001We'll take general statements at the end of the uh the meet towards the end of the meeting before we adjourn. All right. Next is the uh approval of the agenda. Do we have any changes to the agenda? >> One slight change. Yes. Uh under new new business 5G will not be a voting item. We're waiting on documentation on that. So 5G corrected surface update. So, so if we have no further changes at this time, we just ask uh for a motion to approve the agenda as amended. >> So move. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Uh next, we have the approval of the minutes for the regular session on September 8th as well as the special uh session for September 23rd. those meeting or those minutes were provided to us in our
002board packets. Does anyone have any questions uh about those? If if not, do we have a motion to approve? >> I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the regular session September 8th and special session September 23rd. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Next, we come to our uh number 2A. This is all routine consent items. Uh approval of reports, travel, monthly personnel, uh bill list numbers, payroll claims and donations as well as field trip requests. Do we have any questions or actions at this time for this? >> Um I think we want to on the personnel report uh pull Dr. short ridges um line item and deal with it separately. >> I'll second that. >> All in favor? >> I. >> So now what we'll be we'll
003need to do is we'll take action uh on on all items except for uh Dr. Short Ridg's uh line personnel uh line item. So, if we don't have any questions on the the bulk of things, then we can get a motion to approve those. >> I move that we approve routine consent items as amended. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Do we have a second? >> I'll second it. >> Retroactive. And then next we'll move to the uh the personnel piece that uh we just alluded to. We're pulling out the item uh Dr. Short Ridge uh and and the recommendation for him. Does the board have any questions or uh comments uh on that recommendation uh from Dr. Shoemaker and Mr. Ramon? >> No further. No further. >> Nothing further. >> So, at this
004time, uh, if we'd like to move forward with the, uh, recommendation, I'll need a motion. >> I move we approve the, uh, recommendation of Mr. Rammon, Dr. Shoemaker, uh, to terminate Red Short Ridge. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? I I >> Next we'll move on to letter B and that is the submission of monthly corporation extracurricular receipts and dispersements. And we don't need at this time we don't need to approve anything. It's just that we have questions and gives Megan an opportunity to to uh address any of those. All right. If we don't have any questions about that, we'll move on to new business. And I will turn this over to Dr. Shoemaker. So, um, what we've been trying to do the last few months, um, at board
005meetings is recognize and highlight some of the new and innovative programs that we've got, not just for the board to to know about, but the community to know about. Tonight, we've got an exciting new program. Um, and that is the achievement center. Um, a few years back, we recognized the growing number of students that were capable of graduating, but um, were falling behind and eventually dropping out. and even though they they had high capability uh frustrating them for them and frustrating for for their families and for us as as well as educators. So there is a model of the Simon Youth Clark Pleasant Academy uh that we've been to before. Uh we asked for Vicky Madison and Mackenzie Jackson to go observe um and and look at that program. uh and they do partner with
006the Simon uh youth I would say institute or group uh but it's it's it's a great group uh that is national um it's based in Indiana but it's a national academy uh they came back and started planning to meet the needs of our students and um uh what they put together is fantastic one of them we're excited that they can share tonight uh this is the first semester of implementation uh and there's some some some tough characters in terms of personality that I know personally in there and um they're making truly making a difference. So exciting to see and witness. So Mrs. uh Madison and Mrs. Jackson are both here tonight and Vicki has a presentation for us to learn more about the program. [Music] You're >> right. Thank you. Okay. Um, I'm Mrs. Madison.
007Um, I I want to thank Dr. Shoemaker and Mr. McDaniel for kind of kicking off this initiative. Um, when he asked um, Mrs. Jackson and I to go to this school, I it I really didn't know what to expect. Um, and then we ended up visiting two schools and when we saw the difference they were making there, it was kind of like eye opening that we might be able to do something like that for our students. So, um, as you can see, we've we've got our own entrance. Sorry. Um, in the high school, you want to hit the next one. And it did start with kind of looking at the Simon Youth Foundation examples. And one of the reasons we use those is the example is they graduate 90% of their students. And these are
008students identified as at risk of not completing graduation. All right. So, there's kind of three things that we focus on on a daily basis. Um, in the achievement center, it's tailored to each student, what graduation supports they need. Um, we have about 40% of the students that are identified and have um individual educational plans. So, um, we're familiar with those. We implement those. We encourage the students to use those accommodations. We have career exploration and part of that, I have to give a lot of credit to Mackenzie Jackson. Our students most likely would not have qualified to be in the career center this year and she made it a priority and made room for them. And of all the things that we offer our students, this is probably the most valuable and the part the
009students love the most. So being able to do something that that's hands-on, a lot of these kids, that's all they wanted and now they get to do that. So that's a big part of why it's making a difference. And then that third component and we'll we'll talk about TBRI in a minute, but a lot of these students because they've not been successful in school for a lot of reasons that becomes it's integral and they feel like because I didn't pass this class then I'm a failure and then that makes it harder to succeed later. And so we really focus on you have valuable gifts, you have talents that you can utilize and give back to this community. So that's a big part of knowing your self worth, knowing how valuable you are. All right. Um
010we are on the east wing of the high school. We're in a former art room. Um I want to give so much credit to the custodians who cleaned out a room that I didn't even think could be cleaned out. There were there was so much stuff in that room. Um they cleaned it out and then through the ET grant we were able to get some wonderful furniture. Um Mr. McDaniel through a Facebook group went sent some people to IU to their surplus store and got those wonderful flexible rolling chairs with the swivel desk that you see in the one photo. Um we were able to get some standing desks. We have some yoga mats. It's completely um it's a space where students spend up to five hours a day. So, it's nice to be able
011to switch around. You know that >> we do a lot of things in that room. Um so, I'm very thankful to be able to uh teach in that room. They students have the choice of eating breakfast and lunch in the room if they choose. If they don't want to eat in the cafeteria, they can eat that in the room. So, that's so they can arrive as early as 8 and they stay sometimes till 1:00 right before they go to the career center. And then we were lucky enough that there are lockers right outside the room and that's where my students have their locker. So everything's kind of in that space. We're close to restrooms. It works out very well for our students. So very very grateful for the space. Okay. There's a lot of when
012you talk about an alternative program or a program to assist students who maybe were at risk of not graduating, there are kind of some assumptions about the students who are in there. And I'm going to tell you most of those are false. What we those those preconceived notions um I love the students I get to be with this year. I've probably not been this happy um in a long time in my career to feel like I'm really doing the purpose of an educator. um because these are students that just didn't fit the traditional mold. They needed something else. There are students who don't do well with seven transitions a day and seven different instructors a day and that consistency just helps support them. Um they need hands-on examples that that traditional kind of teaching or
013that traditional classroom just isn't enough for them. So they they need more examples. They need concrete examples and that's one of the reasons they love the career center so much. Um there are students that may have had health issues. They have may have had mental health issues. They've had a lot of life circumstances that have made the traditional school setting very challenging for them. And then they get into that cycle of feeling like they don't belong, they can't be successful. And so these are students that when you can show them their skills and what they can bring um really shine. And so probably probably my least favorite stereotype of what I call my kids is that these are behavior problem kids or that these are kids that are hard to get along with. These kids
014are so easy to love. Um, we just today we had an incident in the room and I said, "Believe me, none of the people in this room made that happen." And when we all when we got down to the core of it, it wasn't they there was just a misunderstanding and the kids were all supportive of each other. These are kids who want to cooperate, who are capable of graduating. All right. that one of the cores of that um kind of support for students is our trustbased relational intervention what we call TBRRI. Last year all the secondary teachers were trained in that. Um it is a huge focus and we actually like teach it to the kids. So one of the concepts is that emotion is contagious and to be aware of that and probably
015that's more for me even than the students because they're still learning that. Um, sometimes I I have thought even like we do the four count breath and I've had to think do a few rounds of that before I address this situation. Um, being aware of your brain and your nervous system and how that affects your response. Being aware of how your life experiences affect how you interact with others, how you respond to events, how you even respond to learning. And so we spend time deliberately telling kids, you know, this is this is how this works and this is why you may be feeling that way. Um and then we're lucky enough also through the ET grant to have music therapy. Um and so um playing song through Anderson comes once a week, does small groups
016with our students and our students really enjoy that. All right. And then some of the things in the room you may have um seen on the last picture besides the bre, you know, they can eat breakfast and lunch and kind of a kind of a low stress area. We have an ice machine and it's not just because nugget ice is really cool, which it is. Um but brain science says that like chewing on ice helps regulate your brain. It kind of resets that brain. Um a lot of focus on hydration because when you lack hydration, you kind of get, you know, the hangry thing is true, but it's also true for water. Um, a lot of frequent breaks to been focusing on that reset walks. Again, we're sometimes together for five hours. It's like a
017family. We can we need to stretch and kind of take some breaks. Um, and unlimited access to the counselors and the resource teachers and the students are beginning to really now in the second quarter understand, hey, sometimes I need to go talk to a counselor. All right. Our schedule is obviously a little different. We don't have like we have five classes on power school but we don't go like from period one to period two. As a matter of fact, our breaks are a little different than the um traditional 45minute period in the high school. Um my students have community service. They have the music therapy that we mentioned. They have online classes besides their power school classes through our admin software. Um they do take live classes like the principles of human service and um
018Mrs. Yatska in our fax department teaches that class. Um they have the career center programs that we've mentioned before and then we have speakers who come in and talk about life motivation about career exploration and so they kind of get a variety and and they kind of know kind of our rhythm of the week. So far we're we're nine weeks in. Well, this is really the 11th week. Um, we have completed in the 20 students in the room that are 13 seniors, six juniors, and one sophomore, we have completed 45 online classes through our EDM minimum program. Um, they are on track to do their six credits in the career center at the end of the year. They'll get six credits due there. We now have two students who are scheduled to graduate in December.
019And we have 92% of our students for the first nine weeks passing all five of their classes. [Applause] And so they'll at the end of the year they'll have 10 of those credits. They'll have the six credits in the career center that 16 plus everything they get on admin. So if they're applying themselves they're they're going to be do very do very well credit wise. So, not only in the recovery, but possibly to be able to do some work-based opportunities. >> And so, that's really where we're headed. Um, Mrs. Jackson has very graciously donated a lot of her time kind of looking at next semester and then into next year as to we're going to have two people graduate. And so, we do want to replace those students and offer that opportunity um for uh
020other students in the high school. I'm now beginning to get a few students asking about the program. So, the word is kind of getting out there. Um, we want to offer some different options for our now juniors will be seniors next year. And so, if they get ahead in their credits, how might we be able to um offer them some work-based opportunities and then possibly going to a morning session and an afternoon session, especially if we keep offering the live classes. We'll need to kind of distinguish that way. At the end of week, Thursday and Friday um I've been I have been invited to go to a Simon youth conference um with other alternative programs which I'm very excited about. I am there's so much I need to learn and I'm hoping um to make
021some connections there. And then we're hoping to apply to be a Simon Simon Youth Foundation sponsored school um next semester because one of the really cool things if you're a Simon school you get access to a line of fabulous speakers, famous speakers in Indiana that the students would really love. >> Where's your conference? >> Indianapolis. >> Okay. >> Questions. >> So you have 20 students. >> 20 students. And is it open just did it start at sophomore year? So it's m this year we looked at junior and senior candidates with a real focus on the senior candidates. Um then there we one of the things that we've talked about is looking at sophomores and kind of giving them a especially if we could go to two sessions to give them a trial run the second
022semester of their sophomore year to see if the achievement center might fit them and benefit them. So that's kind of where we would like to go with that. How are the students chosen or do they >> One of the first things we looked at was attendance and credits earned. Um, we also did counselor re recommendations, which I will say have been some of the most successful students we've had. Um, last Friday I had a student that in the beginning of the year loved to tell me how much that student hated school and could would have dropped out, but family wouldn't let them. So, they were going to graduate as early as they can even if I didn't ask them how much they hated school. That student would tell me that. And slowly we kind of
023got past that. Wouldn't talk about careers. We've got them to the point where they'll talk about careers, but the student's very capable and has earned credits like nobody's business. And I soon realized that student would probably be eligible to graduate early, but what a shame, such a capable student, only leaving with a diploma because we really want them to have more than that. So, in talking to Mrs. Jackson, she was able to offer a career s certification that I offered that student um not knowing that the counselor was going to call them down the next hour and let them know they because I hadn't told them about the early graduation thing um and offer them early graduation. And the student who hated school year has now decided to stay and do >> a career certification.
024Yeah, that's that's cool to take a kid who hated school and have to tell me even when I didn't ask to say voluntarily. >> So, >> Mackenzie, these are 20 students addition to what you already had in the career center. >> Not all of them are at the career center. Just um some of them are in career programs, >> some of them are in the ICE programs. So, and that's one of the ways it fits their lifestyle. Some of the students um choose to work, some of them have to work. And so, that part of it, their work base, they are already working jobs that they get credit for doing in the afternoon through the ICE program that Mr. Baker runs. Well, we do have quite a few that have been added and it was
025I think the transition in the beginning was a little rough for them getting used to the new procedures and going to a new place, but they they've really done well. Um, most of them are doing fantastic. I think we have a couple that we're we're keeping our eye on and um staying on them, but they're they're all doing really well and it's been a good it's been a good experience for them and we've seen them grow a lot. Um and we've talked about kind of how to navigate that. Um that student that she mentioned, we're actually doing something through adult ed um with a workforce initiative that we have there. So, that's something else that we're we're going to explore for students that we can and doing more certifications for them and they can meet
026that adult ed criteria and then if the school doesn't have to pay for that certification and um they can get it through through adult ed if they're over 16. So, a lot of credit to the career center instructors because they have been very patient and really worked with my students and my students love the career center. Mhm. >> Curious your ratio of males to females in your class. >> That's a good question. I think about this. >> It's definitely higher males. >> Yeah, it's 14 to six. Okay. >> Male, which kind of >> I mean, traditionally studies show isn't always kind of that, but hopefully we can kind of turn that around. I want to get one question. ICE, tell me about ICE. >> Okay, so she has probably a a better explanation of that.
027>> So ICE um they do work face learning and it can be they can either get a job from our instructor who can help them with the application process and finding jobs or they can come with a job. A lot of them already come with a job. Um but they meet one day a week. They go over employability skills, resumeumés, cover letters, they do mock interviews, they do field trips, applications, and then our instructor um who's Ron Baker um he goes and checks on them um at the job sites. He helps them through difficult work situations um and just is there as a support and then if they have to change jobs which happens he kind of coaches them through it on how to how to change appropriately and be professional. Um but really that
028one day a week which is Monday start together. They have to turn in their time sheets every week for credit. Um they have to write about their experiences each week. So that's where they meet as a class and focus on becoming more employable and doing well at work. Um so that's a big piece of it. >> Ron is also then a lelayison with the business owner or the employer. >> Yes. So he meets with them and then he goes and sees them at work. He doesn't tell the students when he's coming. He just shows up um and then if they're not there, he'll find out when they're going to be there and then do another surprise visit. So he's really enjoyed that role. Um and and then he also goes to visit our other programs
029who teachers can't get out to go see. So he may go see welding students, you may go see vet science just because we have to do visits, but they're not always able to get out. >> Thank you. So I the the students um that are in this program um are much like students in the past um but we haven't had a program for them and we've tried a couple of times and Mr. McDaniel knows this is the third attempt at a launch in leadership matters and these two have done have made it um work and not only work but be successful. I think what's going to happen, what we'll see um word of mouth with students is is that they like being in there and I said at the beginning there's some tough characters in
030there. There's great characters um but they they haven't had academic success in the past and one I know pretty well and um is reserved with any positive comments. uh and to to say it, you know, I I I asked him how it was going and this is probably about 3 weeks into the school year, maybe maybe a month and um he said it's actually pretty impressive like that. And so uh yeah, I know I Yeah, I know. And you know who I'm talking about. Um, and so, uh, to have that turnaround where, um, kind of defeated to, uh, I'm I'm somebody and I I'm going to make this happen and he's really positive about the direction he's going because there's a great aptitude there. We just had to lock into it. So, kudos to the
031leadership of you two to make it happen. And I think you can tell by their enthusiasm and zeal that it's just the beginning. So, thank We met with a consultant today um and who's pretty very familiar with what they're doing and she made the comment that she goes 11 weeks in I know that you've already changed kids lives. I already know that you've probably saved some lives. >> Wow. >> Yeah, it's good stuff. >> Thanks for being here and sharing. >> All right, so next we'll move on to item C. That's the final reading of the new schoolboard policies, batch number seven, which we all had copy of. >> Yeah. So, batch number seven pertains to among other policies, age entrance requirements for kindergarten students, test security protocols, student records, etc. It also has a
032revised policy u that of not allowing personnel or personal electronic devices to be brought in from home unless they're they're approved by the principal. Um, and that really is through special ed because there's adaptive things that we we do permit. What that's going to do is it will help us prevent malware and security breaches and problems and um cyber insurance is a real thing that we do uh we do have to be aware of and it will help us in that as well. Um, anything else, Dustin? >> Um, and it's just it puts all the kids on an equal playing field. I mean, the school corporations buying Chromebooks for the students to use in school. I I equate it to a kid bringing their own textbook from home that's not the same textbook that the
033other kids have. So that's you know I can't support a kid's personal device if they're having network connectivity issues or anything. There's a liability issue there. The school provided devices are meet the requirements what they need. >> So students are not allowed to have their cell phones. >> No, that's they can have their cell phones. They won't be able to access right now. can't access our uh our >> Yeah. This this prevents the kids from accessing our Wi-Fi. Bring bring a laptop from home >> that might be loaded >> with games and things like that that could cause distraction. >> They they still will have um cell access. Legally in the United States, we can't jam cell phone signals. It's It's really It's really just laptops, >> laptops, iPads, things like that. >> I was
034going to go through this a second time and Dustin sent it to me and I was through ignorance not able to access it. Could you go through a little bit what the current programs for high ability students are? >> You want Why don't we cover it? elementary we we start assessing in kindergarten >> and then we have the uh self-contained programs at Wright still for third, fourth and fifth. >> Then they go into the high ability or um honors type classes in the middle school which can then get them faster to earning high school credits which then leads them into the AP and dual credit in the high school. But we do still have the self-contained but we start assessing in kindergarten >> and um for the yeah >> the third, fourth and fifth are
035individual group together. >> Correct. >> 20 in each class. Thank you. >> All right. Any other questions or anything to add to that? >> So we need a motion. Yep. >> I'll move to approve the D7. All in favor? I >> uh next we'll move on to letter D and that is the uh policy F100R and that's the internal controls document. Um we that that actually was in the batch 7 um but because it was previously um in batch 6. I just pulled it out um and we'll vote on that separately. There's nothing controversial to it. It's just a document that had had to update it in terms of positions uh and names. So there wasn't a whole it we just um made it so that you can it's recognizable to us and and the
036terminology that we have and it's really the internal controls that that we operate by. >> I make a motion that motion that we approve policy at 100R. >> Second. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Next we have uh the reading of schoolboard policy batch number eight. And this is the first reading. It is the first reading. The one that I would draw your attention to and just kind of let you know because we know that we're going to change it. It's G375. Um and that is on a lease of school facilities. Um Mr. McDaniel and Mrs. Edwards really put a lot of time in if you recall onto the last one so that we we we have a really good policy the way it is the lease policy. Um, so we we are
037going to take what they've got uh through church church and entrram and modify it so that we're incorporating the information that we have in our current policy because we just did that probably a year and a half two years ago and >> and it'll impact all of 375. So E1, E2 and >> so is that included in what we have now? >> The changes are not yet. >> The changes are not >> so I'm just letting you know that we will be we will be making changes prior prior to the last reading. prior to the second reading of the last reading. >> That's it on. >> All right. Uh next we'll go on to item F and that'll be uh Mr. Bennett and Dr. Shoemaker and that's the athletic conference. >> We got some good
038news this past week. So >> yeah. So um just quickly got approached a few months back by Eastern Hancock and some other schools just wanted to sit down table and talk conference. Obviously, they were aware that we have pulled ourselves from the HHC. Um, so I'd say two two to three weeks ago, we met and four schools did go ahead and say, "Hey, we're we're in it's the Eastern Crossroads Conference and at the time it was Newcastle, Eastern H Eastern Hancock, Shannondoa, and Lapel." Um this past week, Northeastern um made a recommendation that athletic director re made a recommendation with their school board and they did accept that. So they sent out a letter today that it looks as if it's going to at least take effect at 27 28. There's still there's still some
039discussions as far as who's going to let them out, what we can play. Um, and then I know there's two schools that would be Centerville and Delta that also got an invitation to join this conference. So, right now it' be a total of seven schools if if every school came. Uh, in an ideal world, uh, an eight school conference makes sense in a lot of ways with wrestling, track, football. So, um, I know there's obviously some other discussions that we'll have and and try to probably fill an eight school conference at some point. Do all those um schools carry all the sports? >> No. So, I mean the the sports like fall, there's Eastern Hancock, Shannondoa, and Nor Eastern do not have soccer. Um there's a there's a handful that do not have swim. Um
040so, we're we're working through that. Obviously, if you had an eighth school, everybody's taught that we would like to have a 3A or a 3A school that would have would be able to fill every sport that we have. And so, um, yeah, I guess that's the best way to answer that. >> So, just for my stupidity, what will you do? Like, you know, >> we we'll still have conference in the sports that only have like four schools that have it. >> Okay. But they will have more than uh four meets. I mean soccer, they're usually playing every week and right >> swimming every week. So you'll just get non-conference people in we'll still fill our schedule. We'll still play as games meets matches as we have. >> Uh I think soccer and swimming and some
041of this will be four schools that'll be pitching all conference. We have to work through all that bylaws that we're working on, but we'll absolutely be able to fill schedules for everything that we have. >> Do we have to have any kind of approval through IHSA or >> that will be sent in those comments will be made through the IHSA? And I think they're working on that right now, but >> Okay. So then if Northeastern and some of these other ones pick up 27 28, is that what you said? >> Yeah. >> And we're starting next year, right? 26 27 right >> 10:30 we would have had a conference. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. So the our conference Eastern Crossroads >> Eastern Crossroads. >> Okay. So it officially would not begin until the
042fall of 22nd. >> I can't answer really that right now. The reason I say that I'm sorry. >> There's been a ton of talk to try to make it happen next year. >> Oh okay. >> But today Nor Eastern put out a letter that said it would take effect in 2728. >> Yeah. Because they've got to cancel out on that. Reason being is depending on bylaws like even for us when we said we're not going to do the HHC you have to give 365 days I think some of these schools thought that maybe they the other conferences might just let them out but I just haven't >> got any clear I just haven't got any clarity >> thank you >> I guess best case scenario it would happen next year worst case scenario be the
04327 28 season >> but all the sports will have full schedules next year >> all the sports will have full schedules and even like like right now our fall season's wrapped up. We're we're trying to get these schools on our schedule so we can play soccer and football and all the sports going forward so that in 2728 it will just happen naturally. >> Yeah, I think just from my involvement and communication I have with this athletic community is there's a huge support to leave the HHC. So when you have huge support to do that and you leave it, you have to be realistic to know that you have to start looking around geographically who's around you. So I think uh I know there's been some maybe uh little frustration or with with the change and
044just a light rumblings, but you know like our sports like Dr. Krier here was a huge proponent of leaving HHZ. So, I what it does, it really impacts um our shorter seasons the most because of the like like football. Football drives conferences in the state of Indiana. It's just just the facts. You may not like them, but that is what it is. And the reason is because you don't get to play 22 games or 18, you know. Uh so when you have control of your schedule out of 22 games, who you play in your conference is less meaningful um to the overall structure of your scheduling. So I think we still have the same versatility. So you know if wrestling uh wants to you know they're single sport uh or single class tournament, right? >>
045Yeah. So it doesn't impact them because even when we were in the HC, they still got to go wrestle Shannonoa and try guys and so they're still wrestling the little guys to begin with. So the other piece is soccer is it is it it's single. >> It it's it's like we're a two-way soccer. It's >> tennis. >> Yeah. >> Single class. >> Single. So, uh, tournament success is not dependent upon your your six game, seven game tournament, uh, conference schedule when you have 22 games at your disposal. Um, so if you're not getting what you want from your conference, coaches need to come to you and try to schedule HSSE and all those schools for wrestling and soccer that if they have a problem with with that. So this is in support. I I this
046is to address some of the negative >> and these these schools have great traditions and great fan bases and you know geographically it it makes a little sense for us and also I think >> I think that we're going to see that we're going to have better gates and it's going to help financially and and I think we're it's going to be a very competitive conference and if you look at I mean right here you can tell you ask him how lapel and some of these schools are in soccer they're really good and if you look at football's undefeated and I mean if anybody I mean it's going to we're still going to have to be really good to compete and and and you know it's not going to be a cakewalk like maybe some
047think it it's going to be it's not >> right but but our coaches the feedback we have we're everybody's excited I think it's going to bring kids that maybe don't play are going to start playing some sports now because we're going to see some success and you know I think it's going to be nice to be able to go to to drive and have a chance to win and compete every every time we go get on the bus. That's going to be nice. >> And and that's the piece of extracurriculars in general is promoting uh involvement, participation because the the data shows those kids succeed in school and their academics when that happens. >> And and nationally like girls sports are down, participation's really down. And uh I mean we're we're struggling in Newcastle right
048now with about every sport we have in girls and um if you don't have a good experience in middle school and you don't have a good experience at the freshman or JB and we hear it all the time like why would I play? >> And so um he fought it this year. I just went through girls basketball practice. We have 13 girls. We have a couple injured but like 13 girls you can't have two teams two levels. So, >> we had no subs. >> I've got to hit the ground running in the morning. We got to get some girls to come out. We have to have two You have to have two levels of girls basketball. >> So, >> I could throw in we we play 16 games. We play a couple of games where
049we have chance and we have about eight games in a row we have absolutely no chance. In fact, two or three of them that's nine and out because they have a nine.9 goal lead with 20 minutes to go. >> And to pull them out of that depression, that's the reason why the girls don't come out. No one wants to get their butt kicked every single game. And to take those nine games and then we went on a four game, five game shut out win streak when we got to play teams like, you know, that we could play with. And if we can make get that crap out of the middle and give us a fighting chance, our numbers will go up. I guarantee it. Our numbers will go up next year because we won five
050games, >> you know. >> Yeah. And I know there's there's going to be more conversations on uh some creative ideas on to promote uh engagement and participation. And I mean, there's things that Cory can do. And so, uh, I I look forward to the challenge of getting getting these other schools in and getting this thing rolling and having a solution. So, if any other schools join, I will give you an update. >> Absolutely. >> Can I can I mention one more thing? U, I've got to say how supportive Corey has been through this whole thing. Uh it's been so easy to work with and I just give you one quick example. U we had won our first sectional game in 10 years and the next game we knew we were going to get creamed by
051Delta which is now in the state finals and we knew that we were going to get slaughtered. The game was at seven. We weren't going to get home till 10 and we didn't have snacks because Rachel was gone that week. So I I texted Corey and I said uh I've never asked you for anything. Uh, the only thing we're going to ask for would you could you reimburse us if I take them to McDonald's because they're going to be pretty low when this is over. And he sent me a text that had a yes with four exclamation marks. And I shared it with the girls and they all started cheering. >> So, we appreciate the support. >> All right. So, next we'll move on to uh Dr. Shoemaker and Mr. Bennett on the uh fieldhouse
052scoreboard >> track resurfacing right before that. >> Okay. I thought we had taken it off. >> We're just going to briefly update. We're not going to Okay. Uh we've been working with the company that we originally signed uh the the contract with to move forward with the track project, but after the information regarding um how we will need to um increase the price greatly in order to provide substantial uh concrete uh underneath and the work that's going to take place, we decided to go a different direction and uh do a resurfacing of the current track. So not expanding but doing the res re resurfacing of the track as it is. uh but we would still keep in the uh new asphalt around bleachers because that was one of the original ultimates of the project. So
053we are waiting on that um final paperwork from the contractor to get that finalized but um we have had a lot of conversations with them and they are still interested in working with us to get that done. >> So there wouldn't be a need to demo the old courts tennis courts. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> That's one of the reasons why it's a much reduced cost. >> Do you know when this work would be completed? I guess >> most likely in June of 2020. >> Okay. So I need to have so we can't have a home meet basically >> this year >> can't have home meets that you said >> I wouldn't it's April May >> so I need to start looking at the work in June >> start do we have like a project
054do we have something in place who's going to oversee that as far as uh getting a guideline of dates a schedule of when the work's going to be completed within that company Okay, we'll have to we'll make sure that's down. Yep. >> So, the old tennis courts, are they um are they in need of updating or or do we have anything if they're going to be there? What are we going to do with >> as as they sit now? I mean, there they still use them for a lot of practices and sometimes even for meets they'll have they'll have them over there. Um, so as for right now, um, the lighting as well is usable. Um, and, um, we're still going to use them as as they are. >> So, the courts are usable. They
055were getting kind of >> Yes, they're getting some cracks in there. >> We did buy like new nets for them. Okay. >> I mean, there is like I'll say overflow, but when we have several teams invites, like kids will go over there and play. And >> um, they took one set out. I don't know, maybe condition, maybe just there's a reason behind it. I'm not sure. We still we still use >> okay >> the cords. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, we'll move on to the uh fieldhouse scoreboard project. So, um as you know, I'm going to pass this down so that because I'm visual. I'm a visual person, so this might help you. I'm going to go over some of this um but at least you'll have it to to go over um at
056the same time. So Senate enrolled one act one um Senate enrolled act one um really changed a lot for a lot of corporations throughout Indiana and just in terms of what we're going to be receiving in in operational funds in the future. So we made a lot of adjustments um already uh you know from a personnel standpoint um we've reduced 10 10 employees that recruit you know and nobody lost their job but through attrition we've been able to um reduce some positions but one of the things not just cutting positions but also um looking at how do we how do we um obtain revenue how do we generate revenue and that's that's one of the things that you know that I think corporations struggle with and because there's very few things really from a business
057model standpoint that you can do to to generate revenue, but we've we've been able to do several um and one of them is is naming buildings and and we're you know we're open to that and I'll say that publicly. We're we're open to to the naming of buildings. Um and uh but the second thing is advertising. Um you know we do a lot of advertising in the fieldhouse and um and other places. you know, we're open to advertising um through Bundy and and whatnot. So, um one of the conversations that that um Corey and I had was, you know, LED scoreboards, and this is probably a month ago, two months ago, somewhere in that range. And then we had a meeting um uh with a representative, asked more questions just to to learn more about
058it. And um the representative at that meeting said that uh an average high school um would be looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 to $70,000 potentially for advertising. Well, that's that's pretty enticing, you know, when it when we're facing decreasing funding. Um so we looked even deeper into it. And so we were we were looking at replacing the north. So, when they redid the floor, we took the the scoreboards off of the floors and and we put um seating there and we're looking at putting um scoreboards at the north end and the south end suspended from the from the trusses. And so, um, as we're looking at at, uh, getting LED scoreboards for that, um, we it just kind of organically went into, well, what what if we what if we looked at
059the scoreboard above, uh, Centerport and what would that look like and what kind of advertising could we could we get there? So, um, that's that's really what led to that meeting um, you know, with one of the representatives. Doesn't have to be the the the person or the the company that we purchase from, but it was to obtain some information. so that we could even go further into it. Um, one of the the time um I I think constraints that we've got on this or or issues to deal with is the potential of of increased tariffs. Um, it was announced a couple of weeks ago, maybe 10 days ago, that there would be potentially 100% tariff on uh products coming from China. This would come from China. Um, and so, um, uh, I I I
060put together, um, some information here. Um, this is a project that would be large enough that would go to bid. It would need to be legally it would go to bid. So, um, my proposal is, uh, and this is why it's got an asterk beside it, is is that we don't have that information currently at this time. Uh our next board meeting is November 10th uh which is after the proposed um tariff goes into place. Uh and so um my proposal is is that we would um the board would allow us the opportunity I did talk to Joel about this today and and this is permissible. Allow us the opportunity um to go forward with this project as long as it uh it meets uh some of the uh requirements. Number one, it's got to
061go to bid. Number two is uh we need to have an a structural engineer to sign off on the weight capacity and that it would accommodate the new scoreboard would accommodate the weight of the uh the new uh scoreboards. The cost would not exceed 300,000 >> for all three. Actually, it's it's score tables as well. So, it's it's the north scoreboard, south scoreboard, center court, and then the scores table at the at the bottom. 300,000. >> Mhm. >> And and kind of how this kind of naturally happened, if you remember, we were going to bring the score tables out and we didn't want to roll them on the floor. We had to put some new wheels on them. They're kind of beat up, banged up. So, uh, another thing that, um, I think's key to
062this, too, is our sports marketing class. I think there's eight or nine individuals in that class. I've talked to Fiser's uh, athletic director. They actually have a class that does this. So, the kids are putting together game day videos. They're working on advertisement, getting getting um advertisement obviously up there on their on the video viewer. And um he said like his class has doubled in size because kids go and interview athletes and putting game like it's just a fun thing for kids to do. And uh >> instant replay. It it has a feature where like you can take your iPad into the crowd and then you're up on the video board which is really neat. I think got be careful that >> we got but I think I do think this is a very unique
063system to to Newcastle and uh I think it lets us look broader as far as advertisement. Right now we kind of stay in the Newcastle maybe Henry County area where with the cheer state and obviously the IHSA events that we host I think that we can expand and look outside of Henry County and go ahead. >> Yeah, I won't interject here too a little bit. Um part of what led to this too is Corey had already been doing some homework on getting pricing on this and was a little discouraged just by what it would be for center hanging >> and happened to get connected. Yep. >> With a company that was interested in giving their bid, you know, >> a general cost Yeah. of what they might do and uh they happen to be local
064Indiana guys uh from Indie >> done some work in the high school, you know, some high schools that we're familiar with. So my my favorite part I want to piggyback on that is the piece about the uh they have a class but they also provide this company would provide training >> on this and a curriculum >> uh for them to follow. >> So sustainability is really important when you are talking about this >> not just a scoreboard. >> Yeah. It's much more widespread. >> I I mentioned it to Dr. shoemaker the other day after we talked about it and it's like >> I would be interested in knowing how long these last, what's the warranty on them, do you buy a maintenance agreement every year? What's the cost of that? What if this company goes
065out of business? Are they a onestop place? Are there other places we could go that could support it? It's a lot of money to spend if they could leave town tomorrow and we'd be stuck with it. >> And we can we can put that in the bid request and to find out what all of that information is. >> I do know that um all this stuff's bought from China. So if I had a Nefco scoreboard, I'm just using what we currently have. I can go buy a piece that would fit because they're buying the same piece. It's not like a Nefco piece. It's a piece from China. So, I mean, I know that China's the only place that's doing this right now. >> Can we get can we be legal and get this ordered and
066through the process bidwise for the tariffs like >> I believe so. I believe so because we can we can bid it out. >> Um, it is fast. So >> always late. >> So what would happen is if you get the bids out even they would they hold the price for the bid even if we were to accept the bid or accept the contract after the the tariffs go in place. So technically again we do it quick be okay. That's why we're having this conversation. I don't, you know, I I don't like the rush conversations, but this one, you know, we don't control tariffs. And, you know, when we met a week ago, uh, right after the the tariff announcement came out, and it could be bumped. It could many of these times, you know, the
067tariff is is bumped back a month or two or three or whatever. that we had the conversation. We got emails out to our director of transportation, food service, >> um uh technology technology uh and just said, "Hey, if there's anything that comes from China, you know, that are essential, we need to have that information or we need to make those orders." So, >> why don't you go ahead and keep going through that list of >> Yep. So, the the bid expectations will include the educational software that we talked about. Um we've one of the the things that we we've we're uh we're different in the fact that our our fieldhouse accommodates, you know, huge events that are not really schoolboard sponsored. You know, they're not they're not Newcastle, but they're um we're they're partners. So,
068Hall of Fame Classic, State Cheer Competition, those things are packed. Um wrestling semi-state boys regional and semi-state um competitions as well as all of our own. So, those are those are great um advertising opportunities that other places don't have. Um and we could use that for a movie night. Um you know, it's it's got the capabilities of doing that. You know, how how special would it be to watch who's your hooers or something like that uh in the fieldhouse. Uh I do do have a flyer. I think that each one of you have that. You can look at that. Um and that's that doesn't have to be the vendor, but it gives some examples of products in there. Um again, tonight's vote is permiss to move forward um before the uh the November 10th meeting
069as long as all of the conditions are met. Um and here's one of the other things that we're looking for if we can find and that is a vendor to allow us to pay um the cost over a 5-year period. And so because that was rec or that was um mentioned by one of the vendors and and so um that will be considered because then at that point you know if it could be for example if the payment $60,000 um and the revenue is 70 then you're actually making money on the process and and at the end of five years now it's all it's all in the black and profit. So um I think it's a good opportunity. Uh in addition to that, we may have a donor uh that's expressed interest to help us
070cover the cost and then some. And so um we can have those conver conversations um as well. And um the last thing I've got on there is is as we look at things like replacing the turf um on our football field and an estimated cost of 400, you know, $450,000, something like this would be go a long way. Uh, and you know, Henry Community Health help helps us uh in a lot of ways uh with our athletics as well, but it's it's expensive and um this is a way that we could generate revenue. >> Are we looking for a motion to give the administration the authority to basically just move forward with this project >> as long as they meet the conditions? >> Yeah. >> All right. So, move. Second. >> All in favor? >>
071I think one thing to highlight on that too is I don't know it generates money but uh the enhanced ability uh it gives us during graduation >> uh to do cool things that we haven't done in the past whether it be each kid as they get called uh showing their picture up on the jumbotron I guess you would call it. Um things like that. I mean that's a you know showing the b members of the band throughout a basketball game uh during time during a timeout during in between uh quarters things that promote other students and other groups lots of ability to do that where we because I thought of I was trying to think of like is this good is this bad what what do we get what you know what does it enable
072us to do we don't already do and and the list uh >> started growing pretty quickly. >> It's pretty exciting really. >> Yeah, >> I think the kids would love it. >> Uh so the next thing uh would be the ground uh building grounds, transportation, support services. Thank you very much. Yeah, high school restrooms. Um we're waiting on the doors. Uh that lead time is is been pretty long. So soon as we get those doors on, we'll be good to go as long as we approve of how they are installed. didn't look like we want them to. The purpose of restrooms, they did break ground on that. You might see out there by uh the practice field that they have done a lot of digging and they've already uh poured the footers for that. So
073excited about that work and being able to collaborate along uh with Mr. Chris Wells class uh as they move forward and providing some support especially as they get start putting those walls up and and framing it out. Um the we will be picking our bricks uh as well, the color of brick. They gave us some samples, so we're going to be able to pick that and move forward with that. Um, Pasman Jim, they have they're they're finishing up the sanding and they told us they would be ready to go at the end of this week. So, we're excited to see that finished as well. If you haven't been by, it looks completely different even with it sanded down. Um, the career center roof, that pre-bid is this week. So, we're going to have folks coming
074in to um learn more about that project and having that bid coming up here in November of that project uh starting in the spring of 2026. We are currently draining cooling towers throughout the school district because as you've noticed, it's getting a little bit cooler out. So, we have to drain those out uh before it gets too cold or we have some uh issues that require some maintenance. So, that's happening across the school district. And along with things changing season wise, want to remind everybody when you're out in the mornings uh or even in the afternoons, be a little bit more cautious, be vigilant as you're driving. Uh because as it's getting darker in the mornings, we want to be cautious about those kids as they stand on on the sides of the of the
075street, on the sidewalks. Um and just being cautious as we drive around in the mornings, but also in the afternoons as well. We did approve tonight, thank you, a new Bundy Auditorium manager, uh, David Pance, is going to be taking that role for us. Excited about all the plans we have moving forward to encourage, uh, activities and opportunities at Bundy Auditorium. High School Musical is this week. This might this is stuff that might be mentioned tonight by Dr. Shoemaker, but High School Musical this week. It's Willy Wonka, so it's a a crowd-pleaser. Excited about that. And then a really neat event coming up on November 8th is the Jazz Festival. uh re regional uh high school students are coming uh to participate in that throughout the day and then a concert with the Ball State
076singers coming uh to perform uh at Bundy Auditorium along with those students those high school students as well. So thankful for all the work that's gone into that especially by Judy Hover to make it a possibility. That's it for me. >> All right. So the next item is the superintendence report. So enrollment um on Count Bay was 2839 which is uh 46 students higher than it was last year. And while and and that's great news. Um while our our brickandmortar K through2 enrollment was down by 58, our HIKA um programs have grown. Uh the the average of HIKA over the last few years has been 55. This year we started with 102 and by count day was is down to 95, but still an improvement of of 40. Uh which is great. uh we will
077we'll we'll wait and see in February how many uh semester 2 is because it's it's you know each each class is its own um currently we have 67 students on a virtual platform last year we had eight um so that that's where the numbers have increased u unfortunate thing is that the with the virtual program um there is a increase in cost and decrease in funding so um uh yeah that's enrollment I want to thank officer Kog Boogger. Um he set up Michael Dong coming in. Michael's going to talk about anti- vaping, anti-drugs and uh posit promoting positive mental health uh for the entire county. Uh Aries, the lift coalition and the health department are paying for it. Anything I miss? >> Okay. >> Thanks for this Thursday. This Thursday there's two sessions, a morning
078session and an afternoon session. >> Correct. And then there's a professional development for all staff and then a parent workshop in the evening. >> Yep. Uh negotiations will wrap up soon in preparation for the November board meeting. Uh those are going well. Um putting the the final touches to them. And uh want to thank the teachers association as always for their um professionalism and cooperation. We'll go to the slides. The first one is achievement day. Uh the Trojan tradition every September. Uh Dr. Steven Bennett was our our speaker. We had 21 uh seniors that who kept a 4.0 gradepoint average over six semesters senior crests went to 23 students with a 3.6 um average grade point average and we had 39 juniors who held a 3.6 or higher. Uh so a lot of great kids,
079a lot of great minds and um I want to thank all the teachers for um supporting them along the way. the families too. But we've got a tremendous am group of teachers that uh um uh grow these minds. So want to thank them as well. >> They don't keep the jackets anymore. >> Oh no, >> they get rings. >> Yeah. Okay. >> It's way better. >> Yeah. >> So the next one the next one is the 21st CCLC grant. Rachel Thornnehill has built the the 3T club uh in STEM projects there. That's really taken off. We've got what 86 kids now. So really she's done a nice job with that. Um career day. Uh that was at Riley. Um you can see the students in from Mrs. Rose class. They enjoy dressing as their future
080career person. And that is doctors, writers, baseball players, teachers, astronauts, fishermen, car salesmen, and hunters. There you go. A fall festival. Um, and that was at um, uh, yes, at Parker Eastwood. >> No, that was Eastwood. Eastwood. And they they ended up u um making $2,200 for the PTO, which is fantastic. So, want to thank all the people for turning it out, but also the PTO and staff for tremendous work. Takes a lot of work to put those on. So, kudos to them. And the kids had a great time. Um, there's some there's some workers in there. Uh special um kudos to the day of caring students. EMT and fire and rescue students dedicated the time and energy uh at the Henry County Emergency Management Training Ground. And um dental careers lit up the arts
081park with December Christmas lights. Um high school joint uh club picked up trash around the middle school and high school. and the environmental club cleared invasive invasive honeysuckle from the banks of the Blue River near the YMCA. So, thanks for their You can see there's a lot of mud there, so it looks good. Um, middle school uh competition with flag football. That does look fun. I'm happy that it's it's over and nobody got hurt. So, and I'm specifically talking about, you know, our staff because sometimes those things just are rough on on uh us. So, I'm just going to leave it at that. So, but I I love the fact that they are willing to get out there and uh and compete with the kids. So, it's good stuff. >> Uh firet truck tours. Uh
082that's Parker, the tiny Trojans. Um and they are they're cute as can be, aren't they? Yeah, that's the younger class. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's that's great. So, um and that's their career day. So, that's the Higa Tri-State uh challenge. Um I don't know how we fared >> third place. Keep rolling, keep moving, keep >> uh the try state means that we finished top three. But that but I'm sure that they had a good time and I will say the kids really do look forward to it. Greg Dick Dickerson was there volunteering. He's circled back in the back there. So the kids the kids love it because it's a very regimented um regulated uh time and this is a time that they can really um express themselves and be themselves. So um I know they enjoy
083that. um sports information podcast. That's pretty cool. Um and uh this is I think the episode two. Yes, episode two of the largest and finest podcast. And so they've already heard from Lily Scott and boys tennis ace Austin Nunez. Um and then uh this one was on Matt Loose and they said you won't want to miss this. So support them if you would. That's really cool that they're doing that. >> They've had some downloads in Germany. >> What? Yeah, they're they're international. Okay, international podcast. They've made it. All right. Endor endorsement unlocked. Celebration. Congratulations uh for our high school. Uh thanks to uh Kim Nicholson, Sarah Bertram, Abraham Haylor, Scott Bean, and Dr. Gray for their tireless work in making this dream come true. Sectional champs. Boys tennis just won against Blue River 5 for
084their fourth consecutive sectional win. Congratulations. Uh and Kurt looks wet. That's great. That's awesome. That's a great picture. And this is a new addition. Um our Trojan marching band is navigating to Semi-State. So proud of their achievements for the Wayfairer show. Um, the last time they were at S State was two years ago and they earned third out of 13 bands at regionals. Great job, Mr. Edwards, Miss Swan, and staff. So, >> that's it. >> Soccer one section. >> We'll get them We'll get them up next time. >> All right. So we'll move to the uh budget portion of the meeting and uh >> this is the uh education funds and operation fund. We'll let Megan speak. >> So our monthly transfer uh would cover expenses incurred um in September 2025 and that transfer is
085in the amount of $320,000 and that would um be transferred from the education to the operations fund. >> So moved. So, all in favor I >> Next is the uh 2026 bus replacement uh plan. >> So, we had our hearings last month. Those um those documents are still on the website. Um again, this is just an estimate um and it just kind of puts in um limits of where we can what we can spend. Um it'll be finalized by DLGF in December. Um, but changes obviously can be made when we're when we're 18 months out from the end of 2026. So again, this is projections, revenues change, expenses change, things like that. So those plans will be asis, but we will obviously spend according to um the revenues that we receive. So starting off with
086the bus replacement plan, um just asking for permission uh to approve that for the year 2026. >> So move. >> Second. All in favor? >> I. >> Next is the 2026 capital projects plan. >> Same for the capital projects plan. We have items on our list uh for facility maintenance and equipment and so forth, but obviously things change. So um that's just kind of a guideline, but we will make changes as needed, but again there will be parameters on limits and so forth on how much we can spend. So just asking for approval of the capital projects plan for uh calendar year 2026. >> So move. Second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. At this time, if there are any public questions or comments. >> One more. >> Budget. Oh my goodness. Second
087time. >> Uh approval for the uh 2026 corporation budget. >> Right. So this includes the debt service fund, the education fund, and the operations fund. Uh um budget totals. So um wouldn't those expenditures would not exceed that. Levies would be dollars we would raise. think we would not exceed that and then it's just an estimated tax rate. Um we anticipate those tax rates um being finalized close to that but the debt service will be lower once our final debt schedule and organization schedules put into uh the system and and used to calculate um what our actually our payments will be for we estimate high so that we make sure we have enough to cover. So that rate will go down um slightly but other than that the the numbers are as is that we presented
088in the hearing last um last month. So just approval of the 2026 corporation budget. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? I. >> Now public questions and comments. >> Okay. I do. >> Yep. >> Tuesday um the 21st. That's tomorrow at 6 at the uh educational center, the old Sunnyside building is a uh extend up for children. And I know everyone in this room cares about children. These are the little ones. Um it's about trying to get funding for child care. Um and it matters. Anybody that's available, please come and uh enjoy the conversation. Trying to raise awareness. We need people there. So thank you. >> Anything else? All right, this meeting is adjourned.