001[Music] We're doing great. [Music] Hallelujah. Thank [Music] you. All right. [Music] You might [Music] get back. [Music] There we go. [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Thank you. [Music] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [Music] I like [Music] Thank you. [Music] Awesome. That's [Music] made a decision. That's awesome. [Music] Yeah. I mean, it's it's doable in a day. No problem. Nothing backs. Yeah, my mom was talking about [Music] that again. [Music] Yeah. No danger. [Music] dealish [Music] like right on that. Yeah. any further like an hour or more. It's like that's that's way less doable. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm excited. [Music] It's just so I know what I'm sending out. No problem. [Music] All [Music] right. Unbelievable. [Music] I told [Music] What do you think? [Music] going to call this meeting uh to order. All members are present. We're going to start
002with um the national anthem with a video from Bal Shannon Middle School. [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Laughter] Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] If you'll remain standing for the pledge of the flag, uh we're joined by some students from Steelchase Elementary. 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. Yeah. Should we have in the picture too? Let's get over this way. Good job, guys. Thanks for being here. We appreciate it. Pretty strong this year. [Applause] All right. Um, always good to see the students whether they're in person or on video from our wonderful neighborhood stu schools like Steeplechase and LA Shannon. Uh we'll move on to item four and I'll turn the meeting over to
003Dr. Housewald for good news. Uh thank you. Good evening board and thank you for everyone for being here. Uh Mila Millie, thank you so much. uh you know um we're developing leaders in all of our schools and Steel Chase is a great example and uh I don't know if you saw but they came up here and and just just on their own uh um their own will they came up and had a just a an adult conversation right about school and and uh we're real proud of you all and thank you for being here tonight. You're doing great work. Um our good news item number one is break the mold. Um, at this point we are going to uh congratulate a Yale Elementary nurse Noel Stoner and health clerk Millieo. Uh, the per the perfect
004work duo is rare, but nurse Noel and Health Clark Millie are described as the dream team by Principal Renee Turner. Students, staff, and parents. Miss Turner says, "I've witnessed them handle true critical emergencies with calm and precise care. Their teamwork assures me that my students and staff are getting the highest quality care possible while at school and I am grateful to call them teammates. At this point, we're going to show a video and then we'll do the recognition. Way back on the time way back. They are loved. We like to make sure they can stay in school. They come to school and they feel comfortable in school. And I love the people that I work with. Millieo, health clerk at Yale Elementary School, has been working here for 22 years. Good morning, Yale. In the
005last 5 years, she has been teamed up with nurse Noel Stoner, whose background is 27 years in the emergency room, which she still does outside being a school nurse. This community nursing is very much different. and the collectiveness of working with um you know, you're working with the teachers, you're working with counselors, you're working with staff, you're working with parents, you're working with students. They're both very thorough. They're both very precise um in their job and what they do every day. Um taking care of our students and our staff. The two together make a dynamic duo that you really can't put a value on. on a scale of zero to 10. Some days it's middle of the road, some days it's a three, some, but some days it's a 10. It just depends um based
006upon what's going on. We are not just dealing with just health or physical conditions. We're dealing with mental, social, there's all kinds of things. And so sometimes when you are working through those things with students, it's hard. It's hard emotionally. It's it's hard mentally. And um but we want to be here for them. We had one who collapsed in the hallway once. And as I approached the student, I quickly realized that um there was more to this than just someone fanning. So meanwhile, quickly responded. She was out there literally within probably 30 seconds. Made that judgment call right away on what needed to happen and we followed her lead. That's not happened just once. That's probably happened three times for different students in our building. To not have a full-time nurse in in a building
007I don't I don't know what a school would do. Back in the middle of January, I received a phone call that no parent wants. The Millie called me and said, "Robin, I'm calling you first over your mom because we are having to call the EMS for Riley." And I passed out. I hit my head on a metal door when I was passing out. I had glasses on. of the exact jacket. And so they had to call Miss Noel and Miss Millie to come down and then um Miss Noel checked my heart and put like a finger thingy on to like I think read your pulse. Yes. She checked my pulse. Um they had to call 911. She had an SVT episode which is super superior ventricular tachicardia. A big mouthful. So her heart rate had
008got to 268. Yeah. I had a student last year that had a heart condition, came out of the bathroom, and she just passed out. Um, she got dizzy, she passed out. Um, so to have a full-time nurse and a full-time clerk here, I could just get on the radio and say, "Hey, we're having a little trouble here in room two," and they would come right down and and and evaluate her and take care of her. I passed out last year at the water fountain when I was drinking water and then I passed out and then they came and they helped me feel better. They help people feel better. One time when I was sick, they I laid on the bed and I waited with them until my mom got here to pick me up. I
009don't think that our nursing staff, both the aid and the nurse, get enough credit for what they do on a daily basis because they deal with a whole different stress level than what I deal with. Lily knowing she's telling me stuff that's going to send me through the rafters and Noel was able to go in and do her job and keep her calm, keep Riley calm, keep everybody around calm. Sometimes Noel's not there. She's always there to look out for people. She's always t chatting with my mom sometimes and they usually get along and she's my favorite nurse because she always cares about me too. Often things are happening more than once. Their first aid rooms are very busy. So, um, they're a great team supporting each other, working together, and sharing information with each
010other and taking care of the students at Yale. When we see patterns of behavior, um, with stomach aches or headaches, sometimes we start to dig a little bit deeper. Is there really something going on? And so together as a team, we work with not just, you know, Millie and I, we'll we'll say, you know, we raise the fire, but maybe we need to talk to the counselor. The nurse have bigger responsibilities and she have things that she need to be doing on a daily basis. I have things that I do a daily basis to take some away from her. Good afternoon. So, we have a pretty good team here. We can see various incendiary things. We just never know when um we're going to have an emergency situation. Millie, she's my right-hand man. She's the
011backbone. uh she's the backbone of the school and um she uh she is an awesome person, an awesome friend and um co-orker. I wouldn't be able to do this without her. Noel, welld deserved. I love working with you and again well deserved. This is this is a big deal. Millia say, you are the bomb and I am so excited for you um that uh you that we won the break break the mood and it it's a we we wouldn't be able to do this without each other and I am so thankful for you. Good job you and Millie for break the mold. Miss Millie and and Miss Noel and Miss Noel for breaking the mold. Congratulations Marian. Thank you for being so kind to me this year and congratulations for winning break the mold. Congratulations
012guys. So proud of you. So happy for you. Um couldn't have picked anybody better. Mill congratulations on the break the mold award. This is an amazing honor and it couldn't be given to more or two more deserving people. Awesome job. We are so proud of you and we love him and you as part of our family. Congratulations Noel and Millie. You guys make a great team and we're so happy to have you in Boone County Schools and I'm glad your hard work is being recognized. Keep up the great work. I want to congratulate Millie and Noel on their breaking the mold award. They deserve it 150%. I know I personally have been affected by them and how well they took care of my daughter Riley when she had a medical emergency and They are one
013in a million. And I think the Boeing County schools and Yelli Elementary specifically are very lucky to have them because I wouldn't trust my kids with anybody else if that happened again. They were [Music] phenomenal. Okay, come on up. We have an award for you. Good morning. Get a photo and then we'll get one with your Let's get on with the staff and family and then we'll let you guys say a word or two. Come on. Come on in. We'll just have the school out. That way there's quite of the All [Music] right. And then We're not going to make you, but you're welcome. Okay, we're good. Okay, just a great big thank you to everyone. Renee, thank you so much, Nick, and all of the staff and um Boone County Schools uh for this
014great incredible opportunity. Um, what's really neat is that I went to Yale Elementary. Really? So, I've grown up here in Boone County. I went to Yale and I went to uh RA Jones and then graduated from Boon County High School. So, it's quite the honor to have, you know, worked in the hospital setting but come back to community nursing and worked in the school in the school system. And um I also want to have a big shout out to all my nurse people back here. They are awesome people and they are welld deserved and we wouldn't be able to do it every day without them. Awesome. Awesome people. And Jen Jarger, our boss, thank you so much for all you do and the support that you give us. Thank you. Same with her. I mean,
015we could not do it our job without the nurses. I mean, I'm just a little person who helps out, but we could not do a lot of what we do without the nurses. So, thank you, Nick. and Renee, I've been here for a way too long. My kids went to Yale, so I just said, "Why not stay?" So, I've been there since. We love it. Since then. So, I appreciate everything. Thank you, Nick and Renee. And shout out to all the health clerks, too. They're wonderful. They're right. Thank you all. Thank you. Uh and that uh concludes uh the good news for the evening. Thank you. Uh thank thank you all for being here and showing your support. Uh looks like we'll move on to the superintendent report, right? Is that where we're at? I'm
016sorry. Yeah, I'm mis misreading. Uh the student board member uh Mr. Wyatt Levi for the board repres student board representative report. Mr. Levi, good evening everyone. Doesn't sound like Chairman Parks wants to hear me speak today, but I hope you all do. Here we go. Um, I have I've come with to you guys with exciting news. First off, last uh meeting for the SSAC, we had our student elections. Uh, we had two great candidates running that were Nolan Fitzgerald from Ignite and then AJ Woff from Connor. And it is a great honor that AJ Wyoff was selected as our new student representative for the 202526 school year. So big congratulations to him. and he definitely deserves it. But also big congratulations to Nolan Fitzgerald for going up there and running against him. We wouldn't have
017these great elections and these great candidates if it's not for competition. So, uh big congratulations to the both of them. Additionally, at the beginning of that meeting, we ran a little bit of a leadership skit activity where we broke up into different groups within the council and we all had a each group uh picked a certain trait that they want to see exemplified in their leader, right? Some people picked selflessness, others picked honesty, and then they had to do a skit that kind of uh make a skit to exemplify that trait and show how it can be demonstrated. And there was a lot of really really good creative skits. And I I feel like it really brought out and made people think like what is it that they truly want to see in a good
018leader? And I felt like it was a great uh activity to do right before our election. Also want to give out another big thanks to Mr. Vocal from C, not Connor, pardon me, Cooper High School. He came to the last meeting as well as this one where he just talked to the students about the importance of uh being a upstanding citizen and voting and getting out there and doing your part as an American to vote as well as the importance of democracy itself and how important it is to make sure your voice is heard and do whatever you can to get your voice out there. as well as the process of voting both uh at the state level and presidential level and I think even for those young ages like I harped on last meeting
019it does sit with them and they'll think about it and they might not pick up everything but if they pick up five 10% that's that's a lot especially for those fourth and fifth graders but really for anyone it's it's important uh I also want to give one more big thanks to the county clerk's office who came in and ran the elections for us they brought in all the voting machines So, it was exactly how it would be for an actual election. So, everyone uh got to really vote like they were voting for a political candidate. And I think that's a really cool experience that very few people actually get to experience and myself included. My first time ever having that experience was through SSAC and it was very enlightening and I think it's a great
020thing that we're doing. Uh, so that's it for the last meeting, but this upcoming meeting will be our final SSAC meeting, April 30th, and it's going to be a celebration. We've done a lot of great things this year, and we're just looking forward to, you know, celebrate those things and be grateful for everything that we've done, as well as after the meeting, we're going to do a little bit of things for just the high schoolers, but the big thing is we're going to be editing the officer roles a little bit. One thing that I wanted to do is add some officer positions, including the vice chair, the secretary, and the historian for SSAC. That way, we could actually be doing a little bit more and kind of divvy out the responsibilities a little bit, so
021we could be more effective at that high school level. Well, I did recognize a weakness in it. I felt as if uh not the positions didn't have as much responsibility as they needed to. So, the secretary position and the historian position will be merged into just the secretary position. Then the vice chair will be taking on new responsibility that I'm very very excited for where I am hoping that the SSC continues this where we are going to come together to make a unified goal for the entire school year. A unified initiative that we're going to push for with that it is going to be the vice chair's responsibility to oversee all the committee's efforts together to get that unified goal accomplished. Uh additionally actually that is all I have to say. So, I just want
022to thank everyone and if you see AJ Woff, just give him one more big congratulations. But without further ado, I'm gonna turn it back over to you guys. Thank you. Um, Mr. Mr. Levi, um you described some some pretty important sort of strategic leadership um where you know you're operating this organization of student leaders and then recognizing that there may be a better way to structure that kind of skill is invaluable in the workplace and going forward in whatever other ventures you might, you know, entertain in life. And so that's um that's an impressive feat um for really anyone. Um but you know at this at this particular level it's it's pretty impressive and I commend you for it. I greatly appreciate that. But I just want to make make a big thanks out to
023all the other high schoolers who also helped me with this. Right. I I'm not working alone here. There's plenty of names and faces that you guys don't see. Uh such as Yousef right in the crowd right there. All these high schoolers at the SSAC level are doing an amazing job and it's not just me. So, I appreciate the the compliment, but the real thanks goes out to everyone else who's working there with me. Way to hit the softball. I threw up for you. Um, I will say since I've been on this board, which obviously isn't as long as some other people, but um, the first student board member I met was one of the most impressive students. And every year there's a new level of just, you know, impressive young person and and u so
024this it just goes to show how, you know, h how wonderful our students here in Boone County are and um I appreciate you guys' commitment to you know what you're doing for the community and our school district. Thank you. All right. Uh now we'll move on to superintendent report. Dr. Housewald. Uh yes, good evening again board. I just have a couple items. Uh the first one is um influential leadership. As a reminder, this is the seventh and final uh required update as a beginning superintendent in the state of Kentucky. Um so um we we learn a lot of uh uh required uh basic informations about being a superintendent. uh um and so one of the things is influential leadership and it's just promoting the success of learning and teaching by understanding responding to and influencing
025the larger political social economic legal ethical and cultural context. Uh next slide of just a couple examples tonight. Um one of those is the political system that involves the district uh laws, policies and procedures to ensure those are implemented fairly, wisely and considerately. And then of course the uh accessing local, state, national political systems to provide input in critical educational issues. And I just have a few examples. Of course, our participation in what we call the K groups, uh the association of school administrators, the schoolboard association, uh the national schoolboard association, and there's some various examples here. Of course, uh we I had the the privilege of watching uh Karen Bird serve as president uh um from I mean it was a two-year term. I got to see the last seven or eight months of
026it. But we're real proud of that. And to have a school board member uh from Boone County that was the president of the entire uh Kentucky Schoolboard Association uh just speaks to uh the involvement uh at the state level. Um and making sure that we're advocating for for students, for student learning, and for uh our our staff and our community at at Boone County. And the last slide is just some more examples of ways by which I engage with students on a regular basis. they are our clients. I know that I saw at the end of the day today I I saw Wyatt at at at Connor and uh you know if if I I go a day or two without uh seeing students or being in a school, I'm quick to tell my executive
027assistant um Miss Ashley that you know I've got to block off an hour or so so I can get back into the schools. It keep us grounded and keeps us a reminder of the reason we're here and it's always a highlight of of the day and the week. So uh with that I'll close my uh my presentation on that. And lastly, uh it's not on the agenda. I just have had a few we've had some inquiries regarding the state of ESSER. You may recall that in uh 2020 2021, there were several rounds of federal stimulus funding related to CO 19. That funding had a timeline uh by which there was an expert date. Um those timelines have been extended at the at the at the federal level a few times and we're one of a
028few districts that have managed to get caught in with the change in um the political leadership uh at the federal level. Uh we had uh expended funds and encumbered funds as required. Um and about h that's about $1.25 million. Half of that money we have spent and we had submitted but um we have been notified that currently we will not be reimbursed for. Uh the other half we have um we have encumbered the funds and again kind of the rules have changed at the 11th hour. So I just wanted to uh um if anyone is interested I'm happy to share a list of those resources. It's mostly uh language arts and math curricula. Um, if you look through the list, many of those things are are are programs, math, uh, either supplemental or core curriculum
029in math and language arts that our schools are using. Um, we are looking at the approximately $650,000 that is encumbered but not spent to see if those contracts can be cancelled if there's other funds or if that would um, perhaps be an option for the sitebased. So, it seems like it may shift some of those costs uh, um, if if they've been encumbered. Um, and the other money that we've already spent, it's all on on really uh important and valuable things. We don't ever um, you know, spend money on on on on things that aren't necessary. Um, so we are we're identifying other sources of funding for those. Uh, and then of course going forward as that winds down, I'm I'm just updating you on that. Um, because we've had inquires as to, you know,
030was the money wasted? Was it not used? Why not? And I just kind of wanted to give a just a a a 30,000 foot level uh review of of the various processes and guidelines that we had gone through. Um in some cases multiple years of like a language arts curriculum um for some many of our elementary schools that we got a cheaper price by multi-year. And so, um, we, uh, are going, there is a process that's been shared by us by the, um, Kentucky Department of Education to simply try to appeal and show that these are, you know, in our case, necessary, important, and related to closing the achievement gap. Uh, you may have seen an article recently, um, and, uh, we have it on our website. Uh, and it basically highlighted the 100, uh,
031100 districts that have actually now accelerated learning, uh, since COVID. And what we mean by that is uh there's 100 districts that have shown gains in math and language arts so that our our academic uh scores are higher than they were before COVID. In other words, we've eliminated the um learning loss from COVID and we are the only school district in Kentucky highlighted for that, which means that our students are now uh outperforming math and language arts results that were prior to CO. So, we're really proud of that. It goes back to our hardworking staff uh and our committed parents that make sure our students show up each and every day. They uh are the third leg of the stool, right? Students uh staff and and parents and we work together. But to be the
032only school district in in in Kentucky, um that is now performing at a higher level than they were in 2019 just speaks volumes to the important work we do and how well we do it. So um anyway, if you anyone has any questions about that and they'd like to I know Dr. Dr. Dewwater has a review of all the language arts and math curricula that we've purchased and I'm just putting that out there. We are appealing uh and requesting that we can um wind down the remainder of the funds that uh that was uh afforded us. Uh and we had followed the timelines and guidelines given um but nonetheless um it is definitely important use of of money and we will uh dedicate other resources if necessary. So, with that, I close my comments. Um,
033we're going to move on to item seven. If you don't want to stay for the major, the rest of the meeting. If you're really interested, you're welcome to. Um, but I see some have little ones that might, you know, not want to hear us blabber on about things. Um, you're welcome to go. Thanks again for being here. Thanks for reminding me. That's the back. All right. Uh we're going to move on to item seven, uh the audience of citizens. The uh board welcomes the opportunity to hear from the community and inform the board of your views on matters before the board. Please keep in mind the board agenda, the board of education agenda is set and by statute, the board can only discuss the items that are present on the agenda. The board cannot legally
034nor would the board discuss an issue specific to an employee or a student in respect to privacy. Reminder, these meetings are streamed live on YouTube. Please be respectful in your comments. If you have a concern that you would like a response from the administration, feel free to leave your information with Mr. Eric Ball. Um, please keep your comments to two minutes so that all wish to speak may speak. And just a reminder, um, if you have a bunch of people, please don't gift your time to someone else. Just everyone say part of your message. Um, with that, looks like um Amy Shruder. Hello. Hi. How are you? Good. Um, so I've been an RN in the district for 11 years. I've been a nurse for 26. I'm here with my concerns with the safety and
035well-being of the staff and students of Boone County schools due to staffing cuts. In my building specifically, the staffing cut affected my health clerk to part-time and I will not get a replacement in the first aid room. Last year alone, my school saw 12,491 first aid visits. That's an average of 70 a day and we're we have an enrollment of about 717 students. We have several schools, including elementary schools, with five plus diabetics. At a minimum, we will see one diabetic child six times in a day. If their blood sugar drops too low, it becomes a potential medical emergency. Meanwhile, you have 18 daily meds to be given during that time as well, and it has to be given at the time, 30 minutes before, 30 minutes after, or we cannot administer that medication at
036all. I'm asking for the board to consider the health clerk position as its own allocated position within the staff support category. The staff support position is one of the lowest paid positions in the district and the majority of these health clerks are willing to take on the responsibility of helping with diabetics which requires a four to five hour training giving meds giving nutrition through a G tube cathing students and list goes on and on. These are not sought out after positions for the pay they make. They are our primary healthcare provider in the absence of nurses in the building. Several principles in the district are wanting to not have the support position cover the far the first aid room full-time. This is not safe. We have multiple students in the district that based on their
037medical needs require a nurse within seconds of their medical emergency to perform life-saving measures that can only be performed by an RN. They require a nurse to ride the bus to and from school, which can leave a first aid room uncovered without the presence of a full-time health clerk. We have kids who have frequent asthma attacks and could have seizures, allergic reactions, falls, head injuries that require an RN to assess them. And don't forget the diabetic students. We carry a great deal of responsibility on our licenses. I have 414 medical conditions in my building alone that I manage along with 130 medications. I also have 47 people working under my license in my building. I encourage each of you sitting in front of me to spend a day with any of us or come talk
038to any of us and see the amount of work that the first aid room does. And I think you'll be shocked at how vital it is to have two consistent people to cover that first aid room at all times. We deal with potential life and death situations on a daily basis and we're a vital aspect of the school system. [Music] Thank you. Um, Allison Coleman. Hello. Unfortunately, I can't read as fast as Amy. That's all right. Um, I have been a nurse with Boone County Schools for six years and a nurse uh for 35. RNs in the building are responsible for obtaining statemandated immunization certificates, a yearly state audit for immunizations as well as physicals, vision, and dental exams. We are responsible for updating health care plans and administering medications as well as taking care
039of staff and students on a daily basis. There are more medical needs coming into the district every year. We have several students in the district who without a nurse in the building would not be able to come to school. Our health clerks are vital in order to make sure all of these tasks are completed on time. RNs are pulled from our buildings to teach CPR as required by the district. Cover other buildings who require a nurse to be present in the building or they are assigned to two different schools. There are 27 schools and 23 nurses and one district health coordinator who is also assigned to a school this year because of increased medical needs. We need a nurse in every building which we do not have. Please don't take our health clerks away and
040take the ability of the principles to pull them from the first aid room. They are right-hand and without them the safety and health of staff and students will decline. They can run the first aid room as well as we can if we are out of the building or tending to an emergency in the building. During CO, the biggest health pandemic we faced as a nation, nurses were not consulted at all for any decision-making, nor were we added to the CO task force team that was created by the district district, which did not include any medical professionals until we went up the chain of command and a nurse was finally added. SRO's are in every building to prevent and protect the safety of the staff and the students. And we are in the building dealing with
041the health and safety of staff and students on a much bigger scale. I would love to see the district's organizational structure and how many leaders who have multiple administrative assistants who don't work directly with kids keeping their positions, but the ones who are working directly with kids are being cut. Again, I encourage you in front of me to spend a day with any of us. Thank you. Thank you. Uh Carol Drier Dwer Hello. Hi. How are you? Well, I'm Carol Dwire. I have been in with the district for 19 years. I've been a nurse um for way too long, 40 years. Um things have changed a lot since I've been here. There's a perception that school nurses give out ice band-aids and crackers, but let me tell you how it really is. I have I
042started out with two elementary schools. At one point, I had three schools I was responsible for. There's no way I could do that without health clerks running things while I was doing the big things at the other schools. Um I currently have the biggest elementary school in the district. I have five as of this week five. It was six um diabetics that I manage. See them all day long. It is a constant thing. I also see we have 19 daily meds at my school. We have um 37 emergency medications. There are this year they required um field trip paperwork that every single child I have to sign off on when they go to a a field trip. So that means I don't just sign my name. I look it up and see do they have
043a health condition? Do they does this child have the medication that they need? I do that and for for this month alone it's over 600 children that I'm doing that for in between all of my students in between the kids with asthma. Carol, can you come and look at this um student who has an injury? Carol, can you go to the special needs room? There's a a need right there. Or maybe there's an employee who has a high blood pressure who I send to the ER. Or maybe there's um a fall somewhere. So, there is so many things and I simply cannot do it by myself. I have to have a health clerk. And they're saying, "Oh, you can just do it all. There's no way. It's not safe for the children. It's not safe
044for me. And it's not safe for my license." So, I really hope that you all consider that you would never consider taking away the aids from the special needs teachers or the kindergarten teachers because those people are vital to them and and my health clerk and the health clerks of all the nurses, they are vital to us because we simply can't be everywhere and do everything. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Um, okay. Looks like there was a small edit. Uh we'll go move on to Representative Marine Proctor. Good evening. I'm Maryanne Proctor. Um I am the representative for uh the 60th district which includes uh Union and portions of Florence. I'm really just here tonight to introduce myself to you if we haven't had that opportunity and to let you guys know um you know
045legislator we've we would really like to work with our school board to hear from you. I personally serve on primary secondary education and we passed a whole lot of laws this session in a short session that directly impacts the schools and I think it would be really helpful to hear from our school board. you guys are are hearing this um more than we are and it's it's really important to to have those open lines of communication. We try to work really hard with all of our county officials and inviting you guys to do the same. So, um that's all I really have to say tonight. I just want to introduce myself, open up those lines of communication to make sure that we can work together. I think the common goal is to make Boone County
046schools the best that they can be. And I'm pretty sure next session we'll hear from you a whole lot because it's a budget year. So, if we can just start having those conversations ahead of time and letting us know your concerns, we're here. Representative Roberts is here tonight as well as Senator Rawlings. Uh, all with kind of the same goals. So, thank you. [Applause] Uh, our state senator, Senator Steve Rawlings. Welcome. Same theme as Representative Proctor. Um we we would really appreciate you guys' collaboration. Uh the session starts uh January 2026 and it'd be good if we looked at some things proactively rather than reactively. And we would like to hear more from the school board. I had a a Senate Bill 68. It it emphasized it's a reemphasis of civics, academics, uh vocational technical
047training, cleaned up some regulations. It would have been a great time to hear from you guys. So, so we just wanted to emphasize the communication. We need to talk more and hear more from you from this level. We know you've got people down there like you mentioned before and we appreciate that. We talk to them very often. We talked to lobbyists, but we need to hear from people at the schoolboard level and we hear from some teachers and and um but it's important that we like Representative Proctor says, we need to work together to to better the schools and we need to the common thing we we disagree many times on methods, but the things that we have in common are learning for the kids, learning and and emphasizing learning of the kids. So, we
048want to uh put that out there and I I hope the teachers will teachers also will reach out to us more often. There's a lot of things that we don't hear down at the state level that you guys talk about here. We're dealing with a bunch of different issues, but we don't always hear about the schools like um one good one good school bill we did this time is uh no cell phones in the classroom. So, during the instructional hours there won't be any cell phone use. So, that's good. So, thank you, Mr. Rollins. And TJ Roberts is with us, too. And he didn't sign up in time, so he's TJ, you want to say something? Welcome. Thank you. Uh, my name is TJ Roberts. I'm the representative for district 66 which is the other
049Boone County exclusive house district with representative Proctor being the other individual with district 60 and Senator Rawlings is district 11. I just wanted to come to largely echo what my colleagues were saying as well that the budget year is coming. There were hundreds of millions of dollars from the general fund to Boone County last goround and I want to make sure that there is an ongoing dialogue between this board and the individuals representing Boone County because fundamentally we do have a mission and in fact a constitutional obligation to ensure effective efficient education for the children of Boone County and that is a top priority that I have. I think that the mission that we all have is the same and that is the best possible outcomes for as many students in Boone County's K through2
050system as humanly possible. I'm a graduate of of Burlington Elementary School, Campern Middle School and Connor High School. So I've been through the Boone County education system and I want to make sure that that system is getting the adequate representation that it needs and deserves in Boone County. So, I just wanted to introduce myself, be clear that my office has a general open door policy and that is extended to you guys as well and I would definitely appreciate any input, any advice as we go into this budget session. This is my first budget session in 2026. So, I want to be clear that I want to have that open door. I want to have that dialogue to ensure that parents, students, and this institution is adequately represented. I think I turned out pretty okay going
051through the Boone County school system. So, I want to make sure that as many people as possible are truly fulfilling the American dream. And I think a good education is the first pathway toward it. So, just want to thank you guys for your time. Thank you. Thank [Applause] you. And um looks like Andy Bart Barnett, my apologies if I said that wrong. Okay. Um I'm used to it. So, my name is Andy Bernard. Um I'm here on behalf of the Family Nurturing Center. Um, as many of you guys know, uh, April is child abuse prevention month. Um, those of us at Family Nurturing Center, uh, pride ourselves as being advocates, um, in the community to end the cycle of child abuse, uh, and create safe communities for all. Um, here today with some information, um,
052about our school-based child, uh, abuse prevention and education programs that we offer. Um, they're all free of charge um, as well. Uh, hear a lot about budgets, so hopefully that helps. Um, we offer these to all Northern Kentucky schools, um, in hopes that we can begin discussions, um, and, uh, hope that we can create a more prosperous partnership, um, spec uh, hopefully with Boone County schools, uh, and bring these programs out to all of all of the schools that we can um, and help your students uh, receive this education and help us stop that cycle of child abuse. Uh, if I'm able, I have a couple of just packets that I could is it to Okay. um just about our programming with some of my contact information as well. Um hopefully we can set up
053a time to meet and discuss these uh in more in depth. Thank you. Thank you. students. We have any college students that are hanging out for credit? No. No, you do. You gonna come up and say your name? Got to have some proof here. Yeah. Just step up to the microphone. Introduce yourself. Wait, there's more than one? I'm kidding. Come on up. Come on, everybody. Hello. I'm Samuel Jameson. I'm studying elementary education at ENKU right now. Wonderful. Awesome. What year are you? Uh, this is actually my first year. I transferred to ENKU this year. So, first year, but I'm like I don't know if I'm a sophomore or senior. I don't know. Lots of credits. Just hurry up. Welcome. My name is Sydney Row. I'm also an elementary education major at ENKU. Nice. Thank you.
054We love it. My name's Alison Egan. I'm also an elementary education major at ENKU. Nice. Nice. That's right. My name's Alison Bailey. I'm also an elementary education major at ENKU. Oh, this must be the end of the year where they're they got only so many uh meetings left. Um my name is Brianna Casey and I'm doing option six and I'm a teacher at Steeplechase. Nice. Thank you. You weren't sitting with the principal, I noticed. My name is May Knox. I am Breeze Perah at Steeplechase. Um, and I'm also pursuing option six. Thank you. Steeplechase. I'm McKenzie Simple. I'm also option six at Ry High School. Nice. I'm Kelly Panko. I'm option six at Camper Camp Middle School. Yeah. Tell them there's a paper. There is a sign in before you leave somewhere that they collect.
055I don't know who has it. It's over on Mr. Oh, Eric. Eric's got everything super organized. All right. There you go. Okay. Going to move on to agenda item eight, recommended action consent items A through double N. Dr. Housewald. Uh, yes. Thank you, Chairman Parks. I recommend the board approve the recommended action consent agenda items A through double N as presented with the treasures report by Miss Katie Nunan. Katie, thank you Dr. Hoswell. Uh for the month of March, we began with an adjusted cash balance of 96,926,524. We had total receipts of 9.7 million and total expenditures of 13.5 million. Um, we had a net decrease in cash of just under 3.8 million and our balance on hand at the end of the month was 93,133,235. Uh, it was a very typical month, very routine
056for us. Um, notable items are that we collected 1.4 million in occupational taxes and we had a debt service payment of 3.1 million. Any questions? She looked at you and she said, "Maybe it's because you're I like questions." I I will I not a question, but um I am probably just like the rest of the board members and spend a lot of time looking at your email when it comes in. And um you know, I from what I see, they're the all your reports are very tidy and neat and they look exactly the they're supposed to look and to date I found nothing much to ask you about. Good. We appreciate it, Katie. Put that in the Absolutely. All right. Um, I have a motion to approve the consent items A through double N as
057recommended. Any further discussion on the consent agenda? All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5 Z. All right. Move on to item nine, recommended action, old business. Seeing no old business, we'll move on to item 10. Item 10 on the agenda is recommended action new business. Item A, Dr. Housewalt. Yes. Item A is a pretty uh regular uh annual item. I would recommend the board approve recommended action new business item A, district school fees, admission fees, and meal prices for 202526 as presented. Do I have a motion to approve new business item A, school uh district school fees, admission fees, meal prices for 2526 as recommended? I have a motion to approve. Any discussion on item A? Seeing none, move to a vote. All in favor, please say I. I.
058I. Any opposed? Motion passes. 5-0. Move on to agenda item 10B. Uh, new business item B. Dr. Housewald. Uh, yes. Uh, I recommend the board approve the recommended action new business item B, the 202425 revised school calendar. Upon approval, we'll disseminate this pretty quickly to our families and to our staff members, our students who had lots of questions. I know I was at Long Branch Elementary School earlier in the week. I was out at the cottages and uh, somebody said, "So, do you know what the what the new what the revised calendar is going to look like?" It's a hot conversation uh amongst many of our teaching staff uh and many of our employees. So, we we'll make sure we get this disseminated um and you'll see that we're adding four uh instructional days. Um
059um and I would recommend well as um previously mentioned that you approve the calendar as presented. We have a motion to approve new business item B 2425. Revised school calendar is recommended. Any discussion, questions, discussion? Nothing. All right. Uh I I do I think that um if I understand this correctly, if we have a lot of snow and or ice and we don't we can't make it to school a certain amount of days, in other words, we have to have a certain amount of instructional days. Is that correct? Yeah, that's correct. Um sometimes there's flexibility on minutes. Um generally days um we will be uh we'll actually end the year with 171 days. We'll end with um one day more than is required. Um but we also have so many staff days. Um we want
060to provide as many educational days and services as possible. Um looking at whether and we were really close on the minutes and we wanted to make sure we weren't under the required minutes because it could affect funding. Um, so we could have added maybe got by with three days versus four, but that would have put one day after Memorial Day, which could have affected probably even more so our attendance. So, but you're exactly right. We we have instructional minutes and days uh that we're required to meet. And so, um, we are able to wave uh some days and then the the the four days that we're making up will actually put us one day over what is required. Um, but our our staff members still make those up. So from in many cases uh we
061just soon operate school when we can. So got it. Good question. Any more discussion? Seeing no discussion, all in favor please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. All right. Um move on to agenda item 10 C. Recommended action item C. Dr. Housewalt. Uh yes. I recommend that the board approve the recommended action new business item C. It's a job description update for the director of finance. Um this will um kind of roll into the overall organizational chart review the board has requested and that I will be presenting uh to you at the May meeting with a comprehensive update uh continuously looking at at efficiency and um and the overall org chart for clarity uh and ideally some uh some savings. So, uh, with that, I would ask that you approve this, uh,
062job description update, uh, as presented. And thank you. Do I have a motion to approve new business item C, job description update, director of finance, as recommended? Motion, Wolf, second. Second. Bird. Any discussion on item C? Seeing no discussion, we'll move forward with a vote. All in favor, please say I. I I any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. Move on to agenda item 10. Uh recommended action new business item D. Dr. Housewald. Uh yes. Thank you again, Chairman Parks. I recommend the board approve the recommended action new business item District annuity match provider beginning July 1st, 2021. I see uh both uh Kelly Reed, Charlie Bfano, special thanks to your advocacy. Um, you know, we heard a lot from staff members, our board members were involved, and we had a clear uh charge this year, not
063only to close the wage gap, to accelerate our entry- level wages and our entry- level salaries, but also to look at our benefits packages and strategies for attracting and retaining staff. I'm pleased that this is part of an overall comprehensive plan that'll provide a 1% match for all employees for their uh um for their base uh salary and wages. Uh and we have a lot of work to do. Upon doing this, we have our introductory meetings with all of our staff will be completed by May 30th. I know that our principal's meeting next week. We'll be doing an introduction to this. Some of the benefits, you know, now the work lies ahead to make sure that our employees take advantage of this. As you know, we have significant um matching opportunities for um for our
064certified staff and experience year 0 to four. That's part of our attraction um uh work uh to to attract employees and our retention work uh with some vesting requirements. So this is very innovative and it really in the end um in 30 years uh uh someone's going to say who was that superintendent and board that created this innovative program that created an extra layer of retirement benefit for uh our employees and I know that's 2055 so hang on but but nonetheless the benefits will be immediate but because of the law of compounding interest uh we know it'll be even greater for those of our our beginning teachers uh that may have a a maybe a longer runway before retirement than some of us, but I greatly appreciate the support and advocacy um from our our
065our both of our associations and the many people who who communicated with us that this is important benefit that we should consider. And with that, I recommend approval of this item as presented. A motion to approve. toss. All right. Any discussion on item D. All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. And I will tell you, I'm excited about this one. I have a staff letter going out tomorrow. I know Miss Brady's here somewhere. She's on her third revision of that and we will be introducing not only the updates on the salary schedules and wages, but also the introductory information on the new onetoone match and the timeline by which they'll be receiving information because we have a lot of employees. I know Charlie, you've emailed me a few times
066saying, you know, can we get more details? So, our employees are uh they're watching and I know that they're going to participate and take advantage of this. And so, we have our first round of information going out tomorrow. So, thank you for that. I will say I I am also excited um about this. How do you how many school districts currently have a s similar situation? Um well, they're much more common nationally than they are in the state of Kentucky. Um I will tell you that um with changes in uh Kucky's pension system a few years ago, we're now to tier 4. Uh with tier four, our employees are paying roughly 2% more, I believe, for uh maybe similar, maybe some say reduced benefits. And so Kucky's one of the few states that really only
067has one layer of retirement. you know, our teachers and staff don't um participate in social security. Um uh we don't have a mandated annuity at the state level, nor do we really have local annuity. So, uh what I'll tell you is that based upon this realization, based upon our need to provide more comprehensive benefits, I know it's a conversation that's happening more in more places. Um, of course, this is something that I'm very familiar with and and was able to put in place uh uh and even though I'm a beginning superintendent in the last two districts and I saw the value and benefits our employees p placed upon it, I saw our employees begin to form like these uh finance clubs where they were just really studying and focused on making sure that they provide
068themselves a a living wage in retirement. And um so to answer your question, I think there's just a limited number in the state of Kentucky. Um however, I know that there are a few districts around us that are putting them in for next year as well. And I've had several superintendents approached me asking me about the strategy. So I think uh again, you I think it was uh board member Bird said, you know, I want to get back where we are front runners. I want the board to work with you to get back to where this district is innovative and we're leading the way. And this is another example of one of those ways that we're doing that. So, we're getting there. So, Karen, I I heard what you said. Good question. Well, and I
069I would just like to comment when I saw this come forward, I know we used our process and we vetted a lot of uh companies to administer this and working in the financial industry, I I know the benefits of long-term retirement planning. And I'm just glad to have uh your the recommendation come forward that American Fidelity uh be our partner in this because outside of being excellent at what they do in their world while we're trying to be excellent in ours, they also support our world tremendously as far as being champions for education and uh supporting students. and uh they always are a a big sponsor of our our scholarships uh every year. Um th all those hundreds of kids that have gotten these CTE scholarships and other uh first student scholarships, American Fidelity has
070been a big partner in that. So for them coming in and managing, they are also giving back. So, it's nice to work with companies that understand that and and help support what we do while also supporting our staff. They're they're well aware that they now the works on them to to educate to get our employees signed up to benefit to not leave money on the table. Um but also um we're going to set some goals where we're going to have 75 80% participation in year one. So, if we're going to knock it out of the park. Thank you. Uh, we'll move on to Did we vote? Oh, I think we did. We Oh, that's right. Sorry. This is your show, not mine. That's right. Move on to agenda item 10E. Recommended action. New business item.
071Uh, yes. Thank you. I'm pleased to bring to you a recommendation to approve action uh um new business item E districtwide translation intercom school safety improvements. I see a few of our principles still here. Um we have done significant updates with them. You know, part of this gets back to an original board goal when I came, and that's making sure all students have the ability, all students have the ability to to learn, uh, in a classroom setting, uh, to work based on staff input to reduce some of, uh, the discipline that exists when a student's sitting in a room and simply has no idea what's going on, where we don't have, um, um, u, e- translators um, um, and the support needed uh, for some of our e students. Um, but it's also a safety
072issue. It's an ability to communicate real time. um with all of our students in emergencies um and to share that communication. Um I'm also pleased that that was our initial charge. Um and when rolling that out to our 27 principles, we began to realize that um originally we were going to piece this piece mill this together over two or three years. And um you know, some of the principles came to us and said, you know, who do you love leave out in year one? We have the money. We have the bonding capacity. um and why then are we going to delay learning for twothirds of our schools or one-third of our school or half of our schools? We also learned that with uh additional investments um we're able to uh replace all of the intercoms
073throughout our district which are aging. I see people nodding their heads, difficult to hear. We can't do targeted interruptions. Uh we can't do targeted announcements and there's some safety issues. Um along with this uh is a huge investment in what I would say going back to uh being um progressive and being frontr runners um really some of the top-of-the-line school safety features. Every employee, our teachers will all have um much like when you um pull on use both the buttons on your cell phone. Um they can immediately call for emergencies, whether that's a a student in need, whether it's a a safe other safety issue, they can do it from the playground. it immediately locates that that teacher. Um during lockdowns they can communicate that they have heard the message. Oftentimes with intercoms it's complic
074it's it's difficult. Um they can announce that um um you know we know through their immediate communication if they heard the message and if the doors have been locked we can target the areas that aren't. We can intercom select uh sections of the building or select classrooms or go to those classrooms if things are not okay. and it really just uh increases uh significantly modern technology announcements in the hallways that'll tell students when they need to take cover whether there's a lockdown and many cases um also provide translation for the students they know exactly what the emergency is. So, um, we're really pleased at the efficiency of this. Uh, it's 350,000 on average per building. Um, and we know that based upon the life, uh, span of many of our intercom systems right now, we're
075spending 50 to 75,000 to to to try to just replace the intercoms. Uh, and they really aren't communicating with all of our other devices. So, this is a comprehensive package. Our principles have given us lots of feedback on this. And, uh, it's an investment in safety. It's an investment in student learning. And I appreciate all the principal support of this and feedback and I wholeheartedly uh of course recommend approval of this item as presented and I thank you. Do I have a motion to approve new business item E districtwide translation intercom school safety improvements as recommended. bird and wolf. Any discussion on item E? Just real quick quickly, there is there's pages of information. There's powerpoints that will kind of visually explain to our parents and community members exactly what we're doing. Very transparent. It's
076on the website. You know, we're not going to go through all that tonight. Um, but nonetheless, if you're interested in the information, our principles have already been trained, so it's on the website or you can speak to your principles or let us know. We'll happy to demonstrate exactly how this will improve opportunities in our schools. So, you know, originally when a person like myself um is presented with kind of a sizable investment, you look at a variety of things. And I learned early on from Mrs. bird that one of the things that this district does well and will continue to do well is take care of its in infrastructure, its buildings. Um we take a lot of pride in our, you know, our physical appearance as far as the buildings go. And to me, this
077is an infrastructure upgrade. um along with carrying the benefits of school safety which you know in unfortunately in in modern times school safety is is is um you know paramount. One of the things I think is neat is the 3-second pinch on both sides of their microphone that triggers a silent alert uh to the front office and to the SRO, I'm assuming. Um that by itself, you know, is is a huge step up from where we are now. Um the Mr. Bird and I were had the pleasure of talking to some of the building principles and the budget committee meeting and um over the years it's been rare to have all the principles on the same page and to hear them all agree we need it, we want it. Um and here's why. And not
078all of their wise were the same, right? They each building has its own personality, its own challenges, and so some were different. Um but it does so many things for our students um learning and safety for our students and staff. Um that to me this is just like putting up the ballards in the front of the buildings for to protect the cars against running in the building or um having brighter lights so students can see the curriculum better. Um it's it's along those same lines. So, I'm I I think that I'm proud to be a part of the investment in all of our buildings, even uh RISE and some of some of the smaller buildings. And I believe we'll be the first district to have this comprehensively in place in the state of Kentucky. I
079just want to add that um something else that we all agree on for the most part, well, not for the most part we do, is that we always want to do what's best for our students. And I think that's the first thing we actually look at when we look at these expenses that pop through is this the best thing for our kids. What's the benefit? And I I this is one of these things where I it's a win-win for everybody involved, especially our kids. So, I'm I'm really happy that we're doing this. All right. Uh any more discussion? Seeing none, we'll move forward with a vote. All in favor, please say I. I I Any opposed? Seeing none, motion passes 5-0. All right. Uh we'll move on to agenda item 10, recommended action, new business
080item F. Dr. Housewald. Uh yes. Uh Chairman Parks, I bring to you a recommendation. A special thanks to Mr. McCarter for his work on this um regarding uh new business item F, property and casualty insurance consultant recommendation. And it's really the the the the recommendation to do a deep dive uh for 9 to 12 months to really understand uh the landscape of property and casualty insurance. I've uh I've heard lots about it in my time here. Uh but it is a significant issue and uh this recommendation is to to better inform the board as well as myself and the administration on um what that landscape is uh understand it and try to improve the work we do um and make sure we protect uh um the district's interest and I would recommend that uh you
081approve it as presented. Do I have a motion to approve new business item F, property and casual insurance casualty insurance consultant recommendations as recommended? Well, that's a mouthful. Any discussion on item F? I'll just briefly say, no disrespect intended, Dr. Household, I will vote no on this recommendation. um mainly for a lot of the same concerns I've had since May of last year, which I won't beat a dead horse with. Um but I I think it is ill advised to continue with our current coverage for another year and number one, I I do not think we are properly insured. we are footing most of the bill of the premium that supports the pool for for bluegrass and um if we had a catastrophic loss I don't think people understand how little coverage we were going
082to have. Um, also I'm deeply concerned about the fact that with the extension, what that does to the waiver that we were granted that we could exit in a year with no kind of like ali and free and get out and you're done. But I did a pretty deep dive into the bylaws of of everything when this was all set up. And I could be wrong, but if we don't continue to have some sort of an exemption, we're going to get tied in and you may not be able to get out for two years and you're stuck with paying uh premiums and we don't have a policy. We already know that there's an increase over last year. uh no no set rate there which seemed to be problematic last year but evidently this year it's
083acceptable. Um so I don't think this is in the best interest of the district. I don't think that we are properly covered. I do not think that um it's going to be as easy to get out of it now if we don't have some sort of a waiver. and Boone County anchored this whole pool because of the size of our district and the amount of premiums that we pay and we're paying now as much or more than we had been paying and I don't think we're properly insured in this method and so that's why I am respectfully going to vote no. Any other discussion? All right. All in favor, please say I. I. I. All oppo. Any opposed? No. Motion passes. 41. All right. We'll move on to item 11, information, proposals, and communications. Would
084anyone like to share? Um, board member Maddox and I had the um, mental health task force meeting this week. I think it was this week. And so, um, what I'm very happy to tell everybody, it was what you all probably know already, but we've got Hope Squad going into all middle and high schools. So, I'm very excited about that. thanks to Ethan's Purpose sponsoring that for I think it's a four-year commitment. Um, so these kids will start getting trained and on what to do and it's exciting to to see that because I know it's been going really well at um Connor. Also, there's a Resonate Hope program coming up at Crossroads 19th, April 29th. 29th Tuesday 29th. April 29th. Tuesday, April 29th. and um 6 pm. Thank you. And there's going we're going to have
085um high school students from Boone County High Schools with music and Connor High School will be there with Hope Squad to do an activity with the kids. There'll be a time in there too for parents to separate and kind of get more parent appropriate information while the kids are getting their information. So, it's a very good opportunity for parents and children. It's free and I'm I'm excited about that. And there's a speaker, what's his name? Brandon Soho Sejo. So, it's it's exciting to to see this happening. So, and a special thank you uh Mr. Barnhill at Boon County High School has coordinated the music. I really create he did tell me earlier this week and maybe even over spring break he didn't you know pulling together all of the all the high schools and creating
086this was a bit more of a task than he realized but he listen he's growing the program at that high school more and more students are involved the arts are flourishing under his leadership as well as that of our other band directors so uh he has put forth a tremendous amount of work we're really grateful and uh it's going to be a great evening it is free it's open to community members students parents staff members. We're having it uh at um at Crossroads because capac Yeah. because of the capac capacity. They can hold more people than some of our auditoriums. So, I just think it's awesome that it's not just about mental health, it's also about our school community coming together over this. I think that's makes it even more special. So yeah, there was
087a a lot of discussion about all the community getting involved and seems like with anything you have different components and um everyone has their own components so it's hard to see the big picture. So it seems like um that there are a lot of components and um just mention that maybe we need to look outside the box a little bit too. And my second thing is um we had a code of conduct meeting to review the code of conduct. So if anybody has anything that you all want to bring up, let me know. All right. Anyone else? Um there was something historic that occurred in Boone County here recently and that was the last day in office of our Boone County Sheriff Mike Helme. And um I remember clearly before we even had SRO's, we
088were wanting to figure out how to do that. And I was out at the Boone County Fair and ran into Mike along with fellow board member at the time, Ed Massie, and we said, "Hey, is this something we can work together to do?" And he was excited about it. And we that started the conversation of um initiating the use of SRO's in Boone County schools one night at the Boone County Fair with Sheriff Helme. Sheriff Helme was intrically involved in our schools. he on Friday nights he was on the football field at Connor High School and u he was passionate about this community still is and he served our community well and without him we would not have the SRO program that we have today. So to Sheriff Helme um job well done and you
089will be missed and we wish you the best in retirement. Anyone else have anything to share? Uh, I do want to I I had this wonderful experience and it is that I was invited over to the um the the program that we have operating over at Wriggler Blacktop and it was kind of short it was kind of short notice so I apologize it wouldn't I think I reached out to Cindy but um next year uh it's a 12-week program if if if you're not aware it's a 12-week program and it's run by um Mr. Johnson over at Excel Academy and basically students uh from various high schools around the district uh can can apply to to go to this program and the Wiggler family R.J. and and Mike and and the rest of them sort
090of um I it's volunteer to be instructors, right? and teach the the uh young folks how to operate heavy equipment, how to do survey, um you know, how to read blueprints, how just a variety of skills, right? And they get their OSHA certification while they're there. And um and one other I forget what it was, maybe what is it? That's right. Yep. And if you if you haven't been over there and and have seen the simulators that they that they drive that um are amazing to see. I mean, they move and everything. They're they're like the real deal. They're like the, you know, and so if you get a chance, go over um it's it's at the it's right down the road at the regular blacktop um like factory. Right. And it's a limited number
091of students because again um they do it sort of on you know there's not a set instructor kind of thing. So if we wanted to uh consider it we could put a little bit more effort into that program to get a few more kids. I talked to the students that were in it this year. They've actually Wriggler and some of the other businesses that do that business have ended up hiring our students um for various positions. And some of the students have gone on to other things like you know joined the Marine Corps and gone to college and all kinds of things like that. But um there is an opportunity to expand the program um which which we could talk about some other time. But um another simulator we could maybe use grant money for.
092Um but if you haven't been over there, more importantly next year when they start the program back up uh get a hold of Mr. Johnson um or Miss Schaefer, Mrs. Schaefer and see if you know when is a good day because it's it's really worth the time um to see the the factory and the time they put in with the kids in the classroom and then the simulators are pretty cool. Um so I encourage you all to do that next year when they get it going again. And um with that we'll move on to if no one has anything else. Oh let's let's not forget one thing. Four of us went to Cosb. Well if you count the super five [Laughter] Wow. That's generous. Cosba. Cosba. Not Costco. I wasn't invited. You were invited. I'm
093kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Not Costco. Cosba. No, I have to say it was a it was a worthy investment of time. um lots of wonderful workshops and a national perspective of where we fit in comparison to other schools in the nation. And it's it's interesting to see how we stack up and I have to say I'm pretty proud of Boom County. It's pretty awesome. And like you said, the the the the perspectives there are so much more vast. Just I was impressed as well with just how much we learned, the conversations we were able to have. And the best thing is next year it's in Louisville. So, uh, uh, we can have a national conference that's just down just down 71. So, it says, not at Costco, not at the Costco in Florence or,
094uh, the east side of Louisville. So, just make your reservations early next year because the G House will fill up. That's right. We can walk a few blocks, right? Not if it's cold. Well, no. We don't walk in the cold, do we? Uber. That's what they're for. You got to keep employed. Um, one thing I was sitting here thinking about, I'm glad you mentioned the conferences because something has stuck with me from one of the sessions that I sent in, sat in, and the speaker was talking about all of the hardworking educators that do everything, you know, and and directed at school boards and do caring about the schools and wanting to do what they can to make them the best. But they made this statement that said everyone is generally in education willing to
095go the extra mile. There's not a teacher that's not or a parah or a bus driver or a cafeteria worker um that aren't willing if the need arises to go the extra mile. And everyone was nodding. That's true. You know, that's But then they said, "But are you willing to go the distance?" There's a difference. And that struck me as very profound that some kids may need more than just an extra mile. They may need five, 10, or 30. And that's why I think that our um the technology that we just invested in tonight to allow that little second grader that walked into our school system for the first time who speaks very little English and and um comprehends even less to be sitting in a a classroom trying to learn math, but they're not
096learning because they don't understand what's being taught. And that's not even going the extra mile. And if we're going to go the distance, that's the kind of investment in our in our classrooms that we have to make. So think about that as this year is winding down and we're planning for the next. Can you go the distance? You know, it's an interesting um thing. We we heard from our local elected officials tonight. Um and M I think it was Senator Rawlings said something similar that I happen to agree with that we agree on more things than we disagree on. Um and I think that's an important statement to make especially in Boone County where from in in my area in the district that I represent that is absolutely the case. Everyone wants students to succeed.
097Everyone wants families to succeed and everyone is willing to do everything they can to make that happen. And um so I I do I appreciate those comments. I wholeheartedly agree. I would just like to say that it's a community effort. It's a community effort. We need to work together. Agreed. All right. We're gonna unless someone wants to see the energy management report or the overtime report. Um what about the excellence in education dinner? Can we remind that? Yeah, we will send uh information out on that. Do you have it? You want me to just remind me for anything? Oh, that's kidding. You just woke Michelle up. I had two people respond. Just a reminder, the excellence in education banquet is next Tuesday, April 22nd. Uh and uh we have a whole slew of of teachers
098uh uh that are getting recognized scholarships. It's going to be an exciting evening. So we um yeah, we'll send it out again, but thanks for whoever asks us. I'll send it down. All right. Anything else? You're trying. Just one more thing. No, that's it. We're ready. All right, we're going to move on to item 12, close session. Seeing no close session, we'll move on to item 13, adjournment. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? All in favor, please say I. I. Motion passes. Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0.