001All right, good evening everyone. We'll call the meeting to order at 7 o'clock. And if you would please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. You may be seated. [snorts] Um, our first order of business tonight is um a delight and a pleasure to be able to administer. We will um have the oath of office administered for our newest board member, Josh Yoder. Um, yay. I agree. Um Josh, if you and um John would like to come up in front, he will administer the oath. United States member of the >> [applause] [applause] >> That's exciting. Thank you, Josh.
002Thank you for being willing to serve and thank you for um just being such a great community advocate for lo these many years. We appreciate you and also can't look can't wait to see um the impact you'll have on our board. Welcome. The next item on our agenda is our vision and strategic goals of the Avon Community School Corporation Board of School Trustees. Um, on all of the screens you'll see the vision for Avon schools, which is a nationally recognized district of choice that embraces all students and prepares them to grow and thrive for their future. And we'll uh talk about our three strategic goals, which are listed here, but to read them is boring. So, why don't we have some cute kids from our schools tell you our strategic goals. cooperation with our community.
003We will become a professional learning community, improving [music] student achievement by providing equitable >> equitable equitable experiences >> and opportunities for all students >> in cooperation with our community. We will create a systemic and purposeful innovation opportunities to develop critical thinkers. Critical thinkers. >> Critical thinkers. >> In cooperation with our community, we will support student well-being, [music] mental wellness, and the whole child. We will be healthy, safe, [music] engaged, supported, and challenged. >> We love Avon, too. Where are those kiddos from? What school? >> Hickory kids. Awesome. The next item on our agenda is always our favorite. Uh we are celebrating Orioles tonight from our own River Birch uh elementary school. Um we will be celebrating academic excellence and I'll turn it over to Dr. Wendham. Thank you, Mrs. Woodward. So, we start every school
004board meeting by highlighting some students from one of our schools. So, we're thrilled to have Mrs. Stepperson and some of the River Birch staff here as well as uh parents and students that we would like to recognize. So, I'll let Mrs. Stephen introduce our kids. Good evening. I'm Gina Stefen, the proud principal of River Birch Elementary School. And joining me tonight are several members of our fifth grade teaching team. Mr. Aspenwol, uh Mrs. Tina Davis, Miss Lauren Mlan, as well as our instructional coach, um, Mrs. Don Alexander, and best of all, in just a few moments, some of our fifth grade students will be joining us as well. Tonight, we hope to highlight some recent success with our new ELA curriculum, Wonders, and specifically the ways that teachers are intentionally and collaboratively planning for students
005to demonstrate their knowledge of essential standards. So before we bring out our students who are eager to share some presentations with you all, um I'm going to invite Mrs. Alexander up here to share how she collaborates with our grade level teams at River Birch to support their success with our new wonders curriculum. >> All right, good evening. um to give you a little background knowledge on the work that goes behind the scenes that everything happened before you're going to see the presentation this evening. What we do is we um were creative this year at River Birch and we give an extended amount of time to our teachers to do some planning. One reason behind this was with our new curriculum of wonders. We didn't want our teachers to feel like they were out on an
006island. So, we have team planning time where we utilize solution trees 15-day planner and that allows us to plot our CFAs, our iLearn checkpoints, and it gives the teachers time to plan backwards. And we come together with an in-depth time to dig into the material. And so what happens is after we've sat down and planned out basically three weeks of learning, the teachers walk away to know exactly what standards are being taught within this time frame along with daily learning targets. So this is huge for Avon to be able to promote teacher clarity because not only do the teachers know, our students know. So they know at the end of a class period, oh this is what I learned today and this is why. So it's all planned out in detail and you're going to
007see this evening three standards that our students have hit. You're going to listen for a main idea. You're going to listen for a you're going to see a creative presentation. And you're also going to listen for them being able to explain to you why an author chose to um support their claim with evidence. All right. Thank you. >> And now very briefly, Mr. Astonall and Mrs. Mlan are going to come on up and share a little bit about the assignment and um a summary of the story that students read in the Wonders curriculum. >> So [clears throat] in our curriculum, our students read a beautiful story about a dolphin named Winter who lost her tail and a prosthetic one. And um they found their main ideas from the school. >> And then from that, we
008didn't want them to only have one piece of information with that main idea standard. They need to have multiple pieces of information from different sources. And so they were able to go, I gave them five different research topics. And so they could talk about prosthetic tails. They could learn more about other animals that get uh that get rescued and put that together with uh the wonders source into that full scale presentation you'll see in a moment. students. >> Okay, we need a couple over here. Okay, I'm gonna cut them off. >> Thank you very much. Students, if you could turn around, please. I'm going to invite our audience to give you a round of applause. [applause] Okay. And parents, if you would like to meet your student in um the small room where we started,
009uh they would like to present their presentations to you in that room. >> Oh, that's awesome. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Good job, guys. You are doing a great job. I learned a lot from that. >> Yeah. Take your laptop with you. Hey parents, you're in for a big treat. These are really good. I'm telling you. Really good. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> Okay, we love our smart kids coming in to see us and talk to us. Okay, we are going to move on to the next uh portion of our agenda which is the reorganization of the school board. Um annually the school board reorganizes officers um several other um um meetings etc. So um we are going to take this first part of our meeting and reorganize. Uh so the first uh uh election of
010officers will be the president of the uh board of school trustees for the 2026 calendar year. Um and I will entertain a motion. >> I move that Sarah Parent be elected president of the board of school trustees for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second. >> Motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes 40. You're abstaining. Okay. Very good. Uh, next motion is for vice president and I would uh like to move that Mike Langford be elected vice president of the board of school trustees for the 2026 school year. >> Second. >> Motion by Kim, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Motion passes 40 with one abstension. Is that correct, Mr. Langford? Thank you. Um, the next motion is for the secretary
011of the board of school trustees. >> I move that Jennifer Smith be elected secretary of the board of school trustees for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second. >> Motion by Sarah, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes 40. Are you abstaining? Thank you. Okay, we will reorganize. We will move our seats. Hold on just a moment while we do that. All right. >> Next meeting on the agenda is the board of finance which is a special meeting. So we'll suspend this regular meeting at 7:18 to open the board of finance special meeting. Dr. Windham. >> Thank you, Mrs. Parent. Um there is a provision in Indiana law that requires this meeting every January and it is um the only time the board of finance ever meets and the
012board of finance is just the school board but it is a strange provision in Indiana law that requires school boards at their January reorganization meeting to hold a uh special meeting that is the board of finance. It does have a separate agenda and the state is prescriptive about what has to be included in the board of finance agenda and you have to reappoint or elect a president and a secretary. Uh so those are the first actions on the board of finance agenda. Traditionally those positions have been held by the same uh recently elected positions for the new school board for the calendar year. that ultimately the board would need to elect a board of president sorry a board of finance president and a board of finance secretary >> board members I'll entertain a motion >>
013I move that Sarah Parent be elected president of the board of finance for the 2026 calendar year >> second motion by Kim, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? All in favor? That passes 5-0. Next would be sorry the finance secretary. So I'll entertain a motion. I move that Jennifer Smith be elected secretary of the board of finance for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second >> motion by Kim, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Yeah. Did I miss that the first time? I might have. Okay. Motion passes for one abstaining. Okay. Um, next is a review of the investment policy. Mrs. Glass. >> Yes. Good evening, uh, members of the board. Um today uh you received in your packet uh the re uh the investment policy and basically the board
014must annually review this investment policy which is policy 6020 and there are no actions required by the board at this time. You also received a review um the investment report. This is also required. One a couple of things I want to talk about on the investment report. Uh since 2018, you received it in your packet, but since 2018, Avon investment has grown considerably. However, noticeably in the recent years, particularly in 23 and 24. This past year, we had a 20% reduction in our interest, and that is because of the Fed rate decreasing. No action is required for the board. keep moving on. So, as Dr. Windham stated that according to uh state law, the board is required to receive a report on the financial condition of the school corporation. One of the key points or
015some of the key points I'm going to review in this presentation. The first point is average daily membership. Average daily membership which is the student count that determines our monthly tuition payment from the state. The state views average daily membership as a financial strength for school corporations. Our average daily membership in 20 the 2425 school year was 10530. Our average daily membership for the 2526 for the fall count was 10,528. I do want to note that because of our board's financial wise decision to uh open keep open enrollment or add open enrollment for the 2526 school year, we were able to maintain or stay flat in our tuition support. The next key point that I want to talk about is our annual deficit surplus. In 2024, we had a deficit in all funds. As you
016notice, this says all funds. So, that is our local funds, our state funds, and also our federal funds. You will see a deficit in 2024. That is a timing issue. So, if we have federal funds, we expend them, then we receive or if we receive local funds, then we may expand in the next year. Over our certified budget that you approved every year u especially on in 2024 we had a surplus which was a balanced budget for the 2024 school year. So I want to make that known that this is all of our funds. It is not our certified budget funds. Here we have our fund balance as a percentage of our expenditures. fund balance as a percentage of our expenditures is an important part of the financial health of schools. It's important because if
017we don't receive revenue for like two months, that's 16.66% of our expenditures. So, we want to make sure that we have a fund balance. Also, we want to um talk about Senate Enrog Act One. We want to have fund balance uh because of the restrictions that our state is putting on uh school corporations in receiving revenue specifically in our operations in our debt funds. Here we have our revenue by type and as you can see in the blue that is our state revenue. That's where we receive that uh state tuition based upon our average daily membership. We've always talked about with our state legislators are advocated to fund to inflation. Our revenue in um our state funding goes to our education fund where we support most of our education here. So it is very important
018that we always advocate to fund to inflation. Then lastly we have our revenue our operating referendum revenue that our voters just approved. We just want to first say and we are very appreciative of the renewal of uh our referendum and as you can see here again this is all of our funds. So in all of our funds the referendum consists of 6% of the revenue that we receive. This is not of our certified budget of our certified budget it's 11%. So it's vital that we have our referendum to maintain the operations that we have here in Avon Community School Corporation. Any questions? >> Sheila, I don't really have a question, but a clarification um maybe for Josh, although I'm sure he knows this, but can you explain, you know, we're going to in just a
019few minutes hear from Mrs. All Day about our headcount? Yes. >> And the headcount is going to be somewhat larger than the ADM. Could you explain how students are counted in the ADM and how that differentiates from actual headcount? >> Yes. So each year twice a year, the physical year, we have a count date. We have it in October and in February. The count date is what consists of where we receive our revenue based upon that student in that seat at that day. That's different from the uh enrollment that you will probably receive today. We will not get the funding from them until the February count date if they're still here. >> So, kindergarten students count as one. >> Yes. >> Uh preschool students, >> no, they do not count in our average daily K
020through 12. um uh graduates in January. >> Graduates in January, we will not receive funding from them because they won't be in the February count, but we will receive some type of funding from the previous year's graduates. And that is nowhere near the funding that we received if they were in that seat in February. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other questions or comments? All right. Thank you, Mrs. Glass. Great. Um, we will now adjourn the special meeting at 7:27 and resume our regular meeting. >> All right. The next item on the agenda is comments from the board president. Um, >> thank you. I got it. Thank you. Next is the appointment of treasurer and deputy treasurer Dr. Windham. >> Thank you, Mrs. Parent. So again, uh this is all part of our
021typical January process uh that we go through. Many of these all of these items are required in Indiana code. Um so in this item, uh we have to the board has to reappoint the corporation treasurer. Um and these are the same individuals that were appointed to these positions for the last couple of years. Veronica Jones is our corporation treasurer that works closely with Mrs. Glass and then Cheryl Baker and Carolyn Reley are our deputy treasures. So, we're asking that you reappoint those three individuals to continue serving in those capacities. >> Board members, I'll entertain a motion. I move that the board of school trustees appoint Veronica Jones as corporate treasurer and Cheryl Baker and Carolum Reley as corporation deputy treasures for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second >> motion by Jennifer, seconded by Mike. Is
022there any discussion? All in favor? That motion passes 5-0. Next item is the appointment of Corporation Legal Council, Dr. Wendham. >> Thank you. Appreciate Mr. Becker being here from Church H and Antrum. Uh they have served as our legal counsel uh for many years and uh we continue to be pleased with the services that they provide. So, but again, state requires that you reappoint our uh council annually. So we're just recommending that you reappoint Church Hill and Antrram as our corporation council. >> I move that Church Church Hill and Antrum be retained as corporation legal counsel for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second. >> Motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All in favor? That motion passes 5-0. Next, we have the appointment of ISBA delegate legislative and policy liaison, Dr. Windham.
023>> Thank you. Our school board has a long history of being very involved with the Indiana School Boards Association. And one of the um benefits of that membership in ISBA is connecting with them on legislative and uh policy issues, especially as we're in the middle of a legislative session right now. So uh each board is asked to appoint someone to serve in the role of a legislative policy liaison. Mrs. Parent has served that role for the board for the last couple of years, but that is a position that annually the board needs to reappoint. >> Board members, I'll entertain a motion. I move that Mike Langford be appointed to serve as the Avon Community School Corporation delegate to the ISBA delegate legislative and policy leaison for the 2026 calendar year. Second motion by Jennifer, seconded
024by Kim. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Oh, I got to raise my hand, too. at four and I assume you're staying. I'll get it down. All right. Um, next item is board covenants. Dr. Wendum. >> Thank you. I mentioned uh the the board uh and uh your involvement in Indiana School Boards Association. Uh they provide a very comprehensive code of ethics for school board members. Um and uh our school board has a long practice of readopting those board of ethics that govern or that guide you as board members in your service to our schools and to our community. Um this is also a part of the exemplary um board submission that our board has undertaken the last few years and has been one of the few in the state to receive that exemplary
025board designation. So, um, we bring this before you every year so that you can review those ethics as school board members and then, um, bring it before you to consider readdopting annually as well. >> Board members, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move that the board of school trustees accept the Indiana School Boards Association code of ethics as presented. Second >> motion by Jennifer, seconded by Mike. All in favor? >> That vote passes 5-0. Next item is the town of Avon redevelopment commission advisory member appointment. Dr. Windam. >> Yes. Um these are really important uh positions that the board appoints even though it is just in an an advisory role. The redevelopment commissions uh make a lot of really important decisions especially in the environment we find ourselves in with sea 1 where uh all
026of our property tax structure is changing. Um so annually the board uh appoints an individual to serve as kind of our liaison our advisory member on the redevelopment commission and uh Mrs. Glass has served in that role for the Avon Redevelopment Commission for the last two years and has done a great job building relationships with with them and advocating for our schools. She is willing to continue serving in that capacity um if the board uh would like to reappoint her to that position. >> Or members, I will entertain a motion. I move that Sheila Glass be appointed to serve as the advisory member on the Avon Redevelopment Commission for the 2026 calendar year. >> Second motion by Mike, seconded by Jennifer. All those in favor. That motion passes 5-0. Thank you, Mrs. Glass for serving.
027Next is a Town of Planefield Redevelopment Commission advisory member appointment. Dr. Windam, >> thank you. Um because serving on the Avon RDC isn't fun enough, uh Mrs. Glass has also agreed that she would be willing to serve on the Planefield Redevelopment Commission uh as our advisory appointment there as well. Interestingly, uh the town of Planefield has more uh assessed value in a TIFF uh which is really the the revenue that uh these redevelopment commissions are responsible for. they have more of an impact on Washington Township than the town of Avon does. So, it might seem strange that that you're making an appointment to the town of Planefield. Um, but because the town of Planefield has annexed uh so much particularly of the commercial industry in the southern part of our boundaries of Washington Township, this
028is a a really important role and appreciate Mrs. Glass being willing to serve in that capacity for 2026 should the board want to name her to that position. Board members, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move that Sheila Glass be appointed to serve as the advisory member on the Planefield Redevelopment Commission uh for the calendar year 2026. >> Second motion by Kim, seconded by Jennifer. >> Could I make a comment? I just read that there's a three-part um addition to Planefield's tax structure that they're attempting to get section one uh tiff um again. So our I I would say that our sitting on that redevelopment commission board becomes more and more and more important. um that first phase will have a number of students who will attend Avon schools, but um property taxes that would
029fund our transportation department will go to playing field. So, good luck, Sheila. Thank you very much. Well, and I will say that that that is progress that um that developer was directed to come talk with us immediately and um that has hasn't always been the case. And so, um, I do think it speaks to the value of building those relationships and being present at those meetings and, um, Sheila and I meet regularly with the town manager in Planefield to stay up to date on what's happening. So, uh, that is a a significant development. You're right, Mrs. Woodward. And but we we also kind of viewed that as a step in the right direction that number one we were brought to the table very early and the developer was told uh in quote you need to
030make Avon schools whole which again was a step in the right direction from where we've been in previous years. So >> and I appreciate that. I truly do. That is a step in the right direction. Um but it just points out an intrinsic flaw uh to the way that property tax um and the way that um tiff districts are allowed to have impact on schools. Uh but I do believe our representation is very important and what better person than our CFO. Well, and to your point of an intrinsic flaw, one of the intrinsic flaws of this whole process is that this is just an advisory role. And we have advocated for years to our state legislature that this should be a voting um role and that has never uh been permitted to happen because no
031one is impacted by these decisions more than local schools in Indiana. And yet um Sheila does a great job advocating for us and building those relationships, but ultimately she does she will not have a vote. and that continues to be something that we need to advocate for with the legislature. >> We'll go ahead and take a vote. All those in favor? That motion passes 5-0. All right. Now, the next item, sorry about that. Item five is comments from the board president. Um, I want to start out by thanking Kim Woodward for serving um, as board president and as you saw us do a little quick shuffle. Um, I want to thank the board for the trust you've placed in me to serve in this role. Um, I'm looking forward to working collaboratively and always keeping
032students in the forefront of all of our decisions. Um, speaking of change, as uh, earlier on we did welcome Mr. Josh Yoder on the board and I was reflecting on the election cycle of a school board member and while that can be disruptive to a board, it's not been in the time that I've served and I I really want to thank the board and just um the united front that we always have and bringing on new board members as well. So um next item is uh public comments to the board. So this is the part of the meeting where the public can make comments to the board. We ask that your comments be limited to three minutes and don't mention staff or students by name. Dr. Windham, do we have anyone signed up? >> We
033do not. >> Right. Seeing as that, we'll continue on. Item number seven is reports. And I believe we have several elementary administrators here to report on strategic goal number one. Sorry. There we go. That's okay. Well, as you know, we met about a month and a half ago and had our other four elementary schools um talk about strategic goal one and our data. And so, just because you've already had that data in front of you and we're able to see it, it is in your packet um with the updates for these four buildings, but I'm not going to spend time uh talking about the data again since we did that last time. And so I'm going to allow four of our principles, Laura Lee from Willow, Nikki Harrison from Maple, Shelley Moyers from Pine Tree,
034and Gina Steen from River Birch spend a little time talking to you about how they're responding to that data in their buildings. >> Good evening. You get us. We're like half of the crowd here, right? So why be nervous, right? Um, so I just wanted to start off. If you look at the first slide, I know Jenny sh skipped all of the data things, but if you're looking at this one, we really just stuck this slide back in there just so that you understand that the eight elementary principles are all working together towards that strategic goal number one of uh strengthening our PLC's so that we can improve student data. So that's a repeat, Shelley. Yes, it is. And it's intentional just so you know the eight of us. While we're talking about the four,
035what we're going to share with you today is really all eight. Okay. So, really it ties in nicely what with what Miss Stephen had shared earlier. So, one of the things that we're doing this year, we're we're not happy with our ELA data, right? We want to continue to grow. We know math has been stronger and so um we had the opportunity to um adopt a new curriculum. So, we have adopted wonders and you got to see a little example of it today. um very different than what we've had for the past six or seven years. Um and so really what our teachers are doing is really embracing these new materials. Um they're jumping right in. What they're finding is that it is much easier for them to plan for differentiation. So the text that
036these come with, it comes with full text and big books for the little kids. Um but there's also excerpts from longer text. So what you saw like about the dolphins, there's fiction, there's non-fiction. It's a lot more of a mix of materials which is helping our kiddos stay engaged more into texts um and keep their interest a little bit better than what we've had in the past. So, we're finding success with that already and that's a K5 adoption. In addition to that, we've moved forward with MA Rooney for our phonics instruction and so that's for K through two. Um and really the example that you see is from a kindergartener at Willow. Um and that was like from last week. So, um, I just texted a kindergarten teacher said, "Give me a quick example that
037I can show someone." She sent it right away. So, again, something that's going on across all of the schools. We're really increasing the rigor and increasing the pacing for even our youngest learners. So, we've got them engaged in that phonics instruction and their writing. You can see a sentence at the bottom, um, those memory words, all of those things. And so, we've really been working together as a team and how do we support teachers to embrace this? and they're doing a really nice job. So, our hope is then that we see those increase in student data at this younger age so that it can help increase our scores once they get to those testing grade levels as well. And I'm excited to share a little more about how teachers are approaching planning with our new
038um ELA curriculum wonders um and working towards planning so that all students are working towards mastery of essential standards. Rather than simply just moving through the textbooks and trying to connect standards along the way, our grade level teams are beginning with the end in mind. and through the use of our our district uh leaders and teachers have worked really hard to create curriculum maps where teachers have identified those essential standards, the things that we want students to know by the end of the unit. Um and that along with determining success criteria, in other words, clarifying what students um how they'll demonstrate that knowledge by the end of the unit is also um what teachers are working on. Um and then from there uh teachers are collaborating with instructional coaches and in their professional learning communities
039to design units intentionally. And this ensures that every single lesson builds towards mastery of those essential standards that we've identified for students to learn and ensures that we're giving students that strong tier one instruction. And this collaborative uh planning is really really key. Um, and again, by starting with that end goal in mind, here's where we want students to go and here's every step along the way so that we can ensure they meet those goals. Um, we're no longer just teaching a reading curriculum by, oh, what story happens next? That's what we're teaching. We're being truly intentional about the standards and giving students what they need to succeed. Okay, so now it's all on paper, right? We have new resources and now we've done the planning. Now the real work happens. We deliver instruction, right?
040So just a quick reminder about the different um tiers of instruction we have. If you look at the red uh tier one, that's all students. All students receive all of those essential standards. When you look at tier two, those are reteing of those standards that were taught in the red. Okay? So it's the retaching. I didn't get the first time. I need to retach or I need to be enriched whatever that may be. But that yellow is still grade level standard. Okay. So red is the grade level standard essential. Yellow is a retach or an extension of that grade level standard. And then we move into the green. The green is tier three. And those are students that have gaps. So they have gaps in previous years instruction or skills. So before I talk a
041little bit about how we're responding, I want to make sure you just understood those those different three tiers of instruction. Everybody gets red, everybody gets yellow at either a retach or an enrich. And then a a small group of students need that filling of a gap of standards or skills that are not on grade level. Does that make sense before we move on? Okay, good. I'm moving myself on. Here we go. Okay. So, all elementary schools offer and are able to provide all three tiers. Um, you don't fit in a tier. And I think that's what's important. Uh, you can have a student that all students are receiving tier one instruction. All students are receiving tier 2 instruction. And some students are getting three. So, it's not a and or. It's not an or. You're
042getting one or three or two or three. students have access to all three tiers of instruction every single day. And if you look at the tier one, we've even taken it, you know, even broken it down even a little bit different. So that is an ELA block, an English language arts 2hour block that you see right there. Um well, that's n that's 90 minutes right there. But um the ELA essential time, that is when those essential standards that Gina talked about that the coaches and the teachers are sitting and saying, "These are the essential. This is what every student in this grade level needs to know before they leave the grade level. Every student is in the classroom during that time period where it says ELA essential. That is sacred time in the classroom where
043years past they're a parent. You have every single one of your kids in that classroom. Right? We're not pulling for speech. We're not pulling for ML services. We're not pulling for OT services. You have every student. Every student has access to the essential. If we don't give them access to it, we're creating bigger gaps. So, every student is there. What is the other block? That is where we're applying. And there may be students at this time that do come out for a variety of other services that they receive, but they are there for that initial best teach. When we go to win time, which is at tier two, and I know our colleagues uh last month talked to you a lot about wind time, okay, that's a 40-minute time period. Again, we look at that
044data from our first best teach and say one, did we meet at least 80%. Did 80% of our kids master that content? If not, we got to go back and retach tier one. If we did, okay, what do we need in tier two? And so, we work as a grade level, not as an individual teacher. What do my kids need, but what do our kids need as a grade level? And how do we best utilize our resources? If uh Gina's class rocked that standard and my class did not, then Gina's going to get that group that needs that retach because she rocked it somehow. And then she's going to teach us what did you do differently and how can we best do that when we go back to our first teach. And then along with
045that there is a 45 minute time period every single day for intensified time. All K2 kids are involved in intensified instruction. Intensified means what do you need? Are you do you have a grade level standard below you that you haven't mastered? Two grade levels below you that you haven't mastered or do we need to intensify your instruction and really push you further depending on what on what your needs are. We cross grade level because we have um grade levels having this at the same time. K2 has intensified at the same time. So if we have a movein student that has no background knowledge in phonics instruction, then we may go to a first grade teacher and they're getting some of that earlier phonics instruction. It's at the same time, so we're not missing any core
046instruction. At grades three through five, this looks a little bit different in the fact that students that ha have met those grade level standards. They've passed the I read three, they're they're on track to be proficient or above proficient on iLearn, they're in science and social studies curriculum where the other students are getting whatever skill they may need to close those gaps to get them to grade level standards. So all of this is happening every single day for all kids. Um and again the big thing to remember is it's you're not one or the other. All kids have access to all three every single day. >> And now the moment you've all been waiting for because guess what? It's working and I get to do celebrations. Here we go. So at Maple, we gave the
047dyslexia screener. We did intervention in the middle. Then we retested in December and we decreased decreased our number of students. um at risk of phmic awareness from 35 to 16. So those kindergarteners are going to be ready for first grade. Pine tree, they look at their first grade oral reading. Shel's like just tell them to look at the green. >> So don't look at anything else when it says keep it keep it simple. Just look green. >> Right. We changed all our curriculum to Wonders and to MH Rooney. And then um look how much better the kids are doing from last year to this year. I know it's different kids but still in general the curriculum is working is the point. Then we have River Birch. They did I read intervention in second grade and
048that they took NWA and the percentage of students predicted to pass improved from 35% at the beginning of the year to 68% in December. So it's working. And then at Willow they had students scoring proficient after teacher and student goal setting and intervention. And this you guys was only four weeks. So the kids take the test and then they have an opportunity to take it again after you've done that reteing. And Laura's teachers brought up 12 third graders, 18 fourth graders, and 19 fifth graders in just four weeks. So we are liking our new curriculum and all these things the teachers are working so hard on. It's working and so we are super excited. That's the end. [laughter] The end. Okay, any questions? Well, it's great to hear that wonders and um is it ma
049or mh Rooney? >> I think I said it wrong. It's ma. >> Ma. It's great to hear that it's working and and just hearing you call out the interest level is higher, the variety of texts, those are all music, you know, phrases that are music to my ears. >> Yeah. >> Board members, any comments or questions? >> I just had a couple of questions. One is um you know, this is great data. We love that. um that English language arts has always trailed math as we know. Um and to see this focus and diligence on uh ELA is just astounding. Um so maybe I missed it, but I heard that tier one ELA essential is 90 minutes in length, right? It's daily. >> That was the block. Essential is typically 60 minutes at K2. Okay.
050uh 4535. Um there's 120 minutes of ELA time in K2 and 90 minutes in 35. >> Okay. >> And so intensified is also built into some of that time. >> So that you said was 45 minutes >> depending on the grade level. It's 60 minutes if you're K2, it's 45ish if you're 35. >> Okay. But the thing that impressed me is that during that ELA essential, there are no pullouts for any reason. And that's m that's big. >> That that came from a lot of the training that some of us went to um when we went to the solution tree events in terms of working with Mike Matoss and um >> you know um Louise Cruz that that group and then the teachers just embraced it because again if you're pulling kids out then how
051do you expect them to be assessed on those standards? They're not exactly they're not in there. It is sacred time. It's a challenge. You ask the SLP, our speech language paths, you ask our OT's, it is a challenge because they know I can't touch this time. Yeah. So where am I then going to pull my students because those are also really important services that our kids need. Yes. >> So it has created a challenge but to get as when all of our teams individually we figure it out, you know, figure it out. >> So is that time the same time of day every day? >> Is it in the morning? >> Depends on the grade level. We can't have everybody at the same time because I can't provide we can't provide the adjunct services. Yeah.
052>> So like ML, we can't service sixth grade levels at the same time. Special education, we can't service sixth grade levels of students that need those supports in the classroom at one time. >> So I'll speak specifically for Pineree. Um what what I do is I make the parameters of this is when lunch times are and this is when related arts times are and then the teachers build a master schedule. When they sit and have to work together in a committee and build a master schedule, they have to play nice. Yeah. >> They can't all have the perfect schedule. have to talk about like what works best when you know which kids should really have their ELA time in the morning probably kindergarteners. >> Exactly. >> You know, so they see a bigger picture when
053they're part of that building process. >> Yeah. I love that. Um, the other thing I just want to make anecdotal comment is that when we had the River Birch kids in here and they were showing us, you know, the wonders in action, um, my two kiddos really, they're I I mean, I know that that was rehearsed and that was a presentation for the school board and so let's make this, you know, a rehearsed um, very polished presentation. I get that. But when we went offline, off script and I was asking them their their comprehension of what the content of that wonders was was astounding because I was asking them very specific questions. You know, how did this how did this animal get hurt? They knew exactly how. They knew exactly when um why do you
054think that um that tail was so important? They knew that there was curvature of the spine when it was trying to swim like a shark. And it was amazing to me, so gratifying to hear students that had been through a story of reading an ELA program, but the comprehension and the the connection that they made in that was amazing. Um, so thank you for that because we see the scores and we applaud and celebrate the scores, but when you see it in action and you see students that really get it, that's magic. Man, >> if I if I can extend just a little bit the the connections to potential careers, the connections to implications on how do I behave different? Uh, one of them was talking about um plastic getting uh ingested by sea turtles
055and whatnot and how that their behavior on vacation and things like that. So, it really is reaching a broader connection without needing to be led to those connections. >> Exactly. >> We have some amazing educators that help all of those. >> We are lucky. Best job in the world. >> I have a couple super basic questions. The Wonders curriculum, how much of that, if any, is actual physical text as opposed to everything online? All physical. >> It's all physical. >> They all have a physical book. And yes, >> yeah, there are online resources that'll supplement for sure >> as part of wonders as addition. >> But what's nice that's different is all all of our kids have text in their hands now, which we didn't have before. >> Yes, >> they have text in their
056hands. >> I applaud that in many ways. Okay. Second question is, you know, and this is not a comment on any of your comments, nor is it a comment particularly about Avon. It's a comment more at a national level. And I know I'm being a kermagin here talking about my elementary experience in the 1970s. But one thing that I walked away from elementary school with without even understanding is the joy of reading. And so when we emphasize mastery and standards and proficiency, I do have a concern that whether our students are being able enough to relax with the book to say this is great joy that I will take all the way to the grave with me, the joy of reading. I mean, do you feel like the Wonders curriculum or any of our curriculum
057does enough to emphasize the joy of reading? And maybe that's your role as teachers. And also wondering, do kids still get the opportunity to go to the school library and pick out their book and to steal away with a book when they've got a moment? Does that still happen? >> The library part, yes. The steal away is hard because of day is just there just isn't enough time today. But I would say yes. I think we do a lot of things to increase that joy of reading. You know, it's always our hope. Do I believe as you that maybe all this testing has gotten in the way a little bit? Absolutely. But >> our teachers have been creative. Like for example, I have a fourth grade teacher that's starting book clubs during her lunch period
058and the kids are having lunch with her book club just for fun and that's the time that the teachers are willing to give up now or they all know but this teacher is because the kids have an interest. So >> after school has been an option too. But I would tell you that wonders what I have seen um in just this one semester has increased the joy of reading for kids much more yes >> than the curricular materials that were put in front of them before because the majority of them couldn't read them. >> They were at a very low level or they were sharing >> both. So much more >> and and you know and again this is a lot from national period periodicals that I'm reading where experts are kind of weighing in
059and I'm not picking on first and second graders not going to read long books but when you get to the fourth and fifth grade level we all know that they can read lengthy chapter books and one of the criticisms about schools in general these days is that they just aren't assigning long text so that the kids know how to get through the long text and so that's another question I have about the wonders curriculum or the supplements are Are they reading enough long text? What do you think? >> Um, we're working on that stamina. So, >> yeah, they're reading stamina. I would say this one has a lot less of the lengthy test. Like what I saw in fifth and sixth grade was the opposite of that though. they're in this long text for so
060long to get through these standards that if I didn't like that text and I'm in it for six, seven weeks, I'm like whereas here maybe I like this one about dolphins and that sparked my interest and now my teacher has got me in the library where I am once a week finding books about dolphins. So I think it there's more opportunity for teachers to kind of weave that in there. Is it embedded in wonders? I would say not necessarily, but that's where and you know I also see teachers doing just like we've got five minutes before, you know, after recess I'm going to do a quick read aloud that sparks their interest in that series or that topic or that author. Um, so I think it's really more through that teacher practice >> and and
061there are novel studies that students that are have met those standards that they're digging into >> some of that enrichment which was talking about that enrichment that intensify time all good things to think about. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right, number eight. Yeah. Um, next we'll move on to item eight, which is the cons consent agenda. This includes a number of items that the board receives uh ahead of this meeting and that we have time to study. Uh, there are meeting minutes, claims and payroll, personnel report, disposal of equipment, donation report, um, new ECA fund and programs and camps that we reviewed. Uh, with all that board members, I'll entertain a motion on the consent agenda. I move that the board of school trustees approve the regular session meetings on
062December 8th, 2025, payrolls for December 19th, 2025 and January 2nd, 2026. December claims, the personnel report, the disposal of equipment, donation report, new ECA funds and camps as presented. >> Second >> motion by Jennifer, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? All in favor? That motion passes 5-0. Right. Item number nine, unfinished business. Uh, enrollment report. Mrs. Ald, >> good evening. Well, uh, Mrs. Glass talked about the importance of enrollment. Mrs. Woodward talked about that and it's something we really need to focus on. And so, you know, we are approaching February 1st. So that's when we look at the second time that the state looks at the average daily membership count. So I'm going to take us back a year on your document. So if you look January um it was January 8th, 2025. So
063a year ago at this time we were at 10,624 students. Um at as of January 6 of 26, we're at 10,565 students. So we saw at our October 1st we were just down two students that that gap has increased now and now we're down 59 students from a year ago. U and then I dug down. I was curious because we we did a demographic study years ago. I'm like where does that trend fall? So it's exactly what they told what m um Mr. McKibben told us was going to happen. our K5. If we look at January of last year to January of this year, we're actually down 78 students in K5. If we look at middle school, we're actually up one student from last year to now. And if you look at high school, from
064where we were at last year now, we're up 18. And so that's exactly what he said was going to happen with our lower kindergarten rates and just house prices here in Avon. we're gonna see that elementary start to level off or decline, but we'll see that increase in our secondary. Um, so again, in the upcoming months, we'll be talking to you again about open enrollment for next year. Um, you know, we did add an open enrollment window at midy year, but we did it pretty last minute. Just got like we got three students, but still was three students. We are doing something new also that the board approved is if you lived in Avon, you move out, you can continue to stay here as long as you can transport your kids. and we've had several
065kids opt into that. So again, we're trying to be really responsive because there's pieces that we're not able to control with that. And so I just wanted to update you um a year ago to a year now. Any questions? >> Thank you, Mrs. >> Very insightful. Um next will be cost savings and efficiencies. Mrs. class. >> Yes. Thank you, >> Mr. Parent. So, I am happy to report that from January 1st to October 31st, 2025, Avon saved $98,489 on our insurance fund by using First Stop Health, which is our tea health service, um provides 24 access to uh doctors for common illnesses, therapy, mental therapy, and prescription. By utilizing First Stop Health, not only did we see significant cost, but also help employees save over 500 hours, enhancing their overall well-being and productivity at work.
066>> That's fantastic. We'll roll in to your next item that you're a part of, uh, which is new business item 10. Uh, first we'll talk about the approval of the 2026 27 White Oak Early Learning Center fees. Yes, you uh received a proposed uh 2627 uh community school program tuition in your packet. Um I worked with uh Miss Mai and her team. We did a market [snorts] analysis and uh we are um recommending your approval of the proposed fees for the 26 27 school year. >> Board members, I will entertain a motion. I move that the board of school trustees approve the 2026 27 fees for White Oak Early Learning Center as presented. >> Second. [clears throat] >> Motion by Kim, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes
0675-0. Um, next is the approval of the 202627 Avon High School course of study revisions. Mrs. Alde, um, a couple months ago, Mr. Shockley was here and he brought, um, some new courses and we needed to bring a couple revisions and these were all based on some changes at the state level with the Indiana Department of Education. Um the first one is just we used to have a a course called college and career readiness math and the state is retire or sunsetting that course and it's being replaced with a different course similar but it's called prime math and so we would have to adopt it because it's a new um course number and um a description. So that's on there. In additional um we have students that need to create um complete pathways to graduate
068you know depending if they can't meet some of the readiness on some of the assessments and the one pathway has had received some major um it's being retired totally and we already have kids in the process and so we were able to approve a couple courses to get our kids who are currently involved in this pathway to get them to the finish line because they were counting on that. And so you'll see those couple courses that get um students in the finish line. And we're bringing this tonight just because this is the we're already in the time of registering kids for next school year. Our counselors are working um tirelessly and we need to make sure we're all up to date for these. These are more of our older students that would be taking these
069courses. So I just bring these revisions to you this evening. >> Mrs. Alde, does Prime stand for something? I noticed this in all capital letters like an >> um I'm not sure. Okay, just a random. >> All right, board members, I'll entertain a motion. >> I move the board of school trustees approve the proposed revisions to the 2026 27 Avon High School course of study as presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Kim, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes 5-0. Uh, next we'll move on to item number 10, new business. I'm sorry. Um, item number 11, board member items. I don't have anything that's considered items, but I did want to uh have a special uh thank you to Mrs. Simmons for her service um and then this
070seat being available and all of the board members that have come before. Um so many of these decisions are have been set in motion for in some cases decades of good governance um of very uh future forward thinking um planning um hiring the right adviserss to give good guidance. Um so many of these are um weighty decisions uh keeping the path moving forward. Um having that um having a balanced budget from year to year is not something that every school uh gets to enjoy. Um we have a little bit of buffer in our our referendum renewal, but seeing the news, seeing um social media, um talking with other new board members is is uh part of training for this. Um we're just very lucky to be in the position that we are. Um even if
071we still need to advocate for fully funding and and many other things. Um but there are a lot of schools in the next year that going to be making uh very difficult decisions whether looking at referenda, um whether looking at layoffs, whether looking at reductions of of even transportation and other things. Um we're just in a much better spot because of those uh all the years of of good governance. So, just wanted to say that. >> Thank you. Well, welcome Josh um to the board. um thank you for um serving and also for diligently sitting out in our audience for a year to listen to us talk and um and welcome to your family because being on the board means that um there are times that your husband or dad should be home and he
072won't be. So, thank you for helping him to serve in this capacity. Um, thank you for um, allowing me to be president of the board. And Sarah, you're going to do a great job um, as president. It's nerve-wracking week one. It's nerve-wracking week two and three. Um, but you um, it's an important role and it's important, I think, for the development of our board members, but also just to bring that new perspective uh, to the seat. Thank you, Mike, for being willing to serve as a board member or as a officer and Jennifer. Um, and I just want to say that, um, I'm really pleased to live in Avon as a community for a lot of reasons. Um, but a recent tragedy that happened right across the street from our house over this holiday has
073really made me fully understand why Avon as a community is so special. Um, and so thank you for um to our community members that are listening in at this meeting, but more than that that always take time. Isn't it amazing that we call forward our students, for example, from River Birch today and you walk in and there are um parents filling the halls because it's important for them to be able to bring those students um to um tell their story in a board meeting. Um I I would imagine there are a lot of school districts that don't enjoy that kind of parental participation, but boy are we lucky that we do. So, thank you for a great meeting and looking forward to the rest of this school year. >> Well, just echo what she said.
074Welcome aboard. We're glad to have you here. Um, Kim, thank you for past president. You were amazing at doing that. Um, and to you guys, I think you guys both great in your positions. Um, and also, you know, it's just like the River Birch, it's just about the kids when they come and talk. I mean, that's just the best part about these meetings, like getting to meet the kids and learning what they're learning and just talking to them. I just love it. So, thanks for a great meeting. >> Uh, two quick comments. One, I'm really looking forward to 2026 being a quote unquote normal year. Last year, we had all these legislative changes and some of us spent more time at the state house than we wanted to. Uh, the referendum obviously took months and
075months. Welcome back to being a superintendent, Dr. Windom. Um, so it's going to be it's I'm really looking forward and I know we all are to 2026. Um, kind of getting back to a sense of normaly and really focusing on the kids. We went out in the out in the wilderness and did we did what we needed to do for these kids and now let's really bring it home and get right back to these kids. Speaking of the kids, uh, Mrs. Shayadovich, I really appreciated your presentation along with your your team of administrators. Learning about the Wonders curriculum was great. I got not that they needed to have certain answers, but I was very pleased to learn about the physical text. Um, and also I know that these educators know about the importance of the
076joy of reading and I know that that's part of the underbelly of all of this. Um, kids who like to learn learn and that's just the fact of the matter and I know our team of Avon educators keep that uh central in their focus all along. So wonderful meeting. Thanks everyone. Um, I wanted to call out a couple of the methods that um, Dr. Windham and his team uh, communicate. Uh, one of them, and I'm hoping that if you haven't checked these out, I would encourage you to to, but uh, the Orioles in the No podcast was really entertaining. This last one, um, he had some students who happen to be, um, children of staff members, teachers actually, I'm hopefully pronounced their names right. uh Cheyana Shaniah Shaniah Rutled and August Hill. Um very entertaining
077and my goodness, Mrs. Rutledge. I I think we'll see her do uh great things along with August as well. But um the second one was in the Oral Blast, the newsletter. Um Liam Huff Hoffman. >> Yeah. >> Um we've actually he's been in front of us before in the last few um was probably been two or three years when he's graduated. um he uh there was a a focus on an AI tech startup that he was doing and it was about media literacy. So um was really cool. So if you didn't get to check that out, I I would and just thank you for those communication methods. Um like very very impressive. And then yeah, I'm looking forward to a great second half of the year as we start the month that feels like it's
07850 days long. >> So all right, Dr. Windam, >> uh just a couple things. Uh, first, January is schoolboard appreciation month. So, um, as I think Josh summarized well, we have a long history of really strong governance and strong school boards. But want to thank the five of you for your service to our schools and and our community and and allowing us to focus on the things that we need to focus on in uh, helping move our schools forward. And we couldn't do it without such strong board leadership. Then I also want to thank Mrs. Marott for pitching in uh today and spending her Monday evening joining us at a school board meeting. Just what she wanted to do anytime. >> Thanks for a great meeting. And we'll adjourn at