Richland Bean Blossom School Board, September 16, 2025

001Please stand for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you very much. Please be seated. Our first meeting tonight is a uh public uh budget hearing and please let the record reflect that Mr. Tucker, Mr. Dural, Mr. Deamas, and Mr. Kerr are present. Um and so we'll move into consideration of the 2026 budget. And to that we'll turn to Paul Federer. Good evening to everybody. Um, as we advertise, this is the public hearing, so I'll be very brief uh because this is the public's night to talk, not mine. Uh, you've got your folder and, uh, we gave that to you last month and it does reflect the budget. Uh,

002it doesn't it doesn't change a lot. The operations fund is going to go up 4% the levy. That's what the state says we can raise it. So that's what it's advertised. The education budget, we did raise $2 million because it's low this year and your revenue will support that. So we raised that budget to about 22 million from the 20 million. So that that are the two things that I wanted to say. And at this point then I would just turn this over to the public for any questions or anything they might have. Is there any public uh who would like to comment on the 2026 uh proposed budget? We'll do budget and capital projects budget and then the bus replacement plan. So, is there any comments on the proposed budget? Seeing none, we'll move

003on to the capital projects uh plan or do you >> It's uh it doesn't change a whole lot. It just goes from year to year and those are projects that you think might cost more than $10,000. So, you put several things in there. Uh one of the things that I've seen um happen in corporations that are stagnant in what they're doing. In other words, it's the same thing every year. So the capital projects plan becomes pretty important in a corporation that's building a lot, moving around with bonds and things like that. The capital projects becomes fluid. It's used where it's needed where maybe a bond didn't cover, but in some cases corporations instead of out of the bus replacement plan or whatever plan, they don't buy buses there. They buy them out of a bond

004and things like that. So you've kind of been in that that mode for a few years and so that's why the capital projects hasn't changed a lot. >> Okay, any public comment? Seeing none, our last fund is the 2026 budget uh or bus replacement plan. >> That plan has two buses in it, I believe. Um, and again, uh, that's the operations fund that that money comes out of. And if if you want to ride next year, ride along because that's the fund that takes the hit. That's the one the state went after for the tax levy. We're going to lose probably around $800,000 next year in that fund. So again, schools figure out or have to figure out, well, we don't have enough money in the bus replacement plan to buy buses. Where do we

005buy them and all that, but we do have buses in there, two buses to purchase next year, and hopefully we can do that. Doesn't mean we have to, but hopefully we can. >> Thank you. Uh any uh public comments on the bus replacement plan? I would uh like to say that all of this information is on our website for the public to review. Yes. >> Yes. So if you're at home and you want to view it, uh please go to our website. Um, so if there is no further public comment or no comment, I will close the public hearing on the budget and I will open our regular meeting of the Richland Bean Boston Community School Corporation uh board of trustees. Um, and our we have I'll just bring it to order and again let

006the record reflect those uh members present. And were there any visitors tonight who would like to make comments? Okay. And now we'll move on to the probably most exciting thing for the evening, which is the Mustang moment, and we have Edgewood Junior High School. >> Yes, Dr. Sanders. >> So, I'd like to invite Mr. Wler and Mrs. Schmer to come up and uh they're in charge of our presentation. In fact, they were scheduled to be the October presentation, but they were so eager they wanted to go first. >> Sure. Yeah, that's how it went. Um, so, uh, just to to kind of give you a heads up as to what we're doing here, uh, lead and learn is the, uh, the title of our presentation, but this is really an idea of how we're bridging

007the gap, uh, from the intermediate school through the junior high all the way to the high school and beyond. Uh, and this is how we do a lot of our career career exploration. And I'm gonna stop talking and turn it over to Miss Schmer. >> Hi there. So, I am Cali Schmer. I am a school counselor at the junior high. Um, and I am obviously a month early. I'm that excited to tell you about our lead and learn program. And can I say just publicly thank you Rick Routton for getting us set up last minute so you can see our slides here. So, for a long time, we have worked with the success school in a really close partnership, and we're so lucky to have them um on our side to put on these career

008panels where we have community partners come in to tell us about their day-to-day work. Um we've done this for a really long time and it helps our students get an idea of what's out there just right in our own community. Last year, we started a program called Lead and Learn where we worked with our high school teachers and administrators, and they would nominate high school students to come to the junior high. Our high school students lead their own career panel the day before the professionals get there. They can talk about their high school classes, the pathway that they're on, their future plan. They also talk about extracurriculars that they're a part of, helping junior high students maybe even see a piece of themselves in what's to come at the high school. So that first day

009they're leading the panel. The second day they attend the panel. So they are sitting with our junior high students. They are learning from professionals in our community right along with the junior high students. Actually, can I show? Hold on. Maybe I can't. Well, hopefully you saw in that last slide. We have had a year worth of lead and learn students come from the high school over to the junior high. Um, it has been an awesome program so far. So, what we are learning is truly that this program is building a bridge. Our junior high schoolers are listening more to the high school students than they are even to us, to our professional panelists. It it was really hard to see that big picture future when they didn't see that next step. Okay, I I understand

010this career, but how do I get there? And so our high schoolers are able to say, "This is a class that really motivated me in high school. This is something that inspired me." and I was able to run with it in high school in this way. Um, so they're listening to the high schoolers. They're also getting a taste of what a career panel is. So on that second day, they're more confident. They ask more questions. They're engaged more. And I really think our high schoolers are showing them that it's okay to be in charge of your own learning. It's okay to be involved. and it's okay to put yourself out there and learn what you want out of these experiences. So, with that said, I would like to introduce Naa Scott, Mallerie Wilkkey, and Jude

011Edmonds to come and tell us a little bit from the junior high perspective what it's like to be a part of this program. These students were all some who came to our September panel. They were there for both the lead and learn high school panel as well as the professional panel day. Go ahead. >> Um, and I didn't know what I was going into for high school since I don't really have contact with anyone that goes to the high school. So, I did not know what I was going to be walking into. And the panel really taught me that it's not as scary as it looks. There are pathways to get you to where you want to be at the end of high school and set you up for college. And really going to it

012really helped put an ease on my nerves and helped me figure out what I was going to do when I got to high school. like her, I didn't really know what high school was going to be like, but I feel like the career panel and being able to talk, especially one-on-one at the end with the high schoolers, it taught me a lot about what to expect from high school. like I didn't know about all the internship opportunities and the pathways which are basically like different roads that you can take to direct you into classes that'll help you with your future career instead of like in junior high there's a lot more exploration on like your interests but high school gets it more direct into what you want to do with your life. I've been very

013excited being able to go to these career panels in the morning and getting to talk to the high schoolers and what they do and getting to go do internships and going to go on field trips and also learning from the other side from the professionals and also getting to like like know what they do in their day-to-day lives. And I'm I'm very thankful for being able to go to these career panels and I'm very grateful for being able uh to learn like what I can do in the future. >> Thank you. You can have a seat. Okay. All right. And now I'd like to invite our high school panelists who were the leaders and the learners. um Aubrey Lee, Sophia Kapperman, and Maya Gil. These were our September panelists, and we focused on biomedical science.

014Aubrey, go ahead. >> I was so excited to be um in this lead and learn program to help give my experiences from high school to younger kids who will be going down that same path as me and talk about my passion of biomedical sciences. I feel like this gave me a really good idea that I wanted to go into nursing in the future from learning from the professionals and all the opportunities that are within biomedical sciences. And I feel like I made a really good impact um on the younger kids that someday I'll be able to maybe be in classes with next year and see their high school experiences. >> Um I really enjoyed being a part of the panel for junior high. I was really excited to get to tell them that there's not

015just one job in the biomedical field field. There's a whole bunch of different ones. And I was glad that we were able to give them an idea first before they met the professionals because maybe they might have had a different mindset that there was only one kind of job there was. So I was a I was glad I was able to do that. I was glad that the professionals that I met with for the professional side of the panel that they gave me advice that um I just because I know what field that I want to go into like the Medicare field that that doesn't mean I have to know what specific position that I want to be in right now. And that was really helpful considering that I'm about ready to go into college

016about ready to move on to my next stage of life. And like that was something I was kind of nervous about not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. And it just like it basically calmed me down. I was like I don't need to know. I can figure that out along the way. Like it doesn't have to be set in stone my senior year of high school. So that was really nice. >> Um I was really excited to be a part of this opportunity with the career panels cuz I love getting to talk about the biomedical sciences and my high school experience and my future plans. Um and I really like that there was one day for us to talk to the middle schoolers and hopefully inspire them to also think about those things. Um,

017and then a whole other day for us to learn from professionals in the biomedical field. Um, and a lot of those professionals were in careers that I hadn't ever even heard about or thought about. Um, so that was really eye opening for me. And at the end, the three of us talked to them like one-on-one and asked them specific questions about our futures. And I thought that was really um enjoyable because they were able to give very specific advice for us and that was um a great experience for me. >> Thank you guys. Feel free to Okay. And then lastly, I'd like to welcome up Christopher MG. He is the director of the success school. He really supports us in our career exploration at the junior high with so many different events and opportunities that

018we're able to give our students particularly not particularly in addition to these six career panels that we host each year. So if you >> Well, thank you for that warm reception. This is Christopher from the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce's Foundation, the Success School. We've been around about 25 years and you know career exploration is something we've always done and as the state has sort of moved to careers being more of a focus within education how is that going to work and thanks to the innovation of programs like this that I wish I had thought of this is how we're going to do it this kind of continuum of exploration um where you have you sort of build on the previous days uh previous days work and having it with high schoolers makes it so

019much are fun and accessible. Uh Lauren Michaels from Senate Live used to say with casting when in doubt go younger and I and it's becomes more hip, more accessible. We're lowering the barriers to that. So by the time the you know the professionals come in the next day that elixir of having the high schoolers sort of talk about that has already sort of happened. So what what have we seen? We've seen the questions are better. The students are more engaged. I have my uh O'Neal fellow do these panels and this is Friday morning for a college student. They're excited to do it. The panelists more engaged students. This used to be very at least on a middle school level very passive just kind of taking it in and you're like okay okay but now it's

020it's really a gamecher within that and that's something that I think we everybody's benefit the the volunteers are benefiting for just a much more rewarding experience. I think the high schoolers just seeing how those professionals are modeling talking to younger students is a big deal. So it works on a lot of different different levels on them and we saw it last Friday and it's it's great to be a part of this where something as simple as career exploration has taken on this sort of innovative look that I think is ready for the 21st century, ready for the tomorrow's workforce. So I'm excited to be a part of this and help out in any way we can here at the success school. So, what we're learning is that our professionals provide this big picture inspiration that

021our students don't have to know exactly what they're doing, but they really should have an idea. They should have that path. And it's our high school leaders that really make this feel like it's here and they're starting on that path now, even in middle school. Um, so that has been really, really fun and interesting to watch. So you all are obviously invited to any of our upcoming career and lead the learn panels. They are here for your enjoyment. We're going to do nutrition and culinary arts, business and marketing, agriculture, engineering, and the trades. Thank you for having us. And if you have any questions for our high schoolers or our junior high students, they are here for it. >> Or me >> or Miss Exactly. or Mr. I'm curious our junior high students. Have all

022of you decided on a pathway you want to start to explore in high school? Is it biomed sciences or is it something else that you've learned about? >> What are you thinking, Jude? So, we'll see all three of you next year enrolled in principles of biomedical sciences. >> Okay, sounds good. We'll count those three numbers in. Okay. >> And if you if you think about putting all the the pieces of the a puzzle together, as you put the pieces together, you know, the picture starts to come to life of of of what you're trying to build there. And if you think about all that schools are trying to do in terms of internships, the innovative learning center, the the studentr run businesses, um that uh all this is just providing our students with knowledge and

023experience uh so that uh they really they're taking the guessing game out of what they want to do someday. they they're basing their decisions, important decisions on uh actual factual information. And I think it's so cool that we have uh students talking to students uh about these important issues. So, uh great job, junior high. >> Thank you so much. >> When you said something about students directing their own education, that's that's my song all the way. And then when I heard them talking, that's that's where they're going. They're they're they're giving themselves directions. And I think that's so much more productive than a teacher trying to tell them what to do. So >> eighth graders actually saying the words pathways and Mallerie gave a better definition of a pathway than I've heard in three years.

024And I've been trying my best to define it for people. And when you said, you know, you gave your definition, I looked over at Mrs. Schlimmer. I'm like, that's it. That's the definition. We should have Well, we have recorded it. So, we're going to uh quote that and say, "This is the definition." But it's amazing to hear junior high students who can put words to that and understand what we're building for them. It's ready for them. It's waiting for them uh when they get to the high school. >> They understand the metaphor. >> Yeah. >> And I picked up on that as well. I thought that definition just rang true and and was so understandable, you know. So, that's that's a a great way. We appreciate uh those those good words and and yeah, we

025need to incorporate those. And um I'm just excited that the junior high and high school students are getting together, that they're collaborating, they're um talking, they're uh it's going to make that next step a lot easier knowing somebody up there that you're going to be able to you possibly have classes with or or see around the building. Um so having those uh interactions are are are great. Um but having them in the context of career pathways and and what you want to do with your life and and you know how you get there is it's just very exciting. Um I just thank all the students for coming uh tonight and and you and I appreciate the partnership we have um with the Chamber of Commerce. I mean, that's been going on for ever and um

026it just seems to be stronger all the time and the chamber has been so supportive of Edgewood Schools and so we really appreciate the chamber and all that you do for for our students and and our corporation. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you. >> Thank Thank you very much. >> Appreciate all you >> Thanks, Chris, for coming. Thank you. >> Now, you're welcome to stay. Uh the superintendence report is at the end. >> That's the second best thing. So, you're welcome. >> Yeah. Where you guys going? >> Thank you all so much for coming. >> Happens every time. It does. It does. >> No. Yeah. >> And she can't go any place. >> Unfortunately, she can. She drives. >> Oh, that's scary. Um scary. >> Okay. Uh wow. I

027just so excited. >> Very impressed. >> Yeah, very much. Very much. So, we appreciate the them all. Um okay. Unfortunately, we got to get back to business. Um, that was the capstone. So, let's dig a little deeper. Um, so next is our consent agenda and it's approval of minutes from the August 19th regular board meeting. We also has the treasures report for August of 2025. And uh, Mr. General, the claims, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President. For gross wages on August 1st, 2025, $648,384.93. for gross wages mini pay on 814 2025 $1,32745 for gross wages on August 15 2025 $878,530.91 for gross wages many pay on 8 2025 $14,895.73 for gross wages on August 29th 2025 at $834,8207 and those and seven cents for a total of $2,377,000 9669. Pre-claims for 8125 through83125 $1,4352145 for

028claims on 91620251,181,85049 [Music] for 2,617,71.94 for a grand total of $4,995,38.3. Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Um we also have personnel uh resignations, retirements, non-renewals, leaves and terminations C1 through 15 and D personnel appointments uh trans and transfers D1 through 81. >> Um we and we have three out of state and overnight field trips. the high school show choir to Branson, Missouri in April of 26. You have the high school show choir uh going to Bedford for retiri and the Edgewood High School sophisticated ladies in addition going to Bedford for a retreat. And so do we have a motion on the consent agenda? >> I move approval. >> I'll second. >> Second it. Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. And Dr. Sanders, you have uh some comments

029you'd like to make on a few of these. >> Yes. Uh so uh first of all um you know I know we say this quite a bit u about retirees but there's so many times that when uh I see the name of of somebody come across my desk that's saying that they're going to retire I I my first thought is what are we going to do without them? And Becky Pitman is definitely one of those individuals. uh if I counted right 29 years uh with Edgewood schools and um she's been uh our title one director at EIS and really making that program work and uh so I've just plus I just enjoy her as a person and uh so I just wanted to recognize her tonight and then I also wanted to recognize uh Gracie

030Turner. Uh Gracie is our new uh business office assistant and uh as you know uh we made some adjustments to roles and responsibilities within our offices and uh so uh some of the duties that were to our assistant uh superintendent Matt. uh we put some of those duties on to other folks and just kind of readjusted uh to make sure that we were uh we weren't missing a beat. And uh so Gracie is kind of the the person who's going to carry up and and do those things that that some of the others uh aren't going to have time to do. And she's amazing already. Actually, we had three amazing people that applied and interviewed for that. It's like we got finished. was like, "Well, can we hire all three?" Uh, but Graciey's amazing. If

031you go out uh and look at the TV uh in the lobby there, uh we've been wanting to get photos up there for a a while now, maybe a year, year and a half. And uh she did it like in 10 minutes. So, uh she's already uh really contributing and taking off the uh the load that the extra work that Susan Shockney has to do and Debbie Tate uh and others. Uh she's picking up the slack there. The other thing she's going to do, if you remember, we had uh uh uh Britney Tucker uh who was our marketing coordinator become a teacher at the high school and and and so she's going to help uh Britney uh with getting some content from the elementary schools and junior high on our website and on the sign

032uh down below because it's hard for uh it's hard for Britney to get away all the time to go to the other schools. So, she's going to help with that, too. And really, running a website's a full-time job. Uh, so she's she's going to help with that that work there. I really don't have any more to you hit all the highlights there. I uh little jealous with going to Branson. My daughter used to clog and we'd go over there and she'd clog at a competition and do Silver Dollar City and uh It was a lot of fun. We had a lot of good times. So glad they're able to go. And so the supplemental uh personnel report um there's two appointments. Uh Tina Kriswell and Sonia Jones. And so Dr. Sanders. >> Uh yes. So,

033we we're uh recommending these two individuals uh for hire uh but we're required by the state uh if there um are certain notations on a background check that we have to uh hire those uh folks, but we uh we need to uh uh do a supplemental personnel report. And uh so I shared those details with the board and and so ask you uh your approval uh to hire Tina Kriswell and sign to John Jones. >> Personnel report. >> Second. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Okay. Now we're going to move on to our and I'll open our public hearing regarding the financing uh lease amendments and for that we have Jacob Mlen with McKini here tonight to walk us through this. >> Thank you Mr.

034President. Uh Jacob with Bose McKenna and Evans. Um so I know you guys have been through a number of public hearings already. Um the way that this bond is issued is similar to how you've issued them in the past through your building corporation since it's not a general obligation. And um so there's maybe a little bit of redundancy in some of these public hearings, but they're all statutoily required. So we kind of have to go through the process. So we put out um a notice um uh 30 days ago um for this public hearing. the building corporation met just before um this meeting and approved the form of the lease. Um assuming um I think your next item on the agenda is a resolution related to the lease amendment. Um assuming you guys adopt that,

035we'll put out another notice and there's another 30-day period where folks could remmonstrate about the lease. Um timing wise, we get through that. Stifl will work with Jerry on marketing the bonds. Um, and you guys would be looking at a pricing of the bonds potentially in early November, uh, with funds available toward the end of November. Um, and again, this is the building corporation will issue the bond. Um, you guys are approving a form of lease which includes not to exceed parameters provided by Stiffl. Um, when the bonds are actually priced, there will be addendums to the u to the bond uh to the lease amendment that will line up your lease payments with the bond payments plus about $1,500 uh semiannually to pay um trustee fees. So, I know you guys have been through

036this before, but with that, I'd be happy to answer any questions before you turn it over to the public. >> Hearing none, I will open the public hearing to public comment. Is there any who would like to comment? >> So, uh we typically put out the notice and allow for a little bit of feedback and then we'll be back at your next uh board meeting. That'll be the last one. We'll have forms of bond documents just so we're not cra I mean we've just historically done it that way so we're not cramming everything and and approvals all in in one meeting. So, >> and that'll be the last Say that again. >> We'll get in place in early November to >> Yeah, they'll be sold early November uh with funds available kind of >> 23rd

03720 30th around then. And I mean I guess I that's one caveat. If the market is weird or there's some benefit to wait, Steifel will tell Jerry and you guys will play it by ear then I think. So >> okay. >> Thank you. After that discussion, any public comment? Hearing none, I will close the hearing, public hearing on the uh financing lease amendment and we will now consider a resolution um of an amendment to the lease. >> So, yeah, this just authorizes what I mentioned, the the amendment to the lease. And again, uh, assuming you guys approve this resolution, sign that tonight. We'll put out that notice and then we'll be back at your next board meeting and the building corporation will meet again as well to, uh, approve bond documents. And like I said,

038then we'll look, uh, to price probably early November and close late November. >> Resolution to execute fourth amendment to the lease. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you very much. >> You don't know what you >> Thank you. >> Good night. Um Okay. And the next item on the agenda is another public hearing. I'll open the public hearing on the superintendence contract addendum. And for this, I would ask our council uh Christine Bartlett to you give us kind of a just the key points of what the uh contract entails. >> Sure. >> So, we're doing a new contract this year because the law only allows us to extend the existing contract so many times. So, we're to the point where we need to do an

039entirely new contract. This is a contract addendum because it's an addendum to the teachers contract. The proposed terms of the contract are that the term will be from July 1, 2025, so retroactive, and conclude on June 30th, 2028. The base salary will be 155,000. The superintendent will receive 13 paid sick leave days, 20 days of paid vacation, two personal business leave days, and bereavement leave. um RBB will pay 80% of the annual cost of health insurance and contributions will be made to the superintendent's retirement account in the same amount that are made to the teachers retirement account through the state. The other benefits are established by board policy and administrative personnel and the master's teachers contract are also incorporated by reference. >> Very much. Is there any questions by the board? If not, I will

040open it up to public comment. If there's any public who would like to comment, please identify yourself. Okay. Uh seeing none, then I will close the public hearing on the superintendent's contract, which will lead us to the next item, which is consideration to approve the superintendent's contract addendum. You have heard uh what that in ina excuse me entails. Uh so do we have a motion uh on the contract agenda? >> I move approval. >> Moved second. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Thank you very much. And now we're going to move to consideration to approve revisions to the NEOA policy which drives our corporation policies. So Dr. Sanders. >> Yes. So at the August uh school board meeting, I presented uh a series of uh revisions to

041our NEOA policies and uh there were I didn't get any comments about that or questions. So, I'm bringing them back to you tonight uh for approval >> of the revisions to the Neola policy. I just a question. I'm anticipating that we're going to see another another round of Neola updates based on what happened in the state legislature this >> Yes. They stay on top of those things. >> Yeah. >> Uh I think some of the uh in the special update came from this past session. Uh but there'll be additional ones coming. >> I expected Yeah, because I was expecting to see some more controversial things than I saw in this batch. Yes. I can't wait. >> All right. Anything else? All those in favor say I. I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Now is

042consideration to approve the child and teen safety matters services agreement. And we'll turn to Jennifer. >> This agreement um is one that I'm bringing to you. Uh we implement this program in our junior high and it's one that we pay $2,500 for each year. Um it trains our SEAL team as well as pays for materials um so that we can use that during our home room time with all students in junior high. So this is a tier one um meaning that it's uh a program that we use with all students in the junior high. Um, this contract is with um Suz's Place, which if you're familiar with Susie's Place, we um use them for other reasons as well. They're out of Hendrickx County. Um, incredibly reputable and they put out some really great materials as

043proactive pieces for students. >> Is we have motion? >> I'll move approval. All I'll say is that I have a lot of lot of respect for Susan's place. >> They do incredible work there with kids. >> Wonderful place. So, um, okay. Anything further? All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. >> Now we'll look at the DBT in schools LLC services agreement. >> This one hopefully is an easy one. and I brought you the uh provisions for this agreement a couple of months ago as we were working through those. Um now I'm bringing you the agreement for approval. Uh this is actually a two-day training for all of our smart uh mental health team members. Um SMART is the grant that we received the federal grant. So this will be paid for

044completely through that grant. Um it will train all of our mental health team members. Two-day training via Zoom. That's $20,000. three additional days of training at $895 a person. Uh right now that's 16 people that we would train uh using these strategies. That's a total of $14,320 for those additional three days. And we're going ahead and right now um assuming that we would have roughly 14 hours of consultation. Uh they will actually come back and work with our mental health team. Um, anytime we implement something new in terms of strategies with students, whether it's instructional or it's something related to social, emotional, mental health, uh, we're going to have questions about that. So, we will have experts that we can go to. The cost for those consultation hours is $395 an hour. So, we're estimating

045roughly $4,740. Uh, this contract total is not to exceed $39,60. So, we're asking for approval from this for this out of our smart grant funds. >> Approval of the DBT services agreement. >> Could you tell us what DBT stands for? >> I can tell you a little bit. I am definitely not a specialist in this area. Um, these are some strategies that we have learned about more through our IU um team that comes in. They work with our students. So, Heather Ormiston is our partner there. Um these strategies are meant to be more on the-fly that we would use with students. Um what we tend to do now is more pull out. Um so they may come down to the office, meet with a mental health provider uh for a certain period of time. And

046so these strategies are about increasing the amount of time that they're actually in the classroom. Um so ways that we can uh connect with them in passing periods, ways that we can connect with them at lunchtime. um so that we can maybe dig a little deeper in terms of um some mental health counseling but not pulling them out of instructional time to do that. Um so that's really what these strategies are about and the goal um that that comes along with that. It's a lot of language um and just how we approach students and the types of students who would respond to these strategies because as we know it's it's not going to fit the bill for every single student we have >> therapy. Thank you very very much for that, Mr. Damas. >> That's

047very good. I I like I like that concept. I really do. Um not pulling them out of education time and um but at times where they may be more relaxed to talk. >> Absolutely. >> So that's very good. Okay. Um had a first and second. Any further discussion? >> It is uh we have some rollover funds there and so we are looking with those rollover funds um to provide as much training as we can to the mental health team until that grant runs out. Um so we're doing everything we can to spend every dollar that we get >> for sure. Okay, that's all. All right. Yes, we're good. >> Say hi. >> Hi. carries. And now we're going to look at the 2025 to 2027 Title 3 consortium participation agreement. >> So for our almost

04840 students who are English language learners for the first time across our district, the state gives us a whopping $122 to provide um additional education for them. Um but uh they are only allocating us $1,220 uh for this upcoming year in our title three grant. Um so we received that allocation. There's not a lot that you can do with $1,220. Um but I'm not going to li look a gift horse in the mouth and and say we're not going to use that. The best way for us to do this, just like other districts who have a smaller number of EL learners, is we take these funds and we become part of a consortium. Um, for some of these districts, they get less than $100, $122 if they have one student. Um, for some of these

049districts, we're looking at anywhere from three to 4,000. Um, some of the smaller districts who are in our region don't even mess with writing this grant. Um, because you do have to jump through the red tape and the hoops in order to get it. Um, but this can pay for some of the training that we do with our gened teachers who have e learners in their classroom. So, my request to you in this agreement is to allow us to participate in the title 3 consortium uh 2025 through 2027 with the central Indiana education service center. We would do that with our own education service center. Uh but all of the schools in this area are so small that it would not be worthwhile for them to create a consortium with the amount of money that

050we have. Uh so we have to join one of the bigger education service centers to become a part of that. Um so we've already reached out to them. We've started to look at some additional professional development that we can provide. Uh we have Sarah Jalalizi who is our uh full-time ELEL teacher across the district. Um, but we're really looking at pro providing professional development to general education teachers. Um, because the way that they are instructing with EL students makes a big difference in whether or not they are able to understand the material. Um, so we're asking you to approve this agreement for us to join the consortium. The title 3 allocation has been released, but the title three jot form application has not been released yet. So, by you allowing me to go ahead and

051sign this agreement, when that jot form opens up, I can sign this and submit everything at the same time. >> I second. >> Any discussion? >> Hear none. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? >> Motion carries. And now we're going to look at the McGra Hill six-year science adoption for the junior high school. >> Yeah, this one um hurts my stomach a little bit. These big contracts are ones that um I don't love uh looking at the total number here. Um but we are in a need situation, not a want situation. The Indiana science standards actually changed in 2022 and we've been asking our junior high science teachers to teach with books um that were written in 2014. Um as we know computer science has changed drastically in that amount of

052time. Um the standards have become u much more handson in terms of students exploring science versus them leading learning about it in a textbook. Um, so this uh series in particular was written by McGreel Hill for the new Indiana academic standards. So this one is an actual Indiana publication. It's called Inspire Science. um we're looking at this being their primary resource, which means that I am hopeful we can eliminate maybe some of the additional um secondary resources that we're paying for, which at the time were necessary because we were asking them to teach new standards out of a primary resource that at that point in time was 10 years old. Um, so even though I'm I'm asking you to approve a cost of $92,36916, this is a six-year adoption. We are not purchasing any hardback

053books with this because uh the cost for those hardback books was uh way too expensive and everything that the teachers need is online. All of these teachers at the junior high are incredibly tech-savvy. Um they've already gone through the platform. they've started to pull off some uh modules and things like that that they've already started to try to implement um just from the free samples. Um but they are eager to get into this. Their old textbook has expired as of September 13th, so they no longer have access to it. So right now at this point in time, um they are doing amazing work um with not enough uh resources to be able to do that. So, I'm asking for approval of this. Um, it did not make sense for us to do a one-year or

054three-year adoption financially. Um, I'll talk more here in just a little bit about how I've worked this into um the adoption schedule over the next six years. In addition, I've asked and have been approved by McGreel Hill to pay for this over three payments instead of two. Uh, so we would be paying the initial amount of $46,184.58. It says September 25. It's not going to happen in September 25. By the time we actually get an invoice from McGral Hill, we're looking at probably early November. By the time I bring that to you for payment, um, or it goes through the board for payment in November, that check would be going out um, in late November, early December. So, I'm actually figuring the 2025 amount and the 2026 amount in fiscal year 2026 in terms of

055our curriculum payments. So, I am not figuring that 46,18458 in 2025 because once it finally comes off the uh books there, we're going to see that in 2026 and I've already put that over into that estimated cost there. and then we would pay the remainder split into two portions roughly $23,000 um later on in 2026 and September 2026 and then another payment in September 2027. Um so again this would be a six-year adoption for grades 6, seven, and 8 for science. >> I'll move approval of the science adoption sixear science adoption for the junior >> high. Y >> first and seconded. Um so when will this be available to >> I am going to as soon as you approve this I am ready to hit uh send on a purchase order um so that we

056can get this going ASAP. Um I've already talked with our rep at McGreel Hill. He's he's wonderful to work with. He's great with our district. Um he knows that we are in a rush to get this up and going for our teachers. Um it's going to be kind of a trial by by fire um the first few weeks because we won't have them training immediately on this new program. But like I said, they are incredibly tech-savvy. They are ready to dig into this and then we will get them training later on um in this school year um on one of our flex days or or something like that where we don't have students present >> access in a week or two. >> Yes. Yes. Uh Rick and I are ready for it. As soon as

057they get everything ready on their side and we see it populate through McGreel Hill, um I have the science EJH codes ready to go to Rick. He runs his backend on it. So we're prepared to push this through as fast as McGreel Hill can work on it. Um so I am hoping that they will have access by the end of next week um at the latest the beginning of the following week. I'll give a shout out to the junior high science teachers for working >> oh my goodness >> the way they have been working with older materials and for this gap and having some materials. So we >> appreciate them and the hard work that they do for our students >> as an English teacher was always important to have the latest update on comma

058usage. So >> science is a little different. >> Yes. >> Need a lot of leadership in that section. Mr. Damas, I'll ask you about that when I uh make some major pers purchases of novels like um of Men and Romeo and Juliet and they aren't exactly current. So, our kids always say, "Why can't we read things that are current?" So, I'll refer them to you next time. >> I'll be happy to talk to them. >> I'll pull out my Shakespearean English when I'm talking. >> Okay. >> Quick question. Quick question on this is so >> we're paying this all up. Why would we why wouldn't we spread out over six years instead of three? >> I wish we could. McGra Hill actually does not allow us to do that. Um they wanted this in two

059payments. Split it in half, pay half of it up front, um and pay that other half next year. Looking at our estimates on what we would be paying out next year, I did not feel like that was a good financial decision. Um, so I asked them to space this out over three years. Um, Tony Johnson, our rep, told me that this was probably not going to be approved. Um, but I said, I we really don't have much of a choice. And you'll notice in this letter here, I said that spacing out these payments over three years will enable us to purchase other resources that are necessary for all the teachers in our district. Um, so we have to think about everybody, not just these three grade levels in this subject area. Um, and thankfully this

060did get approved. Um, I wish that our textbook companies would recognize that we get paid once a year for curriculum. Um, and paying for three years upfront um is not feasible. But, um, I think when you see the schedule that I have and how we have built this in, I think we have a schedule that makes sense for us financially so that we are not going to be in a situation um where we are paying out multiple contracts at the same time. Um, we are seeing a huge payment come out uh for our last reveal math payment. Um, that one is significant. Um, and so I'm hopeful that we are not in that situation where those things align. Um, and not only hopeful, but we're being intentional about that not happening. >> Well, we're voting

061on 6 through 8 tonight. >> You're voting on 6 through eight. >> And everything else is already in place. K through five and 9 through 12. >> Great question. So, uh, K through five I just don't know if we're going to keep getting bills. That's what I'm curious about. >> Yeah. Uh it really depends on the grade level and the curriculum that we use. Um K through five, we pay for those science curriculum and resources annually. So we pay an annual cost for project lead the way. Um so any of the modules that we go ahead and we implement there. Uh we also pay an annual cost for mystery science which we implement in grades three, four and five. We pay an annual cost for fourth grade uh materials that go along with mystery science.

062Fourth grade is a tested subject area for science. Um at the high school level, we are all over the place. The good thing is we know exactly what those places are now. Um, and the hard part with with purchasing those too far in advance is that if it is a dual credit or an AP science course and the textbook changes, we are in a situation where even if we have purchased that textbook and we have an agreement for three more years, if uh IvyTech or IU is changing the textbook, we're required to change the textbook. So, I'm very hesitant at the high school level to enter into too many commitments there that are long-term, especially in those dual credit and AP courses. So, we tend to pay for those one year at a time. Um,

063I have been able with a few of our high school materials, I'm looking at Rick as I'm saying this, um, some that we have gotten through McMillan Holdings and a couple of others, we've gone ahead and we have entered into three-year agreements with them because the cost was so the cost savings was so significant. um we're talking about a um a textbook that they would charge us $10 more per textbook to enter into a three-year agreement than to go ahead and pay for that textbook for one year. Um so there are some of those some of those things that we would do that with. 6 through 8 is the only one that we would be looking at a six-year adoption with um simply because they're the only ones that would fit the bill for that.

064Um, with K5, we don't have anything that would be a long-term adoption. These are more uh annual costs that we would pay. >> Okay. But still on a six-year agreement, though, that software company's going to change. They're going to have updates within that six-year time frame soon. >> Yes. Yeah. We would see their platform change. That's the nice thing about this as they are making um changes on their platform. We immediately see that on our end. Um, which is really nice when we have those digital copies because we can give feedback to those companies and I'm surprised every single time that they take our feedback and they do make adjustments to the platform. Um, so unless the state, and I feel like I should knock on everything that is wood, unless the state changes their

065Indiana science standards, um, between now and 2030, um, we are in good shape with all of that. >> Okay, thank you. >> Yeah, >> nothing further. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. And now consideration to approve the earn Indiana employer agreement. >> This is a fun one I'm asking you to approve. It's not $92,000. Um this one is is a good one. Uh this is the first year that we've been able to take advantage of the Earn Indiana grant. Uh we've talked about it for a couple of years, but we just have not been able to get our ducks in a row to actually make it happen. The Earn Indiana grant is one that uh as an employer of interns here in our district, we can apply for 50% reimbursement

066for the hourly wages of our interns. So, we have four um I'm going to say apprentices because they are our apprentices. Um they're in an apprenticeship. We have four students who are being paid $14 an hour as apprentices over at EECC. Um Heather Kenzik, I don't see her here this evening, but Heather would tell you that uh they have filled hours that she is incredibly grateful for because they have to meet a uh teacherto student ratio there and because all of these students are trained, um they can be included as a uh a staff member in that ratio. Um, some of these students have picked up additional hours after, uh, school is out with latch key and we're able to pay them and ask for 50% reimbursement through the Earn Indiana grant. We also have

067another, um, apprentice who is working in our Mustang marketing program with Britney Tucker. uh that student is out and about every single evening taking photos at uh games, events, um the showcase, and then taking that back to our marketing team during the day. They're then curating all of that uh material and getting it spread out, whether it's on our website, social media platforms, whatever that would look like. Um, so Molly does a lot of our work after hours, um, to be able to pull that content in and have that ready to go. Prior to Molly working with Mustang Marketing, Britney Tucker was doing all of that work in the evenings on top of teaching all day long. So, we're really fortunate to have um, an apprentice in that position. So, we have five students this

068year who are apprentices for us. Um, like I said, they are being paid $14 an hour, um, which goes along with payment, um, goes along with the classified handbook. And through the Earn Indiana grant and allowing us to be a part of this, we can be reimbursed 50% of their hourly wages between 10 hours and no more than 20 hours a week. If we decided to keep these students on over the summer um in some capacity, which EECC will be closed, but we may be doing something with marketing, they could actually work up to 40 hours and we can re be reimbursed for 20 hours of that. So, it's a win-win. Uh we get work uh done by students and we also get help paying them to do this work. Um, and I would say

069a winwinw win because the students are getting incredible experience working um in pathways uh that um mean something to them and it gives them experience of what they may want to do after they graduate. >> All right, I'll move approval of the employer agreement. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> Sounds like a great program. >> Sure does. Hey, all those in favor say I. I opposed. Motion carries. We'll give Jennifer a short break here and we will move over to Dr. Sanders for purchasing of Edgewood Junior High School bleachers. >> Yeah. So, I think it was maybe a year and a half ago, Mr. Wler and I were sitting in the on the bleachers at the junior high main gym and and I mentioned to him that the bleachers were really looking rough. Uh

070and since then uh they've really started to fail in terms of being able to move them uh in and out very easily. Sometimes they they get stuck and uh that someone else has to come in and repair them in order to to get them moving again. Uh so it's it's just it's time that we replace the bleachers at the the junior high. Uh so we've been working with uh Lee Company representative Dar Swanson uh and he we work with him established a good relationship with him because uh when we order furniture we also go through uh the Lee company and they're part of a consortium so it takes care of all of the necessary um state board of accounts guidelines. Uh the purchase of these uh bleachers at the junior high is um $251,979.70. Uh

071and I'm going to pay these out of the construction bond. And that pretty much takes care of that bond. There'll be a little bit left over, but uh I recommend your approval. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> Move and double second. So um and uh we did discuss this in the work session at pretty length. So >> is there any discussion? >> I talked to you yesterday up at the conference. You said February. >> Uh yes. Uh we uh >> you guys >> originally we were looking at April because uh we we uh were going to be able to get a a better deal. Uh, April is one of those months that that um there are not too many schools putting in new bleachers, but we were able to move it up to February with

072the same price, so we went for that. >> That will work. >> You're going to be able to work around. >> We only have after after that date, we only have five home events. >> Okay. >> And he said he said by October he'd have a high school. Uh yes, we're working on I just got to I just got the quote uh today for the high school and uh that's going to involve additional work uh because we have the permanent bleachers and uh we're going to do some work there. uh uh not replacing the bleachers themselves, but uh we're going to take the caps that are on the the benches, take those off and put uh seats there. Uh and then also this uh new set of bleachers uh for the high school will require

073us to have uh different uh ways to to get up and go up to the upper level. So, we're have to the railing there. We're going to have to replace that, too. So, uh, and then some additional work. And so, uh, Rick and I and Arnold and and, uh, Jerry Bland and Mr. Acriman, we've we've met with them and we're trying to work out the financials. And so, we should have that for you for the October board meeting. >> That'll be a little more. Okay. Yeah. >> Right. >> But that that'll come from another leftover bond money, right? Uh that'll come out of the 2023. Yeah. Construction bond. >> Okay. Okay. Yeah. I like what they showed about the one side that was replaced 10 years ago. We can still use the ender lying equipment.

074Just replace the beacher side. >> Yeah. >> Which is nice. All right. Any further all those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Now we'll look at per purchase of furniture for the renovated offices at the high school. >> Yes. So, uh phase nine of the renovation at the high school uh involved we had two classrooms for the for facts that we're we only really need one. So, uh we're going to utilize that space and our one of our phrases we use all over campus is we want to maximize the use of space. So, in that space, we'll have uh multiple offices, conference room in there. Uh and so, we want to obviously put some furniture in there. And uh we've been working with the same gentleman, Daryus Swanson, with Lee Company. Uh

075the purchase of the furniture will be uh $30, uh 652.91 for the furniture. And the cost of uh receiving setting up uh all the work of taking taking the old furniture if there is any out uh that'll be $3,895. This will come out of the 2023 uh bond budget for furniture. >> Do I have a motion? >> I move approval. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I opposed. Motion carries. Okay. And our last action item is consideration to approve the Smart Start Child Care uh substitute service tonight. Uh this one is actually with the Community Foundation of Bloomington Monroe County. Um they have a program called Smart Start Child Care. Um basically this is a pool of substitutes who already have training to go into daycare settings,

076preschool settings and provide substitute service um substitute services for the teachers and the assistants in those buildings. Uh once we started exploring um the EECC substitutes with Kelly services, we realized that we would have to create a whole new pool of applicants there. we would have to provide training for all of those applicants because uh being that our preschool is um highly certified. Anybody who works there, including a substitute, also has to have that training. Thankfully, uh the Smart Start child care uh pool of of substitutes already has this training under their belts. Um so, we have worked that out with Kelly. they are more than happy to not um have to do that training with an additional pool of substitutes there. And what we're asking for you to do is approve this agreement. I'm

077asking you to do it with the redline edits in it. We had not heard from Tina Peterson um who oversees who is the president and CEO of Community Foundation. We'd received an email back from her saying that she was out of the office for a period of time. I have since heard back from her and she said the redline edits are fine. Um, so I'm asking you to approve it with Christine's redline edits in it and give me permission to go ahead and remove those and send that over to the community foundation for a signature so that we can get that up and running as soon as possible for Heather and ECC. >> I move approval. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? It's not 300,000. >> No, it is it's $300. >> It is $300.

078Yes, it is not 300,000. It is a 0.0000. Um, and definitely a typo. That is not a comma there. You are not misreading that. >> Um, the $300 is for the registration fee. Um, and that pays for the Child Care Matters platform, which we would use to enter in any absences. It also pays for their marketing and onboarding cost. Um, we would be paying $17 an hour for those substitutes. Um, and basically what that looks like is we prepay those services. So, um, if you look a little bit further down, you would see things like placement packages. The platinum uh, would cost us $672. as we are bringing in substitutes, they would just reduce um our balance and pay those substitutes out of that. So, we would be paying a lump sum just to keep

079money in that account. Um and then we just continue to replenish that be build for that. Um it is not a reimbursement. It is not a uh bill us later. It is upfront. Um and then they pay them from there. >> Uh we would start probably with the platinum. the it's the biggest savings and given the amount of staff uh that we have CC that makes the most amount of sense for us. >> 48 daily placements. Yes. Yes. >> So it makes sense for us to go that route. Um and then we would continue to replenish that as needed. >> They're it's kind of like Kelly. They're going to do all the background checks. >> They do all the background checks, all of the training. They already have a pool of people. >> We pay

080them. We pay them. Yes. We pay upfront. >> Okay. >> And then they pay out of what we have paid them. And we make sure that we always have a balance in there to pay our substitutes. >> Same concept as Kelly except we don't pay up front of Kelly. >> Correct. >> Okay. Got it. All right. >> Yeah. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Motion carries. Now to the business managers report. >> Dr. Sanders and I have kind of spent the day talking about money. Um, one of my favorite topics in schools. Um, he's coming to work tomorrow and I'm playing golf. So, that's the good news. Um, I wanted to point out to you on the education fund and not a lot to say about the cash flows. They're they're going

081the way we thought they would go and uh doing okay. But on the first page under the education fund, looking at the very bottom right hand side in remaining appropriation, you'll see the 325,000 that's negative down there in the corner. uh at the October meeting, you will be uh given a series of resolutions to sign for the budget. One of those resolutions you'll get will be also for an additional appropriation in this fund. Uh we have to cover that 325,000. It's likely to grow because there's a few things that aren't in here yet in the expenses and that. So, uh, don't be surprised that you don't see a $600 $700,000 additional appropriation. That's appropriation. You've got the cash. That's not a problem. You just need the permission now to spend it. So, I just wanted

082to point that out to you. The operations fund is moving along fine. No problems there. So, just wanted you to to know that that additional appropriation is coming. increases will be reflected in the the next line up on the >> one of the reasons for um is one of the reasons for increasing the education budget >> uh $2 million because this budget's a little short. >> And that's not anybody's fault. It's simply when your enrollment's growing and the state's kicking in more money per child, you're going to get more money. But you don't always budget all of that because you don't know that until October 1st and your budget's almost done, >> right? >> So, it's kind of backwards, but that's the way we operate. >> Yeah. >> We also have before you a revised

083uh fund uh balance report uh that we caught an air uh the one that was included in the board packet. Uh so we had uh $17,041 uh from the formative assessment grant that was uh returned to the state and it was mistakenly taken out of the education fund and in instead of the taking the formative assessment fund to zero. Uh and so the the revised report here uh reflects those changes. Why did that revert back to the state? >> Uh because the the state we apply for the form of assessment grant and but but they are very restrictive in what assessments that you could purchase with those dollars. Those assessments didn't meet the needs of our school corporation, our students, and uh so we could not find a way to to spend those dollars. Jennifer,

084do you have anything you want to add to that? >> Frustrating part. Um I've sent a couple of emails to the state um because they are so restrictive. Um for example, they will only reimburse our reading assessments, our benchmark assessments K through two. We give those assessments all the way up through sixth grade. um because we know there are students who still have deficits in reading and we need to be able to screen those kids and find out exactly where those skill gaps are. Um my biggest concern with the state and the formative assessment grant is we are testing the kids I read three and third grade and that's a high target year but yet we're not paying for any reading assessments to actually screen those students. So the K2 does not make sense with

085that. Um we uh also buy screeners for math. um they don't provide anything for that. So, we're doing what is best for students and we're providing our teachers with the data that they need to be able to teach the students. Um but the frustrating part is that this grant is so restrictive um that what we can ask for in terms of reimbursement is is very minimal. Um in fact, we can't ask for anything in reimbursement grades three through eight. Uh the next grade level that we can ask for reimbursement on is the PSAT uh which we give in nine and 10. Um and we can ask for reimbursement on that. Um so for the past several years we've been using the remainder of the formative assessment grant from the previous year to purchase what we

086need for the current year. Um and Debbie and I made the decision that instead of continuing to be in a rears with those purchases and those funds, we would go ahead and this year we would send back the remainder and start fresh with this year's formative assessment grant and get back on track. Um so it kills me to send a check back to them of that um enormous amount, but unfortunately until they start to open those funds up to allow us to buy some different things, um that's the situation that we're in. You're saying we should do something that makes sense. >> We should do something that makes sense there, Mr. Deamas. >> Yeah. >> I'm not expecting it. So, >> I'm not expecting to see that $17,000 come back in any other way. >>

087Um, but we have certainly spent that on assessments. Um, like I said, we're doing what's right by our kids. Um, I just would like to see some of those things change at the state level so that um, we see some of that reimbursement actually matter there. >> We've already been approved for this year's formative assessment grant and we were able to put in what we do use. Um, and that was when I provided my feedback to the state at the end of that grant um, as far as where the deficits are um, in the funding. >> And you might as well continue with the assistant superintendent of student. >> Okay, some quick updates and it's all on one page. Um, excited to say we have 43 staff members. Um, that is number does not include

088the bus drivers because all of our bus drivers completed TBRRI training that is trustbased relational interventions. Uh, before school started, we've added 43 more staff members uh who completed the training in September. Uh the next two days will be the second training that we're offering. Um TBRRI is a practice that we use across the board with all of our students. It's really um the way that I describe it to new employees is it allows us to think through the lens with students, not about what's wrong with you, not about um how can I punish you for what you're doing, but thinking more through the lens of what's happened to you. um how can I approach this with care instead of approaching it with a punitive response? And so it really shifts the way that we

089think about our students when we see behaviors that are less than desirable. Um the MClass Dibbles assessments uh talking about formative assessment there h those have been completed in K through five intervention groups are up and running uh for those skill gaps in reading. We are finishing up all of our dyslexia screeners as well. Um, and then that notification will go out to parents if we are seeing some red flags related to dyslexia. The title grant pre-application's been approved. That's a a big deal. So, now we're starting to work on budgets and applications for title one, title two, and title 4. Uh, title three, not much we can do there. Budget's already um that big hefty $1,220. Uh, so not a lot I can do there except submit the application for it. Uh, we're excited

090in a couple of months for you to see the Edgewood Career Readiness Magazine. This will be, I said, emailed, but it will actually be mailed out to our families. They will get a print copy of that. Um, it is being created by our Mustang marketing team. um as well as uh members of our admin and staff members across all five of our buildings working on that so that we can try to put into words what you saw tonight with these junior high and high school students. Um I I still can't figure out how to put it into words. Mallerie Wilkkey did a much better job with that than I ever could. Um, but we're hoping that we can really define this and what we're doing here at Edgewood and why it's different from what's happening

091across our county, even really across our region. Um, I didn't want to ask Mr. MG and put him on the spot to say that um, Edgewood is innovating here, but I think we all heard Edgewood is innovating in terms of how we are getting uh, students into our pathways and the pathways that we're providing. Uh we had an amazing meeting this morning with our junior high and our high school team. We sat around a table and we had counselors, we had administrators, and we were talking about the pathways that we're offering. And we said when we started this journey a couple of years ago, if we start offering certain pathways, if you build it, they will come. They are coming. Um thanks to the work that the junior high is doing by providing exploration through

092electives. Um, we now are looking at adding third courses onto our engineering pathway, our uh, IT operations pathway. Uh, we're looking at expanding the pathway that would work with Boston Scientific and Cook. That's a smart manufacturing pathway. And, uh, we're really hoping we can get some exercise science in there. Uh we have a huge program here at Edgewood related to sports performance which tends to see uh more of our students interested in physical therapy, athletic training, um those occupations after they leave high school. We have the biomedical pathway which is where we tend to direct most of those students into. But there is a very specific pathway that is just for um that group of careers down the road, that cluster. Um so it was an amazing meeting. Uh it was probably one of my

093favorite meetings I've had here at Edgewood. Just the collaboration between those two buildings and thinking about how we are building this for our students. Uh curriculum update there. We made the final payment to McGreel Hill. Just like Paul was saying, we're going to see that increase. Um $125,692.93 for the final reveal math purchase. We are in our third year with Reveal Math, which means we have three more years with that curriculum K through 12. Um, we are adjusting purchases for the following years to account for uh, payment plans that we've already committed to. Um, so Amplify CKLA, that's the K through5 reading program that we're using. We will have two more payments coming out for that in June 2026. So I've already figured that into an estimated budget there again in June 2028, working off

094an estimated budget and including that in there. And then I included the McGril McGraw Hill Science uh which you improve approved this evening. Um again I'm adjusting those purchases so that I can make sure that we are well within our budget for curriculum in terms of what the state gives us um and making sure that we are not putting too many of these larger payments um into one year. So if you see below there you can see date for new adoption. Uh next year we will have to look at ELA 6 through 8. Uh we will get a break 27 and 28 for adoption. 28 and 29 we'll be looking at social studies again for 6 through 8. 29 and 30 that's going to be math adoption again. 2031 and 31 uh we'll be coming

095back to that reading adoption uh for K through five. And then we're coming full circle after that six-year adoption back into social studies at the high school, science six through eight. Um, the reason you don't see every grade level or every subject in there goes back to Brad's question earlier. We don't put all of these into multi-year adoptions. A lot of these are annual costs that we can't necessarily pay out. Um, in addition, some of these are costs that we don't want to put into multi-year adoptions, not knowing exactly what the um, universities that we partner with would do um, with some of those higher level courses. Um, so I feel good about where we are with our curriculum budget moving forward. Um, and I am very hopeful that the state now after getting two

096years worth of data, we will see an increase in the amount of money that we get per student. Um, I know that every district I've talked to is spending more in curriculum uh than the state is giving them. So, I'm hopeful that the state will maybe take our $17,000 and other districts money that they also sent back and maybe allocate that back through curriculum in some way. Hopeful. Um, but I'm not keeping my fingers too tightly crossed there. So, we will receive another payment uh from the state in December. Um, and that will be our allocation for fiscal year 2026. Um, so I'm already looking ahead to those payments and starting to estimate those into uh fiscal year 2026's budget. >> Thank you very much. And now I believe we're out of time. We can't

097go >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. So, we >> says, "Are you finished now, Jen? You finished, JB?" >> Okay. Now, on to the superintendent's report. >> Well, I have some good stuff to talk about. So, uh this will hopefully go fast for you. Uh last uh Thursday night we uh participated uh in the Bloomington Area Chamber of Commerce awards dinner and we uh they we had two teachers who were recognized for educator of the year uh D Minnik uh who's a special education teacher at EPS and Christina Cen who's a fifth grade teacher at EIS. And we have a video uh that was uh presented that night in their honor. So uh we're gonna watch it. [Music] I chose the field of education when I was a cadet teacher, a senior in high school. It

098was one of my classes and I got to see Mrs. Owen interact with students and wanted to be in that role and wanted, you know, to be able to inspire kids. I feel like I always knew that I wanted to be a teacher just from the time that I started school. I liked going to school. I had teachers who I really feel like I connected with students. I think being a kid is hard and just having someone who gets it and makes those connections and helps you to be successful and be confident and um you know want to do it. And so I just always thought that's what I want to do. I chose education because I had a lot of really awesome teachers growing up that really inspired me and they were really fun,

099really creative. I really enjoy being in their class teacher. I also really enjoy the challenges every day and every day something new. You don't get bored working with kids, watching them grow, watching them develop into the people they were meant to be. My mom was a teacher for many, many years and I spent several hours in the summer there helping her in her classroom and it was really really fun. I realized that I really liked doing those things and organizing classrooms. And I also saw all of the joy on little kids faces whenever they would see her out in the public. Um, and I've been able to watch her develop lifelong friends across her career and the people that she worked with and collaborated with. It's just really special. What I would say to someone

100entering the field of education today is to not give up. It can be really challenging. You um your co-workers that you can count on that you can learn from and hang in there. You have to just remember that we need passionate teachers. We need dedicated teachers more than ever right now. So, keep going, keep trying, and you have to remember that every child that steps foot in your classroom is someone's whole world and you're in charge of their growth and development. First of all, do it. Join education. Don't be afraid to to come into the field of education because it's really rewarding. I also say never forget what it's like to be a learner, what it's like to be a student. And then as a principal, never forget what it's like to be a teacher.

101Keep those perspectives in mind whenever you're making decisions. I would say patience. Patience is very important with colleagues, with the education system, with the students. The decisions that we make are so important. You don't want to make decisions before you think about it. I also would say setting boundaries. It's very easy as a teacher to just get overwhelmed with the workload. Um, things aren't getting. There's not enough So, you want to take everything home with you and work at home. Um, just set boundaries. Don't work 24 hours a day. You can't you can't get by like that and you're going to burn out. You're going to be exhausted and overwhelmed. So, if it doesn't get done right now, it's okay. You know, you'll get done what you need to get done. I would tell younger

102teachers coming into the field at this time that all kids have some good in them and to work and find what they can be successful with. The most rewarding part of my profession is seeing the light bulb come on for kids when they are learning and you see it happen and when former students come back and tell you how much you meant to them. [Music] Yes, we certainly want [Music] All right. Very good. So, we congratulate D and Christina and also the educator educators of the year from MCC. It was just a great night celebrating education. Uh the uh Edgewood uh community involvement. Uh I'd like to share a little bit about that. The uh Monroe County Fall Festival was a great success. We thank all the volunteers who put on the festival. Uh RBB

103had a tremendous presence uh in the opening ceremony with our choirs singing. Uh we had a booth that had got a lot of uh visitors. and we were well represented in the parade and so uh just very proud uh time for our school corporation. I'd like to recognize uh all those people who help with the dollars for scholars race. Uh we raised over $16,000 for the Edgewood scholarships and uh that's just amazing. And then I just want to inform the board that uh our uh school safety grant was approved uh and it went up a little bit. So that was good up to 92,500. And of course that helps uh pay for uh two of our school resource officers. We have three as you know. Uh but uh the 92,500 goes a long way for

104paying for two of them. So we appreciate that grant. Uh coming up on uh September 25th, I'm going to have our soup with the soup. And uh we sent out an invitation to our parents and we have 27 who responded uh who are going to come uh to the high school commons that night. uh and at 5:30 we'll we'll have uh soup uh and enjoy dinner together and then move into the auditorium and uh just have a discussion. Uh we asked the the parents and the sign up form to list some topics they would like to talk about. So obviously we're not going to be able to get to all of those. So, we're going to create a handout to capture most of them and then have a conversation about some of the major uh

105topics. So, the board, you're welcome to come to that if you would like. uh September 25th at 5:30 and then on October 23rd uh 5:30 is our Edgewood showcase and we'll have these uh yard signs that will uh be placed around town uh trying to invite the community uh to come to our Edgewood showcase. And of course uh we uh do that because we want to show off uh uh our awesome students and facilities and programs. And the last two years it's been a great success. This year we want to uh focus on uh the fieldhouse which will be uh finished enough uh uh for us to have uh have the a group in there that night and also our preschool. Uh we'll have a a bus stop uh specifically down there for people to

106tour our new Edgewood Showcase. Uh Ed, I mean, sorry, our new uh preschool. Uh couple other things real quick. Uh the uh enrollment uh continues to hold steady. Uh as of today, we have uh 2,693 uh students enrolled. I think that's up a few students from last time I shared that with you. So, uh as far as uh comparing it to last year, uh last year's uh February ADM, uh we're up 21 from that and uh up 18 from last fall's ADM. So, as long as we stay up uh I told uh I went over to the high school and told Mrs. Waterford, don't let anybody else withdraw. We like this number. Um, and um, I just want to thank uh, Rick for all he does and for being here tonight and uh, all of

107our principles. It's good to see Mr. Key here. Yeah, he's a busy guy. Uh, just uh, making great things happen over at the high school and Brandy and Ty and and uh, Noah. Uh, just appreciate the you guys actually stay for my report. So, thank you. coming from EJHS. >> Oh, about the certification. Yeah. So, Oh, yeah. I should have put that on here. Um, so the junior high was the the first to the finish line in terms of uh submitting for level one certification and uh high school's not far behind and and EIS is not far behind them. And And so, uh, they they're all working super hard on this. We've had some great meetings, uh, this week and and, uh, uh, all the the school improvement teams and the the administrators are, uh,

108making things happen. And, uh, and I didn't mean to leave out EPS, if I did, that they're all doing a great job. and and we're we're hoping to take uh some people down to San Antonio in uh January and uh accept that level one certification. So comments first, I'd like to introduce Ty Mcinness, my co-president. Um, I just have appreciated working with him in this role as we we're in the trenches navigating these new roles and and I think we're working very well together. Um, bargaining starts next week. Um, talk about another new role. So, we have a pretty much brand new bargaining team. We have a new uniserve director, uh, Christy Billings. She was president in Brown County and then has served in many different roles at the ISTA. Um, so she's taken over

109for Nancy. We met with her yesterday and um we've got a good plan. I feel like this year, you know, our goal was really just making sure we were communicating with our members and and I feel like we've got a really good we've gotten a lot of feedback from our members through face-to-face meetings and surveys. And I feel like going into this session, we know what members want. Um, and then the other the other hot topic I I this is the one night I don't think I really want to follow you, Dr. Sanders, because uh TAG teacher appreciation grant has been a hot topic and uh that came up in our association meeting with Dr. Sanders and Mrs. Barrett last week. We've we sent um a memo to our members and then of course Friday

110they gave us the updates and thank you Mr. Tucker. Uh Ty and I were looking at those updates before the meeting started and so You know, Indiana does not want to appreciate all teachers anymore. They've made their process very selective and they want to know by October 3rd what schools are doing uh what corporations are doing. So, we have already sent an email to our members letting them know we need to meet ASAP to get their feedback um because Dr. Sanders and Mrs. Barrett would like that. So, uh, yeah, they're they're wanting to give it to 20% of the teachers in the corporation and very very um, you know, just kind of box checking. So, to be continued of where that will take us. >> Not only that, we were supposed to get these guidelines

111uh, September 1st and we just got them and we only have a couple weeks to decide what we want to do. That's not a good way to make good decisions. So, so yeah, that's all we have. Do you have anything? Um just to continue on the uh TAG grant uh the general I don't know reasoning or logic behind ISTA's opposition uh to accepting the money is that because it is limited to 20% of teachers. Um we believe that this will create an environment of competition rather than collaboration. And uh we know that the counterargument to that would be well why do we want to leave this money on the table? Um and it's just kind of a monkeykey's paw situation where we believe that it's more trouble than it's worth. >> Yes. >> Yeah. It's

112definitely so counterintuitive. I just don't understand it. Don't understand it. Okay. Um, for board member comments, we'll start with Mr. House. >> Well, just to pile on, I I I'm afraid I do understand why they're doing it. It's not to help teachers or schools, but that's uh that's my own take on it. Um, welcome, Ty. I'm I'm glad you've joined us and another voice and uh it's I've I've been in that position, so I know how you feel. Um, and also welcome to Christy. I haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but I I had heard the name a couple of times. So, uh, congratulations to De and Chris on their award. And, uh, we are going to miss Becky mess miss Becky Pitman. Uh, she's been just a a rock for a number

113of years and and I I really appreciate everything she's done. Uh I was at the ISBA convention the last fall conference the last couple of days and uh among other things I I got a lot out of it but one of the things I kept hearing over and over was what other schools are doing with graduation pathways and it made me feel good because I feel that we're ahead of the curve on a lot of that stuff and hearing the kids tonight just really reinforced that. So I'm I'm just very thankful for that. Uh, I want to congratulate coach Fischer for the best start to a football season we've had in a number of years. And um, I did get a chance to go to the fall festival and uh, had a great time. Got

114us got to see a lot of former students who were bringing their children along with them and their children all knew Mrs. Barrett, but the parents I they recognized me. So, it was it it was a good time. Thank you for attending the ISBA. >> No, it was it was definitely worthwhile. >> And Mr. Tucker, >> I just reiterate what Mr. Deas said. I was with him yesterday at the ISBA conference and we're pretty blessed here right now from talking to some of our colleagues around the state. We just have to continue to work work together. the tag grant tag grant has me concerns after reading some of the guidelines behind it and basically like uh Mr. McInness said you're you're trying to segregate the 2080 rule and that's going to be that's going to

115be tough. Um so I I hope that the ISTA could work with the Dr. Sanders administration and it's a catch 22. Do you leave it on the table or do you take it? But if you don't take it, I got a feeling I know where that money is going to go. And I don't like that option either, but I'll leave that for another day. Um, so but but good luck. Good luck with getting that together. Welcome, Ty. Most meetings are four and a half hours, so a short meeting tonight. Kudos kudos to Mr. Wrenchler and his crew if they are indeed ahead of the high school, which >> no pressure. Okay. All right. Wait a minute. But congrats to Chris. Yeah. Miss Miss Cen and and and to Miss Minnik. Um two two great teachers.

116And yeah, when I saw that about Miss Pitman, she was one of the first people I met in 1999. She was my neighbor and she has a love for kids and and she's she transitioned her career and and extended it and and I wish her the best. So, thank you. >> Yes. Surely congratulations to coach Fiser. What a great South Putham game. most exciting game I've ever been to. So, uh, really great. Uh, never ceases to amaze me their how our students carry themselves, how they speak, and, you know, how they present themselves. What a great what a great showcase they had there. >> Uh, just I'm just thankful and like Brad, I'm just thankful for what we've got. I don't mean that in a negative way. I mean that in a positive way. I

117think we're way ahead of the way ahead of the curve. I think our our guidance and our our leadership has been the best we've had in the 25 years I've been here. So on the board anyway. So again, thank you. >> I says everything board gets to me. Um so I you know agree with everything that's been said so far. Um, I will say on the TAG grant, I do not want to pit teachers against each other and I I I want there to be collaboration. I want them to work together uh because that's what's best for kids. Um, and uh so uh the junior high, I mean, they did a great job. The high school >> uh students did a great job tonight and it was it was eye opening. I didn't realize I

118knew that, you know, there that there would be uh speakers coming in and things like that. I did not know about the collaboration between the junior high and high school. So to learn that tonight was just very powerful. So I really appreciate all that. Um and uh as we're giving thank yous out, I want to thank Christine and she works so hard. we have so many agreements and and other things and policies going on and she's always right there to lead us in the right direction and we appreciate her. We appreciate our friends at Cats and coming out and taking good care of us and uh uh keeping us uh out there in the in in the public's eye and and so that they know what we're doing. So, appreciate all of you and this

119meeting is adjourned. Have a good night. [Music]