001I will call this meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Welcome to the August 2025 regular school board meeting of the school corporation and let the record reflect that um all board members are present with the exception of Brad Tucker. Um and are there any visitor comments? No. Okay. Then we have the consent agenda. There's approval of minutes. Um on July 15th, we had three meetings. Uh the regular board meeting, the second preliminary determination hearing, and the public hearing uh on the bonds. And for financial, we have the treasures report for July
002of 2025. And Mr. Dal, the claim, please. >> Thank you, Mr. President >> for gross wages on 74 2025 $631,28266 gross wages on July 18th 2025 593,221.71 for a total of 1,224,54.37 for prepays on through 71 through 731 3,41,365.13 for regular vouchers 819 2025 for 61613,296.84 a total of 4,14,66197 for a grand total of 5,239166.34. Thank you sir. >> Thank you. Um, we have personnel resignations, right, retirements, non-renewals, leaves, and terminations. C1 through 30 and D, uh, personnel appointments, uh, transfers 1 through 54. You can tell where to start school. And for donations, we have several uh, supplies to Mrs. Truax's class uh, room from the project birthday surprises from donor's choose. There was a $100 to the Edgewood Foodies from the exceptional gate gateaways getaways. Oh, sorry. Getaways for foodies program. A $100 to
003the Edgewood Foodies from the Positive Progression LLC for the foodies program and $500 to Edgewood Foodies from Milestone Contractors LP for the foodies program. Um there is also one outofstate overnight field trip and so uh Dr. Sanders, would you like to explain that one? >> Sure. We have our uh German students uh going to uh Germany next summer. Uh Amy Norris is here. Uh Amy, you want to come up and say anything about the trip? >> Sure. >> Um I I don't look at anything before I came. I don't remember if it was >> Oh. It's been a long time since it's been three years since I've been to a board meeting. Um, >> I don't remember if this is my seventh or eighth trip with students, but we've had a partnership with um the
004Gimnazium Gorganum in Lingan in Germany, which is in northwestern Germany. And that partnership has been going on since long before I was here. Um, it started in the 80s and I've just continued that. Um, we travel, we will travel there for two weeks, stay with host families. I've already I've been in contact with the teacher that I work with. Um, I plan um kind of everything on this end and she helps me to plan everything on that end. Um, she helps organize the the buses, any of the field trips that we take um while we're there and the host families. So, we sort of, you know, vet the host families. They're all families that those teachers that the English teachers know that we're placing kids with. Um I organize the airfare and then we also
005so we spend like nine days with um families and Lingan doing day trips um with buses and then we will spend the last three nights in Berlin um at a hostel that's close to the train station. Nothing like any murder mystery movies you may have seen. Um and then we'll fly back from Berlin. So, I've done the trip several times. Um, it will be um sophomores through seniors and they have to still be continuing to take German, but the seniors are able to go after they graduate. They just still have to follow all of the normal school rules. So, I haven't had any major trouble in all of my trips. Knock on wood. Um, so and I anticipate actually I just heard from the teacher this week that they will then come back and visit
006not next fall, not in the fall of 26, but in the fall of 27. So probably September of 27 that they'll be coming back this way and then we reciprocate. I plan field trips for them here. Sort of same thing. >> But I think it's a great um it's a great benefit for the students as far as trips go. it um is relatively low in cost when you compare it to some of the other trips that people take when using a travel company. I do have travel insurance. I take out travel insurance actually with a German company so that it's a lot easier to deal with if we have any issues in Germany. It's easier not to have to deal with our insurance and try to make it work, but we have travel insurance um
007that the kids pay for while we're there. So, yeah, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. How many students do you have going this? >> Well, I haven't put it out there yet. In fact, I heard just today a senior was like, "Well, we don't know if we're going for it." Norris hasn't said anything about the trip, but I was waiting to make sure that everything was a go. Um, I cannot take any more than 25. Last time I had 21, and I know a lot of kids who want to go um and whose families have kind of planned for it the past few years. So, I would expect that I will be pretty close to 25. Any more than that, I mean, even 25 is a lot to herd through. um spaces.
008But yes, I'll have some chaperons going with me. >> Y know, I'm really glad that Amy came tonight to talk about this because it gives me an opportunity to brag on her as a teacher at Edgewood High School. She's one of our best and not just in teaching her content area, but the impact she has throughout the whole high school. So, >> Thank you, Amy. >> I appreciate that. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um I'll ask for a motion on the consent agenda. >> I'll second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> Motion carries. Uh Dr. Sanders have two supplemental personnel reports. >> Yes. So, uh, we are recommending, uh, Justin Barger tonight, uh, to be a special educational, uh, instructional assistant at Edgewood Junior
009High School and also 7th grade boys basketball coach. Uh, Indiana Code 20-26-5-11.2 two requires any school personnel hired after June 30th, 2023 who have certain offenses on their background check to be voted on and approved uh by the school board in a separate separate agenda item. Justin has worked with us before and so uh we recommend your approval. >> Approval second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you. And now we are going to get a construction update. Martin Truth is here from Skilman and he has a really good report for us tonight. >> I almost saw the agenda. I thought it'd be 8:00 by the time I got up here. Um these are the fun ones. a construction update when we can come in and
010say we made it. Um, so we got done done in time. I'd really like to um Vicki was real in instrumental getting the kitchen stuff pulled together and of course Heather was driving all the her um certifications and all that type of thing. So they're they're real important in getting this all pulled together. >> Wow. Um, starting at the beginning. >> I couldn't get it. It was frozen. It won't go. It won't go forward. >> Uhoh. >> We have to go through this backwards. >> There we go. >> All right. We'll stop. Um, in the report I I kind of go through and and maybe let you guys at your leisure kind of go through the individual pieces that that we talk about, but this is our chance from Skumman to brag about it. Um,
011we did get it done and we got it done on time and we got everybody moved in. So, I wasn't real sure about that in January. So, feel pretty good about it. This is a really nice building. I think most of you been through it, but we took some pictures just to show it off anyway and kind of give kudos to Lancer um and Misha and his crew because they they did a really nice job of designing this thing. >> And Dan Drews uh did the murals did the murals. >> They're beautiful. >> Awesome work. >> Yeah, those are they're striking murals. Um, the one on the left is the main corridor as you come in and the one on the right is next to the gymnasium, which those have to be really fun for
012the kids. Um, what we're calling the gymnasium is the east side of the big community room. So, we have the gym. They've got equipment set up in there. Lots of colors. the cafeteria on the other side. What you're seeing in the Cameron did kind of a weird thing with the picture. Uh that's actually just a regular grill in the background that into the kitchen. Um but you can see the kitchen tables set up lots and lots and lots of daylight in the space. The kitchen um all the stainless steel. Again, Vicky was out there with the board of health a couple times. um and they approved it. Um really no issues at all. So that's already an up and going toilet rooms. Um that's the main toilet room at the main entry. So that would
013be the one your public would probably use the most of the time. Again, there what's really impressive is the amount of daylighting in there. The room on the um on the right is one of the three daycare rooms. Um the one on the I'm sorry on the left. >> The one on the right is a typical classroom. So we've got lots of of chairs, tables, and again lots of daylight. I'm not going to go through each one of these. The main thing we've got to do is finish the punch. One thing I did want to bring up is um we ran into a little bitty snag at the playground when they're installing the playground. The area once they got the curb around it, it was holding water, so we had to go back in and
014put drainage in. I talked to the playground installer today and he expected to finish today and the only caveat is it needs to set a couple days because it's a poured surface before they actually start using it. I think he said I think he said Monday. Um but that's one of the last things that's are ready to go. Our guy Dale on site worked a lot with the town of Ellletzville um to get through the permitting and occupancy and that all worked just fine as we expected. It was the last couple weeks we're getting permits and occupancies and all that type of thing, but it all worked out. um early childhood center. Um we still need to fine-tune the the heating and cooling. It's out. It's working. Um the last I knew there is still
015one piece of countertop equipment that needed lighting um and um complete installation of room signage. So that was a real fun one. This is also a fun one. Um, the Edgewood High School, the I guess we're now calling it the Fieldhouse. >> And you can see in the early rendering there is a lot of color to it. A lot of bright red to it. And in the next slide, >> you will see >> those horses are going to be up on top, >> way up high. >> Oh, okay. Um, so you see the start, we're starting to put the color on the on the building. That's kind of from the northwest corner. What we've done in the last few days is we or a few days few weeks is we did get the speed humps
016in ballard co covers um pretty much complete on the site work the building um it's it's all flashed in and dried in. Um, we did put the storefront at the pool and we're com continuing to work on interior drywall. Um, next 60 days, um, complete the interior hallway. We've still got to put the sock duct, the cloth duct in. Um, water's all tied in, electrical rough ends in. And that's what it looks like now. So, you're seeing um that that's all our multiple ballards we have on the west side where you where you're coming in from the west. Um and you're starting to see some of the red color in it. >> Inside you're seeing the colored panels um next to the windows. So, some color coming into it. the basketball goals, all that type
017of thing are in. The last thing we're going to do is put the flooring in. So, right now, you don't see the duct sock. You don't see the cloth ventilation. Um, that'll go in. All the lights will go in. All that type of thing. And then we'll put the floor in last. I think this slide, the main thing we're trying to do is I understand it's important to try to have it ready to go for the hilly hund. Um, so we're pushing in that direction. Uh, renovations, move the temporary fence. We've got all the phase work, I believe, through phase eight at this point. Starting on phase nine. >> We started phase 9. >> Yeah. And phase 9 is the area up by the office, so it's not classroom space. Um, still has some work
018to do with the choir room. The band room is complete. Um, always like to show the chaos of construction. kitchen is is one of our main thrusts right now. I don't know that we're going to have that ready by the hilly hundred. Um but that's kind of the window we're looking for. We are and I always like to say this, we are ahead of schedule. Um at this point, so you start to see the kitchen and the kitchen duct work going in. One of the um challenging parts is getting the um concrete risers out of the choir room. So, you can see what what a chaotic mess that is, but the choir room floor is in at this point. So, I'm sorry, the band room floor is in at this point. Um and I wanted
019an updated shot of that, but Dale didn't get that for me. But, um band room is now occupied. Um, next 30 days we need to finish the exterior finishes. We need to finish the coiling grills at the cafeteria. Um, we still got some detailing to do, print shop. We've got the flooring in at the at the um cafeteria except for the area that's going to be demoed as we demo the kitchen. Um, we need to finish the finish the finishes at choir and then of course we got to do the kitchen mechanical and electrical. Um, main gym sound systems close and we're starting to frame the phase 9 rooms as soon as the demo's done and that phase 9 will go pretty quickly. Um, Edgewood Primary Schools, pretty minimal slides on these, completed the phased
020work and turned over for use. Um, so that's done and turned over. One of our our challenges at the primary school is we had put all of the toilet rooms into the summer um because they didn't want to be without toilet rooms. We're we're done except for we have um a little bit of tile work to do in one of the toilet rooms, but it's usable. So, all the toilet rooms are usable. Um again, pretty minimal slide here. Um at the primary school, we have to complete the walkoff carpet at the entries and and our punch list items. Um intermediate school is going to look pretty close to the um primary school. It's completed and turned over for use. Um again, we have punch list items. And here's some typical classrooms or atypical classroom. Um
021so you can see the new finishes and they're all moved in and have everything up on the walls. Um we do need to complete the walk-off carpet and we'll complete punch work. Um Dale, our field guy, will be out in the trailer. Um and Jerry, I think we decided we're going to try to leave the tra trailer there on the site. Um he'll be out in the trailer as we finish the high school work. Um so with that, he'll be able to monitor the punch list and make sure the punch list gets done and kind of brag on him. He's a he's a pretty hard driver. Um, so we should have everything done as soon as we can turn over the new kitchen. We'll take the old kitchen and we'll do demo in the old
022kitchen. Um, so obviously we've got to have new kitchen up and running, able to serve out of it before we do the demo. That'll be sometime in October. Um, we'd like to have it for Hillyund, but I think that's maybe wishful thinking. probably work out of the old kitchen for the hill. >> Yeah. >> So, what uh has been determined to be done about the crayon floor or the floor in the crayon hallway at EPS that was damaged? >> The I'm sorry, >> the floor in the crayon hallway at the EPS that was damaged. >> That'll that'll be repaired and it'll be back charged to the contractor. I didn't know if they had a schedule or plan. >> Um I imagine Dale does, but frankly I don't know. >> So I think the plan is
023uh >> fall break. I think >> they put the wax on it uh in order to to go on half school and I think the plan is to come back over fall break >> and finish it. >> Okay. Yeah. I didn't know if it was. >> They'll have to take it all the way down and grind the floor and uh uh we've been told that it could be done within a week. So, >> okay. Yeah. I wasn't sure if it could be done then or if it to be done over Christmas break or what, winter break or what? So, >> well, the bottom line is uh we've been assured that it's in the end it's going to be fixed to our satisfaction. So, Okay. All right. Any other questions? >> Oh, just the the preschool
024was it was so exciting and the kids were just the ones that were coming in saying they they love it. It is >> We do a lot of work in high schools and >> to walk in there and they see some guys. >> Yes. >> It's fun to watch them. >> And we had they were certainly dressed a thing. I think we had a pair of twins at the ribbon cutting. So, that was kind of >> It's real different from working with the older kids, you know. >> Dan Drews that did the uh uh the murals was his in my sophomore English class. >> Oh. >> A few years ago. >> Yeah. >> And uh he was one of those students that even though it was an English class, he was constantly drawing. And I
025figured out early on I just needed to let him draw. And I guess it worked out. Okay. >> Amazing how quickly he pulled those together. >> So, thank you so much. We appreciate the report. >> Well, thank goodness. >> So, very good. Thank you. >> Well, Dr. Sanders, if there aren't any other questions, I may try to beat the storms. >> That's fine. Good luck here. Oh. Um, did we want to talk about playground or is that later in the >> Yeah, I've got on agenda later on, but I think we'll be okay. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, I appreciate it and >> have a good evening. >> Yeah, >> we we'll see you. >> Drive carefully. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um, really good good update. That's preschool is just amazing. um consideration
026to approve advertisement of the 2026 uh budget. We have Paul Federer here to walk us through. >> You got it. you have a a a folder in front of you that has the budget forms that are on Gateway and they're printed out and I'm sure you've seen these before and so try not to spend too much time on those. In the left hand inside cover, I wanted you to see some forms that I printed off separately. And the one on top that has 225 on it, 2025. The one under it has 2026. Pull those out of your folder a minute. Um, that's form three and it is very important because it's the only one that's advertised on Gateway. It's the only one we advertise as as pertaining to the budget, but it does give you
027a a good feel for a couple of things that have happened here. And right towards the middle of each one of them, there's a box that says estimated school operations maximum levy. And next to that in 2026, you see 5,847,000. And in the other one you see 5,623,000. That's the 4% increase that the state is giving us this year for operations. You've heard me say, I think probably that in 27 and 28 that's been zeroed away. So we'll we'll have to keep an eye on that because you may not see that 4% again. But that is allowed in 26, which helps us a little bit because the box right under that says property tax cap credit estimate. Compare those two numbers. You look at 2025, you're looking at $220,000. I think the actual number was
028about $226,000. This year, the estimated tax credit is 1,426,000. I think from what I uh gather when I looked at the website today and they just released some things yesterday about this that about 600,000 of that 1.4 is from property tax caps. So last year it was a little over 200,000. This year that number would have been 600,000. And on top of that, now you have what the taxpayers are getting back in the new legislation or not paying is an additional 800,000. And that's factored into that gives you the 1.4 million. Now, that's going to be a little hard to swallow. That's a lot of lot of money. And when you look at our budget in and operations, and most of that's going to come from operations, there isn't any other place really to to
029take it. You're you're looking at at over a million dollars and and it'll easy, this is an estimate, but it'll easily be over a million dollars somewhere in there. They're probably pretty accurate with that number. They know who pays taxes. They know how much money they get. They know what that 10%'s going to do. And so they're not very far off. Wanted to point that out to you and that's why I gave you these two forms. It does show you the striking difference now between 25 and 26 with that legislation. The other sheet I gave you I wanted you to see is kind of a a duplicate of those two. But it's sometimes easier to wrap your head around a budget if you can look at history. And I'm a big fan of history. I
030never do a budget unless I thoroughly look at the previous year or two because budgets don't change a lot. They'll grow some. Uh maybe you flatline one once in a while, but they're they don't change much. So as I look at debt service, education, and operations, and those are the three big ones that you have. If I looked at the two I think it's interesting to see the advertising and that's the top portion 2025 compared to 2026. There's not a lot of difference in debt service. Um, Matt had in the debt service fund a $4 million placeholder, if you want to call it that, because he didn't know what the new debt was going to be in that anticipated new debt that was coming. So, he put that number in there as a maximum number
031and somewhere below that and zero, you're going you're going to take on possibility of new debt. But that gives you the flexibility to do that. So the debt service budget in 2000 advertised budget, they're about the same. The education fund is very different. And and I want to talk a little bit about that. Your education fund, when you look back at your cash flows, you see the education fund is going to miss the appropriation. It's in the red. Now, if you look, you got to understand cash is one thing. Permission to spend it is another. So, you got cash here and you you're okay there, but your appropriation is short in the general fund. It's about 20 million and it looks like you're going to spend maybe 20.7 20.8 by the end of the year.
032Uh it shows right now that you're several hundred,000 in the red in appropriation. It'll get worse before the end of the year. So, what you're going to face in the fall, sometime probably in October, is an additional appropriation to get that permission to spend the education money. Not a problem. You've got the cash. So, that that's kind of a formality at this point. But I up the 2026 budget by $2 million because I think that's closer to what you're going to spend in 2026 than 21 million or anything less than 22 million. You have the revenue to support that. I would be shocked if if they say you can't have that budget. I think it'll be right there because I think your revenue is going to be around 23 million. So, so we're okay there.
033But I wanted to point out why that jumped 2 million. You're short this year. We want to try to fix that in 2026. Okay. Then I put down the certified budget of 2025. You advertised 11.3 in the debt service fund, but your certified budget was only 10 point a little over 10 million. Again, that's because he had that placeholder in there that gives you the flexibility to set your debt where you you decide it's going to be and it can't it come out to be much shorter than you advertised, which is a good thing for the taxpayer, but that's that's at flexibility. The 2026 is still estimated at 116. That's that would be um if you bonded out an additional 4 million, if you went the full max, you're looking at at 11 a.5 million,
034something like that, which is a real increase. If if you do that percent, I think it shows on form three, if you go back to form three in 2026, it shows a 17% increase. And that's about right, 18%. If you went the full four million in debt service, you would increase the levy by 18%. That's a pretty big number. So, you want to remember that. Um, your certified levy. Um, if if you took the four million and you said, "We're going to do that." Okay. I want you to understand that your old levy in debt service was 9.8 million. your new levy would be 11.5. So there's a huge jump there. So that's kind of what you're focused on is where where do you want that number to be? And uh again uh if if
035you if you didn't do anything, you didn't increase it at all, that levy would drop down to about seven and a half million. So there you are with that that portion of it, too. So somewhere in here probably where you're going to end up. I can't give you that number. That's y'all's decision. And uh but I just want you to understand how all that plays plays together and and uh we've advertised the budget to cover whatever you want to do. Uh and you won't have any problems with that. But you're you're the one that's going to set the number eventually. Um, that's really kind of I don't want to spend an hour going through all these forms. They're very formal. They haven't changed in years. Form one, form two, form three, you know, I gave
036you form three. That's the one that's advertised. Your bus replacement plan, I've met with Audrey. um the capital projects plan. I've met with Rick and uh Arnold and and I've explained to them uh what could happen to the operations fund. I mean folks, um you tell me in operations what goes down in cost every year. What goes down? I I sat down today for about 20 minutes and I just went through that fund and I wrote down things that go up and it's all of it. >> Utilities, insurance, you name it. Price of buses, transportation costs, it all goes up practically every year. And so here's a fund that we're going to get into. So, it's going to be a challenge going forward how to handle that and we're going to get started right away.
037It's why the meeting with everybody is happening. I want people to start thinking about where they can save, how we can save, um because we're going to we're going to be forced to do that and what kind of cuts can we make. I don't have any other comments about this budget. I I think I've kind of hit the highlights on what could happen to debt service and uh why we increased the general fund $2 million and those are the two big changes. That's it. The rest of it is pretty neutral to whatever you've done in the past. So, with the operations fund dropping, with the changes uh that we're going to be receiving, does that part of that is going to possibly be transferring more from the education fund to the operations fund? >> You
038know, I didn't run the number, but you're only allowed to transfer 15%. You probably are under the 15% but not by much. Not by much. >> I think you transfer about 2.7 million now. So, you know, it's a nice thought. Um I I don't I don't worry about 2026. I'll be honest with you. I think that with that 4% increase that they're allowing that offsets some of that hit. you also have a cash reserve that's that's good in that fund. You're most likely going to get into that. So, and and we'll we'll kind of play that scenario the rest of this year looking at 2026 and 27 and what what that does every month and when when do we start getting into that cash reserve and what's that look like in December 31st of 2026?
039Because I've told Jerry, I worry about 2027. That's what I'm really worried about. The one that where do we zero out and and but maybe we can offset some of that with I think Audrey understands that we're not buying buses next year. I think she knows that and and we'll survive that for a while. I've been through that before. and um but we'll look for stuff like that. >> So, we need the board to approve advertising for this budget on Gateway and uh it'll the appropriate documents will be put on our website. >> I'll move approval of the advertising 2026 budget. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? I'm sure there will be as going forward, but at this point I think we're >> we see what we're up against and uh >> it's just disheartening.
040>> It is hard as we've worked at it. >> Let's hope that they figure out what is happening to us and make some changes. So, okay. All those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate that. Um, next is consideration to approve the adjunct teacher permit. >> Uh, yes. So, uh, this is, uh, had been a really an annual request to, uh, approve a adjunct teacher permit for Ken Gryle. Ken, uh, teaches the, uh, media, uh, production program at Edgewood Junior High School. It does an amazing job. Uh we uh submit the request for an adjunct teacher permit uh because uh uh Ken comes into this with uh expertise in this area and uh and he's done an amazing job like I said and so it's up to us
041to approve this up to you to approve this uh request for adjunct teacher permit for Ken Gryle. >> I'll move approval. I'll second it. Any discussion? >> He does do a terrific job. It's uh and what the kids are able to do is just amazing and it also feeds well into our high school program that's growing. >> Awesome. >> All those in favor say I. >> I oppose. Motion carries. Now it's consideration to approve a nutrition service uh student worker. >> Yes. So the nutrition services department uh Vicky Coffee is requesting to hire a student worker uh to assist with the vending machine duties. Uh this position was previously covered by uh a staff member in the nutrition services department. Uh and we would like to move to having a student do that. The pay
042rate will be similar to other student workers uh like we have in the coffee corral or the ILC. And so we recommend your approval. >> I'll move approval. >> I'll second. >> Move and seconded. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Now we're going to do the first reading for revisions to uh the Neola policies. Right. So, uh what we're uh asking the board to consider uh over the next month is revisions to uh Neola policies volume 37 number two and then they uh Niola put out a special update in July and uh so uh we would just ask the board to review uh those policies. Uh Christine has already done that and Jennifer Barrett has already done that. Uh we did make uh some adjustments after the
043board packet went out. So those were sent to you and I believe you have a copy here tonight. Uh over the next few weeks, if you read through those and you have a concern or uh question, uh let me know and uh and we'll make those whatever adjustments need to be made before the uh September school board meeting. So tonight, this is just a FYI uh for your information. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the next is consideration to approve the purchase of two school buses, which may be the last one for a while. >> Yeah. So, as Paul said, we had a conversation with Audrey Meyer. um given the uh financial uh and uh uh what what's going on financially across the state uh and trying to prepare for the future. Uh we've talked to
044Audrey about do we buy buses now or do we wait and uh we made a decision to go ahead and recommend uh two buses uh to the board tonight with the idea that we might not be able to buy them down the down the road. So, uh, basically we, uh, have these, uh, two quotes for you, uh, that came from, uh, the Central Indiana Education Service Center Cooperative, and it meets all bid requirements. Uh, the two buses that we would like to purchase, one is a 78 passenger IC Collins bus and the other is a 66 passenger IC Collins bus uh, from Midwest Transit Equipment. The 78 passenger bus will be a cost of $147,62 and the cost of the 66 passenger bus will be $145,613. And uh these buses will be uh purchased out
045of the G general obligation bond, not operation but out of the geo bond uh to help further protect the operations fund. Uh we went with IC Collins buses uh mainly uh they uh were uh they're able to be delivered in 6 to 8 months. The Bluebird buses had a window of 12 to 18 months and the Thomas buses were two years out. And uh uh not only that, but Audrey Meyers, our director of transportation, uh she has greater confidence in IC Collins buses and reported to me that uh that the parts uh if we do have any repairs that the parts for the IC Collins buses uh come to us at a cheaper rate. Uh these two buses do fall in line with the bus replacement plan and uh so I recommend your approval. I
046move approval of two buses. >> I'll second. >> Thank you. Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. Now that we got buses, let's look at bus routes. >> Yes. So uh this is basically uh a task that is completed every year. Obviously when uh we find out uh what students are are not coming and the students who are coming uh Audrey has to make uh adjustments to the bus routes and she maximizes uh the that the bus routes so that we're being as efficient as possible yet making sure that the buses aren't overcrowded. And uh so uh all these uh suggested recommended bus routes are were in your board packet and we recommend your approval. >> I'll move approval. >> A second move. >> Second.
047Any discussion. Thanks for all the work that goes into that. That's a that's a job to make sure it works out right. >> It's always fun read. >> Yeah. And making sure you have picking them up on the right side as safe as possible. So very good work. Okay. Uh hearing nothing further. All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. Motion carries. >> And now it's a medical services agreement with IU Health. Uh, so you I was wondering if you were uh if we're going to have any questions about this because you might think, well, wait, back in June, we uh approved an agreement with IU Health to provide uh an athletic trainer uh for uh Edgewood schools. Uh but uh we decided to move forward with another agreement because uh the first agreement
048provided us with one athletic trainer. So if we have multiple events on a given night, uh especially both high school and junior high, uh the athletic trainer uh just can't one cannot get to uh all places. And we want to make sure that we provide uh a adequate qu care for our athletes. And so this is a a second agreement. This agreement is specifically with the Edgewood Junior High School at the same rate as the agreement you approved back in June. This, however, is a one-year agreement and it's uh $45 per hour uh for services. Uh so I recommend your approval. >> I'll move approval. >> I'll second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? I'm glad we're this needed. >> Okay. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. Opposed. >> The motion carries.
049Um now we'll look at an agreement with the Monroe Fire Protection District. >> So uh IU Health uh previously provided ambulance services uh for our football games. Uh however, they are no longer uh doing that. not only just for for us but I believe it's for even IU football games. >> Um so at any rate uh we approached the Ellenville Fire Department and they uh pointed us towards the Monroe Fire Protection District uh to provide uh ambulance services. And so we are recommending uh that you approve this agreement with the Monroe Fire uh Protection District. Uh the agreement the rates for that this agreement uh basic life support team and a uh basic life support equipped ambulance is $100 per hour. Uh a second rate is to have a BLS person and a BL BLS
050equipped vehicle but this would be a non-transport vehicle. If uh we if that is the service we would use, it would be $65 per hour. Any additional medical personnel uh if requested would be $45 per hour and it's a 4hour minimum. I recommend your approval. >> I'll move approval of the agreement with the Mineral Fire Protection District. >> Second. >> Mute. Second. Any discussion? I mean, I think it's it is a necessity this day and age and so I think we have to do this or something similar. So, I'll go for it. >> Definitely. U lot of chances for injuries are there. >> Okay. Uh all those in favor say I. >> I opposed. Motion carries. Um we'll let you have a rest there, Dr. Sanders for a moment and we're going to turn uh
051to Jennifer Bear for the three-year EJHS adoption of the McGraw Hill Social Studies Textbooks. >> Yes. In your packet, you will see um um a cost in here of $56,37587. So, obviously, we're over that $50,000 mark. Um we are asking the board to approve a three-year adoption for our junior high social studies students. Um the initial investment of about $15,600 comes from actual hardback text. These are 2023 2024 editions. So we're going to hold on to these for a while. Um that brings it to about $8346 a book that we can use over the course of a six seven-year adoption. Um and then it would bring the uh ecopy that we would buy for each student down to about $21 a year. So, we're paying upfront for these three years, also the initial investment with
052the hardbacks, and then after that point, we would be paying $21 per student for an ecopy to continue beyond those three years. Uh, what we were finding is that a one-year adoption was nickel and dimming us to pieces, and it was quite expensive. Um, so I think that our best route here is to go ahead make the initial investment up front with the three-year knowing that uh three years after that um will bring this down quite a bit and we're trying to balance this with um other larger curriculum payments that we would have coming up. We know that math is going to come around again in another two to three years. Um we know that science is going to be needing some additional options, especially at the junior high. So we're trying to get these
053on a good schedule. so we're not getting hit with everything all at once. >> I'll move approval of the adoption of the McGra Hill social studies tax. >> I'll second. >> Moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> What is the This is may may require you to do some research and get back to me. But, uh, how's it looking as far as the repayment from and and the state isn't covering? They they just rolled that into our overall budget. Right. >> Yeah. So when we picked up the curriculum budget according to the state in our 101 our education fund um anything excess that we spend above what the state um gives us does come out of that fund. There is no there is there is no balance be besides that. Um I'm really proud of the
054work that Rick and I have been able to do um alongside the principles and the teachers. I will have a full report for you related to curriculum um in our next meeting. We're finishing up some final purchases, but we look to be well below um thousands of dollars below what the state appropriated to us back in December of 2024. Um so just to give you uh an idea of where we're looking at, the state appropriated to us and sent us um a payment of $422,000. We look to be well below that $400,000 mark um with things that we can still continue to do. So we're still looking at these pieces. We're still trying to renegotiate contracts. We understand that this could impact the education fund if we don't make this happen. And so I anticipate
055us bringing this down. Uh Rick and I even talked about bringing this down uh to a point that not only are teachers still, you know, receiving all of the high-quality materials that they they need and they want. Uh but also being able to um have a a cushion there so that we can put that back for um Chromebook replacements because we know that's such a huge cost every five to six years. So we're working on a long-term plan with this, but in the short term, we're we're looking really good. Anything further hearing? Not all those in favor say I. >> I oppose. >> Motion carries. Now back to Dr. Sanders for the advertisement for bids on the expansion of the EECC playground. >> Yes. So, uh, with the expansion of the Edgewood TR Early Childhood
056Center, uh, we, uh, obviously have to, uh, expand the size of the playground. Uh, and there are regulations for how many students can be, uh, on, uh, preschool students can be on a playground at one time. So, uh, this is really a have to for us. uh we uh focused more on the childhood center itself and getting that done first and uh and then decided to uh focus now on expanding the the playground and so Heather Kenzik and her staff have provided valuable input. We've been working with Lancer Architect and Skilman Construction Management uh to uh work on the design of the playground. Uh, and so we're asking permission uh tonight for the board to so that we could advertise for bids. Uh, and I put a a drawing uh in front of you tonight
057uh because I wanted to point out that that you could see the equipment uh that goes that's going to go in uh to the design and then you see a track around the the those uh pieces of equipment. I am uh recommending uh that we um uh put the track as an al alternate bid uh so that we when we get the the numbers back uh we obviously would like to put a track in there. Not mainly it's just a place when we went to visit the the preschool in Westfield and we kind of used them as an example. They had a really nice playground for the children and and they had a um places for the the kids to ride uh their little toys around and that's mainly what the the track area is
058for. Uh but um I want to make sure I want to make sure that the not really knowing what the bids will come in at. Uh I think it would give us options if we bid this in terms of the track being an alternate bid. I'll move approval. >> I'll second. >> Um had a first and a second. Any discussion? >> This and this is to the north of the current Yes. >> playground is it will be expanding the area. What are the uh >> So right now I presume kids are able to go to the playground, but maybe we have to stagger them out or >> uh Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to monitor who's who's out there and utilize our indoor space uh too. So, it'll take some some coordination. >>
059Sure. >> And this will come out of the geo bond uh the two 2022 geo bond. Uh and uh so I'd recommend your approval. Okay. >> We've had a first and a second already. So, any further discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I. I. >> Opposed. Motion carries. Now we're going to approve the uh South Central Community appition program. I think that's how that stands for uh with Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Head Start uh contract. Dr. Sanders. >> Uh yes, this is a contract we have with Head Start. We uh they pay uh our nutrition department uh uh funds to be able to provide uh food for uh 200 children each day. Uh and uh the these meals are obviously uh healthy school meals
060and that are appealing and familiar to the the students. So the students are going to to be more inclined to eat those lunches. And uh so uh this contract helps our budget in the nutrition uh services department and enables uh our school corporation to uh provide free lunches uh K through five. Okay, >> I'll move approval. >> I'll second move and seconded. Any discussion? >> Hearing none. All those in favor say I. I I opposed. Motion carries. Now, we're going to look at approving technical adjustments to contracts for a number of different uh individuals listed. >> Yes. So, uh we asked the board on the July 15th uh school board meeting to approve uh the contracts for the people listed in the memo. Uh but we discovered uh after the fact unfortunately that we needed
061to make some adjustments in terms of uh the actual beginning dates of the contracts, the prorated salaries, and we wanted to make sure the paid leave days were in alignment with the classified handbook. And we also made uh some technical changes to uh the contracts for uh Megan Scott Jackson and Mariah Bruce. Uh and so we're just asking the board to uh approve these contract contracts with the technical adjustments made. >> I'll move approval of the technical adjustments to the contracts. I'll >> second. >> Move. Second. Any discussion? Again, these are listed on the agenda. Uh 14 uh individuals and their positions. So, all those in favor say I. I. I. Opposed. Motion carries. Thank you. Um now we have the assistant superintendent report. >> Well, I'm happy to say I have more celebrations in
062my report than Paul had in his report. So, I win. No. Uh a lot of good things here to celebrate. You'll see on the very front page, these are the um released score reports for iLearn. Um definitely some celebrations here. I've put the scores back to 2021 so you can see um some trends as far as where we've been, where we're going. Um we are at or above the state average in nine of 12 categories. So, when we're looking at six tested grade levels in both math and ELA, um I'm really pleased to see that. >> I'm I'm sorry, but I'm not sure what you're referring to. I don't know that I got that report. >> We did not give you a copy of this. >> I don't have it. >> Uh-huh. Thank you. >>
063Thank you so much, Larry. >> They're out in the uh >> You don't have an idea about the good celebrations we're talking about. >> Ken's grabbing those for us. celebrate. Yes. >> Start celebrating. >> I have one. Yes. Thank you. I appreciate it. >> I apologize we didn't get those on the table for you guys. My fault. >> I think I have. >> So, taking a look at that front page there, you will see uh the 2025 state average. Uh what you see in the blue font are the nine areas that we are at or above the state average. Um some highlights here that I want to point out and of course you know when we point these out we also think about the the good work that those teachers are doing to go above
064and beyond. Third grade math uh is 9.7% above the state average. fourth grade math 12.5% above the state average and seventh grade ELA came in at 10.9% above the state average. Um I think that really goes to show to the work that those grade levels are doing in terms of professional learning communities um really looking at their data um figuring out where those students are meeting them where they are um and using those tiered um supports to make sure that our students are growing. Uh we also had some significant growth from 2024 to 2025 and that was in seventh grade math and ELA. So uh seventh grade team is just rocking and rolling there. And we had two watch areas over the last couple of years and that was fifth grade and eighth grade math.
065And it was good to see that both of those areas did increase from the 24 to 25 year. Um I know that Mr. Winsler and Mr. both have been working in those two areas. Um putting some additional measures in place, working with those teaching teams. And so we did see growth there, which was was good to see. Not as much as we'd like. Um we know that those percentages actually equate down to students at or above um proficiency and it's not high enough yet. Um we still have work to do there. In addition, you'll see areas for improvement. Um and this is a a piece that we're seeing across the state. This is not new or uh unique to Edgewood schools. We are still losing students in the same coh cohort from one grade to
066the next. So what I mean by that is if you look where I have those shaded and you look where they were in 2022 and then you go on down to that same cohort in 2023 and 2024, we are losing those students from grade level to grade level. And that's a piece that we have to come back to and we have to address because something is happening where students are at or above proficiency and that following year they're following they're falling below. Um so this is a piece that we're continuing to talk about with our teachers. We're continuing to put measures in place related to tier 2 and tier three interventions. Um and also uh while we're still above the state average in ELA um we did see a drop this year in all grade
067levels but one. The one thing that we have to remember here is we did put a new reading curriculum in place last year in K through five. Um, one thing that I know as a teacher is that when you asked me to teach a new curriculum for the first year, it is a learning curve. And so I'm not surprised to see this drop in third, fourth, and fifth grade. I talked with Mrs. Key about it. Um she also has some ideas about how um we're going to use that curriculum maybe a little differently this year and also how we're going to come into that tier 2 time which is a reteing time and spend more um more um purposeful um interventions during that time. So like I said not surprised but still um it's a
068piece there for improvement that we want to come back stronger next year in those areas. Um I can't speak highly enough. The next part is a celebration. Um, we know that third grade and literacy go hand inand with so many factors down the road when students become adults. We know that um and this is sad to say, but prisons look at third grade literacy scores, look at third grade literacy percentages to determine how many um projections they can make in terms of adults that they need to plan for 10, 15 years down the road. This is a a a percentage that impacts kids beyond just being nine years old. And the work that K2 and third grade are doing in our Etchwood schools is phenomenal. Um, the state of Indiana has set a goal of
0692027 that 95% of our third graders are at that benchmark being able to read at a third grade level. They're passing I read three. Um, if you look at the trend for EIS over the last several years, you'll notice we can call it a COVID drop, we can call it whatever you want. Um, but we had a drop in 2022. We started building that back up in 2023. 2024, we went up another 2%. 2025, 92.6%. We are two just under two and a half% from reaching that goal, that statewide goal. Um, given our demographics, I couldn't be happier with this percentage. Um, and what I mean by those demographics, I'm going to give you um, underneath of that, just one demographic. This doesn't talk about our free and reduced versus our paid. This is looking
070at students with disabilities, students who have every reason why they shouldn't be reading at a third grade level. We know it takes more time for them to process and get to that point. But what I want you to see is the work that our third grade teachers have done and our third grade inclusion teachers specifically with interventions have done. In 2023, we had 33.3% of our special education students passing Ivory 3, a third of them. In 2024, we went up to a half of them, 51.5%. This year, 69.4% of our students with disabilities are reading at a third grade level when they get through third grade. That is huge. And I think that goes to show that our teachers and the work that they're doing, this is making a true impact on these students. I'm
071excited to see what this is going to look like in 5 to 10 years when this group of students and the work that we we have made adjustments and we're seeing the positive impact. what this looks like when they're in junior high and high school and beyond because we know this will just continue to steamroll and um the gains will just continue to increase there. So huge um celebrations at that K through three level and still making um changes to our K2 and our 35 um interventions at tier 1, tier 2, and tier three because we know this still isn't good enough until we reach 100%. It's great, but it's not good enough yet. Um, additional updates just um from the ready school side of things, we submitted the formative assessment grant, high ability grant,
072and STEM integration grants last week. Um, all of these grants together bring in potentially um about $100,000 worth of state funds uh to pay for things that would come out of uh education or RDC grant or some of those other items. Um, we're going to be rolling out smart pass soon at both the EHS and EJHS buildings. I've included a letter here for you can for you to see um how we're being proactive in this. Uh, Smart Pass is replacing a program that we've used called Flex Time. Flex Time uh is a program that we've used at both the junior high and the high school which allows students to sign up to go and spend time with a a teacher for reteing for remediation. Um it might be they need to retake a test. Um
073not only can students sign up, but teachers can pull students and assign them. You failed a math test, you're coming to me for a few days because I'm going to retach this and we're going to work on this. So, it's taking that remediation and that retaching that we do so well at K through 5 and moving it up into 6 through 12. Uh, we found another program this year to replace um Flex Time. It's called Smart Pass. And not only does it have the features that Flex Time has, but it also has an additional feature um that students can sign up for passes. teachers approve those passes and those passes allow them to circulate through the building during during periods where they should be in class. So, what I mean by that is we're we're
074bringing in a safety feature. Um, we don't have anything other than maybe a paper pass that when students need to use the restroom, they need to go to the office, they need to see another teacher, uh, that paper pass is filled out and students take off where they need to go. The problem is the office doesn't know where they are. um if there's an emergency in the building, we don't know who's out of class, who's in class, all of those pieces. This will allow us to track that. Um we're getting ahead of this a little bit because we do recognize that this is a change. Any change to any procedure um and limiting the flow of movement in a building can definitely bring about um concerns. It brings about concerns from students. It brings about
075concerns from parents. And so one of the things that you'll see in here is that um the smart pass will allow up to two passes per day per student to come out of one of their seven classes or two of their seven class periods. This is in addition to their passing periods that we encourage them to use bathroom. We encourage them to stop by the office if you need to pick up a form. Um, so it's it's giving them two out of their seven periods every single day that if they have a need that they need to take care of, they can go and do that. Um, in addition to that, we wanted to make sure parents understood that any student with an IEP, a 504, a health plan where we have accommodations written in
076that are individualized, um, you know, a student with a kidney disorder who may need to go to the bathroom more frequently than um, two or three times a day. those are going to be written in and those those allowances of course would be given for those students. Um so this is going to go out to our high school students and parents on Friday. This letter that you have in front of you uh Kent and his team will follow up with that in a few weeks when they roll out the same program at the junior high. Um so this uh program cost us $9,153 total uh which is about $4,500 per building. Um and we did save a considerable amount. Again, it goes back to to Rick and uh the admin looking at the programs we're
077using. How can we find something to do it um either the same or um and hopefully with less cost? And this was one of those programs that that met both of those. Um so we'll be rolling that out here in the next week um and several weeks at both buildings. Uh we have 79 students this year participating in workbased learning opportunities at EHS. Uh some of these students are in other buildings working with teachers um who may want to go into education. We have four students working as paid um apprentices at EECC who want to go into early education. We have students out in insurance um companies, banks. Uh we have another one getting ready to work with the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office. Um she's interested in law enforcement and we'll be working with them
078on a daily basis. uh just a lot of exciting opportunities for our high school students there and to see 79 of them taking uh advantage of that it's it's a a pretty cool um thing to see. Um the evaluation plan is rolling out in each building. Uh we already have sent out the beginning of the year self assessment for every teacher. Uh we do have some tweaks to it this year based on feedback from uh the teachers and administrators and I've put a little snapshot down there. One thing that we received feedback on is that 43 elements in NASA uh the new art and science of teaching is a lot to look at. So we worked with our admin team during the admin retreat to narrow that down to nine elements that um are important
079across all all five of our buildings. Uh these include things like tracking student progress, uh chunking content when we're teaching it so it's manageable for students, using structured practice sessions, um using verbal and non-verbal behaviors that indicate uh care for students. So these are the types of things that um we're communicating to our teachers are important to us as um Edgewood schools and what we expect from you when you're in the classroom. Do you guys have any questions for me? >> I had a parent ask me about the smart pass. >> Yeah. >> That if the teacher was working with other students or something like that and they put in a request, >> how's that >> sure >> teacher going to approve it if they're busy with something else? >> That's a great question. Uh
080that is those are procedures that that we'll have to develop with teachers. It's no different than a student raising their hand now when a a teacher is over here working with a group of students or in the middle of direct instruction to say, "I really need to use the restroom right now." Um, most teachers, I think, will follow the same procedures that they already use in terms of how do you get my attention when you need to go to the restroom? I don't see that changing with this program. Um, what will have to happen is the teacher will have to take a moment. They'll have to go over to their computer and approve that pass so that that student is out in the hallway. Um, I think one of the issues that we might see
081is that teachers will get into a habit of saying, "Go ahead, go ahead." Um, and then what happens is the program doesn't work the way it's supposed to because we have a student now out in the hallway. Um, but we don't have that approval from the teacher for them to be out there. So there there's definitely going to have to be systems and procedures created around this. It's going to be a learning curve for everybody. And I think that the feedback that we get from um from teachers, from parents, and from students will allow us to tweak this as we go. Uh we know that anytime we roll something out, as pretty as it looks on paper, as many, you know, hours we've put into the thought process, there's still going to be things that
082we need to talk about and figure out. And so those are things that I know the admin teams have already started those conversations. Jenna Clark is leading a session tomorrow morning with the high school teachers just with smart pass. So they'll be spending over an hour tomorrow just going through the program talking about these things right here. How do we handle this when it comes up um and creating procedures around that. So they're frontloading all of this um with teacher professional development before we ever roll it out with students and families. Thank you. >> Anything further? >> No, this is really exciting. I love seeing these numbers. It's incredible. >> It's good stuff. It's really, really good stuff. And just knowing the work that we're continuing to put in um the adjustments that we're continuing
083to make, I anticipate um this trend with Edgewood continuing. I want to keep seeing this blue. I want to keep seeing us um 10 plus percentage of points points above the state average. Um I think that we are on a track here that's going to prove to be very successful for our schools and ultimately for our students. >> Okay. Um Dr. Sanders, before you start, I got a question for you. What happens to those students that always sit in the back of the class? You know, >> they become principles and administrator. Okay, go ahead. Well, you stole my joke. >> Uh yeah, so uh that happens at the staff meeting, back to school staff meeting. I I uh I tried uh this year to walk back towards the people in the back, but I got
084feedback on my mic. But, uh, yeah. No, I'm glad these these guys are here. Uh, I really appreciate that. >> Uh, Paul's going to get back up and real quick go through the cash flows for for you tonight. >> I heard that real quick comment. Um, there isn't a lot to say. July is a relatively easy month, but if you look at the education fund, I did want to point out the basic grant went from about 1.78 million to 1.84 million. And so that'll be the the new number or very close to the new number going forward for the last six months. Then it'll reset again based on your October one count for the first six months of next year. Um, but everything's stayed relatively the same. You look at that remaining appropriation, still negative,
085and I don't think it's going to change much. So, that I was pointing that out earlier. Uh, operations fund looks good. Uh, carrying a good cash balance and kind of in and out. So, it's it's you're okay. Yeah. >> All right. Thanks, Paul. So, I just want to give a um a brief report in terms of we're just off to a great start uh so far uh with the school year. Uh and this is where really this week uh kind of last week too. Uh we really start to get into the the activities that the students get involved in. Uh we had a scrimmage last Friday night uh with the football team on Saturday. I know that uh our um soccer team uh had a game and won. Uh the Edgewood Theater uh group uh
086were at Bender Lumber on Saturday uh trying to raise some funds and and so I enjoyed going to meet them. So I'm going to do try to work a little harder to get uh our community out to our sporting events and to support our kids. Um it's always exciting when you when you're an athlete and you look in the stands and you see a lot of people there. And uh so I'm going to try to do a little better job this year uh encouraging the community, our parents, even if they don't have kids in that uh sport or that uh theater group or dance group that they come out and support our kids. So I put a link on here for uh our fall sports schedules. uh the Little Mermaid production uh with the theater
087part department will be performing in uh November and uh we're going to have our Edgewood Showcase October 23rd which is a little bit later but we wanted to make sure the fieldhouse was done uh to be able to showcase uh that wonderful facility. Um, I wanted to give you uh some preliminary enrollment numbers. Uh, especially uh I want you to be cautious with the the K12 numbers. Uh, but I kind of want to let you know where we are and how that compares uh to last ADM and uh this time last year. But uh back up to our our preschool. Uh right now we have uh 17 children in the daycare uh 161 uh preschool students uh for a total of 178 uh uh boys and girls enjoying our wonderful new facility. Uh if you
088look at the K12 numbers, uh last uh uh ADM and the one that we had in uh February, the spring ADM, uh we had 2,672 students. Um and uh and then this time last year, we had uh 2,669 students. And uh as of yesterday, uh our count was 2,696. So, we're up uh you know around 25 27 uh students and um every time I get an email with a withdrawal now, I cringe because I like being up and I want to stay there. Uh and uh so uh I I'll try to keep the board updated on this uh as we get closer uh to October 1. We've got a ways to go, but really um the big flood of enrollments and withdrawals should be over and this should be uh a here or there uh
089an enrollment or withdrawal. And the last thing I wanted to share with the board is is uh I did something before COVID called soup with the soup. And uh so we had an evening where uh we provided dinner uh soup uh for our parents who came in and uh and we enjoyed dinner and then we had a period of of time where I talked about a a few uh pre-selected topics and got the the input of parents and and back then we did we only had like about a dozen parents involved and one of the things that uh I wanted to do better was to try to get more parents involved. So, uh, I hope to have, uh, reach out and hope to have, uh, 50 parents, uh, for this soup with the soup. Uh,
090and right now, we're looking at September 25th. And the way it'll work is, uh, parents will come in. First of all, they'll pre-register and, uh, and we'll, uh, whoever wants to come, the first 50. Uh, so they won't be pre-selected. It's whoever wants to come, up to 50 people. And as they walk in, they'll get a card and they could write their questions down on the card while they're eating their soup. Someone will be kind of organizing the cards and uh so we could speak to the topics that are on their mind and it'll just be a I'm hoping it'll be a fun evening of conversation. We have great parents and I think I have a good relationship with them and uh I think they'll appreciate that they're being uh asked their uh thoughts on
091different matters. Uh so uh we're looking at September 25th uh for that event. So, uh, once again, also I really was going to thank the, uh, all the guys in the back there, uh, for being here tonight, the principles and Rick come every month and, uh, so I, I really appreciate that. It's time away from their families and, um, they do a fantastic job leading our schools. They sure do. They sure do. Um there's no RBBA comments uh this evening. So we'll start with board member uh comments and we'll start with Mr. >> Durham. You take me >> I know. >> Well, I want to want to welcome Jennifer to the head table. Glad you're here and thank all you guys for being here. And Paul, thank you for your hard work on the budget.
092I'm sure it was uh I know I'm going through the same thing with the town right now. We been cut so much that uh we're losing things we took for granted for so long. Jerry, thank you for your leadership. I appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jimmy. I I thought you were going to say something to Jennifer about a one-page report. >> Oh, well, every time I I come in, I look at I look at the back of his see. >> Yes, I definitely >> I'll start doing that. >> Okay. One page. >> It took him several board meetings to get me to work. taking the header off. There are a lot of things I'm we're going to go tiny on. You guys are in trouble. >> I'll also give you a few hints how to
093get by with that. >> Good point. Thank you. >> No, Mr. Deos. >> Uh I just the beginning of the school year is always an exciting time and the opening of the new building was just a a delightful period. I I just had it was great. I ran into former students who have children uh in the preschool and also in upper grades and it's uh it's just great to see the continuity in our school system. But uh the growth is is so exciting. The building looks great and I appreciate everything that all the everybody involved has done in getting us off to a good start this year. So I look forward to the school year. >> Mr. Jacobs, >> I agree with I agree with all of that. Um, I'm really excited. Um, you know,
094the the numbers that we're talking about, the growth that our students um are achieving and it's it's all to our dedicated teachers. I mean, they are just phenomenal. We really do have an amazing um group of people that we work with and um it just, you know, I know that the next few years is going to be a little bit rough on us. you know, we're gonna do everything in our power to to keep the schools running, you know, in in budget the way we need to to keep everything moving forward for our students. Um, know that we're going to try very hard to do that. Um, donations, any donations that, you know, comes through for our students is very much appreciate appreciated by everybody. um excited about all the the buildings coming together. They
095all look great. Um I know that, you know, I still have one student left. He's a senior this year and he has made comments on um how cool the school looks. So, it's pretty neat hearing it from him. So, >> uh I think that's it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um I as always want to thank everyone for coming tonight. Um I thought it was a really good meeting. We covered a lot of important things. Um the progress we're making with the buildings, the uh the fact that uh we're being very proactive with funding um and trying trying to hit it head on. Um and so I just appreciate you all and I think it did get off to a really good start as school. Um, and I'm just excited that we're we look like
096we're doing a really good job and I just hope that the funding issue doesn't doesn't change that, but I don't think it will because I think we're resourceful. >> So, all right, with that, uh, this meeting's adjourned and have a wonderful evening.