there in limbo, want to know when he's supposed to come back to school. These things uh have been ongoing, not the first time at Bailey. There was another incident at Bailey school where he was drinking some water and somebody tried to hit him with a shoe. He ran to keep from getting hit and he got suspended for running in the hallway. these things. I know somebody Well, you can't bring this up. But I'm bringing it up because this is a school meeting. School board says, "You all in charge. Everybody's here that need to hear this." And uh I can't get a hold of anybody. Nobody returns a phone call. Mr. Williams hasn't responded. The principal at Bailey has not responded. And then when I call today, oh, but you're not
018on the name. Your name is not on here for a contact person. Well, who called me to come pick them up? the way the school did. Come pick them up because they think I follow the police. When I got there, I wanted to see the camera to see what happened. All the parents can't look at that. So, you got a child that's being denied an education for no stated reason at all. And you are responsible for that. I'll try to get in touch with the uh superintendent. >> Thank you, sir. >> Okay. >> Austin Cook, >> Chairman Suggs, if I remind folks that discussing any matters regarding students is not appropriate for the public comment. as member Johnson read the um announcement regarding public comment. >> Good evening. Uh I just wanted to address item
0196.3. Something was in there talked about tonight. Um I wanted to let my voice be heard about situation. Um show a little bit of support to an individual. uh talk about I wasn't hurt, which is not a big deal except for that this was someone I worked directly with. I wanted to give some input on how I felt. Um I believe that this person's supervision was direct but fair. Um, I also believe that this person has a wealth of knowledge and we should uh maybe look into the situation a little more and I want to make sure I spoke on that before a decision was made. I just want to be uh quick and brief. Make sure you guys understood and heard my point. Sarah Arnette, I believe. Sarah Bruce Curry. Okay, I have three
020minutes. Uh, Bruce Curry. Um, does anybody know what today is? Today is World Pence Day. >> You didn't know that, did you? I could see by how we started this meeting. So, yes. and and the importance of practicing kindness through forgiveness, understanding and compassion toward others. That's what today is. Now, I want to start off most important thing NAACP is education. That's that's our first and helping youth get off the street. You want them to get jobs and that we're having a fundraiser on 21st November. I'm letting you know that. Uh we want you there cuz these funds are going because we're trying to attract talent. What we've been getting all throughout Northwest Indiana, people come to our meetings. Listen, they didn't know about Westside. Who's West Side? They put you on the map. There's
021some more Das in that building. There's more Larry. Roger. I don't know their names. They're in that building. We've got to expose them and push them toward getting scholarships and applying for scholarships. Every time NAACP, my fraternity, other areas uh put out scholarships or get money to help the kids, there's nothing from Westside. I'm challenging Westside. You got to leave. I see a spell in me. Come on. We going to win these things. uh July 2026, the national uh NAACP convention is in Chicago. We going to represent with STEM. We going to do the things that go to help prepare our kids. Uh I saw AI the other day, AI training to prepare our kids to rebuild Gary. That's our goal. So I came here today about positivity. I heard issues. Fix them. Fix those
022one on one. We don't need that time to school. It's about the success of our students. That's my number. That's why I show up. I don't show up for that small stuff. That's y'all going to take care of the discipline. Okay. And the other thing >> we got I see stuff on radio and everywhere. Everybody's trying to get in there stuff. And I'm saying the students need supporting Gary. they true when it come to school. They need that support. Uh teachers, parents, and everyone. So, that's what we're about to innovate to do. So, I just I want to be brief and tie my time up, but we got to go in a positive direction. I'm tired of the past stuff in Gary. It's about kindness, love, and let's work together. And we work the issues.
023Now, I agree with some of the comments I heard earlier. Work the issues. They they shouldn't come up here. They should be work oneonone with parents, with sponsors, or whoever. And if somebody's wrong, they got to get your hand slapped. I hate to say it. I'm old school. I'm done. Thank you, Dr. Spa B. So, I'm going to remind everybody before I begin that accountability comes from a place of love and compassion. What I just saw here was not only illegal and unethical, I can't understand how anyone allowed that to happen. Everyone here, you are in a school board, you work with the ISBA, even the ISBA will tell you cuz they got it wrong the first time because of the opinion regarding Bartholomew in 2022. You cannot limit public comment in a schoolboard meeting.
024Schoolboard meetings are special. They they are the only place we are required to have public comment other than like public hearings in general sense. And they are also a place where you cannot limit public comment to agenda items. I see more attorneys in this room than I typically see in a room. And the fact that not only was that man stopped and told that he could not speak on issues not on the agenda, which is illegal and improper, and that is an ODL violation, and that will be recorded, and that was recorded. I can't believe that that happened here. I am so ashamed right now because what is the big deal about what the man was about to say? >> Do you have comments in particular? Are you going to repeat your violation? Please do
025so. I'm still recording. By all means. I am talking about what happened at this meeting that pertains to this school corporation. That is the only litmus test I need. Show me the statute. I can show you. 5-14-1.5-1 allows me and any member of this public to get up here and talk about things that are important to the school. The only way you can restrict that is if it's a personnel issue that's specific to an individual. That's an executive session issue. Correct? Or it's something where somebody is naming a particular student or whatever else. But that's about privacy laws. And furthermore, if a person who has a a legal relationship with somebody, let's say a parent comes up on this mic, actually, you can't restrict them from saying that either because it's their rights. They have
026the ability to disclose that information as they see fit. And what she was trying to shut down over there was also not the matter of illegal action. I will tell you what it was cuz I read it before this meeting. Apparently, there was an agreement between this school corporation that Pa McNelte somehow was a party to, unknown how, that presumably was submitted in 2024 to this some member of this board, saying that that man, there's a contract saying this man couldn't be on your library board. That's also illegal. Buy it. >> Lida Tindo, >> chairman SS. >> Yes. >> At the close of public comment, If I may make a statement, I would appreciate that courtesy. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Nikki Bird. >> It appears someone signed them in. Um, please make a comment,
027Attorney Tober. >> Thank you, Chairman Sugs. >> Thank you. >> It is very rare that we address the public comments that are made, but I'd like to make clear as to why I intervene. There is a threat of litigation regarding matters that Mr. Mr. Bugs was speaking about. Those things have come to my office. Therefore, anything that is pending litigation should not be addressed in public comment. If you would like information regarding statutes that are cited in the announcement of the board regarding public comment, you are more than welcome to send a proper request for records as you would for any other thing that you want to get from the school board and that can be addressed. Thank you, Chairman. >> Thank you, Attorney Tolbert. Moving on on our agenda is item number five, our
028consent agenda. Yes, please. Please. >> Thank you, Mr. Sugs. Since the meeting has ensued, we had another young student from the spell ball team to arrive as well as our principal and coach. And we just like for them to come briefly to be acknowledged. Principal Walker, Miss Winter, no um Miss Wetes, and Kaylee Mes. And Miss Walker or Miss Winters, if you wanted to just indicate what the young people actually accomplished. We know they're winners, but you have the backstory. >> Greetings to all. I am Mrs. Winters, one of the coaches. Um my other coach is Mrs. Glover who is not here with us. She's doing an afterchool program at the school. But our students have been working diligently. This is their third year participating in the spell bowl and they declare themselves winners from
029the first day that we started and they worked hard. They had their own study groups together and it shows that their hard work and dedication paid off. and we're so proud of them for their diligence and commitment to being the representatives of the spell for Gary Middle School for the visual and performing arts. Thank you. Congratulations. >> I will entertain a motion for approval of the consent agenda. >> Mr. Chairman, I'll make that motion. >> There's a motion on the floor. May I have a second? >> Second. been moved and properly second. Is there any discussion on this motion? Hearing no discussion, may we have roll call for approval? >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney Irving, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, I vote yes. And Mr. SS, >> yes. >>
030The votes five and zero. With a vote of five yes and zero against, the consent agenda has been approved. Moving on now to action items, agenda item number six, Dr. Stokes, 6.1, please. >> Thank you, President Subs. Um, as you know, we brought before the board and we did have the board's representative, um, Dr. Woods, come to our meetings to discuss the various items that you see before you. We are at what we call the second reading for items that you would require any more information. There are just a couple that I did want to highlight and then with after I'm done, I'll turn it back over and request approval of these items so that they can become board policy. Um, one of the things that I wanted to u bring to your attention is
031policy 0167.2 two which talks about executive sessions and it says that in keeping with the confidential nature of executive sessions no member of the board shall disclose the content of or of discussions that take place during such sessions. In other words, you can talk among each other but you're not to be sharing that information beyond the executive session um committee or parties who are involved. Um the other thing that I wanted to bring to our attention deals with the actual um um due process rights. Um we do provide due process rights to our students particularly when they're subject of school corporation disciplinary procedures. If at any time a parent or community member has concerns, we do ask that you go through the proper chain of um support, which would be to make attempts at the
032building. And if you're not resolved with what you need at the building, we do have central office staff. In this case, it will be Dr. Treadwell. She's our chief academic officer. And in certain cases, if things rise to the level where you need um human resources support, that would be our chief human resources officer, which is Miss B. And with that, um if there are other things that you want me to go over, I will. If not, I want to turn it back over to you and request that you approve these. >> Thank you, Dr. Stokes. Um, given that presentation, I'd like to entertain a motion for approval. >> Some move. >> Second. >> Been moved and properly seconded. Is there discussion on this motion? >> Hearing no discussion, may we have roll call for
033approval, please? >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, yes. And Mr. SS, >> yes. voters five and zero. >> With a vote of five yes and zero against, the Gary Community School policies have been approved. I'd like to ask uh Revanka to come up. Item number 6.2. >> Good evening board members, Dr. Stokes, community who are here present in our board meeting as well as our members watching from home or community members watching from home. I'd like to first start off by very much so thanking our teachers who came together in collaboration to um bring before you a an agreed upon collective bargaining agreement. We know that they are our boots on the ground and they are the most important individuals who support the functioning of
034our school district because they are there for the main reason which is for our students. So again, um, a heartfelt thank you to all of our teachers for everything that they do. And with that, I'd like to ask for your approval of the ratification of the collective bargaining agreement. >> Thank you, board. I will entertain a motion for approval on this item. >> So move. >> There's a motion on the floor. May I have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Is there any discussion on this motion? I would just like to congratulate you and the team for this excellent um process and the outcome. Appreciate your efforts on this. >> Thank you. And thank you to the the our Gary Teachers Association as well. >> Wonderful. Thank you. May we
035have roll call for approval, please? >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney Locket, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson yes and Mr. SS >> yes >> voters five and zero >> with a vote of five yes and zero against item 6.2 to the ratification of the collective bargaining market bargaining agreement has passed. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Item 6.3, please. >> Thank you board members. I'm going to continue with the request for the approval of the cancellation of the administrator contract and the associated teachers contract before you. >> Thank you. I will entertain a motion for item 6.3 recommendation approving the recommendation for the administrative contract and associate associated teachers contract. >> Mr. President, I'll make a motion to approve the recommendation. >> There's a motion on the floor for approval.
036Is there a second? >> A second. >> It's been moved and properly second. Is there discussion for this motion? Hearing no discussion, may we have roll call for approval, please? >> Dr. Woods, >> yes. >> Attorney Irvin, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> no. >> Mr. Johnson, vote yes. Mr. SS, >> yes. >> Vote is four yes, one no. >> With a vote of four yes and one against, the motion carries. >> Thank you. >> I would now ask for a approval action. Uh we can approve items 6.4 through 6.10. >> Approval of items like to make a motion to approve item 6.4 through 6.10. >> There's a motion on the floor. May I have a second? >> I second. >> It's been moved and properly second. >> Is there any discussion on the motion? May
037we have roll call for approval, please? >> Dr. Williams, >> yes. >> Attorney, >> yes. >> Attorney Black, >> yes. >> Mr. Johnson, votes yes. And Mr. S, >> yes. >> Vote is five to zero. >> With a vote of five, yes and zero against. Items 6.4 and 6.10 have been approved. Let's move on to item number seven on our agenda,formational items. And I'd like to ask Dr. Stokes to speak to item 7.1. >> Thank you, President Subs. Um, as you are aware and as I've shared, we do have a board rep, which is Dr. Woods. She attends all of our policy meetings. She typically is the person who speaks on behalf of the board. We have several items here on the screen that you can see. Um, I just want to speak to a
038few because there are several legal alerts. There's a legal alert about child care programs, about preschool programs um and how those are impacted. They were basically there's information from Governor Bronze where he signed into law for example house and road act 1253 and then there are other other acts that were expanded to exempt from lensure for child care programs operated by public school corporations to include all children in the school corporation in which the public school is located and not just children of students or employees of the school. the school corporation in which the public school is located. So there are various legal alerts that have been put out for you. I did want to mention that particular one as we do have a school for our preschoolers. Um the other thing um that I
039wanted to mention there was actually some updates to the actual executive session um that I spoke to that a little bit about one that we approved the last time but they had one clerical change and so that clerical change was just a word went from shall to must something like that and so I wanted to mention that although we just the board literally just approved that so we did make that change. The other thing um the hold attendance policy 5200 as many of our community members are aware we do have guidelines regarding attendance being mandatory and what happens after a student misses five days of attendance um how that might impact not only the child but the parent as well. So I just wanted to highlight those two things but remind our community and the
040board that our representative is Dr. Woods. I will turn it over to her if she has anything to share, but understand that this is just information at this time. >> Um, not much to share, but again, I I applaud you guys for just keeping up with all of this because there are so many changes and um I just appreciate the opportunity to serve on this committee and um yeah, that's about it. Nothing much, nothing glaring. >> Thank you, Dr. Stokes. and Dr. Wood for your uh work as chair of our policy committee. It is really appreciated all of that you have done. I'd like to move on to item 7.2. Uh Aaron King. While Mr. King is coming and our beautiful music is playing, we're introducing a new concept that I call behind the curtains.
041behind the curtains is so that our board and our community can better understand some of the things that we deal with that bring us to supporting a full school district. So Aaron King is going to share with you behind the curtains as it relates to the McKini Vento. >> Good evening Dr. Stokes, school board members and Gary community. Again, my name is Aaron King and I serve as the McKini Vento leazison for the district. Um, and today we will be going over the Mckin Vento displacement assistance program that we do have available for our district. And within that, I'll be going over what the Mckin Vento act is, its purpose, our application process, and the steps that follow. So, first off, what is the Mckin Vento Act? It is the federal law that ensures immediate
042enrollment and educational stability for youth experiencing homelessness. And the purpose of the McKini Bento Act is to identify students experiencing homelessness or housing instability, ensure access to a free appropriate public education, remove barriers to enrollment, attendance, and student success, as well as connect families and community resources uh and support services. So, as far as the application process goes, um we have two ways that you can access that um it's also called the housing questionnaire. It can be reached in two ways. The first is online. So, if you go to our school website, which is garycsc.k12.in us, if you go to the blue bar at the top and you select about from the dropdown, it will go to housing. And once you let you select housing, you will be able to download and submit your application.
043Uh once it's submitted, it will take 24 hours for me to get back to you and then from there we can schedule an interview for you to for you to come in and talk to us. Uh the second way is in person. Uh so a parent can go directly into the school building and say, "I need uh assistance with housing." and they automatically know to be connected to the face liaison. And so from there, the face liaison will take you to a private discrete room where you will have a phone interview with me. Um, this step is very important because a lot of people that we encounter are dealing with traumatic experiences. So, it's very important for me to only have them to um repeat or have to relive that experience one time so they're
044not spreading their story uh around everywhere. Uh so once we have that phone interview, um from there I get to know more about the parent, I get to know the background, what they're going through, and then I also ask them um the exact questions that are listed on the housing questionnaire. Once I receive all of that information, I assess um the issues that they are having and then make a determination based off of the McKenna Vento guidelines set forth by the Indiana Department of Education. So if and when you are eligible um from that point we will actually give you the physical housing questionnaire which you will basically fill in all the information that you just gave me verbally and this is so that we make sure that we keep accurate recordeping uh because we
045have to document all of this to continue to be able to be eligible for the grant moving forward yearbyear. So once that process is complete, I can then go over all of the rights that you have as a McKenna Vento family and student. And then from there, we issue your transportation form. Along with the McKenna Vento Act, we are responsible for providing transportation to you, whether that is Gary to Gary or Gary to surrounding cities. And then from there, we also give you a resource form. So along with the M been so that we are we are able to keep um different resources on hand um for our students to be able to have access to. Uh and those list consist of things such as toiletries, uniforms, uh backpacks, coats, hats, shoes, etc. And then
046the families also receive a community resource list where they can be um connected with local agencies and partners who are able to help them farther than we can in a school capacity. Uh so some of those examples include some things like transitional housing, emergency shelters, uh food pantries, and HUD housing programs. And so, um, really in closing, uh, we like to deal with all of our families with dignity, respect, and empathy. Uh, we understand that they are really going through some trying situations in our area. Uh, and it's really our job to uh, step in the gap and support where we can. Uh, so we do offer um, extended support once you are um, deemed as a Mcken Vento family. So once every 6 months, I do a check-in with the family uh to see
047where they're at, see where their progress has been made based off of the resources that I given them as well as the third party resources provided to them. And then from there um hopefully uh they've been able to secure uh a more permanent housing situation. uh and if they're not, then I re-evaluate their case and I see how I can help help them further uh along in the journey. Thank you, Mr. King. I'd like to ask the board members if they have any questions for Mr. King. >> Mr. King, I just wanted to ask the this process is currently implemented, correct? >> Yes, sir. It is currently going as we speak. >> Okay. Thank you. I do have a question in regards to the the resources and things. Is there things that the community can
048do to help support what you're trying to do? >> Uh yes, sir. So, we are always open to donations. Uh we do indeed have a McKenna Vento room on site uh to where everything is organized from all the list to uh all the list of resources that we do have. But we do uh keep a tight-knit partnership with some of our local uh community members uh and agencies and things like that that often do donate. >> Thank you. >> The the onsite room is that at Westside? >> That is located at Westside. Uh however, um what I like to do as a McKenna Vento leazison, if you are Westside, great. But for any of the schools that we have throughout our community, I'll meet you where you're at. So, anytime that we have a school,
049maybe Glenn Park or Beverage, wherever that parent goes physically into the building at, I'll meet you there with your care package. >> Any additional questions? Thank you, sir. Appreciate the presentation. >> Thank you. Item 7.3, Jamila Adams, Teachers Supports. >> Good evening, Dr. Stokes and members of the board and the community. Uh my name is Janella Islands. I'm an assistant director of curriculum and assessment here at Gary Community School Corporation. Um and I am going to talk to you today about a teacher support that we put in place um for our teachers who are on emergency permits and that is the practice test prep um through 240 tutoring. So, one of the reasons that we are even at the point where we need 240 tutoring, um, is because we have a a decent number of
050teachers who are emergency permits. Um, and we are committed to ensuring that our teachers are prepared to be in the classroom in front of our students um, by making sure that they have their lensure. Um, a lot of our teachers have expressed through focus groups and things that we've had recently with them that they are unable to pass the practice test, um, that they've been struggling based on whether it's where they're taking the test or just test taking skills or anxiety, um, or even the content. And so, as a district, we wanted to invest in those teachers and ensure that we had a way for them to um, prepare for that lensure test. Uh we were going to initially do some sessions where we just were um hands-on with them in in front of them
051having them come into um the district, but we wanted to have something that was a little bit more personalized. And through some research, we found out um by talking through Purdue Northwest that 240 tutoring was a viable option that they're using over at the university um that helps to prepare those teachers for that testing. And so went ahead did a little research, spoke with 240 and we were able to secure them for our teachers. Next slide. So why did we select 240? After speaking with them, they not only have comprehensive and standard aligned practice test. Um they start the teachers off with a diagnostic to see where they are initially. Um and then so they receive that. They get to see their areas of strength and areas of need based on that diagnostic. we also
052have access to that diagnostic um but also all of their tests are lined to those practice content areas. So we have teachers who have a wide range of tests that they need to take. Um and this also provides personalized learning paths. So once they take that diagnostic they are able to see what they actually need to work on and it adapts to their performance. Um and it's also extremely easy. They can access it 24 hours a day. They are accessing it from their computer. So, while they could have come to us and did a test prep session, this they have available at their fingertips all day long. It's extremely user friendly. Um, it's 100% online and the company has a 90% pass rate. Um, as as a matter of fact, if you follow those standards
053that they have where you're passing the 70%, they will actually refund the teacher the credit if they don't pass the test so that they can continue to study. Um, so they're banking on what they do. Um and we you know they've they've shown themselves approved. Next slide. So our teachers the benefit is that the district is taking care of this. They're covering the cost for this. The teachers do not have a financial burden because we are paying for them to have two credits which equals to 60 days of test prep. Um so they have full two full months to prepare for their test. Um it also helps build their confidence in those test taking skills and it encourages that professional growth and that self-efficacy. Um and it provides data analytics for us. We have a
054dashboard. We are able to see what our teachers are doing. So while yes, they are at home possibly um working on this test prep. We have access to see exactly how many hours they're logging, what they're doing, what the scores are that they're getting on their test. Um which is twofold. we can see that they are investing in themselves but we also can see who needs support so we can put them in smaller um study groups and things like that and provide them with support from services. Next slide. And for us it's beneficial as well because then we increase that staff stability um and morale. It demonstrates that we are invested in our teachers and I think through the teachers we've talked to they are starting to see that very clearly. It also offers them
055clear, measurable outcomes that they can actually attain and it complements the just the environment that we're creating at the district to provide very quality, thorough professional development um for every staff member across the district. And so the implementation plan, I met with them on October 30th, all the teachers that had signed up, we actually had 27 teachers um who signed up for the test prep. Um, of those teachers, they were provided with tutoring holes for 240. They came, Dr. Sos was there. Um, our chief HR officer and our chief academic officer were there um to meet with them. We're able to monitor their engagement um and progress and support them as well as having their leaders um their building level leaders support them. And then we're able to kind of celebrate those successes and share
056those out. They even ask for a little pizza party if they pass their test. So, we are able to celebrate them. um and encourage them and push them forward. Um and like I said, they have 60 days. I also have a packet for you all. I believe is in your folders or was sent out that has extensive amounts of information from 240 that can give you some additional information. Um did that be? >> Are you do you all have any questions? >> I want to first uh thank you for the presentation and also extend a thank you to Dr. Stokes and the leadership team for providing our teachers this opportunity um to become uh certified. Um this is just an excellent demonstration that we have 27 teachers who are making the effort to uh enrich
057our school corporation by becoming completely certified and um just want to thank you for the effort and it it looks like an excellent program to help support our group. >> Absolutely. Any additional comments? >> Thank you so much for the presentation. >> Item eight on our agenda, >> Miss Laparowski. >> Good evening, Gary Community School Board members, Dr. Stokes, and community members. This evening I would like to provide you with a financial update. As of September 2025, first thing I would like to note, Mr. Selves, at your request, the community has been provided a copy of this presentation. The first slide I'd like to talk about is the financial update with our expenses versus our budget. We are still in line with our 2025 budget. Our these are the three major funds. The education fund,
058we have a remaining budget of 27%. The referendum fund of 31%. The operation fund 27%. So what this is stating is that as of at the end of September, we are still in line with what we projected and what was approved for our 2025 budget in our expenditures. Next, um this is actually a new slide. Um what I wanted to actually show was all of the revenues transfers in which represents revenues as well our expenditures and our transfer out. Um what I'd like to point out is this is January through September our net operating surplus. Um what this means is um this is how efficient we are with our revenues and our expenses throughout this year. Um what I'd like to also do is probably provide a yeartoyear which we can do an analysis of
059previous years and moving forward I can present this. Um the operating cash reserve is the amount of money based on 12 months of expenses averaged out. These are how many 94% in the education fund. So we could actually fund without any new revenue the education fund for almost a year. The referendum fund 50%, now of course the referendum fund, we all understand that it is property tax money and we only get that twice a year. The operations fund is at 49% which means we could probably have enough cash for 6 months if we did not receive any revenue from the transfer from the 15% from the education fund. So, what I do need us to hear with what she's sharing is that while our education fund seems to be okay, it is the operation fund
060that we've got to be um careful about. And I've talked to the board a little bit about some plans on how we wanted to support that because she's having to transfer which is by law she's transferring a certain amount of money from one fund to another to support the operation. And I'm sure she's going to share um remind us about the referendum fund and what we actually said that was going to be for. Yes. Next, please. Um, so here is the education fund. This is my cash sheet projections through the end of the year. Um, as you can see in September, um, I don't have a pointer, but as as of September, the ending balance in the education fund is $23,149,000. Um we are in line with our expenses. Um a few things as as
061you all know our expenses mostly that come out of the education fund are for salary and benefits. The other things that are expensed out of the education fund which now is incorporated is all of our curriculum all of our workbooks, textbooks, things of that nature. So what you will see is um you will see some of the supplies especially like we had an increase in September and these were supports for some of our classes we paid some of our curriculum. So you'll see this kind of jump up and jump down depending on which part of the year and when we have to renew some of the curriculum. But as you can see as of September we have 23,149,000. Next And then this is just a visual snapshot of all of our expenses, our approved budget,
062our remaining budget percentage, and then I've just identified in totality what our major expenses are um from the education fund. And of course, the transfer from ed to ops is that approved transfer amount based on our basic grant, the 15% that was approved through a resolution. Um, and this I put this slide in here because I I want to make sure everybody understands how important the referendum is to us. The referendum helps support major expenses, renovations to our facilities, um, extracurricular programs, and what I mean by extracurricular, I mean our athletics. Um, parents are not charged any fees for uniforms, things like that, equipment. So, and and transportation. Transportation alone for the athletics is tremendous because each trip costs a flat rate. The other thing to the increase in teacher salaries, um any stipens, any
063any raises, um the referendum was approved for these expenses, security, safety measures. Um we're installing right now some safety um walls for the students. All of these, the referendum helps support all of these things. Just wanted to point that out. Um, and then here again, here is the referendum fund. So that what the referendum fund represents is the transfer into the education fund for 100,000 each month and then 700,000 into the operations fund. And you can see as of the end of September, we have 3,783,000 left. Now we will start to we will receive I did request an early tax draw. So we will receive some of the property tax money in November and the remainder in December. >> Miss Zarowski as well, can you please share a little bit about actually how much we
064receive of the property tax? I think there's a misunderstanding that um I think community members say that you're supposed to get X amount for property taxes, but we don't always receive that 100%. We we do not always receive and there's there's two components to this uh right now. One is that if the property owners do not pay their property tax, we do not get that. Now, the estimated amount that we would get includes 100% of everybody paying their property tax. The other component is we have to share our property tax money with the charter schools. So, that's another big component to this. But in regards to the referendum, we receive right now, and I think I'm I'm waiting for the final update for the November dispersement, we receive probably 50% of our property tax. So,
065it's that's important to know. You know, we can I can estimate we're going to we should receive $12 million, but in essence, we don't. And then here is just a visual snapshot of the same information. And then we have the operations fund which is our most challenging fund of course. Um this is the cash uh sheets for through September. As you can see, we do have an ending balance of 7,55,000. Um the one thing I want to point out about um the end of September is that um we have not, if you notice in the transportation area, uh normally our transportation bills are roughly $650,000 a month. We have only paid for some some of the charters um in uh August and September and that is because first student had an issue with their with
066their software. So they were not able to provide us with the invoices for us to pay. So I actually moved that into October and it's going to represent $1.3 million. And then here's just a visual snapshot again just to give you a visual of the same information. Next, I have been working closely with my maintenance department on um our fleet of vehicles. We have vehicles that are aging. I I've actually listed the years of the vehicle, um the make and everything. Um we have some concerns. Some of these vehicles are old. They um we have increased downtime. We had a snowstorm. I had two vehicles down. They were plow trucks. We couldn't plow snow. very important for us to have our fleet in full motion and not have trucks break down. We have trucks in
067for repair continuously. We've never had our full fleet. So, I just wanted to point out and identify like that the vehicles are very old. So, what I will be doing is I will be looking I will contact the co-op and try to get discounted vehicles from the co-op so we can increase our flee. Then we have this. These are retired vehicles that do not run. They are missing catalytic converters. They are missing transmissions. They're missing tires. They need complete front end work. Um, I am compiling a list of all of the vehicles, what's wrong with them, the year they are, and what I would like to do is I would like to audit them. Like, I would like to have people come in, put on our website, and try to sell these vehicles, whether it
068be for scrap or if they want to fix them. But to to repair these, it's not even worth it. So, I kind of just wanted all of you to know, you know, these are all sitting on our lot. They don't run. Any questions >> in terms of the vehicles not running? Have you tried to test drive? >> We have actually I went out. I took the pictures >> above and beyond. I just want to say how much I appreciate um the graphics and the reports, but I don't know if we have some of those powerpoints or those slides in our packets. If we don't, if you could just make sure that we have those. I don't know that. >> And I apologize for that. They currently have them in their packet. I did notice that
069it did not make its way. So, we'll make sure right after this board meeting that that presentation we put in the package. >> Oh my god. Yes, most definitely. >> No problem. But I'm going to say great job. They were extra apologies. So, we would like to look at those in more detail, but we definitely appreciate your presentation. >> I do apologize. Thank you. >> I think I had one question. >> Sure. Yes. >> And and I want to make sure I heard you correctly. Did you say that >> transportation for the charter schools? >> They're they're chartered the >> charter they're chartered field trips is what they are. They're chartered field trips. Yeah. >> Yeah. We just we call them that. >> Okay. >> Can I just ask how would you determine what to
070sell the vehicles for? Do you know? >> Well, what I would like to do is like a bidding process. >> You know, we will invite whomever to come out. We'll put a link on our website and they can come out. We'll have a time frame where they can come out, look at the vehicles, decide if they want it. I can sell it as a whole or individually. But I'll have the year, the the the make of the car, the truck, um how many miles are on it, and then we'll take and it will go to the highest bidder. And then and then what we'll do is the money we make from that will utilize that money to help support the need for the newer vehicles. >> Thank you. Um I would suggest maybe looking into
071um a possible online auction. There are agencies that do auctions for schools and municipalities. >> Um so >> thank you for that. >> If you would like I can get some resources shared with you. appreciate that. Will we have to pay them? >> She's the money person. Good question. >> I think so. >> That's why I was going to do it myself. I was going to save money. >> Historically, they've been able to get a greater higher >> Okay. >> return. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Item number nine on our agenda, board reports. I'd like to offer an opportunity for individual board members to share or make comments. Just the one comment and I want to concur with uh Miss Winningington and the celebration of our students with the spelling be. Um that's
072actually my weak spot. So I'm tipping my hat to anyone who can spell and I think that the reinforcement of the positive result is very good and um I appreciate that part of our presentation. Let's move on to our superintendence report. >> All right. Thank you so much. So I I typically like to do what we call matters of corporation interest. So Mr. O'Brien, if you can go to the next slide. So, I wanted to talk a little bit about the fact that many of us know that unfortunately we experienced a we're saying tornado, but I think it was a mixture of a little bit of everything. But we experienced a tornado at McCulla and I don't I don't see our Makulla team here. However, um we wanted to show a before and after picture
073on the screen and just say thank you that our gym looks beautiful if you can see it. And um we just wanted to make sure that the board and our community was able to see at least a photograph about the particular gym area. And we thank our um workers who helped support us and make sure that we got everything done. It was our own Gary team that did this. Powers and Sun. So, we want to make sure. Um, and who else helped them? It was Powers and Sun and >> Powers and Suns. Um, for the roof, it was Corellis. >> Corelis for the floor. It was sport court. >> And sport court. Okay. All right. Thank you so much. And I wanted to share that if we can go to the next slide. I also
074wanted to talk about the fact that u we've moved um our board meeting. It's not really a special board meeting. It's just a regular board meeting. So, we'll we'll fix that in the slide before we post it. But, it is just a regular board meeting, but it's been changed from December the 11th to December the 18th at our regular time, 4:30 here in the um Gary Erin Career Center. So, let me shout that out again. Our regular board meeting has been changed from December 11th to December the 18th, and it will be at 4:30. And it is our hope because it is the last day for students before fall break that we can have some students come and either do poetry or sing us some beautiful songs. We just want to hear from our students.
075Next slide, please. Another important announcement. As many of us know, we had our first major snow that impacted the schools. And as you know, this past Monday, I believe, we were closed. On our calendar, we have May 22nd. It was set as a flex day, meaning that we could ha have school, but it was closed unless we needed to use it. What do we do? So, it is now a required, as you see on the slide, mark your calendars. May 22nd, parents, May 22nd of 2026. Wow. Would be a required day. So, I want everyone to know that and we will change it on our calendar that's on our website. Next slide, please. And I wanted to wish everyone because I won't see you again probably in this forum until after Thanksgiving. So, we wanted
076to just wish all of our staff, students, community members, our board, and those who love and support us from afar and near a happy Thanksgiving and our break November 24th through the 28th. We just want to u remind you of that and just enjoy yourselves. And our draft agenda of course has our meeting schedule for the change December the 18th. Um it is an agenda that basically has similar things that we typically have. There will be um something that deals with finances where we have to come and ask for um resolutions to move money as we do certain things and we always have to do that. So that will be one thing that's on that agenda and other than that it will best just be our typical agenda and I'll turn it back over to
077President Suggs. >> Thank you Dr. Stokes. At this point I will entertain a motion to adjourn. >> So move second. >> It's been moved and proper second. All in favor say I. >> The meeting is adjourned. Thank you all for your attendance. We appreciate you being here. Have a good night, Mr. >> Good night.