Avon School Board Regular Session 3/9/2026

001All right. Good evening everyone. Uh before we stand to do the pledge of allegiance, I just want to make a quick announcement. Uh Mr. Yoder is um joining us virtually and so just mentioning that for anyone uh watching on the um on the YouTube. All right, let's go ahead and do the pledge of allegiance. All right. Next up, um, as we always do, we'll listen, uh, we'll review our vision and listen to our strategic goals. Uh, strategic Oh, good. Sorry. Thank you. Uh, nationally recognized district of choice that embraces all students and prepares them to grow and thrive for their future. And we encompass that by saying all belong, learn, and grow. And next, we'll listen to some oh, some little ones perhaps. Is this a new video? I'm excited. Uh, as they present our

002strategic goals. In cooperation with our community, in cooperation with our community, with our community, with our community, we will become a professional learning community, >> improving student achievement by providing equitable experiences and opportunities for all students. For all students, >> for all students. >> In cooperation with our community, we will create systemic and purposeful innovation opportunities. Systemic and purposeful innovation opportunities to develop critical thinkers. critical thinkers. In cooperation with our community, we will support student well-being, mental wellness, and the whole child. Students are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. And challenged, and challenged are healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. All right. So, not the actual little ones, but the ones that take care of the little ones just as good. All right. I thought that would be a little interesting. I thought maybe they'd

003use posters or something. So, um, our next item, item number three, is celebrating Orioles. And so, today we'll be celebrating a state wrestling champion from Avon High School and some academic excellence happening at Cedar. So, Dr. Windom, I'm sorry, Sycamore, not Cedar, Sycamore. >> Thank you, Mrs. Parent. Uh one of the great parts about uh these recognitions is that sometimes we get to recognize uh students multiple times for the great things that they do. Uh and so with that, if Nate Rio could come forward, uh not not just recognizing Nate, but we've recognized the Rio family multiple times uh for their wrestling prowess. Uh but Nate um has been just an incredible wrestler uh throughout his history in Avon. We're really thrilled to have coach Alex John's here, uh, as well as athletic director Jason

004Young. Um, Mr. Shockley had another meeting tonight and could not be here, but appreciate all the support that goes into a really great wrestling season for all of our wrestlers, but in particular, uh, Mr. Rio. So, thrilled to recognize him again. Uh, he was here last year about the same time. And so, uh, with that, Mrs. Parent has a commendation that she'll read for you. >> Yes. So I would like to read a resolution of commendation which is one of the highest honors that this board can bestow upon a community member. So um the Avon Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees would like to congratulate Nate Rio with passage of the following resolution. Whereas Nate Rio won the IH IHSAA wrestling state championship in his weight class on February 20th, 2026, making him a

005back-to-back state champion as well as a two-time state runnerup. Whereas Nate Rio earned a the 2026 Indiana Matt Mr. Gorilla Award, recognizing him as the best high school wrestler in the state. Whereas Nate Rio is the only, excuse me, is only the 24th wrestler in the Indiana State wrestling history to compete for a state title all four years and the first in Avon High School wrestling history. Whereas Nate Rio has 541 541 career takedowns, the most Avon High School wrestling history. The most in Avon wrestling high school wrestling history. Whereas Nate Rio has demonstrated excellent work ethic, determination and commitment and has earned the respect of the entire school community for his high standards and achievements. Whereas Nate Rio has demonstrated perseverance to achieve excellence at a high level. Whereas the highest level of distinction

006given by the Avon Community School Corporation is a commendation from the board of school trustees. Therefore, let it be resolved, Nate Rio is hereby commended for his success and achievements. Board members, I will entertain a motion. I move that the board of school trustees approve the commendation for Nate Rio as presented. >> Second motion by Kim, seconded by Jennifer. All in favor with Josh also voting. Yay. All right, that motion passes 5-0. Congratulations. All right. Frequent flyer, as I just said to him. Um, Nate, will you tell us a little bit about your plans for next year? Purdue University. Boiler up. And you said construction management. Awesome. Congratulations. Will you wrestle at Purdue? Fantastic. Do you want to introduce your parents or your guests tonight? Thank you all for being here to celebrate. Board members,

007any comments? >> Uh well, congratulations. Um as Sarah said, you're a frequent flyer. We've seen you before. So proud of this accomplishment. Um, when you went into this year, I I think I remember that last year was a little unexpected. You were not really sure you were going to win that match, but in fact, you did. Um, so did you go into this match really when did you know during the course of that match that you were probably going to win? >> He always wins. So you went in with that confidence and you were able to prevail. And then um you know it's just it's always one of those things where we as u I've been on the school board a long time so I've seen a lot of um academics and a lot of

008sports, a lot of band um that we've provided accommodations for. But but you know I always say that there will be a day when we go oh I remember Nate Rio. we gave him accommodation because you're going to do great things and Avon will ride on the wings of that. So, thank you for being such um so great at what you do um and being a super um uh great example of what hard work and perseverance mean um in the face of you know just being able to prevail year after year. Congratulations. >> Congratulations on all your achievements. I mean, that is a list that is so impressive. Um, what is your favorite part about wrestling? Is there >> Well, congratulations. Like I said, you've been up here before and you're up here again this

009year. I mean, like that's some impressive and you know, good luck in college. I'm sure we'll hear more about you. So, good luck and thank you for coming. >> Nate, great to see you again. We met again last year exactly this time for exactly the same reason which gets me to this point. Winning anything backtoback. I don't care if it's the best brownies in the neighborhood contest. It's so hard to do because you have such a target on your back. Um and also not being just satisfied with winning it just once. So as much as I uh really met my admiration for you last year, this year is more than uh because doing it twice is really something spectacular. It's a rare person and I'll be careful about this because I know we've had a

010lot of good wrestlers in the past, but you've got a real strong resume for being the greatest wrestler in the history of Avon High School. And those aren't those aren't small words. So, congratulations. Keep it up. Go do great things. The last thing I'm going to say, I so admire you because you have always seemed so polite and humble. And it's an amazing balance for someone in a sport like wrestling to have the kind of confidence you have to have. you know, you can win. Coach John's made it real clear you were going to win. And yet to be humble um in the aftermath and beforehand, and you balanced that wonderfully, that's a great human trait. Keep it up. >> Mr. Yoder, did you have any comments? You're on mute. The dreaded words. >> You're

011good now. >> Sorry. I just want to say congratulations. I saw you stands last year. I was so blown away by your way and your time supports all that wish in the future. Not many people get in your shoes. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Next, we'll move on to our um second item for celebrating Orioles, which is some academic excellence uh from Sycamore Elementary. Come on up. And also the kids. So, what we'd like to highlight for you today is an approach that um is multiensory approach. It's called Orton Gillingham. I know that some of you, we talked about this at our last working session and you were really interested in um our new resources that we have for reading and writing and spelling and this is one of them. And so we have

012a group of just rock solid allstar kindergarteners that are going to um show off their stuff for you um this evening. And also we have three out of four of our rockstar kindergarten teachers. We have Mrs. Brim and we have Mrs. Sloan who I think is more nervous than the kids are. She'll be all right. I'll fan you if you get too hot. And then Mrs. C. And Mrs. Raider wanted to be here tonight, but she is out of town on a prior commitment. So, >> All right. Like she said, we're going to showcase some of our uh instructional practices that we utilize for our curriculum OG, which is Wharton Gillingham. We prefer the acronym. It's just easier to say. But you're going to see three different drills tonight. You're going to see what's called

013a visual drill where they look at a flash card and they have to say the letter, the picture, and the sound. Then you're going to see a blending drill where they have to tap sounds out in isolation and then blend them together to read the word that's being presented to them visually. And then you're going to drill called words to spell. That means that they'll be given a word orally. They'll echo it, tap it out in isolation for each sound and then they'll record it on their response paper. So, you're going to see some of the daily practices that we use every day during our OG instruction. It's a repetitive structure. They do the same drills every single day for 180 days, which is really great. But we change out the letters, the sounds, the

014words that they utilize, and they have a lot of multi-ensory based practice in the curriculum. They're reading, they're skywriting letters in the air. They're using positions and hand motions for sound formation. They're writing on their response papers daily. So, it's a really great well-rounded approach to learning how to become strong readers and writers. So, we're going to start with our visual drill and then we'll just kind of go down the line. So, you guys all ready? Okay. So, remember when we do our visual drill, I will show you the card. I'll count to three. You'll do the letter, the keyword, and the sound. If there is a motion, let's make sure to do it for our formation. You ready? All right. One, two, three. >> E S Checkers. >> You're good. >> Wist. >> I

015on the nose. >> Um. >> And what is our rule? >> Very good. Be checker. >> E. F >> S H ship >> A apple >> duck checker >> not a B. So what is it? >> Very good. And last one. >> E K duck. >> So next we're going to do our blending board. You'll see in this board that we make real words and nonsense words. Um, and this is just to practice their decoding skills. Kindergarters are really good at memorizing things and then they get to words they can't read and they're stuck. So, the blending board's a great tool because it's showing them all kinds of words that are made up. There's no way to read them without being able to tap them out. We started the year with consonant vowel consonant words.

016So, that's where we're going to start, right? Okay. Let me hear it. bad. >> They're giving me a thumbs down because they realize that is a madeup word. >> Another madeup one. >> What do you think about that one? >> Oh, Emily, why do you think it's a real word? >> Because I think it's a name. >> It could be someone's name. So then we have also a lot of opportunities to talk about vocab and words they might not normally come across by just incorporating it in their daily practice and it's completely random every day. So they have no way to memorize what we're doing. Then we switched to diagraphs, didn't we? Okay, so next were our diagraphs. >> What do you think? Good job. when >> that actually is a real word, but that

017is a word we have not talked about before, isn't it? Good job, friends. What if I do diagraphs on both sides? >> That's not right. Don't do that. Nope. Okay, let's do this one. >> Fifth. >> Okay. What about next? We went to our double Fs at the beginning, right? or at the end. Okay, let's do this one. >> That a word? >> No. >> And then right now we're working on blends. This is now they're falling off. Okay, ready? Let's do this one. done. >> Good job. The next step that we'll go to is I think in a couple of weeks we'll just slide all the way across and they'll quit tapping them out and they'll read it. They'll read the words. This is my 20th year in kindergarten and I will have to

018say their reading skills and their confidence is the highest I've ever seen it and it's just really fun to watch them. They enjoy it and they're doing really well at it. Okay. So, next we're gonna do worse. We just recently transitioned to skinny markers. So, it's been a big deal to write. Okay, our first word is bed. My turn. Your turn. Bed. >> Let's tap it. >> Word number one. How do you feel? Good job. Word number two. My turn. Math. >> Math. >> Let's tap it. Great word number two. Thumbs up when you are ready. >> M. And word number three. My turn. Your turn. >> Still. >> Let's tap it three times. >> Number three. a thumbs up. How do we spell spill? >> S P I L L. >> Good. If you

019have S I L So, one thing you guys might not have seen while they were doing it, we really emphasize the idea that mistakes are okay, but we want to correct them if they are made. So, rather than giving them erasers and pencils that they can change their answer, we encourage them to just cross it out and try again. It's a great way to utilize the time instead of wasting the time that we're given. So, we talk a lot about just crossing it out and trying it again. So, there were a few kids that did that as they were writing. So, I want to make sure that you guys are able to uh take note of that. But overall, we've been very pleased and very impressed with the OG curriculum. We've had a 40% jump

020in our funological awareness from the beginning of the year to now. So, that's a huge win and we are very proud of that and it's a really big testament to the OG curriculum, but also to the kids and how receptive they are to the daily routines and structures that we do. We really like to remind ourselves every day why we do what we do. So, I always ask the Why do we practice our letters and our sounds every day? So, what do you guys think? Who can tell me? Emily. >> So, we can become strong readers and writers. >> Become strong readers and writers. Very good. Yes. Right. >> Okay. This is Alex and Riley and Kate. We have London and Emily requests. >> Thank you, Sycamore staff and students. That was so impressive. Um

02140% increase and that >> just astonishing. I have to I was a teacher a long long time ago and a couple things that I noticed that were just like extras that were embedded the B checker for the reversals. I'm like that's genius. Students do it all the time and and then the extra the thumbs up thumbs down nonsense word awareness like I'm just kindergarters you are going to be light years ahead of so many so many. So, thank you for coming and showing us everything that you are learning. Board members, comments, >> I just have one question. Did you um try to be that cute today or did that just happen because you were so cute and I'm really proud of your reading skills. Very good. >> I am so impressed by you guys. Thank

022you for coming and talking to us. I know it can be intimidating to come up and talk to us, but we appreciate it. You guys are very smart and like you're going to be light years ahead of all the other kiddos. So, continue to work hard and good job. >> Two quick things. I know that a lot of adults in this room will agree with me when I say you are learning one of life's greatest joys to read. It is an amazing journey that you will do the rest of your life. So, you're at the beginning of a lot of fun. Secondly, I need to remember to kiss my brain more. Thank you for that. That's great. Mr. The odor Thank you. Thank you families for bringing them and and sharing your evening with us.

023Now, you are welcome to stay for the most riveting portion of the remainder of the meeting, but you are also welcome to go. So, thank you. Let's make it green. All right. We'll continue to the next item on our agenda, which is comments from the board president. Um, just a quick comment. uh you know the boards around this time in the spring we start receiving uh requests for summer programs and camps that are um led by our staff and happen in our our facilities. I just want to thank the staff for for doing that. Um they're fun, they're safe, and they're very affordable for families. So I just want to to show that gratitude. Um let's move on to item number five. That is public comments to the board. This is the part of the

024meeting where public can make comments to the board. We ask that you keep it under three minutes or less. And please refrain from mentioning students and staff by name. Um we do have one person um that's signed up. M I'm gonna I'm gonna try to pronounce your name. Is it Foule? Foula. Thank you. All right, esteemed board members and esteemed community members. My name is Gimma Fbula. I'm a proud Avon High School alumni, class of 2011. Um, following graduating from Avon, I went on to Purdue University. Um, where I received my bachelor's degree and went on to law school at IU Mckeni downtown Indianapolis. Um, I've lived in Avon for about 20 years. Love my community. Um, and just to jump right in, um, the biggest concern that I am facing right now and wanted

025to bring to the board's attention, um, I have family that lives in Avon as well, um, that, you know, goes to school in the Avon community. Um and there was a situation that occurred where um a student's transcript was not sent to the university of their choice um for a precursor program before um joining the university IU groups if you all are familiar with that. Um the application was put in in September on time. Um the student believed to have followed all the instructions so that their transcript could be automatically sent. Um, it turns out that there was some discrepancy in the instructions of various forms that the student had to fill out in order for that transcript to be sent off. Um, there I think there's Navvian and then there's another additional form that

026students or high um seniors have to fill out. Um, the student seemed to not know of this. The application was sent. It was incomplete. um the student voice that they went to the guidance office and asked, "Hey, was my transcript sent?" and was told all the transcripts are sent at the same time. Um it was not until January of 2026 that the student received feedback that their application was incomplete and they were denied admission um due to not receiving their their transcript was not received. Um and so a conversation was had you know obviously not going to name names um and there you know it was a very productive conversation between myself students mom and uh the assigned counselor and what came about from that conversation is there is a um there's a discrepancy in

027the checks and balances of okay a student filled out the application on Naviance or uh college I forget the name there's another general app. Um, and then there's a separate folder that students have to go to to find another form that is the actual transcript request form. It's not on the general college app application that they use. Um, and so the guidance counselor did agree that there needed to be something that would alert them of, hey, this senior has completed this portion, but we do not have their form. And so, you know, he did say that this is something he's going to get back with his team, but I want to show concern and that this student now cannot go to this university. And that scares me. That is unfortunate. Um, and furthermore, in that

028conversation, it was brought to our attention that the guidance counselor had not met with the student about their post-graduate plans at all. Um, the student had met with another staff on the guidance team. um simply because the IU group's application requires a recommener. So that was what triggered the meeting. There are no meetings in place that happens fall semester of senior year to ensure hey what are your plans after high school. Um and that is very alarming to me and maybe there are these things in place and maybe this student just ignored them. I can hold accountability there. Um but I do think that is something that needs to be you know there needs to be some alert. Hey, this student has not met with us. They have not put in a request for their

029transcripts. Are they going to college? Are they intending? Are they going to a trade school? We need to keep this data and they need this needs to be on paper somewhere or in a system somewhere. And it is unfortunately not. And and this discrepancy should not have happened, not at Avon. Um and so I wanted to bring that to the attention of the board and to our community. Um and lastly, my next concern is the lack of representation in um staff in Avon community schools that is not reflective of the student body. Avon boasts of being 54% having students of diverse backgrounds and we don't see that in leadership or staff and and um teachers and I think Avon can do better. So, thank you for your >> Thank you and thank you for sharing

030that experience. And while the board doesn't always directly comment during the live meeting, we do take everything that you say and we'll work with administration and where it's appropriate, we'll follow up. Thank you. Um, next up on our agenda is item six for the consent agenda. This includes a number of items that our board receives. ahead of this meeting where uh some not so light reading. Uh it includes meeting minutes, claims and payrolls, transfer memo, um personnel reports, disposal of equipment, donation reports, overnight field trip requests, programs and camps, and uh tonight we have a new ECA fund on there as well. So with all of that in mind, board members, I will entertain a motion on the consent agenda. I move that the board of school trustees approve the regular session minutes on February

0319, 2026. Executive session minutes on February 21, 2026, working session minutes on February 21, 2026. Working session minutes on February 23, 2026, January 30, 2026, many board claims, February 10 to March 9, 2026 claims, regular payrolls for February 13, 2026, and February 27, 2026, personnel report, February transfer memo, disposal of equipment, donation report, overnight field trips, programs and camps, and approval of new ECA fund as presented. Second motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. All in favor Josh voting yes. That motion passes 5-0. Next item on the agenda. Oh, is there any discussion? I'm so sorry. I forgot about that part. No discussion. Okay. I should have I meant to ask that beforehand. I'll be better. Uh the next item on the agenda is reports. Uh we will have a report on strategic goal number one

032related to our high ability program. Hello. Just wanted to give you a little bit of an update on high ability. So, I also wear the hat of the data coordinator. So, I threw in some data in there, too, because anytime I can get in front of you, I want to put some data in front of you as well. So, when we first look at who we identify for high ability in Avon Community Schools, um we identify around 13.8% of our student population. The DOE recommends that we um identify anywhere from 12 to 15%. So we are right now in that sweet spot of around 13.8% which is around 1,500 students. And you can see there are three different ways for us to identify students in Avon community schools. They can be identified for high ability

033for ELA English language arts for math or for GT which is English language arts and math. So maybe a student that's very strong in math, they will be identified for math or ELA or both. So um when you kind of look at that, we have a large concentration of students um that are identified for high ability math and we'll get to a little bit of what that looks like when we think about our courses coming forward. We also take a look at um our identified students and we look at our diverse population and we look to see are we identifying the right students and are there any barriers that we're not identifying students and that could be anything from a language barrier when we're taking the certain assessments to help us identify students like Kogat

034or NWA or the I learn checkpoints. So we do keep a pulse on what is our overall population which you can see on the left side of that screen and then only looking at and pulling out our identified high ability students. So really thinking and bringing this to our broad-based planning committee of just saying do we have the right mechanisms in place? Are we identifying our students? And so we're always kind of taking a peek in and looking our ethnicity as well. And so I want to show you some of our high ability data. So we are going to just look at students that are identified for high ability. And so when we look at I read, we pulled out the students that were identified for either ELA or GT. So um this does not

035include the students that were math only identification. When we look at our I read data in second grade, remember that is a third grade assessment that is given at the end of third grade. So we would expect a student that is identified in second grade to pass the I read assessment early in second grade and we can see that. So this tells us two things. One, we're identifying and we have the right identification measures in place and then two um we are making sure that they are growing to their potential. So you know a year ahead of a state assessment is great but they're right there where they need to be. When we look at our iLearn data for ELA, again pulling out our high ability students, we have some grade levels that are doing

036great. We look at fourth grade, think about that above proficiency and I learn, which is above grade level. That's where we expect them to be. There are some grade levels that they're not necessarily where we want them to be. and we'll talk a little bit about some of the mechanisms that we've had in place to move forward and really making sure that we're seeing more of our high ability students in that above proficiency. Now, math, remember at the beginning we had that high concentration of math students that have been identified for high ability and you can clearly see that they are um achieving at their potential. So we've got almost every student that are identified for math or GT that is above that proficiency in the iLearn summitive from grades 3 through eight. And then

037lastly when we think about that pipeline we think all the way up to high school. Our assessment measure is SAT. Now remember SAT is a college assessment. We are one of the few states that give it to all 11th graders. Um, so we would anticipate our high ability students to be at college ready or even above college ready. And as you can see, they are. They're college ready. Our high ability students are right there. And even more are at that above college ready. So when we think about where we want to go with high ability, we, you know, looking at the data, we realize that we really need to pull some of our high ability teachers at the elementary level together and think about how can we develop resources, common resources to really extend past

038um what they're currently doing when they're ready and they're proficient. And so this year we created what we call the elementary highability councils. Um, we have a math council and we have an ELA council. We have high ability teachers from our elementary buildings that meet about three times a semester. Um, and they're working on deliverables. We receive some Kogat training as well, which is the ability achievement tests that we give our students to help us identify high ability students. And so they've really been working on thinking about what are those enrichment activities aligned to our essential standards in ELA and math. And they've been great and they've been coming together and sharing and really thinking about what else can we be doing to help our students and and and also help our teachers that are

039teaching in our cluster classrooms. Um this is just kind of an example. um what they're creating in the high ability council is accessible to all teachers as well. So not just the teachers that are at the council, but all high ability teachers are all teachers in our district as well. They are clearly going through all of our essential standards by grade level and really building in evidence-based um activities that will help them and that any teacher can ac be accessible to them as well. So when we think about high ability identification, one thing has changed from previous years with the movement away from um our formative assessment grant paying for NWA in grades three through eight. We are now using the ILLearn checkpoints and the percentile the corporation percentile. So we get that from the

040ILR checkpoints that are given three times a year. Um, and we're using the corporation percentile to help us um, for our grades three through eight. And then we are still using Kogat for the ability measure. And then we also have um a recommendation form that goes out in January until mid um, February. And any teacher or parent can recommend a student for high ability as well if they just don't quite meet that threshold. And then we pull in kind of a qualitative measure um that is called the scales for identifying gifted students. That's really a questionnaire that asks them questions about the students creativity, the students leadership ability. Then we can kind of look whole child at looking at the qualitative and the quantitative measures to really look to see if the student should be

041identified. We identify students for high ability in grades K 2 and five. And then once a student is identified for high ability, that identification stays with them until they graduate high school, unless there is some concerns. And then we would convene an exit conference with the parents and the teachers and go through a formal process for that identification to be removed. over a couple of these. Um, thinking about elementary and then having those classrooms and looking at the data. As you can see, when we think about math and we think about where our math students are in the iLearn, um, we really thought we need to kind of think about our current fifth graders now going into middle school and sixth grade and what kind of math opportunities could we have for them, especially those

042that we know we have a large amount of students that are very high performing. And so in sixth grade now, starting in the 26 27 school year, we will be offering three math courses in sixth grade. We will have a math six class which is um on grade level. Then we will have a math six honors which is one year above grade level. And then we will be offering a pre-alggebra 6 which will be two years above grade level. So using that cogap data, using the I learn checkpoint data, we will now be able to place our high ability students in two different math courses starting in sixth grade. And then when we think about high school, even in middle school, our students, and this is um majority or high ability, can obtain up to

04310 high school credits in middle school. Now, so if you look at kind of our sheet, when you look at seventh grade and eighth grade, starting early with those higher level math courses gets them their algebra credit, gets them their computer science, their geometry, biology honors, um, Spanish. And so you can see as a student finishes eighth grade and middle school, they can already have 10 of their high school credits under their belt. And when we think about high school, currently right now we offer almost 30 AP courses um within um College Board. I think this year we are going to have over 2,000 students take the AP test this spring starting in May um which is our largest cohort ever. Um, and then we have 23 dual credit courses that we have partnerships with

044many universities um, around Indiana. So, you can really see as we're building the foundation at the elementary level, we are continuing to make sure those opportunities for our students are there at middle school and then even going on to high school as well. And all of this is um is is created and produced and really getting feedback from our broad-based planning committee. Um we have around 30 members on our broad-based planning committee. That's anywhere from high ability teachers um to parents and then community members. We meet three times a year and really get feedback from them, especially when we think about changing identification or looking at those courses. Um, really kind of get the feedback from them to get recommendations on where should this high ability program continue to move forward. >> Thank you, Dr.

045Peace. I do have um something I would just like you to share and more for the public when it comes to all this. This was great. Will you just share about funding when it comes to our high ability learners and what kind of umbrella that falls in when we look at at state funding? >> Yeah, so um we receive our state funding from um the bianual budget from the state every year. It is around $90,000. Um so when you think about a you know a district of 11,000, we get about $90,000 to provide services for that you know up to 15% of our students. Thank you. >> Um perhaps this you you identified an item line item that I was going to discuss as well and perhaps this is something that the council is going

046to be looking into. It looks like to the extent there's a maybe a disappointing drop off, it's with the iLearn high ability ELA data for the fifth graders, right? That only 28% are at or or I should say 28% are at proficiency and only 72% above proficiency. What's your thought on why that might be? >> Um, I'm not sure. We do have the teachers. We have a great group of fifth grade teachers that are working at the math and ELA council. Um, I think this year especially, some are new to teaching fifth grade. And so, they're really digging into their standards, really kind of just leaning on each other to help look at and build some resources for teachers. >> Yes. >> Well, and one thing I would say, Mr. Langford is if you look

047back historically, we have seen a drop in fifth grade across the board as students transition from elementary to intermediate. And so, you know, when the board weighed different structures a few years ago, one piece that we really weighed was wanting to reduce a transition for kids. And so in our new structure, fifth grade staying at the elementary, then kids make one transition to middle school followed by that ultimate transition to Avon High School. Um, if you look at our data, third, fourth, we were trending up and then fifth grade we consistently saw a drop high ability uh general education data as well. >> Is there any sense that that's a state trend upon transition to another school there's a drop? Well, I think the challenge is across the state, different school districts have transitions at

048different points, but the the research would say that anytime there's a transition, it you're you're likely to see some drop in the data. >> And I would say as a state, they're seeing um kind of a a new light on adolescent literacy is the next big push that they're seeing. So, we're seeing anywhere from that fourth, eighth grade on up that the state's really going to focus in on literacy at the adolescent ages. And I would just say about literacy in general. I think what we saw in our earlier presentation is a great example some changes we have made um responding to needs and it does I mean it benefits all kids including high ability but I think we starting at an early level need to increase our expectation and that's what I mean with

049some of the shifts we are doing in the area of literacy. >> I just had a question. I know we're still in the process of this, but my like the high ability identification as far as the I learn checkpoints now. I know this has been a discussion before, but sometimes I learn checkpoints that kids have not been taught what's on there. So, I'm just concerned how does that affect identifying high ability? I don't know if you can speak to that. >> Absolutely. We have really been working with not our high ability council but our ELA and math councils to really make sure that especially when we think about our essential standards on each of those checkpoints. We'll have some essential standards and then some that are not essential on there and really making sure that

050our students are at least exposed to those essential standards before that checkpoint one opportunity one. So we are getting better at it. last year was the pilot and we're really making sure that we're looking at our GBC and making sure that students are exposed to it prior to and it is just one piece. So that's the achievement piece. There's the KOAT and then also the recommendation as well. And so we're hoping with those three mechanisms that we will make sure that we're we're capturing all the right students. is a acceptable spot to jump in. >> Yes. Go ahead. >> So, I uh love the idea of the uh the ELA and math councils helping to make sure that all the uh work at the elementary is aligned. I noticed you said that um there were

051up to 10 high school credits at the middle school level. Um, is there a similar or correlary option or or system to ensure that students are getting the same challenge and same experience in like sixth grade pre-alggebra as they might at uh what would that be freshman year for some students or eighth grade for others? Um, and similarly uh I mean both on both sides. So make sure that we're not like making I don't know biology harder or this class weaker. I mean, what sort of horizontal alignment do we have to ensure no matter where they get that credit, they have that same experience and challenge? >> I definitely think that's an opportunity for us to kind of look forward looking at that vertical articulation. We really wanted to start at the foundation and get

052K5 where we needed it to be. And already I will especially with math, our fifth grade math high ability teachers on the council are ready to start talking to sixth and seventh and eighth grade teachers. um they have a list of questions that they are ready to kind of look at. Um sixth grade is building that um GBC for that new course, that new um sixth grade honors course. So we're we're in the works of really making sure vertically that we are continuing to be aligned. But yeah, that that's definitely something we need to continue to work on. >> Thank you, Dr. Um, next we'll hear from Dr. Finley on an update on some transportation efficiencies for the 2026 2027 school year. So, um, as we've been reviewing our transportation department routes throughout the district,

053um, we're trying to find some areas where we can gain some bus drivers right now. I mean, it's a national trend. I think districts all over the country are facing significant challenges with ongoing bus driver shortage. So, we're trying to to solve some of those issues. Unfortunately, here in Avon, we're not immune to some of those challenges and um what we've been able to do this year though is hire quite a few really good bus drivers and we've been proud of their efforts. We still have some efficiencies that we're finding in our transportation department. One of the things that I want to talk about is Area 31 and it was one of those programs as we as I started this year, I just started asking a lot of questions trying to understand first of all

054what they offered. It's such an incredible program. and they offer so many good things for our students and that career education piece is so important. But then understanding exactly what that looks like in the mornings and and so right now what we're doing and and that transportation lot is a busy place in the mornings. So many things moving in different directions and for area 31 right now we have eight morning routes that pick up 106 students. So we're designating eight drivers to 106 students. So eight buses are going throughout the district in neighborhoods to pick up students, take them to Ben Davis, then from Ben Davis, they go out from there and there's so it's this web of activity that's happening with just this one single program. And we have had unfortunately this year some

055late routes in our district within elementary, middle, and high school. And and obviously, in my opinion, it's completely unacceptable. We'll fix it. I don't think that, you know, I've always been hyper aware of um lost instructional time and for us to be, you know, at our own hand making kids late to school, it's not okay. So, we're going to fix it. But I think one of the things that we can do right now is as I look at this and there are eight drivers needed to cover these courtesy routes and it is a nice offering. It's it's not mandatory uh routes that we're running, but this courtesy offering to neighborhoods throughout the district. Um, and what we're proposing for next year is to just streamline our systems. And wherever we can, we're always looking to

056do that. And we're looking at at maybe offering satellite sites and and doing one on the north side and one on the south side of Rockville Road for convenience for families and um having two pickup sites. So in the morning, families will drop off for the buses. And we'll have one bus going to Ben Davis, we'll have bus going to one bus going to Brownsburg. And so we're eliminating eight routes and going down to two routes. So we have these six additional drivers. And honestly, if we had six additional drivers right now in the morning, we would have fixed our problem because it's about approximately 800 well probably five to 600 students you could get on um those six routes. Probably about 550 or so. So, we're missing a lot of opportunities and a lot

057of students are arriving late to school simply because we're running these courtesy routes. So, I think we can fix a lot of the issues and we'll continue to watch the numbers at Area 31. We don't want any of that to change. We don't want that offering to change. We want to make sure that students still have that great opportunity. And of course, then we'll run the afternoon route. So, there's an AM group and there's a PM group. So, they'll still be able to to have that opportunity in the afternoon, too. if there are some families who simply can't do the morning drop off. So, um we're hopeful that this will um alleviate some of our our need for additional drivers. We'll still continue to work on hiring. We've hired about 13 drivers this year and

058I've been proud of that and we just need to get a few more to kind of get over the bubble and I think we're going to be in good shape. So, um, it's one of those things again, it's it's a necessary piece right now for us, I think, to ensure that all of our kids are arriving on time, that we don't have any more lost instructional time. It's really important. So, I just wanted to bring that forward and see if you have any questions. >> Thank you, Dr. Finley. >> Um, first of all, thank you for the efforts and and getting the hiring bus drivers as we know, as you indicated, that that nationwide issue. And I do want to commend the steps that you're taking because that loss of instructional time, you know, we

059just we know how important that is. So, I'm glad we're not completely removing this courtesy service um and trying to work work through that. Board members, any questions or comments? >> Can I add one thing? Yes, please. Just a um a couple of things I thought as Dr. Finley was presenting. I think it's important to note, the board knows this, but for public, um, in order to participate in Area 31, you have to be a junior or a senior. So, we have, uh, many students who drive themselves to Area 31 because they have a driver's license. The other piece is in the program description when students are signing up for these programs, it has always said transportation. You know, if you participate in PJ's cosmetology school, it always has said in that that you are

060responsible to provide transportation to get there. We have just always, as Dr. Finley said, done this courtesy of going above and beyond to provide transportation to get to the fire service program or the the um um Aaron uh flight program and those kinds of things. So, the program guides have always said students and families are required to pro provide transportation. This change would just get us in line with what has uh been in place. And we've asked the counselors to be sure to emphasize that to students as they're signing up for classes for next year so that they know going in uh that that's one of the expectations and that's a change. >> Yeah, thank you for that clarification and thank you Dr. Finley for really um trying to creatively solve some of the bus

061issues that we have. I truly appreciate that. As we talked about at our um our full day workshop earlier in the year, um our bus service is something that is always tentative. um because it does seem that um uh every day that as I've said that I'm in Avon High School, there are multiple routes that are being delayed and so I appreciate any opportunity that we have to correct that. So my question really is about the satellite drop off sites. >> So um you're you think that Avon Middle School North will be the place for that. How will that actually work? because um I would imagine that the drop off and then the pickup of the B that the bus makes will not exactly correlate or shouldn't exactly correlate with school start and stop times

062at Avon North. So what will will these students be allowed to wait somewhere that's inside and warm? How will that work? >> There's a custodian there that early in the morning. It'll be about 6:40. One of the challenges with Area 31 is they start earlier. So they have a 7 o'clock start time. So we'll have a custodian who can open up the vestibule and students can wait in there until the bus arrives. But hopefully that will all I don't think there'll be too many high school students getting up too early. So they'll probably be there right on time. But we'll have a plan in place and at the high school as well where they can wait inside while the until the bus gets in >> because that is a full that's a full two hours

063before arrival for our middle schools. Okay. >> And an hour ahead of arrival for the high schools. So there wouldn't be any cross traffic issues there. >> But then you mentioned a PM. Um that would be another group that will be going to area 31 in the afternoon. >> Yeah. So every day they'll pick up students. So the morning students are picked up at at noon and brought back to the high school and another group of students has already been picked up at the high school and dropped off. So there's a whole another group that happens. So there are they're dropping off in the afternoon and then they're picking them up at the end of the day >> at only the school. >> Yes. >> Okay. Got it. >> Yes. Because they're already at the

064high school. So all of the students end up at high school and they'll attend regular classes in the morning and then this the second half of the day is area 31. >> Thank you for your work on this. Um that was some of my questions I had that you thank you for answering those. So thank you. Right. Next, we'll move on to item eight, unfinished business. This is all day enrollment report. second. Another one. Right. Next up is cost savings and efficiencies with Mrs. Glass. >> Thank you. Good evening, board members. Um, as the board recalls that we finance our one-on-one devices over a four-year period, which helps us to lessen the impact of those one uh the cost of the one to one devices in our education fund. In 2025, we paid off one

065of those devices, which resulted in a cost savings of 336,376 to the education fund. We are now utilizing bonds to purchase those onetoone devices which will bring continued cost savings to our education fund. >> Thank you. >> We will move on to item number nine, new business. Um first we'll hear from Dr. Brahmis uh regarding laptop purchase agreement which relates to student onetoone devices. Good evening and thank you members of the board. Speaking of our laptop onetoone devices, uh Avon Community School Corporation published a request for proposals for 1,800 student laptops and warranty services. Uh the student laptops will be used for incoming sixth and 9th grade students. 12 proposals were evaluated. Sharp business systems offered the most cost-effective and highest valued solution. an increase of $9 per device over last year's costs. Um, nearly

066every bidder for this project this year issued a time constrained quote uh citing market instability due to competition with large data centers for the acquisition of processors and memory. Uh, we recommend uh given that time constraint, the board approved the attached agreement with Sharp Business Systems to secure the costs for the 2026 2027 student laptops. My recollection is that Sharp Business Centers is a frequent flyer for the schoolorporation. >> They won the bid last year uh and and uh upon your approval again this year for student laptops. >> Um are you they are the best bid that takes into account uh all others that might be involved with servicing this account as well. It takes into account uh the warranty services uh the cost of the device um and uh serviceability and parts ordering to

067maintain the fleet devices. I move that the board of school trustees approve the laptop purchase agreement as presented and authorize the chief financial officer to execute necessary documents. Second. >> Were there any remaining questions? >> Okay. All right. Motion by Kim, seconded by Mike. All in favor? That motion passes 5-0 with Mr. Yoder voting in favor online as well. All right. The next item is regarding the creation of Avon online virtual school. Mrs. Alding. We um I just wanted to share some information about virtual learning um and the impact our current impact on Avon schools. Oh, did I the wrong one? >> Um we each year we get a transfer report from the Indiana Department of Education and that transfer report looks at the students who w reside within Avon Community School Corporation and to

068where they attend school. And so this is something, you know, we're always looking at to see um where stu kids who live in Avon where they're attending school. And one trend that we start to notice is the amount of student I mean we know we have kids leaving because they maybe are accepting a voucher and going to a private school or they're just going to a private school. We know we have school um some students going to charter schools or other public schools. But we also notice a big um increase in virtual schools and our students attending there. Um I'm highlighting this the students were 100% sure they're virtual on here. So, this estimate is not I wouldn't say is 100% accurate because we know we have students at Franklin, we have students at Wayne

069and those schools also have virtual schools. The tra the transfer report doesn't go that far into it saying what if they're in the inerson or virtual or what grade. They just give us basic information. But we know we have over 170 students who reside in Avon and attend other virtual programs um like Cloverdale, Union School Corporation, Clarksville, and Connections Academy. When you think about that number, we also know that the state funds a child in virtual at 85% um of the tuition rate. So if we were to say what's that financial impact of the students leaving Avon, that's over a million dollars. And again, that estimate I would say it's really probably greater than that um because we know if we have other kids in virtual schools. And when we think about that impact, what

070we what our demographic studies showed and just our numbers have currently showed us, we are a district that's starting to just be steady and not see as much growth. So, if we continue to lose students, that will that will impact even what we're able to offer in our in-person environments um in our classrooms. So, when I mentioned about the 85% um when I shared this a couple weeks ago to the board, I shared that we currently had 49 virtual students and I had Dr. P's um who oversees that right now to share what's our current number and even from this a couple weeks ago, we're up to 55 students. Um again, not significant, but still it's a change. of those 55 students, 47 of those students are at the high school level with eight of

071those at the um six through eight level. Uh and right now when we think about the current virtual, it's really for a specific reason. If they're going into virtual and we really are kind of the gatekeepers to that, it's kids with certain medical needs um and that we have a medical note from a doctor or it's and we're looking at like an alternative to an expulsion. So maybe there's a discipline piece that um we're saying okay it was significant but we still want them to continue their education in a virtual environment as a safer environment for the time being. So why we have to look at that number is the state of Indiana the DOE says any time if you hit a 100 students you have to open up your own school. It has to

072be a standalone school because currently these 55 students are still students of middle school southwest North and Avon High School. But if you hit a hundred you have to open up a school. Now we're at 55 now, but these numbers sometimes pick up in the spring um you know just because um with things that happen in in school and at the high school level. Um so there's been years we've been really close to 100 and that always gets us a little anxious. Um the other and again and the other pieces we're looking at that number of students leaving a leaving Avon to pursue uh virtual uh education elsewhere. Our current partner is Indiana Online and that's through the Central Indiana Education Service Center. They are not a standalone accredited school. They're really a provider. They're

073a nonforprofit and so we partner with them. Um, and we do pay them, but we we we really appreciate them for multiple reasons. I'm going to go into some more details, but a lot of it is we're able to retain the majority of that average daily membership, the tuition dollars for our students. So even though we pay a portion of that 85% to CISC, we still retain some of that as a school district, a majority of it. Um, and then I talked to you about if you hit a 100 students, we're required to open up a school. Um, well, before I go into that, just last week, I went to a meeting at the CISC about virtual schools. It was called virtual school 101. And when I went into the room or when I was

074driving up to the pyramids, I expected there to be maybe about 15 people there was a little surprised like the room was packed. There was not a seat. Um I think with SEA1, there's a lot of schools having to think about districts. What are we doing um with funding piece? So when we think about this, there's a challenge because we believe really strongly in the quality of education that we offer in um at the high school and across all of our schools. Um, we feel like we do it well. We know we have room for improvement. We also are really proud of our educators and our programming that we hear we have here in Avon. Um, again, so when we think about the profile, and this is something from Indiana online, there are certain characteristics

075that they say um are needed for a student to be successful. I don't think any of this would be a surprise. good time management, an effective communicator, like they're students who are in virtual have to be able to advocate for themselves to ask for support. Um because it is different. They need independent study habits. They have to be motivated um internally to do some work. Um they have to have the academic readiness skills and technology. I mean, you're navigating your education through the through a virtual environment. We um if you know if we move forward with this and even our kids who are currently virtual, they still receive a diploma from Avon. They don't receive a diploma through Indiana online. It's an Avon diploma. And so we have a high expectation. If you know when

076you think about this readiness and what we know, if students aren't successful in this environment, then we're going to be telling them their option is to come back to the in person at the high school. If that's not something they're willing to do, then they would at at the semester or a piece like that. then they would have to look at alternatives if they still want to stay um with Avon and if they're not being successful in our virtual environment they could choose to look at other virtual aspects when we think about the courses um I mean they're aligned to the Indiana academic standards they all and some other ones will say they're aligned if they're for profit um and this but we really found they're not they were their curriculum was not written for

077Indiana standards where I Indiana online is um another piece that we really appreciate about this is synchronous that means live teaching and that means with cameras on um and so that is offered in the core subjects at the high school level of math language arts science and social studies um they have a a robust course catalog um that is aligned as a diploma seals um in the different pathways um they do have CTE based courses they have APbased courses They have dual credit based courses. Um, so just again, I'm not saying it's the same as our high school. I do not believe it is, but there are some similar offerings that we offer at Avon High School. The other piece of this, and this was something until I even dug deeper. I mean, I this

078was some new piece for me. All of their teachers are Indiana licensed and they before they can be employed through Indiana online, they have to have three at least three years of in-person teaching. And so before they'll hire a teacher to teach in that virtual environment, they have to have three years of teaching in that course area of in-person experience. They have instructional specialists who provide coaching. Uh and really about those I mean we talk about AIM, the Avon instructional model. theirs is different because they're really looking at that through an online piece and the best practice of online uh and they have weekly staff meetings um just I mean so there's similarities of what they do again not the same but similarities oops so what we are recommending is that we do move forward

079um with creating an ACSE virtual school um and it's to serve that secondary students with a focus being in high school grades 9 through 12. Um when we think about our target of students, there are a couple targets that we want. One is um the when I if we go back to that first slide, I should have put it on the end. Those 175ish students who have are living in Avon and accessing their education through another place like those would be targets to re to move some of those students back to Avon. Um the other piece would be we have kids that will tell the counselors or their SST that they are looking at leaving and going to a virtual school. So instead of them leaving and going to another virtual school, we like them

080to stay with ours. Um and then another piece which we'll talk about in my next presentation is students who um open enrollment. So students who do not live in Avon but um having them for their virtual. Now, when I said 9 through 12, we still will have a few middle schoolers that have significant like a significant purpose that we would continue um the virtual, but it wouldn't be something we're trying to grow. Um again, that'd be for specific medical or if there's a significant discipline piece. Um we, you know, by doing this that virtual school, we would like to connect that um with the Avon Simon Youth Academy. Um, again, they would be separate entities, but still, you think about it, we're targeting students um who maybe that inerson large high school is not their

081best fit. And then again, our goal would be or our plan would be to continue our partnership with Indiana Online. So, it wouldn't be leveraging our teachers. Um, it really would be leveraging teachers that are licensed teachers through Indiana Online. So, I feel like I shared a lot of information. I know it's a big deal. So, I'm sure there's some questions that we'll want to discuss. >> I have a question about um it will there be some sort of priority for the Avon students over the open enrollment? Have we got that far? >> Yeah, I mean, no. There there would be. Um I think the piece is uh when we and we've you know have started having conversations about this there'll be um like a a contract and agreement is maybe is the better word

082that we if a student is saying they're interested in this that we'll go through like the counselor will go through with the student and their parent um to see really is this a good fit. Like we want them to go in there knowing what this is. It's not the same as in person and there's expectations if you're moving to online. So, as long as they agree to those and we see them as a good fit, they would have that, they would be um a candidate for it. >> I I think my question was more of when we talk about open enrollment versus if they're an a Washington township student. >> Yes, they would receive it. We would not turn down an Avon student. >> Okay. >> If they are a good I guess if they're

083a good fit. >> Yes. With numbers. Okay. >> Yes. I I have a handful of questions. I'll I'll spread them out. So, I don't mean to monopolize the conversation. First of all, I want to make sure that I understand the grade levels because there seems to be conversation about middle school and then a focus on high school. Right now, you provided us that there are about 55 updated um Avon students who are virtual students in grades 6 through 12. >> Correct. >> Do you have a sense and I don't need the exact number. What generally what percentage of those are middle school students which I'll call 617 >> as opposed to high school 9 through 12. >> Of the 55 47 of those are high school students and eight of those are middle school students.

084>> Okay. So you said that if uh Avon goes forward with the virtual school you will not be trying to grow the middle school. >> Correct. >> So tell me what that looks like. How do you grow high school not grow middle school? What's the what's the difference in promotion if you will the two programs? >> Sure. I I think the piece would be is any communication we have like through our newsletters or our board uh I mean sorry our website would only really be targeted at high school. Um we wouldn't be targeting anything at grades six through 8. If there's a significant thing that would be figured out through a conversation um between a parent and a counselor or an administrator. >> Sorry. So just to be precise then if there's a newsletter or

085a blast that goes out about this new virtual school it will not make mention of 67 8 it will only make mention of 9 through 12 and then only if a parent reaches out about middle school would that opportunity be indicated? >> Yeah. And again we would be looking at middle school medical need or a dis I mean it would have to be it would have to fit specific criteria that we currently use. Um, so if I have this straight, then of the 55, is there is there an approval process right now for the 55? Does the school corporation approve each of those 55 being able to do virtual schooling? >> Yeah. So, we have to right now they have to have a doctor's note. Uh, I mean, if they were coming with a medical

086or we're placing them there because of discipline. So, I So, we're the gatekeepers currently of any child that moves to virtual. >> Okay. And that is that is 6 through 12. >> That's currently 6 through 12. >> But under the new program, there won't be a note required for 9 through 12. >> Correct. >> So the moment a student and presumably their parent, unless they're 18, I guess, um, wants to just stay home and take classes, they're going to be allowed to do it. >> No, I mean, it's not as easy as just saying, "I want it now. We're registering you." you're going to be required to have a meeting again with the parent and the student um with their counselor or their um assistant principal and they're going to go through we we're going

087to have a an agreement that we're going to go through each item um and there's going to be pieces that we're that they're agreeing to they understand the difference. We want to make sure we're 100% clear that the virtual environment is different than the in person and that there's expectations with it like one expectation and there's multiple expectations but there's pieces where you have to come in person um for some of the testing and that and we want to make sure we're very clear um of what's expected attendance the attendance expectation and if you're not meeting those expectations then when there's a break I mean a breaking point then we will bring you tell you you have to come back to the inerson environment to continue. So, a 14-year-old, which is the age somebody starts

088in ninth grade. If a 14-year-old and the 14-year-old parents come to you and they say, "We want to enroll our son or daughter in virtual school >> and they go through this meeting." And they agree and they sign off, then they will they will be allowed. There will not be any blockades to that. You it just they're going to be allowed to do it. >> Yeah. I mean, we're going to look at their academic records, too. I mean, we have access to our academic records and we're going to have conversations about if you are if you're struggling in the inerson environment. If you're great, if you're getting FS or your attendance, then how is this different? And we are going to have um some upfront conversations about this. So, I I mean, I think there's

089going to be some navigation of back and forth because we want if a kid makes this change, we're not looking at making this change for two weeks and then coming back. I mean, we want to make sure there is a clarity on both ends that this is a good move for this a particular student. >> And those conversations are happening now. >> It they're coming in and saying we we want to do virtual. And without saying names, many of the places that they're going to when we have looked at what this program offers compared to what we know some of these other programs are offering, we believe this to be a far superior program. So right now if they come in the counselors, the assistant principles will talk with them about it, but ultimately parents

090will just say we're withdrawing to enroll in X online school that we saw advertised on TV and um it's not necessarily a program that's aligned to the standards and offers offers the type of instruction that we feel like Indiana online does. So this we do feel like this process is happening as we speak. It's just this would give us an avenue for those counselors and our administrators to say here's an option that that we have that still keeps you connected with Avon that's a higher quality program. >> I don't meanwise. So other people have questions. Go ahead. I have a few more on this. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So um so so I want to make sure then that that I understand that when we say this is connected to Avon but the teachers are

091not Avon teachers. We don't have the ability to hire. We don't have the ability to fire. We don't have the ability to control the curriculum. That is out of our control but the students still get an Avon diploma. >> Is that right? You're correct. >> So, the only piece I would say to that is the because this flows through CIESC, Central Indiana Educational Service Center, and we are one of 35 districts that participate in that program and the superintendent make up the governing board of CIESC. So, um I am on that board. We meet every other month. We approve all the personnel reports. Um we approve any changes that happen within that program. And so now I'm one of 35. Um, but uh, as Carrie said, there are a large number currently that are already

092participating in something like this and more of us that are considering doing that are considering uh, expanding the role of CISC. So again, comparing this option to other options, I feel like we do have more control over the curriculum, the teachers just because we have a seat at the table. that isn't the case in in any of the other online programs that our students are participating in. >> And we have worked with or we have collaborated with another larger suburban school district close to us that is doing a similar thing. Um, and we have heard really good feedback from this school district on the responsivity of of Indiana online that if they give them feedback that they're very responsive to the feedback. Um, the other piece I was gonna say one other piece on that.

093Um, oh, and again, I know it's different, so I'm not trying to say it's the same thing, but we have worked with Indiana online for years through our summer school program. Um, we have thousands of kids that have accessed summer school. Um, and again, those are all asynchronous courses, so I know they're not the same, but they um leverage that virtual environment, and we've found success with that through the years um where we've had that opportunity with our summer school programming. >> So, obviously, virtual education has been around for some time, even pre-COVID, and certainly a lot of parents had exposure and community members had exposure to virtual education throughout the CO period that they otherwise didn't have. Um, I know that notwithstanding the fact that these programs have been around for quite some time,

094Avon's never, if I understand the history correctly, never gotten to this point of proposing a virtual school. >> Um, your slide presentation leads with the money. Your the slide presentation a couple weeks ago led with the money and I asked this respectfully. Is the difference simply the money or has something else changed? So I would say I think the big piece that so I I think we all believe when I say we I'm talking about our leadership team believe inerson learning is the best opportunity for our students. Um we also live in a state that is a very strong parent choice state and that students are able to go other places and are going other places. So with the changes with funding and sea1, I do think we want to make sure that we are

095providing the best opportunity for all of our students and money is a real thing that is um is a concern. >> And to your point, Mr. Langford, we've had this conversation as a leadership team every year, at least for the six years I've been superintendent, when the transfer report comes out from the state, and we look at how many students and families are making a choice for online. And we have talked every year, should we look at this? Should we should we um take this step? and and we've always just been kind of dug in to no in person is what's best for kids because I agree I totally agree with that as Carrie said I think the difference this time was we talked about it we saw the transfer report and we said okay

096maybe we need to have Indiana online come in and present to us about what they offer to kids because when we looked at the transfer report and saw where all of our kids were going and again looking at options that we did not think were that's were were that strong. Um when they came in and presented to the kind of our core administrative team, that was really kind of an aha for us of um I think what what precipitated the conversation was dollars as you said. But then what got us across that threshold of bringing this before you was looking at uh this is a much better option for a lot of kids and a lot of families that would still keep them connected to Avon in a way that right now we don't offer

097>> just to speak to the connection if from from a person that I met was a former student um who I had connected you know stayed with that came to like robotics club and other things. um there was a point where their family had to make a decision to move virtual um we have an option if there's a medical reason if there's a you know all the criteria are already met if it's just a parent choice and I use that just lightly but if it's a parent choice we aren't currently serving them and we know that that number is approaching 100 you know we have 70 verified but you know we know it's bigger than that so those are already Avon families that we are not serving partly by choice and partly because we didn't

098have this offering. So I I'm traveling right now because inerson learning is the best whether I come to the customer or the customer comes to Indianapolis in person's the best way to learn at every age. However, if that's the best next best option, if that's the the necessary option, um then I want Avon to be able to support and and serve the students all of the students that live within Washington Township. If this also nets a better quality option and we get some other people outside then that that's a bonus for all parties involved. I don't see this as an extra burden on the school. So I don't see it as a negative from that in uh from that instance and I see any time that we can be connected with another family with other

099students we have a way to try to bring them back with that connection with Avon uh Simon Youth Academy. We know they have a huge success rate. Indiana online is showing a huge success rate. That partnership is showing a huge success rate. So I will still advocate for in-person learning when possible, but when necessary, e-learning seems like a better option or a viable option. Um, I'll just make my comment and affirm that I also believe that in-person instruction is the best option. But, um, I'm going to tell a story. Should surprise no one. Uh, my first cousin graduated from Avon High School in 1967. His name was Dick Girth and he was a virtual student in 1967. The reason for that was because he suffered from multi from um muscular distrophe. Um and his dad

100was a bus driver in Avon and they lived in Avon and he wanted to attend Avon school. He wanted nothing more than an Avon diploma. So at that time the only way for him to do that was to attend school virtually. Wasn't he was um physically fragile wouldn't have been able to attend um in person and literally the football team carried a speaker from room to room so that he living on West 10th Street could listen in and be part of that classroom exercise. Um, so I only tell that story because I do believe that as I started these comments, in-person instruction is superior to any kind of virtual instruction. And yet I think about the fact that there may be students who are in a similar situation as Dick Girth um that really want

101to graduate from Avon. They really that's important to them. Um and I feel that if we can provide our Avon stamp on virtual learning that increases its ability to be to create successful um adults um that are well educated um then I believe that we are it's incumbent upon us to be able to do that. Um, I appreciate all of the hard work and effort that has gone into data sourcing everything that we've talked about tonight. Um, and I I truly believe that um, in many cases um, our Avon stamp, I guess I'm going to call it that, will be intrinsic even on our virtual learning opportunities. um things that Avon as a community stands for, things that our uh dedicated educators, we heard tonight about high ability and how much we're doing for that.

102Um I truly believe in Avon. I wouldn't have you I wouldn't have served for 21 years on a school board that I didn't firmly believe in. Um, and so I appreciate the fact that we are willing to take a look at this, albeit that it does have a a financial component, but that we're willing to look at this from a vantage point of what is in the best interest of Avon students. Thank you. Well, here's here's what I mostly want to say about this proposal. I think there are wonderful examples, Kim just identified one where virtual education is perfect for that student and I think we should continue to look out for those opportunities and I doubt that there are really more than a hundred of those Avon students. Right now there at most there

103might be 55 from 6th through 12th grade. My concern is not in any way, shape, or for or or form about those students who would indeed best benefit for virtual education. Here's my concern. My concern is that we as a school corporation are going to go promote something that everyone so far who has spoken believes is an inferior experience to in person. And my concern is not about those people who can't do in person. My concern is about those people, those students sixth grade perhaps as young as up to 12th grade who can do in person, but they and their parents choose not to in do in person. And from that, we lose we we gain a lot more screen time, which is not anything that I think most people in this room think students

104need more of. and we lose friendship, mentorship, we increase loneliness, we perhaps increase food insecurity. Um AI, no one's brought that up, AI is getting more and more sophisticated. It is difficult for a high school student or teacher in person to monitor AI. It's one of the monster challenges right now to being a high school teacher and a college professor, but uh they can do in-class writing. And I know that there's a lot of talk about, well, we're going to have academic integrity and we're going to watch that issue. We're going to use monitors. It becomes more and more difficult. It's a monster issue. It really concerns me about AI tech in this virtual setting. I'm also quite frankly speaking of tech, I'm I'm concerned about um tech equality. I mean, yes, there's one to

105one. I presume that these students will also have access to Avon laptops, but not all students have the same access to internet access. to app abilities to being able to pay for other items that they might want to use or not be able to use. And so I don't think you have the same level of equality uh when it comes to tech. And I also worry about I mean as I said even if we just talk about high school students these are 14 and 15 year olds and one of the wonderful things about the high school experience for 14 and 15 year olds is the mentorship of these high school students and counselors and administrators who are truly looking out for these students. We are going to give an opportunity to these students so long

106as they and their parents agree that they'll do as well as they can do with the procedures. And in that process, they may very well lose all of those things that I just mentioned, including, and we all believe in this. We believe in the power of the teacher. We believe in the power of the teacher finding the full human being and the full human integrity of that young person. And I just don't think you get that over the screen. And I know that you will say and I say as well that um that's why we're not going to encourage but we are going to promote and we are going to let folks know 9th through 12th grade that this is an option. And my concern isn't about Dick Girth. That sounds like a perfect example.

107My concern is that we that we have an enrollment report this time next year when we find out there's 600 students in virtual school or 400 students in virtual school, whatever the number is. A lot of that number are going to be students who would be so much better serviced in school. And I personally feel, as you can tell about my passion for this topic, I feel like in the end, this is not a perfect situation. And I'm not going to tell you that there aren't really good points brought up by the other side to my position, and there are. I just simply think on balance, it just feels too much like we are trading dollars for something that's not going to be in the best interest of most of the students. will be doing

108virtual education. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. >> I guess I have a comment. Um, so I guess I can see both sides as far as like of course the dollar, you know, that comes with each student, the medical implications, but also we have to look at, you know, isolation, mental well-being of these kiddos that going to be on screens. I mean, I have a 14-year-old and it's screen time's not good, you know, for that, but and also their socialization skills diminish and like he was talking about as far as school enrollment. I'm worried about the same thing that we're going to see a lot of kids a lot of going in person do to go virtual, which I don't think serves as well as being in person. Like I said, I see both sides, but

109I just think I don't know what to do about it. No, I mean I I I think we've had the same conversations that you are talking about. Um, again, I mean, we don't have a crystal ball in front of here. It'd be nice if we did when we made decisions, but our thought is we have kids who are already considering this that are going to do this regardless if it's us or someone else. What we're not wanting to I like Mike how you said that. I mean, we don't want to encourage it. But, by all means, when you promote something, is that a level of that? I I mean I hear what you're saying, but no, I think that is I mean I think they're valid concerns. Any other comments, questions? >> All right, with

110that board members, I will entertain a motion. >> I move that the board of school trustees approve the creation of Avon online virtual school as presented. Motion by Kim, seconded by Josh. Is there any dis further discussion? All those in favor? Josh, are you voting? Oh, he froze. Oh, there he goes. Sorry. I thought it was three. You're abstaining. All those opposed. That motion passes. Right. Um, next we are going to talk about non-resident enrollment for the 2026 27 school year. Mrs. Ald, >> we just talked about numbers. I mean, when I did the enrollment report, but you'll see from um when we think about our non-resident enrollment, I did list um from our count day of in October our 2025 26 actual number. So, by the K4 band all the way 912 in the

111district. Um right beside that to the right is what the demographer proposed we would see. Um you'll see a lot of alignment with grades five um through 12. Um where you'll see the difference really is um overall K12 we were 106 kids less than demographer um expected and where that really the impact was at elementary was 83 kids. Um we were 83 kids lower than the demographer said. Um, and so as we look at what he projects over, I mean I have what he projects for 26 27 28 29 and then I jumped up to 33 34 and so what we're seeing is really at elementary level we're really staying steady and the bands are this way because this is how the study was done because um when we did the demog demographic study this

112was our bands. um in high school you're g will we will still in the secondary see some growth um just slower growth than we expected. So because of that adjustment last year, the board made the decision to open non-resident enrollment and a lot of that also was um the board made that decision last year because of the construction and we had room. Prior to that, we were really tight and full. Um when when Avon made that decision, we aligned with the other districts in Hendrickx County. At this point, all districts across Hendrickx County have a non-district um open enrollment piece. And so I wanted to show some data from the 2526 school year. Um so in the first column you'll see by um the grade level and then the spots we had available. The next

113column shows the applicants, so the ones that applied. Um and then we review each application. Um and so we determine if those are approved. Uh and really, you know, the state really identifies what we're looking for improve. I mean if we're able to approve um I mean we we can look at attendance and discipline but the state identifies what that our criteria is and it's significant. Um and then the last column is number enrolled. Um so the piece is I think why um non-resident enrollment works really well is we really get to make the decision of where students go. Um, and so again, when we say like the four fifth graders, I was able to look at our enrollment across all eight of our elementary schools and we were able to place kids appropriately um

114by class size. So, we weren't looking um to make we didn't add kids anywhere where we were going to have to add a teacher. Um again, if a kid moves into Avon, wherever they live, they go, but when you're non-resident enrollment, we choose where you go. They don't apply for a certain school. Um, and then I have 6 through 12 on here also. Our available spots, the applicants, number approved, and number enrolled. When you think about that total, we technically had 345 spots available, 105 applicants. We ex we approved 82 of those applicants, which um then 59 of those chose to enroll. And sometimes they chose not to enroll because they um I mean I I some specific examples like a kid made a sports team they weren't sure if they were going to make

115in another school district so they chose to stay at that school district or uh sibling was a sibling was accepted uh a sibling one was accepted and one was not and so they want to keep their family together. Um when I did say we would put kids um based on the school we do keep siblings together. we're not going to have a first grader in a family in one elementary school and a third a fourth grader in another elementary school. So when you looked at that, we had um of our acceptance rate, we had a 78% acceptance rate and then of the ones that were accepted, 56% of those um enrolled in our school district. When we look at this school year, again, the board is able to look at this year by year um

116based on enrollment trends, class sizes, and capacity. And so up here you'll see what we're recommending for the 26 27th school year. Um you'll see some programs or grade levels are closed. That is third grade. Um we did not open that last year and we would were recommending keeping that closed again and a lot of that is because of the new um law around I read and we're still and about the required retention. We're still figuring um those pieces out. And then some of our special programs of Strive and Impact and Oasis, our special education um programs and those are were at capacity. And then Avon Academy also um were at capacity. The other piece um you from talking earlier, we did have 50 students we list on here for the virtual they had they

117would have to be in grades 9 through 12. Um based on if everything works out, we're bringing it tonight at the board meeting. Um if you approve it, the window would technically begin tomorrow and then the they would have to apply by June 12th. Um and then we review all the applications and then begin the notification process if a child if a student's accepted or um denied. Any questions about open enrollment? >> Well, it'll be a bit of a segue from the last topic to this one. And I noticed the open enrollment you've got listed as 50 for virtual. How did we arrive at that number? >> Yeah, I mean we kind of went back and forth. We um looked at what our current numbers are and you know we are not our goal is

118not to have kids go from the Avon high school to Avon online, the Avon virtual. And so really we're seeing that are more our target is outside enrollment of kids who are looking at virtual um enrollment virtual education. Sorry. But why why 50, I guess. I mean, why why it just feel like the right number? >> Well, I mean, I think we were trying to think about capacity, um, of what we could handle. And so, um, we we've had conversations back and forth. And so, we don't there we know some other districts had a lot larger number and that was not our goal. We wanted to start small, um, to make sure we could handle this and do it well. Um, I had a couple of questions about the changes in specific grades. Seems to

119me that last year we said 30. I mean, we did because the slide says that, but we said 30 in second grade. And it occurs to me that we did that because we were piloting checkpoints or that that had some bearing on it because we did not want to necessarily overburden a piloted program. So this year it looks like we're going to 40 um the capacity in that but seventh and eighth grade switched. >> Um so what was the reason for going in seventh from 30 to 40 and in eighth from >> other way around 40. >> So really looking at our cohorts of students. So we're looking at how many kids are enrolled in those grade levels right now. Okay. And so when you look at K12 those are smaller grade levels for us.

120And the same thing with eighth grade. when we look at our our current I mean our current seventh graders sorry right when we looked at those our current kindergarten our current first grade our lower numbers and our current seventh graders are lower numbers so we really were looking at our overall current enrollment >> so we're just seeing the enrollment swell going through the system >> correct >> you're just u modifying for that on a year-by-year basis correct >> thank you >> as far as this recommendation push usward toward the the capacity for the room. >> No, we're not at capacity um in our schools um by any by and no, we're not shooting for capacity. Did you hear me, Josh? >> Okay. I just had a question. Um, so as far as applications, we look

121at attendance, we look at grades. Is there anything else that's included in that that I this is just out of curiosity. I just want to know if there was other stuff we looked at. >> Sure. I mean, so by Indiana code, we really can look at attendance. And when they say attendance, the state says that that um 10 days of unexcused. >> So that's not 10 days of excused, it's 10 days of unexcused. And the other piece that we can look at is discipline. And again, it's significant. you're talking about 10 days of a suspension or an expulsion that would pre prevent you or um a student causing physical harm to a student or staff member. So grades were not able to look at um we can't see a child has bad grades and then

122say they cannot come based on their grades. >> But same with test scores like how I learn. >> Yeah. And a lot of that is trying the state is trying to prevent discrimination and so those are certain things that allows us to look at and that's not just Avon, that's school districts in general. >> Yeah. No, it's a great question. >> And I think that is a little bit of a people think we're handpicking certain kids to come in. >> Any other questions or comments, board members? >> Right. I will entertain a motion. I move that the board of school trustees approve the recommended capacity for non-resident enrollment as presented. >> Second motion by Jennifer, seconded by Kim. Is there any discussion? All in those in favor? Those opposed? That motion passes 4 to one.

123Right. Next item that we have is the 202728 school calendar. Dr. Windom, >> thank you. It's always strange when we start talking about two calendars two years from now when you start seeing 2728 on things. Uh but this is the time of year when we typically bring uh a calendar for the board's consideration. Uh we've worked with uh the Avon Federation of Teachers. Uh we always like to talk through a couple of different options with them and then they put it before their membership for a vote. Um and the calendar that you have before you received 69% of uh the support from uh teachers. It does match up uh very closely with our current calendar and next year's calendar. It also matches up with area 31 so that we as much as we can um

124particularly spring break only matches up with one week of area 31's calendar but Wayne Township spring break was was a week later than ours and that January February time frame can be a little tough. So to to go another week before spring break I don't think had a lot of interest. So we tried to match up wherever we can. We also looked at neighboring districts to try to match up just because we have some staff that live in other communities but work here. So recommending your approval of this option for the 2728 school calendar. >> I move the board of school trustees approve the 202728 school calendar as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor. That motion passes 5-0 with Mr. Yoder voting in

125favor as well. >> And the last item of new business is the resolution for donation of land, rightway, and easement. Dr. Windam, >> thank you. As you know, um in October of 2025, uh the school board considered an agreement with the town of Avon to um donate land by inter the old intermediate east that is now Evergreen Elementary that is the tennis courts, the old tennis courts right on Avon Avenue. We had used that as a staging ground for construction for the last several years. And once construction finished, um we had no purpose for those old tennis courts and quite honestly didn't want to put any money into fixing them because we had no need for them. So the town of Avon approached us about um turning them into a pickle ball park. I we

126put in your packet um the I believe this is the latest rendering from the town of Avon. So that that donation of land has already been approved. You took action on that in October. The town council approved it. Uh but now it's spring and they're ready to start getting to work and uh ready for construction to start happening. And as we were working with school attorneys on that, there were a few documents that needed to be signed and closing documents and and things like that. So, what you have before you is a resolution for the donation of land, right of way, and easement that basically authorizes um the administration to execute all those necessary legal documents to go forward with the closing of that property and that donation of land so that the town can

127get to work on uh making that a much nicer uh property than what it is right now. So, recommend your approval. Board members, I'll entertain a motion. >> Um, as a rabbid pickle ball player, I move that the board of school trustees approve the resolution for donation of land, rightway, and easement as presented. >> Second motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes 5-0 with Mr. Yoder voting in favor online. We'll move on to item number 10 on the agenda, which is board member items. We'll start with you, Mr. Yodor, to make it easier. >> Um, I will do my best to keep the meeting short. So, I just want to thank all for the flexibility of being able to continue the my work travel for

128um um for work. I don't know. Um and um appreciate the patience uh dealing with this and um and I know there were some tough votes tonight. I know there were uh some good discussion. Um but at no point uh in the process do I ever think that we don't all have uh what we believe are is are the best interest of students and staff in mind. So just want to thank everybody for their patience and uh continued efforts. Well, congratulations to all of our celebrated Orioles tonight and um Sycamore has readers readers readers and boy did we love that. That was impressive to be able to see uh kindergarten students be able to uh show off a little bit in front of us and show us their reading ability and um I really I'm

129a fan of that um of that group and what they showed us tonight. Um I I also just want to echo what Josh said. I appreciate that we have a school district that uh looks at everything all the time. all the time uh for what is in the best interest of students and families in our community. Um I just feel that it's okay to agree and to disagree, but I want to applaud our administrators for looking at all things that will make Avon uh the very best that we can make them. Um, I also just want to thank you for letting me talk about Dick Earth tonight because he was a he was a phenomenal human that um was the proudest person to be an Avon graduate that I ever met. Um, he raised me

130one summer. Um, couldn't walk, really had difficulty. He was homebound obviously and he played Monopoly with me. I chose him to be my babysitter one summer when I was six years old and he uh let me play Monopoly with him for the whole entire summer and the last day before we went back to school he beat me to which told me he could have beat me the whole entire summer but um but he was a he was a um very great person for the short time that he lived. Um, and speaking of Avon grads, I just want to um pass my condolences along to our fellow board member, former board member Cindy Simmons. Uh, we were able to go and hug her neck tonight and tell her that we missed her and she's doing fine,

131but um, just remember her if you would in your thoughts and prayers as she faces life without her partner of 47 years. Um, Cindy, we love you. My favorite part of the meeting is always celebrating Oreos. I love always having kiddos. I think it's the best part of the meeting. It just lifts everybody's spirits to have, you know, such awesome kids. Um, like the administration, thank you for going above and beyond as far as like with transportation and just research and everything. And I appreciate the board. I know it's a hard discussion, but I appreciate our openness to discuss it and not, you know, get agitated with each other. I appreciate that us coming together. And also like Miss Woodward said, please keep Cindy in your prayers. >> Well, obviously I was the naysayer today

132and I'm not typically a contrarian and to the extent I've had small disagreements, they've been small disagreements that involve tweaks. I think this might have been the first time I've actually voted against any movement. Um, let me tell you just ever so quickly. Um, I have spent the better part of the last 15 years mentoring intensely um, high school, middle school and high school boys in particular, some girls, but certainly boys, starting with my son and friends and then moving on with high school speech and debate and some other organizations. I I feel passionately right now that there is an epidemic of a lack of connection, uh loneliness, uh a lack of friendship, people who feel like they're outsiders. And I and I just worry uh so much about those students sitting in their bedroom

133all day and not having the guidance and the mentorship, the friendship, the cafeteria interaction, the extracurricular extra uh interaction, the the hand, the touch, the hug. I worry about that greatly. And I wish that everybody in the Avon community were parents like the people in this room. We know they aren't. Um, and that is why I feel so intensely that not only is the in-person school experience vital for our youth, but it's so vital. I want to do everything to keep its integrity in place. That being said, um, obviously the administration has voiced what they would like to do. The board approved what the administration would like to do and I'm here to support it. I am not going to be in any way, shape, or form anything other than a supporter, a watcher of

134numbers, somebody who will want to hear about how it's going. And maybe we'll revisit it or maybe I'll say, "Gosh, you guys were so right and I was so wrong." And that'll be fine if that's the situation. But this that's the place of which I come from. >> Board members, thank you for the dialogue tonight. Um, we are all passionate about education and obviously very invested in the decisions that we make for all our students that we serve. And so I appreciate this um was very needed and uh we will continue like Mr. Langford indicated to watch this and make sure uh that support and to continue to make sure that's the right the right path we're going down. >> All right, Dr. Windham. >> Uh thank you. I appreciate the really thoughtful discussions tonight,

135covered a lot of really meaty topics. So, I appreciate that. Um, and then also, I know we've had conversations and, you know, the board uh just last month got to interact with some of our principles and we really dug into some of our um data, English language arts in particular, and we have frequent conversations about um our English language arts data compared to our math data. And when I see what those kindergarten students are doing, I think it's going to take us a few years before they get into tested grades. But um you know when you hear the teachers talking about the level of rigor of what they're seeing in kindergarten and they are regularly when we're at PLC's on Wednesday hearing how impressed teachers are that the kids are responding to that high level

136of rigor. So we've always attributed uh our math success to really strong core curriculum partnered with really great teachers and I think I'm excited to see the progress of just a little snippet of what we saw today on a much larger scale across the district. So thanks for a great meeting. And we'll