001[Music] [Applause] Okay, now we're going to talk about high school. This year we had 11 seniors. These 11 seniors went to the national tournament four years in a row. So these seniors that we have, there's a lot of not working and things like that, but they set the tone and they represented well. Like I said, they shot a record score at nationals. Um, so we're going to try to beat that mix, but right now it's going to hold. Um, as I said, there were several that did well. Uh Casey shot her personal best. Samantha Wallen shot her personal best. Katie Perry shot her personal best. Let's go down the line. Kevin Huff shot his personal best. Feltman shot her personal best. I think that was it. So, we're going to honor you guys at 8.
002Oh, before they before we do that, at state there were 81 scholarships that were given away by the National Archery Schools program from Indiana. 81 that were given out. We had nine that received those scholarships. So, they each got a $500 [Applause] [Music] Great job. [Music] Okay. We have Cheyenne Dakota Booker here. They're probably out fighting somewhere. Haley Brown, Whitney Birkhart. Whitney is our quiet silent sassy. She's so quiet. Smart car. Allison Cassell, Brianna Day, Harley Delucio, [Music] and our top shot for the girls, Andy Hickle, [Applause] Lington, Kevin Mr. [Music] Muscleman, Eddie Perry, Charlie Roberts. Charlie's here. Charlie's been with us a long time. It's really been cool to watch him improve. Casey Chapman, Brianna Shaw, Lean Wadsworth, Samantha Wallen, and Noah Willard. Austin, I skipped right over you, man. That wasn't on purpose.
003[Music] There's the cord. That court trip. [Music] Take one. Looks like I'm over here. Congratulations guys. Congratulations. [Applause] You should put your arm up. [Music] Now is the time. If you would like to leave, you may do so. If not, we invite you to stay and not have a great summer. Stay safe. You too. I know the people live. Got to go. All right, it is time board administrative reports. I will start. Since our last board meeting, I have worked collaboratively with other superintendents in the county and high school and chamber of commerce and Mr. Sik to hammer out the details. As the board may remember, you passed anou so that we can hire a an employer engagement specialist to the chamber. Um that has moved from anou into a contract that'll come before the
004board and new business. And that has been a couple meetings to get that hammered all the way out across uh five public schools and a and a private. Um and it has been uh a labor of love. went up uh Mrs. Vance uh Mrs. Baker and I went up to Muny to get a sense of what their employer engagement specialist did was spend an afternoon with her to get a sense of duties and to help make sure we have a good mental image of what this role will be. So that was great. I had the chance at the service center to host the uh Indiana Association of Public School Superintendent District 6 meeting. uh we were given updates on the legislature uh laws that were passed and Steve came and spoke to the entire district
005about the impacts that uh the new legislative slate will have on us. Um we will see some some decreases and I'll talk about that again. It also came up in study council so we'll talk about that. I had the chance to attend the IU East Education Advisory Board. Uh IU continues to be a tremendous partner to us in terms of making sure that we have that we have um uh student teachers, teachers that come into the field, pre-ervice teachers, and they also will hire our staff on occasion to teach courses. So uh it's a great partnership between IU East and Nor Eastern, and I'm I'm grateful to serve on that board. It helps them plan as they consider their curricula moving forward. um had the chance to to attend our local study council, learn about
006the impact the state budget will have on our assess evaluation based on the the estimates of of SEL. They believe they'll that we will see our assessed valuation which funds our debt service fund and operation fund decrease by up to 30%. Uh depending on how the law is interpreted and how it impacts our local tax base. So that'll be something we consider as we put our budget together uh in the coming years. Had a chance to attend the quarterly insurance trust meeting. Uh just a reminder to the board, we are part of an 11 entity insurance trust. Uh what that does is buy us uh buying power in the market when we go to get our insurance but also means there's an oversight governance board that I serve on uh to make sure that we
007are putting policy in place to make sure we have enough money reserve fund our insurance trust. Uh Mrs. Richmond attends these meetings with me and boy they are exciting aren't they? Uh that give us a chance to to get caught up. We will find out our estimated increase in premium in the fall ahead of bargaining after um had a chance to attend the national civics. Uh Mr. Beavens was the audience champion. I was the runner up, but most importantly, and not to steal your thunder, uh Mr. Mr. Smith, but we did have a student place in the top three, uh which I'm sure you'll address. And uh it was a great night. Thanks to the chamber for for the work that they do and it's it's a great night for our middle schoolers. I want
008to let the board know that the teachers association and I had a pre-bargaining session. It's a chance for us to share ideas. It's not formal bargaining, which will happen in the fall, but a chance to share ideas uh from their side, what they'd like to see in the contract upcoming, and a chance for me to start to educate them on what the what the new budget from the state means for us uh moving into that season. uh really uh from their side, they're interested in talking about some of the ECA positions and they're interested in uh seeing some insurance uh increases in addition to rates. So, we'll have bargaining in the fall, but it was a very productive meeting. We have a great partnership with them and and we work together. Um, last but not
009least, had a chance to attend the eighth grade Washington DC trip. That's really okay. Is that too bad? Is that all right? Um, I had a chance to attend the Washington DC trip with the eighth grade. Um, had some really powerful moments as we always do with places like the tomb of the unknown soldier. Uh, you ride for, you know, 12 hours on a bus with eighth graders. They can't be quiet to save their lives and then they walk up through Arlington to the tomb of the unknown soldier and the respect that they pay to that service and the way that they comport themselves compared to said 12-hour bus ride are night and day different and it's always neat to see uh the very best of our kids on that trip and you know sometimes
010some sleeping moments. Uh but I had a chance to see the Pentagon Memorial and Marine Memorial. Those were the three places where they were uh especially reverent and well behaved. Uh but they were really well behaved. I I hope it's my last. I've already put Mr. Smith on notice. All of my children completed this task. I'm no longer a building level administrator. So if this was my last trip to Washington DC with eighth graders, this group really was among the very best behaved of any trip that I've been on. And so kudos to you and to them for their performance. So that's what I've been up to since the last meeting. Any questions for me? Okay, Mr. Mark. Good evening. Thank you. This kind of end of the year highlights. um just kind of things
011to go through since we last met. We're pleased to share some notable achievements as we conclude the academic year. All high school students have received their schedules for 256 school years. That's a new for us. Uh 33 senior received nor eastern community awards and scholarships at our main table. That was one of the things that we changed up this year and we our sincere gratitude to our community donors for exceptional brunch. Uh today we had the uh we did our first sneaker showcase that was a great success recognizing the accomplish accomplishments of that graduating student. Um we also had three students that completed the inaugural pet food pathway program. Um and then we also hosted special celebration. We also one s a letter employment letter of intent with blue buffalo and this was a direct
012result they patched the chamber job fair and also on Friday our applied skills students proud they represent our school at the east central unified games hosted by county. Um, we anticipate 100% graduation rate for our senior class with 41 students earning the academic honors diploma and 25 students including Indiana College. That'll be finalized Wednesday. We get all the grades. Um, the A department also held their A day at phase 7. That was a great success. Then the FFA end of the year banquet for grades 64 was outstanding with new officers elected and already plenty of initiatives for upcoming school year. And then also we had 34 seniors that celebrated or participated in chambers of everyday counts. That's for attendance for throughout their senior year. We have 34 kids that were in that. And then we
013also won the spirit award for the second year in I think it was created because of this. So I would say third year. We're immensely proud of our students accomplishments. Great for our community partners and also our staff and all the work that they do. Any questions? How many seniors? We have 99. You said you had a good senior showcase, but how how was what's your evaluation of this showcase and the awards ceremony and just the whole I think it was good just because like so in the past for senior like we'd have honors and awards we'd have parents that would come and the kids would never get a chance to get on the stage. So it made it So we got to recognize every kid go through that and I think it kind of
014really exemplified the things that they had their accomplishments that they did as seniors and the ones that applied for scholarships instead of having all the kids sit through that are not going to get anything out of that or didn't apply. So I think it really it kind of focused in on what we're going to try and capture. And I would say it was the event at the Leland was really nice because it gave a chance for donors to interact with the team and really for them to have a chance to to to give some feedback on the way in, on the way out because it was smaller. It wasn't everything. It was just that piece of it. So they kind of got bigger. They got more shrimp, for lack of a better term. I thought
015it was beautiful. All three pieces were really well executed. Um I don't know if you've heard any feedback from senior parents or anything in terms I heard senior feedback just said that oh we just got which is nice something Yes. I'll get you. So, I just distributed the most recent edition of our middle school newspaper. It's called The Medal of the Nights and it's our last one for this for this week. I've been talking at a microphone all day. It seems to be like second nature for me now. Um it's a big thank you to the Wayne County Chamber for a successful reality store. We brought our sixth graders over to the First Bank Expo Hall where students got to learn a lot about topics such as housing, transportation, food, insurance, social lifestyle, emergency savings,
016and a few other things. The sixth graders also participated in a field trip to 40 and to the park. Seventh graders took a field trip to Winchester and saw a movie and they went roller skating. and the eighth graders went to Washington DC last week and came home exhausted. Some of the chef rooms did too apparently. Um, today we held the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade awards programs in the middle school gym. And I think that went off without a hitch. We had a a really good turnout for all three of those. Um and at the end of the day or at the end of each uh program, the parents were had the option of taking their kids and most of them went home. So it was kind of weird to have a fairly empty
017school for the most of the entry. Um yesterday we had an abbreviated form of field day because of the rain. Um, but I I wanted to just give a special thank you to the caf cafeteria staff uh for their work and their patience and their flexibility uh in the especially in the last week when we had to change of schedule several times and they packed some sack lunches and just did a great job. And I also want to say um for the last few days of school are very exhausting um for the for the staff and our teacher our middle school staff came in every single day ready to bring their very best for our students and I just want to give them um a big shout out for for you know being there for
018the kids and doing a great job. And I also want to give a thank you to Mark Kinky for all the help that he provides in assisting with schedules, planning and problem solving, working with students who need a little extra redirection there at the end. He's kind of the person that sits behind the scenes and doesn't sometimes get a lot of recognition. So I want to make sure and if you don't know, Mark is the dean of students at the middle school. Um, I also attended a career coaching quarterly meeting with our current coach, Alyssa Baker, and that was a really neat experience. We got to do some networking and talk to some schools that are doing some cool things and we possibly bring to our school. Um, we had a everyday accounts drawing and
019Aubrey Moore took home the scooter and that scooter has been sitting in my office um since probably October. I had no idea why I haven't been writing that thing. So, I waited until the very last day and I I got on it and I'm telling you what, that was a lot of fun. I'm 50 years old and I think I'm ready for one of those now. So, I may be looking at purchasing one of those. And then, um Hadley Nutty, uh she was uh second place at the civics team. Um, and she all of our middle school students performed very well and but she ended up performing getting second place and and we're very proud of her and all everybody else that participated. Um, it takes a lot of it takes a lot of courage
020to do that because they they saw the video of what ends up happening if you win. you go all the way to the to the to the the national level and you're sitting in there in an auditorium from people all across America and you know I think that could be a little daunting when you're 13 or 14 years old. So I was really proud of them for for doing that and so that's what middle school's been up to. It's been uh the last week feels like about a month but uh we made it to the Any questions? Are they all separately? Yes, those are separately. Yeah. Okay. So, for the elementary, we'll start with um we've had a very busy uh week and a half or so field trips and programs and graduations and um
021all types of things. We had the art show and our spring um program, fourth and fifth graders, which was Spongebob and I the kids loved it. Um yesterday did a great job of featuring soloists and readers for this program and they they killed it. It was amazing. Um the art show was fantastic. All the kiddos um they have a choice. They get to pick pieces that get to go to the show and they um have a a say in that and they obviously take them home. So that was a wonderful night. Um graduations are all complete for us. Um we usually get to partner with lifespan for fifth grade and that's turned out to be a great meeting for us the last three years. Um and then we had our kindergarten. We almost our our
022space in there for the kindergarten one but we're still we're still going to make it happen. Um we are also um at the end we made it testing and so data is something that I always like to share because I'm really proud of staff um that have put so much into that. So for our writing diagnostic test and reading um we when I presented way back and talked about that quadrant and that we have you want to be in the right corner where it's high growth and high performance. The last time we talked we had we had everybody close but as of right now every single grade the entire school is in high performance high growth which is amazing. Um we also then for I read those um specific scores and numbers are still embargoed
023so we can't release the actual numbers but we do not cancel um it's the highest um I read scoring I've ever been part of so I have a lot of third grade teachers and some staff there that have helped with that um which is incredible. So um it's just amazing. We also then second grade it's the highest I've ever um been part of or witnessed. Um we have the fewest amount of second graders next year that will pass the retest. So that is amazing. Um our teachers have done a great job of working with interventionists and our coach and and everyone on staff just to make sure they need it and it's a whole building effort. So really proud of the data um that's coming out and I'm super excited to be that um for
024that. But we just had a bottle of fun um at the elementary building and we're gearing up for our big Hback construction that starts in June. We cannot wait for central air and heat. Um and we have a couple of staff members switching rooms um and some painting being done. The last thing is we are starting the interview process for the new assistant principal position next Tuesday and then you'll be invited Thursday to attend as well um for that um process and hopefully have a selection to bring to you the next question. I just want to say congratulations good job you guys read scores. That's excellent. It makes me sit here and think how many parents probably do not freak out as much if their kids are in the past. I mean, all of us
025have been there at some point where you're like, my kid has to pass. You know, they don't read, they're not passing, but this probably gives a lot better. Congratulations. [Music] All right, for the preschool, um today is my second full day back and it was also field day. So, that was probably not the greatest plan that I had, but um I want to give a big thank you to um Miss Shannon Hardy. She um took over the preschool and did a fabulous job um while I was out. Um also, while I was out, we had our class equality visit and um they once again scored 100%. So, um it was just amazing um the work that they've done in the staff. Field trips. Um we they went on several this spring. The Indie Steam Museum
026was a new one and then obviously the Mards Museum is always a big hit. We had preschool graduations in the high school gym this year and it was pretty full which is exciting. But our thought behind that is they graduate in the same gym as their senior year. So, um they had gowns and caps and it was a girl. Um and so I think that's maybe something we probably continue um there. [Music] So, and then um enrollment has started and once again we have a wait list um and so um we will kind of plan this summer and see what our numbers look like. Um it's exciting to be full for sure. So that's all for All right, that concludes administrator reports. It is time for community comments. We have three members of the community
027that are here to speak and we will begin with Casey How and Casey. The rules are as follows. Individuals are given three minutes to speak. A maximum of five individuals may address the board regarding the same topic issue concern. Individuals are asked to avoid repetition and shall not be permitted to use names of individual employees or students. [Music] Good morning or good evening members of the board. My name is Casey how formerly Casey Brooks. I'm here tonight, Jeff, not just as a concerned parent, but as someone deeply connected to the school community. I'm here to express my disappointment, confusion, and frustration over the decision to remove registered behavioral technicians or RBTs from our school and to do so without any kind of communication or input from the families affected most. Not one parent, not one
028teacher, not even our principal was informed or consulted this decision. It was made behind closed doors and delivered as mine with no opportunity for discussion in no regards for the voices of those who live and work with our kids every single day. Many of our children, including mine, are non-verbal or have significant communication challenges. They cannot speak for themselves, which makes it even more important that our voices as parents are heard. We were never asked how this change might impact them. And yet we are the ones who know their needs best. My daughter currently spends five out of seven hours each day in her general education room. That's only possible because of her one-on-one aid. My son spends two hours a day with his general educa education class supported by this aid. Without these aids,
029they do they will not and do not get the inclusion time that is written into their IEP. And let's be clear, these aids are trained professionals. They are RBTs and they have been working with our children at no cost to the school. Mine personally have been with them since 18 months. At every IEP meeting this year, both my kids teachers praise their aids and call them essentially and now they are being removed without warning. I was told the school plans to hire one-on-one staff instead, but these new hires will not have RBT training. Why replace skilled and proven support with less qualified help? Why take away something that is working? If necessary, I would push to have RBG level training included into my children's IEPs. I will not accept a step backwards in their care
030and support my children receive, especially when their birth is proven in how much the support matters. I was told that five children in this school currently have RBGs. I have to ask, do you not want our kids here? Like, because that's what this decision feels like to me personally. And if there is another reason, I feel we deserve to know it. This school means everything to me. I grew up here. I live in Fountain City. Everyone in this town literally knows my father and how much he's done for this school whenever he's been asked. I don't want to pull my kids from the school. But I will not let a behind closed door decision limit their future. My oldest son did not speak until he was halfway through first grade. He finished 8th grade. He
031just finished 8th grade. Never spent a day in a life skills classroom. He tested in the 96 percentile in our school and the 87 percentile in his entire state on his iPads. My daughter is learning to read without pictures. My son is smart and capable. He just communicates differently. These are children who do not belong tucked away. They belong with their peers learning and growing and thriving. They model what they see. They need the right support to the right support to continue doing that. Every child with autism has potential. Early intervention is key. Consistent training support is key. These kids are making real progress and this decision sends a message that their progress doesn't matter. I want to say I love his life skills teacher and she I know she cares deeply about our children
032but I cannot support a move that takes away the resources that are helping him succeed. If there was a concern about specific RBTs then set expectations, create guidelines, fix the problem. Don't eliminate a system that has been working. I know the decision said that the letter or I know the letters of the decision was final, but I ask you truly to reconsider. Our children deserve better than to be quietly left behind by system that should be fighting for them. Thank you for your time and listen to simply trying to do it. Daniel Hello, I am Danielle Robinson, the parent of two children who attend elementary. They're both considered mostly non-verbal and on the autism spectrum. And like many kids with special needs, they face challenges most of us have not to understand. But thanks to
033ABA therapists who have been allowed in their classrooms, we've seen progress. We've seen our children begin to communicate more, engage, and feel safe in a space that once overwhelmed them. That kind of growth doesn't happen by accident. It happens through support, consistency, and well-trained professionals who know how to meet them where they are. As a parent of children with individualized education programs, I attest that in school ABA support has been vital, not supplemental, to ensuring their access to a free appropriate public information. as required by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Before ABA therapists were consistently working with my children in school, their IEPs were not being followed and they were not receiving accommodations and support necessary for meaningful education progress. The letter states that these services are supplemental to a free and appropriate public
034education. This is concerning. In our case, ADA based therapy is not a luxury. It is essential. Without these services, my children's IEPs are at risk of inadequately being implemented and their academic and behavioral progress may regress. It is important to note that denial of necessary support services that may help implement the IEP may constitute a violation of free appropriate public education. I respectfully request that the board reconsider this policy change. I urge you to engage in collaborative capacity with families and outside providers to find a solution that keeps the best interests of these students. Thank you. [Music] Thank you. Um, I did not write anything up because we just got this letter yesterday and so I didn't have time with work and everything. Um, I was mainly just coming here to follow what they said
035that I am very deeply uh just frustrated with the letter that was sent out and that I don't think my kid could get a genu genuine education with uh without having her RBT there with her. Um, I just would really like for you guys to come up with a different solution. Maybe give us some kind of plan instead of just telling us that it's not possible, that we can't have therapist there. Maybe give us reasons or um just a plan of action at all. Say it's up to us. Are there any other members of the public who have commentary? I believe that's the end of community comments. Uh this is not the form for discussion. We're going to continue with our business. Can we ask though for just for them just as a question when
036where is the appropriate form for that discussion? uh some of them have reached out to me and with the end of the school I haven't had a chance to call them back but I intend to call them I just they had questions so I just want to make sure we follow up on that. Thanks M. All right, we are ready for the consent agenda items. In your consent agenda are the approval and signing of the April 16th, 2025 regular board meeting minutes, the claims since the last meeting till now. Transfer tuition applications. There is a eighth grader and a kindergartener. fundraisers. Uh, Bang Choir have butter braid and cookie dough with first class fundra fundraisers in February, Century Resources in August, and Wigs Pies in October. Girls basketball will have their annual outdoor 3.3 basketball
037tournament July 26th. The marching band will fill the cleft fundraiser uh June 6 through 11. Girls tennis will have uh May 20th uh dying to donate at Chipotle. Music boosters have a band cookout and state fair preview night July 27th. Abid candy bars June 2nd through August 1st. Frickers dying to donate June 2nd to August 1st and the car show in the high school parking lot June 27 and junk in the trunk sale from their trunk uh June 2nd to October 31st. Marching band also has a dime to donate IHOP begin on the beginning of June and one at Culver's in June and one at Buffalo Wild on Wings in June. So no need to cook in June. Uh the band program has band camp for incoming sixth graders uh June 9th through the 30th.
038And that's not an all day affair. It's part of the day. Yeah. Um life skills would like to continue selling pop for adults and teachers in the middle high school next school year from the beginning of the school year to May. Uh one of the best staff retention pieces we had. Uh the NES NELC PTO will have their annual back to school celebration September 6th. No donation. Oh no, that's not true. their uh Apex A donated $500 for the archery fund in memory of Alia Cook and $500 sponsorship check from Wayne Bank uh for the 2025 senior scholarship awards banquet which was held at the Le in early May. field trips. Uh early learning center uh took the bus over to a day. Sixth grade went to Glendel Park in Richmond 40 bowl. Seventh grade
039went to the town square cinema goodidge park and starlight skating ring. The NMS academic team went to regional comp competition and also won at the region. The NMS academic teams were very successful there. uh yearbook class. Uh went to Winchester to take photos of the welding class and went to the Richmond area career center to take photos of automotive meta programs. Uh there out of state overnight field trips. The FFA would like to attend the state FFA competition at Purview University June 17th to 19th. This is an overnight field trip. under personnel um continue to employ Miss Price as the NMS choir sponsor. JD Sickles would be the new varsity cheer coach upon approval. Jennifer Kelly will be moving from high school English teacher to middle school English teacher. We have a new custodian, new
040sub bus driver, and a new part-time custodian. and resignations. Miss Miss Scoffield has resigned her spot as the mentor of the middle high. Uh Jillian Archer uh is voluntarily resigning as our English teacher. She is from the Chicagoland area and she's looking to move back. Uh Carrie Mitchell, who's been with us for a long time, is resigning. uh she has pending nuptuals and intends to relocate uh too far away to drive and she I believe she considered it and unfortunately the distance is prohibited and distance also is prohibitive for our wonderful kindergarten teacher Tori go uh she lives about an hour away she has commuted to us for two years and she's moving from an hour commute to a 12minute commute and she's going to work for a friend of mine who will take good
041care of her. So, we're sorry to see her go, but she's going to a great place to do great work with their community. And that is everything under the consent agenda. Any questions about any items in the consent agenda? Motion made by Mr. Van to approve the consent items. seconded by Miss Smith. All in favor? I three. The first of many contracts before the board this evening are is the food service contract for 2025. Miss Miss Hyrie uh brings this together. We work for with food to school which is an approved bidding site for us so that we are compliant with state and federal law in terms of our f our food purchasing. She would ask the board to approve her food to school contract that essentially says they will be our our wholesaler who
042will buy our food through through them and they will take it out to bid and make sure we have a competitive price. So any questions about our food services contract? You say is that that's who we use? No, we she she does comparison shop every year. Our center has a contract. Gordon Food Services also has a contract. She considers each of those every year. And because of our location, um Gordon Foods is tough because they ship out of Indianapolis instead of out of Dayton because of where we are. And that became problematic. We had some food shipping issues and uh she was not ready to leave food service because they've done a really good job for me. made by Miss Smith, second by Mr. Van. All in favor? We have an aging fleet of instruments
043in the band program that Ms. Marquitz uh and Mr. Chris and Mr. Mer camp have worked to repair over the years and we've had uh we've had a switch in our curricular obligation to the band class. Previously parents would rent to own or they would rent a school instrument. Those funds were used to maintain the cost of the instrument. Any student who will own their instrument at the end of a rental agreement still can rent to own their instrument becomes theirs. So the school does not have to pay for it. But any student that does not, the school needs to provide the instrument as a critical material for them to be able to take the band class. So as such, those two things combine to cause uh Mr. Marav and I to bring together uh
044a service contract. The first year is the most expensive year because the instruments have uh they need some TLC. The entire uh Excel sheet that is in the board docs has uh all of our instruments in there and most of them need a little more than light maintenance. So the first year will cost the school district $23,885.99. But once we get through this first year, we will we are also signing a subsequent two-year contract for maintenance only on the instruments that should be in great working order by the time they're done with it. Uh for an annual cost of $13,175 in year two and year three. It is Paige's Music out of Indianapolis. And I do believe you comparison shop around and they're the best both price and quality of service. Is that correct? Yeah.
045Yep. Motion made by Miss Smith to approve the instrument repair and maintenance contract. Second by Mr. Van Dying. All in favor? All right. As the board may remember, we have a relationship with Cartwheel uh as our online teaalth mental health services provider. This year we had 15 seats and we went through all 15 referrals this year and we were able to cycle back around and refer additional uh students. They changed their minimum number of students from 15 to 25. So the smallest contract they will send is now 25 referrals. And so I would ask the board to adopt um a second year of cartwheel for 25 uh 25 seats for $15,000. We have used all of our seats this year and we did not start until November and we did not fully understand the uh
046efficacy of the relationship until probably February and March and we still managed to use all those seats. So I don't believe we'll have any referral issues over the course of the year. And uh this pilot year has proven that there is a need based on our geography uh that in order to get help with sort of mental health uh pieces a referral to a teleaalth uh partner is appropriate and help students Is this you have this for this? in this school year. Motion made by Mr. Van Dying to accept the cartwheel contract to C25. Second by disgioned workbased learning uh contract uh is before you through the chamber. It is been upgraded from anou to a contract. Uh the highlights of that change include an opt out period for a school district and they must
047provide 180day notice prior to opting out of the agreement so that the remaining school districts can adjust or or disband as as finances require. Anything else to add? No, I think that accurately summarizes the changes. Where are we in the schools that are seeing this contract first? Wondering where in those days of opting out. Will we be at the beginning of that or will we be at the end? All of the schools I believe will vote the contract this month. Two or three maybe. I think it it may be three now. Yeah, I know RCS has already approved it and I believe center bill has already motion made by Mr. Van to approve the workbased learning contract. Second by Miss Smith. All in favor? Fivestar Pivot is our evaluation tool that we track teacher and
048administrator evaluations through and this is our renewal. Um it comes to 28 Are you still happy with it? I don't think I I will tell you I've had three different versions of these. None of them are perfect. This is the one that the teachers have been trained on, the administrators have been trained on. Uh we started the process of going through the evaluation a couple years ago and it really wasn't great timing. It's something that eventually we will work through with the teacher association and you guys to make sure we we find ourselves with a tool that accurately evaluates the work we're doing. It is starting to get a little stale. We've had it since 2012. Um but that work hasn't been completed. I would say when that work is completed, we would simultaneously look
049at what tool, what instrument do we use to track that data over time. And since we're not there yet, I would say status quo makes the most sense. But to ask if we like it, I don't think I don't think I don't know that they like it. I don't know that we love it. It but it works and we know how to use it and it's the competitors are generally a little pricier. ringing face. Did I accur I accurately capture our relationship with with pivots? Yeah. How long? It's produce results in evaluations for I mean I hate even approving a tool that that we may use that doesn't produce our data is the results. Sorry, our data is the results. Yeah, that is true. Hi. I I I would say this, Millie, cover your ears.
050But I don't know that the evaluation tool is ever the key to great teacher performance or great leadership. Sure. So, this one this one makes us compliant to be able to produce for the state in terms of our evaluation ratings in those pieces. But, um, your question is valid in that is this the best? I don't know. We we've done a lot of work with Marzano and I hope at some point we will consider that tool either through a third party vendor through Marzano itself, but we haven't really done the leg work on that yet. So, the timeline it takes it usually some some places I've been it takes two years to redo the evaluation um rubric. The fastest I've ever seen it done is in a school year in two summers. We have to
051comply with something, right? Regardless of this one or another one, it has to be to you. contract. Yeah. I think our I think our uh anniversary date is in June. Most of our contracts run on that. Yeah. They're they will give us I'd like to just make a motion to table this one just until we have our other two board members here discussion better understand what else might be out I trust that you guys have done that um I don't doubt that you're bringing something of value whatever that value actually maybe to us um just have a really hard time saying yes to spend any amount of money on something that we're just not really satisfied with that we're just getting by without really knowing what the plan is what the end goal is if
052I knew that we had a you know two summers and one school year plan and that first summer started today then I' then I'd say okay so this that bandaid gets us to the end goal rate. Um really before we make the vote, I'd like to know what that plan really looks like and what our timeline looks like to get us there, especially since this is something pushed for a little while. Yeah. The only point I would make is it's typically a collaborative effort to to do this. Like when they when they adopted this, the teachers union had a hand in the should have hand. I predates my hire, but it's true. Yeah. the the teachers have a hand in the purchase and so to restart the process of lifting all that is a teacher
053intensive endeavor and the teachers last days they'll be on contract until [Music] sure and but again just by the respon I don't think any of us love it. Yeah. I find it easier two two things happen when you change the rubric. one and you guys can tell me if you agree with this or not, but it creates a firstear panic in the teachers because love it, hate it, tolerate it, whatever the emotion or it's known, it's consistently known, it's what we use. And so that's from the teacher side, there's always some trepidation about how is this going to be used this first year. And then as Tierney said, it takes years to really know the rubric. And so that's that's the other piece of it. And that's really always the pressure when deciding whether to
054change the evaluation model is have we have we come so far in our pedigogy that the evaluation tool no longer works at all. That's usually where the tipping point is. I would say we've come very far in our pedigogy in the last few years, especially um and in the elementary you guys have made a sea change in the way to training. But what I've not heard out of the administrators yet is this doesn't really work for us anymore. And I haven't heard it from the teachers yet either. None of us love it, but is it time to change yet? We really haven't had a strong catalyst for that either. And we've seen growth. So the implementation gift is always something that makes me a little nervous about this kind of change and their their response
055was visceral when we came around the table and started talking about it and they were that you know the I don't think I'm speaking out of school the teachers union was like we don't love this thing either but it makes so much sense to us and we've come from you know we we know this we've been through this pandemic we just aren't ready to make this change yet and I do push a lot on a lot of things. I know, guys. I know. But on this one, I was like, "Okay, it's unfair to not listen to them and believe that what they're telling me is true." And so, I really have not been in a hot hurry to revisit that conversation, but I will. I'm happy to have that conversation, revisit it in the fall,
056and start this work with them. But it will be months yearish in this would cover us through that year and I I don't I don't want to suggest a change for change state knowing that we're going in a direction frustration where I say panic amongst I Panic is the right word for those of you that were in the room. It felt it felt pain. [Music] So, I'd be making a motion just be willing to make a motion to be able to get us through the year if we prioritize conversation. something knowing that that will be a longer process two years just to get to that point but evaluation to those are important um I don't remember who said it now it's not the tool that makes the evaluation but um and that but I also
057don't want to throw a pointless tool at our administrators and our teachers that everybody finds value in and we think this whole thing becomes a joke because evaluations are not a joke to us that help us grow we give to our students. So I want to give a good administration tool to our students too for sake of not making a change to as long as we have discussions. Oh, we can't Motion made by Mr. Vanzai to approve the five pivot agreement. Second by Miss Smith. All in favor? Thank you. And the discussion is well and well received. We'll start that immediately. Next is the ABT uh alerts invoice. Previously, the board has seen the 583495. They've re they've resubmitted the contract to add 70 $750. That was essentially miscommunication on their part. They didn't send
058a direct full contract the first time. Uh in comparison, parents square the alerts is how we do the the text messaging in emergency situations. So, it's necessary, but I wanted the board to know that that price did increase and that um we are uh moving forward with that change uh pending board approval. Uh an update on that change. We have as of last uh count, we have approximately 65% of our families that have already made the transfer from uh parent square into APG rooms. and we will continue to push over the summer and we'll do a heavy push targeted just at those that haven't finished up their demographics as we get closer to school. Our goal always has been to get to 100% in every platform that we use all the way back to school
059messenger. Um so this is uh we made pretty good headway in getting ready for next year. According to the aptitude, this is taking place in Motion made by Miss Smith to approve the apt med immediate invoice increase second by Mr. Vine. All in favor zero. All right, guys. This is the most expensive contract tonight. Our uh internet infrastructure we reup annually and previously we've been doing it one year at a time. And what happens previous to this is that we basically like your cell phone company got a certain amount of data a year. And last year for the first time we ran out of data before the school year was over. We had to come before the board ask for kind of an emergency motion to get to the end of the year. And I
060tasked our technology team with not making us float that boat again. And this is the response to that. It's a five-year deal worth $377,41.14. Uh what we receive for this contract are access points will be replaced during that 5-year period. Our phones will be replaced during that five-year period. Right now, our phones are Cisco Unity phones that are attached to actual on premises server. Through this agreement, they will become uh it'll become a virtual phone system so that every time we lose power, we don't lose our phones. As long as we have internet, the phones will work, which will be a nice upgrade. This also handles uh part of our switches and all of the software required to run our connectivity. And so, uh, Brandon and David have assured me that this should solve the
061data streaming problem. This solves our phone issue and it solves our access point issue without having to go and take a common school loan. So, this is a finance deal. It's a 0% finance rate. Our payment will be annual uh $75,48023. [Music] And I would ask the board to consider taking this out of rainy day. Uh normally you would not take uh uh one-time money to pay a recurring bill and I'm not asking you to pay the full freight of the bill out of rainy day. But this first payment given the timing of it I would ask for you to consider taking out of rainy day so that I have more time to build into the budget because this year we essentially paid this payment twice. um unexpectedly. What's the timeline on the access points
062say over five years? I think that they they have um slated fall break as the actual physical replacement tax district. that you did. Now it it's the same. So it's a different vendor, but it's the same back end. It's it's all Cisco. Um Moroi is a Cisco subsidiary that that is the manufacturer of our access points. Each access point requires a license. Those licenses are included in here. Um and and it takes care of our phones. So again, over fall break or Christmas break next year, they will come through and replace funds. And as funds fail, it will spin up the new funds. Um because it is a nickel and dime situation, I haven't had to bring the contract to the board. We have replaced since I've been superintendent. I mean, of the approximately 200
063phones that we have in the district, we've probably replaced 25 to to 30 of them over the course of the last few years because they're starting to fail over. So, this solves that problem as well. And and we have a little bit of a reliability issue because the server is a physical server. So, we hope that this fixes that as well. replace the fall break fall break or or Christmas break as you may have heard sometimes availability is an issue right now so they will order them and I think they're coming via freight from another country we'd like to get them before the pricees it's also This last motion system made by Mr. time for approval. Second by Miss Smith. All in favorition. Okay. Thank you guys. And last but not least, our pair professionals
064have received a lot of training and in order to pay for the trainer and the trainees, we would like the board to approve the payments and the following amounts that actually are passed through grant from the state of Indiana. Mr. Van Motion to approve care professional grant second by Miss Smith. All in favor that concludes new business. More comments. I'll go first. Um, speaking of the senior senior showcase, I thought it was very nice. What I've heard so far, feedback I've heard and seeing it, everybody really appreciate seeing something positive about their student, especially on the very last day of school. So, I thought it was really nice to have a different piece to it. So, that was really good. Archery team's already gone, but kudos to them. What a great season. It cannot be
065easy crowd with two different buildings. I I just can't even imagine. So kudos to them. Um and have a great summer. It's your last day. I didn't even think about it till you mentioned it that it was the last day of school we had board meet. So kudos for being here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you guys for have a great year. Employee comments. I will note that my pivot evaluation was finalized today and I immediately looked at it because it is still important to me and I feel like it's valuable. I mean during and during the discussion as someone who was a part of the conversation in 2012 to make it I still feel like what it references and the expectations and obligations of our job it still is valuable to us and um
066I would definitely recommend a conversation long-term conversation with um the union in terms of change because I I panic is a strong word however um definite concern especially amidst ever changing things. Um if I felt like it wasn't valuable I wouldn't say anything but I think probably the looks that are given regarding pivot is more about the fact that the evaluation holds such power. Um but we know every day that we make a difference in the ways that we act with our students and the expectations that we have for ourselves. Um, but that puts it on paper and sometimes that can be like uh, but I looked pretty quickly because I wanted to see it myself. So, it still holds value to me and the educators who were a part of making it. Any other
067employee comments? Where can I find more information about the cartwheel contract? It's under public. Uh, it's under public in the whole contract there. Okay. So I'll be able to get all because I I didn't know anything about that. So I think that's interesting. So really the administrative team and the and Katie have been able to refer students. So if they have cases come into the office, they're able to refer them and I think I think the middle school and the high school have did you guys send it on to your teachers? Just counselor. Yeah. Yeah, but want to know what kind of a difference it's making because you're paying money for it. So, if it's making a positive difference for our students, I know there's a lot of students that need it, but is it
068being used and is it is it is it impacting the families and the students? Yeah, that's that's a fair question. I'll answer it because I know um that contract uh was a pilot. So, they gave to discount. Unlike our other mental health service providers, we get no feedback. We refer kids to them. They get treatment. They don't get treatment. We don't know. And they don't have any they don't give us any clinical feedback that shows that a child is making improvement on any of the metrics that they did during their intake. The thing the cartwheel does is when they do their intake, they they set a baseline and they show what progress a child's making through their therapy. And the other thing that I that I that I think is valuable is they will dismiss
069a child once they have reached a certain uh achievement in their clinical goals that they've set. And to my knowledge, that doesn't happen very quickly anywhere else. So they really are there uh for for two reasons. In some cases the only way that they can get an appointment but it also can be a bridge measure because when we refer to the other mental health partners sometimes it's a month sometimes it's two months sometimes three months before they can get an an appointment. With cartwheels they will see a a professional within a week as long as the parent follows through with the intake and doesn't limit the schedule. Now, if you say, "I can only meet at 7 o'clock on Tuesdays," that will spread it out. But if you say, "I need to have an appointment
070for my kid," they will get you an appointment within a week. So, we we have more data and more information from Cartwheel than we do from any of the other providers that we have. So, it's a battle question. It's one of those things. It looks like we're paying for nothing, but we're actually seeing results in those kits. we see an uptick in in their um their their demeanor at school, their behaviors, those sorts of things. But we also have empirical clinical data that shows that they've made gains as well. So, it's a great question. It's important to know and it's confidential, right? So, I can't pop it up at a board meeting that was here. I had no idea it was even a thing. I think it's wonderful. Is it in person or virtual? It's
071it's well, it's ver it's live virtual. So they get to tell health. It's like first help I think. So for the elementary um it's become one of like one of our favorite girls at this point because the company is so good at working with parents. They have a lot of parent resources. Um we they can also do like in the moment in the day a risk assessment if you need them to learn that. Their customer service is excellent. um hide the emails every time a student has um completed something. Um a lot of it was confidential. I don't know what they said or what um but they do work around really well. The only feedback and that's the other thing is they ask us for feedback and I have not been asked for any type
072of feedback from the other partnerships we have. Um so we will evaluate them. The only feedback we've had is while we love the resources and the flexibility in the schedule, um we have kids who will log in to do it at school and for some I understand on occasion but we prefer that not as the first and cartwheel will they'll determine whether or not like a a age appropriateness, right? So, if Rebecca makes a referral, that's not just for the child. That's a family referral. They'll do family care and they'll do it uh virtually with that family. It's very costic like for that was a huge piece of it for us is that we had a family that needed to get needed to set up the services and our first go out like our pocket.
073So, we went back to another and it just they worked with us. I've never heard of that other It's been incredibly efficacious, but but it's not one of those things we talk about a lot because most of it's confidential, right? Yeah, it's a great question though. Thanks for asking. Any other employee comments? I would like to thank the board for the conclusion of my fifth year as superintendent. It's gone fast. I didn't I didn't do it go this fast. So, thank you for your support and thanks for another great school. It's a real rough spot for you. by second by Mr. D Mr.