001good [Music] afternoon I'd like to call to order the February 13 2025 Gary community school board meeting I'd like to confirm that we have a legal meeting confirming we have quum may I have roll call or attendance yes Mr sugs present Dr Woods present attorney Irving myself here Mr Johnson pres everyone is here with all members present we have a legal meeting at this time will we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank [Music] you item number two on our agenda approval for the February 13th board meeting agenda I will entertain a motion please so second motion on the floor properly second any discussion on this
002motion hearing none all in favor say I I I any opposed motion carries we have an agenda item number three on our agenda I would like to call Miss Winnington up please [Music] good evening Dr Stokes and members of the gar Community School Corporation school board and this amazing community and those who are tuning in virtually my name is Chelsea Whittington and I am the chief public and community relations office officer for this great district and it's always a pleasure to deliver the Gary snapshots what's the Gary snap Gary ready snapshots what are they I'm soad glad you ask it's our opportunity to highlight positive things happening across the district and this time to be quite honest I had to uh Whittle the list down so we have four items that we will be covering
003today that are sure to make you smile and we are going to start with sportsmanship one thing that we are very very focused on in the district is emphasizing student and athletes we have student athletes and on several occasions in October January and February the state of Indiana that being the Indiana high school um Indiana High School Athletic Association recognized several of our students for great sportsmanship and I'd like to read Snippets of what they said about our students from Westside Leadership Academy starting with boys football we had a contest on October 25th 2024 in new Prairie High School in New carile Indiana and the statement was made about JP B Moore number eight new Prairie High School would like to recognize westside's number eight jphy Moore for showing great sport sportsmanship during Friday night's
004football sectional game at new Prairie as the primary ball carrier for Westside he was involved in numerous plays and continued to compete and simply play the game afterwards he went out of his way way to connect with several new Prairie players and wood well a complete Class Act and a role model of Gary Westside thank you jeppe for being the face of sportsmanship now Jey and his other athletic colleagues are unable to join us why because they're in practice he is a three a three sport athlete so he's at basketball or track he's in practice but we definitely wanted to make sure that we would shout our students out next basketball we would like to recognize the sportsmanship demonstrated by Gary westside's number five Derek Collins at during the Great Lake Conference matchup on January
00523rd 2025 the game featured an uptempo full court battle with both teams pushing Pace from start to to finish but in the end Gary Westside pulled away to secure a 6251 win despite the intensity and quick Pace Derek and Holland display respect integrity and fair play throughout the contest his positive approach extended to their teammates opponents and the officiating crew this game congratulations to these athletes for representing their programs and the spirit of the I hsaa basketball with class and sportsmanship this game was a testament to the competitive nature of the Great Lake Conference and the values that make High School athletics so special can we give a round of applause for number five J he too is currently in basketball practice and last but not least this report is on our student Tyler Cruz
006at a February 1 basketball game we would like to recognize the leadership and sportsmanship displayed by Gary Westside leadership Academy's number 34 Tyler Cruz during their game on February 1st 2025 although Gary Westside pulled away for a 60 to 38 Victory both te right both teams maintained a strong Spirit of competition and good sportsmanship throughout the entire contest Tyler stood out by helping to keep the game focus on the game ensuring that every play was met with mutual respect regardless of the score the officiating crew recognized the effort and Leadership this player provided which truly embodies the values of High School athletics congratulations to number 34 Tyler Cruz for your outstanding leadership and commitment to sports again we'd like to congratulate all of these young leaders on this designation by the state of Indiana the
007Indiana High School uh Athletics [Music] Association this next feature of Gary snapshots um is something that is very near and dear to this community and to me especially as I have have spent the past couple of weeks on a media tour of sorts with these young people we had the opportunity thanks to the isir foundation to travel to Washington DC during the inauguration they attended several inaugural activities and they even made their way to the Pentagon but don't let me tell it I'd love to call my colleague up Sharice white who is the founder and Visionary of the assir foundation and two of our three students who travel to Washington from Westside Leadership Academy are also here along with board members and she would like to give a brief recap of their venture to Washington
008and we were also playing the video at the start of the Schoolboard meeting so you can definitely go back on to YouTube we'll share the link so that you can get the whole experience let's welcome Sharice equipment I was not trying to do I said but you can meet us at the airport when we returned they were short staff so what we did is our two students had an opportunity to go to Fox studio in Chicago and they had a chance to talk about their uh excitement so I just wanted to say thank you so much and we are going to do more with our students and this we so proud of you being here and thank you so much [Applause] [Music] thank you again Sharice board members and students and you can also watch
009the latest episode of a day in the district where Shar and all three of our West Leadership Academy students are future as well as our latest podcast on WG they did an amazing job now we're moving on to more good news during the month of January the Martin annual Martin Luther King acumenical service was held at new Mariah Missionary Baptist Church and I am pleased to report that in both categories middle and high the Gary Community School Corporation was Victorious for the ESS contest first place and third this evening we are pleased to have the first place winner from Westside Leadership Academy to briefly share his essay and let's welcome Mr Davon Taylor [Applause] $500 afternoon everyone good afternoon Dr Martin Luther King Jr dedicated his life to his dream of fostering Racial equality and
010justice for minority communities across the country King's leadership was significant in abolishing systematic segregation for African-Americans and in the establishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 seen as a major accomplishment of the Civil Rights Movement the influence of Dr Martin Luther King Jr extends Beyond historical LS his Pursuit for justice is a model for all individuals imparting essential lessons on achieving success by means of Integrity determination as well as an unwavering commitment to equality Dr King's life exemplifies a blueprint for Success that starts with setting clear goals Bas in difficulties with perseverance and making a meaningful impact on the a Clear Vision and attainable goals are the foundation of success as it acts as a guide providing Direction and purpose in life Dr King articulated a vision for a society free of racial equality
011Dr King's Vision served as a direction for his activities and brought people together around a shared goal people must have their own vision or goals to direct their Journey as much as Dr King had his vision for equality having defined objectives sustains motiv people's motivation and engagement even during circumstances that are difficult although difficulties and roblocks are unavoidable perseverance is the secret to climbing the scares of challenges while overcoming them in succeeding despite imprisonment threats and intense resistance during the Civil Rights Movement Dr King maintained his dignity others were motivated to keep fighting for justice by Dr King's tenacity during events like the re bu boycott in the march on C every obstacle whether it be academic emotional or professional is a normal part of the path to achievement perseverance Fosters character development and parts
012important lessons that Aid in personal development making a significant difference in the lives of others and the world around us is what true success is all about not merely reaching the top of the building Dr King's efforts were not solely for his own Advantage but aimed at securing Freedom dignity and equality for all individuals his achievements had a profound impact from the Civil Rights Act to inspire Global movements for justice acts of service such as mentoring volunteering or assisting one's Community establish a sense of achievement success is more significant when it elevates others cultivating a positive impact Dr King's life serves as an example of a success blueprint establishing goals conquering obstacles and having an influence he encouraged us to continue the Legacy he left for future Generations by teaching us that success is determined
013by What We Leave Behind for others thank you one more round of applause for J I'd like to acknowledge is his parent here I know his principal is here Mr Carl Scott thank you Mr Scott and we'd also like to acknowledge his counselor Miss Denise bacon she ensured that all of the essays were submitted in a timely fashion and we' also like to acknowledge in his absence Nan Robinson who was the first place winner for Gary middle school and last but not least my marching orders were to put this big guitar right here in the front so that it can be seen for many of you know most recently the Gary Community School Corporation was awarded a generous donation from the har Rock Casino of Northern Indiana I want to emphasize that there were specific
014guidelines regarding the gift and that we could not just be awarded $500,000 and do whatever we wanted with it there were specific guidelines that specifically said that this must go to impact children serving the children of the district and so we that means no salaries or things that could not be sustained and just think about if you were just given a certain amount of money with a wish list keyword would be wish where you wish you could have it but you need to follow the guidelines and in fact there was a previous time where we were offered this opportunity and what the team came up with did not quite meet the standards of what har Rock was asking so we had to go back to the drawing board to ensure that what they were asking
015us to do was met and also when the dollars were transferred that we got moving so we're moving on those items that are being improved in the district and this includes a laundry list of things from uh wall mats to ergonomics sensory for our special needs students and a whole list and what we will be sure to do is to give a report out periodically as those different projects are completed every leader in every building came together to discuss what needs they had in their specific buildings and then presented that to the group for whether it fit the guidelines or not and that's how we were able to determine the list so if there's anyone who was asking or questioning well why aren't you hiring more people this is a one-time gift as far as
016we know and we wanted to make sure that these dollars made impact as well as met the guidelines per Hard Rock of Northern Indiana so here you you see on the screen a group photo with our school board members our leadership team and representatives from the Hard Rock Casino of Northern Indiana as we were presented this $500,000 and we certainly appreciate that boost in the arm on behalf of children so we'd like to give a Hard Rock Casino of Northern Indiana if you'd like to read the full press release of what the are going to be used for please visit Gary schools.org this concludes my Gary ready snapshots thank you so much members of the board I will turn it back over to you Mr SS thank you item number four on our agenda public
017comments I would like Miss uh Mr Johnson to read the comment information please pursu to pursu to I 51153 the Care Community Corporation Board of Trustees welcomes comments from the community as a result the agenda for each regular meeting provides time for public expression public expression three minutes per individual 30 minutes total discussion of items on the agenda or to Express concerns relative to the operation of school City School Board 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 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 the statements made by other persons it shall not be permissible to orally
018present or discuss complaints against individual employees of the G 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 before the board speaker cannot transfer the remaining time to another person the board president will enforce these rules and they take actions necessary to maintain order at the meeting such actions may include but are not Li to interrupting the speaker to 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 comments if there's a large number of people wishing to address
019the board or if there's a large agenda of other business before the board thank you sir T Pope evening Dr stos and the board I am a teacher here in Gary schools um first I would like to say thank you to Dr stok and the administrative staff that helped us when we were here um we had to come here at Williams day because of the water man so I want to say thank you to that um my concern is the weather and the conditions when we return When we go to the school um not saying that we should not go to the school I didn't have an issue at all um my concern was the day of the ice of the parking lot and the sidewalk not being maintenance by prior to us coming to
020the school um luckily we did not have any calls at Williams but I know that was a a concern um and then today we got to school for some of us it was not paved yet or plowed yet so just a little concern we have no issues with coming to the school during the conditions because we know that back in the days we were always in school in these conditions I just asked um on behalf of the staff and myself if we can at least make sure that um prior to us coming in the things can be paved or plowed prior to we have some that return or go to school at 6:00 in the morning and so we need to make sure that that is safy thank you Mrs tendle good afternoon I'm Mrs
021Letta tendle the 1966 graduate of the historically and architecturally profound and that we now MOS high school I want to address U this board and community and let you know that um I'm concerned that other schools have lobbyists they have a an item on their budget for lobbyist and I wonder if we've considered making arrangements to have a lobbyist or lobbyists for our school concerns with the house SCH 1136 and there's a house bill 102 that states our monies will be given to the charter school for buses meals and other items other expenses regarding the third grade and the testing of the third graders and um they're being retained I think that's the right word uh H back I want to know if how are you communicating with the parents to let them know exactly
022what the terms and conditions are regarding this third grade matter uh we can't afford to have our CH children not properly encouraged and assisted to experience success in their um being assisted so they can be successful and move on in school and not be held back um I understand that when the test is given this spring if the children who fail the test if children fail they will have an opportunity if I'm not mistaken to be assisted through going to summer school how are you how are you communicating that to the parents how do we ensure that all of our parents know the options and take advantage of those options to ensure success for our children they can't afford to flunk you know that we know that and so we need to do all we
023can to make sure our parents and caregivers of these children are adequately informed and given the support to support their children thank you so thank you so much Mr bugs good evening Dr Stokes and the board I just have a very few concerns morning years I appreciate all the athletes so the students one who went to Washington and Be Good Conduct but I think this in coming upon us to really show them how much we appreciate it they should have been here at this meeting they should have been given some kind of an award something they can feel something they can carry home be proud of that that's that's that's ridiculous and young people that went to Washington DC they should have been allowed to speak about their experiences we too tired at least I'm
024too tired of being seen and not heard that's one of the things I want to bring to youall attention so that should happen again they doing good thing let them know they doing good things I had a very productive meeting with uh Dr St and the staff but there was one question that I was asking I thought about when I got home what are you looking for very simple I'm looking for new process for the students I don't come before you just to be coming up here to life or be negative or be Nary no I come before you because soon as they speak for themselves and if I look into something find out that there's some complicity of a teacher or staff that's deny a student due process I'm going to speak out about
025it that's in my DNA I will do that until they get Justice nobody else can speak when you expel a student you up in this whole life especially when you got guidelines where there are other things that you can do as an alternative you put them out there right in prison so those are the things that when I come before you it's not just to right right right right I appreciate what the G School Corporation is doing but it's uncommon upon me to let them know also where they have failed the students at I believe in telling as they are because when we hide stuff or don't mention it or try to S under the rug we're doing a disservice to the citizens the parents and the students so I think the students should be
026represented more by speaking let you know let them know what they feel how they feel you want to appreciate them let them know it give them a certificate a black something give him this microphone let him speak that's all I have to say let him speak moving to item five agenda I'll entertain the mo so move then move is there second second then move there properly second any discussion on this motion hearing no discussion may we have roll call for approval Please Mr SS yes Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yes myself yes Mr Johnson yes five yes with a vote of five yes and zero against the motion carries as we move on to item six on our agenda Linda would you please yes good evening Dear Community school board members and Dr Stokes and
027community members um I'm a little bit under the weather so I'm going to try to be brief this evening um the first item I would like to talk about is the disposition of old outstanding jcks I'm requesting the board to allow um to allow these checks to be redeposited into the funds these are checks that are over 2 years old that have not been cash we have done every attempt to reach out to the people to you know ask them did you lose the check do you need it reissued um and we have not gotten any response so with your permission we would like to redeposit the money into the funds where they were originally expensed out of so what we're going to ask is items 6.1 through 6.3 we will ask the board to
028take an individual vote and then if you will item 6.4 through and including 6.7 if you want to make a motion it's up to you to do those collectively but if we can ask you if you can give us a vote on this particular item now entertain a motion for item 6.1 for approval so moved there a motion on the floor may have a second second it's been moved in properly second is there any discussion on this motion hearing no discussion may we have roll call for approval Please Mr SS yes Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yesel yes Mr Johnson yes five yes with a vote of five yes and zero against the motion carries thank you the next item is the approval of sale and disposition of old inventory and equipment so what we
029did was we kind of went to all of the buildings and did um an inventory of old equipment that hadn't been used or had been sitting for years and years broken things um items maybe that we're not utilizing that we don't need you know there's been advancements things of that nature what I'm requesting is that we allow a certified licensed um company to come in and do a sale of these items so they would kind of ticket and go through we've earmarked a lot of the items and they would earmark the value and put it for sale and um if it didn't sell it would be an auction sale and if it didn't sell then Dr Stokes per our policy she would be allowed to dispose or donate the items that were not sold so
030with that what we will do is we will make sure that we provide the board with a list of all these items before we even move forward with this process but I'm requesting that we start this process thank you may I have a motion on item 6.2 please someone I have a second second it's been moved in properly second is there any discussion on this motion hearing no discussion may we have roll call for approval Please Mr SS yes Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yes five yes Mr Johnson yes have five yes the five yes in favor and zero against the motion cares thank you the next item is resolution number 10 which is the reclass of Prior year expenses um I'm not sure if you recall or remember I had talked about some expenses
031that I felt um from previous years from 22 and 23 that the expenses came out of the operations fund but really technically the expenses should have been expensed out of textbook funds because they were for students they were Chromebooks supplies things of that nature um what happened was um doab approved um those expenses to come out of operations and as I did an analysis and assessed it I reached out to State Board of accounts asking them um because we have texbook fund monies and it should have really been expensed out of their so with a lot of discussion they had to go to management with stateboard of accounts and they were allowing us to reclass and put this money back into the operations fund and expense it out of the correct fund that it originally
032should have been expensed out of so with your permission I would like to move forward with this process it would happen in February I'll entertain a motion for item number 6.3 some move the motion on the floor may I have a second second it's been moved in properly second is there any discussion on this motion hearing no discussion may we have a roll call for approval Please Mr sus yes Dr Woods attorney iring yes myself yes Mr Johnson yes five yes with a vote of five yes and zero against the motion carries thank you at this point uh we have several items that include donations I'd like to list the items individually so we can recognize the organization that had made donations to the school district item 6.4 donation from guy and Allen Funeral Home
033to ba Ste Academy item 6.5 a donation to redefine Fitness to beverage schools item 6.6 a donation from C long to wsla performing arts and item 6.7 a monetary don donation from K&G men's company to Westside Leadership Academy I'll entertain a motion to approve those items together please motion to approve Mr chairman second been moved and properly seconded for those monetary donations any discussion on that he no discussion may we have approval on those items Mr approval Mr s yes please Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yes myself is yes Mr Johnson yes five yes with a vote of five yes and zero yes that is approved item number 6.8 approval of a w white area network um I see Mr White name can listed here um I'd like for him just to do some clarification
034with the board of what this is afternoon school board for of Trustees Dr Spokes and Community I come to you today to um the results of network the way we call it we put out RP back in October and when is the internet connection that we use to connect all our schools and the stent this is our this is the that we propos to build Williams would be the main Hub we have a 10 gig pipe coming out of Williams and one gig going to each other immedately after analysis of the submissions of the project um we our committee emerged and me aen as the winner of the project and a reason being um sen had um they were cost efficient they had personal offers significant cost saving compared to um our current service it
035was competitive prices across both current which we right now we do have a 10 um big Network going out but we have two we have two main hubs and we taking that down to one and um we have they have a favorable long term of structure over the fiveyear contract term next one please um also the tech the Technical Solutions that they came up with they we have you s was brought out Ena and Ena is a well-known internet provider and um technical solution uh resolver and so after meeting they meet the current and future needs of our school corporation and they have escapable Broadband options up to 10 gigs and they have strong technical impation they have appren track record and educational Network strong technical support and infrastructure and it demonstrated a understanding of
036the e requir all right this project I'll now you this is a e project so it'll cost Gary Community School Corporation 10% of the total cost the cost of the project would be 1,464 250 Gary Community School Corporation will pay a onetime cost of 10% which to be ,4 1001 $1,450 and uh we pay a monthly reoccurring cost and that monthly reoccurring cost will be the 10 gig pipe that's coming into Williams that'll be $22.50 for the 10 gig and then we'll pay a $975 cost a month and that's for each one gig that's going into each school I come to you today to recommend s you as our um the next provider for our for wi and I'm looking for Bard approval thank you thank you um I'd like to open up the floor
037to the board members if there are any questions on this presentation I have one question sounds like you're saying SEL and here says zo was it um they say SEL we say z z y okay that's I they just purchased D and um they were a live based Network provider and um DNA is more of a tech of a technical company they do a um what um Mr John say they they do the um main skill work they do the um grun work and then you mentioned we get an e rate I think I know what that is but could you explain that well e is a government um funding project where where they provide uh money for networking and uh connectivity all across the country and the schools that win that win that funding
038they pay 10% of the cost of what it would cost to our building Network what is the anticipated lifetime of this this will be um it's a 5year contract with a threee um onee option that's the length of the contract the equipment is there a estimated Lifetime on the um the equipment the Lifetime on equip no technology is changing so much Mr s um the equipment that we have now um is a year old we just finished a year to two two years we have just finished a major reconstruction of our infrastructure that was phase one of um our Network project and so the um alternative our build except for bgm which we have spoken with Dr Stokes and she's in the process of trying to find some funding to our re bgm but we
039should be uh after this I think we'll be in the 21st century um Network wide for the next 10 years any other questions on this item the monthly recurring cost 2250 for the 10 pip that's toal cost that's 212 the cost is 2,125 but that's our cost okay and that the 9 975 that'll be our iorry okay all right I was about to say any other questions I entertain a motion I make a motion we the uh proposal forel education there's a motion of the floor may have a second second it's been moved in property second that we accept this uh proposal any discussion on the motion may we have roll call for approval please Mr Subs yes Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yes myself yes Mr Johnson yes five with a vote of five
040yes and zero against the motion carries thank you sir thank you item 6.9 the approval of field and Conference experience so Mr Mr Sub in the packets that the board received there were several field experiences we don't say field trip anymore we now say F the experiences that were put into the information so you have those files we ask your approval so that we can allow our staff members to go on these experiences thank you I'll entertain a motion so move some motion the floor MTH second second it's been moved improperly second any discussion from the board hearing no discussion man we have roll call for approval Please Mr s yes Dr Woods yes attorney irvan yes myself yes Mr Johnson yes five yes of five yes and zero against the motion carries let's move
041to the last item 6.10 zosi please hello again um it is time for us to go out for a new food service RFP for a vendor um so what I'm requesting from the board because it is a very strenuous timeline on this I have certain requirements that I have to meet advertising things of that nature so with your approval I would like to submit the RFP to the Indiana Department of Education to approve the RFP it's a 38 page document that we've been working on we put together um you know um with certain things added in their requirements that we want for our students and our buildings um so here's our timeline so if with your permission I would actually submit it tomorrow because it does take them a while to get back because of
042course it's 38 Pages um and then what we would do is we would start to advertise it's a requirement now that we do a two week advertising for this it will be on our website and it will also be in the paper and then what we do after that is we are going to allow vendors to come in and and visit our facilities because how can you bid on something when you've never seen it to you know with our equipment and things of that nature so we will be making visits to the buildings um with vendors that want to come in and submit an RFP with us and then we would award it on April 10th at a board meeting thank you entertain a motion for a proposal for RFP for food services so move
043is a motion the floor second second it's been moved and properly second is there any discussion on this motion hearing no discussion may we have roll call for approval Please Mr sus yes Dr Woods yes attorney Irving yes myself yes Mr Johnson yes five yes put a vote of five yes and zero yes the motion carries thank you president s yes please will you give us permission to go back to consent agenda we did have approval of personnel and we have a new member to our team is here Mrs wton is going to come up and share if you give us permission please thank you good evening once again Dr Stokes m of the board and Community it is our pleasure to welcome our new Chief technology officer Mr Alvin Richards i' like to share
044a little bit about Mr Richards before you physically meet him and he approaches the podium Alvin Richards is an IT executive and digital transformation leader with more than 20 years of experience driving technology modernization infrastructure upgrades and digital Equity initiatives in K through2 education higher education and government sectors his leadership in instructional technology has supported school districts in leveraging automation data analytics and Enterprise solutions to streamline curriculum delivery administrative workflows and financial op operations Beyond his professional accomplishments Richard has always prioritized giving back to community he has served as a youth director for inner city city youth leading mentorship programs and providing technology training to underserved communities in Chicago to enhance career Readiness and Workforce skills his dedication to bridging technology with Student Success extends far Beyond it leadership he actively Works to empower young
045people by equipping them with digital skills needed for success in a technology driven World Richards is very happily married for 22 years to his beautiful wife India Richards and together they have two wonderful children Timothy age 12 who's in the seventh grade he told me and Chloe who's in the ninth grade age 14 as a family man Mentor and Technology leader he is dedicated to ensuring educational institutions leverage Innovation to empower students teachers and communities for long-term success please join me and welcoming my colleague Mr Alvin Richards and the beautiful family [Applause] well thank you uh to the Gary uh Community School Corporation board and Dr stes thank you for this opportunity to uh bring 20 plus years to uh the Gary uh Community School Corporation and this is my wife and uh my two
046children um yes we have been married for 22 years uh sometime happily sometime not [Laughter] happily just wanted to let you all know that we all in this together so uh just to let you know that throughout my career uh I have worked across multiple Industries in technology leadership um I've had a passion for techn and education for over 16 years so if there's an industry that deals with technology I probably worked in it uh non for-profits um even had an interview with Microsoft and was petitioned to work for them uh also land and Trust companies things like that but over the years out of all of the industries that I felt more passionate about that industry was education and I believe I've made my greatest impact in education and so I've come to learn
047some things in uh life and that is there are some things we do but then there are other things that we're born to do and for me uh education and technology is something I believe strongly that I was born to do uh so that's why I would say that this position is definitely fits me as well as I will fit the position for the CTO uh for the Gary Community School Corporation right so uh in Just 4 days I have hung around the district and got a chance to meet people I've even met some of you walking through the hallway and so I had the privilege of meeting uh just people who were passionate about what they do so even when I first came to the uh through the doors the security guard said to
048me what are you here for I said I'm here to uh interview for the CTO position she immediately said go in there with confiden you got it you got it don't even think nothing don't think no negativity you got to stay positive and so that was the energy you know usually when I go for an interview or so you know the secretary just says he's here so that was uh that was some great energy then when I got into the meeting of course um six beautiful women were there to interview me uh which I felt very much connected to him at home uh just to give you a little secret being trained well by h sisters I believe that I fit very well with the chief of staff that uh interviewed me and so uh
049then I had the opportunity to meet the IT team which was an awesome group of men uh that uh that uh really put forth the ideas to elevate the technology of this District to a whole another level and I I just got to give a hand out to uh Mr White who amen is an exceptional uh person to work with um and so we spent we started at 11:00 a.m. and we went all the way to about I think it was two or three just talking about the technology and the structure and how everything is set up and then after that we took a break went to the basketball game and uh sat there and as they say we chopped it up for another four or five hours talking about the instru the uh infrastructure
050and the technology right and so um as I as I wrap this up and conclude this I just want to let you know that we live in what is called a techno digital age where uh technology has to be on The Cutting Edge to stay up with everything um our Our Youth and students live breathe and eat techn um and I learned that from my own children I could say you know punishment they don't care I could I could do anything and Tech away their uh their privileges they don't care but if I touch those Electronics they fall in line right away so that's just to uh let you know how much the youth today are involved into uh their technology so just to give you an example that I worked in higher education and
051uh the university that I work for had a problem with Recruitment and Retention because they had a lack of equipment a lack of U facilities to uh bring in the new recruits they struggled to get uh you know their numbers up and so uh me and my team implemented a CRM which was implemented with Target X and the overlay was uh Salesforce and we put together a CRM where the students could register through their cell phones and so that cut down uh hours of registration and they went from registering students uh for two or three hours to registering them in one hour so we had 100 students that were registering in one hour so each student was registering in five minutes using their cell phon so that's the type of technology that we should be
052looking forward to and forging ahead for all right and just in closing just want to say that um I I would hope that there would be some opportunities to uh build infrastructure that could actually um do programs for um drone programming and for satellite program starting middle schools and um Junior High to start acclimating themselves into this particular type technology which is the future okay and so with that being being said I would like to say thank you again thank you to uh the board Dr Stokes the community and hopefully I am a good fit for this position which I definitely believe that I am born for and to doy welcome aboard and at this time please take your seat at our table thank you thank you item seven on our agenda informational items um
053Vice President Johnson you hand item 7.1 please sure so we we we had of course put out request for letters of interest for G Gary Library board appointment and we have received four uh so we received four letters and so at this time um president what what I would like to do is maybe we could have a committee set up to review those letters and then bring that information back to the board thank you sir do you have uh individuals in mind or well I I I was thinking and and I'm glad I'm sitting on this end of the but I was thinking Dr Vanessa aloud myself sounds like she can't me she can't well I look forward to um the results of your committee [Music] so thank you item 7.2 please hello again this
054is just an update for everybody um that the mileage reimbursement the federal mileage reimbursement rate has gone up to 70 cents we have adjusted our forms so anybody requesting reimbursement will be using the new mileage rate I think it changed from 67 to70 so this is just an informational um item for everybody thank you thank you item 7.3 Dr Stokes yes um I am happy to say that uh next slide please that we are on our last template the thousands which is Administration so please know that everything I'm going to share now pertains to administrators I need to make that clear this is about administrators this is our first read so as you know we will bring back next month a second read but essentially we did meet this is and we talked about the
055various Options under Administration I'm just going to um hone in on a few for example we have um the corporation organization which is policy 110 and it basically just talks about how the school board recognizes that the grouping of grades and services in the district would be recommended by the superintendent and that we have groups of Staff members who will help us organize and plan and change and modify recommendations as needed I'm going to give an example there again about uh policy Believe It or Not policy 121 six which is dress and grooming yes there is a policy about dress and grooming remember we're talking about administrators and it says that the school board believes that administrative staff members set examples in dress and grooming for their staff and students to follow there were different
056things that we had to agree to um that were given under the code AS options we have to be physically clean neat and well groomed dressed in a manner consistent with our administrative responsibilities we have to communicate pride in our personal appearance so on and so forth I'm I'm highlighting these things because these are the types of things that deal with Administration there is actually information about policy 1400 about job descriptions this is why we have to have job descriptions because those job descriptions turn into information that we support through evaluative um processes um I'll give just one more um there is information in here about leave of absences policy 1430 it talks about administrative St staff not otherwise covered by the terms of a current or valid negotiated agreement which is like our teachers
057so we're not covered by that um and how we can request leads of absences so there are policies that do govern how we show up and support as administrators and with that I just wanted to share a few and I'll turn it back over to you Mr s unless there are any questions any questions for thank you Dr stoes item 7.4 mail mentorship program Mr King hello uh good evening uh Gary school board members Dr Stokes and Gary Community uh to here uh I am here to present information on the Gary school corporation uh mentorship program so jumping into the overview the Gary Community School Corporation proposes to launch a male-based mentoring program uh designed to support uplift young men within our district especially those who may be under supported or lack positive male role
058models uh the program aims to Foster mentorship relationships that encourage academic professional Social Development uh by involving M teachers teachers uh District staff members as well as community members uh we will ensure that all mentors undergo the necessary uh background checks uh and make sure that they are qualified to provide support to our young men uh so jumping into our objectives uh the first one is mentorship connections um so each student selected uh for the program will be matched with a male Mentor ensuring a one-on-one attention and guide uh we plan for the mentors to meet with the mentees bi-weekly uh for 1 hour uh hopeful we plan to do it uh after school so that no school uh instructional time is interrupted uh during those meetings we plan to focus on building personal connections
059uh and understanding the students likes dislike goals as well as struggles uh our second objective is the life skills Workshop uh so in addition to those bi-weekly oneon-one sessions all mentors and mentees will also participate in a large uh group Workshop uh those workshops will be led by myself as well as other certified stakeholders uh and will we we will be covering a range of topics uh that uh go into practical life skills uh so some examples of those uh not limited to how to tie tie uh job interview skills one onone handling uh encounters with law enforcement financial literacy and other relevant skills necessary uh to be successful in the uh third objective uh is Community Partnerships and sponsorships So I myself will actively seek out Partnerships with local businesses uh hope in hopes
060that they align with our mission uh of uplifting young men uh the goal is for those uh local businesses to provide mentorship uh donate materials as well as participate in those large monthly workshops uh to enhance The Learning Experience uh so moving on to selecting our mentors so we would like for our mentors to have a few key qualities about themselves uh number one having leadership experience uh number two we want them to have strong interpersonal skills we want them to be effective patient uh communicators that have the ability to connect with the younger generation uh and then we also want them to understand the challenges uh that the young men are currently facing uh with them being just empathetic to their academic or personal or Social Challenges that they may face uh on a
061day-to-day basis uh and then last we ask that our mentors are committed as well as Dependable uh we want you to be reliable and able to show you say uh along with that uh selecting mentors we also plan to have a structured application process uh within that process we plan to do a personal and or professional background check uh making sure that everyone is approved to be working with youth uh we also are going to ask for a personal statement uh we just want to know why you would like to be a part of the program in which you feel like uh you can contribute and then we'll also ask your specific area of expertise uh and this is to better align our youth with their uh Mentor so uh let's say um for instance
062some of you gentlemen up there have great careers uh some in technology uh some attorneys some of our young men might be interested in that and we would love to connect you with them next uh moving on to selecting our mentees uh so we we plan on starting with a small group uh just to get started uh my idea is to have a cohort of roughly 20 students uh given our participation from our mentors we can potentially facilitate more however would like to start small and within that uh small group we would like to do an even split of students uh half of them uh being on track students uh on track to graduation um so with those students who are on track to graduation uh these students may excel in the classroom but have
063a gap in male mentorship or positive male role models in their lives uh however uh these students uh will kind of serve as the driving force um for the program considering that they are considered leaders in the classrooms they can uh be an example to other people within the program they can drive the ations um and things like that within the room um so the other half of our coher would be our unders supported students uh these students might struggle in the classroom they might have disciplinary issues or might need help with their decision making um so as you can see uh the goal is for the group to balance itself out um obviously our unders supported students most definitely need as much as much help as possible but that's not saying that the that
064the children that are thriving in the classroom don't also need positive M Ro Ms um so in selecting our mentees that final selection process uh looks something like um basically each child is allowed to volunteer as in sign themselves up if they are interested uh so once we put the word out if they hear it they like it they can sign up however we also will be doing uh recommendation based as well so I will be connecting with teachers counselors uh School administrators uh that can help me ensure that the that the students that we are selecting are appropriate for the program uh so next the name of the program um I decided we decided to go with AAA membership mentorship uh that is because similar to uh if you're on the road uh if
065you will and you have a flat tire and you need help on the road the first person that you might call would be uh AAA for uh assistance so somewhat like that on the road of life our young men might get stopped you know might have an issue along the road and we are there to help them so those three A's with in the Tria mentorship stand for Aspire achieve Ascent uh so in conclusion uh we feel as though this will be a valuable initiative that provides young men with the tools guidance and support needed uh to succeed in life and with the involvement and the dedicated uh mentors within the Community Partnerships uh we plan to make a elastic impact on the lives of our students and the great gar Community thank you all
066for your time for letting me present this information uh does anyone from the board have any questions at this time thank you Mr King um thoroughly enjoyed your presentation is there a minimum amount of time that you must have to commit um a minimum amount of time um so basically we just ask that you are available uh for those hourly sessions uh that will happen bi-weekly as well as that one large uh meeting that will occur uh one time monthly um so if I could give it AR range I would say three hours a month uh to start out would would be appropriate um we plan on doing sign up sheets and everything like that uh once it's approved and ready to go forward we'll be doing a large announcement and that is where we'll
067be able to um provide everyone with the information needed and exactly the time dates and things of that nature so if I can chime in the reason we're asking um for you to look at your schedules to see if you can be available we don't want to start off with a match with students and then you know Midstream we have to quit we want you to do at least um semester by semester commit to a semester and then if the second semester we have to get a new nente we a mentor relationship we will um but we really want you to be able to commit to a semester and then we'll go from there thank any other questions so So the plan is to start this next school [Music] year so we're setting we're testing
068this is our pilot test in fact we're just going to use seniors just when we start now because they're leaving us so we're going to start something initially with just some seniors for the remainder of this semester um we we may not have all of the sessions where we do the bi-weekly that's the goal he's telling me what we want to do starting next year but for this year for the remainder of a year we may just be meeting once a month just to get us going because we're trying to see what our Scholars want we want to hear from them so that at the start of next school year we have it running really well so we're really looking to just start with seniors right now because they're going to be leaving us we
069want to give them a little bit of support before they leave thank you sir I appreciate the presentation thank you item number eight on on our agenda administrative report let's move to item 8.1 athletic department update uh coach kerer kylander kylander kylander yeah thank you sir thank you we'd like to thank the board uh Dr Stokes uh all the administrators for letting us uh come up here and giving us the opportunity to promote our athletic programs talk about a lot of the great things we have going into the Gary Community Schools um we're very excited about our accomplishments in the future of Gary Athletics I am count I'm the athletic director this is Jer C guid our athletic coordinator for the Gary Community Schools we also have Kenneth riddle back there who is one of
070our Middle School athletic coordinators doing a great job himself um what makes me really excited tonight we're making a recommendation to the board to uh hire a new baseball coach and also to bring L Troy Hawkins in 1991 Westside graduate and pitched 22 years on the major leagues to help with baseball throughout the community I think that's a real exciting thing that we have uh he's calling and texting me day and night he's excited to be part of this uh baseball program here at West Side so we're really excited uh the next page yes um your um recommendations did get board approved I thank you we appreciate that I think they will bring some great great leadership to our schools and our baseball program um our mission statement is to Rebrand rebuild enhance the athletic
071department by fostering Excellence unity and Community engagement um and then our vision create a pipeline of success that developed student athletes from elementary through high school and still sportsmanship pride and Excellence both on and off the field and we can create that by collaborating with all the stakeholders that include teachers administrators staff students parents and the community it's going to take a collaborative effort by everybody and to have the athletes um serve as an extension of their educational process through Athletics their participation will help them in their future endeavors I think uh Athletics can do nothing but help young student athlet achieve their goals in life J is going to go to the next page all right so I would like to highlight some of our key accomplishments this year uh we are extremely proud
072of our student athletes and I just want to share with you their progress as well as our progress as well um so the first accomplishment I wanted to highlight was our sportsmanship grade the Issa has a huge value on sportsmanship and looking at our point you can see that that is something our coaches and athletes value as well so we have 108 points out of 100 so so that just demonstrates the high level of character and integrity that our athletes and coaches have um we have been working hard to invest in the safety of our football equipment at the middle school level um we want to ensure that safety is top prior priority so we make sure that our um helmets and pads are reconditioned and ready for safe play um another key accomplishment is
073we are working uh really hard to bridge the gap between High School and Middle School coaches we are initiating regular meetings so that they're both speaking the same language and really pushing our athletes to be Cs and then turn into coper so getting them stay in the district um another key lishment that I'm extremely uh proud about is the partnership that we have with Miller Pizza I personally believe that Miller Pizza is some of the best in the area and um if you come to any of our events at Westside uh we do sell Miller Pizza there so we want to continue that partnership it is something new and um we sell out every game some of our academic achievements because we really do push that our athlet our students first and really in the
074books so we want to highlight and recognize our boys basketball team uh their GPA for the last grading period was 3.4 our football team improved GPA by over uh 0.5 per student our participation growth has increased our participation growth has increased over all of our Sports so we're extremely excited about that uh we have a student athletic leadership team also known as salt and um this leadership team they attend multiple conferences across the state um enhancing leadership and representation they represent us extremely well they also help Han an eye on just our day-to-day operations for games and things of that nature they bring really fun and exciting ideas to the program as well um also class of 2025 is set to graduate with more football game wins than any other class in school [Applause] history
075our next slide our next slide is head coach involvement in middle school hiring and training we wanture all Middle School coaches are vetted and train The Gangs of their High School coaches conduct regular clinics to line strategies techniques and values across all coaching levels um we'll make sure we bring quality into indviduals quality people to be around our students well there's a lot that aren't out there that aren't doing the right things and we're going to make sure we have great people around our student athletes and they're going to work with our High School coaches we're going to get recommendations from our High School coaches on who they want running their youth programs at the middle school and elementary schools that's a big big thing we need to keep working on and not get good
076people we want great people here working with our students uh some brand consistency across the schools when I got here five years ago I came up with the idea to let's make everybody cougars let's go orange and blue with everybody thought a little resistance but we we thought it was a great idea still price some resistance by a few but um we created a baby mascot up there which everybody thinks is adorable even me as a coach um and then the high school and middle school we went to the to Growing Up from a cub to be at cougar so we're really excited about that and if you see the elementary basketball kids and uh that we just held it's really exciting to see the the transformation from the Cubs to the Cougars as these
077kids move through their careers at the high school and MD school and Elementary levels all right we are also um expanding our community presence so we are working to increase visibility by showcasing a and programs such as gear available in local stores uh we have athlete banners that are located in our gymnasium they're also during football season and track season uh on the football field uh we are um have active promotion on social media so we do have a Facebook page uh for Gary schools um athletic page is the name of it on Facebook we also have a website um do you have if you go to the G Community scholor page there's a link right on there yes it's on the G Community page it's a link for sports and you will find schedules
078achievements and highlights there also we have been working um with Chelsea and once a month we have a radio show um where we were bringing athletes in and they're just talking about their experience and recapping the things that are happening in athletics we also have athletic app on immersion for