001We have 6:30 and I have a thumbs up. So, we're going to go ahead and get started this evening. For those that are able, if you wouldn't mind standing for the pledge of >> allegiance, please. We have six board members present in the room and one present virtually. Dale, can you confirm that you can hear us and be heard, please? >> Yes, I can hear you fine. >> Okay, good. So, I'll call the meeting to order. First order of businesses tonight is our reorganization meeting. So, the first meeting of every year, we need to reorganize ourselves as a board and select our president, vice president, and secretary. So, I'll take you through this process as a maybe new information for those listening and a reminder for those participating tonight. We only do this once a
002year. Um we'll start by assigning a temporary chair who will lead us through that process. Um after that there will be a nomination for the president. We'll vote on that position. Vice president will vote on that position. Secretary will vote on that position. Since Dale is virtual, we will do that via roll call and we we will do roll call per nomination if that makes sense. Um before we start that process, uh I would like to give anyone who is here tonight that wanted to speak during public comment on the board selection or board reorganization, you can have the opportunity to speak now so that it's done before our reorganization session. Um all other topics we'll cover later in the meeting. I see actually the blue sheet is here and nobody signed up. So there
003are no public comments on this topic or otherwise. Okay, with that we will go ahead and start. Do I have a nomination for temporary chair for the process? >> Nominating Miss Wen to be the temporary chair for the process. >> Thank you, Mr. Sten. Are there any other nominations? All those in favor of Miss Wen serving as temporary chair, please say I. I will do roll call. Mr. Mr. Allen. >> I >> Mr. Schultz. >> I >> Mr. Glick. >> Hi, >> Mr. Stunner. >> Hi, >> Mr. Major. >> Yes, >> Miss Lloyd. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. Nobody else wanted to do it. No problem. All right. All those. Um, it is now open to the board to make nominations for president. >> I'd like to nominate Rich for president. Thank you, Miss Lloyd.
004Are there any other nominations for president? >> I'll move to nominate Jason Major for president. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other nominations for president? Okay. So, we will vote on these via roll call in order of nomination. So, those in favor of Mr. Stenner serving as board president, please say I. I will start with Mr. Allen. >> I >> Mr. Schultz. >> Nay. >> Mr. Glick. >> Hi. >> Miss Welen says I >> Mr. Stenner. >> Hi. >> Mr. Major. >> Hey. >> And Miss Sloyd. >> I. >> Okay. Um, even though it is 52, I'm still going to go through the process of voting for the second nomination, which is Mr. Major for president. Mr. Nan, I will start with you. >> Nay. >> Mr. Schultz. >> Hi. >> Mr. Glick. >> Nay.
005>> Miss Welen says nay. Mr. Stunner. >> Nay. >> Mr. Major. >> Yes. >> Miss Lick. >> No. Okay. Reorganization process has concluded for president. Mr. Stener is the new board president. Congratulations, Mr. Stener. Uh, vice president. Can I take any nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Logan Schulz. Okay, >> Mr. Major. Are there any other nominations? >> I'd like to nominate Mr. Non. >> Okay. Thank you, Miss Lloyd. We'll go in the same order, same process, in order of nomination. All those in favor of nom of appointing Mr. Schultz as board president, please say I. Mr. Mr. Nala. >> No. >> Okay. Mr. Schultz. >> Hi. >> Mr. Glick. >> Hi. >> Miss Wen says nay. Mr. Stenner. >> Mr. Major. >> Yes. >> Miss. Voting for Mr. Schultz as vice president. >> No.
006>> Thank you. Okay. We will now move on to Mr. Mr. Nen's nomination for vice president. All those in favor play please say I. Mr. Nellen I will start with you. >> I. >> Mr. Schultz >> nay. >> Mr. Glick. >> Nay. >> Miss Wen says I. Mr. Stenner. >> Hi. >> Mr. Major. >> No. >> Miss Lloyd. >> Hi. >> Okay. Thank you. Um board concludes that vice president position goes to Mr. And congratulations. Okay, we have secretary position. I will take nominations for secretary >> like to nominate Miss Whe Lloyd. >> Okay. Any other nominations for secretary? >> Yeah, I'd like to nominate Tom Glick. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. We will do roll call one last time in order of nominations starting with Mr. Nalen. Um all those in favor of
007Miss Lloyd as board secretary please say I. >> Mr. Non sorry >> I. >> Um Mr. Schultz >> nay. >> Mr. Glick >> I. >> Miss Welen says I. Mr. Stenner. >> Hi. >> Mr. Major. >> No. Miss Lloyd. >> Hi. >> Thank you. Um, we'll conclude the voting on our nomination for Mr. Glick as board secretary. All those in favor, please say I. Mr. Nalon, you'll start >> no. >> Mr. Schultz, >> I. >> Mr. Glick, >> nay. >> Miss Wheelen says nay. Mr. Stenner, >> no. >> Mr. Major, >> hi. Miss Lloyd. >> Okay, Miss Whitney Lloyd, you are hereby secretary of our board. And this concludes our reorganization meeting. I think Mr. Phillips will pass out our new name tag titles. We will not change physical chairs this time because it takes
008a minute to do. So, you'll just find us in new seats in our next meeting. And I will pass the gavl over to Mr. dinner ceremoniously. >> There you are. >> Okay. >> Are we in 2C? >> Do a roll call. >> If you're present, please say yes. Mr. Schulz, >> do a roll call. >> Hi, >> Mr. Glick. >> Here. >> Miss Wen >> here. Mr. Major. >> Yes. >> Miss Lloyd >> present. >> Mr. Nan >> here. >> And I'm here as well. We have all seven board members in attendance >> which is a quorum. Dr. Phillips, could you lead us through the affirmation of our vision, mission, and values? >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Ster. Like to begin each board meeting by reminding ourselves of the mission, vision, and core values for
009BCSSE. Our vision as BCSC is to be the choice to learn, work, and play. Our mission is to develop expert learners by partnering with our community to invest in people. And our core beliefs include that we all can rise to the challenges of high expectations. That learning is most effective when we have choice, flexibility, and see relevance. That we thrive when our physical, social, and psychological needs are met. that our community and school district are stronger when we partner with one another, that we flourish because of the diversity and variability in our community, and that our democracy and democratic institutions are strengthened by civic-minded citizens. And if I could, Mr. Stinner, just take one moment. Um, unfortunately o over the break we lost an employee who had been with us since 2023. Miss Tina Howard
010uh had been a custodian at Southside for a few years and had been on leave for a while with some health issues and passed away on the 23rd of December just before Christmas. So, if you could don't mind joining me in a moment of silence uh as we honor her memory and thank her for years of service to BCSSE, our students, and our community. Thank you, >> Dr. Phillips. You're going to make somebody happy with contribution check now. It is my honor this evening to be joined by Miss Sarah Davis from the United Way. Uh BCSSE staff and students have um engaged in supportive uh fundraising every fall since I've been in BCSSE. So, for 21 years, at the very least, um we have proudly um asked our students and our staff to raise funds
011on behalf of the United Way to serve the folks in our community. And so, as you said, Miss Mr. Ster, um I hope we're not here just to make one person happy, but um the efforts of our students and our staff to make many members of the community happy. Um, United Way is a critical partner to many of our students and families and even directly to our schools in many cases. Um, when we pick up the phone and call the United Way, they always answer and ask how they can help. Um, and so for that, it is my honor here to present this check on behalf of our students and staff for $24,732.68. Thank you so much. I am truly honored to be here. Um I know there are many people not in this room
012that participated in this campaign. Um but for all of the hard work that everyone at BCSSE puts into the students and the children are in our community. Uh BCSSE has been a steadfast partner for United Way of Bartholomew County in many ways over the years and the commitment goes further than just the campaign. Uh we share the same vision making sure that children have what they need. Um in and out of the classroom and because of the BCSSE team and student support um more children are starting school prepared with school supplies. Uh more students have the resources they need every single day. um through the student support line and together we're helping every child grow and thrive and reach their full potential in our community. So, thank you again for the generosity um for your
013uh openness to having a campaign and and that partnership that we have. So, we truly couldn't do it without you and we're very thankful. Next item on the agenda is uh in accordance with state law. Uh the school board is also the board of finance for Bartholomew Consolidated Schools and on a regular basis we receive reports, financial reports. Tonight, Mr. Brener is going to give us that report. >> Thank you, Mr. Ster. Yes, this is our annual meeting, the first meeting of the year. We have our board of finance uh meeting. uh each year uh with your election of officers, we also elect then the officers are then named for our board of finance. Congratulations, Mr. Ster. You're our board president. And Miss Lloyd, you're our board secretary for 2026. Um per BCSC policy, our
014investments, uh US Treasury bills and notes two years or shorter, bank CDs also two years or shorter, and then we also use money market sweep accounts. For 2025, the yield from our bank balances um at First Financial Bank, this was the average over the year was about 3.85%. We had a return of just over 2.5 million. And then Trust Indiana is an investment option we have uh through the state. Uh the average rate was about 4% and the return there, we did not have as much money there as we did in our sweep account, just over $380,000. Uh the total revenues from the two bank balances is 2.9 million. Our treasury yields, we did do some investing. Uh we had a money market sweep account. Excuse me, I'm one side behind here. Um we had
015uh our ECA, our extracurricular activity funds. We invested some of those funds, 950,000. Um those were a two-year investment. Um, it uh matured on November 30th, excuse me, December 15th. December 15th, forgive me. We had a 4% interest rate on that and the return in 2025 was 38,000. Um, Raymond James had that for a day before it came to us. We got an additional $4 in interest there. And then uh we invested in a long long-term 11-month treasury uh with um yellow cardinal which is a um partner within uh first financial we invested $40 million for the 11 months. We had an annualized rate of 4.17% that brought us $ 1.95 million uh for a total interest earned in the year of just under $2 million. This is a little hard to see um on
016the screen, but I would be glad to send you this um this little slide to show you. Over the years um with the interest rate that over the last few years, the increase in interest rate, we've seen um solid returns in our investments for the year in 2025. In our education operations fund, we returned 2.8 8 million and all funds just under $5 million in returns. Remember in 2025 we did have the 2024 bond money. Um that was a big chunk of that which led to the large interest amount. And Dr. Phillip's favorite slide, our distressed unit appeals board or DWAB. And how many times do I get to say it? >> Many as you want. >> Okay. The DWAB board. Distress Unit Appeals Board was implemented in 2019 by the state as a way
017to um respond to a couple of uh school corporations who were having trouble meeting their financial obligations. Um it's kind of a lagging indicator because it takes some time beyond when they've reached the distressed before the board steps in. A couple of the um indicators for them is defaulting on bond payments, unable to make payrolls, two payrolls, or being uh failing to pay payroll taxes or making pension payments. Those will trigger a DWAP uh step in BCSC. I'm proud to say we are not in any way concerned about re hearing from the DWAP board and be glad to answer any questions you may have. Any questions this evening, Mr. Schulz? >> I have a couple. Uh, if you go to the first couple slides, the one where you talk about the income, I see 2.9
018million at an average is called 3.9%. And on the next one, you got another 1.9 with an average of about 4%. But that doesn't add up to the total interest earned on your third slide. And then if I understand the 4% roughly, that should be like 122 million in capital. And I don't think we have that much. So that's why I was trying to figure out what's the total. So the questions are is like how does the 4.9 compromise and then what's the total capital of the 4.9. >> I apologize Logan my hearing is not good. I only heard about half of that. I'm sorry. >> Am I getting in? So on the 4.9 million what is that compromised of? The one right >> that is all funds. That also includes our education operations fund
019but that's all of our bond funds. That is all of our health and dental funds. All of the funds that we have throughout the school. >> So that's not the summation of the prior two slides. >> No. >> Oh, okay. And then um what's the total capital roughly available to make that 4.9 like total in investment basis? >> The principal amount. >> Thank you. Okay. Um again, we we invested $40 million with um Yellow Cardinal. Um then we had roughly um 50 million enrolling funds within our our reserves that we have with all of the funds. So all told around 100 million. >> Okay. >> And the the 50 million that's in the checking account, if you will, is um the vast majority of that was bond revenues that are being spent down on all
020of the facility projects happening right now across the district. So, it's usually not that large of an amount and and that'll that will have grown for this year because of the $72 million bond we sold in October and then with the further bonds that we expect to sell as part of envision 2030. >> Yeah. I I think from the taxpayers's perspective, right, is like this makes it look like we have a lot of principle available to us, but in reality, we borrowed money at an interest rate to get an interest. So, in fairness to this chart, we should show the expense that we incurred to get this interest. It shows only one side of the story, not the interest expense the taxpayers had on the borrowed money. >> Cash versus acral basis of accounting. >>
021I understand. >> So, so another question you could also ask is what is the total amount approximate of reserve money we have held in a bank or in a fund or anywhere? Again, approximately 100 million, but that does include our bond with reserves. >> The bonds are not I I look at the bonds as being separate because those are supposed to be dedicated towards something else. In the past, we've talked in the 30 to 35 million range for reserves. That's kind of what that that money is able to be used for things that are in the column it's in. So, operations education. Right. >> Next month at our next meeting, you'll get the end of the year report that'll show the amount of money we amount of funds we have available, education, operations, operating referendum,
022um our major funds, and those will show and um I I worked on that today. I apologize. I want to say it's around 24 million in those three funds. >> Thank you. >> Other questions from board members. The elements of this report are uh pretty much prescribed by statute. >> Yes. >> What's to be covered tonight? We've covered everything that we are >> correct >> supposed to. >> Any other questions? It's not an action item tonight, but we thank you for the report. >> Next item. >> Dr. Phillips, you're queued up for >> school board member reports. Perfect. Um, it's been a busy holiday season, but if schoolboard members have any reports, I'll call on folks. Uh, Mr. Nand, do you have anything to report this evening? Um, my committees did not meet. I will
023just remind board members that the ISBA State House Day is February 17th. >> Thank you for that reminder, Miss Lloyd. activity reports this evening? >> No reports. My committees did not meet. >> Mr. Major, anything to report this evening? >> I did not have any committee building. >> Mine did not meet. >> Mr. Glick, >> I did not have any meet, but just a reminder, the referendum surveys will be coming out uh in the next week or two. So, be on the lookout in your mail for the for those. And then the districting and facility meeting will meet February 5th, which Just a reminder, people put on the calendar. Uh it will be after our next meeting uh next month. And then the wellness council will also meet February 10th. And uh then finally before
024the holiday break, Mr. Non and I were able to go visit Schmidt Elementary and take a tour and kind of see what's progressing through there. And I just like to say it looks very nice and like to see where they are. And for the most part, it seems like the construction crew and everybody are being very flexible with everything going on and allowing things to progress very well. >> Very good. Thank you, Mr. Click. Mr. Schulz, >> uh, neither of my committees met. Um, however, with the Hall of Fame committee did meet in November, and I want to congratulate Kathy Dell, who is a former music teacher at Parkside, uh, for being selected. She'll be honored at the next meeting, uh, for the reception. and yeah, for her time of service uh for the Parkside
025Pirates. >> Congratulations to Mrs. Dell. Thank you, Mr. Schulz. >> Uh cabinet reports this evening, Dr. Phillips. Thank you, Mr. Ster. Um we do like to update you whenever we have a change to our strategic plan um outcomes. And so you'll note in your notice that in your um binder the graduation rate uh graduation rate slides are slide itself is updated. We had a very generic presentation prepared for you as the state the DOE told us that the these results would be out by the 31st of December. They came out at 4:30 today and so Mr. Edwards come on up back there. Um, at 4:35, Mr. Edwards was editing this presentation for you and adding some of the state comparison data in there for you. So, >> go ahead, Charles. >> Yeah, thanks. Um, I
026uh uh appreciate you taking some time to uh go over this with me. And um I'm going to call up Blake Manuel and Brilan Nolton, the uh uh assistant principles for team 2025 and also team 2029. because we're going to be talking about their work. Uh, next slide. So, um, last year we're able to achieve achieve historic results um, and post a graduation rate of 90.01. It was, uh, the highest that we as a district had uh, posted. um you know, and we celebrated for a little bit, but then we got back to work. Uh and because we got back to work, I'm able to stand here today and tell you that u we've got great news to share with you. Um but you know, when we talk about the uh cohorts, they're really built
027on simple principles. Like we really focus on uh four things. getting getting to know families, getting to know students, uh building meaningful relationships and then helping those students graduate. So really that is the core of the work that is done by uh the cohort teams in the high school. Next slide. So last year again 90.01 this year uh our graduation rate is final at 92.41. So uh again a 2.4 four uh percent increase over last year. But if you look at the right hand side of the screen, again, we work with people. Uh we talk about numbers, but we also talk about people and that's, you know, where we spend the bulk of our time. So, uh represented on the right hand side of the screen. Uh 25 additional students walked across the stage this
028year because of the work that is done by the cohorts. So, again, if you take that 92.41 41 uh% graduation rate and apply it to uh last year's cohort size, there would have been an additional 25 students that walked across the stage. So again, we uh we deal with people, families, um and um it's nice to be able to say that we're doing more for more students. Next slide. This is the slide uh that I was editing around 4:35 or so uh because we did not have a rate for the state. Uh but you can see that the state uh did increase from last year and so last year was a historic year for the state. Uh this year again is a historic year for the state as they increased another 1.6 percentage points. Uh
029but we uh again outpace the state uh based on the work that is going on in our high schools with our cohorts and with our students and with our families. Next slide. I like to slow show this slide because uh it basically shows the decision point where we we knew we had to do something uh we had to do uh we had to be better. Um and then so we made a decision again to go to the cohorts. And you can see uh again the historic jump from uh the 83% all the way up to um uh I'm sorry the yeah the historic jump from 83 up to the uh 90. So again we increased again this year and so we're on a trajectory to just keep improving. I I had the question last year
030uh where does this thing stop? Where are we going? And the answer is uh we don't quite know yet. Um we uh have had more time to work with students and the more time that we have to work with students and families the better the output or the better the results. So again we will continue to keep an eye on the trajectory but right now we're uh it seems to continue to move up. This is a good slide because again it shows that in uh 2024 uh when we made the decision to go to the cohort uh model we graduated an additional 69 students that we uh didn't graduate in 2023 and that's what bumped our graduation rate up so high. And then when we look at this year again we uh increased an additional
03125 students from from last year. So, I know when you look at those two numbers, you're like, man, 69 and 25 don't equal 154. That's right, they don't. So, that number 154, that student impact number is based on the work again of the cohort. And if we look at the number of students that we graduated uh from 2023 to 2024 and then from 2023 to 2025 based on percentages, then we arrive at that 154 uh students. So the work of the cohort has impacted 154 additional students and that's something that we're very very proud of. Next slide. Uh so I apologize for this slide because it is incomplete. Again this is data that comes to us from the state. Uh and as uh we got that late this afternoon. This part of the website wasn't
032really updated yet. So when I get those numbers um again I will put those out so that you all have those at uh your fingertips and you can reference them. Next slide. So again when we look at what makes the cohort uh work and what makes it uh special and why they are able to achieve such great results uh really there are a few things uh that uh are the secret sauce. We like to continue to focus on innovation. So, we like to emphasize that there should always be this new feeling like let's not say let's not settle into doing things the way that we've always done them. These teams have the autonomy to uh again be innovative and come up with new approaches to um new and old problems. And so again, we focus
033on those multiple approaches. We focus on innovation. Uh we continue to look at this as a new initiative. We're not trying again. We don't want it to ever feel old. Uh and then similar to high identical. We preach that a lot. We want the teams to be similar to identical. We don't want them to be radically different from one another. And so when one team comes up with something that is innovative, uh we learn from that team and we share those processes and those processes become systems. And so in that way they say similar to identical um and are able to achieve the kinds of results that we are u posting here tonight. Uh I'd like to at this time uh pass this microphone to Brilan and Blake and have them talk just a little
034bit about uh what they do or share an impact story rather. >> Thank you Charles. Um so the cohort model as he said two years ago we started and so we started with our juniors. Um our goal was to get to know them right away get to know uh what they wanted to do where they wanted to go and how we could walk with them to meet their goal. Um I looked today and I had to remind myself my team wrote 144 letters of recommendation um with an additional 44 letters for scholarship recommendations. And I can tell you that those students, they got to choose who we were um or who got to write that. So, who they were most connected to. It wasn't just sending it to a counselor who does great work, but
035he they could say, "Well, I met with Mrs. Nolting or I met with Mr. Ferguson um multiple times my junior year, and I really feel like they got to know me." And so, we were able to let write those letters of recommendation and make them even more personal than they may have been with just a counselor writing those because that's generally who it went to before the cohort model. Um when Charles asked me to talk about a maybe a specific student, um one in particular came to mind. She actually moved from California here uh her junior year, so right when we started the cohort model. We got to know her right away. Knew she had an interest in journalism, but then an interest also in the military. So she um she became a regular in
036our office because she was nervous. She wanted she didn't know there was a big school. The school she came from in California was not quite as big as ours. Um, and she we got to know her. She felt connected. She chose she went to the military, ended up going to the Marines. She chose to come back to North this year to be awarded the letter of accommodation. She wanted to share that with us. So, we were able to set up a ceremony in our commons and we were able to share that moment with her because she felt so connected to the school. Um, and now we get to have our sister as for four more years. So even within two years, we were able to connect with her and get her to where she wanted
037to be. So I'm really excited to start with my new cohort this year and be with them for four years and do the same things but with even more emphasis. >> Awesome. Thanks, Brillin. So for us at East, um you know, as Mr. Edwards was talking and just that that cycle of continuous improvement. That's what's that stands out to me as an excitement level of having freshman now with team 2029 and starting with team 2025 their junior year. You know, we like to think that we knew exactly what we were doing with connecting with kids, but it was a whole new game of connecting with kids and parents and, you know, having thousands of contacts with parents and students and trying to build those connections and and we've been able to build some systems in
038place that we're starting from day one with freshmen. And I think that's why we're continuing to see that improvement in the graduation rate because we're continuing to learn what we didn't know or what what works best for the students. And so, you know, when Mr. Edwards asked about an individual student. Um, there's so many that we could pick from, but one that stood out was a student who when we first met him junior year, he wasn't crazy behind on credits, but he was your typical squirrely high school boy who um we had parent meetings early on with him and he would spend some time with in my office or in Mr. Sims office trying to get caught up on work and it was like every day we were just trying to like drag him along
039and keep him going have parent meetings and all of our meetings would end with like this is a wonderful wonderful kid who can do these amazing things but he's got you got to stay on him. We got to stay on him and and that's what we were able to do for um two years and um you know I remember times in his senior year where we were like Bryce you're so close to finishing um but you got to keep going. You gota he's like I know I know I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. They're like, "You can do it. You just have to keep doing it." And eventually, you kind of saw it click in the last couple months of the school year where, you know, he wasn't down
040in our office finishing his assignments. He was like, you know, he began his enlistment into the Navy and he knew exactly what he was going to start doing. And in October, he started his training with Navy and um after graduation and he quickly became a division leader already. He was able to give his parents the phone call the other day saying that he's officially a sailor. Um and you know talking with his parents now still as his his brother is also um he's not in our cohort but he's at East um but we're able to see you know he just needed some continued motivation. He just needed some um some encouragement of saying you can do this. This is what it looks like. Keep going. And you know now his mom was sharing that, you
041know, he's had some setbacks here or there, you know, as he's adjusted to the Navy. But his response to that is wanting to go even harder and do even better. and that's how he's been able to grow even though the plan hasn't always worked out exactly the way he thought it would go or his family maybe thought it would go but he was able to stick with it and keep going and keep growing and um and we have tons and tons of stories as we kind of celebrate our high graduation rate. Um, we could I think Brilan could probably sit here and list off student after student after student and family and family um of just all these different experiences and um interactions and and now we're doing it with freshmen and we're excited to
042see what it looks like um you know to see it's I can only imagine what our graduation rate's going to be in four years um after seeing what we're able to do with two years. Did I do that? That's not what that slide's supposed to look like. But anyway, I Yeah, questions. >> Board members, what questions do we have? Thank Thank you. >> I promised I wouldn't going to change the slide deck. So, a couple years ago, we had no idea what was going to happen with this and this has been very productive. Um, I want just curious um both of you noted, you know, God bless those kids with safety, right? They're in the military, so um hopefully wherever they're stationed, whatever they're doing, they're going to be safe. Are are you finding that
043I mean it's just interesting you both picked uh a a a young man or woman that actually moved into a a military role? Are you finding that that is starting to replace college uh or trades as a career path for uh students? I don't know if I would say that I've noticed it's replacing those, but I think what we've been able to do with the cohort and the teaming is we're able to help students at all levels identify what's what's ne what's best for them next. You know, like the student I was talking about, he probably could have done college somewhere, but that's not what he necessarily wanted to do. We have another student who was in our top 10 who um he's staying local and is involved in um pursuing law enforcement and other
044things because that's but we're able to build these connections and see, you know, we don't have to just push college on somebody just for the sake of pushing college um but we're helping them um see the different experiences. You know, we did a IU college visit last year with kids who had no plans to go to college who ended up going to IU Bloomington because they got to go experience that that firsthand. So, you know, I can't say statistically more kids are going into the military or more kids are going into the workbased learn workbased field, but but we're helping kids find what's next for them and putting them into that hopefully that successful spot for it. >> Yeah. And I think that to me um C4 when anybody asked me what what I like
045the best about BCSSE at C4 because it gave my daughter an opportunity to test drive different potential fields. like she can take a class in this or a class in that and see a little bit like what that profession would be. And so just to hear that there's kids that are wanting this, it takes a it takes a lot more discipline to be in the military than it does to turn your classwork in on time, right? And so to hear kids that were probably not on a good path turn themselves around, you know, I I don't know if there's something there that uh we could read into from a continuous improvement perspective that would be uh maybe enhancing, developing, building a junior ROC type classes that would kind of dovetail into C4 as well. So
046might be something we're thinking about. >> Thank you. I think we talk a lot about connections and relationships and the reoccurring theme in my head with the not just connecting with military recruiters, but we're able we have such a great community of the network and with our within our cohort when we listen to those students, we can connect them with recruiters. We can connect them with IU Columbus. So, um I want to emphasize that we it's not just connections within the school, we are connecting kids outside. So, I think that's where we just have more knowledge of who we're connecting the kids with. Mr. Edwards, with your uh comments about the release of the state numbers this afternoon, made me think back to over the years u reporting graduation rates hasn't really been consistent uh
047from one corporation to the next. How you know who counts as a student? Uh how many students leave? How do you count those students towards the graduation rate? Do you feel that the the numbers are getting more consistent as they're reported across the state, the way the numbers are generated and treated. >> Yeah, I do. Um, so there uh was some inconsistency with how numbers are reported. Uh, but they the state switched to a different model of uh accounting uh a while back. And so I would say that how those numbers are reported uh has been consistent for uh I don't know several years now uh five 10 years now. Um but the the other piece of that is though I think the question that you're asking um is you know is there an opportunity
048to kind of uh massage your numbers and that sort of thing. And I I do think that um there are corporations that um can can do that or but um the state does a pretty good job of uh looking at your numbers and kind of holding you accountable for what you're putting out there. >> Good. I think that's the way it should. >> Yeah. >> Other Mr. Glick. >> Yeah. My uh mostly for Mr. Emanuel and Multi. Uh after after dealing with the last two years of this cohort model, uh what are you seeing as kind of that lack of motivation or distraction to really kind of motiv and like how you changing those motivations aside from having them in present in their office and everything like that? What are you guys doing or what
049do you see is the biggest issue? I think just um figuring out what their interests are honestly. I mean um you can set them on a track, right? You can set them on the generic track and you can say this is what and there are there are you have you have certain requirements. Um we're on a new diploma this year and freshmen pretty much have the same classes, right? You have your English, your math, your science, your social studies. um it's changing and but listening to them and figuring out what makes them tick. Um not to talk too much about what we're doing with our freshmen right now, but we have a slide already with for every student in our freshman class that has their spark, what makes them tick. And my counselor's already taken
050that and we she's looked at what their project one of the questions we asked what they want to do when they graduate. And she's taken that and compiled it. I can tell you how many um of my students want to go into business right now. They're freshman. Like things are going to change, right? And she's mapped out like what they might do with that, like what classes they might want to take. Um, and so I really think that connecting with them, figuring out what their spark is has helped motivate them and help them see as of right now, you know, they're in those English nine classes, they're in all the but we can give them a vision of you got to make through these classes and then you can go to your construction class. You
051may have two periods in construction, right? If you can get through um these classes and pass them the first time around. So that's my my opinion. Yeah, the only thing I would add to that, you know, I'm still looking for that magical this is the this is the concern, you know, and once I figure that out, it'll be really great. But I think one of the benefits is we're able to commit time to working with these students to be able to figure out what that that spark is or those conversations or, you know, the four-year planning of mapping out what's going on. Some students have some kids know exactly, you know, we've been doing um team meetings where we've been meeting with um students, you know, who are in our AP classes or whatever and
052just having conversations with them just to get to know them um because they're never going to really end up in our office from like a referral standpoint, but just getting to know and some of them know exactly what law school they're going to go to and and all these things planned out, but you know, they also start telling you about some of the anxieties that they're feeling and the workload. and we're able to be, you know, put some of those students in support with our centerstone services or checking base with our counselor. And so I think just the time and the the opportunity that we have to engage with students, you know, there's no magical this is the concern. All students have these individual needs and I think we're able to commit to that from
053a time standpoint. Um, which is going to help even more find success. >> Mr. Glick, I'll just add there too. We've Mr. Edwards, myself, and sometimes other members of the cabinet have been been able to join cohort meetings um probably over the five quarters some somewhere between 30 and 40 different meetings we sit in and one of the parts of that meeting is we go through the list of students who are behind uh both behind on track being on track to graduate based on the number of credits that they have and there were two trends that I wrote down last year um actually no the first quarter of this year when we finished up the first quarter in October over um November that stood out to me that I kept hearing all all across from
054freshman to seniors, northeast um and it was the students who had moved from one school to another many times which we've talked about several times with the board um in regards to I read scores and really primary grade and and elementary issues but I didn't know it was going to I didn't realize it was going to manifest itself the similarly at the high school level. And then the second one was the number of students who had lost one or both parents. It was a really surprising piece of data that came out of those meetings that almost every cohort had more than one student who was behind track on credits they needed to graduate. and just in a note that they had written over to the side because we go student by student in a note
055they had over by to the side. Both of those things go to speak to the value of our relationship with United Way. Just interesting that they were here this evening to say how much they help support those students as well. But uh to your question actually your earlier question too I think Charles mentioned systems earlier. We don't yet know what the maximum graduation rate our system is going to generate. You know, these guys had the juniors and seniors, so they had two years. Now they're starting all over with freshmen, but they're doing so with the knowledge of those junior and senior cohorts and how they went. Um and so you know like Blake said earlier don't know what that uh can imagine what that top is going to be at the end but just massive
056credit to the folks who have taken ownership of not the number but the kids like like Charles said earlier with the 25 students up there and so can't speak enough to how much I respect and enjoy being in those meetings. I tell them every time we're supposed to be an hour long. They never we always go over because I'm always asking questions about what we can do next. Um but I I admire the work they do every one of them at all the schools um on each individual student. >> Um so if I can maybe make a point and then ask a question. Um, I know we talk about graduations rates and that's the right thing to talk about, but as a parent who has a current senior who had two years before this model
057and a couple years after, I will tell you she's towards the top of her class. I'm very proud of her. Um, but this kind of accelerated her too. Her having a group of people helped her get a little more specific about what she wanted to do. Felt a little more confident about how to get there. So, I don't think we're just helping those kids that are maybe in trouble of not graduating. I think it's kind of propelling everybody up. So, I just want to make that point. The other one is, and it's on the same um on the same lens, I guess, but you are engaging with students, but also with families. So, I work at BCSSE, but it's still a big place. And I'm I'm the board member and I'm the mom, and as
058a mom, it still felt like a big place. This has helped me figure out who everybody is. Miss Grimes probably knows me by my voice. Now, when I call to tell her something about my son, she's like, "Hi, Nikki. I know it's you." Um, so I I think that the connection you're making with parents is also really impactful. And I just I know you came prepared to talk about students, but I don't know if you have any examples or or thoughts on how this has helped connect with families as a whole, parents in particular that might have needed help on how to reach their kid. any of those I think are really good success stories to share as well. Not to put you on the spot. Sorry, can't use me as an example. >> I
059mean, I'm connecting with parents a lot right now because I'm freshman. So, I was thinking back to my seniors. Um I can think of one family in particular, first generation college, um student really really encouraging the student to go um they were going to at IU Columbus. Um that was their goal. Uh the mom came to us and was like, I she's not she's from out of the country. She had she had no idea where to start. Um, one of my academic coaches worked more than once with her single mom to get FAFSA filled out because as you can imagine student at North and still comes in and says hi and thanks us. Um, so I think that, you know, we intentionally reach out to them, reach out to parents. Uh, we we have we
060keep track of who we've talked to and who we haven't parent contactwise. And we present that um quarterly uh to Dr. Phillips and Mr. Edwards. Uh but it's not just because we want a number. It's because we want to partner with them and walk with them just as we did that mom. Um and and I think they they could have figured it out, but I walking alongside them helped them um feel more encouraged. So >> yeah, I mean again I can think of lots of parents of you know I what comes to mind is we have some families who have had older siblings who maybe didn't have any challenges in school then all of a sudden you know a kid in our cohort they're struggling and so we're having to kind of rego over the
061process of this is what it looks like to find help. this year. Um I'm thinking of a student who um I have several students who were basically in like texting through parent square conversations with parents like throughout the day of, you know, like are they in class? Are they are they where they're supposed to be? It's like yeah, I was just walking the halls and saw them and talk to them and they're doing great today because they're struggling um maybe with mental health things are going on or um parents who are just genuinely concerned about what's going on with their kid during the day. They're able to reach out to us um and know that we we know them. we're connecting with them and then we're not there just to get them in trouble. We're
062there to walk with them and help them get that support. And so I think just like Brillin was saying, we're just able to build so many um connections that aren't just like, hey, we're had this one meeting one time during our four years. It's, you know, we want to connect and and we're trying to, you know, we reach out and we um but every time we reach out to people, we're like, it's okay, you can reach out to us, too. and and trying to invite people to just um engage in that because it's it's new for some people to have that level of for some parents I think to have that level of um engagement um from a school even with hundreds of kids in in a cohort. So, um it's been really fun to
063be a part of. >> Thank you, Mr. Nan. >> Um yes, thank you. I have some comments and then another possible question that might put you on the spot, although that's not my intention. Um, first of all, two things. Well, first of all, I want to thank Mr. Edwards for putting this together quickly. Um, it this is absolutely wonderful for us to get to see this tonight and not have to wait till our next meeting. Um, so I appreciate that last minute effort. Um, two things from the report. I mean, it all stood out to me, but two things that I'm especially I think are noteworthy is that it looks like that was this was the first time that we're actually above the state average. And that's um that's a great accomplishment. And also um
064I really really appreciated the perspective of um 25 additional students graduated that possibly without this would not have the last year or comparing it back to 2024. And and I mean we we have a big impact on all of our students, but the 154 students that you think about since we implemented the the cohort model, um this this model has made a huge difference for those students. So I appreciate the work of everyone that has gone into that. Um what something one thing that connects to this that I've mentioned at other board meetings um I I fully fully support all the work we're doing for graduation rates. Um we do a lot of other things related to that or student achievement that um I am going to um lay some more work on Mr. Edwards
065down the road. What I had asked for before was um some kind of measure how we're doing in terms of the number of our graduates that earn college credit and how that compares to the state. Um what prompted my asking for that is that I learned that Indiana is the number one state in the nation for per student um uh college credits earned or for the number of percent of students who earn college credits. Um, the other thing I want to it, this is always in the back of my mind when we talk about the success of the cohort model. Um, I guess it's been two and a half years ago that we voted for this and at the time there were we were provided with a teacher survey that didn't really show overwhelming support
066from the teachers. And um I would still like to see some kind of feedback from the teachers, but but here's my attempt at um putting you all on the spot. If you have any anecdotal stories or something you might share in terms of um how this is different for the teachers who have these students in their classrooms. So I Yeah, I don't have anything that I could share. Um, do you all have stories? They Yeah. So that's what's dangerous. Like if they can they can keep going. So I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and let them keep going. Uh but yeah, so you know, I think we communicate intensely with parents and families, but I can't speak to a parent and family what their kid is like in the classroom. And so that comes from
067conversations with meeting with those par with those teachers and saying, "Hey," and so they know that they can reach out to us, whether that's through a referral or just through a conversation as we're walking through the halls or, you know, almost every time we have a student student and parent meeting, we're reaching out to those teachers and connecting with them and say, you know, and they're like, "Oh, thank goodness. I was thinking about maybe we should do a meeting, but now we're saying we're already doing that meeting. Give us your feedback." And then you don't have to, you know, you can get your voice in there without having to find coverage for your class to come into these meetings. And so, you know, every time we have parent meetings, we're following up with our staff,
068too, of saying, you know, this is what we're talking about. This is what we're seeing. This is the stuff that's going on at home. Um, you know, those conversations come up a lot. And then teachers, um, have been very appreciative of like, I had no idea that was going on or, yeah, they actually told me that last week and I was waiting for them to tell somebody else, um, so that they can, you know, share about the concerns that's going on and then we're all getting on the same page again. And so, you know, again, no specific data tied to that, but um it's just I mean, our day are full of conversation after conversation after conversation about centered around focused completely on students and what that support looks like. >> I'll be short as
069well. Um talking about process a little bit, we we prior to being um in the cohort model, I was a dean and I can tell you we were chasing our tails. We were very reactive. right now. Uh we there was a referral process, but it was overwhelming. Um teachers are able to submit an academic referral or a disciplinary referral. Um and the academic, for example, right before break, we had an academic referral uh submitted. And we ask the teachers to connect with the parents before they submit the referral, right? Because as Blake said, they know how the student is in the classroom. We can't speak to that. What what we're going to do when we reach out to the parent, they're going to say, "Well, what what are they doing in English class?" Well, we
070got to talk to Mrs. Miss Vway or Mrs. Williams or you know we have to talk to them and see what they're like so or in the class. Um but today for example teacher submitted an academic referral before break. Our academic coach was able to partner with that teacher and sit down with the parent and meet and they all met so as as a group to discuss the student and what's best for the success. So I think that if anything it's a partnership with the teachers and the teachers are getting used to you know we we have many meetings that we sit down with department chair teacher and myself and the student and the parent or academic coach parent student um and we have the time to do that and we have the um the
071team that's available to do that as well. >> Thank you >> Mr. Scholes. >> Yeah to to back up uh what Mr. Edwards and Mr. manual uh discussed. I had a couple family members that I've talked with and also some friends that are teachers in the high school and they've all very much given high high marks for the program. And I would say though, I do think there is value in gathering the quantitative on top of the anecdotal. I think Mr. Non was kind. I think out of like the 80 or so responses, there was only one positive when we voted on it. It was kind of a little bit concerning at that moment, but I think it's definitely been a hands-on success. I think when we do the data, it'll show that. And so
072I think the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from what I've heard from friends and family that are teaching. >> Thank you. Anything else, Dr. Phillips? We ready to move on? >> Thank you for the presentation. Please, I know you're representative of the cohorts uh here tonight, Miss Nolton, Mr. Manuel. Please let your co-workers know that we are excited, intensely excited about the work that you're doing in the schools. We're grateful for the time and effort that you're putting into this, all of you collectively, and uh we're optimistic about where we're going. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, >> Dr. Phillips. Next cabinet presentation. As Mr. uh Glick shared earlier, we've got the community referendum survey will be released soon. So, Dr. Boseman, just wanted to share some of the details of that and uh
073both with you and the public in advance of these random surveys showing up in their mailboxes. >> Good evening. Yes, I'll just spend a few minutes and and talk through um what folks in the community can expect to see here soon. Uh a couple slides on history lesson just as a reminder. This community supported at uh little north of a 61% approval rate an operating referendum passed in 2020 um to uh provide funding at about 15.6 cents uh for the following categories that are listed on the screen there. So that that's expected to bring in about $10.5 million in 2026. You can see the breakdown roughly of how those those funds are spent. The majority of those are spent on people as you all know. Um and the other would be um buses and and
074some other some other items. The the outcomes um I after hearing Mr. Edwards and his team speak could spend 30 minutes on each one of those, but we won't. But certainly these are items you're aware of. Um but the process is working. um decreased turnover of staff uh both certified and classified. We had roughly half the number of teachers at new teacher orientation this past year than we have had in years past prior to the referendum. Improve student achievement both at the elementary and high school level that you're well aware of. Safe school environments, the addition of school safety officers um here recently that you're well aware of, and weekly STEM lab activities for our elementary students. Um if if you if you were to ask anyone uh Mr. Schultz, I I go back to
075your comment of your connection with teachers, if you were to ask any um teachers to what we would attribute the success of the outcomes we're having, uh if you don't get the first answer, the first two one of the first two answers would be the referendum. Um it is a high priority for our staff and has substantial outcomes um to the benefit of students. the uh the current referendum is it's an eight-year referendum uh voted on in 2020 would expire in 2028. Uh that would expire if not renewed by the majority of voters. We have two options for renewal. Legislatively, we can pursue this in general election sessions only. So in 2020, you may recall that was a primary election. Uh now legislatively that those can only occur during general elections and only on even
076years. So, the options for the board to consider uh when the time comes would be in 2026 and 2028. If the board were to decide to um pursue this in 2026 and it were to be approved by the voters, um that renewal would replace the existing referendum. um if it were to be pursued in 26 and were to fail, the board then in 2028 could make the decision to ask voters again at that time if they wanted to renew um in 2028. Um, one one item I'll mention here, the the one difference and benefit of of renewing in 26 could be um, if waiting until 2028, it would make budgeting very difficult going into 2029, not knowing if you're going to have somewhere in the ballpark of $9 million in revenue that mostly pays for
077pays for people. Um, which would create quite a bit of anxiety for staff as well. Um, this slide I have entitled uh the why of the survey and kind of how how things will be be laid out and why we're interested in doing what we're doing and surveying the community. We did not survey the community in 2020. Um, but we are very interested in getting very clear community feedback on the contents of the um the potential renewal for your for your consideration. So, the survey will be focused at renewing at a lower levy than what is current. So we we believe at least at an early onset that we can provide uh continue to provide great teachers and safe schools at a lower levy than we are um currently. So the survey will gauge support
078for ongoing investments in our schools. Uh provide us data that we'll share with you. I'll I'll mention that here in just a moment. and then ultimately inform the board's decision- making on what direction you all want to take um with renewal or not in 2026. Um the format of the survey, there'll be three basic sections. Uh the first will be just basic information, demographics, where do you live, age group, that sort of thing. Are you an alumni of BCSE? Do you have students in the district? Uh the second would be support for the ongoing uh renewal of the referendum at a lower taxpayer cost, lower levy as I mentioned already. And then a third section uh to gauge the the community's willingness to invest in other community priorities that would be over and above um
079that lower levy that I that I mentioned. Um also want to mention um and thank Mr. Glick and Mrs. Lloyd um and Mrs. Keel for their involvement in uh the work thus far that we've done with school perceptions to develop the survey. Um and as I finish up here in just a moment, um they would I'm sure be happy to answer questions or give feedback on the process because they've been heavily involved as well. So timing uh Mr. Glick mentioned this that uh these surveys will be distributed to all um residents of BCSSC. um they will have an option to participate electronically or uh mail in ballot, one per household unless they request more uh which we can certainly provide um more if we if folks ask to do so. Um there's a February 2nd
080deadline to respond. We will bring those results to you all and to the public in a board meeting on March the 2nd. And then the board um there's a couple different actions that we'll we can get into the weeds of this uh later on of course, but the board would then have actions if they were if you all were to pursue and be interested in renewing in in 2026. Um so happy to answer any questions. Also, Dr. Phillips, Dr. Stalbomb have been in those meetings and they they're happy to participate as well if you have questions. Um, I would encourage you to hold off a little bit maybe in getting in the weeds of projections and numbers and that sort of thing because we're just not there yet. So, we're we're interested in getting feedback
081from the survey on what they have seen as the benefit thus far um and where their support is moving ahead. Um, but with that um happy to take any questions um myself or those individuals that I mentioned. >> Thank you Dr. Boseman from board members. Do we have any questions feedback tonight? Mr. Schultz. >> So, I was reading through this and I guess from the taxpayers's perspective, where can I see the cost to me like the average cost per house or the like that's I think that's the missing there's nothing in here about what is what am I tra and I say this I'm concerned because in the north I think it was in the northwest corner of Indian or Indiana somewhere in the Gary Hammond area they did something very similar to this. was
082almost more of a marketing. They had like 20 points favorable in the survey and then they lost by eight. And I I think we're not going to be set up for success when the state drives the question because the question's going to say something to the effect of do you support a tax increase of X parade for ABC reasons. Very short, very crisp. And I feel like if I read all this, I may say yes. But when you just give me that question with no other context in a in a room, the answer may be very different. And I think we got to watch out for that. And also just the trade-offs to the taxpayer. I don't I don't see anything in here about like I think right now this will average about $300 per
083household roughly based on just the average number of households in Bartham County, but I don't see that in here for what they're trading. >> Yeah, it's it's a good comment and accurate. So, uh we've talked about that a little bit. Um and those those will those things will come. Of course, when we did this in 2020, we had a tax rate calculator um still available on the website that folks can plug into and and compare and get those answers. Um but now we're just we're just interested the group was interested in just that early feedback from the community on here's what we've done as a reminder. Um here are the results of that and where does your support um lie. We had to also be really careful. Others can speak to it, but um the
084um the length of the survey, the the folks that are doing the work with us are very hesitant to say you can you can add more, but people aren't going to read it. You know, they only they only read for whatever Mr. Glick is nodding. He remembers the conversation, but so many, you know, they're only going to give you so much time on the thing. So, if you add to it, they're not going to complete it or your response rate goes way down. And and I know the the board members that were on the team were really interested in a high response rate. So, And I and I entirely agree. I think the only concern I have is when I'm in the grocery store, which is far less nowadays, I try to do as much
085pickup as I can. The biggest thing is is I always hear is my taxes are going up and it's always schools. >> Granted, it's probably because I'm a school board member, so they're going to pick on me while I'm there. But like I think that's like we say lower tax cost to taxpayers did not increase the tax rate, but the taxes continue to go up because the rate is the same and the base is the growing up. I think that's where if I'm a taxpayer, I don't know what I'm trading respectfully. >> No, I I I hear you. And there there will be plenty of education that will provide. >> So, >> will there be a second round of these then? Is that like is that what I'm I'm trying to make sure like this
086isn't the end all beall of like we're only doing one survey then? >> Well, the I don't know. The intent is to do one survey for now to inform the board if if if you want to pursue in 26 for for renewal and to what to what extent. So um I don't know Dr. Phillips could speak to it give his opinion but my thought would be if we excuse me if we um if the feedback that comes from that is not enough or inconclusive or we need more data then we can certainly have that conversation if they see there needs to be to be more. I I think my caution to the administration is just false possible hope of like this is a lot of information that they won't get in a booth. >> Out
087of out of curiosity, I can't I can't recall, but what's the total cost to run the survey, do data analysis, and provide a report? >> Uh is about 40 with mailings and everything. I think it was about $40,000. >> Okay. And and that will fluctuate too based off of increased requests for additional surveys as well. >> Yes. Through the mail. Yep. >> And we're only paying the mail their way. We're not doing it back. >> Yeah. The largest variance in cost from this point forward depends on how many people return them by mail. >> Okay. The cost to mail them at everyone already is incurred once they're sent. But if they send them back and then they have to manually calculate the results of the paper version versus the digital version, that could increase the
088cost. But it still wouldn't wouldn't exceed the 35 $40,000. >> Yeah, it just put 40 to 50. I'm just curious. I mean, it 40 $50,000 and it it's really a litmus test to what Logan said. But I can tell you right now, I've been told by politicians at every level in this county, the old mantra of no new taxes is there. And so I I just if if if you want the answer without giving the cost, it's like going to the store and saying, "I need to buy bread for the sandwich." Yeah, you know you need to buy bread for the sandwich. How much are you going to spend on the bread? That's the big question. All right. So, I I think to Logan's you might get false positives, you might get false negatives. Don't
089know what the outcome's going to be. Um it' be really interesting to see what what happens >> at the Dr. Boseman at the March meeting the presentation is that u presented by staff members like yourself or will there be people from an outside vendor uh being part of the presentation? >> Um I think that's going to come from us. They they they will pro they will provide the data to us. They evaluate um and provide that to us. But I I think that presentation will come from us to you. >> Thank you. Other questions or comments? >> Yeah. Yeah. Real one real quick question. Based on their experience with doing this work, what's their approximate hit rate? >> 10% response, 50% response, 90% response. >> I don't remember. Do do you all recall? It was
090it was fairly high. Now, in a in a survey response, 30% is high, you know. So, I my memory says it was fairly high >> relative to that. 10 to 20% I would think is going to be >> probably a real number. But I was just curious because if they they're the experts, they've done this. They've seen it. They know when they send out X number, they get back Y number, they can calculate percentage. So >> it just it'd be interesting to kind of have an idea what that is in advance to know if we I'm gonna make a number up. If we have 100,000 people we send this to and we expect 20%, we would get 20,000. if we get 8,000 that's not just uh that's that's kind of significant disinterest right and so
091it just would be good to know that too as we move forward >> certainly I the hardest part with that is the fact that there's so many variables that play into it and every community every school system is completely different and so the biggest thing is if you get this do it fill it out please and that way it gives us the best case scenario IO and and most information to go forward with it because to just to say that 30% is a good number or 20% is a good number is isn't really a viable answer because again every school system is different. >> Yeah. There same thing I've said to Dale before about numbers and kids. They're all different. Don't disagree, but you have to have a baseline that gets you close. That's the
092only reason why I'm saying that. >> I've been really impressed with the group that we're working with. I think um they're very thoughtful. They're very detail- oriented. They've answered tons of questions. Um I really do appreciate that Tom and I have been invited to the table to ask questions to be privy to those conversations. Um I feel like they're very supportive and in tune with the communities that we're trying to represent. And I think they are being very thoughtful about taxpayers and parents. And I think they are going to help us better connect with the community and get some helpful information. That was one of the takeaways for me anyway. I they were always trying to advocate for the community and allowing their voices to be heard. So I really appreciated and respect that. >>
093They they were very available as well offline. like I called them a couple times outside of uh our individual meetings and and they're more than welcome to answer questions and be very flexible and provide unsumable data from their results just to kind of get the best possible scenario here. >> When we uh go ahead >> I was just going to say if we do a follow-up survey I think there's a couple basic questions and I I apologize I wasn't I mean I know talked with Mr. Glick about this, but like like we have nothing in here about one, we're going to face a much different voting demographic in this referendum than we did in the last one. The last one was the COVID primary, which was, by the way, a 22% reduction in voters from
094the prior general election primary. This one, we're going to face nearly two to two and a half times the number of voters because of general. I think the thing is is having a question here around are you a likely voter or did you vote in the prior general election will show you I mean if you get a lot of yeses but if they say they didn't vote in the prior general election then the chances are they're probably I mean that I think that's why when you look at those survey datas is they always put in their number of likely voters they ask a question to determine that likeliness I'm sure this organization knows that as well and then the demographic of the property owner right is like nothing in here says you are are you
095a landlord? Are you a homeowner? Are you a farmer? Like I think it would be nice to know if we have weaknesses in specific subdemographics. I've heard from subdemographics that have said no and I've heard some that say maybe. Um but like again, we're all hearing anecdotal information probably based on our circles and where we're at. Um I I think it would be better to see it in a quantitative format. And um I typically you get like you know did you vote in the last election have you voted in the last two elections political affiliation that way you can derive because what you don't want to do is get a situation where your sample size is 30% we're confident and it ends up being out of the 30% 66% didn't vote in the last election
096so they're probably not going to vote in this one. that's going to be not likely to be that extreme, but I don't think the margin of error is as strong as I think it's risky. 60% and facing two times as many voters this time is going to be it's a very different situation. >> So to answer some of that question, uh since I asked I was the one to ask some of these questions, one of them being the demographic question of political affiliation, uh they the team did say that that's something that they've requested in the past and have added on the survey. uh they didn't see it as a viable uh piece of data and they never really I don't know they didn't really touch on why they never uh provided that just because
097it didn't seem to be uh valid or or relevant to the survey. Um, and then the other piece in terms of land owner versus renter or property rener whatever the only piece that I will say to that is all those people regardless of affiliation of land owner renter whatever those people are still going to pay taxes and as hard as it is to understand the property owner is going to increase rent to cover that expense whether you like it or not and you can call it gre or whatever expenses of her expenses are expenses. And so the other piece of that is all those people in that demographic across those demographics, excuse me, all those kids still go to BCSE are part of or are part of this corporation. So I don't think it's really
098a big piece to just have that discrimination cross those lines. >> And that's kind of what they felt as well. >> I'm not saying discrimination. I'm saying more around do you have a weakness in one area that you need to help educate? >> Yeah. And I wasn't saying discrimination is in like that's discriminatory, but like these are discriminating lines of of pieces of data. So yeah. >> So the one thing that I will point out is this is substantially different than political polling and has a different purpose. Um, and so I think there could be a point in time when if there is a a political action committee that's formed to advocate for this or or against this referendum in the community, they would engage in more political polling where you get into the kind
099of data. The this is a very simple survey that gives us the with designed to give us the opportunity to learn from um our stakeholders about whether or not we should go forward with the referendum uh this fall and to what extent. We've told them in the survey in the most simple terms possible, we can still get what you've gotten, which is great teachers and safe schools, and we can do it for about 10% less money. And then we ask a follow-up question about a couple of other priorities if folks might be interested in those. But essentially that's to allow give us the information to make a recommendation to the board say here is what we recommend based on the uh the survey information and what we know about our risks in the future. And
100then it'll be our job to go out and educate, find out where those gaps are in uh in the community and and how we can make sure that it's a successful referendum at that point. >> Yeah. Because Logan, one thing to your point about cost, they're going to have to factor in a new school with additional front office people, possibly some incremental added teachers, possibly buses, possibly drivers, cafeteria. So, there's there's another school worth of cost plus operating cost that'll have to be factored in at some point. So, and I only say operating cost because now with the amount we transfer from education to operations, the referendum backfills that. So, it'll still have to backfill those transfers. >> Thank you, Dr. Boseman. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> The uh blue sheet is the
101sign up sheet at board meetings. No one has signed up for public comment this evening. I will note quickly that uh we do ask for public comment before we make decisions and we've got a number of decisions to make tonight. So as we shift in uh the agenda from number seven and number eight, Dr. Phillips, I'll ask you to walk us through the reorganization. >> Thank you very much, Mr. center. The first um agenda item for your approval this evening regarding the organization of the board for calendar year 2026 are items 8A through 8D and that is to reappoint corporation treasurer Jamie Brnegger, Deputy Treasurer Paula Vitro to authorize the treasur deputy treasurer to uh invest school funds in accordance with the school board policy and place that uh Mr. Mr. Berger described earlier as
102well as the uh school treasurer and corporation treasurer bonds insurance essentially for anyone who serves in a treasurer role. So I request approval of items 8A through 8D. >> Board members, we've heard the recommendation. Is there a motion on the recommendation? >> I move we approve uh items 8A through 8D at this time. Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Glick. Mr. Any discussion? Mr. Nan, I want to be sure we ask you. All good. Any questions from board members about these items? Hearing none, we can move to the vote. We'll do a roll call vote on this. If you are in favor of Mr. Glick's motion, please say yes. If not, please say no. Miss Lloyd, >> yes. Mr. Major. >> Yes. >> President votes yes. Miss Wen. >> Yes. >> Mr. Glick. >> I Mr.
103Schulz. >> I. >> Mr. Num. >> Yes. >> Motions carried seven to zero by my tally. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. The next group of approvals are the establishment of board meetings, rene remuneration and required notices. Um the items 9A through 9D include uh board pay or remuneration um consistent with prior years. No change in that. Uh continuing to designate the Republic as our newspaper for publishing public notices. Uh school board meeting dates and the public disclosures of conflict of interest as reflected in your board packet. request approval of items 9A through 9D. >> We've heard the recommendation. Board members, is there a motion? >> I make a motion to approve items 9A through 9. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Wen. Mr. Major questions. Hearing none, we can move to the vote.
104Again, we'll do a roll call. If you are in favor of Miss Wen's motion, please say yes. If not, say no. Miss Lloyd, >> yes. >> Mr. Major, >> yes. >> President votes, yes. Miss Wen, >> yes. >> Mr. Glick, >> hi. >> Mr. Schulz, >> I >> and Mr. Now, >> yes. >> 70 motions carried. Board appointments and community liaison. Dr. Phillips. >> Thank you. Item 10A is reflects the board member assignments uh to BCSSE committees and community organizations and I believe they reflect the same uh committee assignments as were the case in 2025. I request item approval of item 10A board member assignments. >> Thank you Dr. Phillips. Thank you for your work on this. Men, um you've heard the recommendation. Is there a motion? Make a motion to approve item 10A as
105presented. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Wen. Mr. Major, credit you with the second. Any questions or concerns? I I heard it first. Sound travels shorter distance. Uh any questions or points of order on this? If you are in favor when I call your name, please say yes. If you disagree, please say no. Miss Lloyd, >> yes. >> Mr. Major, >> yes. >> President votes yes. Miss Wen, >> yes. >> Mr. Glick, >> hi. >> Mr. Schulz, >> hi. >> And Mr. Nan, >> yes. >> 70. The motion's carried. Old business. Dr. Phillips. >> Thank you. I request approval of item 11 A, minutes from the regular school board meeting of December 15, 2025. >> I move to approve item 11 A is presented. >> Second. >> Motion by Miss Wen, second by Mr. Major.
106No, I'm sorry. That was Mr. Click. >> Any questions or discussion? If you are in favor of Miss Wen's motion, please say yes. When I call your name, Miss Lloyd, >> yes. >> Mr. Major, >> yes. >> President votes yes. Miss Wen, >> yes. >> Mr. Glick, >> hi. >> Mr. Schulz, >> I. >> And Mr. Non, >> yes. >> Minutes are approved. We can move on to new business. Item number 12. >> Thank you. I request approval of an item items 12 A through 12E. They include the regular approval items of supplemental contracts to approve field trips and professional leads, school fundraisers, as well as the claims and payroll. Uh this year, uh this board meetings claims include just preruns from December 1st through the 18th of just over 7.3 million and the one
107payroll from December 12th of 2025 of just over 3.7 million. Item E and F are the annual appointment of our school physician, Dr. Hartwell, and our school board attorney, Mr. Macgyver. And then item 12E is the central middle school change order. Uh that is the final uh guaranteed maximum price approval and closing out the central project and is a reduction uh and returning of our remaining funds from that project. request item approval of items 12 A through 12E. >> Uh G, I'm gonna say 12G. >> Thank you. >> G. >> Uh just for clarity. >> And we've heard the recommendation. Uh board members, do we have a motion? >> Motion to approve items 12 A through G. >> Thank you, Mr. Click. Thank you, Mr. Major. or the second. Any questions or discussion? Kind of
108forgot to ask if if there is a board member who would like to have one of these items pulled out. That's kind of our tradition, but I'm assuming not. Again, any questions or discussion? >> Thank you, Mr. MacGyver, for sticking with us another year. We appreciate you. >> It's not been approved yet. He had his name on the board on the seat. >> Is Mr. McCyver on the hot seat? Miss Lloyd, how do you vote? >> Yes. >> Mr. Major, >> yes. >> President votes yes. Miss Wen, >> yes. >> Mr. Glick, >> I. >> Mr. Schulz, >> I. >> And Mr. Non, >> yes. >> Thank you all. Items in agenda item number 12 are all approved. Number 13 is our human resources recommendations. I think we have an item A and an item
109B this time. Is that right, Miss Stolen? >> That is correct. The human resources recommendations consist of one retirement, two appointments, and one leave of absence. There's also one additional personnel recommendation. I request that you please approve items 13A and B as presented. >> Thank you, board members. Is there a motion? I move to approve items 13A and BB B as presented by Dr. Stubble. >> Second. >> Thank you, Miss Wen. Thank you, Mr. Major. Any questions or discussion? If you approve the motion by Miss Wen, please say yes. Miss Lloyd, >> yes. >> Mr. Major, >> yes. >> President votes yes. Miss Wen, >> yes. >> Mr. Glick, >> hi. Mr. Schulz >> I. >> And Mr. N? >> Yes. >> Motion is carried. Item number 14 on the agenda tonight is board input
110and review. Mr. Non, we'll start with you. Any input and review this evening? >> Um, I just um again want to thank Mr. Manuel, Miss Miss Noling, and Mr. Edwards for the um presentation that they gave. Um and it's already been said tonight, but I would also like to thank Mr. Glick and Miss Lloyd for their work on the um upcoming survey. >> Thank you, Mr. Nell and Mr. Schulz. >> Yeah, I I want to also thank uh Mr. Manuel and Miss Nolting for their their insights. I think it's been great success. And again, I want to congratulate Miss Dell uh for winning the hall in the hall of fame and being admitted and uh looking forward to the reception next meeting. >> Thank you, Mr. Glick. >> Uh I'd just like to kind of
111caveat or echo, excuse me, the connection that we're we're doing with these cohorts. Um it's been a new year for me at the at the secondary level as I have a seventh grader and so you don't have parent teacher conferences secondary. So, Parent Square has been uh just great to be able to connect with teachers and the fact that they're willing to talk with you and connect with you as as Miss Nolin and uh Mr. Emanuel talked as they're going through the cohort model at the high school level. Um I've been able even like the last week of school, worst time to get sick. My son missed the last three days of school. So, you're sitting there, oh gosh, now you're miss all these projects. are going to crash. And every single one of his
112teachers were more than accommodating and said, "Hey, it's this and this by this date. Get it done when it feels better." Everything like that. And so Parent Square has been paramount and and getting that connection and and basically reestablishing that parent teacher connection. Uh, next I want to say one last thank you to coach Eddie Bobble for everything that he did at Columbus East as we welcome uh Tyler Campbell coming in. Congrats and good luck to you. Uh, I was here when Eddie started um as as a player. And so as one of his first players at East, it's kind of crazy to be on the board to see him uh exiting that realm. And uh but again, good luck to Tyler as you take over. Um uh there's a couple dying to notate dying
113to donate, excuse me. Uh one is going to be January 20th at Chick-fil-A for East Key Club. Another one January 27th at Texas Roadhouse for CSA New Tech American Heritage Club. And then just to get on the calendar, it'll be after next meeting. I'll I'll talk about it then, too. There's one on February 10th at Chipotle. I don't remember what that one was for. Um but as we move forward, there's been a lot of uh the holidays were busy sports wise, athletic wise. Um North wrestling was down at the Modern Day Classic, which is a pretty big tournament. There's a lot of good teams down there and it's almost like a mini state. They did pretty well down there. They had a couple uh podium finishes. East went to the Al Smith which is one
114of the more historic and uh another just barn burner up there in uh Meshawaka. They have many podium finishes as well and again that one's another many state. Um they East will wrestle Cathedral tomorrow at Cathedral. North wrestles Seymour Thursday at North if you want to go see that. team state, which is a big deal. Columbus East is seated number two out of 12 teams for 3A. That's going to be in Franklin on Saturday. Congratulations to girls at sectionals, girls wrestling at sectionals. Uh we are advancing eight from Columbus specifically, seven from east, one from North. Regionals will be Saturday in Bloomington. Basketball had a couple games over Christmas break. Um, it's kind of crazy to see. I looked at e schedule. I think they have like six games over the next 10 days or
115or or 13 days, something like that. It's crazy. So, many of those are home if you want to catch them. Uh, gymnastics is going to start spinning up here pretty soon. And if you don't remember, North has one heck of a team. They finished fourth in the state last year. They only lost two seniors. The rest of them were all underassmen that were starters and compet competitors. and many uh uh events. So, look at them to be on a podium again at the end of the year. Probably be seeing him them in front of us. Swimming is going to be this week. Uh East and North are home on Thursday and then conference tournaments for all sports are going to be uh coming up in the next two weeks and then the state series will
116also start prior to the next uh meeting. So, a lot of athletics going on and it's going to be very busy and the athletic directors are going to be busy. Principles were here. They're going to be busy as well. So, good luck to them. >> Thank you, Mr. CL. >> Miss Wilson, >> I just want to say um thank you to all the teachers who were pounding away on grades today. My phone was blowing up with Power School. Um and they all moved up. All the grades moved up. So, that was very, very nice to see. that teachers were busy today and I hope they're ready for tomorrow. There's a lot of kids with some pen up anxiety after a long holiday and I think are ready to get back to it with a lot
117of energy behind them. Um, joking aside, I do want to say sincerely thank you Mr. Macgyver. Being a schoolboard attorney is not glamorous and we are quite a lot of work and you manage us very well. So, we appreciate you. Um, and then, uh, lastly, I just want to show this publication that was, um, sent out to the community. Um, Aaron and Wes, I think, did a phenomenal job. Like, this keeps getting better. I read it cover to cover, just really well laid out. The information was digestible. It was visual. Like, it was just a really nice piece of work. So, thank you for keeping our community informed on all the great things that are happening here at >> BCSC. Oh, >> I was going to start at that end and then move to make
118myself last. So, you go. >> I don't I don't uh I don't really have much to add. I want to echo everyone's sentiments, but I also just want to shout out to the teachers and the students who participated in the United Way campaign. That is just one more thing to add to your plates, but it has such a tremendous impact. I know Jason and I have both worked really closely with United Way and the partner agencies and every one of those dollars will have such a profound impact um for many students and families. So, I'm just so thankful that BCSC still participates and has a campaign and just very grateful. >> Thank you, Miss Mr. Major. >> Yeah. So, again to thank Mike, but Mike is increasing eight cents an hour, just so you know.
119So, it's a huge increase for us. So, so we're getting a lot out of him, though. Um, I just wanted to welcome everybody back to in well, not back, but into 2026 and welcome back tomorrow for school and I'm praying for a safe uh year for our students and faculty and staff. Um, over the weekend, I was able to volunteer uh again with robotics program and I told Mrs. Haynes again, if she got me the list, I would thank all the participants. Not not participants, but volunteers. Uh we had over 65 volunteers for this event which was just phenomenal because uh when you think about giving up uh January 3rd Saturday, there's not too many days left to sleep in before you get to go back to work on Monday or Tuesday and uh you're
120just coming off of a day's rest of staying up all night. And so for some of us staying up all night is not as easy as it used to be. And so I'd like to Mr. Clark was here earlier, but I'd like to thank him and Columbus North for assisting with getting the gym scheduled for that day. We appreciate that. Uh, thank you to the technology team members that are behind me and those that were at the event. It was a flawless event. Uh, no issues at all. It was great. Uh, when you have as many computers, TVs, and microphones going at any one time, it's really easy to have something happen wrong. and and luckily uh they were so prepared we didn't see it if it did happen. So, uh, volunteers were, uh, Terry
121Barnhart, Crystal Breeden, Brian Bush, Eva Kagwin, Roger Kagwin, Eve Cal Ramos, Chris Chapel, Cetna Chowdery, Jessica Davis, Jason Davis, Julie Dobs, Jane Dornquest, Isaiah Estus, April Evans, Kristen Evans, Isaac Evans, Scott Fields, Deborah Gaff, Jade Guiles, Giles, I apologize if I pronounce any of these incorrect, Kelly Goens, Carrie Grimes, Dan Grimes, Lisa Haynes, Brianna Hubard or Brienne Huard, Joshua Jones, Vidita Kescar, Bella Lopez, myself, Norah Mitchell, Carmela Musalami, Rob Musalami, Gia Shri, Naranan, Amber Payne, Ashley Prather, Kylie Ray Francis, Sabrina Rollins, Kelly Reese, Luke Sabb, Mercedes, Sher Tobias, Cia Sonocar, Michelle Spears, Kim Stamper, Liz Tro, Robert Schwarzball, Laura Schwarzbar, Maria Swift, Braden Swim, Simmons, Ashley Toller, Ashley Vallet or Asher Vallet, Cheryl Ve, Matthew Wallace, Candy Watts, Kyle Widner, Rob Weiss Miller, Stacy Weiss Miller, Heather Why, Julia Whitlock, Ty Whitlock, Eric Whitlock, Reichen
122Winchester, Tracy Weise, Miriam Wolfford, Caitlyn Yansy, Steven Yansy, and Kevin Yansy. We want to thank you all for supporting the event. Uh and then all the parents and students for participating. We had uh we had uh teams as far south as Henryville and as far north as Indianapolis. And again 244 matches. So it was very busy day. So thank you to everybody that volunteered. Again, you want to be the STEM capital of Indiana, we have to work hard collectively to do that. So thank you to everybody. >> Thank you, Mr. Major. and our thanks to all those volunteers. Uh my input and review, I want to thank Miss Wielen for the leadership that she's provided over the last three years and uh acknowledge and thank you for for that work and that effort. I do
123appreciate it. Dr. Phillips, any input review this evening? >> Oh, didn't I start with Mr. Yeah. >> I just want to congratulate Grace James, CSA Fodri teacher, who was the uh who gave birth to the first child born in 2026. She was on the paper the other day. Congratulations to her and her husband. And then we don't have board meetings the day before school starts very often. So, welcome back students tomorrow. It it truly >> the first listening, >> right? Right. Exactly. all the students listening to the board meeting this evening, welcome back tomorrow. But I also every time we come back from a break and u our students and families return safely, you know, I consider that a victory with a whole lot of students and families traveling and uh over the holidays. So
124when all of our students come back, uh always always is a victory. So look forward to seeing everybody and all that energy uh you talked about earlier coming into our buildings tomorrow. Thank you, Dr. Phillips. Uh, this board will meet again on Monday evening, February 2nd. Uh, we'll start with a reception to recognize our education hall of fame reception or recipient is Kathy Dell from Parkside. That'll start at 6 PM in this room. The board meeting will follow that reception at 6:30. With no further business to come before the board this evening, the meeting is adjourned.