001Our next meeting this evening is our regular uh January 2026. Let the record reflect that all board members are present. Um my understanding is there's no visitor comment uh this evening. Not that there's not open for it, but there's nobody who wants to do it. So seeing none, um we'll jump straight to the Mustang moment. Dr. Fanders. >> Yes. So the original plans were to honor our Lily scholarship uh finalist and winner. Uh but they uh being the students that they are, they had conflicts with uh other activities. So they are going to come in uh to the board meeting in February. And so I just want to take uh just a real quick uh minute though. Uh you know, we have uh the debit card program uh that with some of our local financial
002institutions that we get so much uh money for every time one of those cards are used. And uh so we received our check from the IU Credit Union uh for $5,000. And uh so that's the maximum uh that you can get. So we're doing very well and uh th that money goes back into uh our ready school uh ready schools type activities for our students. So just want to thank uh IU Credit Union for that opportunity to participate in that program. >> Yes. Very. That's awesome. Okay. Next is the consent agenda. We have approval of minutes from the December 16, 2025 regular board meeting. The treasur's report for December of 2025. And Mr. Bernard, the claims, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. for gross wages on December the 5th, 2025 is $827,939.93. For gross wages,
003mini payroll on 12 on December 8th, 2025, $546. for gross wages on December 19th, 2025, $826,93.32 for a total in that area 1,655,38925 for vouchers, pre-claims prepaid from December the 1st to December 31st is 5,563,3152529. claims and vouchers on January 20, 2026, $336,846.64 for a total in that area 5,900,161.93 for a grand total 7,555,5518. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Um, next we have personnel uh resignations, retirements, non-renewals, leaves, and terminations C1 through 16 and personnel appointments and transfers 1 through 13. And we have three outofstate andor overnight field trips. Uh, Dr. Sanders, would you like to say what those are? >> Yeah. So, uh, three, uh, field trips I'd like to uh, highlight. Uh the first one's uh on March 7th. Uh we're asking for the Edward Edgewood High School show choir to go
004to the uh Fairville Fairfield Crystal Classic in Fairfield, Ohio. And uh we also are asking for uh permission for the high school uh guard to go to Dayton, Ohio. And this uh event is more for them to observe some top uh guard uh programs throughout the country. Uh and that's on April 10th. And then the last one is with the junior high uh accelerated jazz um uh bands and show choirs uh to uh Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio. and that's uh to reward them for all their hard work uh in band and choir uh for the year and that will be on April 25th >> with those uh field trips are is there a motion for the consent agenda? >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? [clears throat] Hearing none. All those in favor say I.
005>> I opposed. Motion carries. Now we get a construction progress report and we have Martin here and Martin, you're up. >> I'm up. I was gossiping. Um this is January 20th, 2026. Um we're coming to closure on some of our projects and moving into some new ones. Well, maybe I just like that picture. So, I put that up there. >> We're pretty well completed with the early childhood. >> Look like that right now. >> That's true. [laughter] >> Just remember that. >> Just sit here and stare at it. >> Yeah, I'm fumble fingered here. Um fieldhouse. Start with that. Um over Christmas we had to come in and resurface the red part of the track. Um my understanding is we may have gotten some footprints in there, but um that that was completed. The the
006main net that divides the basketball courts had to be moved. We did that and we're working on punch list items at this point. And as you can see, the gym's now in use and I think it's being used pretty uh thoroughly is my understanding. >> The fieldhouse is being used a very wide variety uh not just sports but uh band. >> I I heard band was in there >> and the winter guard was in there and um and swimming, you know, I never thought we'd have the swimmers in there, but they're doing uh strengthening drills. Uh so it's it's getting it's used all the time. >> So there's there's our track surface and the new stripes. Um I think there's a little touchup that needs to be done on stripes. Um again, I kind of
007like the wall graphic in the fieldhouse, so um I put that one up there. So, do they protect the floor when it's other people using it like band, you know, wheeling stuff on across the wood floor? >> Did they take precautions? >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. >> Mr. I was over there watching a freshman game a few weeks ago and at 8:30 they came out and they started putting the tarp down because then the collar guard was coming in. My only nervousnesses was the carp the tarp's not real thick, but they said it would protect the gym floor is what they said. So, but it was very busy night is every every inch of that was being used during the time frame I was there. So, um the next 30 days is a
008pretty short list. Um we need to complete a few punch list items. Um part of it having to do with that striping in the gym or the fieldhouse. Um high school renovations. The phase 9 offices have been and bookstore have been turned over for use. The uh we're working on demolition or just have completed demolition in the kitchen. the uh there were some challenges um Arnold with the the um I'm going the wrong way. Come on. [laughter] >> My fingers are too fat. um modification with the overhead rolling grill. The mechanism kind of hung down and we reworked that and I think it's satisfactory now. Um and we continue punch list items at the kitchen. Um Vicki came up with several items as far as kitchen equipment that need to be adjusted as they've started
009using them. Um and and we're working toward that. There we go. Um, kitchen equipment. Those are the grills. Before we modified them, there was a big chunk of uh like block and tackle hanging down. That's now tucked up into the ceiling, and I think it looks a heck of a lot better. We finished the de demo in the existing kitchen. When we're done, there will be paint wall graphics in the kitchen and that's what those graphic in the cafeteria and that's what the graphics will look like. The intent is to complete the renovation of the existing kitchen into cafeteria space by January 30. And Dale seems to be pretty confident that we'll get that done. We'll finish up the pa phase nine and the kitchen punch list items hopefully on that same schedule. >> And
010did they get they said they had some concerns about the way the electrical was with the cash registers. Did that get resolved? >> I'm not aware of that one, >> Arnold. Does that make any sense? They said >> what was the issue >> about they had they didn't have the right electrical in there to get the cash registers to work. Well, it's just it's more of not how they want it to flow, right, >> when they go through to pay for their lunches. And uh so we're studying uh that uh whole project in terms of the the concern >> and that's on the punch list. >> So we we just well we just want to see how it works. >> Okay. uh uh just get some more knowledge uh from the experience of how students
011are going through the line to pay for their lunches and is it efficient? Is there a way that we can adjust it to uh get more students through the line a little bit quicker? And so rather than rush right into making some changes right away, we wanted to see how it works in practice and then make the appropriate changes at that time. So that's not so much a punch, it's a a change we want to make once we Right. >> Okay. Yeah. I just thought that maybe they thought the electrical wasn't the way they wanted it. I don't That's what I was told over there. That >> I I think the the um point of sale stations they wanted to tweak how they worked. Is that correct? >> A cash register. >> Yes. So that
012would be a change order though if it was designed >> it would be it would be a change. Yeah. >> Okay. >> So it but it was designed the way that they wanted it designed. I think it's more a function of it was designed um as we thought it would work, but once they got into it and started to function then >> yeah sometimes you know when we we're in that process now of looking at our next set of projects and and you have uh we'd have a meeting with the architect and uh like we just had the performing arts people work with the uh architect and and sometimes those things get adjusted uh after somebody has been uh included in a meeting and for various reasons. So in this case um I think Vicky
013Coffee thought she had mentioned that she wanted that point of sale a certain way >> uh and uh it didn't get done the way she anticipated it but it did get get done according to the design. So now we just need to see if it's worth spending the money to make that adjustment >> to to tweak it. Okay. All right. >> Yeah. I'd like to be conservative on those things. I mean, because we're trying to do as much as we can with what we've got. >> So instead of tweaking something with a certain amount of money, I'd rather put it towards something else, right? >> I if if it's not going to >> Yeah. If it if it uh looks like it's going to be a problem, then we'll spend the money. But if if
014it's going to work like it is now, then there's no need to spend that money. Save it for something else. >> Got it. Okay. I just want >> I saw a couple hundred bags of underllayment this side of the building. I presume that's for the cafeteria. >> I'm I'm sorry, I didn't >> There's bags of >> Yeah. What that is is in the >> in this space here you can see there's a step where it used to be quarry tile in the kitchen >> and then it goes up to the concret >> and that that's all to to kind of flush the whole floor out so it's all level. >> Okay. >> So those are those block walls going to stay just just like they are painted or is there going to be drywall over
015the outside of it? They they'll be painted and then they'll get the graphic on it. >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah. That area looked really a lot bigger with all the stuff out of there. So, it's going to really open up that cafeteria in there >> compared to the size of your existing cafeteria. >> Absolutely. Yeah. I think they should be able to get all the kids in there now. >> Yeah. >> At lunch. >> Well, half of them anyway. >> Or half. Yeah. Half of Yeah. 50% of there. >> Enough of them. [clears throat] Um, so we're moving on to the the the future, I guess, projects, the next projects. Um, early childhood center playground is the next one we've got coming up. That's going to be relative to seeing what the weather is in the
016spring. Um, as soon as the weather breaks enough, we'll move forward on it. Um, Heather, I think you approved the colors for the playground equipment. which looks something like this. That's that's a major piece of equipment. Um you also have swings and another ground piece of equipment in there. But that's that's a big piece. So that'll give you an idea what that's going to look like when it's done. Um so we've um completed the contract. Dr. Sand just s signed it and I've got it right here. So we're ready to go. um color selections completed for the surfacing. Um I said continued color selection for playground structures [clears throat] because it wasn't until this afternoon that we finished that and I'd already sent the slide in. Um so we finished the color selection for the
017structures also and working on permitting >> and that had the same surface like at the other schools that spongy rubbery stuff. >> It's a granular material. It's a Yeah, it's a resilient poured surface. >> Okay. >> Um, so we got to com complete the submitt process and I think with this it may be complete and we'll complete permitting, but we won't be breaking ground in the next 30 days. It'll probably be into end of March. Um, corporationwide roof replacement. This is a high school roof. Um we're talking to Brad briefly before the meeting. The high what we have done um are there's some complexities with high school work that need to be worked out. So we're we're Lancer's working on that now. So what we're going to do is the next bid will be for
018the junior high, the primary and the intermediate. And we feel like that's a good move for a couple reasons. One is we can pull that all together. And the other is it gives us a package that can probably be completed. We're looking at doing the gymnasium and kitchen and cafeteria areas first. And we'll try and get those done before school's out. And then we can we think we can complete all the classrooms during the summer while kids are out of school. Um, we'll probably do this one next year and it will probably take a little longer than the work we're doing right now. So, um, Lancer has completed the contract documents and specifications. We forward Dr. Sanders a a bid ad to run next week. Um, and we will ask permission shortly to bid the
019contract drawings and specifications. We got the final ones uh Friday and I've gone over them the last couple days and we will actually post them with the Eastern Engineering the Predator tomorrow. And again, the current bid is going to be the primary intermediate and junior high schools high school. But but the but the boiler bid is part of this package, right? For the high school. >> That's correct. The boilers >> just what? Yeah, >> the boilers for both the high school and the junior. >> But you'll have a separate bidder for the boiler probably versus the roof, I assume. Correct. Okay. >> We we'll bid it at the same put it all out at the same time. Okay. >> And then we'll we will on February 17th we'll receive bids for both the boilers and
020the um the roofs. Okay. >> Baseball on softball turf. Lancer is continuing to develop [clears throat] the contract documents on that. And I buried myself here. Victor, I think those are due here shortly. um March 6, we're supposed to get our CDs on that and we'll put put those out to bid. Bid opening will be somewhere around the 1 of April. Um and we'll nail that down as we get those documents. Uh music additions and renovations. Lancer's continuing to do the the programming on that. Um the intent is to have schematic design done March 16th. and the final documents to us um June 24th and then we will get those out to bid. We're looking at trying to award those um contracts at the August 18th board meeting. And I think that's all I've got
021tonight. Any questions? kind of asked as we went along. >> Yeah. >> Anything further? >> I just on the last item there, the if the bids go out on the on the music and the music edition, etc. Um in August, how long before construction begins and then how long? >> Well, we were looking at that. um if we bid it August 18th and um I'm making the assumption that we would mobilize that probably first two weeks of September and um probably have break ground somewhere mid to mid September. >> Okay. >> Um that will push us into the winter and we've been discussing that >> and nine months. [laughter] >> How long to how long to complete the project? >> What we're thinking right now is we've got we we haven't seen the final documents
022yet, but >> um we've got the music editions. What our thought is the music editions will take about a year. >> Okay. >> Um but we'll do the additions, let you continue to use your band and choir rooms. Then when you move from the band and choir rooms to the new band choir rooms, we'll come in and do renovations. >> Okay. >> So we're looking at >> 14 to 18 months. >> That's what I'm thinking. Christmas of 207. >> Is [clears throat] that Dr. Sanders? That does that still put us in like timewise with that ROI grant? We just have to spend those funds by December 28th >> to get the the half million dollars. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> We'll spend that first, right? >> Yeah. What's that? >> We'll spend >>
023that first. >> Yeah, we'll spend that. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. >> All right. >> Anything else? >> That's it. That's all I got tonight. >> Thank you very much. >> And I think we'll stay around for your to ask for bid permission. So, [clears throat] all right. Okay. Next is the consideration to create the position of network uh security administrator. Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So um periodically positions will change. They'll evolve depending on the current landscape. Technology is certainly the perfect example of continuous change. And uh the position that Ashley Davis uh who has been our one of our uh technology support specialists uh since uh his work has changed over the years uh mainly because uh the importance of uh cyber security uh protecting our uh network uh he his time his energy and
024his his growing experience um is very critical to ensuring that we have reliable uh connectivity uh system security and a safe learning envir environment across the corporation. And uh so uh we there's kind of a two-part. So the next item is to uh increase his salary to match that position and uh and be uh more reflective. uh we would still have a ways to go to get it up to where uh a salary for um uh network security administrator normally is is given. Uh we have some work uh to get closer to that but this will get us in a step uh step in the right direction. So, we just want to write uh things and make sure we're uh accommodating uh one of our employees for the services he provides the school corporation. >>
025Thank you. Is there a motion? >> I move approval of the creation position security administrator. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Just a question is will somebody else be hired to take Ashley's current position? Is this an additional position? >> No, this will be We won't be hiring an additional person. >> Thank you. >> Where are we at? >> Can I ask Frank a question? >> Yeah. >> Are we Where are we at with with FiveStar with our Are we still utilizing FiveStar? >> No, we haven't utilizing them for about two years. >> So, they're not we're not paying them a dime yet now. So, we're doing this all internally. We have a small uh yearly uh draw down account we have with them, >> right? >> So, they're our backup if something would
026happen if someone's not in our facilities. Uh they're also doing our monitoring. So, they monitor our network 24 hours a day and then send us alerts if we have a problem. But, we don't I think we have $5,000 into them and we haven't used a dime of it for a year. So, it's just one of those reassurance backgrounds that we're using, but we do everything in house. >> So, we've got it all. That was what the goal was initially was to bring it all back in house, right? Okay. >> Okay. I I had no idea where we were at with five star. So, I appreciate that. >> Yeah, we left them about two years ago and the uh what Ashley does is more than what was in the little memo that was sent. >> That's
027what Yeah, I don't understand that much how that works, but I assume it's all >> Yeah, the network is a key element to the corporation. If our network goes down, our students and teachers cannot do their job at all. Uh the reliability that we have to maintain and with the network it's not a 8 to 5 job. It's something that he ends up doing remotely from home sometimes because the only time we can update the firmware on the access points is, you know, after 9:00 at night or when no one's left in the building. Uh so he does a lot of work after hours to make sure that our equipment is always up to date, always secure and ready to go for the teachers the next morning and the students. The security side of it
028is just as it says, it's security. We have to make sure that we are compliant not only with the federal, the local, and the state guidelines. We have to make sure that we're staying in protective of what we do and how we protect all of our assets inside the building. So that is a key element right there. And then the other part is uh all the card access readers and everything and the security cameras it is all fallen under this position. So if it's a security camera it's Ashley. If it's going to be add-on for security it's Ashley. So and network wiring I would say probably with Arnold and stuff I would say that between Ashley and Lee Kirk uh we would probably save the corporation $30,000 in cabling that we do in house. Now,
029we don't hire that out unless it's a a job that we just don't have the tools for. So, it's a very important job. >> And the job description was in your board pack. >> Yeah. Yeah. I read that >> and I I had the same thing. I think I talked to you before that it's not an we're not creating a new position. We're just adjusting. >> He'll still be doing tech support as well. It's just that this really reflects what he does and how it works for the corporation. Got it. Okay. It's great that he's been able to evolve and and pull in these other things. Um gosh, it is technology changes so fast. >> Yeah. Oh yeah. >> What we walked into six years ago and what we have today, I think everybody and
030teachers would hopefully agree that our network has probably never been as solid and it's due to him and you know that's what his background was was networking. So, >> right. And we relied heavily up to seven years ago on FiveStar and we completely pretty well mixed them out now. >> Are is that the way most corporations have done it or are they still relying on FiveStar? >> The a lot of corporations rely on FiveStar. Uh and I think some of them are starting to see what they can do and what they can't. And so I think they're looking at us and what we're doing because we do get questions about how we're set up and what we do. Um, but I don't think we have the board that puts behind what we do at their
031organization. So, they have a little tougher time trying to get on board with how I also say that when it's someone that works for the company, there's more dedication to keep it running and keep it looking right. >> Right. I get that part. Yep. For sure. Thank you. >> Any further discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. >> Motion carries. Thanks everybody. >> Might as well stay up here in case they have other questions. >> Um, go ahead. >> The next would be consideration to appoint Ashley Davis to the position of network security administrator. >> Second. Any discussion? Well, just uh just as I what I already mentioned, uh Rick did a lot of research on this to see what uh the average person was paid uh for this type of
032position. And uh we we have a target goal in mind that we want to work towards, but this time we're recommending that uh Ashley have a salary of $60,736.39, which is a $7,000 increase. >> Okay, we got a first and a second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. >> Motion carries. Thanks again. >> Thank you. >> And thank Ashley for his hard work. >> Um, next is permission to void corporation and ECA checks older than two years. This is an annual thing and David T will lead us through it. >> So each year the ECA treasurer and I um submit a request to void checks older than two years. These are checks that were never cashed and they're just sitting in the bank account. Um, we do try to
033attempt to reissue if possible, but when we can't, we just want to follow the process and just go ahead and void them and let those funds go back into our accounts. So, um, I've provided you guys with a list of those checks. So, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, but we just wanted to get your permission for that. >> I move approval of avoiding the corporation ECX that are over the two years. >> Move. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Didn't Debbie do a nice job? >> She did. >> Yes. I tell you, >> we we didn't have any questions. [laughter] >> Wait till next time. >> Yeah. Next is consideration to approve the Scraft or that's how
034they usually say it maybe. Um the E SFT it insurance invoice. Uh Dr. Sanders. >> Uh yes. So Scraft is the company uh that we've been using last uh six years I think now for liability insurance and it sure has been helpful uh in helping us keep down those types of insurance costs. uh they are very good about uh uh mitigation uh providing a lot of training for our staff to make sure that we're doing things uh in the safest possible way. Uh they uh often uh very well periodically they will come out and do an audit and go around the campus and look for uh just areas that we can make improvements in terms of of safety. Um, so the uh invoice uh for 2026 is uh $439 $439,541.78. Uh and that's up 20
035$22,000. Uh but that's because we added uh the EECC building and the the fieldhouse. I move approval of the Scraft insurance invoice. >> Any discussion? >> I like $439 better. >> I did, too. I I about freaked out. [laughter] >> So, like you're saying, that's that was that was a 5% increase, but we added on a lot more square footage and coverage with those new new add-ons. >> That's correct. It was a lot of square footage we added. >> Right. Right. So >> So, okay. No more discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. [clears throat] Motion carries. Now we have consideration to approve the EECC rates for the upcoming 2627 school year. Mercy. >> That sounds wrong. >> Um and so Heather for that. [clears throat] >> So we have two things
036to consider tonight. The class offerings and the rates. And I think it would make more sense to talk about the class offerings first, if that's okay. Um, with opening the new building, we were able to double the number of preschool classes that we have this year. Um, which has been fantastic. So, we have um full day preschool class or prek classes for four and 5-year-olds that are offered two, three, and five days a week. And then for preschool three-year-olds, um, we have two, three, and five days a week for full day for that as well. And then we also added a young threes class this year. So those kids um the state licensing regulations allow us to enroll kids that turn three all the way up to December 1st of the school year. So we
037have a class of kids that turn three between like June and July up through December. And so that allowed us to enroll some additional kids that wouldn't have originally met that um August 1 cutoff that we usually have. Um so we have that full day preschool class as well. And then we have our half day preschool class and we have an AM class and a PM class. Um that is our smallest class this year. Um it's sitting around 50 to 60% full most um most days. In previous years, we only had an AM class because our special education class used that classroom in the afternoon and they kind of shared staff. Um, so we did always have a wait list for that class in the past, but opening up both options, AM and PM, um,
038we just aren't really filling that class to capacity anymore. Um, the other classes are I just did some percentages about 80 to 95% full any given day. Um, Tuesday, Thursday is a little bit less full in some classes. Monday, Wednesday, Friday is a little less full in others. Um but that um half day class [clears throat] is just a been a little bit more of a challenge to fill both the morning and the afternoon section of that. So we would like to keep all of our full day class offerings the same that we're offering this year and um consider dropping that afternoon half day option and only using um that classroom for a morning class only. that would allow us to use those staff um in other capacities in the afternoon and maybe have to
039hire less floating staff and assistants and things like that. Um and hopefully get that class fuller to capacity so that we're not staffing a class with six kids in it in the afternoon on some days. Um and then another thing that we often hear from parents is they don't often choose half day because of the length of the day. It's two and a half hours. It's hard to drop off your kid, turn around, and come back and pick them up in that short amount of time. So, we'd like to lengthen that by a half an hour and have a three-hour half day class. Not having the afternoon gives us that flexibility because we don't have that short window to turn around and um get another class in. And then we'd also like to add a
040lunch option for those kids. So, parents could choose the three-hour day or they can add a lunch bunch option for an extra charge. and that those kids could stay for lunch, eat lunch in the cafeteria. And that would give those those kids a little bit longer experience at school, but still a half day, so they're not um they're not staying for nap in the afternoon. They're not getting the full full day experience. Um gives parents a little bit longer and um gives those kids a chance to learn those skills of eating lunch in the cafeteria that a lot of parents worry about when their kids are getting ready to go to kindergarten. Um, so I think that might increase the um desire for parents to enroll in that half day option if they can lengthen
041that day a little bit more. So our goal is to um maximize enrollment in all of our classes and I think this is a good way to to get more um more seats filled. >> Do we can probably just take these together too. Do you want to go ahead and do the rates or >> Yeah. So, for the rates, um, our classes are not filled right now. We are sitting, like I said, around 80% full across the board, I think, for per day. Um, we've increased our prices a lot over the last seven or eight years. And I think it would be wise right now to focus on increasing the number of kids that we're getting rather than continuing to raise rates in those full day classes because um it has gotten fairly expensive. Everything's
042gotten fairly expensive over the last several years. Um and we do need to always make sure that we're bringing in the money to pay our staff and run the program. But I think it would be smart to keep those full day class rates the same as what we're charging right now, which is um $37 a day for preschool for the three-year-old classes because those classes are a little bit smaller and then $34 a day for prek. So that's $170 a week for full-time prek or $185 a week for full day preschool. Um but we would like to increase the rate of the half-day class since we are lengthening it. Um, and it's it's kind of a convenience for parents who want that halfday option. Um, we're still paying our staff that are here for that
043time. So, right now it's $17 a day, which is half of the prek rate. We'd like to increase that to $20 a day. We're adding a half hour to that day. It would be 8:30 to 11:30 instead of um whatever [clears throat] it is right now. And then um if parents want to enroll in an extra hour, it would be an additional $5. So they could pay $25 for a 4h hour day or $20 for a three-hour day. >> Okay. >> Approval of the class offerings and rates. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Uh any discussion? >> Does that pay for the lunch or that separate >> cafeteria separately? They would pay the cafeteria separately for >> that's all done out. So by adding it that goes that'll be on top of the $20. >>
044Yes. >> Okay. So then they'll just pay the cafeteria directly. >> No. >> Yes. They'll pay the cafeteria directly or [clears throat] send the lunchbox. Yes. >> Okay. Okay. And Dr. Sanders, this is coming this is all funed from the operations fund, right? >> All this all the salaries are paid from the operations fund. >> Yes. >> Which is where the legislature is kind of cutting into us next year. Okay. All right. So, I know we're keeping a close eye on that, too. So, >> yeah, the state has not made it very >> They've made it Yeah, I know. >> easy for us. They also cut um funding for On My Way PreK. And so, we're we are receiving what? $85,000 less. >> Yes. [snorts] >> Approximately >> last year. So, they paid us quite
045a bit over what our weekly charge is per child in previous years. And this year they cut that. So we're getting $147 a week and then the parents have to make the difference. In previous years we were getting $348 a week for those kids that are eligible for OnMyWay prek. So for the whole year for the number of kids that we have enrolled that's about $85,000 difference that we're not getting from them. We also have kids who should have qualified for CCDF or On My Way PreK but they aren't issuing any more vouchers. So that's an additional cut that we're getting that those kids would be getting that funding as well. >> And just to clarify, the preschool is education fund and daycare is operations. >> Dayare. Okay. >> Yeah. And this is just preschool
046rates and offerings that we're talking about right now. So this would impact our education fund, >> right? So they're going to kind of back us into the corner doing some make us have to make some financial changes, I think. Okay. All right. Thank you very much for all you any further discussion. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much. >> Okay. Um next is our uh NEOA policy updates. Uh this is volume 38 number one and this [clears throat] uh was informational last month and so it's an action item this month. Dr. Sanders. >> Uh yes. So we we discussed this um in December. Um [snorts] really these are policies that uh variety of policies some related to board uh responsibilities uh teacher some of them are teacher
047focused staff focused student focused. Uh the board has had a month to review these uh policies. We've also shared them with uh specific uh staff members in the corporation and Christine uh Bartlett with Ferguson Law has also reviewed these policies. So tonight we bring them to you for approval. >> I move approval of the old policy update. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Uh any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Next is consideration to advertise bids for the roofs and mechanics and Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So, as Martin mentioned, uh we are going to submit uh this uh the advertisement that was in the board packet uh to the paper to be u in the paper January 28th and February 4th. Uh we're going to be the
048advertisement says that we're going to have a pre-bid meeting on February 9th at 1:00 and a bid opening on February 17th at 2:00. And uh uh Martin and Victor are here uh from Skilman. They have some additional information that they'd like to share with you tonight. >> Sure. Well, I think the board has a copy of our estimate. Just a reminder uh that we've uh we're working within a much larger budget uh that you've set aside, but these are the first projects out of the gate uh where we're going to be doing roofing at the primary school, intermediate school, and the junior high. And then of course the boiler replacement at the junior high and the high school. So that whole package, our original budget was about 3.7 for construction costs. So call that bid
049cost. Uh and uh we think we're right on track with the looking over the drawings that that uh Lancer sent to us. We think we're going to be at or right at that budget at about 3.6 million. So we're looking forward to u we'll go out and solicit biders and make this project uh known to all the um roofers and mechanical contractors in the area and uh look forward to receiving bids in the 17th of February. on this is that >> even something to consider, >> you know, that's something that was talked about in internally and I think we decided to go ahead and bid it and see um >> we don't do a lot of painting of metal roofs. So, we're going to see what the market says that cost is and then um
050you know there's some uh we wanted to take a look at the specifications. So, I thought we thought uh it's not a significant effort to bid it. So, we'll bring that to the school administration. We'll discuss that with your architect. We'll come to the board of the recommendation. I agree. I'm not sure we're going to recommend that, but we're going to do a little research in the bidding process. >> So, the mean when you say refinish, it basically you're saying paint it? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. I didn't know if there was like another coating on it or >> um >> I have no idea. >> It's a It's not your average paint out of a can from Home Depot. It's a high quality roof, you know, probably >> a paintbrush, >> big sprayer, probably.
051>> Probably. So, it's what what they refer to as elastoic, I believe. So, uh again, we we want to take a little more look at the product and the specifications and what the you know, that's something we might see a large range of bids from depending on the expertise of the biders. So, >> Okay. All right. Yep. Thanks. >> Do we [snorts] have a motion? I'll move approval. >> I second it. >> Moved and seconded. Um I do like that idea of fishing around with alternates because you never know till you look. So >> I think that's a very good approach. Um so [clears throat] any further discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much, Victor. >> Okay. um [clears throat] consideration to approve the ECA positions
052for the collective bargaining agreement. Um June Barrett. >> Yes. So um back when we asked you to approve the collective bargaining agreement with our teachers association um September, October, I can't remember which month that was. We had said at the time we were tableabling some ECA conversations. Um, we really wanted to dig into those requests a little bit more, understand the purpose behind some of these new positions that were being um, asked for, as well as understanding uh, why there might be a schedule change for other positions. Um, I worked with a a team of teachers. Tell you what, it was um, it was one of the best um, meetings I think that we've had in terms of just productive. We sat down, we went through every single one of these requests. Um they went
053back, they talked with their teachers, they asked questions, and uh we really worked to not just make sure that um we were adding every position to to the uh ECA schedule, but really kind of looked at where they would fall in line with other positions that were already there. Um and the teachers were phenomenal. They gave a lot of great feedback. Uh for instance, um we had a a new uh coach position in there. This is a new team for EHS and uh the teacher said, you know, this is a a position that's going to be right now one season, not two seasons. We're just getting this up off the ground. You know, let's go ahead and let's put this on this schedule instead of this higher schedule for right now. Just a lot of
054really good reasoning um behind all of this. So, what I'm bringing to you is the proposal uh for all of these positions. Some of them you will see are brand new. Um you're going to see a lot in here related to our drama program. Uh we do put on an amazing play and an incredible musical each year. Um and those positions right now we have a drama director for the play, a drama director for the musical. Um, but what we're asking to do is also add in a music director for the musical as well as assistant um, directors for each one of those. You will also see down through there uh, moving an academic coach uh, that we currently have a EJHS and EHS over into a lead coach position. Um the rationale for that
055is that person does a lot more of the travel arrangements getting registrations ready um communication with parents. It does take a lot more time on that lead coaches uh plate. You'll also see um somehow along the way we have not been paying our junior high academic coaches and they just decided to let us know that. Um, so you're going to see that in there, uh, picking those guys up on the ECA schedule. Um, in addition to that, we know what a big lift our robotics teams are across the district. And again, we did not have ECA positions for our assistant coaches. Um, those assistant coaches are critical to the robotics tournaments. If you've ever been at a robotics tournament, um, it is all hands- on deck. If you've ever been at a fourth and fifth
056grade robotics um practice, it is all hands on deck. Um so right now we are asking for um three assistant coaches there. One at the high school, one at the junior high, one at EIS. I'm sure that our coaches would say, can we add three additional for every single building? But uh one there for each building. And then um you'll notice that I've also put in there just just so you guys are aware how this would impact the education fund. We've talked a lot about how we're getting cuts and I want to make sure that we make this really clear. Um right now what we are paying for these ECA costs for these positions in 2425 is $22,450. uh we would be asking to increase in the education fund for this school year um about
05714,875. That goes up to about 17,000 when we are looking at turf and FICA. Um we would take some of that out of the robotics grant. So you'll see a total down there of roughly $14,800 that we're asking to increase in the education fund for 2526. One thing I also want you to notice is that we are looking at adjustments in other positions to help offset this cost in 2627. So you'll see changes in there that we will be proposing when we work with the teachers association for collective bargaining next fall. Um which would bring down these additional costs to around $8,000 per year. So it does look like we're adding a lot of positions, but we have plans in order to offset that cost. And I think that that $8,000 is more than um
058acceptable in terms of what it brings back to our students and programming um in all of our buildings. So, I'm asking for you to approve those. And in addition to that, we would for those teachers um who are are doing these positions and it's more than I believe $1,000, we would be back paying them um through the beginning of the first semester. Um, otherwise if it's a stipen payment, we would pick that up for them at the end of their season. >> I think I got it all. >> Position adjustments to the collective bargaining agreement. >> Second, I'm so happy that you are taking a look at these. a lot of things that really I know the teachers impact in the classroom, but a lot of when it comes to the fun stuff >> that
059the kids enjoy um that that really keeps them tied to the school and keeps them involved and and and you know just helps them with uh social uh making friends and working together and collaboration. Um, these positions are very important and we >> got to make sure we recognize them. And >> I know they all should be paid >> a lot more than they're getting, but >> we appreciate the association working with this and and trying to to to get get those lined up uh where they they need to be. >> And they they work so hard and and you know, they're doing it for the love of it because they're sure not doing it for the money. That's right. that the fact that the junior high academic coaches weren't getting paid at all, but
060they kept doing it. So, >> they kept doing it. >> They do deserve so much more. >> Just goes to show our teachers and their commitment to our kids, but at the same time, we have a commitment to our teachers and we want to honor that as well. So, um, yeah, I just I can't speak highly enough of that team and they actually are requesting to get back together again this spring to look at these positions because they noticed some discrepancies in terms of yeah, you know, that position shouldn't exist anymore or that position doesn't have the same responsibilities it used to have. So, that needs to be reduced. So, I just appreciate their crucial eye, their critical eye looking um on that and saying we can do a little bit better as a district.
061They know this money comes out of the same pot that funds salaries, that funds raises, and so they want to do right by it as well and make sure that we're um doing our due diligence there. >> I appreciate the the uh association too. I I assume Mr. Wrenchler that 2425 I was kind of upset because I thought where where's our team, our academic team? We had one, we didn't pay him for it. Correct. So I I appreciate that that's being compensated here and I thought that was a newly created position. I thought, wait a minute, where's the where's these teams at? But I like the last the last line item when the technology where those responsibilities are reducing on the technology side and that's going to drop significantly between last year and 26 27.
062So >> so thank you for and and eliminates positions that I had never even heard of before. So I think that was good too. So, thank you. >> Any further [snorts] discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppos. Motion carries. >> Thank you so much. Um, next [snorts] is consideration of an addendum to our agreement with policy analytics. Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So, as you may or may not know, uh, the town of Ellisville and Township are in the process of developing a plan to merge into one government entity. Uh, once this plan is developed, the reorganization committee will present the plan to the community. Uh, the merger will go before voters next November. Now the one of the big questions that we have is how will this merger impact our school corporation?
063Uh the answer right now is we don't know. And for that very reason uh we want to uh add an addendum to the agreement we already have with policy analytics to research the data. Uh provide us with a report. uh they they will meet with us to uh share uh what uh they've uh discovered in their research and then as a school corporation that will enable us to make an informed decision. Uh I've uh looked into other companies to use and basically uh the report I got was we need to go with policy analytics. They would do the best job. They do this on a regular basis. Uh so the cost of these this addendum would be $5,000 for this study. >> Move approval of the agreement with policy analytics. >> Second. Any discussion? >>
064I just think it's we need to know and it's there's so much that is uncertain at this point about what's going to happen. >> Yeah. I don't want to use the word disappointed, but I'm a little concerned that this is going to be happening in November and they don't even know what the impacts are going to be. I think they should have had a study to know what the impacts were going to be on everything, right? >> So, they could share that uh with everybody else. So, um I I wish they would have got more information sooner. Um, but I'm glad we're getting our information. Um, so that we know uh because I have no idea what it would impact would be. So we we need to know. We got to know especially with the
065way the state's kind of our operations and and everything else. We we've got to know what this >> Well, these these decisions are important and we want to make sure we make an informed decision >> and I mean we got to take into consideration our community. So it's not just you know are we going to lose a dollar it's >> community as a whole but still we need to know our part >> right >> so anything further discussion >> all those in favor say I >> I opposed >> motion carries um next we have consideration to approve the click co-op top contract for school year 2627. Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So, uh this comes from Vicky Coffee, our nutrition services director. Uh we uh I think this was our first year using Click uh which
066is a co-op for ordering uh purchasing food for our cafeterias. Um, and so I just would like to ask uh the board to approve renew basically this agreement that we have with the click co-op and it's been reviewed by Christine. >> What's what's the amount in this contract? >> There's not a a basic amount. If you go through the contract, it talks about the >> pricing for individual uh food commodities. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Do we have a motion? >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Oppose. >> Motion carries. Next is consideration to approve the culinary student internship position. Uh Jennifer Barretts is both feet on the ground and is running our new cafeteria at the high school. she is ready to take on an intern
067and this uh is going to be a new position. Uh we have a student who is interested in culinary arts and is going through that pathway right now um and has expressed um interest in this position. So um we are asking you to approve an internship position, a paid internship position with our culinary department. >> I'll move approval of the culinary student internship position. I'll second. >> Move and second. Any discussion? >> Yeah, sounds like a terrific opportunity. >> Love it when we can give internships for our students. >> It's pretty awesome. Yeah. >> All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Motion carries. Okay. Next is the assistant superintendent report. >> Okay. Hey, I brought you a whole packet tonight, but I promise I am not going to take um a ton of
068time to go through it. This is a homework for you to take home. Um I we were fortunate enough last Oh, it hasn't been last. It's been two weeks now. We met with the Cook Medical team on January 7th to discuss our partnership. Um we got really down into the nitty-gritty, which is something that we've been working to do um with all three of our partners with the life sciences training facility. uh we got down into the high school curriculum and dual enrollment with IvyTech. Uh we talked about our short-term and our long-term goals uh with the life sciences training center just in terms of breaking ground all the way to um how we anticipate this helping our students in the long run, helping our families in the long run. Um and then the impact
069that it will have on hiring um at all three of those facilities. probably most importantly to you guys, we got down into uh very specific asks of them in terms of financial contributions for equipment and transportation cost. Transportation cost meaning um actually taking our students to their facilities. Um we want them there at least on a quarterly basis if not more often. Um visiting all of those departments, seeing uh the real world in action, real work in action. And um in addition to that, we talked about uh staffing contributions with their trainers, work-based learning opportunities for our juniors and seniors. We just approved a paid internship position. I would love for our three partners um to be doing the same thing with our students. Um and in addition to that, uh creating a potential new
070hiring avenue and training program for the graduates that come out of this program. Um, one of the things that we talked about with Cook Medical is that these students are going to be prepared to um, move into positions in their company that somebody just coming off the street would not have the knowledge that these kids would have. And by kids, I mean 18, 19 year old graduates from high school. And so putting them through the same training program that you would put somebody through that doesn't have any experience in any of these pieces versus someone who has spent three or four years starting out training um with Smart Manufacturing when they're 15. Um that employee is going to look a lot different to train than someone coming in off the street. So um we started
071just kind of getting them to to look at that through a lens of what would that look like for them. So um a really great conversation there. We made some really good headway. In addition to that, I I think it's almost like Boston Scientific has Spidey sense. They know when we've met with Cook Medical because they're reaching out two days afterwards and wanting to to sit back down and keep going forward with our collaboration there. So, um I've already sent them our asks um that we we had with Coke Medical in person and we have a follow-up meeting with Boston uh next week and we also have a meeting with IU Health this week. So, we're now getting down into those nitty-gritty pieces and um it's pretty exciting to see all this come together. Our
072Ready Schools team um I should take zero credit for this. This is all u Megan Scott who has been working on updating our e-learning day handbook. I uh gave you a couple of pieces of this handbook um in this packet here. The reason that we have to do an update on this is that the state of Indiana only allows up to three asynchronous learning days. Asynchronous simply means that um our students are at home. We've sent home packets or we've put things on Google Classroom for their um uh Chromebooks, but they are working at home. Our teachers are available for office hours. Um but they are doing the work independently. Since the state of Indiana only allows for three asynchronous days, our only options um if we would have additional snow days would be to
073use built-in days, which we've already done once, Dr. Sanders, one time, we would have to add days to the end of the year, or we establish guidelines and implement synchronous learning days. So, we don't anticipate using um many synchronous learning days. This is not an option that we're looking at using six, seven, eight of these. Um to be completely honest, it's it's um it's difficult, especially for our younger students, um to be online with their teachers. Um I think about my K5 kiddo at home and him being online for a couple of hours with his sweet uh K5 teacher and I would just feel like I would need to cook her dinner that night or, you know, something else to say thank you because I can't imagine um how how difficult that would be. But
074what we have done here is we have created a plan um that would outline our synchronous e-learning. Um some things that I want to highlight because I do think that we'll get questions from parents. Um I think the biggest question we will get is well what happens if my my kindergarten, second grader, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade student, what if we don't have a device at home? And our answer to that is that's okay. We anticipate that's going to happen and that's why we're providing three days after one of these absences for kids to get caught up at school. Um I think we're we'll get questions like um they're at grandma and grandpa's during that day. I'm not going to be there to help them. Grandma and grandpa can't help them. That's okay. Um
075we are very much going into this with a um let's make it the best situation we can um mindset. This is not going to necessarily be the end all beall um you know great day of school that we would anticipate if our kids were sitting in front of our instructors all day. So this is really just information for you guys to take a look at. Let me know if you have questions on it. We're going to start um rolling outformational sessions with our teachers. Actually the first one's tomorrow morning with EIS. Um, I'm sure we're going to have a ton of questions and I think we'll see some of this change just based on some of the feedback that we're going to get from teachers. Um, but I think one of the most important things
076there is for you to see how we've set up the day in terms of what that synchronous learning would look like with teachers. um we would actually start on a two-hour delay schedule and then um our youngest students there would have about two hours of in-person time um in-person virtual time and then our high school students would have about 25 minutes period moving between teachers that day. So take a look at it. Like I said, it's just allformational um as we're looking at how we can meet the state's uh guidelines for potential inclement weather days that may be coming up there. In addition to that, um February 13th and 16th are coming up. February 13th is a flex day and we have a teacher work day on the 16th. Um, we have a ton going
077on and I wanted to share this with you. Um, just in case you would get questions from our community members asking what do the teachers do on the days that the kids are not there. Um, I've provided a whole list of things that our teachers will be uh participating in from um training to faculty meetings which will be a very very small part of those two days but it does allow us to uh get those in for February. Um, we're going to be working with our HRS school improvement teams. A lot of curriculum work for our teachers. SAT proctor training at the high school level. AI training 6 through 12. Um, SCOP training for K5 teachers with multil- language learners. We are packing it in. So, if you would happen to get questions, feel free
078to share that information. Feel free to send them my way. I even included um a calendar in here so you can see how we're structuring this. Um and thankfully we've talked with our association even though one day is a teacher workday, we've kind of blended those two days together um so that our training sessions don't necessarily overlap and we're using our instructional coaches and mentor teachers uh to the best of our abilities during that time. So that's all I have for January unless you guys have any questions about what's coming up. And now on to the superintendent report. Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So, traditionally, first board meeting of the new calendar year, I like to present uh are my goals for the for the school corporation. And really, the five goals uh never change. They're
079always the same five goals, but really how they're applied changes. uh every year based on uh what's going on uh in the education world, what's going on in our school corporation. Uh goal number one is to continue to provide uh students and staff with a safe school environment. We will always continue to do that. Uh as you know, we have a school safety team that meets on a regular basis. The cool part about this is our SRO's continue to expand their impact and influence on the school corporation. So, uh obviously their their job is to build relationships with students to provide safety uh every day that that we're in session. Uh but they're taking more of a leadership role especially in the school safety uh team. And uh you'll see uh Alec presenting uh some
080ideas, some some thoughts of of what uh maybe we could do to be more safe. And so I think that's pretty cool. Uh our uh uh uh mental health teams continue to be strong. We we've expanded uh the opportunities for mental health by additional grant dollars and we'll continue to uh work hard uh to find those grants to help us uh make sure we're providing mental health uh uh opportunities for our our students and staff. Goal number two to to continue leading RBB to a position of financial strength. And we talked a lot about it uh this tonight. Uh unfortunately the state legislators continue to to set roadblocks in our way. Uh it's disappointing because over the last several years we've worked ourselves into a position to put ourselves in a good uh spot financially
081and we have uh but they're making it more difficult every day. But we are adjusting to that. Uh we're we've uh we talk about it all the time about how can we increase revenue and uh decrease expenses and we'll continue to do that. We just want to make sure that we are uh our taxpayers know that that we are doing the very best we can with the funds that they provide so that we can uh stay competitive uh so that we can prepare our students um in uh very effective ways uh for them to for them to chase their dreams. Goal number three, uh to lead RBB to sustain growth in enrollment. And we've uh continue to see growth in enrollment uh steady, slow but steady uh and uh we do that in multiple ways.
082We try to to create a culture uh where uh students and staff uh love coming to school. We want our students to love coming to a school to learn and a staff to enjoy coming to school to to work. And uh by doing that, I think it leads to uh promoting growth and increasing uh student enrollment. We uh talk all the time about some uh new housing additions that are going up across our community. Harmon Farms over here. I drove through that uh recently. There's like three homes that are already started. Uh and so that's pretty exciting news. And we just continue to market our school corporation through uh Edgewood Showcase, marketing uh what we do and making sure parents are informed about the opportunities we provide our students. Goal number four, to lead RBB
083into a strong partnership between the school corporation, families, local businesses, and the community. Uh I think you'll see uh Edgewood schools very active uh throughout our community. Uh we continue to bring in our business leaders and our Edgewood business leaders advisory team. I continue our partnership with Boys and Girls Club. Uh Jennifer was talking about our partnerships with uh Boston Scientific, Cook Medical, and IU Health. Uh and we work very closely with the Ellitzville Police Department, the uh the fire department, uh the chamber of commerce, uh and uh the town of Ellitzville and more. And goal number five is to lead RBB in uh creating an educational environment designed to uh prepare students to chase their dreams in tomorrow's world. Uh we uh continue to work on uh our professional learning communities, our uh project
084of high reliability schools. We just took another 15 uh folks to San Antonio. And uh while we were in San Antonio, three of our schools received uh level one certification. And uh next time around, we'll have EPS getting level one certification. And then we'll uh and we're already working on levels two and three. And uh we have not taken a group of teachers, principles, schoolboard members without somebody coming back and saying that was an amazing conference and it happened again this time. We had a really productive group uh who you know sometimes they latch on to different aspects of different aspects of the the conference but uh this group really was focused on uh the art and science of teaching and looking at data and uh I just love to hear their conversations uh when
085we meet afterwards. Uh we are very lucky to have the teachers and principles we do at Edgewood schools and then our we continue to expand our career pathways uh for our students. Um uh I would uh put us up against any school corporation in the state of Indiana in terms of what we provide our students and uh uh I'm very proud of that. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Okay, we'll go to uh RBBEA comments and >> I just want to thank Chen for working with our committee on the ECA um funds. That was a just a very productive committee and like she said, we're planning to meet again in the spring just to tighten things up and and look at those job descriptions, create job descriptions, just a better understanding of each role.
086Um, I'm hoping one of my personal goals would be to streamline that process so that we can have that information ready to go when we do come to the bargaining table. And so, you know, of course, our members had already when we had our referendum had already um or ratification, excuse me, they had already approved those changes, but just having that all done at the same time moving forward. Um I know Mr. Kerr mentioned legislation and I saw that there are three days of action coming up in Indie in February. So, I am just in the works of talking with our our UNISER director as well as Mr. Ulesules just to get um feedback on those. I I'm new with those things. I've only attended a couple so I I don't know if there are
087specific sessions about funding, but that is one of ISDA's priorities. Their their list of um goals came out January 8th. So, just some things moving forward. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Randy. Okay. Um, next is board member comments and we'll start with Mr. Durham. >> Well, thank you. Seeing firsthand what the U legislative cuts have done with the town in Ellisville and hearing the $900,000 shortage, that concerns me. But I it's nice to know that we have people in place that are watching it or people in place that are are taking measures to to make it uh less painful. I couldn't think of a word. Thank you, Paul. So, that's all I have to say, but I'm just like I say, I'm really concerned. I uh I'm just really disappointed in our legislature
088right now. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Just great to have Debbie here and uh was starting. I was going to ask when when we would expect to have you joining us at the meeting, so I'm glad you're here. Um, and I do appreciate the oversight on our finances because I know it's going to be important. Mhm. >> When you go to the state house, um I've been following some of the especially in the House of Representatives and uh they're not doing us any favors and if they do anything on the to address what they did last year with Senate Bill one, it's going to make it worse for schools and and and towns. [snorts] So, I'm I'm encouraging everybody to contact your legislature because it's not looking good. Um, and I know what a can
089of worms it can be to talk about ECA positions. So, I certainly appreciate you doing that. And I'm also glad that I wasn't in on that conversation. Um, I'm so excited about the progress we're making with developing the uh life sciences program and I'm also excited that the facilities that we're taking in steps to get to that. as that blossoms that we'll have a place that we can really make that pop. And I think that's going to happen. And I can't stop without saying whooo who is yours. That's pretty exciting. >> Big night. >> Yeah, that was amazing. >> Mr. Jacobs. >> Yeah, I agree with everything that's been mentioned about legislation. We we have got to get our voices out there. Um, and that means community members, that means um, everybody is involved in
090that and and fighting what's best for our our students in public school. Um, Jerry, I appreciate seeing your goals. Um, every time I I see your goals and and, you know, work with we all work with you very closely and you are on those goals um, every year and we appreciate it. Um we have such a a strong superintendent, strong leaders in our corporation that um it makes our job wonderful. We we have a really good position where we are. Um we have a very strong board. Um, and I just I really appreciate your goals and there's you are true to each goal every year and um get stronger and stronger every year and I'm glad for that. Um, I'm excited for the out ofstate um overnight trips for our students. Um, you know, giving
091them something um to look forward to for all the their dedication, their hard work um after school, before school, during summers. They work extremely hard and I I will always support our students [clears throat] being able to have those moments um to be with one another and and you know become stronger as a team um as their groups um go along. Um thank you so much for your work. Um I know it's very difficult um and we support you in your job. Um, you know, of course, if there's things that we can do and change and and make things better for you, we will do everything in our power to do that. Um, we'll just continue to keep strong. Um, we'll continue to stay steadfast in our movements forward with our corporation. Um, and we're
092going to fight tooth and nail to continue to bring forth everything that our students and staff deserve. >> Mr. ditto to what's been said about our the concern with the legislature and I don't think anything's going to magically happen this year because it's a short session but hopefully you start the process and we get some people that will pay attention to what's going on and the good things that are going on with the the mandates they're putting down with the path career pathways and so forth. A lot of those are unfunded mandates which they those wear me out. So hopefully the the powers to be will get their attention. and they'll listen better. Thank you to everybody behind the scenes, Miss Tate and Paul and Miss Barrett, Dr. Sanders. I probably spent an hour asking
093questions before the board meeting. They and they answered my questions very well and I appreciate their patience with me and I I apologize for my incessant questions, but but uh I think we have a lot of great things going on here. Um, I do want to thank uh Miss Barrett also for the asynchronous and what was the other word? Asynchronous. >> Asynchronous. >> Yeah. The the three day the three days in writing. You know what? You're you're airing on the side of kids. And you can't go wrong with that. It's it's a gray area. It's in writing. Let's let's use some common sense with that. And uh I'll finish with a quick story and I I promised Jimmy it won't be for a half hour here. got a call from a lady last week. She
094was from Wisconsin and she was an attorney about a situation on identity theft thing and we start talking because I like to talk Jimmy and she I said I'd well my first career I was principal at Edward High School and she goes are you kidding me? I said no. She goes I was there in 1987 for contest of champions. She was from some school in Sullivan, Illinois. >> And I said, "Oh my gosh." She goes, "That place was rocking." And I said, "Yep." And I think I think it's going to be again this year at the end of January. So So it it made an impression on somebody from somebody in Wisconsin to start out in Illinois. So that'll be a lot of excitement here at the end of the month. And and u hopefully
095they don't spill much cokes on the new gym floor. Thank you. >> Good. [snorts] Um, I as always appreciate everybody coming tonight. Um, I did want to touch on the reorganization committee. I believe that [clears throat] there's seven from the township or three from the township, three from this um, town and those would elect the seventh person which they chose Dr. Sanders uh, for that position. Right. So, he's sitting on that board and and uh you know, I do applaud the reorganization committee for appointing Dr. Sanders um to have to let the school have a voice and let the school, you know, let them know. >> Um SEA1 has butchered the town. It's it's hurting, you know, it's already started hurting the schools and it's just going to get really worse. um the way things
096are set up right now. So, um we do have to try to work together to get through this. Um so, I like I said, I am disappointed. We don't have an idea up front what it was going to be, but I do know that they're appointing committees um and getting those together and they're going to be looking into the those things. We have policy analytics looking into it for for for us. Um so, our independent look at it. Um, so what I, you know, I I just hope everybody keeps their minds open because we're in really weird times when it comes to, uh, local governments and so in schools. So, um, just keep open minds, listen, pay attention, get involved, uh, uh, you know, follow follow what's going on. Um because I I I think
097it's going to be important because we wouldn't be as good as we are if we didn't have such a great town >> and the town wouldn't be as good as it is if it didn't have us. So we we we have to work together. Um so uh I think that's a great way to to look at it going forward. Um, and the other [clears throat] thing I just want to say I was excited to hear how the preschool's doing. Um, I'm just so glad that trying to, you know, tow the line on the rates. Um, one thing we may have to think about at some time is do we need help supporting the the preschool and what might that look like? um because there's a lot in our community that still can't afford uh what
098what we charge. So, how how do we help them? Um so, you just again keep your minds open, keep keep your eyes open, uh keep your ear to the ground, and be sure you know what's going on uh here locally. So, we appreciate everyone coming tonight, and go Hooers. >> [music] >> Hallelujah. >> [music]