Avon Schools Live Stream 7/14/25 Board Meeting

001Good evening everyone. Um not used to the microphone yet, but we will get used to it. This is our first streaming uh meeting, so we're pleased about that. Um we're going to convene the meeting at 7 o'clock. If you would please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Uh we are going to start our regular meeting with um our vision and our strategic goals. Our vision is always posted uh in our boardroom. We are nationally recognized district of choice that embraces all students and prepares them to grow and thrive for their future. Uh we summarize that in the three words

002belong, learn, and grow. Um and now we'll hear from some really great students. um from I think it's from South. Yes. Um uh about our strategic goals [Music] in cooperation with our community. We will become a professional learning community, improving student achievement by providing equitable experiences and opportunities for all students. In cooperation with our community, we will create systematic and purposeful innovation opportunities to develop critical thinkers. In cooperation with our community, we will support students well-being, mental wellness, and a whole child. We will be healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged. Go south. Mr. Mr. Langford, doesn't that always make you want to go and recruit those kids for speech and debate? Certainly does. Okay. Uh we will move on to uh item number three, comments from the board president. I'd just like to welcome everyone

003to the meeting. Um hoping that your summer is going well. Can't believe that the summer is going so quickly. We resume school in two and a half weeks. Unbelievable. Uh but we are excited about this being our first streaming meeting. Um and uh hope that you'll bear with us as we uh get more adept at doing streaming as we go. Uh the next item on our agenda is public comments to the board. This is the part of our board meeting where uh you can talk um make public comments to the board. We ask that you keep your comments to three minutes or less and that you not name any students or faculty by naming your comments. Hearing none, we'll move on to item number five, which is the consent agenda. Uh the consent agenda really

004is a number of things including approval of minutes, claims and payroll, um transfer memos, personnel reports, uh disposal of equipment, donation reports, overnight field trips, um and some activity on our ECA accounts, which we'll explain a little bit more in just a moment. Uh, so 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 June June 9th, 2025. The executive session minutes on June 13, 2025. The working session minutes on June 23rd, 2025. Payroll for June 20th, 2025, and July 3rd, 2025. The mini payroll on June 20th, 2025. The June and July claims. The June transfer memo. the personnel report, the disposal of equipment, the donation report, the overnight field trips, the new ECA accounts, the ECA restricting, excuse me,

005redistricting fund transfers, and the certified performance evaluation report as presented. Second motion by Sarah, seconded by Mike. Is there any discussion? Dr. Windam, I have actually two questions about the consent agenda. Uh the first one has to do with the uh disposal of equipment which is um kind of standard in our consent but u many of the items listed are going to be in the surplus sale. When is that sale next? Uh we do we had a surplus sale a couple of weeks ago. That was the last one that we have scheduled. Okay. And then would you outline the process about uh furniture um AV equipment things that are no longer um capital items of course that are in need um disposal? What what is the process for disposing of equipment? So it really starts

006at the building level with our principles with our treasurers working closely with Mrs. glass to determine uh what items are no longer um serving the purposes that they were outlined for. So, uh in this packet, you saw some classroom items that were original to the buildings that were 25 years old. And so, as a part of our construction project, that's part of what we had budgeted for was updated classroom furniture that is more in line with um the learning environment that we're creating now. And so, um, for instance, some of the desks at Avon High School that were that were original with the high school when it was built in 1999 are the old desks that where the seat is connected to the table. They are extremely heavy. Um, they don't they aren't flexible, so

007they're hard to move around. Uh, they're not comfortable for students of different sizes. And so one of the things that we had determined when we were doing this project is what we didn't want to have was some classrooms with more modern, more flexible furniture and other classrooms that felt like they were from 1999. And so working uh with Mr. Shockley and uh the the team just using the high school as an example, we identified what do we want the learning environment to be for our students today in this high school to serve kids for the next 25 years. and we really determined more of that flexible uh environment was what was needed. So once we determine that something is no longer needed or it's broken or it's outdated, it comes before you for disposal, then

008it goes into a surplus sale as you mentioned um that's open to the community that we advertise to the community. Uh we put a lot of work and a lot of effort into that surplus sale. Um, we also contact um we we know there are some um places in Indianapolis that sometimes are interested in older furniture and so we'll contact some of those partners that if they'd like to come do that uh we can do that and what we still have remaining then goes into the surplus sale. This sale made $175. It cost us way more to organize it in terms of manpower, but it is required to that we do that because it's publicly purchased items. Uh so that is a little bit of a frustration of our maintenance staff that they spend days

009and days and hours uh organizing it only to make although they did tell me the one we did before this one uh only made $80. So we doubled our uh our profit on on that one. That money typically gets donated uh to the Avon Education Foundation, proceeds from the surplus sale. Um I will say I do want to give kudos uh Dan Chapen, our principal at Middle School West. Part of what he has been focusing on um over the last year in addition to preparing to open a brand new school is we really tasked him with maximizing our furniture. And so u we've put some information on our website. We called it the great classroom. uh move that has happened over the last uh few weeks, but we moved 29 classroom sets that were from

010East and West to other elementary schools. So, East and West furniture was really not appropriately sized for younger kids, but it was appropriately sized for fifth grade. And so, we needed more fifth grade furniture in our elementary schools. So, we moved 29 classroom sets from East and West to other elementaryaries. We moved 12 classroom sets from uh Pine Tree and Maple to Evergreen to make sure that Evergreen had the furniture that it needed for an elementary. We've moved more than 2,000 student desks and chairs and 200 cabinets over the course of the summer uh to maximize uh the furniture that we had. So, if uh once we see where the need is, if we know we have furniture that can be repurposed, then we're going to absolutely do that and not dispose of it. Does

011that answer your question? Yes. Thank you. Very helpful. Um the other thing I'd like to um have you just briefly explain is the ECA redistricting fund transfers. So um this has to do with the opening of a new school and how the ECA accounts go from an intermediate to an elementary and then what happens to seed that ECA account in the new middle middle school west. Yes. And I'm going to give uh kudos to Mrs. Glass and uh Veronica Jones, our corporation treasurer that works with Mrs. Glass. It's not just opening one new school. It's actually opening three new schools because Evergreen and the state board of accounts eyes, Evergreen and Willow are brand new schools. So we had to close two intermediates and open three new schools with the state board of accounts. And

012so what Mrs. Glass and Mrs. Jones did is figured out a percentage that you saw um in your packet of what percentage of kids from intermediate east are going to middle school north or going to middle school south and then those ECA funds were were uh flowed proportionately to those new schools. So, it is a way that middle school west, for example, opens up with some money in their extracurricular extracurricular accounts. Um, but is really based extracurricular funds are intended to support the students that raise those funds or families who contributed to those funds for extracurricular activities. And so, this is a way that uh Mrs. Glass worked with the state board of accounts to make sure that those funds uh flow and follow those students in a proportional way. So, that was a lot

013of work in a in a a handful of pages that you have uh in your packet. Um, but lots and lots of work, lots of collaboration with the state board of accounts to make sure that we do that the right way. Awesome. Thank you. Uh, board members, any other questions about consent agenda items? Dr. Wedom, I have a question on the um personnel report down where um the uh where' it go? Oh, uh, certified performance evaluation report. Thank you for sharing those numbers. I was curious and if it's not my business, please tell me. The seven teachers that are certified that are on needs help. May I ask if they're all new or have they been here or It would be a mix. Okay. Yep. It would it would be a mix and then that

014tells us that we know they need some extra support um going into the next school year. Thank you. Other questions? Uh, we had a motion by Sarah and a second by Mike. All those in favor? That motion passes. 5-0. Thank you. Okay. The next item on the agenda is item number six, um, reports. Um, item A is the update on strategic goal number three, the Avon youth assist Assistance Program. Uh, Dr. Windam, thank you. Before I turn it over here, uh just a a reminder for the board, but also for our public, uh our strategic goal number three is really focused around the whole child. And uh that has been a focus for this school district long, long time. And really nothing that we uh do better exemplifies the board's commitment to strategic goal number

015three than the youth assistance program. It's it's really been a powerful program and it's also a great example of community collaboration when you look at um the funds to support uh these two individuals that you're going to hear from uh come primarily from Hendricks County from the town of Avon and then the school district contributes some as well. But it is really a true testament to the community wrapping resources around our students. And so, um, with that, I'll introduce Melissa Eard and Victoria Allen. Uh, they presented this, uh, at the Chamber of Commerce lunch here a couple, uh, months ago, and I went up to them afterwards and said, "Our school board needs to hear that, uh, because we are just finishing coming up on the one-year anniversary. Uh, and we had uh, said when

016we started this program that it was that we were committed to funding it for two years. And so as we enter the second year, thought it would be great for you to get to hear a little bit about the impact that this has had and really the hard work of Melissa and Victoria that is impacting kids every single day. So uh there is a clicker up here and the microphone should be on so that our vast viewing audience uh can get to hear you as well. Hi, my name is Victoria Allen. I'm an early intervention advocate with the Avon Youth Assistance Program. My name is Eard and I am also an early intervention advocate with you. So our mission is we are an early intervention prevention program. So for students who might be having a

017particular set of challenges in their life we want to get to them before the challenge problem. Um so we are connecting with um atrisisk youth and families um to engage them in getting them those resources and connections that they might need. And we do that by partnering with other organizations in the community organizations just any opportunity that we can get around. We have three four programings. Um, one of our programs is tutoring, mentoring, and our full family program. Our full family program obviously helps the family as a whole. We don't just focus on the child. We focus on the family and everything that is affecting the family together. Um, sorry guys. Um, this might include connecting parents with employment resources such as trying to get them that job so that they can succeed outside of

018school and support their family. Um, helping a family recover after a hardship such as a fire. We helped the family get birth certificates for all of the little ones, all the teenagers. You know, the mom needed all that social security stuff to get everything for them. We also have our tutoring and mentoring programs. We invite community members to to volunteer one hour every week to support a student, whether that's from tutoring someone in algebra 1 or just being an adult adult that is trustworthy and can hang out with a team and just support them. We actually have two uh board members that are mentors. Yes. Um I will also share in this next slide a pairing of our mentors. It's mentor and his mentee. My name is Don Casey, associate executive director with the industry

019regal health YMCA. My name is Z and I'm member at the cabin. So, uh, Zay and I have been working together, been paired together for a little over eight months. And uh in that time, I've gotten a chance to really learn and and uh know a lot about Zay and and what he likes to do and what his goals and aspirations are. And I feel like my job as a mentor is to kind of help give him some guidance and let him know about some of the things that I went through when I was his age growing up uh that hopefully wouldn't be hurdles and obstacles for him uh going forward. And I feel like over the last few months, we've been able to talk through a lot of those things. And and I know

020that Z is a very good and active listener. And I know once he listens and it's in his head that he has goals set in his mind that he wants to achieve. And I've noticed that he's accomplished some of those. Uh and I'm very very proud to be a part of that. My first meeting with Don was calm. We got to know each other. And after that, we met at the YMCA. We got a little workout in. He took me to BJ's where I got me a little avocado burger. Best burger. Oh my. You got to try. I will. And then we went over some interviews. He got me very like confident about my interviewing skills and he will soon be my boss at the YMCA. My grades have went up 12% after I had

021mentoring with Mr. Don and my attendance has been way better. So like Don or Don is Zay's mentor and Zay is he was quiet like you could not say anything to him and now he's just bubbly and he opens up. In the beginning you kind of saw his shyness and he was like hi my name is Z. like he didn't want to say anything on camera and I was like it's okay just relax but he opens up right away and Don brings the best out of him like he said he his grades have improved 12% and when I told him I said have you seen your grades from this quarter and last quarter he's like no I said look at this and I sat down I showed him he's like really I said yeah do

022you want to know how that what affected that like he goes no I what happened and I said you've paired up with Don like you were mentoring and he couldn't believe it. So it was a great like accomplishment for him. So we are we like um Dr. Windham said we are all about community collaboration. Um we are not we don't want to be the end all beall for our program um or for the community. That's why we um connect with the amazing resources that we already have in our community. This is just a sampling of the community partners that we have. Um, and whether it is mental health supports, a music class, getting a job, housing instability, medical insurance, whatever the need is, we will find them the resource and we will connect with that

023organization just to kind of a let them know what we are and how we could use their help, but how the students and young people in our community need them. Um and then once we are able to share that with our community partners, they're all on board. Whether it's, you know, Avon youth sports, um helping a student that might not otherwise get to participate in athletics, um if it's safe families, providing a um a temporary home for a student that is homeless. All of those things are things that we're able to connect our young people um and their families with so that they have the connection to that resource. And the hope is not to keep them in our program for all their years at school, but once they are connected to those resources, we

024exit them from our program and then they know exactly where to go to find those resources in the community. So we ask you to think about like how did you get to where you are? Everybody in their life comes across challenges when they were younger as adult young adults and someone comes alongside you. So who helped come alongside you um in your time of need or your challenges in life? Um I think it's a video next, isn't it? This is a video of a student um that we um really got to walk that I got to walk alongside um from a big moment in her life to a couple of different challenges and then to her final successes and she's still very successful and just makes me so proud um to be a part of

025her story. Hi, my name is Emma. I'm a graduate from Avon Academy and today I'm going to be talking about how the Avon Youth Assistance Program helped me. On August 28th, I found out that I was 5 months pregnant. I didn't know what I wanted to do. I had a lot going on at the time mentally. I was also in a really emotionally abusive relationship. So, at the time, having a kid didn't seem viable to me, but with the program, they helped me get in contact with a really good therapist that I got really close to, and they also helped the teen violence, relationship violence seminar that I was able to attend and be able to talk about my situation and really leave a toxic situation for the better of my son. Um, on November

02611th, my house burned down. I lost everything. My family lost everything. Um, we had nowhere to go. We had nothing. But with the help of the program, I was able to get clothes, get house necessities, um, even some wants. We were part of the um what was it? The Christmas program where we had gifts donated and that was hands down one of the best Christmases for my family and Melissa helping us. She really became part of the family. My whole family loves her. We grown to trust her which is something that we don't do very often. But her impact has really helped us and helped me a lot. And it didn't just stop at graduation because after graduation, she helped me with driver's ed with getting my permit and soon my license. And it was

027hard because I had a lot of anxiety around driving and being on the road. But with the therapy and with the driver's ed, it all became more possible and doable. So that's how the book and Emma is just I mean she still is moving forward in such a positive direction. She is enrolled in school. She's working full-time. She's raising a child. Um and she's doing it exceptionally well. Um, here's a few highlights from this year so far. Like Mr. Windham said, it we've only been here for a year and it's crazy how fast it's gone, but we've served 94 students. Um, we've had 11 uh mentor matches and most of them are successful. I mean, we are dealing with teens, so that's a little rough spot, but I mean, they still communicate, so that's all

028we can ask for. Um, 63 of our students are in good standings with C's or above. So, that's awesome. And like I said, uh, Z has showed 12% growth from being paired with a a mentor. We also had a student who we um were able to pair with a math tutor. The actual math tutor is a high school student who has volunteered with our organization and she is tutoring a freshman. Well, she was a freshman last year um in algebra 1 and um from the time that she started with her tutor to the end of the school year, her math grade went up 17%. So again, another huge testament to the importance of the connection with someone to walk alongside them. Um, here's a couple words from Kelly Rodkkey from the Avon Academy and Emily

029Garrett from the high school. Hi, I'm Kelly Broadkey. I'm the Simon Youth Academy at Avon coordinator and we work um we've worked last year and this year in a partnership with youth assistance program. Uh it has been so beneficial for our families and our students. They helped to provide basic needs for our kids and hook them up with resources in the community um to help them be successful for graduation. Last year we were able to graduate 58 students. This year we are close to 70 students and we would not be able to graduate those students without the partnership of youth assistance program. We are very grateful for that partnership. I'm Emily Garrett. I'm an assistant principal at Avon High School. The youth assistance program has been an invaluable resource to us for our students. Uh

030we are able to connect them um with organizations and people in the community that we would not have access to otherwise. It's created opportunities for our students that have changed their lives. Um, and that's just something that can be really hard for us to duplicate on our own. So, we have really appreciated having the youth assistance program uh here this year with us or this semester with us and we look forward to working with them in the future. So, um that's a little awkward, but we are having our um first fundraiser for um the youth assistance program in Avon. um will be a fund raise will be a trivia night um and all the funds raised we have a advisory board um and they work to create this event and the fund raise the funds

031for this event that will all go right back into program dollars for our students. So this the money that we raise on this night will be for our students not for us not for office supplies not for anything like that for our students. So that is um great opportunity to give back. Um it's trivia, it's fun. Ticket sales are open. You can get a table, you can be a sponsor, whatever you want to be. Thank you guys. Well, thank you so much. Um we knew a couple of years ago when we first started talking about would we invest in the youth assistance program. Um, you know, there were a lot of questions about what is this? How will it help students? Um, and but we stepped out on faith and we decided, yeah, we're going

032to partner. Um, and I think that anytime students succeed, it's always sweet, right? We are about Avon's and oral success. But when a student who really doesn't have a path forward or a student who is at high risk and potentially will uh make decisions that will affect their whole life um doesn't um you know necessarily have the mentorship or advocacy of other adults. When those students succeed that's especially sweet. So, thank you so much for what you do to uh really reach out to students in need um to get them the resources and that path forward. Um that as you said is important not only for that student, it's life-changing for them. Uh but that's what a community is really all about. Um, so I applaud you and your efforts this year and hope that

033next year we'll be able to fund raise and um do a lot of trivia and uh make a path for even more students on that forward progress. Thank you so much board members. I want to just state and I think you are getting I'm kind of alluding to that. that I mean it affirms the decision that this board made when we looked critically at the program but you know the needs of our students continue to grow and a lot of times the community looks towards the schools to you know navigate all of that we can't they can't do it alone and so our community partnership we rely so heavily on it so to hear these specific success stories and to make sure the community is hearing that as well so that they have these opportunities

034to volunteer to mentor to come to a trivia night Um, I love it. So, thank you for sharing that tonight. Ladies, I had a couple comments and questions. Um, are you going to start this program right at the beginning of this year? Okay. All right. Good question. Have you do you know about how many students we're going to have like more than last year? I bet so. Excuse me. Okay. Well, I know when I visited I it was I was in awe to see how eager not only the the adults but the kids. And I have a feeling mine choked. Uh got scared and didn't want to come. never got to meet her though, but I hope to get back in there and try to help. So, thank you girls. Mrs. Simmons, one thing um

035to kind of expand on that that we have felt particularly at the Avon Academy is because these ladies work in the summer. Um, previously to to this program, we were really worried about our staff at Avon Academy because they were being expected to connect families with resource. Not that they were being expected, they felt like they had to connect families with resources over over the summer. So, if things came up in their lives, who would do they reach out to? They reach out to their teachers. They reach out to the counselor, the people they have trust in when the families needed help. And we were really worried about burnout at Avon Academy in particular. And so to Mrs. Woodward's point, when we were studying this and trying to figure out where do we want to

036plug this program in, we were really intentional about ch starting at Avon Academy because there are things happening in our kids and our famil family's lives all throughout the year. And so our staff at the academy have really appreciated knowing that when they return to work, these ladies have made sure that families have the resources they need over the summer and it'll it has really been a great relief to our staff. Thank you for your hard work. Um, I was I've actually was paired with a student a couple months ago and it's been I mean the more that we support these kids, you know, like her goals is to keep her grades up and stuff and then when she showed me her report card, it was like all A's and B's and she opened up

037and tells me stuff that she wouldn't tell her family, you know, so it's just that connection that we have and this program is invaluable. I mean, she's succeeding and I'm so proud of her and so thank you for all your hard work. I'm I'm still the new guy, so I do have a couple questions. The first question is the grade range that you work with as part of the program is what? High school only. Okay. Secondly, uh who are the identifiers of who needs to be in the mentorship program? And then I don't a mentor and how a mentor would benefit them. We will make the suggestion once they're in the program. It doesn't it's a process for them. So, they don't have to start out right away in the mentorship program if it's something

038that they learn to they've built trust with us and then now they're willing to take our recommendation um for a mentor. Finally, what percentage of students are in the academy versus the high school? Oh, I would say we are heavy on the academy just because we started right away with them. Um the high school we do get referrals constantly but it's just it's a much larger population. So um the academyy's a smaller set of students. Um so we're able to connect with them more personally versus the high school where students are referred to us. We don't see them daily in class at the academy. We are in the halls with them and they want to know who we are and what we're doing there and why we're meeting with this person, their friend. One comment

039is simply this. I bet everyone in this room could identify if not 10, 20, if not 50, 100 mentors in their life from age five to 55 probably starting with our parents, aunts and uncles and going from there. And our mentors happen very organically for us if we are if we live a fortunate life. Um, and I I bet we could go on and on and on about why one person made a difference in our life and how they changed everything. And I think it's this is a program is a great reminder that not everyone has this natural evolutionary organic way of acquiring mentors. And when that happens, we need to break a cycle. And a great way to break the cycle is this program. So please put me down as one of the male

040mentors. Okay? I'll I'll come see you. Thank you. And you mentioned this a couple of times, but if a student is younger than 18, parent permission is required to be a part of the program. So you mentioned intakes with families and and so the parents are a part of this from the very outset um to make sure that like was mentioned, it's not just supporting the child, it's also supporting the the parent and the family. Thank you again. Um it's just a a rewarding program that we're pleased to invest in. Thank you. You'll move on to the next item, item B, which is the update on strategic goal number three. Um, as we did last year, we will hear from Chief Ley, our school resource officer. Um, and an annual update. Chief Ley, thank you

041so much for having me here tonight and uh I um appreciate the opportunity to share with you what we've been doing this year. So, um, as as I've done the first two times, this is my third third opportunity to present for the board. Uh, I like to start out with, uh, the National Association of School Resource Officers and the Triad. U, so National Association of School Resource Officers defines a school resource officer as someone who is a teacher, an informal counselor, as well as a law law enforcement officer. And it's really important that we use all three pieces uh because most of the time even though we are police officers all the time, we're very rarely enforcing the law. Most of our time is spent connecting with kids um making those positive connections so that

042when there's trouble, they know that we're a trusted adult that they can come to. So, we take great pride um in the teachings uh from Nazare and that we're not just looking for getting kids in trouble. that's really not what we're about here. Um, when I came to Avon, uh, in December of 2022, this is one of the things that I brought with me. Um, I feel like this is a great way to define the Avon School Police Department. U, I want all of our officers to be approachable. I want us to be to be friendly, to be kind, uh, to make sure that kids know that they can come pick kids, parents, staff, we're available. We are a resource to you. We are part of the support staff of Avon. We want to be

043approachable. Uh we want to be sincere which just it's it's about honesty and sometimes that's that's fun sometimes that's good sometimes those are hard tough decisions or tough conversations but that we're always sincere u I want us to be professional I want us to be professionally trained and have the proper training and the proper proper time to keep our skills up so that we can be professional and to be dedicated so that if ever comes a day that we need to respond as law enforcement officers if there's ever danger on campus that we are there and we are ready to respond respond. So, Avon School Police Department, we always want to be approachable, sincere, professional, and dedicated. Uh, this is our this is our current team. Um, you might notice it's a little bit different

044than it than it was uh previously. So, we'll talk about some of the some of the movement that we've had on our team um here in a little bit. So, um again, I'm Chief Lehey. I've been here since December of 22. Um, Sergeant Logan is a supervisor at the high school. Uh, and he he started that supervisory role officially last school year. So, he has finished an entire year as a sergeant uh for me and he did a really fantastic job of really taking care of that largest building. Um, not to say that we didn't collaborate on a lot of stuff, but but he would meet he would meet uh a couple of times a month with Mr. Shockley and they'd really get into um any sort of specific specific needs the high school needed.

045um and he did a great job there. Um Officer Chiron and Officer Craig, both these guys have been here since this department started back in July of 2020. So, a couple of the original original officers. Officer Chiron is actually going to Ava or going to uh Middle School West. And so, he he has he has been a police officer for about 25 years. He said, "I've never worked in a new building." So, I said, "Well, James, if you want it, James, if you want it, it's yours." And so uh so James is going to follow uh Dan Chapen out there and you'll see that um he will also be assisting at Hickory Cedar and Willow. Those are three of the feeder elementaryaries that will head to west. So that's the reason for that assignment. Um

046officer Craig will actually be going to South. He'll be taking uh Officer Chiron spot there at South and then be covering River Birch Pine Tree and Maple as his elementarymentaries. Uh, and then the last two officers, offic I'll talk about Officer Dit in just a second. Officer Spencer, um, he just celebrated his u one-year anniversary with us. He was very excited to get off of probation. As a police officer, you're on probation for your first for your first calendar year. Um, and there was never any any doubt. Uh, Officer Spencer's done a fantastic job for us. He actually just got done going through FTO school, which is field training officer. So he will actually be assisting us in training officer Dit when she gets out of the academy here at the end of August as

047well as a new hire that we are still working to obtain. Um so officer Spencer will still stay at North and then the north feeders there evergreen uh sycamore and maple and then officer Dwit um just just hired her in April. She'll be at the high school eventually. Right now she's still at the law enforcement academy. he'll be going through field training. Uh but but covering mostly at the high school and Oasis will be her main her main uh coverages. So some of the accomplishments from this year uh hiring officer Dwit was was something that I was really excited about. Officer Dwit uh even though she has not been a police officer before uh she spent more than 10 years as as an investigator with Department of Corrections. She was most recently uh most recently

048the um the lead investigator for the Indian Women's Prison. So she has a lot of experience when it comes to criminal activity and criminal investigation. She'll actually really be able to teach us, our team, a whole lot about that side. So this was not a far stretch for her uh when it came to hiring her and sending her to the police academy. Um we did re we did re receive some grant funding this year. Uh was a little less than than than uh has been in the past, but it's also what the state gave us and we were happy to have the $81,000 to help offset SRO salaries. Um officers attended the Israel conference. That's our state uh association conference. Um and then officers averaged 43 hours of training in 2024. State requires 24 hours

049for us to maintain our arrest powers. And so officers not quite not quite double the the state um the state requirement there for the year. Just some pictures of uh of the team. Uh the top left there, that's Officer Chiron getting to to read to some preschoolers. Um he he uh it took him a while to get through that book because they sure were excited to see all that shiny stuff on his belt. Uh top middle there was us uh posing for a picture. We we just I think we just finished our emergency vehicle operations training last summer. Uh top right there, a couple officers had a officer uh Craig and Officer Chiron with uh the kindness club. Um and got the got a visit from the big O. Um bottom left there is uh

050is officer Dit getting her badge pinned on by her husband who is a police officer in Greencastle. So that's a really uh that's a really important uh thing for for an officer when you when you get sworn in in the department to have your badge pinned. Uh and so it was really nice for Billy to be able to be there to uh pin that badge on Michelle. Uh bottom middle there, Officer Spencer got to give a ride to a couple of young ladies whose parents won a silent auction for a ride to school. So, they got a they got a box of donuts and some milk and a and a and a ride in a police car to school. So, uh and then the bottom right there, the team that was the team on National

051Law Enforcement Appreciation Day. So, um u Lindsay, my admin assistant, decorated the SRO office there at the high school, gave us some some uh some fanfare and brought us some some snacks. And so, um that's the team. You you will notice in that picture, we've got Officer Holding and Officer Harris. Uh unfortunately both officer holding and Harris went and found other jobs um in other in other areas but uh very happy to have them. Just sad sad to have lost them. They were good officers for us but uh as we know some people's careers take them in different different directions. So I'll move on to some statistics. This is the really really exciting part. Um I'm married to a stats teacher so she did not help me with this. I just it's really just raw

052numbers not really percentages so much. Uh we we as a district uh created 470 DCS reports as you as you know we are all we are all uh required to res uh to report we're all required to to make a report if we suppose uh we have a kid who's um been abused or neglected. So 180 school days 470 reports. So, uh, break break that down by by buildings. Obviously, the high school has the most students, so they had 119. Um, West had 47. River Birch had 39. They were the top um elementary. Now, um, we track these. So, every time an employee makes a makes a DCS call, they also fill out a Microsoft form that that I receive. Christa Fay, our our uh mental health coordinator, also receives. Um, and then we get

053to see what the call is about. They just do they give a real small description what it's about. So we know if we need to follow up on law enforcement side and if we do then we would make sure that the proper authority whether that's Hendris County Sheriff's Department, Avon Police Department or even Planefield Police Department to follow and make sure they know that that report is out there. They need to follow up on it. So, off stat statistics, um, we had 2,665 calls for service. Um, this year, um, that was down about two 2.3%. Um, so again, 180 days, that's about 15 about 15 calls for service a day as a department. Um, our reports, so this is actual like a an actual official police report. We did 64 reports this year. Um, our

054mental health calls. This was this was kind of interesting to me. I was a little surprised when I saw this when I saw this number. We had 66 mental health calls this year, which is down almost half from last year. So, we had about 130 about 130 last year. So, there's a lot of different things that could that can play into that. Um, it could be that we just have more people in the right places. Our counselors, our social workers are just getting to those kids quicker. youth assistance program, taking care of taking care of kids and and giving them the the the support that they need. So, calling a police officer for a mental health health call should really always be the last, you know, the last option. Um, and we're happy to come.

055We will absolutely come. We will respond anytime anytime a school needs us. But ultimately, ultimately, um, I'm I'm happy for this because I really don't believe that we had less need. I just think that that shows that we're really meeting the needs um and that we are not we're not being called as often because we're getting help in other places. U emergency detentions. Uh this is not something that I had tracked previous years which is why I don't have a an up or down. So over the school year we had nine times that means that we took somebody to the hospital for um for mental health services. Um that actually includes um that actually includes staff and parents. We actually had one parent that we assisted in that way as well u this year. So

056um that that's something I will keep track of as we kind of go forward because I really don't know how many we had last year. I didn't I could not find um the exact number of emergency detentions that we did last year. Now arrests down 40%. We only had nine this year. Um I'm happy with that. If we can not arrest a kid, if we can find other ways to to take care of I mean kids mess up, kids make mistakes. if we can avoid sending through the court process, we will. So, I'm pretty happy with with with nine uh especially as as large as our student population is. Uh community engagements, this is one that we still struggle with. Um I'm still happy. I know 20% that's we did one more than last year.

057We did six instead of five if you if you know how to do the math. Um but uh we will continue to try to to find other ways that we can do that. it's hard to find those community engagement and still cover, you know, that doesn't include all the sporting events that we're at and all these other things that we're that we're a part of. Uh, and then DCS reports, we had 52 DCS reports that we so out of the 470, we had 52 that we some way, shape, or form were involved with. Uh, that's down 70%. And that that was important and that was intentional. Prior to last year, our our policy was that you were supposed to call an SRO and let them know you were calling DCS and then call DCS. And

058I said, "Well, unless they really really this is like a big big deal, like we've got a serious it's definitely a crime that just committed that was just committed. We just need to make the DCS call and just let us know it happened. We can always follow up if we need to." And so that change was made and we said, "Hey, if you we all as teachers, staff, we all know that we have to make that phone call if we need to. It's proven that we were doing it with 470 uh reports that were done this year. Um, but we don't have to uh we don't have to spend the time calling an SRO if you don't need one. You can always call us, but if you don't need us, just make the phone call

059to DCS, fill out the form." And so that saved honestly it saved our staff time because they're not having to make that phone call that they didn't need to make and it's saving us some time where we can spend it on other other ones because I actually receive an email every single time I'm the owner of the form. So I actually get two emails every time a DCS uh report is is created. Uh so I see each one of those and I know if I need to follow up with a detective. Uh, so I was happy to see those down this year and that was that was on purpose uh just because it was kind of redundant some of the work we were making making staff. Can I ask a quick question before you go

060off this slide? Sure. Um, more for knowledge holistically. Obviously your law enforcement officers take an oath to serve and protect, but let's the emergency detentions the nine and you called out one of them was a parent. Can you explain how that would come about? Um, was it involved like because we were there for a student? Um, because obviously as a community member, someone might say, well, why wouldn't we call Hendricks County? Why wouldn't we call Avon PD? How were our SRO's brought in? Sure. Uh, so in this particular instance, uh, this was a non-custodial parent that came to the school, wanted to take their child out of school. uh we were explaining to that parent all the reasons why that wasn't going to happen that day and the longer that conversation went the more we

061realized that this person was a danger to theel or others and so they ended up we ended up taking them to the hospital so that was that is not a normal thing however if they're on our property during the school day uh then then they're ours we can always call Avon for assistance but but during the school day it's it's our it's our case it's our it's our response so that's a good question that answer your Yes, it did. And it leans over to why sometimes community engagement, you know, why that challenge exists because you are being pulled in many aspects that are needed. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we would love to get into classrooms more as well, but um lots of classrooms and few of us. We're not nearly We can't all be can't

062all be Dr. Windam and get at every single classroom every single year. Well, and I would argue like you said, there's a lot of informal community engagements that you're probably not. I mean, sure, the donut driving and all of that is Fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. Thank you. To clarify, not going for donuts separately. The auction with the donuts. So good. Kids, kids ask me all the time, "Do you like donuts? Does it look like I like donuts?" Of course, kiddo. Of course. Of course. Come on now. So, uh, I want to I want to finish up with u some statistics on Stop it. So, stop it is our anonymous reporting software that we use. We've been using it for a few few years now. And, um, I get to be the lead

063administrator on that one, too. So every time somebody activates that uh that app I get notified. So some definitions really quick just to kind of let you understand. An activation is every time somebody sends something through the stop it app. So they so they create they create an incident or they do a direct message. There's direct messaging that we can text back and forth with somebody who needs help. Uh they can upload images. They can upload video. Anytime somebody puts something on the app, that's an activation. an incident u is is those those larger things when they first initiate something and each of those incidents gets screened by the stop it staff. So if something just silly like if somebody opens something up and says I like Spongebob Squarepants that wouldn't come to us. Stop

064it would screen that out and say that's not an actual appropriate use of it and they just so we wouldn't receive that. So we had 209 2295 activations for the 20 2425 school year. U and this is the breakdown kind of by month. You'll see September was our big one. Um in September we had um a threat of violence on the school corporation. Um it was all kind of happened in one weekend and really it didn't have anything to do with our school corporation at all. It it took me most of a Sunday but we figured out that it actually originated in Texas. Uh, but screenshot, screenshot, screenshots, and then layers and layers and layers of of kids sharing it through mostly Snapchat, some Instagram. Um, but I was able to trace back the original

065post as far back as Texas. And at that point, I said, I don't care anymore. It's not Avon and nobody's actually threatening Avon. And there was never really any A. But when it says don't go to school, blah blah blah, kids start getting worried and and parents do rightly so. So that's why September was such a spike. U. Now, when it comes to actual incidents, we had 661 individual separate incidents throughout the school year that were investigated by school staff. So, of those incidents, we had I'm have to look at this one. So, I cannot read the percentages over there. I was doing pretty good looking at that one, but I got to look over here. So, 23% of our our incidents were uh bullying or cy cyber bullying, 12% harassment or intimidation, 9% drugs,

066alcohol, vaping, and 24.6% involve some type of violence. Now once those 661 were uh investigated 301 of them were closed as either unsubstantiated, false or test. We had a couple of test ones in there. We were making sure things were working correctly. So unsubstantiated basically means somebody makes a claim they say hey I got a problem. this is my problem and we would reach back out either an administrator or an officer would reach back out and say I need more information about what else can you share with me or can you you know or sometimes it would be an administrator say hey can you come to your team office and share share more if a kid doesn't if if that's the end of the transaction there's no more communication and I mean we're talking a

067week later we don't have anything at that point it gets closed as unsubstantiated false means that it's investigated it's proven been proven that it's not true. So, not quite half. So, 45% of the reports that came through the Stop it app this year were either unsubstantiated or false. That accounted for 27% of our bullying claims were either unsubstantiated or false. 34% of our harassment or intimidation claims were unsubstantiated or false. Over half of our drug, alcohol, and vaping, and twothirds of our claims involving violence. So, we've got kids that are getting on here and using this application or parents in some cases. Sometimes you can tell. Sometimes you can tell when it's a parent. Not always. It's not always apparent if it's a parent. Sorry, I hadn't that just jumped in my head. I shouldn't

068let I shouldn't say things that just jump in my head. Uh it's not always apparent if a parent is reporting on the Stop it app. Sometimes it is. So, this is a this is a lot of time. This is a lot of time and effort. And most of this time and effort is our administrators, our our assistant principles, our deans in our buildings are the ones doing most of this investigating. When it's threats of violence, police will jump in there. If it's drug, alcohol, vaping, we jump in there a lot. But if it's a harassment or a bullying claim, it's always going to start with the admin team to look at. And so they spend a lot of time. Now, every single one of my officers gets every single one of these incidents. Um, it

069comes to our phones and if it's after hours and it's a threat of violence to a person, then my phone rings. If I don't answer it, it goes to our dispatch in in Hendris County and then they get an officer to it and usually they then call my cell phone and say, "Hey, we u we need you here." So, uh, stop it has been very useful. There have been lots of things that we've been able to to to stop or to fix. Um, a lot of times where admin can just get a couple kids together and do some remediation and just come together. Hey, this was a misunderstanding or disagreement and we're good. Uh, sometimes it's parents not understanding how something really went. My kid told me that. Sure. However, this is what really happened

070at school. Your kid is half right, but this is this is the whole and so, you know, it's it's a useful piece, but there's also a lot of time that's spent on false claims as well. So, just letting you know that it's it's we're not going away from it. We're not we're not this is this it's a good valuable piece, but it does take a lot of time. So, that's all I had as far as statistics. I just wanted to leave you with I always hope that my department is approachable, sincere, professional, and dedicated. If it's not, please let me know. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them. Thank you, Chief Ley. Um it's always good to hear your report um and kind of get brought up to speed on

071what's happening. board members questions or comments. Does when we look at the that last slide and we're talking about um unsubstantiated false and the amount of resources that it's taking on not only the department but the administrative team. Are there different levels of support that stop it could provide to where maybe that threshold or that first response of some of the lower severity and if they don't hear back kind of like you were mentioning within a week it gets closed out. Do they offer anything like that that would help take that burden off? So the first thing that stop it does is they actually will ask questions. So when an incident is created, a stop so a stop it employee will see what that is. And so if somebody says, "I'm being I'm being bullied

072in in art. Can you tell me your teacher? Can you tell me who's bullying you?" you know, those pieces. They've already told what school because that's part of when you go and do that incident, it'll it'll assign that you have to click which school you're reporting for. Um, so they do start that and they will monitor. You'll see that they're monitoring it. Uh, they won't ever close it out though once it comes to us. It's up to us to close those out. And so, um, we get reminders after I think it's I think it's two days. You can we can set it however we want. So if if we haven't responded at all in two days to something, then the person who's assigned to it will get an email saying, "Hey, you've got something open.

073Have you you know, have you talked to a kid?" It's and most of the time it's that it's that the admin have talked to the kids. They just forgot to go back to the app and put a note in and close it. Um so we try to that's my goal for our admin is to close each report within 48 hours if possible. 48 you know school days. I don't want them doing it on Sunday afternoon if they don't they don't need to do that. But um trying to get these closed out quicker. Um especially ones that we don't have any response at all. Like it's really important. I have you told me you told me somebody's being mean to me. I got to have a little more if I got to help. I would love

074to help you but I have to have a little more. So stop it doesn't really have a another layer. I'm sure that they would have some other things they would be willing to do if we were give if we give them lots more money. Yeah. The uh teacher that let's say the art teacher is that teacher notified say this little guy's been bullying in art class. Well, I would think again I don't do for bullying specifically. I wouldn't necessarily be involved with that especially at the beginning. Uh, most of the time though, the admin team would probably email that teacher and say, "Hey, we got a report that this kiddo is being me. Have you seen anything? I'm sure I'm sure that's part of the process. Thank you. Appreciate all your hard work and all

075the other officers u hard work. I have a question. Are we looking for like is there more openings for more student resource officers?" So, we've got one opening and I am trying desperately to get to final interviews. We've had our first round of interviews. Um, and I'm currently in employee employment background um, verification. And so getting some of these former other police departments to respond to me, it's a little frustrating. I've had some really great conversations with with some admin all across the state uh, from from from departments, but uh, some departments just aren't aren't quick to respond and I can't go to file interviews until I talk to their previous employers. So, we are looking for one. We are looking for a certified officer when we will not have to send to the police

076academy. And so, um, I was hoping actually to have that person start today, but I'm not going to rush the not going to rush it and get the wrong person. So, we're we're we're getting there. I'm down. I've got four I've got four candidates currently trying to hire one of them. So, that's where we're at. Thank you. Yeah. Uh, well, three quick things. First thing is um I you know I was around when we first started the Avon um schools police department um and I want to compliment Deb Swain Bayless which I will forever since we've said no we don't need that and then suddenly we knew that we really needed it and it's uh certainly been something that when it was first initiated I think um the police department was very apparent in our

077buildings um that police um presence was something that was new and novel, but it was evident. Now, what I'm so pleased about is that it's just become a part of the fabric of Avon Community School Corporation. It's seamless now. Um some things like stop it and other initiatives that you all have done have made that really the part of our culture. I I'm writing my comments as we get ready to dedicate our buildings and do ribbon cutings. And one of the things that I said is that, you know, two to three generations ago, there was no such thing as school security. It didn't exist. And now it's not only uh is in um is present in every school in every school room every day, but it has become something that we're mindful of, but it

078doesn't interrupt education. and I applaud you for that. Um because it could be disruptive to education, but instead it's just become seamless and part of who we are as a school corporation. So, thank you for your leadership in that. Um I wrote down on the annual officer stats, it's working uh because every one of those has gone down from the previous year and our population of students went up. Um, so I applaud the fact that we have done such a great job in selecting and becoming uh just intrinsic to our community, our school community. And um I applaud that. Thank you for that effort. Board members, any last comments? Thank you, Chief Ley. Okay. Um, all right. We will move on to update on construction projects um from our one and only Jerry Rson. Uh,

079would you like to set anything up, Dr. Windham? No, we have we're keeping uh Mr. Rollson and the PSI team very busy this summer. Very. Yes. We felt like uh obviously we've got ribbon cutings coming up. the board uh has seen uh some of the progress that's happened over the summer, but certainly not all. Uh but thought it might be helpful for you and our uh community to see some of the updates of where things stand knowing that school starts in just a few days. So, still some more work to be done, but it will all be done on time. That's correct. Thank you, uh Madame President, and good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board and Dr. and Avon administrators. Um I do have a PowerPoint. Um thank you. Um so really um as

080Dr. Winnham said, we're doing a lot of work in the district. Um all of your school facilities except for the academy have something going on in them um this uh summer and over the past um in some cases years, right, to respond to uh the needs of the district. And those really are fivefold. Um responding to uh school safety needs. Um of course community growth and enrollment capacity, facility capacity to respond to that community growth. Uh grade level realignment to respond to the districts pushing the fifth grades into the elementary schools and sixth grade up into the middle schools. Uh converting uh the intermediate schools to Evergreen and Willow Elementary School. uh programming equity across the district, making sure that you can deliver programs um in a way where space supports those programs equally across

081your facilities. Um and um last but not least, infrastructure upgrades to respond to aging infrastructure across the district. So those are really the uh the tenants of the project and what we've been working on for the district um to make sure you can meet your goals. I'm going to share with you um a collage of photos for each building as I normally do. Feel free to interrupt with questions and comments. We'll go through this fairly quickly. I'm not going to uh focus on what we're doing in terms of plan and and that. It's just just a collection of photographs. Some of these are from July 3rd. Some of them are from July 11th. um in a week and a half in the world of school construction during the summer is uh a very long time.

082So a lot of things change. So uh so you might look at some things and say h is that going to be done? But rest assured we will have the spaces ready for occupying um by the students and staff when the day comes. So um so you'll see a lot of different kind of levels of that. So with that said, I'll start with Maple. Maple actually is the one facility I didn't do updated photographs on this. These are actually the same photographs I showed from back I must been right after um the um winter break um because that's when we finished the building edition there for the one classroom edition. There are two other rooms in that building that are actually um getting some renovation but it was fairly small scope of work uh at

083Maple um at Hickory Elementary School. the the work they're focused is to address um the Strive program that's in that facility. There were classrooms that actually are dedicated to Strive already in that facility, but they did not have the amenities that some of your other facilities have. And so we're we're doing a rebuild of a couple three spaces there to make those really have those same amenities as the other uh buildings in your district that that support that program. um at Sycamore Elementary School. Um we're doing a number of things in that facility. Um you see a snapshot there of work going on in the serving line. We're upgrading serving line for students so you can move kids through the cafeteria and serving quicker. And then a few um classroom kind of renovations that address

084uh the programs that are going to be needed at um at Sycamore. um as well as just give delivering that equity for programs is having the same type of spaces for instance that you would have at for uh Maple, a recently fully renovated facility. Theater the same type of thing. Uh we have a couple of additional classrooms there. That was to respond to the uh grade level realignment, making sure we had enough capacity in that facility um to deliver the programs across that building along with just um addressing that uh program equity that we had discussed. River B River Burch is um almost identical to Cedar in terms of its plan and the scope of work there is almost identical as well. at um Evergreen and Willow, of course. Uh that was formerly Intermediate School

085East and West. And at that facility, we had a classroom addition to respond to being able to um have enough space for kindergarteners at Evergreen. Um in the corridors there, um we are making some adjustments. uh the younger grade levels um have cubbies in classrooms rather than lockers and corridors. So the reason why I'm showing that corridor there with the clear story is there used to be some lockers in that corridor that's being transitioned to open space and tackboard space. Tackboard's not installed yet, but um but that's how that transitions. And then at within the classroom there you can see um how we've introduced the cubbies within the classroom uh for the first, second, and third grade levels. at Willow Elementary School. Then, of course, formerly uh Intermediate School West. Uh that facility really is

086uh undergoing a full renovation kind of through and through. So, finishes throughout along with a number of space reconfigurations uh to accommodate the grade level switches. And you can see just some of the highlights, some of the renovations, new name above the main entry. No structural changes there, just a new name. But inside, rebuilding of the toilet rooms, making sure they're set up um to address the age group that's coming uh kindergarten through fifth grade along with some of the other common spaces in the building. Um and then representative classrooms, uh photographs as well as the media center renovation. Again, these changes are being made um to improve aging finishes, aging infrastructure, and also the grade level shift. So, you're you got a much younger grade level um in this uh in this facility. And

087so, therefore, you really have to touch almost every space in order to make sure that you've outfitted it right for the right size children. Hey, Jerry, can you stay on that slide for just a second? It's been years since we looked at these plans, when this was floor plans, but I just want to point out the library picture on that. There was a period of time when we were considering adding on to Willow for kindergarten classrooms. And one of the things that we decided to do to save funds was the media center was really oversized to be an elementary uh library media center. And so working with PSI, we added four kindergarten classrooms within the building. So we didn't have to expand the footprint of Willow Elementary to accommodate four more uh kindergarten classrooms. I

088was worried that the library was going to feel too small when I walked in. It's beautiful. So, I love that picture because it really captures what a beautiful space that is, but it's also a testament to the design process that we were able to find a way to gain four kindergarten classrooms without expanding the footprint of the building. Yeah, I'm glad you point that out. One of the things in terms of the placement of those spaces is you can see the library media center does have um clear story windows, those windows up high on the walls there, and they are able to bring natural light into that core. And then it serves through windows from the kindergarten classrooms into that space. They are able to borrow that natural light. So we're trying to get natural

089light kind of a connection to the outdoors for every classroom. Okay, moving on to middle school north. Um again um this is uh accommodating sixth grade now. So, we had some additional classroom space developed there to accommodate the um enrollment increase as well as just some uh general program renovations. And there you can see some of those improvements there as a part of the addition and a robotics classroom that's actually adjacent to some of your other um innovation space within the building. um a new orchestra room uh snapshot snapshot of new corridor in the building edition and one of the new science labs at uh middle school west. Of course, this is the new facility. So, there's a few more photographs here to represent that. This is uh an image from um just the main

090entrance and exterior of the area there with the media center or library on the right and main entrance on the left. Um, a couple of other images there. Um, this is looking at the academic core of the building. The bottom photo is taken from the west looking at that two-story academic core. And the top photo is uh again from the east side of the building looking towards the library media center in academic core. Um, inside uh the facility there you see the cafeteria auditorium space. That was one we had a lot of discussion about. This middle school north and south both have auditoriums. As we were looking at the facility and trying to determine what would we do with this one, we decided that we would um and we could make a functioning cafeteria and

091auditorium combined. And I talked a lot about this space looking more like a performance space than a cafeteria. And this image, I think, reflects that. It's really been acoustically tuned to be able to accommodate performances within that space. So, um, so it doesn't look like a cafeteria, although during the day it will be serving as a cafeteria for a portion of the day. And just as a reminder, uh, too, that that was another area that we were looking at to build an auditorium for a middle school was going to cost about $15 million and that space since empty most of the school day. And so, uh, even though North and South have auditoriums, we really felt like we couldn't justify that expense. Um, and so that's where really pleased with how this space has come

092about to create a really top-notch performing arts space with a full stage, but that is used every day for the cafeteria. So, it's another example of trying to find ways to uh still create a great learning environment, but be mindful of cost. Thank you. Um and then the lower left um photograph then is the um event commons. That would be between the cafeteria, auditorium space and your main gymnasium. So that would be your primary area where visitors would be entering the building and in that commons area. Um then photographs of the main gym on the lower right, auxiliary gym at the upper right. Uh then one of your music rehearsal rooms, the orchestra rehearsal room, and then um serving lines that function as a part of the cafeteria. A variety of photos here that just

093show the administrative and guidance spaces and support that they have there and their reception areas. Then some academic um space representations there. You have the first floor academic commons. Um the art classrooms that um are actually adjoining to the commons areas, second floor academic commons, uh the um the library space and a representative classroom. Again, some more academic space there. So the collaboration nook is actually at the ends of the corridors on the second floor. And you know we tried to create a variety of space to support small group interaction and breakout spaces throughout the building. That's just a couple of them but that one's maybe got the best view in in the building. Um and then just a few shots there that just show you the the common space in the building, the stairs,

094the corridors, and some of the the academic space. and at middle school south. Um and that building um there's been a lot that's changed actually since I since I took these photographs um when I was in the building but added one space the orchest uh orchestra rehearsal room as a building addition. The rest of it is renovation space and not not a ton of renovation within classrooms a little bit u but a lot of the common space. So that that building has has a dated I don't think there's been renovations in general within the common area the corridors of that building probably since it was built for for much of it. And so this is really unifying the interior of the space and kind of creating an Avon theme there with the the black and

095gold and some of the neutral color palette that's in the rest of the district. So it should really um feel like a different building when you walk in. A few other shots there of just some common space. And I show the original gym renovation that we've taken all the old original wood seats off and we're going to be outfitting that with uh with new um black um solid plastic bleacher seating. So, and a new paint scheme and along with some um some graphics in the gym. So, the seats aren't there yet, but they will be in soon. And finally, I'm going to tag team this with uh one other gentleman in our office who's with us today. Doug Franklin is here and he's going to talk a little bit about the Thank you board. Thank

096you, Dr. Winnham. Just some shots here of the uh the main entry, the plaza, and then the unit B twotory classroom additions. You can see the courtyard. Uh prepping obviously the landscape zone there uh but just a nice entry and focal point uh for students, staff, staff and visitors as well. These are the two classroom additions. One is uh unit B that is on the northwest side of the site. Uh the unit C classroom is uh right where the bell or the clock tower was kind of the the main entry. Uh that unit C classroom the the main entry canopy there. That's where the special education buses will be pulling in and dropping off students uh for uh schools. The broadcast room and the animation classrooms are two areas that I didn't have photos of

097last time but turned out really well in those spaces uh were being utilized as well. the new art labs and then this large group instruction classroom uh is in the unit C edition at the lower level. So, another large group instructional space. The new tennis complex, 16 tennis courts and a support building. You can see kind of the lower pictures there. Just some of the overhang and kind of the shade, the tables that Coach Mise uh has already got in place for for tennis. Side note, my niece played here a couple weeks ago and gave it the thumbs up. So, uh all all is well with the tennis court, she said. So, the new uh tennis locker room building uh and support that that space can be closed off or divided uh into two sections.

098uh if you do have a a boys and a girls tennis camp or something going on, that space can be divided uh and shared uh so broken out into two locker rooms with that. South of the site, obviously where the tennis courts are at currently, uh there were practice fields, so we had to build and reconstruct some practice fields uh south of the site in some wooded areas as well. So that uh is in place there. just shows uh the sod that's down in the new field go post uh for football practice. And just as a reminder about tennis too, uh again we've talked about this multiple times, but the old tennis courts needed to be rebuilt. And so, uh when we studied and kind of mapped out the design for Avon High School, it

099made no sense to rebuild t new tennis courts in that location, which is prime parking. And so that space that was the old tennis courts is being converted to parking spaces um right next to the building which is is always a hot commodity uh and that's why we ultimately decided to relocate tennis uh so that we had sufficient parking near the building. Just one quick side note there are as Dr. when to point it out. Obviously, that is being converted into parking, but there's also parking improvements for the band lot, but also parking improvements at the student existing student lot on the west side as well. Wow. I don't know what to say about that. I mean, um, just the photos alone show just the scope of what, um, you all have been working on

100for Avon Community School Corporation. Thank you as always for being such a phenomenal partner, um, and just so conducive to teaching and learning. All of these spaces um, are ready for students and all the activities that they uh, participate in. In fact, I think Mrs. Taylor wants to start school tomorrow maybe since she saw those pictures of Wes. She's it's it it is a wonderful thing. Um and so um we just appreciate that um the weather cooperated for the most part that you were able to capitalize on getting um all of these spaces ready for students. Um and we we can't wait to start school in these new buildings. Um again in my comments when we do the ribbon cutting um you know the buildings themselves are just spectacular and our students will feel right

101at home uh within just a few days but our staff and our faculty that go into those buildings just are giddy because it's such a beautiful space but it's more than that it's just conducive to teaching and learning. Um, and it just will be um make the transition as we move a lot of kids to new schools, it'll just make that transition all that much easier. Board members, I'll just want to go down. Okay. Does that work? I pay particular attention to South because that's where I spent all my 12 years. I like the gym. It doesn't look much different. U Dr. Windham told me the bleachers had had seven different layers of paint. So, I believe that I like the halls, how you've jazzed them up and put some color. Um, the doors that

102are in the gym that were boarded up, are they still have a board in front of them or what did we do with those? Uhoh. Those just got painted over. So, they they already had been blocked. I know what you're talking about. You're talking about back when it was the old high school. Now, when it was open, there were doors up in the gym that led you into the instructional wings. I think you can still see where they are in the concrete, but they're just getting a fresh coat of paint. Okay, that's I was curious. You say you stumped me on that one. I wasn't sure what you were referring to. Yeah, we used a Only because you've pointed them out to me before do I know exactly what you're talking about. Yes. Okay, thank

103you. But the gym looks great. Do you still have the cage up there in the corner? There's it gone. It was right up. Let's see. See that picture there? Or it was right up in the corner behind it. It's wire. We called it the cage. It's probably gone, too. I don't think there's a cage up there. Okay. This is the institutional knowledge portion of you guys took all the fun stuff. Thank you. They told me I couldn't design cages. Okay. Well, we used it for popcorn and Cokes and all that. So, thank you. Just wanted to also say thank you. It, you know, the partnership. Um, I've really appreciated seeing that you've sponsored a lot into our schools and our community as well. When I see that performance services, I know that that's appreciated. But

104also just your workers, your contractors, the vendors, everyone that's come on to our property. I've heard very good things about that. I know it could be very disruptive, but I think you tried to mitigate that as much as possible and just respectful the times we've went through to take tours. They've been just wonderful. So, please pass that along. And kudos to your staff, Mr. Shockley, and the whole whole team as far as assistant principles and deans, Mikey Rollson, and just the whole team there at the high school, but also every building. There's a lot of coordination behind the scenes that um to make things run smoothly as possible and keep kids safe, students safe, staff safe, but also construction quiet and not disrupted during those key testing times. So, tip I have to all your

105staff as well. There are always things that um will not be done for the start of school that the that we'll need to focus on. Probably the most significant one just for you to be aware is that Evergreen and Willow playgrounds have been delayed. And so we're working with those principles on a um alternative place where kids can go and have some outdoor time. But I think part of that was uh when we did get rain earlier in the season, it came at just the wrong time and it came for a period a couple weeks that really kind of threw off the timing of the playground. So uh we'll be working on some commu communication to those families. We'll have some opportunities for kids to still get outside. Just won't be on those beautiful new

106playgrounds at Evergreen and Willow just yet. But we keep pushing PSI to get those done as quickly as they can. How delayed? They have said fall break. We're hoping earlier. Yeah, it we guarantee fall, but it's not under promise and overd deliver. Right. Exactly. I do want to uh thank you for all you've done and whenever we always have a question, you might not know it right then, but you will research and find out about it. So, thank you for that. And these buildings are beautiful. Thank you. I had lunch with a couple of these guys a couple weeks ago and we had the best time talking about buildings and all these old buildings here that well not so old but when I went here they had me share what the south was like and

107I said it hasn't changed much so thank you again. Uh thank you for your partnership. I mean walking into these schools how can you not be proud to say I'm part of Avon. I mean these buildings are phenomenal. They are gorgeous. So thank you. Two very quick comments. First of all, um if you believe that the schools are the most important part of our community, then you want the schools represented by buildings to look like these do. So, thank you for bringing into our community what you have brought into it. Secondly, I live in the neighborhood that's right behind or adjacent to Middle School West and I know that when the decision was made to build in that area, there was a lot of concern about the traffic and the noise and the the tomal

108that might follow and none of that has manifested itself. So, thank you. I don't take that lightly. I don't think the neighborhood takes it lightly and that's being part of our community. So, thank you for that, too. Thank you. Thanks. We'll move on to item seven, unfinished business. Item A underneath that is the enrollment report. Mrs. Ald, good evening. Um, as you will not be surprised, it's a busy time of the year with enrollment. Um, even since the report was shared, I mean, from last Monday to this Monday, we've enrolled 56 students. Now, at the same time, we're also having students withdrawn because they're enrolling at other students. So, um, as of this morning, the number that was shared with me for K through 12 is 10,487 students. Um, our kindergarten is, you know, we,

109the demographics that he showed, our kindergarten, uh, groups are coming in smaller. We're at 645 students as of today um, that will be starting kindergarten. That's a number that will grow still the next week and a half because that's the grade level that gets the most growth before school starts. Um, our current freshman class will be one of our largest or is the largest class at Avon High School that as of today is 927 students in our current freshman um, class at Avon High School. The other piece I wanted to update the board on is just I shared a little bit last month about um, non-resident enrollment since we brought that back this year. So we ended up with 98 applications who've enrolled and um of those 98 we accepted 76 students. Now some of

110that doesn't mean we just denied it. Some could be that they didn't um present records to us and we have to have records to review. Um we have a very thorough records review process or some a couple of families withdrew their applications um because they chose to stay at the districts they were at. But we did accept 76 of those. Um our highest um grade level was kindergarten at we accepted 14 students and that's great. We love to see them start at kindergarten and u metriculate through Avon schools. Our second highest was seventh grade. Um we accepted eight students in seventh grade. And our lowest grade level of applications and accept it was um eighth grade where we only had two applications and accepted one. Um so of the um fif I'm sorry of the

11176 who were accepted we've had 54 of those enroll so that's 55 I mean sorry that's actually 71% of the students who were accepted enrolled um have completed the process and some are still completing the process and we're we're working with them to make sure they're able to do um and so when you think about 54 students that we've accepted and they've enrolled out of our 10,487 students in Avon schools that's really a half a percent of our student body will be open enrollment students. So um so we are pleased with the way the process went and um you know this is a busy time for our enrollment secretaries as they are doing everything possible to support our families and get them ready for to be able to start day one of school. This is

112all have a question. Um, out of those 54 that have enrolled, is it pretty much each grade level? Um, more so than kindergarten is our highest. Kindergarten's the big one. Yep. Kindergarten at we have 14 kids that have enrolled. Okay. And remember, we're really purposeful. So when anytime we accept a student, we accept that. We tell them which school they're accepted for. And that's all based on where we have numbers. So, you know, we are very thoughtful and if a school is already um creeping up towards our our class size and we are not adding um a student there because the goal is to add students and not have any additional cost for staffing. You're welcome. Uh, well, I will say that I think it's a good thing that there's only 645 kindergarten students because

113one of those is Felix Burge, my youngest grandson, and it'll be all hands on deck. Just saying. DY noted. That's being streamed for his forever. Hi, Mom and Dad. Okay. Uh, we will move on to uh new bit. No, we won't. We will move on to Mrs. Glass giving us some information on costsaving. Mrs. Glass, thank you, Mrs. Woodward. Good evening, board members. Due to the hard work of Mrs. Aldday and her team, Avon Community School Corporation has been awarded a digital intervention training and implementation grant totaling $48,600. This grant helps cover the cost of which is a curriculum software for language arts, math, and social studies. while also reducing costs or expenses to our education. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Next item on the agenda is C the second reading of board policy updates.

114Dr. Windham. Thank you, Mrs. Woodward. So, as the board knows, we are uh regularly getting updates from the Indiana School Boards Association to make sure that our policies stay current. uh you reviewed these policies on first reading at the June meeting. There are two new policies um related to uh student searches and police relations and then there are five revised policies. Uh most of those revisions uh are necessary to stay in line with uh state law uh reporting child abuse and neglect, reduction and force, administration of medications, promotion, placement and retention, and then credit for courses completed before students enter grade nine. and we recommend your approval. Thank you. Board members, I'll entertain a motion on the second reading of board policies. I move that the board of school trustees approve new policies 4401 and

1154420 and revised policies 3340 as presented on second reading. Second motion by Mike, seconded by Cindy. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes. 5. Thank you. Item eight is new business. Um, this is a resolution authorizing use of the 2024 lease bond funding for 2025 progressive design build project. Dr. Finley, welcome. Thank you, board president Woodward. We've completed the RFP process for the construction project to renovate space at Willow Elementary for the technology operations center as well as offices for the technology staff. I know um the director of technology Jason Brahmas is very excited about that space. That network operating center is sort of the central um brains of of our district. And I think that with with the new space, he's excited to get that started and to start planning.

116We're also including STEM lab space at North Middle School and the renovation of the upstairs at the administration center. At the time that we move out of that building, Avon Academy students and staff will be moving into the upstairs as well. The project will be funded by monies available from the 2024 lease rental bond and it's been recommended that the Avon School Corporation select performance services as a design builder for this project. Thank you. Uh board members, I'll entertain a motion. I move that the board of school trustees approve the resolution authorizing use of design build method for 2024 progressive design bill project as presented. Second motion by Cindy, seconded by Jennifer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Motion passes. 50. PSI get the um playgrounds done first. Okay. Okay. We're just going

117to move right on to item B. First reading of board policy updates. Dr. Wend. Uh again, uh just over the summer we participated in another update with ISBA uh on updated policies. We did not have these updates in time to get them in the last stack uh because most of these updates relate to changes that the Indiana legislature made in the last session. So by the time they wrapped up the session in April, then the lawyers dug into all of these bills and then ISBA is able to turn that into policy recommendations. Takes a couple of months. Um so there is a new policy that's proposed for emergency medications. uh that is not really a change for us. It's just ISBA is recommending that be broken apart from our other medication policy. Um but then

118the revised policies uh that exist really are relate uh relate primarily to uh changes in law. So that's transfer students uh administration of medications, student discipline rules that uh those changes really relate to state law changes with regards to bullying and how we handle bullying. uh student attendance. The state legislature continues to make changes to student attendance uh that we uh have to uh implement. And then also absences of religious instruction. Uh and then finally, there is one policy being recommended for repeal. This is teacher appreciation grant policy. Uh as you know, for several years, the legislature had a separate line item in the budget for teacher appreciation grants. Those typically came out to our teachers in December. uh our teachers who were evaluated as being effective or or highly effective um the legislature removed

119that. So uh there is a whole another process that no one understands that uh will be implemented for these funds but it is not the way that it has uh been allocated in the past. So ISBA is recommending we remove that policy for teacher appreciation grants because they will not exist in their current form. Uh and then uh we are hoping that the Indiana Department of Education provides some guidance on the new funds uh and how those will be dispersed but it's going to be very different. Yes. So recommend your approval of those on first reading and then we will bring them back uh at our August meeting for second reading. I move that the board of school trustees approve new policy 4220 revised policies 4210 430 4320 5541 and repealed policy 3540 as presented

120on the first reading motion by Sarah seconded by Cindy. Is there any discussion? Um I had one um question about the new policy pertaining to administration of medications. Um so this policy primarily talks about as it should um during the school day um and what happens about medication administration especially um emergency medication such as you know prescribed medication for asthma etc. Um, but it doesn't I was a little surprised to see that it doesn't contain any specific information about outdoor activities during the school day, primarily playground and or um sports practices or band practice uh that takes place. I know that our schools have been uh very diligent about making sure that those resources are available, but can you talk a little bit about um what provisions are made for students that might be participating

121in extracurricular activities like that? Yep. and our school nurse. That's one of the benefit of having school nurses in every one of our buildings is that particularly you mentioned, you know, when kids go out to the playground, our school nurses are working closely with teachers to make sure that kids are getting medication if they need it before they go out on the playground or right when they come back. So, that collaboration is happening regularly. I think the other piece where we are really fortunate when you talk about extracurriculars is that uh our athletic trainers are also employed by Hendricks Regional Health. And so our partnership with Hendrickx Regional Health not only provides the school nurses that are helping our kids during the day, but then also making sure that that's a seamless support for kids

122that are in athletics, marching band, all you know, all those outdoor things that um we still need to make sure kids are safe. So that connection has been really strong. Awesome. Thank you. Allowed to carry a first aid kit out when they go out for recess. Yes. And so we have that most of the times you'll see teachers that have a a little bag with them that has those things or a fanny pack that has emergency things in it and they're still If it's a prescription, it's it's usually in the clinic. If the doctor says they need to keep it on them, if that's part of the doctor's order, then we would make sure they have that on them. Other questions? The motion was made by Sarah, seconded by Cindy. All those in favor? Motion

123passes. 5-0. Thank you. Item C is the revisions to the 202526 student handbooks. Mrs. Ald. Yes. A couple of months ago, um the board approved the handbooks for this, um upcoming school year. And then we just have a couple additions to be prepared for the start of this year. And so thank you to Deb Swain Bis and the focus on student safety. We um are just recommending an addition to the um to all of our handbooks that have to do with arrival and dismissal. That can be a real challenging time with the amount of car riders um and safety as the utmost importance. And sometimes we have the car rider going and then parents dropping off in the parking lot and kids trying to cut through the car rider line which is just an accident

124waiting to happen. Um and so that that is handled there. And it's also there's some um at the elementary schools about like the office really is we're calling it closed. I mean, there will still be people in there, but we cannot do student pickups when we're already doing dismissal because it gets very challenging and they're trying to listen to bus radio and everything to make sure all of our students are where they need to be. So, it's just a temporary hold um to make sure we have the highest safety during um arrival and drop off. And then there was a slight miss with Avon Academy just about lunch. We just had to adjust some of the language in there about the program we use. So, we are um requesting that the board approve these um

125additions to our handbook for the 2526 school year. Thank you. Uh board members, I'll entertain a motion on the revision to the handbooks. I move that the board of school trustees approve the revisions to the 2025 26 student handbooks as presented. Second. Motion by Jennifer, second by Mike. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor? That motion passes. 5-0. Thank you. Uh board member items. Mr. Langford. Yes. Thank you. You know, a meeting on July 14 is a wonderful reminder of two things. One that we are that was a quick six weeks into the summer and my goodness do our administrators work hard during the course of the summer. So, thank you to all the administrators in this room, of which I think maybe the majority are. Um, I I never lost sight sight

126as a parent, uh, or as a coach in this administration about how hard you all work while other people are enjoying their vacation. So, um, reflective of that is all the things that we, um, were teed up for this board meeting because you've all have worked hard for the last six weeks. The second thing I'm reminded about July 14 that we are, believe it or not, a mere two weeks away from the start of the school year and how quickly we move from one school year to the next. And um I I I sense that these new buildings will help bring some reinvigoration to to the staff, to the students, to the parents, to the community as a whole. And I'm excited about that. So, thank you for all who've who've uh worked so hard

127to make us be in this very position we're in. I about um honoring that that summer's going by so fast and it's going to be here. School's going to be here before you know it. I saw where Planefield was following our calendar too this year with the students coming on the 30th. Is that true, Mrs. Woodward? Okay. Because I saw Okay. Interesting. Okay. Only the owner kids are expected to be there early because they're discipline problem. Um I hope the teachers, the parents, and the staff are still able to enjoy a little bit of their vacation. Uh want to thank the donors for all they do for the Avon students. The Avon youth assistant staff. They've gone, but thank you so much for what they do. I hope that they're able to recruit more students

128uh for this coming year. Uh I was excited and like I said, I didn't get to do it because I think my little girl didn't have a way there. That was the problem that I was supposed to work with. Uh Chief Ley, thank you so much for sharing uh the annual report. I love seeing all your officers. They I give them a hard time and tease them and there's one of them that works this uh stoplight at the high school and that's my cutth through road there. I think it's 150 and I honk and wave and all that, you know, and usually I'm just going through there and they just wave at me. I think they know my hot rod car now. But I do stop at the light when I'm supposed to. Yes. Yes.

129Yes. So, thank you for that. Uh you guys are definitely approachable. You're definitely sincere, professional, professional, and you're dedicated. The kids love you. So, thank you. Uh performance services, thank you for all you've done. I'm curious, how's the pantry going? Or is it going yet? The Mary Lee, it's going. Okay. Okay. Well, I know they're all excited. Uh Christie was showing me what walls going to go and this and that. So, they're excited to get more room there. Uh thanks staff. Thanks board members, students, and parents, and anyone else that I've missed for all you do at Avon Schools. And I have this really cool closing I'd like to share. The foundation of every great school is built by the dedication and spirit of its students, staff, and parents. Keep this in mind when we

130all go back to school 2025, 2026. I don't know how I can top that. Um, but even though school's been out, you know, administration and everybody's been busy, you know, working on things to make our schools the best they are, just, you know, from the youth assistance program to the statist statistics that were shared, it just shows that we're moving in the right direction for our students. So, I think there's a lot to be proud of and I'm just proud of the direction we're moving. I want to just say thank you to Sheila and Veronica for putting together the ECA breakdown um and dividing that. I think the transparency around that was was important. It was not I could tell you had spent a lot of time on something that was very needed to make

131sure that West is um set up for success as well. And along with what Mrs. Smith mentioned um if you don't follow I think it's public school Indiana public school works they've been sharing a lot of statistics around the performance of our public schools in Indiana that have been very interesting I wish I could remember what one of those was to share that right now but I would encourage you to go check that out or follow them on social media it's been uh very promising thank you uh we were a little disappointed as we started this meeting that we weren't celebrating Orioles and yet at the end of the meeting I think we celebrated a lot of Orioles um our youth assistance program our partnership with PSI um Chief Lehey Deb Swain Bis Dr. promise

132for leading us through our first streaming. Um, we've got a lot to celebrate. Our administrators are hard at work. I proof of that is that this one shows up at my house on Saturday morning in a t-shirt and her his Goodwill donation in the back of his truck to have me sign a document, came to your house next. Um so um they everybody is working hard to make sure that the start of school is just as magnificent as it is every year. Um I want to welcome Dr. Finley um officially to our table um and look forward to great things. Um the city of Bloomington I was surprised they didn't put gates down and let you um but you escaped and you're here so we're happy. I have to say I am so impressed with

133Avon School Corporation. All of this building is such an incredible sign of innovation and growth. It's an exciting time to be a part of it. So, I'm happy to be here. Yes, we're happy to have you. Um and always thanks to Sheila because Sheila does all the things needed for us to stay on solid financial footing and um we really appreciate you. And so, let's go back to school. What do you think? in a couple of weeks. Uh let's open some beautiful buildings and let's welcome a lot of new teachers. How many, Kristen? How many teachers? 65 new teachers. Um so it'll be an exciting couple of weeks. Little hectic couple of weeks, but as we always do, we'll go back to school. Um and we'll be grateful for the fact that we live in

134this community and that we're supported so well by our community partners. Um, with that I'll adjourn the meeting at 8:52.